"First day jitters?" Dick asks sympathetically.
Jason pauses from packing his backpack (okay, re-re-re-re-packing his backpack, but how else is he supposed to know he has everything?). "What? No. Not a chance. Why'd you think that?"
"You've unpacked and re-packed your backpack about five times in the past five minutes we've been sitting in the entryway," Dick says.
Jason huffs and resumes packing his backpack again. "So what?"
Dick is quiet for a moment. "You know, it's okay to be nervous."
"I'm not nervous," Jason says.
"You've been gone for a while, so you'll have a lot to get used to again, and even with the cover story of a really bad car crash, people are sure to ask questions, so it's probably even normal to be nervous," Dick says.
"I'm not nervous!" Jason says fiercely.
Dick raises his eyebrows.
Jason sighs. The fierceness rushes out of him all at once, leaving him feeling deflated. "I'm a little nervous. But not just for me."
Dick waits, being more patient than he usually is.
"It's just… I can't bring Junior with me," Jason admits. "I've been with him practically non-stop since, you know, he came here, and I'm the one who found out about him in the first place so we could even rescue him and bring him here, and I feel responsible for him, and I'm going to be worrying about him the whole time. …Does that sound crazy?"
"Only in a normal way," Dick says.
Jason scowls at him. "How can something be crazy in a normal way?"
"Let me put it this way. If I had said, say, a year ago, that I worried about you whenever I left for Bludhaven, would you have called me crazy?" Dick asks.
"Yes," Jason says immediately. Then he pauses and gives Dick a side-glance. "What, you worry about me?"
"Only in the crazy-normal way siblings worry about each other while still driving each other up the walls," Dick says.
"Fair," Jason says. "'Cause, you do drive me up the walls."
"I was going to say you drive me up the walls," Dick says, and before Jason can respond to that, Dick stands, takes a running start, and does a flip off of the opposite wall. "Ta-da!"
"Applause, applause," Jason says dryly, distinctly not clapping.
"Thank you, thank you very much," Dick says, miming a deep bow. He comes back over and leans against the wall next to the bench Jason's sitting on. "So, yeah. I think it's normal, or at least it's okay."
They stay there in silence for a few moments, waiting for Bruce and Junior to come say goodbye, waiting for Alfred to bring the car around, waiting for something to break the quiet.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Jason asks eventually.
Dick smiles. "I think we'll do everything we can to make everything okay for him."
"That's not the same thing," Jason says.
Dick's smile thins a little. "No. No, it's not. But we can hope, and we can plan, and we can try our best. I mean, I'm here in the Manor for a reason, aren't I?"
"I thought you were here to eat Alfred's cooking and let me drive you up the walls," Jason says lightheartedly.
Dick laughs. "That too. But I'm also here as support."
That's when the front door opens, and Alfred looks in.
"As soon as you are ready, the car is ready as well," Alfred says, but he's looking around the entryway like he's not quite ready himself.
"Just a minute longer," Jason says, standing and stretching. "I think-"
"Wait!" Junior cries out, rushing into the entryway with Bruce a step behind him. "Please, wait, I haven't said goodbye yet!"
Jason gives a laugh that he hopes sounds more at ease than he actually feels. "I wasn't going to leave without that."
Junior skids to a stop. "Really?"
"Of course," Jason says. "I wanted to say goodbye to you too."
"Really?" Junior repeats.
"Yeah, kid," Jason says.
"Oh," Junior breathes. He straightens up as tall as he can. "I hope you have a good first day back at school."
"I hope you have a good day, too," Jason says, patting Junior on the shoulder.
Junior beams at him. "Goodbye!"
"Bye," Jason says, trying to ignore the lump that's forming in his throat. "Bye, Junior. Bye, Dick. Bye, Bruce."
"You'll do great!" Dick says.
"Text us if you need anything at any time," Bruce says. "We'll have it covered, just keep it covered from your end."
A little confused, because normally Bruce reinforces the school's "keep your phone away during class policy," Jason nods, resists the urge to rearrange his school things in his backpack one more time, shrugs his backpack onto his shoulders instead, and follows Alfred out the door.
They chat a little as Alfred drives, nothing serious, just small talk, mostly. But when Alfred pulls up in front of the school, Jason goes quiet, trying to calm his nerves.
"Master Jason?" Alfred says.
Jason looks up. "Yeah, I know, we're here, I'll go."
"That is not what I was about to say," Alfred says, not unkindly. "Rather, we will watch out for your younger brother for you."
Jason blows out a long breath. "Okay. Here I go."
His homeroom teacher smiles at him when she takes roll, and surprisingly, when Jason's phone dings a few minutes later, during announcements, she doesn't call him for pulling it out of his pocket. Usually, she's a stickler for students not being on devices during class.
"If I could just-" Jason begins, holding his phone up questioningly.
"All the teachers were informed that your family would be wanting to check on you throughout the day," the teacher says, instead of scolding him. "It's understandable, given the circumstances, so we'll allow it this first day."
Jason blinks at her. "Oh. Thanks."
He unlocks his phone and glances at the text notification, which is from Bruce.
"Having breakfast!" It reads, and the accompanying photo when Jason scrolls down is of Dick and Junior over a platter of pancakes. Dick has a dab of whipped cream on one finger, and he's smearing it on Junior's nose. Junior has gone cross-eyed to try to look at his own nose. They're both grinning.
Jason realizes faintly that he's grinning too.
Throughout the day, Jason's phone dings intermittently, and his teachers allow him to check it every time. Jason has never been so grateful for Bruce's ability to plan ahead, which is certainly part of what is allowing Jason to get away with using his phone in class, and he's also never been so grateful for Bruce's massive wealth and tendency to donate to places like Jason's school, which is also certainly a big part of what is allowing this to happen.
Each time his phone goes off with a notification, Jason looks at it.
There's a picture of Alfred and Junior sitting on the couch, with Junior's eyes closed and his face at peace as he leans into Alfred's side.
There's a picture of Dick and Junior practicing the beginner's gymnastics moves Dick has been teaching Junior.
There's a picture of Bruce's hand on Junior's shoulder, Junior slightly turned back toward him with a shy grin.
Over and over, it's a picture of something good, usually with a short text explaining it.
At the end of the day, though, when Jason's in the line outside of school waiting for Alfred to get him, the notification is not a picture. It's just a text.
It's a text that reads, "Junior says, 'Tell Jason his little brother had a good day and hopes he had a good day too, okay?'"
Jason cheers inwardly, resolving to give his little brother lots of hugs and praises as soon as he gets home. Because yes, they both had a good day.