Jason doesn't want to use the word "possessive," because that makes him sound like a jerk. Maybe "protective" is a better word? But that doesn't really cover the flare of what feels (to be honest) kinda sorta like jealousy when Dick offers to spend time with Junior. Jason just frowns as Dick talks.
"I was planning on spending the next chunk of time in the gym, but I figured, hey, why not do that all together?" Dick brightly continues to explain.
"The gym," Junior repeats thoughtfully. "As in…"
"As in the gymnasium," Jason says before Dick can say anything.
"As in gymnastics?" Junior asks. He looks almost excited, in a way Jason rarely sees from him.
"Sure, if you want it to be," Dick says.
Junior nods rapidly.
Looking pleasantly bemused, Dick says, "Yeah, okay. What about you, Jay?"
Jason considers it for a moment. On one hand, he feels, well, not great about this. Jason's the one who's been spending the most time with Junior. Dick's the one who's been in and out. Why should Junior look so almost-excited about this idea?
On the other hand, Jason feels bad about feeling bad. Junior deserves to get to feel excited. Junior deserves to get every good thing Jason can think of, and yeah, Jason usually thinks of gymnastics with Dick as a good thing when it's for himself. Sharing Junior is hard, and sharing Dick is hard in a surprising way too. But they're sharing Jason in a way too, Jason supposes, and it'll probably be good for Junior, so…
Jason nods. "Let's do it."
As they make their way to the gym, Dick starts spewing gymnastics terms. Jason nods along, recognizing most of them, even if he can't define half of them. Junior nods along too, but Jason's not sure if that's because Junior has some background in gymnastics (not completely impossible, but probably implausible) or if that's because Junior is a trained people-pleaser. Jason hopes it's the first option.
"Shall we get started?" Dick asks once they're in the gym and drawing near to the gymnastics equipment.
Junior bounces on his toes a tiny bit, looking truly excited.
"Cool," Dick says, and he starts stretching, leaning carefully this way and that.
Jason begins stretching too, starting with his ankles. Then he pauses.
Junior is frozen, watching them with wide eyes.
Rapidly, Jason tries to think of all of Junior's triggers that they already have an idea of and if any of them could've been the problem. He comes up blank.
"Hey," Dick says, obviously noticing the same thing Jason is noticing. "You okay?"
Junior nods. It looks automatic.
"What's up?" Jason asks.
Junior fidgets with his fingers a moment, then he asks softly, "What are you doing?"
"Getting started," Jason says, narrowly cutting off the "duh" that would've accompanied that statement if anyone else would've asked it. Then he realizes what's happening.
Apparently Dick realizes the same thing. "Oh, right. So, when you're doing gymnastics, or really any kind of physical activity, it's a really good idea to warm up. In this case, that means stretching so you don't get hurt."
Junior nods slowly.
Dick keeps stretching, asking, "Are you planning on trying some gymnastics with us?"
"Can I?" Junior blurts out, then he clamps a hand over his mouth and goes frozen again.
Dick gives a little chuckle. "Definitely you can!"
Junior grins.
"So, here's a good stretch for you to start with," Dick says, demonstrating a static stretch, the one that he calls the downward dog and that Jason calls the bow-down.
"For me?" Junior asks, looking uncertain.
"Sure," Dick says.
Junior still looks uncertain, biting on his lower lip.
"What's eating at you, kid?" Jason asks frankly.
"Why do I need to stretch?" Junior asks after a moment.
Dick pauses. "I thought I said that already? I mean, stretching is a warm up to keep you from getting hurt."
"But I'm supposed to get hurt," Junior says. He says it like it's obvious, like it's a fact, like it's perfectly all right.
It very much is not.
"Who says so?" Jason demands a second before the answer pops into his mind.
Dick clears his throat quickly. "Right. Never mind. So, here, with us, we don't say that. We say you're not supposed to get hurt."
Junior blinks at him in clear confusion. "Then why am I here?"
Jason wants to throw up. He wants to punch something. He wants to start screaming and maybe never stop.
He does none of those things. Instead, Jason says carefully, "You're here for doing gymnastics with us, remember?"
"But why do you want me to do gymnastics with you if you don't want to hurt me while we're doing it?" Junior asks, still seeming extremely confused.
Dick blows out a long breath. "Let's take a step back here. Junior, what did you think we were going to do?"
"Gymnastics," Junior says.
"And what does that mean to you?" Dick asks.
Junior shrugs and admits quietly, "I don't really know. I thought we were going to move around and do stuff together."
"And why would that mean we would hurt you?" Dick asks.
"Because that's why I'm here," Junior says. "If we're together, I need to do what you say and be useful, and if that's not by helping you get something done, then it's by helping you get focused and ready."
"And getting focused and ready means we hurt you," Dick says in conclusion.
Junior nods with a smile. "Exactly!"
Dick blows out a long breath again. Then he does it again, then yet again.
"That's not what we do," Jason says. "Not at all. We don't want you hurt, and we really don't want to hurt you ourselves, and we don't want anybody to get hurt, really. That's basically the whole reason we do what we do, you know?"
Junior blinks at him for a long moment.
"Let's take a step back again," Dick says finally. "You said that you need to be useful if we're together. What if we weren't together?"
"Then it'd just be me," Junior says.
"And what would you do then?" Dick asks.
Junior shrugs. "Whatever I can do to keep being useful. Or-"
"Or what?" Jason asks when Junior cuts himself off.
Junior bites his lower lip again.
"It's okay," Jason says, trying to sound soothing. "You can tell us."
"Or," Junior whispers. He swallows hard and glances from side to side. "Or sometimes I don't."
"And what do you do then? When you're not trying to be useful?" Dick asks.
"I watch you," Junior says very quietly.
"Watch us?" Dick asks.
"I watch Batman and Nightwing and Robin," Junior says, still so quiet.
"Oh," Dick says.
"Oh" is right, in Jason's opinion.
"You make me feel right," Junior admits quietly. "Not right-wrong or wrong-right. Just… Right. Like things are how they're supposed to be. Sorry."
"No need to be sorry," Dick says.
"That is pretty much the last thing you'd ever need to be sorry for," Jason says. "You're saying watching us helped you?"
Junior nods tentatively.
"Good," Jason says fervently. "We want to help people. We want to help you."
Junior fidgets a little. After a moment, he says very quietly, "That sounds good."
"It sounds good to us too," Dick says with a smile.
Jason smiles too.
Slowly, Junior smiles back.
