Jason took a moment to appreciate the look on Dick's face. The kid had dashed into the garage as if trying to set a new land speed record, and now that he had seen today's transportation he looked like his entire being was buffering.

An impatient urge struck at Jason and he coughed slightly to try and pull a verbal response out of Dick.

"So what'dya think, Tweety Bird?"

Dick's eyes flicker from Jason to the motorcycle and back again and his mouth moves, though nothing comes out. Dick takes stuttering steps forward, one hand reaching out to touch the bike's enticing beauty, fingers flickering away before running themselves over the smooth metal.

Dick raises his head, eyes blown wide as he focuses in on Jason. "Are… are we gonna ride this?"

The original plan had been for Dick to drive it, but Jason had let this plan slip around Tim and now the plan was different.

"Absolutely."

Jason walked over to the helmet rack and tossed one over to Dick. Dick inspected it curiously, and watched as Jason fastened his own. Dick slowly raised the helmet to his own head, put it on backwards, and frowned in confusion before his eyes widened in realization and he switched it frontways.

Dick fumbled with the snap, but didn't seem to be able to fit the two sections together.

"You can do it, buddy!" Jason offered Dick a thumbs up, and Dick narrowed his eyes in determination, managing to finally click the pieces together. The helmet, sized for Damian, was clearly too loose, so Jason tightened the straps for Dick before he hopped onto the motorcycle.

"Hop on, Birdie!"

Dick ran forward excitedly, before pausing next to the bike, eyeing its height in confusion. Jason bumped the footrest with his heel, Dick noticed, and managing to clamber up with a tight grip on Jason's shirt.

"Hold on tight," Jason warned, grinning, before peeling out of the garage, Dick shrieking in laughter into his ear.

There weren't any hard turns along the path away from Wayne manor, but you wouldn't have known that from the way Jason steered that bike. Dick's hands kept a firm grip, though, so Jason felt confident enough to take a few small jumps on some strategically placed mounds of earth his alternate self must have also constructed.

Jason couldn't hear much over the rushing of the wind, but Dick certainly seemed enthusiastic enough. Jason directed the bike away to a simple dirt path that wound close to Wayne property. The track was simple, but Dick was having so much fun that Jason didn't really feel the need to find anything more intense.

Dick seemed thrilled by every bump and dislodged pebble, whooping into the wind.

Anyway… since it had rained a few days ago, Jason spared a glance in the rearview mirror to watch Dick's face as they hit the first puddle. Dick almost let go of Jason's shirt he was so surprised, but he got over that quickly, near-hysterical in his laughter.

This part was a little lower than the others, and some of the puddles had yet to evaporate. Dick seemed even more thrilled with the puddles the higher they went, and would try to point Jason to the deepest and longest puddles, constantly turning his face away from the splash, but refusing to hide behind Jason and stay dry.

After a couple hours of biking, Jason decided Dick had probably had enough sun and exertion, pulling the bike over to the side.

"How was that, buddy?" Jason asked, twisting around.

"It was AWESOME!" Dick double fist pumped the air, laughing manically. "That was the best thing of my life!"

Jason laughed, offering Dick a high-five. "Aren't you tired and sore yet?"

"Nope! Not even a little!"

Jason smirked, disbelieving. "It just hasn't caught up with you yet. Come on, we're gonna walk around a bit before we go somewhere new."

Dick looked unhappy with this turn of events, but dutifully slid off the motorcycle, clearly more stiff than he'd been expecting himself to be. A bit of stretching completed, Jason motioned the boy back onto the motorcycle, Dick hopping on enthusiastically.

"Are we gonna go to a new course, Jason?"

"Nope. We're going into town."

"Awww, Chicken, please, can't we do this some more?"

"Nah, I think you've had enough. You must be super hungry by now."

Dick looked like he was mulling that over, before giving a nod of assent that had Jason revving the engine to carry them onwards.

"Alrighty, Birdie. You ever gotten… drive through?"

"Nuh-uh! I don't even know what that is!"

"You'll see!" It wasn't until they'd started driving that Jason realized that Dick had asserted himself by arguing with him.

Jason gunned the engine until they came into view of a McDonalds on the very edge of the city.

"Tweety Bird, McDonalds is one of the great American institutions. You're gonna love it."

To Dick's surprise, Jason pulled along the side of a building, behind another car. "Aren't we gonna go inside, Jason?"

"Nope. We stay outside, and they hand us our food from in there. Do you think you can stay on with just your legs if I drive slow? I might need you to hold the food for a little bit."

Dick considered for a second, and then nodded. Jason considered him for a second - he didn't really trust Dick's evaluation of himself, but he had done a good job so far, so as long as he was careful Dick could probably handle himself. He did have very good balance, and he was pretty strong, to boot.

"Alright, kiddo. Just let me know if you ever need me to slow down, alright?" Dick nodded, and Jason pulled next to the intercom, ordering two chocolate sundaes.

"What's a sunday, Jason?" Dick asked.

"It's a kind of ice cream. It's inside a plastic case, though, so we can carry it without makin' a mess."

Jason pulled forward, and paid at the window, Dick waving enthusiastically to the cashier. "Hello! This is my first time at a McDonalds!"

The boy at the register grinned at Dick - "Well, we're glad to have you here! I hope you enjoy your food!"

"Okay!"

The boy shut the window, and Dick craned his head to try and see inside the building. "Cool…" Dick managed to pull his feet under him and stand on the motorcycle's seat to get a better view, Jason just eyeballing the car in front of them and gauging that Dick had enough time to continue his investigation. "What's it like in there, Jason?"

Jason debated whether or not to crush Dick's innocence regarding minimum wage fast food, before settling on, "Busy."

Dick nodded, as though he understood perfectly, and settled down when Jason jerked his head to motion him forward, the car in front of them having taken off.

Jason handed Dick the two sundaes, which were indeed fully inside plastic casing, along with the two spoons. Jason stuck the spoons in his pocket, handed the ice cream to Dick, and they were off.

Jason made sure to drive slow and smooth, and Dick never seemed in even slight danger of falling off. Jason quickly made his way to a park even farther away from Gotham's outskirts, pulling up to an overlook that laid out Gotham before them like a sprawling blanket. Pulling to a stop, Jason turned to take the ice cream from Dick, but the boy had already hopped fluidly off the motorcycle without help, handing one of the treats back to Jason. Jason handed him a spoon in return, and the two made their way to the grassy top of the outlook.

They settled in and began eating their slightly-melted ice cream, observing the city below.

"I like drive-throughs, Chicken. And motorcycles."

Dick looked up at Jason, who grinned down at him. "...Me too."

Dick glanced down at his ice cream, and then back at Jason. "Did you ever do anything like this with your… big me?"

Jason blinked, blindsided. "I… I guess we did stuff kinda like this. We'd race our motorcycles sometimes. In the city, usually."

"Oh. Do you miss him?"

Jason guarded his expression carefully, as a shiver ran over his spine. Did he… he hadn't thought about it, really. Intentionally. Dick. Dick Grayson.

Memories flickered over him - Dick, high and distant, the unattainable standard who would blow into the manor like a hurricane and yell at Bruce before storming out again. Dick, who only warmed up to his new brother in time to miss the funeral. Dick, staring him down, escrima gripped threateningly, the threat of Arkam emanating from his eyes.

Dick, who bought him chili dogs and threw him surprise parties and raced him across the city scapes.

Dick, who may also have been teleported to some strange and foreign universe, stranded on an inhospitable planet. No, Jason hadn't been thinking about Dick.

"I wish he was here."

And that was the truth. If Dick was here… everything would be a lot easier.

Dick nodded in acceptance, taking Jason's answer as a yes. That was for the best.

"If he… was here… would you still want to be with me?"

Jason looked down in surprise, Dick's face twisting in the way that meant he'd put some thought into the question.

"Of course I would. Why would you ask that?"

"Well…" Dick twisted his hands in his lap, "if he was here, he'd be me. But better, because he already knows all the things you want me to learn. So you wouldn't need me me around anymore."

Jason gulped, mind racing to find an answer to Dick's question. The all-to-familiar feeling of inadequacy stirred in his stomach like a rousing sea serpent, but there was a different feeling too - excitement. It felt like it had been too long since Dick had asked him for advice on something.

Was this how Goldie felt as everyone's older brother?

"Tweety bird, that's ridiculous. You can't be replaced because he's so different from you. You're a different person from him - I mean, he's my older brother, and you're the baby. That's pretty different."

Dick's face scrunched in confusion. "I'm not a baby…"

Jason laughed, "I hate to break it to you, kiddo, but you're going to be the baby of this family for a long time."

"Well, until I go home, maybe."

The smile fell off Jason's face, and he turned away. "...Maybe."

Jason and Dick watched the sun set for hours, faces bathed in red and gold.