"-But I said, 'Sounds pretty cool," Dick Grayson says, snorting a little.
Jason Todd groans. "Really? That's what you went with?"
"What? It's Mr. Freeze! It made sense," Dick Grayson says defensively.
"Sure, it made sense, but it wasn't a very good quip," Jason Todd says.
Dick Grayson shoves his elbow into Jason Todd's side as they walk.
Jason Todd gasps, sounding outraged, and he starts smacking Dick Grayson's shoulder with his hand.
Junior tenses, but it's okay. It's not an actual fight or a punishment or anything like that. He knows Dick Grayson and Jason Todd wouldn't hurt each other, not for real. They won't even hurt him, maybe, or at least that's what they claim.
And that's what they try to do, because when Dick Grayson turns a little, defending himself against Jason Todd's hand, Dick Grayson catches sight of Junior's tense frame and says, "Jay, quit it."
"Not a chance," Jason Todd says, still hitting.
"Jason," Dick Grayson says, with more firmness in his tone now, as he jerks his chin in Junior's direction.
Jason Todd turns a little, then he looks at Junior and slumps. "Yeah, okay, I'll quit."
"You don't have to stop because of me," Junior offers quietly.
"Eh, it gets boring beating on Dickie pretty quickly anyway," Jason Todd says nonchalantly. Then he smirks. "Mostly 'cause he could never win in a fight."
"Take that back," Dick Grayson says.
Jason Todd laughs and starts walking faster. "Not a chance."
Dick Grayson speeds up to keep up with him, and Junior does the same.
"Take that back or else," Dick Grayson says.
"Or else what?" Jason Todd challenges.
"Or else…" Dick Grayson says, his voice trailing off slowly, then he grabs Jason Todd by the shoulders and wraps all the way around him. "Or else I'll never let you go from this hug!"
"Oh no, Dick's hugs, my worst nightmare!" Jason Todd complains, grinning all the while.
"Exactly! And you'll never escape my loving embrace until you admit I can fight you and win easily," Dick Grayson says.
"How can this be!" Jason Todd gasps. "My own big brother, betraying me with hugs!"
"Hug betrayal," Dick Grayson says, nodding sagely as he holds Jason Todd close. "The worst kind. Oh, what a fiend I am."
Jason Todd breaks out in laughter at that, and Dick Grayson is only a moment behind, happy chuckles spilling from both their mouths.
Junior feels his own mouth twitch and open in response to their clear joy.
But what comes out isn't exactly happy.
At the sound of the laugh Junior gives, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd break apart immediately, spinning to face Junior fully, already starting to fall into defensive poses, and then they seem to realize what's happening and wilt.
Junior clasps his hands over his mouth, trying to muffle the laughter that sounds just like Father's laughter, but it keeps coming, choking and wheezing its way out painfully.
"Aw, kid," Jason Todd says with sympathy.
"Sorry, hee, I'm, hee hee, I'm sorry," Junior manages to say between gagging laughs.
"You don't need to be sorry," Dick Grayson says. He pauses, then he says, "Is that laugh… Is that something you do naturally?"
Junior shakes his head miserably, still trying to pull the awful laughter back.
"It's something you were forced to do," Dick Grayson says in conclusion.
Junior nods, gagging out a few last cracked chuckles before falling silent. He doesn't trust himself to speak at the moment.
"Was it something trained or something more, I don't know, chemically-induced?" Dick Grayson asks.
"Dick," Jason Todd hisses, smacking Dick Grayson's shoulder again. "Don't pressure him. This isn't an interrogation!"
"I'm not trying to make it an interrogation," Dick Grayson says. "I'm trying to figure out how to fix this. If it was training, then it's a behavioral response, which needs a different way of helping him stop doing it than a chemical response would need."
Jason Todd pauses, hand raised for another smack. Slowly, he lowers his hand back to his side. "I guess that's fair."
"So. Training, chemicals, something else?" Dick Grayson asks. "Do you know?"
Junior hesitates, then he takes the chance on speaking. Thankfully, he doesn't laugh any more, and he's able to say, "Some of all of it?"
Dick Grayson nods thoughtfully. "Okay. Is it something you can do on command?"
Junior nods.
"It's clearly not something you can easily stop," Dick Grayson says.
Junior nods again.
"Maybe we could try teaching you how to laugh another way," Jason Todd suggests, looking deep in serious thought.
"I can laugh another way," Junior offers, half-hopeful to bring back the light mood from before he'd laughed. He concentrates, closing his eyes to go deep inside himself, to the place he goes when he's being Timothy. It's difficult work, doing that without Father's Jokerization methods to help him along the way to being disguised as Timothy. With focus, Junior finds that place inside himself where the idea of Timothy floats, and he nudges at it carefully. A moment later, out of his mouth spills a single high, clear giggle. "Ha!"
Junior opens his eyes quickly, hoping to see Dick Grayson and Jason Todd ready to laugh along.
Instead, they look thoughtful, just as serious as before.
"I mean, that did sound like a normal laugh," Dick Grayson says.
"Yeah," Jason Todd says. "More than normal. It almost sounded like a laugh I'd hear at one of B's stupid galas, like some high-society kid having fun."
Junior nods. "That's what it's supposed to sound like."
Dick Grayson frowns. "And why would it be supposed to sound like something we'd hear at a high-society party?"
"Because that's where I was supposed to laugh like that," Junior says. He thought that much was obvious.
Dick Grayson and Jason Todd exchange glances.
"Does Joker have a plot to infiltrate a gala or something?" Dick Grayson asks.
Now it's Junior's turn to frown. "No? He doesn't have to infiltrate. He's usually invited. So then we put on our fake-real selves and we go."
"Fake-real selves," Dick Grayson repeats. He looks sick.
Junior hopes he isn't actually sick. Junior keeps explaining, just in case that would help. "Yeah. So we have to be right-wrong in a different way, so I'm not being Joker Junior."
"When you're not Joker Junior, who are you instead?" Jason Todd asks urgently.
Junior blinks. He gives them his most winning, most pleasing, most clearly-I'm-a-just-sweet-rich-kid-without-a-care smile. "Why, I'm Timothy Drake, of course."