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“This wouldn’t have happened in Gotham.”
Dick stops at one of the landings in the stairwell leading up to their apartment, taking a moment to heave a sigh before looking down at Jason with a pointedly deadpan stare. Jason is similarly inscrutable despite his incessant complaints, meeting Dick’s gaze head-on with an impassivity to challenge him. There’s something like mirth in the light of Jason’s eyes though, in the small pull of his lips that gives him away and damn if it doesn’t break Dick down–easy as that.
The brat knows it, too, a playful and teasing smile escaping him before he has a chance to bite it back. It makes Dick roll his eyes, fond as he purposefully throws Jason upward so that Dick can readjust his hold on the boy. The sudden lack of support serves its purpose in getting Jason to startle, arms coming around Dick’s neck until Dick has Jason’s weight supported beneath Jason’s knees and along the boy’s back again.
When their eyes meet, Jason’s smile is a bit softer but still just as impish.
Dick huffs a breath of laughter and starts up the stairs again, “You’re being a real peach, princess.”
“I’m just saying.” Jason says, ornery as can be as he snickers. In the same breath, he reaches for the tote that slips from Dick’s shoulder, readjusting it so that their groceries don’t slip and add weight to Dick’s arms, occupied as they are by Jason. A thoughtlessly sweet gesture that gives Dick just enough patience to finish carting Jason up to the third floor.
What led up to this turn of events with Dick princess carrying Jason home? An opportunity. The opportunity? Jason (comically) tripping off the curb and (not so comically) twisting his ankle.
Impractical as it is to carry Jason like this, Dick really couldn’t help himself. Being able to sweep Jason off his feet and make him hide his face in his hands for the couple blocks they were away from their apartment, cheeks flushed and ears burning red—of course Dick was going to capitalize on that.
(Besides, deny it as he would—it’s not like Jason hasn’t been enjoying the spectacle and experience of being carted around like precious cargo).
Because Dick knows it will get a rise out of Jason, he intones, “Isn’t this just the new Alley?”
There’s something between revulsion and resentment in the sharp, severe look Jason shoots at him; so affronted by the comparison that he’s clearly beside himself with how to even respond. All Jason can manage to get out is a strangled, ‘what?’ followed by a genuinely vexed, ‘What?’
If only because Dick anticipates the fit, he accommodates for the way Jason turns in his arms, ready to throw hands. “‘The new Alley,’ oh my–you’re the worst. The worst!” Jason complains, so overwhelmed by the perceived insult that he doesn’t even finish his sentence, instead just cutting out with a wordless interjection of exasperated sound. It’s an active effort for Dick to bite back a smile in reply, but Jason sees it anyway and scowls.
“I’m just saying.” Dick says, all cheek.
“The actual worst, Dick.” Jason stresses, but it only makes Dick smile.
“Little wing–” He starts, only to be cut off by a petulantly interjected, ‘Little wing privileges lost,’ that has Dick rolling his eyes and shifting Jason’s weight. “Get the door, roomie.”
Before Jason even has a chance to fight it, he’s smiling. It’s still new: being roommates. Living together. Domestic cohabitation and all the thrills that come with it. It’s no different from how they were before, not really, but their home is smaller and they’re in a city all their own; it’s theirs and Dick can’t help but smile to himself at that, too.
It’s with an air of triumph and pride that Jason procures his key from his pocket. When he catches Dick looking at him with a similar sort of fulfillment, Jason flusters though - the tips of his ears burning as he contorts himself to unlock the door.
“Can’t believe you settled in Blud of all places, is all.” Jason says, redirecting focus because he still gets bashful when he’s leveled with anything that’s not vicious or volatile or violent. He’s gotten better with it because Dick is relentless with all his affections, but it’s a slow crawl - an uphill battle. Jason is just as relentless as Dick though; he’ll be alright.
When the lock clicks free, Jason shoves the door open. It always jambs on an uneven floorboard, so Dick shoulders it open just enough to squeeze the both of them through. Jason huffs again, bringing them back to the matter at hand, accusatory when he says, “To be stolen away here is a fucking crime.”
Because Jason always insists, Dick toes off his shoes at the entry without prompting before striding through their modest little home to drop Jason unceremoniously on the couch. “Huh. I stole you away?” He asks, depositing their groceries on the floor before taking a seat on the coffee table and taking Jason’s feet onto his lap so that Dick can take Jason’s boots off.
The help is something that Jason protests. When he tries to kick Dick away so that Jason can unlace his own boots though, he bumps his bad foot and he visibly pales as he grimaces, a shudder of pain racking up his spine. Dick takes Jason’s foot with minimal complaint after that.
“You sure did.” Jason tells him, a belated reply to distract from the discomfort of having his foot jostled as Dick unknots and loosens the laces enough to ease Jason’s boot off, followed by his sock. He leans back into the couch as Dick takes care of him, turning his head into the cushions as he looks at Dick, playfully ornery when he complains, “Prince Charming who? You shepherded me like treasure to a hoard, or a damsel to a tower–”
Dick huffs a laugh at that and asks, “So I’m the dragon in this analogy?”
“You sure are.” Jason says, toes curling when Dick thumbs along his swollen ankle, red with discoloration and the promise of bruising.
Dick flicks his gaze up from Jason’s ankle to meet Jason’s gaze, making pointed eye contact as he smirks. It makes Jason startle, then scowl with suspicion. Dick just smiles, lowering his gaze back to Jason’s foot. “Lucky for me you like dragons then, huh?” He asks, gingerly moving Jason’s foot to prop up on the coffee table as Dick stands. He gathers their groceries to put away and Jason’s boots to drop at the door. Before he’s out of Jason’s space though, Dick catches his gaze again and smirks, “What’s that book you just bought called?”
The blush is an immediate thing - from ear to neck and further. It probably says a lot about Dick that he likes it so much, that he likes being the cause of it more than anything.
“Okay, no.” Jason tells him, so embarrassed that it toes the line of mortification. He sits up, turning his body so that he can face wherever Dick goes as he tries to justify, “I was curious–”
Dick sets Jason’s boots at the door and bites back a cackle on his way to the kitchen to put their groceries away. “You read it in one sitting,” Dick points out, adding for good measure, “You took it on patrol–”
Jason groans, flopping over onto the couch and dragging a throw pillow over to hide beneath for good measure. He smiles though, a sputtered and flustered laugh escaping him as he bemoans, “Of all the books I read, why’s that the one you read over my shoulder?”
In Jason’s defense with all this, it was actually a good read.
As it stands though, Dick can’t not tease him, so he just snickers.
“Where’s my white knight? I gotta go.” Jason tells him, still giggling from where he hides on the couch, body contorted so that he doesn’t irritate his ankle. He pats about for his phone, drawing it from his pocket as he jokes, “Or maybe a dark knight–”
“Absolutely not.” Dick says and this time it’s Jason’s turn to snicker in response because the brat knows how to play him, too. Jason loves getting a rise out of Dick through Bruce. The kid is a menace.
“How about Tim?” Jason asks, readjusting the throw pillow for him to lay his head on. He twists around further, holding his phone over his face as he waffles with who else might get Dick to feel childishly possessive and territorial.
“How about no?” Dick counters, shamelessly playing into Jason’s teasing.
Jason beams, craning his head to look back at Dick. He grins, all teeth and bite when he taunts, “Aw, do you not want to share me?”
“I don’t.” Dick says, casual as can be as he finishes putting away their groceries. He pivots easily into getting ice for Jason’s ankle, smiling when he hears how Jason startles, then flusters - lowering himself back to the couch and beneath that pillow again.
“Shameless bastard.” Comes the muffled protest.
“The worst.” Dick jokes, making his way back to Jason with ice in hand. Their couch is small to accommodate for how small the apartment is, but Dick doesn’t mind it. He sits at the other end of the couch, pulling Jason’s legs around so that his bad ankle can be propped up on the pillow Dick rests over his lap.
“Yeah, the worst.” Jason says, fond as he sits himself up and leans into the arm of their loveseat, rearranging himself so that his ankle rests more comfortably over Dick’s lap. He jumps a bit when the cold touches his ankle, sensitive even with a towel acting as a buffer between ice and skin. Dick removes it briefly before resettling it, running the thumb of his other hand up the arch of Jason’s foot and squeezing comfortingly. Jason laughs to himself, curling his toes when he banters, “Guess it makes sense that you moved to Bludhaven.”
“You moved to Bludhaven, too.” Dick points out.
“No, I moved in with you.” Jason argues, lighthearted as he slouches into the couch. Despite the inconvenience of a twisted ankle, he looks content. Jason tucks his good foot between Dick’s thigh and the cushion and smiles, small and crooked, boyish and charming. “Completely different.”
There’s not a lick of awareness to this guy sometimes, but that’s okay. It’s as charming as it is endearing, honestly. The sentiment isn’t lost on Dick though. He doesn’t take it lightly that Jason chose to stay with Dick, that Jason chooses him time and again–persistently, ardently, unapologetically. Moving to a city with nothing but each other - it’s an adventure that Dick has been loving every moment of; he’s happy, so damn happy.
The inborn disdain Jason has towards Bludhaven is a Gotham thing that Dick will never not roll his eyes at. Bruce seems to get it. Tim, too. Dick is lost in the dark despite being raised in Gotham a good portion of his life though. He won’t breathe a word of it to any of them and risk a blood feud, but he genuinely believes the cities are more similar than they are different. Bludhaven might be a little worse off for the moment, but with some TLC from Nightwing and Robin that will hopefully change.
Open as Jason’s loathing towards this city is, Dick has already seen how Jason has begrudgingly grown attached. Jason is too kind not to. It’s just how he is to protect people that are hurting, to save people who are falling. Bludhaven will be brought to heel by Jason’s compassion alone, Dick is sure of it. He would know.
Sometimes Dick wonders how far Jason would go to follow him. In that same vein, Dick wonders how far he would go to keep Jason at his side. Dick runs his thumb gently over the arch of Jason’s foot again, a soft caress as he gets lost in his thoughts. Comfortable with the quiet that settles between them, content with just this–having Jason in his space, in his life.
When did Dick get to be so damn lucky?
“What’re you thinking, Blud boy?” Jason asks, curling his toes into Dick’s leg to draw his attention back. Dick shifts the ice on Jason’s ankle, gaze sweeping in time with the shiver that racks up Jason’s body from the cold. There’s nothing in Jason’s eyes but easy contentment and gentle warmth, tender and gentle. It’s intimate, breathtakingly so.
“That this wouldn’t have happened in Gotham.”
They’ve always worked best together like this: just them against the world. For a long time everything between them was temporary–a waiting game for Dick’s team to return, a waiting game for Dick, himself. For Jason. They’re finally together though, no obstacles; no more trials and tribulations that they have to go through alone. It’s them. Right here, like this. Dick isn’t going to waste that chance. He wants to make the most of every moment they have.
And Jason–he understands without Dick having to say anything more than that because he feels it, too. There’s agreement in the dip of Jason’s chin, the curl of his toes into Dicks leg and the barest of smiles that pulls at his lips. Full of awe and wonder and hope.
“It wouldn’t have.” Jason agrees, easy as anything before baring his teeth in a challenge that will never fail to light Dick up and make him want more. Jason scoffs, “That’s not a point for Bludhaven though; we could’ve had this anywhere.”
This: them.
Dick grins.
“So, uh. How much did you read?” Jason asks, nearly mumbling. The embarrassed flush is back, a faint dusting of pink across Jason’s face as he fidgets with the drawstring of his sweatshirt. It makes Dick smile.
“Enough to blush.” Dick teases, playfully ornery.
Jason groans in embarrassment, pulling his foot from beneath Dick’s leg, kicking at him to fully convey just how mortified he is. He slips down the loveseat, slouched to hide behind the pillow he holds and Dick laughs.