Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dick was deeply asleep, so deep that he wasn’t having any sort of dream and for a moment, too knocked out to hear an upset Jason across the hall.

But a particularly loud sob had him sitting straight up in bed, his blue comforter falling down to his waist. He took a moment to listen, just to make sure that what he heard was real and not a figment of his imagination or something Tim was blaring on the television.

“…Mmm.” Came a little whine followed by a sniffle just loud enough for Dick to hear.

He hopped out of bed at hearing the little broken cry, he was no longer half asleep, and was instead fully focused on getting Jason.

Jason, of course, being Jason Todd. 6’2, ripped, and a stone cold killer of men.

Also, a baby. Sometimes.

His age range was pretty wide, it usually fell between one and six, but it only went past 4 if he was around Tim or Damien, since he refused to “act like a baby” around them.

He was more himself around Bruce, acting however old he felt, he even referred to Bruce as “Daddy” or more rarely, “Dada”, which embarrassed him horribly when he went back to being big.

But when it was just him and Dick… well, Jason didn’t have to hold back in the slightest. Dick had always been the most kindhearted one of the bunch; most would blame it on his being the oldest and therefore the most inclined to be responsible.

But Jason knew Dicks personality was just like that; gentle and patient. He was parental in a different way than Bruce. While Bruce tended to be more distant and often allowed Jason to figure things out for himself, like when he let Jason jump off the couch, which ended with a bruised knee that Dick bandaged up, Dick was just all around sweet.

He comforted Jason, put up with his clingy and defiant behavior; since he understood that Jason was still a grown man, he was able to add layers to the way he treated Jason. Not just treating him like any other toddler, but specifically his little brother.

Dick walked down the hall, wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants and some white socks, he ducked into Jason’s room and once his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, he couldn’t help but coo.

“Hey, bro.” Dick said, his voice low and raspy from sleep, but supremely gentle. He watched his step as he traversed the toy covered floor, almost slipping on a toy car.

Jason was sitting up, gripping his teddy bear themed comforter with both hands. He was sniffling loudly and starting to cry harder now that he could see Dick, whom he wanted so bad.

“Duh- D,” Jason hiccuped, trying to say his big brothers name, as he looked up at him like he was the only thing in the world.

Dick came over and sat on the edge of the bed, he yawned, which turned into a concerned facial expression as he put a large, warm hand on one of Jason’s fists.

“Bub, shh.” He tried to speak, but his comfort was drowned out by Jason’s deep, gut wrenching sobs. “Jay- okay, come here.”

Dick adjusted his own posture before reaching over to help Jason clammer out from under his blankets and into Dicks lap. Dick leaned him back and cradled him, much like a mother would her baby. He took his free hand and alternated between rubbing and patting Jason’s stuttering, t-shirt covered chest.

“Hey, hey- breathe. Look at me, Jay.” He raised his eyebrows.

Jason quieted down ever so slightly and groaned as he looked up at Dick. He frowned and tried to inhale smoothly, but instead started to rapidly attempt to inhale.

Dick shook his head. “No, look- copy me. In,” he inhaled slowly. “Out.” He exhaled and wiped a few tears from Jason’s red face.

Jason was finally able to take a deep breath, and then exhale like Dick. Which Dick was quick to praise.

“Oh, good boy.” Jason’s cries quieted exponentially at those words. “Hey, why’s your blankie on the floor?” Dick continued, mostly to himself since he knew Jason wouldn’t answer. He leaned down and picked it up, laying it on the bed beside them.

“Are you okay, Jaybird?” He wondered, still patting Jason’s quickly rising and falling chest.

Jason blinked rapidly, he sat up in Dicks lap and shoved his wet face into Dicks neck, mumbling something the older man couldn’t make out.

“What was that?” He asked, adjusting himself and Jason, so that the younger man was comfortably straddling him.

Jason whined, wishing Dick was wearing a shirt so he could cutch onto it. “Sleepy!”

Dick smirked a bit and nodded seriously. “Yeah, well, it is three in the morning. What happened, hmm?” He crooned, rocking Jason slightly.

Jason calmed exceptionally well, melting into Dicks arms and chest. He seemed like he was trying to stay awake, form coherent thoughts, and speak all at the same time. Which was difficult now that he was in his big brother’s arms, warm, safe and very, very sleepy.

“W-Wanted Dickie.” He said plainly, not caring how pathetic it might seem to anyone else.

Dick cooed, he loved when Jason was open like this. Jason was the second oldest brother and had always attempted to be the most hardcore and stoic one, especially around Bruce and his brothers, which only ever worked if they were out fighting a villain.

Otherwise, they all knew when he’d be getting close to regressing, he’d be emotional and defensive, even more so than usual, but the biggest tell Jason had, was that he’d be practically attached to Dicks hip, following him around like a puppy or duckling.

And the past couple of days, he’d definitely been stuck to his older brother. Wanting to go everywhere with him, including even patrol, which was something he almost always did alone.

“Here I am. Did something scare you?” He gently asked, wanting to make sure nothing was continuing to bother his baby brother.

Jason sniffed and he scooted even closer to Dicks chest, if that was possible, whining softly.

“Darkkk.” He whimpered, his voice getting higher and more shaky, like he was about to start crying again which Dick wouldn’t have.

“Aww, oh buddy. I see.” Apparently the Superman themed nightlight next to his bed hadn’t been bright enough for Jason’s comfort.

Dick thought for a moment, he’d never done this before, but it felt right, and he had a pretty good feeling that Jason wouldn’t reject it. “I have an idea, Jay.”

Jason pulled away from Dicks bare shoulder and furrowed his brows. Dick leaned forward and rubbed his nose on Jason’s nose, which had the man confusedly blushing and Dick snickering in response.

“What if.. you slept in Dickies bed tonight?”

Jason’s cheeks darkened even more than they already were, but he couldn’t hide the excitement that flashed behind his eyes.

It was embarrassing, yes, for him to be in his twenties and still wanting to “have a sleepover” with his big brother, but screw that, he was scared of the dark!

He brought a hand up to his mouth and shoved a finger past his lips, Dick tutted but let him do it for now.

“In Dickies bed?” He mumbled around his finger, obviously getting excited. “With Dickie?” He clarified, not wanting to be mooched out of getting put to bed by his big bro.

“Yes, sir.” Dick whispered, laughing a bit as he ruffled Jason’s hair. “Would you like that?”

Jason nodded enthusiastically, practically jumping out of Dick’s lap and almost bolting to Dick’s room, before Dick caught his hand. The older man smiled, Jason was real cute when he was like this, and Dick couldn’t get enough.

“Hold on, honey.” Dick gently tugged Jason back in front of him and wordlessly pulled his sweatpants and the waistband of his pull-up back, peering in to check.

“Nooo-“ Jason tried to turn around and weasel out of Dicks hold, but Dick held him strongly in place.

Before Jason went to bed the previous night, Dick had a feeling that Jason was going to wake up little, so he made sure Jason wore a pull-up. Jason was obviously young enough to wear diapers and even when he was on the higher end of the age spectrum, Dick liked to be safe and keep him in one. Plus, he thought Jason looked cute and it kept Jason feeling little longer.

“Slow down, dude.” Dick had Jason turn to face him and he spoke softly. “I’m going to change your diaper and then we will go to my room, okay?”

Jason’s red face scrunched up like he was about to burst into tears and shook his head. “Your room nowww.”

“Yes, honey, right after this. You can’t stay in a wet pull-up, buddy.” Dick hated to see him cry, but he had to change him, so he tugged his wet pull-up and sweatpants down, making Jason let out a frustrated sob.

“I know, baby. I’m sorry, just one minute.”

Dick frowned and laid him backwards onto the bed before reaching over and grabbing a diaper decorated with stars.

“You’re mean.” Jason pouted and covered his face with his arms, mostly just because he was embarrassed by his current position.

Dick sighed as he grabbed a baby wipe from the nightstand and cleaned Jason up, standing in between his knees to make sure Jason couldn’t suddenly roll over.

“Here’s your blankie, Jay.”

He then reached over and grabbed Jason’s blankie, putting it next to Jason’s head so he could rub his face on it, like he always did when he was sleepy. He lifted Jason’s hips and slipped the diaper under him, quickly taping it up.

“Dickies bed.” Jason sat up and made a slight grabby hand for Dick, which Dick aww’d at and swooped him up for a hug.

“I thought I was a meanie? I’m sure you don’t want to sleep in a meanies bedroom.” Dick couldn’t help himself, he had to tease the kid just a little bit.

Jason shook his head and pulled away from the hug, his eyebrows furrowed in guilt and worry.

“You’re not mean, you’re the b-best big brother e-ever.“ His little voice cracked a little, as if he were about to cry.

Dick felt his heart well up with a warmth that could only be described as adoration. He quickly smiled and pet his hair.

“Oh yeah?” He asked with a smirk and Jason quickly nodded.

“Y-yeah.” He whimpered, his bottom lip wobbling.

“Aw, thank you, bub.” He leaned forward to kiss Jasons temple. “Hey, you want to pick out some pajamas?”

“Wa-wan’ some like yours.” Jason pouted and pointed to Dicks sweatpants.

Dick smirked at Jason’s little lie, he always had to at least act like he didn’t want to be totally babied by Dick.

“Hmm, but mine are boring. Don’t you want to wear dinosaurs, orrr your Wonder Woman ones?” He coaxed with a sly smile and Jason’s eyes immediately lit up, he nodded and pulled on Dick’s arm.

“Wonder Woman!”

Dick thought about how badly Diana would freak out if she saw how much little Jason was obsessed with her. One day he’d convince Jason to go with him and Bruce to visit the justice league so she could coo at him all day.

Dick went to Jason’s dresser and picked out the pajama set, bright blue with little Wonder Woman logos scattered across the top and pants.

“Arms up!” Jason listened and raised his arms, Dick was quick to remove his shirt and to button up the new, softer one. “Good job.”

Jason bit his lip and looked up at Dick with big eyes, but stayed quiet while Dick helped him into his pants, which did little to hide his diaper.

Dick smiled at his little brother, who looked especially little in his current attire. Jason grabbed Dicks hand and bounced sleepily on his heels.

“Your room!” He demanded and then looked to Dick before shyly looking away. He suddenly remembered what Dick had taught him about asking nicely. “U-um, p’ease?” He yawned and Dick thought his chest would explode from how sweet Jason sounded.

“Hey, good manners.” He praised and Jason basked in it. “Of course we can go.” He took Jason’s hand and led him down the hall into Dicks room, where Jason immediately jumped on the bed and squirmed under the blankets.

“Dickie! Lay down!”

Dick nodded and yawned but didn’t immediately go over. “Don’t you want your blankie? We left it in your room, bubby.”

For a split second, Jason wanted to say no, to curse Dick out for asking him such an infantile question, but he caught himself. He knew where he was, and he knew how safe he was. Dick might tease him a bit when he’s feeling bigger, but it was all due to love, since Jason knew Dick truly loved him.

“I.. wan’ blankie.” He mumbled as he ducked under the covers, suddenly shy.

“Sure thing, bud.” Dick smiled warmly and ran back to Jason’s room, snatching up the light blue soft blanket covered with yellow ducks, and walked back in, smiling at the sight of the big strong Jason Todd hiding under a blanket.

“Hmm. I could’ve sworn my little brother was somewhere around here.” His grin stretched wider as he heard little giggles from under the sheets.

“Like riiight over..” Dick slowly walked closer to the edge of the bed and leaned down, right about where he thought Jason’s face was.

“Here.” He poked Jason’s forehead, not wanting to yell and scare the man. Jason erupted into a fit of giggles as Dick pulled the blanket down.

“D-Dickie!”

Dick nodded. “I know, I’m so silly.” He smiled. “Sit up, bub.”

Jason quickly sat up and let Dick drape the blanket over his shoulders. “Thank you.” Jason said, surprisingly sincerely.

“Anytime, Jay.” Dick cooed and jumped in next to his little brother, who wasn’t all that little physically.

“I’m in Dickies bed!” He giggled and squirmed around, kicking the mattress happily.

Dick shook his head and laughed. “You are. Sleepy boy, close your eyes.”

“Are you s’eepy?” Jason asked, throwing himself backward onto a pillow, lying like Dick was, which Dick inwardly laughed at; little Jason was such a cute copycat.

“I’m a little sleepy.” Dick nodded, yawning and just waiting for Jason to follow suit.

“I’m s’eepy too!” He said through an adorable yawn.

Dick quietly laughed, Jason was adorably predictable. Dick knew Jason would admit to being exhausted if Dick said he was first.

“G’night.” Jason said, his voice losing the childish excitement in exchange for a deep, sleepy tone instead.

“Night, bro.”

They were fast sleep when Bruce and the other boys got home. Bruce passed by Dicks room and peered in, lingering in the doorway for a moment since he knew no one would catch him. He couldn’t wait until morning, Jason would be happy to see him, and Bruce would be able to feel some relief about his relationship with Jason.

After Bruce walked off, Tim and Damien passed by at the same time. Normally, they mercilessly teased both of their older brothers about this, calling Dick a mother hen and Jason a baby. But, they all loved each other, it just so happened that they all had a funny way of showing it.

“And you’re tellin’ me that guy kills people?” Tim whispered to Damien, eyeing Jason who was sucking his thumb on one hand, and with his free one he was gripping one of Dicks hands.

“He’s father’s favorite. He better not act like that on patrol or I’ll kick his ass.” Damien acted rough and annoyed at Jason’s perceived “weakness”, but everyone knew how much he cared for Jason, no matter how much they fought.

All through the night Jason inched closer to Dick, until by the next morning, he was basically draped on top of him.

Dick woke up to a messy head of black hair on his chest. He sat up slightly and smelled pancakes, silently cheering about it as he looked down at Jason who had somehow pushed his pants down and his shirt up just enough for his diaper to be clear as day.

Dick cooed and reached a hand down to Jason’s bottom and gently squeezed the back of the diaper. He was dry, which Dick figured anyways since he changed him out of that pull-up only 4 hours prior.

He could hear the sounds of Tim and Damien arguing and then promptly shutting up once Bruce grumbled.

Right on cue, Jason started to wake. He yawned and stretched but stayed on Dicks chest.

“Hey, buddy. You okay?” Dick said, voice dripping with positivity.

Jason sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Hi, Dickie.” He still appeared like he was half asleep, which made Dick chuckle. His hair was sticking up in all directions, especially the white pieces in the front.

Dick got out of bed and went to grab a blue t-shirt that was lying on his chair. Jason watched him, blinking slowly and not saying a word.

“You want some pancakes?”

That got Jason’s attention, he finally snapped his eyes fully open and nodded, climbing out from under the covers to let his legs hang off the edge, bouncing excitedly before he calmed himself.

“Umm. Are you gonna have some?”

This was another thing that Dick (and everyone else) found absolutely adorable. Jason wanted to be like Dick so very much when he was like this. He copied the way he walked, the things he would say, and sometimes wouldn’t do something unless Dick did it too.

It was so different from the closed off and annoyed Jason that they’d all grown to love.

“Yeah, bro! Bruce’s pancakes are the best.” He slipped on the shirt and made his way back to the bed, looking down at Jason and grinning widely.

Jason returned the grin and stood up, grabbing Dicks hand. They almost made it out of Dicks bedroom, when Jason stopped.

“Timmy and Damien are here.” He said and Dick knew he was suddenly feeling embarrassed by the way he bit his lip and the pleading tone in his voice.

Dick furrowed his brows. “They live here, baby. And they love you. They just like to tease you, they do it to me too.”

“Don’ like it.” Jason pouted, looking down at his clothes with a worried expression. Dick acted quickly, he did not want to change Jason out of his pajamas already, he looked so cute and happy.

“Hey, I’ll take care of them. They won’t be mean to you, especially not when Bruce is around.”

“Daddy…” Jason thought out loud as his face turned red once he realized his words. “Okay.”

“Let’s go eat some pancakes.”

Chapter Text

As they walked down the hall, the sounds of the kitchen became louder and clearer. Pots clanging and Tim shouting nothing understandable, probably in an attempt to annoy Damien. Jason held onto Dick and tried to see around the corner, Dick just smirked and shook his head.

Once they rounded the corner, Bruce looked up from his position at the stove flipping pancakes, to give Jason a huge, fatherly, warm chest feeling inducing smile.

“Hey, it’s my favorite little boy.” He said with his deep voice, although it was noticeably softer as he set down the spatula and walked over to the men.

At his words all the men except for Jason rolled their eyes, and threw up their hands, Dick doing so lovingly.

“Thanks, bats.” That was Tim, snarking playfully at Bruce’s little “favorite” comment.

“Yeah, father.” Damien enunciated with an eyebrow raised in annoyance.

Bruce cleared his throat, now wearing his usual scowl. “I said ‘little’ boy.”

Jason blushed bright pink and tried to fight the giant grin making its way onto his face as Bruce pulled him away from Dick and into his large chest, asking him if he slept good and frowning when he said he got scared.

“Was scared.” Jason pouted and Bruce made an overly dramatic sympathetic face, cooing.

“You were?” Jason nodded. “What scared you?”

Jason’s face grew hotter as a deep blush colored his cheeks. He looked as if he was terribly embarrassed to admit whatever had him on edge the previous night.

“It was kinda dark in my room.” He whispered, not even Dick heard it.

Bruce clicked his tongue. “Didn’t I just get you a nightlight?” He asked, concerned, and then turned to Dick. “Was it plugged in, Dick?”

“Yeah, it was on. I think somebody just didn’t want to be alone.” He grinned. Tim giggled, which had Jason’s eyes widening in minor embarrassment. “I’ll get him a brighter lamp or something later.”

Bruce nodded as he got lost in thought while he pushed a few pieces of Jason’s messy hair back and away from his forehead.

“I didn’t cry or nothin’.” Jason added lowly, his voice raspy and childishly pouty.

Dick silently chuckled at the lie. Jason and Bruce were very close now, and Jason trusted him with most things. But he still wanted Bruce (and Tim and Damien) to think he wasn’t a complete total baby. For now, that side of him was entrusted solely to Dick.

Bruce gasped and lifted Jason’s chin so he would be looking directly into Bruce’s blue eyes, which were soft and fatherly instead of their usual harsh and cold appearance.

“What a brave boy you are. Wanna help Daddy flip pancakes?”

Jason lit up. He bounced on his heels, clutching Bruce’s black pajama shirt in his hand. “Really?! Yuuuusssssss!”

While Jason was preoccupied with that, Dick went to the bar where Tim and Damien were sitting and leaned in close.

“Guys- so like, Jason is really nervous and he hasn’t been this little in so long, and he needs it. I just worry that if you both tease him-“

Tim’s eyes widened at Dicks speed of speech as he laughed. “Okay, okay. Jeez, I won’t make fun of your precious, fragile baby. Too much.” He winked, but Dick nodded thankfully, then turned expectantly to Damien.

“Oh- yes. I won’t tease him, unless he teases me first.” The youngest boy raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips.

Dick snorted, Damien was such a hardass. “He’s like a toddler. He won’t tease you.”

“Better not.”

Dick rolled his eyes and shook his head, amused by his family dynamic. He supposed they were all crazy in some way or another. That was fine, they could deal with crazy.

“Daddy, guess what.” Jason’s voice was excited and so innocent sounding, Bruce smiled wider at it. Jason spoke the “daddy” part a bit quietly though, just because he didn’t want Tim to hear and make a joke.

“I don’t know, kiddo. What?” Bruce asked as he fed into Jason’s eager voice by acting just as eager to hear Jason’s big news.

Jason shuffled on his socked feet and giggled. “I slept in Dickies bed last night!”

Bruce dropped his jaw and raised his eyebrows, his face morphed into a cartoonish expression of shock.

“Oh you did, did you?” Jason nodded, proud. “Wow, that’s very cool, Jason.”

Jason squealed quietly, he looooved when Bruce or Dick would seem impressed or proud of him, it was his favorite drug of choice.

“Oh- B, you’re burning that pancake.” Dick said, pointing to a small tower of smoke that started to rise from the stove.

“Shit- shoot.” Bruce corrected himself as he quickly turned around and groaned as he flipped the totally black circle onto the counter before pouring a new pancake on the griddle.

Dick grabbed the blackened breakfast food and tossed it onto Damien’s plate with a daring look.

“I’ll give you 50 cents to eat it.”

Damien scoffed. “The hell? I’m not doing that for 50 cents. Why would I need 50 cents in the first place?”

Dick thought for a minute. “Okay, just a bite.”

Jason, overhearing the conversation, suddenly felt left out and stuck himself to Dicks side. Dick smiled at him and brushed his hair back.

“Hey, big guy.”

Jason shyly smiled and avoided eye contact with the other two men across from him. It wasn’t like he was scared of them, he was still Jason Todd, but vulnerability wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

Damien looked down at the charred thing on his plate and grimaced then sent a glance towards Jason.

“Have Todd eat it.”

Damien rolled his eyes when Jason immediately went to reach for Damien’s plate and Dick grabbed his hand.

“Why-“ Jason looked at Dick with a pout and confused eyes, Dick was quick to clarify.

“No, no that’s yucky.” He turned to Damien with a ‘seriously?’ glare. “I just said not to tease him.”

Damien huffed. “That wasn’t teasing. I was involving him.”

“Bullshit.” Tim smacked his shoulder, his eyes wide in eager anticipation. “You’re stalling. Do it. You can wash it down with orange juice.”

“One bite. That is all.” Damien conceded, just this once, since he was still a young man and was allowed to be an idiot like his brothers.

All the boys nodded, even Jason. Although, he only did it because Dick did.

Damien took a bite and harshly swallowed it before chugging his orange juice. “Ugh!”

Tim and Dick both burst into laughter, seeing the normally uptight Damien practically choke on a pancake was too perfect. Jason giggled at the expression on Damien’s face and Tim softly smiled at him, making Jason look away shyly.

Dick fished through his sweatpant pockets and pulled out 50 cents, at which Damien scoffed.

“Keep your damn pocket change, Grayson.”

Tim laughed mischievously and snatched it out of Dicks palm.

Dick sighed, wiping away a tear from laughing so hard. “Alright, little wing. Do you want apple juice or chocolate milk?”

“Umm.” Jason looked around, shy and not wanting Damien to hear. “Chocolate-“

“Chocolate milk. Why did I even ask? Silly Dickie.” He smiled as he completed Jason’s sentence and went to the fridge, with Jason following close behind, now with a tight grip on his shirt.

It was such an amusing sight, as well as heartwarming, to see Red Hood clinging to his big brother and wearing what looked like children’s pajamas. One that Tim thought he would never get used to, but seeing Jason in the kitchen with Bruce and Dick, it just kinda made sense.

“Dickie, I wanna sit by you.” He pulled on Dicks shirt a few times to emphasize his point.

“You can sit by me. Why don’t you go sit at the table? I’ll be right there.” Dick pointed over to the large table just outside of the kitchen and Jason shook his head, pulling Dicks shirt tighter.

Dick nodded, getting the message, and poured chocolate milk into Jason’s blue Nightwing themed sippy cup, which the other men rolled their eyes at.

“Really, Grayson? Self promotion in the home? Damien asked, his voice dripping with judgement and distain.

Dick sighed as he handed the sippy to Jason, who took it, not drinking from it yet since he was shy about it. Dick whipped his head around to Damien.

“I’ll have you know that my little buddy here happens to be a Nightwing fan. Right, bub?”

“Nightwings cool.” Jason nodded and shoved his face into Dicks shoulder from behind, embarrassed about admitting his admiration, which Dick thought was cute.

“Not as cool as you.” Dick put on a baby voice and cooed. “You’re the coolest little superhero ever, aren’t you?

“Diiickie.” Jason whined, embarrassed. “‘M not little.” He huffed, a tinge of his regular deep voice appearing.

Damien scoffed as he looked at Dick. “Oh, so you can tease him but we can’t.”

Dick just winked at him with a smirk, walking to the table with Jason in tow. Bruce had been cutting up a stack of chocolate chip pancakes for Jason and brought the plastic dinosaur plate over to Dick.

“That’s mine, Daddy.” Jason said, trying to get Bruce’s attention. He furrowed his brows and pointed to himself, confused. He tried to take the plate from Dicks hands and pouted when Dick moved the plate out of reach. “Hey!”

Bruce chuckled. “Yes, it is. But you’re not quite old enough to feed yourself, baby.”

Jason’s eyes widened and he covered his face with his hands. “‘M old enough.” He mumbled to Dick with big puppy eyes, who just smiled knowingly and stabbed a piece of pancake.

“Look, here comes superman!”

Jason’s hunger overwhelmed his argumentative nature, and he immediately opened his mouth and happily chewed on his fluffy pancake. Dick chuckled at Bruce’s annoyed huff at the superman comment.

Once Jason had cleared his plate and chugged down his chocolate milk, he turned to Dick, who smiled and took a napkin, cleaning Jason’s chocolate covered face.

“H-hey, I can do ittt.” Jason whined as he ducked away, but Dick caught his chin and clicked his tongue.

“Jay,” he started, a bit gentler than before. “I know you can, but it’ll be faster if I do it.”

Tim held back a teasing remark, something about poor little Jason or Dick being too tough on the kid. He’d save it for when Jason was feeling bigger.

Bruce had already gone into his room, presumably to shower and sleep until around 7 that night. But Jason hadn’t seen him leave, which ignited his first upset of the day.

“Where’s Daddy? Daddy left already? He didn’t say bye, Dickie.” Jason rambled, his eyes widening as he stood up from the table and looked into the now empty kitchen.

Jason got upset anytime Bruce left without saying bye, it was mostly out of fear that he wouldn’t see him again, but today it was because he wanted to hang out with Bruce since the older man was actually going to be home all day.

Dick stood up from his seat and tried to get Jason to calm down, telling him that Bruce hadn’t left, he was just in his room getting ready to sleep.

“No, dude. He’s not gone, he’s in his room. Come on, I’ll prove it.” He took Jason’s hand and started leading him down the opposite hallway, once they got close enough, they could hear the shower running.

“DADDY!” Jason practically screeched and Dick winced, chuckling at Jason’s eagerness to see his adoptive father.

“Jason, don’t scare him.” Dick lightly scolded, which had Jason stomping one foot. “Bruce, he’s fine. He just wanted to know you were still here.” Dick clarified through the door.

The shower shut off immediately as they stood outside the bathroom door, with Jason whining and dramatically sniffling loud enough for Bruce to move quickly in concern.

He opened the bathroom door and a cloud of steam rolled out. He just had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his hair still had soapy shampoo suds in it.

“What’s wrong with Jason?” Bruces voice was deep as he spoke, looking over Jason for signs of injury.

“He just thought you left. I tried to tell him you didn’t,” He looked at Jason’s pouty and red face, giving him a small parental peck on forehead, which had Jason gripping Dicks hand tighter. “But somebody was a little stubborn about seeing his Daddy.”

“You missed me, baby?” Bruce cooed, laughing a bit as Jason blushed, but nodded emphatically.

He’d never tell, but he loved to be called baby; only by Dick and Bruce! Tim and Damien said it teasingly, while the older men meant it to be a reminder and comforting. Well, Dick teased him sometimes; he couldn’t help it.

Jason looked into Bruce’s eyes and frowned. He was much too upset to be embarrassed about what he was doing. “Yeah. Stay with me.”

Dick shook his head. “Jay, he’s taking a shower. Let’s wait until he’s done.”

Jason frowned deeper, it wasn’t everyday that Bruce was home and awake during the day, especially when Jason was feeling tiny.

“But- Daddy?” He pleaded. “Daddy’s never home.” He mumbled with puppy eyes.

Dick knew it was over and Jason had won, his puppy eyes were probably the deadliest things about him, rivaling even his weapon collection.

Bruce looked at Dick with a straight face. “Dick, go make sure Tim and Damien don’t kill each other. Jay can stick with me for a while.”

Dick tried to hide his smile, Bruce was a softie.

“Sure.” He turned to ruffle Jason’s hair. “See ya, bub.”

“Bye Dickie.”

Once Dick walked out, Bruce patted Jason’s shoulder.

“Go sit on my bed while I rinse off.” He turned, furrowing his brows when Jason sat right outside the bathroom door instead. “The floor isn’t as comfortable as my bed, kid.”

“‘M okay.” Jason mumbled, stretching his long legs out in front of him, fiddling with his pajama shirt.

Bruce didn’t push it, Jason was preoccupied by quietly singing a little song while unbuttoning and then rebuttoning his shirt.

So, Bruce quickly rinsed his hair out and got dressed into his black sweats and black t-shirt that seemed to be too tight around his biceps. He leaned down and lifted a surprised Jason up from the floor and into his arms with a groan.

“Come on, tough guy.” He poked Jason’s nose, making him grin and then promptly hide his face in Bruce’s shoulder. “Somebody needs to get out of his pajamas.”

“I like these pajamas.” Jason huffed against the fabric of Bruce’s shirt, amusingly defensive.

“Oh, me too. But if you’re going down to the bat cave with me, you need to get dressed.”

Jason gasped and straightened his back to look Bruce in the eye. “Bat cave?! Let’s go!”

Jason loved being apart of the whole “crime fighting” thing when he was big, but when he was feeling little, it was the coolest thing ever and yet another reason why he thought Bruce and Dick were the coolest.

It was also the source of a few tearful bouts whenever Dick would tell Jason that he couldn’t go out on patrol while little. But Jason had never gotten too upset about it, never enough to throw a full on tantrum. (Yet).

Bruce chuckled. “Like I said, let’s get you dressed first.” He started to walk out the door, still holding Jason like a toddler.

Jason blushed at the idea of his younger brothers seeing him like that, but then Bruce started to rub a soothing hand up and down Jason’s broad back.

“I- I can walk.” Jason said, mostly out of obligation since he was in fact a grown man.

Bruce nodded. “I’m aware.” He walked out into the living room where Jason sighed in relief upon seeing that none of his brothers were in there.

Once they got into Jason’s messy room, Bruce clicked his tongue. “Doesn’t Dick ever tell you to clean your room? It’s a mess.”

He was right. There were toys and coloring books along with pencils and crayons all scattered around, not to mention all the sheets on his bed were crumpled and thrown into the floor, due to his nightmare the previous night.

Jason huffed as Bruce set him on his feet. “Well, if I wait him out long enough, Dickie will clean it for me.”

Bruce smirked. “Smarty pants. What do you want to wear?” He went to Jason’s closet and pushed a few hangers to the side as Jason hummed.

“That one.” He pointed to one of the most passing for a grownup shirt. A black t-shirt with a monster truck on the front, which, along with all of his other clothes, Dick bought for him, with Bruce’s money of course.

Bruce took it off the hanger and turned to see Jason tugging on his pajama top. Bruce chuckled.

“Let me help you with that.” He slipped the shirt off of Jason, not even unbuttoning it. He pushed the new one over Jason’s head. “Stick your arms in.”

Once he had the shirt on, Jason started to look at all the toys on the floor, getting distracted. At least until Bruce pulled his pajama pants down to his ankles.

Jason blushed, Dick and Bruce probably didn’t even mean to make him feel younger when they did that, but it very much did. Standing in only a childish t-shirt and diaper, it was hard for him to not feel more vulnerable.

“How’s that diaper?” Bruce pulled Jason closer and checked the back of his diaper. Jason gasped and Bruce allowed him to pull away once he was sure it wasn’t wet.

Bruce hardly ever changed Jason, only when Dick wasn’t home, which wasn’t often when Jason was little.

“Daddy! I’m not a baby.” He stomped, pulling his shirt down with a red face.

“I know that, kiddo.” He turned and grabbed some dark gray cargo pants and helped Jason step into them. “Where are your red sneakers?” He asked, buttoning Jason’s pants.

“Oh- I know!” Jason was quick to run over to his bed, looking under it and snatching the sought after sneakers. “Got em.”

He sat down to slip them on and didn’t even attempt to tie them, instead waiting for Bruce to kneel down and tie them, which he did.

“Alright. Let’s go, but don’t run off-“

Jason immediately took off running out his bed room door, heading straight for the bat cave. Bruce sighed and chased after him, not wanting him to trip over his own feet, which the man was prone to doing even while big.

“Jason. Slow down.” He raised his voice slightly to which Jason paid no mind, still running from him.

“Jason! Hey, right now, little boy.” He wasn’t a pushover like Dick was, but Bruce still hated to make Jason pout or worse, cry.

Jason immediately stopped, his sneakers screeching on the floor. He slowly turned, his face ashamed and his bottom lip between his teeth in worry.

“Sorry, Daddy.” Jason mumbled, looking at the floor and wringing his hands together to try and expel some nervous energy.

Bruce quickly made up the distance and grabbed his hand. “It’s alright, buddy. How about you just walk with Daddy?”

Jason perked up after realizing Bruce wasn’t angry, he pulled Bruce’s hand, attempting to make Bruce walk faster, which Bruce just chuckled at.

“Is the Batmobile parked? Can I get in the drivers seat? PLEASEEE-?!” He seemed to be acting slightly older, Bruce guessed five, now that Dick wasn’t around, which was the usual.

“Jason, don’t yell, I’m right here.” Bruce chuckled as shook his head in amusement. “Remember don’t touch anything. Ask Daddy before you want to play with something.”

Jason huffed at Bruce avoiding his question, he stomped down the stairs and tugged on Bruce’s hand excitedly when he saw the Batmobile.

“Daddy? I wanna play with it.” He pointed out to the car, his giant eyes welled up in hopefulness.

Bruce was quite literally the Batman. He couldn’t be bribed or manipulated, beaten or cheated. He stared at Jason for a second, wanting to tell him no, like he’d always done with all the boys.

But looking at Jason’s hopeful green eyes, the scar on his cheek…

“Come on.” Bruce nodded after a beat of silence and led Jason over to it. He opened the drivers side door, softly smiling at Jason. “Go on, go on.”

Jason gasped and jumped in the car, his hands gripping the steering wheel as he pretended to be dodging hits from a nefarious villain.

“Vrooooooom! Bow! Whoosh whoosh!” He giggled and honked the horn, before he looked up at Bruce and furrowed his brows, almost annoyed. “Make sounds.” He ordered.

Bruce blinked. “What kind of sounds?”

“Like I’m making. Pow! Explosion stuff!” He ordered and then went back to steering.

Bruce rolled his eyes affectionately and then hesitantly started his sound effects. “Pow.”

Jason stopped completely and groaned. “No. You’re terrible at this.”

That sounded like regular Jason and Bruce smirked at the idea of a part of big Jason still wanting to play pretend since Bruce still wouldn’t allow him to drive the Batmobile.

“Okay. POW!” He boomed, making Jason jump in his seat and blink a few times. He winced, hoping he didn’t scare the man, but then Jason’s lips twisted into a giant grin.

“Vroooom!” He growled, trying to match Bruce’s volume.

“Pow!”

“VROOOOM!”

“POOOWW!”

Safe to say after two hours of playing in the bat cave, Jason was a bit tuckered out. He whined loudly as Bruce picked him up, setting him on his hip and taking him back upstairs for lunch.

After that, it was nap time.

“No nap, B-Bruce.” It sounded so unnatural, it caught Bruce off guard. Obviously, Jason just didn’t want a nap, he’d even act big to get out of it.

Unfortunately, his “big” act wasn’t very convincing.

“Hmm. Are you mad at Daddy, baby?” Bruce full on cooed in a voice he strictly only used if no one else was around and Jason was tiny.

Jason made a pouty face, one that seemed to say “no fair”, and kicked his legs out just a bit. “‘M not mad.”

Bruce walked through the empty living room, he passed Tim and Damian’s rooms in the hallway, which he knew were occupied by both boys sleeping in their beds, even though their doors were shut, since they were patrolling later that night with Bruce.

“You sure? Daddy’s sorry if he made you upset, honey. But you’ll feel so much better if you just lay down.” He whispered, noticing Jason’s sleepy eyes.

He set Jason down in his bed, slipping off his sneakers, Dick would’ve changed the younger man into some shorts, but Bruce knew how embarrassed the man already was, plus he knew that Jason felt the most comfortable with his big brother.

Jason flipped onto his stomach, groaning into his pillow. “Where’s Dickie?”

Bruce was closing the curtains to make the room slightly darker. “He’s out helping his girlfriend with something. He’ll be back soon.”

Jason propped himself up on his elbows and furrowed his brows. “Dickie has a girlfriend?”

Bruce winced, maybe he shouldn’t have told Jason that piece of information. “Kid, it’s time for your nap, so no more talking. I’ll stay in here until you fall asleep.”

“Daddy?”

Bruce sighed as he pulled the blankets up to Jason’s shoulders. “Yes, Jaybird?”

“Timmy and Damien don’t have naps and I’m bigger than them.”

Bruce hid a smirk playing on his lips. “You might be bigger, but you aren’t older. You’re the baby, aren’t you?”

Jason made a grumpy expression, shaking his head petulantly. “Notta baby.”

Bruce pet Jason’s hair, effectively lulling him to sleep. “You’re my baby.”

Jason flushed as he turned away from Bruce and closed his eyes. “Mmph- love you.”

“Love you, bud.” Bruce chuckled, sitting in a chair next to the bed, usually occupied by Dick.

Chapter Text

Once Jason had been up from his nap for a few hours, and Bruce had gone to bed since Jason insisted that he was big, Dick walked in, holding a few grocery bags.

Already, Jason was standing up from the couch and going to him, circling him as Dick clicked his tongue and started to coo.

“Well, hello-!”

“Where were you?” Jason interrupted, his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised in suspicion and annoyance.

Dick knew Jason knew. He was expecting a “Hi, Dickie!” Not a grumpy kinda big Jason. So he took a deep breath and started explaining.

“I was with a friend, bub. You remember Miss Kori? Starfire?” He asked softly, in a gentle voice.

Jason followed Dick into the kitchen as he started to put away some groceries he had apparently gotten. He furrowed his brows.

“Yeah, I remember her. Why didn’t you tell me that you were dating?”

“It just never came up. But Bruce knows everything, I guess.” He chuckled, closing a cabinet door.

Jason was trying hard to stay big during this conversation, he wanted Dick to think he was reliable and not just a baby.

“But- you could’ve told me.” He did not sound reliable in the slightest. His voice wobbled and had little pout to it.

Dick looked at Jason skeptically, the way he was standing, he definitely had a wet diaper. “You’re right, I just never thought to, but I’m telling you now.”

Jason nodded once. Dick noticed the small movements in Jason’s face, his eyes downcast, his nervous lower lip. He stepped closer to Jason and put a hand on his arm, giving him a worried look.

“You okay, bubba? You seem a little in between.”

In between. It basically meant that Jason was feeling little, but trying to act big. It happened a lot. Dick always took it upon himself to help Jason fall into the little side.

“Yeah, dunno.” Jason bit his lip, brushing it off and looking into one of the bags Dick was emptying.

Dick stayed quiet for a moment before stepping away and emptying the last bag. After that, he smiled at Jason.

That was fine. But Jason knew what would follow that sweet smile; he’d coo and Jason would inevitably start to feel smaller.

“So, what did you and Daddy do? I hope you had a nap.” Dick said changing the subject. He said that last part mostly to himself and Jason felt his face heat up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He barked, squirming with annoyance.

Dick raised his eyebrows at him, and Jason instantly lost a little bit of confidence. Dick leaned against the counter and crossed his arms.

“Hey. I didn’t mean anything by it. Just that rest is good for you, right?”

Jason nodded. He wished he had the strength to walk away. Wished he could revert back to his past self, the closed off asshole who didn’t bother with his family.

But way more than that, deep down he was thankful he had the strength to stay and let Dick help him.

“Um, we went to the bat cave.” He mumbled as deep and rumbly as possible.

Dick let his smile stretch wider when Jason answered, and took Jason’s hand, leading him to the large black couch in the middle of the living area. “You did?”

Jason squirmed under Dicks gaze, it was obvious he was trying to help Jason be very little again. Plus, a wet diaper wasn’t exactly comfortable.

“Uh huh. I saw the Batmobile and stuff.” He mumbled yet again, looking away.

“Wow! That’s very cool, bub.” He had Jason sit on the couch and then gently pushed Jason flat onto his back, lifting his legs onto the sofa, which caused the man to furrow his brows.

“Wha- Dickie noooo.”

He understood once Dick pulled his cargos down and off. His diaper was embarrassingly wet, so he tried to sit back up to cover it. Dick kissed his forehead and suddenly Jason lost every urge to fight.

“Shh. You’re okay, Dickies here. If you lay down, I’ll tell you all about Kori and I.”

Jason laid back, breathing heavily. “But Timmy and Damian are here-“ he whined as Dick stood back up to go grab a clean diaper from across the room.

Usually, Dick would never change Jason out in the open like this, he’d always either take him to his room or Jason’s. But he was right, everyone was asleep, and Dick knew they wouldn’t be up anytime soon.

Even if they did wake up and stumble into the living room, it wasn’t a completely new sight for them. Dick might not change Jason in front of anyone else, but he’d always check, which, safe to say embarrassed Jason as much as it helped him stay little.

Dick got the diaper and a package of wipes, and paused to kick his shoes off before sitting back in front of Jason, whose face was hidden behind his giant hands.

“Timmy and Damian are asleep, kiddo. But you might wake them up if you keep squawking.” He widened his eyes in a teasing way and Jason grumbled as he pulled his hands down.

“N-Nuh uh.” Jason huffed, pouting as he looked over towards what he had been watching on the television, which was a baseball game he’d seen before.

Dick clicked his tongue. “How long have you been in a wet diaper?” He asked as he inspected the wet diaper between Jason’s thighs. “You should’ve gotten Daddy.”

Jason whined, feeling younger now, Dick might’ve gotten on his nerves, but the man certainly knew how to make Jason feel tiny.

“Wasn’t long.” Jason mumbled, trying to ignore the comforting feeling of Dicks warm, large hand pressed against his hip. “Like half an hour maybe.”

Dick pursed his lips. “Did you tell him that you were big so he’d go to sleep?”

Jason frowned, he’d been caught. “I really was feelin’ big!”

Dick tried to not roll his eyes, obviously Jason was lying. If he really had been big, the diaper wouldn’t have been on or wet.

“Jay, don’t lie about this stuff anymore, lil dude.” He sighed, a smirk suddenly appearing on his pink lips. “If you don’t want Daddy to help you while I’m gone, Timmy always could.”

Jason’s eyes widened as he shook his head, his cheeks turning pink at the idea.

“Dickie no!-“

“Uh huh. Then no more fibs about being a big boy.” He silenced Jason immediately, silently laughing at the man’s pout.

“Tell me.” Jason spat, trying to change the subject again.

“About what? Oh, Kori?”

Jason nodded, his thumb slowly making its way to his lips. Dick untaped Jason’s diaper and cleaned him up as he thought.

“Well, we’ve only been on a few dates since we’re both busy,” He started, distracted as he wondered if he should check Jason for a rash. “You don’t have any owies do ya, champ?”

Jason whined, feeling completely vulnerable and slipping totally. “Dickieee! No!”

Dick smiled and pushed Jason’s t-shirt up so he could wrap the new diaper around Jason’s waist.

“Just askin’, drama queen.“

“Do you like Kori a lot?”

Dick smirked down at his little brother and patted the front of his Mickey Mouse diaper once it was snuggly on. “I do. You like her too, remember?”

Jason nodded as he sat up to watch Dick stand to grab Jason’s pants, which were crumpled on the floor.

“Did you get my cookies from the store?”

Dick exhaled a laugh, Jason switched gears so fast sometimes it was hard for Dick to follow. He walked back over and helped Jason stand up and step into his pants.

“Yes, I got your cookies, honey.”

“Really? Thank you, Dickie.” Jason quickly fell into Dicks chest and wrapped his arms around his waist, clutching his t-shirt with both hands. Jason sighed like he had just now been allowed to fully relax.

Dick nodded, grinning at his little brother, who was finally acting more like his baby brother. “Anytime, Jay.” He wrapped his arms around Jason tightly.

“Missed you. Daddy told me to stop runnin’ and yelled at me.” Jason pouted, being completely dramatic as usual to get sympathy from Dick.

Dick rubbed circles on Jason’s back, he hummed in response to Jason’s little complaint. “Well… did you stop running?”

Jason paused. “W-well…” he copied. “After he yelled I did.”

Dick tried not to laugh. “Did he really yell or just raise his voice?”

“Umm, don’ remember.” He ducked his head down and into Dicks neck, trying to be cute, which worked and Dick was immediately placing a kiss on top of his head.

“That’s okay. I’m sorry about mean ole Daddy. He should know that you’re just a little baby.” He cooed, hugging Jason tighter.

Jason grinned, loving the attention. “A baby?” He egged Dick on, wanting more. He sometimes needed Dick to really lay it on thick, or else he’d feel himself drowning in embarrassment.

Dick nodded. “Oh yeah. Just a baby.” He pulled away from the hug and raised a brow. “Does the baby want to help me wash dishes?”

Jason smiled brightly, nodding excitedly. “Uh huh! You said I was a good helper.” Jason said, biting his lip, obviously wanting Dick to say it again.

“I did say that last time, didn’t I? I need my good little helper. Come on, sweetheart.”

Jason giggled and blushed slightly at the infantile nickname, he clung to Dicks arm as the older man led him to the sink.

“You have to let go of my arm so I can roll my sleeves up, little man.” He chuckled as Jason looked a bit upset but let go of Dicks arm.

After a while, Tim walked out of his room, obviously still half asleep. He yawned and stretched as he chuckled when he saw Dick and Jason at the sink. Dick noticed him first and leaned back to see him.

“Hey, Timeh!” Dick was always so optimistic and cheery, it was as refreshing as it was annoying to his brothers.

Tim raised his eyebrows and walked over, standing so that Jason was in between Tim and Dick.

“Hey, Dick.” He looked up at Jason’s already annoyed face. “Hey.” Jason rolled his eyes at it, not responding.

Jason was suspicious, Tim had a deep, primal need to tease Jason at least once every time he saw him. Which Jason couldn’t blame the man for, since Jason was pretty much merciless about teasing or fighting his brothers when he was big.

But he was also already subconsciously pissed at Tim since Dick brought up the idea of Tim helping Jason with his… bathroom situation.

“Replacement.” He huffed, forcing himself to rapidly mature a bit and Dick clicked his tongue.

“Jason, no.” He quietly reprimanded, bumping the side of his hip into the side of Jason’s.

Tim smirked and Dick rolled his eyes, knowing that he was going to say something. Tim furrowed his brows and looked up at Jason, who already looked supremely pissed off.

“Ouch, that’s mean. Diaper ass.” He snarked, relishing in the tinge of a red blush coating Jason’s cheeks.

Jason growled and pushed Tim’s shoulder, just barely, but Dick gasped. “Both of you, cut it out.”

But Tim then lightly shoved Jason, he stumbled back into Dick, who had been huffing as he paused his dish washing to dry his hands, knowing Jason would probably be upset.

Jason retaliated by shoving the younger man back, a lot harder and Dick cleared his throat, growing frustrated.

“Okay- no. Enough-“

Jason grabbed Tim’s t-shirt collar, about to start throw a genuine punch.

Dick could hardly stand it when they slung insults at each other, but even he occasionally fought with his younger brothers. What he absolutely couldn’t stand though, was when they started beat each other black and blue.

“I’m actually going to beat the shit outta you.” Jason growled, it was still borderline intimidating since he was quite tall, but Tim wasn’t phased, especially since Dick was there to keep Jason in check. The diaper sticking out from Jason’s pants didn’t help his intimidating attempt either.

Tim rolled his eyes, reaching up and gripping Jason’s t-shirt too. “Yeah- uh dude? You talk a lotta smack for someone who had to be fed breakfast.”

“Dammit, Tim! You son of-“

Dick did not want that sentence to be completed.

“Hey, hey!” He harshly grabbed both men’s hands and broke them apart from their hold on the other’s t-shirt.

“Really, guys? Tim, come on. Can’t you be a little understanding?” He turned to Jason. “And you,” he pointed a finger in Jason’s face. “You started it. That was very naughty. We’ll talk more in a second.”

Jason practically crumbled at Dicks words and disappointed tone. He had sounded like an exasperated father scolding his snarky toddler.

Jason looked down at his socks, which were decorated with little tractors, and forced himself not to wail and fling himself onto the floor. At least not while Tim was around.

Tim also looked down, annoyed that he let himself get worked up, yet again. He didn’t even like fighting with Jason, but he couldn’t help it when Jason lured him into a fight.

“Yeah- no, you’re right. Sorry, Dick.” He was genuine. He then turned to Jason and frowned. “And I’m sorry, Jay. I was pretty mean, can you forgive me?”

Jason didn’t look up, but nodded with his arms crossed. Dick raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat, wanting more from Jason.

Jason inhaled a shaky little breath and whimpered. “I was mean too. Sorry, Timmy.” He sniffled, grabbing Dicks shirt.

Tim smiled. “All good, little bro.” Jason’s blush deepened. “I’m gonna go shower.” And with that he walked out of the kitchen, leaving a very nervous Jason and a disappointed Dick.

“Jay, you can’t do that. You know better than to stir stuff up, especially with your brother. Not only that, but you didn’t listen when I told you to cut it out, and you almost physically fought.”

Jason squirmed, still holding onto Dicks shirt, sniffling. “H-he made me mad!” He looked up, into Dicks understanding, but strict eyes and knew this wasn’t going to end well for him.

Dick nodded. “Bud, I know. He was being difficult, and I’m sorry. But that’s not an excuse to be mean. We don’t call each other names, and we’re nice to our big brothers, right?”

When Jason stayed silent, Dick stared at the man and kept talking.

“Have you ever thought that maybe Timmy wants to be a good big brother to you?”

“He’s not my big brother.” Jason mumbled, annoyed.

Dick sighed. He wished Tim and Jason could get along, he knew they’d be close if they just attempted to not kill each other. “He is right now, baby.”

Jason’s bottom lip wobbled as he tugged on Dicks shirt, moving closer and wanting a hug, which Dick picked up on.

“I- I don’t wanna be bad.” He whispered, feeling tears stream down his cheeks. Dick frowned and pulled Jason to his chest.

“Baby, you aren’t. You are such a good boy, I tell you all the time how good you are.” He cooed, lifting Jason up and carrying him into the living room.

Jason had officially started sobbing, mumbling jumbled words that sounded incoherent. Dick shushed him, gently rocking him as he sat down on the couch.

“Buh- and an’! I wan’- mmm, D-Dickieee.”

As he rocked Jason, Dick saw something shoved in between the couch cushions, a stuffed bear. Jason’s favorite stuffed animal, he kept it with him practically all the time.

Dick reached over and grabbed it. “Hey, look what I have.”

Jason sat up and hiccuped, his eyes lit up when they landed on the bear. He reached out for him and smiled a bit when Dick handed the toy over.

“Do you think you can calm down? Let’s talk like big boys, okay?” He knew Jason would perk up at that.

Jason nodded eagerly, he wanted to be a big boy! He wiped his tears with the back of his free hand harshly, but kept sniffling and letting out the occasional whimper.

“‘M a big boy.” He silently pleaded with Dick to agree with him.

“Yes, you are.” Dick raised a warm hand and gently pulled Jason’s hand down. He then took his other thumb and softly rubbed the skin under Jason’s eye. “You remember how this went the last time this happened?”

Jason groaned and nodded. “D-Dickie, no timeout. I wanna sit with you.” He sobbed, falling forward once again into Dicks comforting chest.

Dick frowned, he supposed talking about it like big boys wasn’t going to work with Jason.

“Okay. How about you sit with me for 5 minutes and then you do timeout?” He offered, and Jason nodded, curling into Dicks chest.

For five minutes Dick rocked Jason, rubbed his back, and hummed. When the five minutes was up, he made sure Jason was feeling calm and wasn’t crying hard anymore.

“Okay-“

“No timeout?” Jason sat up and pouted, hoping Dick wouldn’t be able to tell him no.

“Jay,” he sighed. “You can do it. Only 5 minutes, I’ll stay right here on the couch and you can hold Teddy.” He winced at Jason’s face once he sat up. “I’m not mad, it’s just for you to calm down.”

Jason’s eyes were huge and full of tears, he hated the idea of being away from Dick. He shook his head quickly and let out a sob when Dick stood up, still holding him. Dick grabbed a large pillow off of the couch and took it with him.

“Don’ want a timeoutttt!” Jason wailed, loudly sobbing; he obviously didn’t care if anyone heard at this point, he knew he needed a few minutes to calm down, and deep down he wanted it, but he also wanted his big brother.

Dick walked over to the corner of the room, trying not to cave and take Jason back over to the couch to watch cartoons.

He set the pillow down and struggled for a moment to untangle Jason’s fingers from his t-shirt, and then his thighs from around Dicks waist.

“Alright, Jason.” Dick said, more stern, which had Jason pouting but shutting up. “Now, I want you to sit here on this pillow, and you aren’t going to leave until I say that your time is up.” He plopped Jason’s padded bottom onto the pillow.

“Mmm- NOOOO! I wanna stay with you, Dickie!” Jason screeched, trying to sit up onto his knees and reach up for Dick.

Dammit. Dick thought as he felt his heart pang with sympathy.

“Baby, sit on your bottom, please.” He gently helped Jason back to his regular sitting position and then crouched down in front of Jason and spoke slowly and softly, but firm and serious.

“I promise you can sit with me for as long as you want after this, you need to chill for a few minutes. I’ll be right over there.”

He kept it short since looking at Jason’s puppy eyes and pouty bottom lip made him want to pick the man back up.

He stood up after kissing the top of Jason’s head. “Face the wall, bud.” He walked off, only a few feet away and Jason turned as he sobbed so hard his chest rumbled.

“DICKIEEEE!”

Dick sat on the couch, trying to distract himself by turning on the tv, it was muted but even if it wasn’t, he didn’t think he’d be able to hear it over Jason’s screaming.

So he didn’t hear Damian’s bedroom door shutting and slurred footsteps shuffling down the hall.

“Don’t you know how to shut a brat up?”

Dick jerked his head up at the sleepy (and pissed off) looking Damian and winced.

“Oops. Did he wake you? He’s upset.” Dick said, obviously feeling terrible. Damian rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his red t-shirt.

“I gathered as much.” Pausing to allow Jason to wail for dramatic effect. “Seriously, just go over there and tell him to shut up.”

Damian was… not the empathetic type. He didn’t believe in the way Dick and Bruce would coddle Jason, he insisted that Jason needed a firm hand, literally. Neither Bruce nor Dick had ever spanked Jason before, but Damian was always rooting for it, both out of amusement and a desire for there to be discipline.

It’s not that Dick was against spanking Jason, he’d do it if it was necessary, he just wanted to stay away from it while Jason was already upset.

Dick shook his head. “He’s too young for that right now. He just wants me; I should go hold him-“ he went to stand up but was pushed back down by Damian.

“No way. He’s throwing a fit because he thinks you’ll cave. Go over there and address him by his full name, and tell him you’ll spank him if he doesn’t straighten up.”

Dick looked down, he didn’t want to, he really didn’t. But he actually figured Damian was right for once, Jason did need a firm hand every now and then; it grounded him and made him feel young and taken care of.

“Jeez, D. Remind me not to piss you off.” Dick chuckled, standing up and bracing himself.

Jason was currently not sitting up straight and facing the wall like a good little boy, instead, he was laying on his side and wailing while pulling on his shirt.

This time Dick didn’t crouch down, he stayed standing for a moment. His hands were on his hips in full on pissed off mom mode.

“Jason Peter Todd.”

Time froze for Jason. He stopped screeching and turned to look up at Dick, who, for some reason looked scary as shit. He’d blame it on being a naughty 2 year old.

“Wha-?”

“I want you to sit up straight and face the wall. Right now. Up.”

Jason stayed lying down and blinked a few times, wondering if he was hearing Dick correctly.

It wasn’t often that Dick had to be stern with Jason, Jason was normally a really sweet and shy, if not emotional toddler.

But occasionally, Jason would get angry or upset about something, he’d throw a toy or on rare occasion, try to hit someone. Only then would Dick be strict, speaking in his regular voice with a tinge of the tone of an angry father.

And really, as much as it scared Jason while he was little, it was so calming and grounding for the man. It was a healthy fear, not a real one.

When he was little, he just wanted to make Dickie proud, so when he messed up, sometimes purposefully, it was to be reminded that he didn’t have to be in control of everything, he didn’t need to beat something into submission; instead someone else could take the reigns and gently help.

Jason was immediately pulled from his thoughts when Dick snapped his fingers. “Did you hear me?”

Jason groaned, lightly kicking at the wall. Which, actually kind of pissed Dick off. So many times he’d told him not to mark the walls up or damage the house; he was just a little rebel.

“Sit up, right now, little boy.” Dicks real big brother voice had Jasons eyes widening and confidence disappearing. Dick raised his eyebrows and Jason squeaked and quickly sat up, his already red face darkening again.

“B-but Dickie-“ he voice was raspy and high pitched from screaming and Dick fought the urge to coo.

He finally crouched down, wanting what he was about to say to stick.

“Jason, this is timeout. You need to be quiet. If you turn around or yell or lay down one more time, I will come over here and spank your bottom. Yes?”

Jason whined and covered his face. He could still feel the big part of him crumbling in embarrassment at his older brother threatening to spank him.

Dick really wanted to comfort him, but he could wait the 2 minutes that were left on Jason’s timeout time.

“Okay, Jason?” He pulled Jason’s hands away from his face and forced the man to look at him, to understand how serious he was.

Jason whined again, he didn’t want Dick to call him Jason! He wanted baby or sweetheart or even champ.

“M’kay.” He whimpered, squirming a bit at the thought of getting spanked. He knew if it even did happen, Dick would go way too easy on him. He’d probably even let him keep his diaper on. But that didn’t make it any less scary or humiliating.

As Dick stood up, he felt Jason grab onto his hand; he looked down and frowned. Jason was pouting up at him with the biggest watery puppy eyes Dick had ever seen.

“D-Dickie.” He whimpered, squeezing Dicks hand.

Dick knew that Jason wanted to be held and it took everything in him not to comply with his wish and snatch him up to coddle.

But instead, he gently removed Jason’s hand from his own and pet Jason’s hair. He threw a look over his shoulder to see if Damian was paying any attention and when he saw that he wasn’t, Dick crouched down and kissed Jason’s temple.

“Two minutes, baby.”

He went back to the couch, where Damian was sitting and sporting a satisfied, almost surprised look on his tanned face.

“That was surprisingly adequate. Except for that last part. Baby.” He rolled his eyes, hating the infantile word.

Dick sat next to him and grimaced. “Shut it. I know he needed a firm hand, but it makes me feel so… mean.”

“I’m mean. You are not. Yes, Todd is glued to you because you’re his big brother, but also because you are exceedingly kind to him. As well as weirdly motherly- seriously you act like a mother, Grayson.”

Dick laughed, but was grateful for the mini vote of confidence, even if that wasn’t what Damian thought he was doing.

“Gee, thanks. Ya know, it wouldn’t kill you to be nice to him either. Just a little pat on the head or telling him he did a good job at something, it would make his day. Probably his year.” He said, hopeful that Damian would listen.

Damian simply crossed his arms and watched whatever cartoon Dick put on. Dick assumed Damian had just tuned Dicks words out since he didn’t have snarky response to make about it.

Two minutes later, in the back of Dicks mind, he was a bit nervous that Jason would be wary of him now and that he wouldn’t want to be around him, even though they’d done this all before.

“Hey, bub. Times up now.” He said gently, standing up and hoping that Jason wouldn’t completely ignore him for the rest of the day.

But contrary to his beliefs, Jason stood up and immediately ran straight to Dick. He held onto him so tightly that Dick knew he wasn’t mad at him. Dick hugged him back, bringing a hand up to the back of Jason’s neck and rubbing it gently with his thumb.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You did such a good job.”

“‘M sorry.” It was muffled by Dicks shirt, but Dick could hear the sincerity in his voice. “You mad at me?”

“No, I wasn’t ever mad. I just don’t like it when you fight and say bad words. But you are all forgiven.”

Dick waited for Jason to pull away from the hug, which took a good minute. “Would you like some apple juice? I’ll put it in your Cinderella sippy.” He asked, smiling at the thumb in Jason’s mouth.

“Ella?” Jason lisped, blushing yet again and Dick pinched his cheek.

“That’s right!”

Dick tried to help him understand that it was okay for little Jason to like things big Jason deemed as girly or stupid. The younger man mostly tried to hide it, but he loved princesses and occasionally the color pink. When he was big, it just seemed to add insult to injury when he saw dora the explorer on tv or one of his many princess sippy cups.

That was only when he was feeling it though. Usually, he’d be obsessed with Thomas the Train, or most likely, Mickey Mouse, who decorated all of his bandaids. Obviously, he was completely enamored by any superhero, specifically the justice league, and even more specifically, Wonder Woman. Safe to say he had a bit of a precocious crush.

“Sit down, we can watch Peppa. Damian, can you help him turn it on?”

At the mention of another name, Jason whipped his head down at his brother and withered.

“D-Damian?” He mumbled behind his thumb, and once he heard himself, he immediately pulled his thumb down and out of his mouth.

He was embarrassed to say the least. Damian had definitely witnessed his little tantrum and the timeout. But, he wasn’t making fun of Jason, which settled the older man’s nerves.

“Sit down, pick an episode.” Damian said, his voice monotone; if not a little annoyed.

“I’ll go with you.” Jason looked at Dick and bit his lip, wanting to sit down, but not wanting Dick to leave.

Dick shook his head with a smile. “It’ll only take a minute. Sit with Damian.”

Jason watched Dick head into the kitchen and
sat down, closer to Damian than big Jason would’ve.

“Grayson will be right back, don’t start bawling, Todd.” Damian said staring at the tv, pulling up Peppa Pig.

Jason crossed his arms and sniffled. “I wasn’t going to!”

Damian turned to Jason with furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips, wagging the remote impatiently.

“Uh huh. Can you pick an episode? Or do you want me to pick?”

Damian’s voice always sounded harsh but Jason knew there wasn’t any real bite to it.

“I- I can pick.” He said, defensive and wanting to prove himself as a big boy. “That one.”

Damian said nothing and turned the show on, raising the volume and leaning back. Neither of them said anything. Jason too embarrassed and feeling too little, and Damian just liked the silence.

Damian had been thinking about what Dick had said and begrudgingly (and a bit awkwardly) leaned over to place a heavy hand on Jason’s messy black hair.

Jason’s eyes shot fully open and his blush spread to his ears. Damian didn’t look at him and simply gave his head a pat and then pulled his hand back.

Jason managed to keep his excited smile and giggle away, knowing he would be pissed at himself for letting Damian know how much that meant to him.

Of course, Dick saw the whole thing and clutched his heart dramatically before he walked in, acting like he’d been none the wiser.

Once Dick came back in, carrying a blue sippy cup with Cinderella decorating it, he sat next to Jason, sandwiching the man between his two brothers.

“Here. If you want a snack I can get you something.” He handed him the cup, which Jason took graciously.

“No, stay.” Jason whispered, leaning his head on the older man’s shoulder, holding Dicks hand with one hand and slyly drinking his sippy with the other, not wanting Damian to see.

“Okay, no problem.”

After a few episodes, Tim came back out and sat next to Damian, killing a bit of time until the two youngest would join Bruce for patrol.

They were all somewhat smooshed on one section of the couch, but it wasn’t too bad since Jason had slowly crawled into Dicks lap, feeling clingy and tiny so he didn’t care that Tim and Damian were right next to them.

“Hey, Jason. You okay?” Tim asked, leaning forward to look down the couch at Jason. Whose face he couldn’t see, but he heard his mumbled little voice.

“I’m good.” He meant it. So why did Tim still feel like a jerk?

Tim sat back, sorta relieved that his brother wasn’t upset anymore, but feeling a heavy pang of guilt about the name calling and almost fight that he allowed to happen.

As much as Jason didn’t want to be acting this vulnerable and young in front of his little brothers, he couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed.

They weren’t making fun of him, and the whole situation felt somewhat normal, since they were all just watching tv. He wasn’t watching since was straddling his big brother, and it was Peppa Pig, but still.

Plus, he wasn’t dressed like a total baby, usually Dick liked to dress him up cutesy to make him feel little, but today he settled for the clothes Jason picked.

Jason finished his juice, but kept the spout of the sippy in his mouth, chewing on it slightly against Dicks neck. Dick gently took it from him and ran his fingers through the man’s hair.

“Want your pacifier?” Dick whispered, wondering if little Jason was brave enough to use it in front of the demons, but predictably, Jason shook his head.

“Nu uh.” He whined and shook his head aggressively as he squeezed Dicks hand tighter. “Not a baby.”

Dick expected that, Jason always uttered that phrase at least once when Tim and Damian were around. It was cute, him trying to hold onto at least a sliver of his dignity. Even though Dick assured him that Damian and Tim wouldn’t make fun of him anymore than they usually do.

“Okay, bud.” He smiled, rubbing Jason’s back with his free hand.

Dick was highly aware that this wasn’t going to happen again very soon, Jason wouldn’t be this childish in front of Tim or Damian, so he soaked this time up, treasuring it.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Jason woke up big and humiliated beyond all belief. When he was little, it was like he understood what he was doing and made the conscious choice not to stop, so he felt a bit..weak.

It was Dick’s fault for being so damn sweet and offering age regression as a coping mechanism in the first place.

It was totally unnatural for someone to care and be so gentle with the Red Hood. Jason would never say it, not while big, and when he was little he wouldn’t be able to articulate just how much of an extraordinary person he thought Dick was.

When he was little the best he could do was just to stare up at Dick from the floor as Dick played pretend with him, acting like he just saved the world, except Jason knew he wasn’t always acting, his big brother was the coolest superhero ever. Besides Wonder Woman.

Luckily when he woke up he was in his own bed as opposed to Dickie’s- Dick’s. Not so luckily, his wet diaper and footie pajamas weren’t going to help him stay big for very much longer so he immediately stripped everything off, throwing the diaper in the trash and searching for something black. Or at least something that didn’t have a cartoon puppy or car.

He pulled on a black sweatshirt and black cargo pants, shocking himself by how weird he felt. He wasn’t little. He wasn’t. But… he really wanted to run to Dick’s room to see what he was doing.

He shook that away and decided he was starving so he headed into the kitchen, where he hoped no one else was.

Unfortunately for him, Dick and Damian were present, with Dick standing in front of the open fridge door and Damian sitting at the bar slurping up cereal and wearing his usual annoyed expression.

He was the first to notice Jason and rolled his eyes. “Oh. Pretending to be a functional adult today, Todd?”

Jason shot him a glare. “Do you ever shut up, brat?”

Dick whipped his head towards Jason, acutely aware that he wasn’t little. It’s not that he was disappointed, obviously Dick loved big Jason just as much as little Jason. It was just, little Jason was so cute and shy, Dick loved when he would cling onto his shoulder and copy his every move.

“Jaybird! In the mood for some food?” He chuckled at the rhyme.

Jason huffed, not able to look into Dick’s baby blue eyes just yet. “Yeah. Anything good?”

Dick hummed and pursed his lips. “Either cereal or toast. Alfred is out today apparently.” He widened his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

“Out? What does that even mean?” Jason grumbled, yanking the fridge door open and grabbing a bottle of water.

Dick mumbled an “I dunno” sound and went to put two pieces of bread in the toaster.

Damian cleared his throat. “He’s grocery shopping, you ignoramuses.” He threw his spoon down into his bowl and walked over to place it in the sink, giving Jason a raised eyebrow.

Jason glared back, already pissed and slightly on edge.

“What the hell are you staring at?” Jason knew he was too harsh. He was always so aggressive, he couldn’t help it. He was getting better though, just not right this second.

Damian just blinked and addressed Dick. “Are we sure the no diaper thing is a smart plan, Grayson? As I recall, it didn’t work out so well last time.”

He was smug and both older men knew it. The only reason he was saying it so plainly was simply to be a jerk and embarrass Jason, which worked.

Jason hated the blush he felt spread rapidly across his cheeks. “Don’t say that shit, gremlin.”

Dick nodded. “D, chill out.” He laughed and turned to Jason, smiling as if to say “who cares.”

Jason rolled his eyes, curse Dicks joyful and caring heart!

Damian fought a smirk and walked off, leaving the two oldest alone. To Jason’s surprise, Dick didn’t address Damian’s little comment and instead changed the topic entirely.

“So, since Alfred is out today, I thought it might be nice to surprise him and do some gardening. The weather is so nice and all.” Dick said, taking a sip from his orange juice as he waited for the toast to pop up.

Jason furrowed his brows, was Dick asking Jason to help him? “Uh- okay.” He mumbled, fiddling with the cap of the water bottle.

“Would you wanna…-“

“Hell no.”

Dick winced, he knew that was coming. “Yeah, okay. If you change your mind, I’ll be around back.”

The toaster made both of them slightly jump, Dick took both pieces and gave one to Jason as he walked out past him.

Jason munched on it as he made his way to the manors gym. He thought about Dick’s offer and shook his head in astonishment.

There’s no way in hell the Red Hood would be gardening with his big brother on a free day.

Several hours later and Dick was still crouched in the dirt outside Wayne manor, wearing a yellow plaid flannel with the sleeves rolled up and an already messy white t-shirt underneath.

He had been pulling weeds mostly, but now he was planting a few new brightly colored flowers. He also hadn’t yet noticed Jason, who was walking up behind him.

Jason had been training, working out, anything to keep him from gardening with Dick. It just seemed like a thing he would do when he was little, and he wasn’t going to be little.

So…why was he out here? He didn’t like going outside, at least not during the day, plus it was kind of hot and Jason was practically wearing a sweatsuit.

And then there was the whole issue of Dick being there.

Jason couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that he willingly walked out here to face flowers and the sun just because he was weak when it came to his big brother.

Jason couldn’t remember the last time he saw Dick wearing yellow, it made him look like a friggin’ ball of sunshine.

He cleared his throat trying to find something casual to say, like “oh I’m not here to garden, I’m going to practice shooting that garden gnome.”

But Dick beat him to it. “Hey, man!” He stood up, attempting to wipe some of the dirt off his gloves. “Target practice, huh?” He gestured to the handgun holstered to Jason’s side.

“Yeah.”

“Well, once you’re done with that,” Dick smiled. “Why don’t you come help me out?”

Jason grimaced. “Ah- flowers are more your thing.” He stood there awkwardly for a moment, not understanding why he wasn’t leaving.

Dick nodded. “Okay.” Dick knew Jason wanted a reason to come back. “You could just hangout then.”

Jason looked to the side, taking a deep breath. Why was he relieved?

“Y-yeah, okay. That’s fine.” Dick smiled at Jason’s borderline awkward response, which was ended with an equally awkward exit as Jason just spun around and walked away.

Finally, Jason started off towards an area with a few little practice targets.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Dicks yellow shirt and how soft it looked, especially when compared to his own rough cargo pants and gloomy black sweatshirt. He wanted to wear something softer and not so sad looking, like Dickie was.

As he walked away, his jumbled mind raced with the thought of planting stupid flowers, with stupid Dick. ugh why was he even thinking about that?

He was so distracted by those enticing and confusing thoughts, that he hadn’t noticed how a large overgrown root was stuck out from the grass.

The tip of his boot caught it and he immediately fell forward, landing roughly on his hands and knees. The surprise of the fall knocked the wind out of him, shocking him further.

He then realized that he had landed on a rough patch of gravel that was decorating the bottom of the tree. His knees started to sting, but it was nothing compared to what he’d felt before. He saw that a few of the little rocks were now dark red with his blood from his minor knee scrapes.

“Shit.” He grumbled, trying to go back to a semi normal way of breathing, when Dick came walking up.

Jason didn’t look up, he didn’t stand up either. He didn’t want to do anything, he was afraid of any sudden movements that would cause himself to say something embarrassing.

But Dick wouldn’t let him suffer by himself, so soon Jason was face to face with Dick, who crouched down to examine Jason’s health.

“Damn, are you alright? That root is dangerous, I’ll tell Bruce to get someone to get it out.”

Jason was grateful, so friggin grateful that Dick didn’t immediately start fussing over him. Unfortunately, Jason still craved his big brother’s assistance and care even more for some reason, and he wasn’t even remotely little.

Jason nodded, wiping his scraped up hands together to remove the sticking rocks, he winced when he realized his palms were sore.

“I’m good. Should’ve watched where I was goin’.” His voice was gruff and deep, but Dick could sense an underlying softness that piqued his interest.

Dick shook his head. “Ah, everybody trips. Tim tripped over nothing this morning and busted his lip.” He smiled harder when Jason snorted and started to get up.

“Oh amazing. Can’t wait to make fun of that tonight.” Jason grimaced as he stood upright, his knees feeling more tender by the second.

Dick frowned. “Jay, your pants are kinda screwed up. Plus, you need to clean those cuts.”

Dick watched Jason’s face twist in annoyance and decided to speak up since Jason wouldn’t.

“Come on. I know where the closest first aid kit is.” Dick slowly started walking with Jason back to one of the side entrances to a garage.

Jason winced with every step, which made Dick wince with sympathy. They walked there mostly in silence, until they were inside and Dick was grabbing the kit.

“Could you get your pants off?”

Jason’s face burned for no reason. When he was big, he’d walk around in his boxers, just like his other brothers and thought nothing of it. But this situation made him feel… ever so slightly younger.

Jason looked down at his scratched up hands and attempted to unbutton his pants.

“O-ow.” He practically whispered, but Dick heard it and whipped his head around.

“Oh- I forgot about your hands. Let me see.” Dick came back over and set the first aid kit down onto the work table behind Jason.

Jason held out his hands and tried not to burst into tears as soon as Dick took them in his own large warm hands.

Dick clicked his tongue. “Some of these look painful, dude.” He sounded mildly concerned as he examined Jason’s hands.

“I think I’ll live.” Jason said, forcing himself to roll his eyes at Dick’s drama.

After that, Jason said nothing, not even as Dick started to unbutton Jason’s pants for him, sliding them down to his ankles and having him step out of them.

Dick crouched down and checked on Jason’s knees which were completely red and dripping blood.

“Yikes, you took a big tumble, didn’t ya? Okay, sit up on the table for me.” He stood up and patted the table top, which Jason hopped onto.

Jason cleared his throat, figuring that he should say something, anything that sounded like himself. He could curse or roll his eyes again and give Dick some snarky comment, he could even jump off the table and kick Dick out.

But instead, he found himself at a loss for words. He was embarrassed of tripping like that, he should’ve been more aware of his surroundings. He didn’t need Dick to come over and help him, but, even though he was big, he wanted it.

“Um- you don’t have to.. ya know.” Jason managed to get out part of his thoughts as he watched Dick open the first aid kit and pull out some disinfectant and a package of wipes to clean the excess blood away, which the sight of had Jason blushing again.

Dick shook his head. “Ah this is nothing. I’ve been cleaning up after you for while now.” He smiled and held out his palms. “Let me see those hands.” Jason wordlessly held his hands out for Dick.

As Dick started to wipe the excess blood away, he started to chuckle, which broke the silence and caught Jason’s attention.

“Are you laughing at me?” Jay asked, he wanted it to sound tough, intimidating, but it just sounded a little insecure.

Dick looked up and shook his head. “No, it’s just- this has me remembering that time when you were a kid and you tried to run from Bruce after he caught you smoking.”

He was fully laughing by the time he finished speaking and Jason couldn’t help his own little smirk.

“Well- Bruce is scary when he’s pissed!” He countered, not even realizing that Dick already had one of his palms wrapped up and was moving on to the next.

“Yeah, I know! You ran straight to me and then Bruce was pissed at me for hiding you!”

“Thanks, Dickieee.” Jason teased, making Dick smile harder.

“Yeah, yeah.” As Dick finished wrapping up Jason’s second hand, he patted the back of Jason’s hand to signal that he was done.

“All done.” He crouched down to work on Jason’s knees. With gentle hands he held the back of one of Jason’s knees and wiped away the blood.

Jason looked down at his now clean and carefully bandaged hands and felt himself get almost carried away by the warm feeling that being taken care of provided. He snapped himself out of it for a moment, only to be met with the pain of Dick pouring disinfectant over his knee.

“Ow- shit- that fuckin’ stings, Dick.” He groaned, jerking his leg up, but Dick tightened his hold.

“Sorry. I thought it would be better to surprise ya.” Dick winced, wrapping it up and then grabbing a bandaid…a Mickey Mouse bandaid.

“Look what I have.” Dick practically sang, which caused Jason’s cheeks to heat up once again.

Dick placed the bandaid on top of the regular bandage wrap, which Jason scoffed at. It served absolutely zero purpose and Jason couldn’t understand why Dick did it.

“Ha ha.” Jason deadpanned. “Was that really necessary?” He asked as Dick moved to the other knee.

“Yeah, it was. You said Mickey always helps you feel better.”

Jason’s eyes widened, he clenched his jaw and huffed.

“Only when I’m little.” He lied through his damn teeth, embarrassed.

Dick smirked. “Ohhhh.” He moved on to the other knee and looked up. “Ready?”

Jason nodded and Dick quickly poured the disinfectant over the open cut, feeling bad for Jason as he groaned.

“Sorry.” He wrapped it up and gave Jason a grin. “Want another bandaid?”

“Shut up.” Jason grumbled and slid off the table, looking down at his crumpled cargos on the floor. “‘M gonna get go some pants with less blood on em.”

Dick nodded. “Maybe shorts instead. It’s hot outside, you don’t wanna have heatstroke when we garden-!”

Jason walked off, yelling over his shoulder. “I’m not gardening!”

Dick grinned as he placed everything back where it came from before heading outside. He was 97% certain Jason would be back out with him in the next 15 minutes.

Personally, Dick was thrilled to be able to have some free time with Jason while he was big. Typically the only time Jason and Dick were alone, was either on patrol (which didn’t count because Jason was always ditching Dick), or when Jason was little, and even that wasn’t incredibly often, but was increasing in it’s frequency.

Even while big, Jason had become somewhat less of a giant ball of tension and anger. Which Dick was proud of. He seemed almost softer, not in a less aggressive way, but in the look on his face whenever Dick helped him, or the tone of his voice, no less cocky, but his usual harsh defensiveness wasn’t as prominent.

Dick didn’t want his little brother to change who he was, not at all. What he did want, was for Jason to have options. He wanted Jason to feel free to express all of his emotions, and not just the ones he deemed acceptable, but even the scary ones like regret and fear.

Jason hadn’t exactly had an ideal childhood, none of the family members had, but Jason had died, he’d experienced the feeling of being totally alone, with nothing to fall back on or cling to as he faced a total nightmare.

Naturally, Dick and Bruce felt the need to redeem themselves and give Jason peace, peace that he was truly loved and had a place to run to when he was scared or tired or excited, anything he felt, Dick wanted to share in.

As he pulled weeds on his hands and knees, he reflected on Jason’s general demeanor that morning. He could tell Jason was a little embarrassed, but not as much as he usually was. Dick accepted that as a step forward.

Beyond that little amount of embarrassment though, Jason seemed okay. He let Dick help him way more than he normally would (another step forward, in Dicks book at least), and he wasn’t threatening anyone. So yay.

Dick sat back on his knees and wiped away sweat from his hairline, catching a glimpse of Jason slowly shuffling up towards him, wearing a begrudgingly annoyed glare.

“You’re back!” Dick smiled, holding up a trash bag filled with weeds. “Join the fun.”

He saw that Jason had thankfully changed into some navy blue gym shorts and a black t-shirt, he even switched out his usual combat boots for his red sneakers that he usually only wore when he was little or going out somewhere.

“Yeah. No thanks.” Dick just now noticed that Jason had a book in his hand, his finger was holding his place between the pages. “But- uh, is it still cool if I hang around?”

Dick tried not to act too excited. He and Jason were very close now, yes, but Jason was still his loner self, and him asking for time with Dick was special to the older man.

“You know it.” Dick moved the trash bag so Jason could sit somewhat near Dick. “Whatcha reading today?”

Jason groaned as he sat down, scratching the back of his neck before speaking. “Just something about murder. The usual.”

Dick snorted and went back to work. “You can read it out loud if you want.”

Jason was taken aback for some reason, he knew how kind Dick was, but it still caught him off guard when his older brother acted interested in Jason’s minor habits.

“Fine. But you can’t start yapping, Dick. I’m serious, keep your trap shut.” The words sounded aggressive on their own, but Jason’s smirk took the anger out of them.

Dick sat up and did the classic zipper across the lips motion, giving Jason a sarcastic eyebrow raise before getting back to work.

Jason, now satisfied, started to read at a low volume, but Dick listened to every word.

That’s how they stayed for an hour, until Jason snapped the book shut and stood up.

“Lemonade. Do we have any?”

Dick scrunched his face up in thought and nodded. “I think we have the powder stuff. Wanna make it?”

Jason gave a silent nod and headed for the side door by the pool. He didn’t check to see if Dick was following him, but he actually hoped he was, because he had no idea where the mix would even be.

That was *definitely* the only reason. It’s not like he enjoyed being around Dick or anything.

Dick walked in after Jason, sighing in relief at the freezing temperature inside the manor. “I’m pretty sure it’s strawberry lemonade, is that okay?”

He walked past Jason, into the pantry and pulled out a tub of lemonade mix that had been used frequently the past week.

“That’s fine.” Jason said, looking around the kitchen as he leaned against the counter top. He checked the page number and made a mental note of his place in his book before shutting it and placing it on the bar.

Dick walked back in and quickly gathered everything to make the beverage. He had a large pitcher that he pulled from the opposite counter top, and asked Jason to fill it with water.

As Jason stood by the sink, filling the pitcher, he groaned and averted his eyes upon seeing his damn Cinderella sippy cup in with the regular dishes.

He grimaced, the fact that it was just a normal thing for everyone to know about things that, like him drinking from a sippy cup, was prickling his skin.

Just as he started to tell himself how stupid he was for need something like that, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“I think we’ve got enough water, dude.” Dick laughed, gesturing at the overflowing pitcher and shutting the sink off.

Jason blinked. He pulled the pitcher away and dumped some water out, handing it to Dick almost apologetically.

“Sorry, got distracted.” He shook his head, watching Dick pour the powder in and offer Jason the spoon.

“No biggie. You’re going to make me do all the work?”

Jason let a small smile creep across his lips as he reached out and accepted the spoon, stirring the pink liquid that was making both overheated men salivate.

Dick went to grab some cups and smiled at one of Jason’s lego themed sippy cups in the cupboard. He was tempted to grab it, but knowing Jason, he wouldn’t exactly laugh at the joke.

He got the glasses and set them down with a clink on the counter. “Maybe we should take a break and stay in here for a while. We can go back out after we cool down.”

Jason nodded, eager to lay on the couch and drink lemonade. He gasped sarcastically.

“Hey, you actually had a great idea for once, Dick.” He acted condescendingly shocked as he filled his cup and started chugging it immediately, leaving Dick to fill up his own.

Dick smirked. “I seem to recall a few of my ideas that saved your ass, little man.”

Jason barked out a laugh, blushing lightly at the ‘little man’ nickname, but his embarrassment was drowned out by his amusement.

“Uh- I think I’ve saved yours just as much.” He snipped between gulps of lemonade.

Dick shrugged, letting Jason have that one.

Jason couldn’t shake the image of his sippy cup in the sink. He didn’t know why it was sticking with him so much today, he didn’t feel little earlier!

He groaned, going to sit on the couch. He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to wipe away the feeling of a pout forming on his lips.

If he was being honest, it wasn’t just the sippy cup making him feel that way. Ever since he went outside and saw Dicks yellow shirt, he wanted to grip it and stay close to his big brother.

After his fall and the way Dick took care of him, it was only a matter of time before he got a bit smaller.

He just didn’t expect it to be this early.

Dick walked in, just in time to see Jason frown and then hide it. “Everything okay?”

Jason let his head fall back against the back of the couch in annoyance and defeat.

“Yes.” He spat, sounding way more tense than before, which had Dick’s protective big brother alarm going off.

Dick sat down, almost across from Jason. His brows were furrowed together in worry, but he leaned back like he wasn’t bothered, taking a sip from his glass.

“Mm.” He acknowledged. “Your knees feeling alright? Just sore?” He asked, pretending to be nonchalant and to not notice Jason’s very slow slip.

Jason slumped down in his cushion, his knee began to bounce with anxiety. “They don’t hurt.”

His voice was curt, straightforward, but he was lying, and Dick saw right through it.

“Oh nice, lucky break.” Dick chirped, taking another sip. He was letting the moment linger in silence, which was killing Jason’s ability to keep his thoughts to himself.

Jason finally snapped his head up and glared at Dick. “Why was that stupid cup in the sink?”

“Huh?”

“Ugh. The stupid little baby cup with the blonde chick on it.” He said quickly, not knowing where he was attempting to lead this conversation.

Dick thought for only a second before it came to him and he understood. “I was gonna wash it before Alfred came back- why are you upset? Because Tim or Damian could see it? They saw you drink from it yesterd-“

Jason shook his head harshly. “N-no! Because I’m normal now, and seeing it makes me feel weird. That’s all.”

Dick was relishing in Jason being open about how he felt. He nodded with understanding, showing sympathy on his expression.

“Ahhh, I gotcha.” Dick wanted Jason to decide for himself today if he wanted to be little or stay big, so he didn’t immediately turn on Bluey or Paw Patrol.

Jason huffed, and when that didn’t get Dicks attention, he did it again. “Can we go back outside?”

Dick observed Jason’s face. He looked confused and stressed, which meant he was probably leaning more towards being in between now.

Dick gulped down the last of his lemonade and nodded. “Yeah, back to work. Let’s go, bud.”

Jason barely whimpered at Dicks words, he was such a sucker for his big brother and he hated it. Well, he loved it too, but he’d never say that.

“Coming.” He mumbled, not knowing what else to say as he walked next to Dick, who stopped by a chest on their way out and pulled out a large old quilt.

Jason furrowed his brows. “What’s that for?”

Dick smirked. “You’ll see, it’s better than you sitting on the ground and getting your clean shorts all messy. If you want a toy, you can bring it. Just in case.” He winked and Jason scowled.

“I don’t need a toy.” But he couldn’t deny that he was starting to feel a bit smaller, and he knew that Dick wouldn’t judge him.

So, contradicting his prior statement, Jason ran over to the couch and grabbed his teddy bear, he held it dangling from one of his hands by his side instead of clutching it to his chest like little Jason did.

Finally they made it back outside and Dick spread the blue and white quilt out onto the grass right next to where Dick had been planting flowers.

“Wanna help me plant some pretty flowers?”

Jason scoffed and plopped himself down on the quilt, putting his bear in his lap.

“I don’t like pretty stuff.”

“Oh please. Just sit there and watch then, Mr. Grumpypants.”

Dick crouched down and sat at the edge of the blanket, it was an old one that was covered with stains and rips in the fabric. Jason recognized it, he’d seen it before, but couldn’t remember the context.

Dick started to dig up a spot and Jason tried not to stare. He wanted to see what color the flower was that Dick was holding, but Dick’s back was to him, so he twitched his nose in anger.

“Dick, I wanna see.” He huffed, sitting up on his knees and crawling over to sit right next to Dick.

“Uh- excuse me.” Dick laughed, looking over to Jason. “You said you didn’t want to help.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “I said I wanted to see, not help, jackass.” He felt the need to add the rude little name to help make things seem more normal between the two.

Dick snickered and nodded. “Ohhhh.” He lifted the flower up to Jason. “Wanna hold it?”

Jason had two options: Lie and shove Dicks hand away and stomp off to train alone. Orrr…

“Yeah. Give it.” He blushed and Dick happily grabbed one of Jason’s hands.

“You’re not feeling little?” Dick checked, just to make sure Jason was comfortable.

Jason went to shake his head, it wouldn’t have been a total lie, but it also wouldn’t have been the truth. He paused at Dicks next question.

“At all? I won’t be overbearing, I promise. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Jason thought for a moment and then looked down at the bear in his lap and the Mickey Mouse bandaid on his knee, he figured he should be honest since it was just Dick.

“Just- kinda.” He said, sounding ashamed. He quickly spoke up again. “And it’s your fault by the way.”

Dick’s eyes widened, he looked horrified. “My fault? Jay, I had no intention of-“

“Dick- stop. I was joking.” Jason chuckled at Dicks relieved expression.

“Oh. Well, anyway. There’s nothing wrong with you being ‘just kinda’ little, but this dirt is yucky so don’t put your fingers in your mouth.”

Jason blushed but nodded. He suddenly snapped back to his senses and scoffed at Dick, obviously offended. “I wasn’t going to!”

Dick snorted a laugh and looked down to Jason’s lap. “Move your bear so he doesn’t get dirty.”

Jason quickly moved his bear behind him and eagerly held out his hands, trying not to seem as excited as he really was.

“Okay, here ya go.” Dick handed Jason the flower and watched as Jason’s normally stone faced expression faded into childish curiosity.

It was a pink tulip. Jason liked tulips, he had a stuffed bunny whose belly was embroidered with pink and yellow tulips. It was the second stuffed animal Dick got him, after his bear, and Jason treasured it so much that he never took it outside his bed.

“Pretty.” Jason said, absentmindedly.

Dicks heart thudded, Jason was precious. But, he told the guy that he wouldn’t be overbearing so, he forced himself to relax.

“I know right? So cool.” He smiled and finished up digging the dirt and instructed Jason to place it inside. “Yup, right there. And then we’ll cover it up with more dirt!”

Once it was firmly in the ground, Dick rubbed Jason’s hands clean of the dirt.

“Now what?”

“Well, now I’m going to pull all these weeds around it, so that the weeds don’t hurt the tulip.”

Something in the younger man’s face changed completely as he gasped. “Hurt it?” He tugged Dick’s flannel. “Dickie, no. Don’t want it to get hurt.” He pouted, starting to sniffle.

That was all Dick needed to know that Jason wasn’t feeling ‘just kinda little’ anymore.

Dick shushed Jason and pet his black hair. “No, baby. It won’t, we’re going to protect it, right?”

Jason now had tears in his eyes and grabbed his teddy bear, shoving his face in its belly. “Ri-right!” He hiccuped, trying to calm himself down.

“Wanna come sit on my lap, sweet boy?” Dick cooed and Jason melted, nodding immediately and clambering into Dicks crisscrossed legs, facing the flowers.

Dick smiled and wrapped his arms around Jason’s waist, gently rocking him from side to side.

“You okay?”

Jason was nodding quickly. “I’m okay.” He reached down and grabbed one of Dicks hands, still sniffling. “Dickie, can I pull a weed?”

“Sure, baby. My good little helper.” He kissed Jason’s cheek, making the younger man giggle and blush. “There’s one right there, pull on it hard and then put it in this trash bag.”

Jason tugged on it halfheartedly, pouting when it didn’t come out immediately. He huffed, turning to face Dick.

“Not workin’.” He looked and sounded incredibly pouty and angry, which made Dick chuckle.

“Hold on, hold on.” He wheezed, taking Jason’s wrist. “Use your big boy muscles, I’ll help ya out.” He laughed, knowing Jason certainly didn’t actually need his help pulling out a little weed.

Jason grabbed it again, this time with Dicks hand on top of his, and tugged roughly. Really, Dick was the one that pulled it out, but Jason grinned and turned to proudly show Dick the plant.

“I did it!”

“You did! I’m so so so proud of you!” Dick yelled, genuinely proud. He fished through his back pocket for his phone and pulled it out, holding it in front of both of them.

“Smile, bubba. I’m gonna take a picture for Daddy.”

Jason beamed, he smooshed his cheek up against Dick’s and both men broke into giant grins as Dick held his phone out to take a selfie.

“That’s a good one.” He smiled, saving the photo and pressing send.

Chapter Text

Jason Todd was something of a master manipulator. He knew how to use his words to get people to second guess themselves and how to use his actions to make people.. die.

He was strong and convincing. Which proved to be a lethal combination when he was Red Hood.

However lethal it was when he was big, it was multiplied when he was little, because he knew exactly how to manipulate the guys, mainly Dick, into doing whatever he wanted them to.

It occasionally worked on Damian and Tim, if they were in good moods, usually with Jason just pouting slightly and acting mopey. They’d eventually give him the remote or let him have the last cookie, especially if Dick was around to tell them to.

With Dick himself, Jason could do anything remotely pathetic or childish and Dick would come running to help him with it all. He’d take care of everything, and Jason didn’t take it for granted how much Dick cared for him.

But sometimes, if Dick wasn’t giving him what he wanted, he’d throw a little tantrum and that almost always worked, especially if he got upset enough about the issue that he cried; Dick would be done for.

Except those rare times when Dick would put his foot down and actually punish the man.

His puppy eyes were deadly, along with his cute little outfits, no one, not even Batman could tell him no if he really wanted something.

But there were always exceptions.

Little Jason was making Bruce a more gentle person, yes, along with the other boys, but Bruce was still Bruce.

He wasn’t totally susceptible to little whimpers or cries, like Dick was, and a tantrum always resulted in a firm talking to or a timeout.

He loved Jason and coddled him to no end, but Bruce knew Jason and therefore knew that he occasionally needed to be disciplined. It helped him feel little and protected, which Bruce liked being able to provide the feeling of.

It was a few days into summer, and unfortunately, Jason had caught a cold, which Dick blamed on Tim letting Jason play in the rain one afternoon. It was glaringly obvious that Jason was trying to hide it, but all of his little sniffles made it impossible to ignore.

Jason had been big for the past several days, and all the men were just waiting for him to drop. Dick knew that Jason wasn’t feeling good, and hoped that he’d allow himself to be taken care of.

He tried talking to him about it earlier in the day, but Jason shrugged him off.

“Got the sniffles?”

Jason harshly wiped at his nose and shook his head, going into his room and slamming the door behind him. Dick thought it was kinda cute how Jason seemed to be pissed off at his runny nose, like it was ruining his reputation.

Today, although it was summer, by 4:00pm the sky was already dark with rain clouds, and the gentle patter of drops hitting the manors tall roof was simply background music to the events that were playing out in the living room.

Dick, Tim, Damian, and Bruce were all sitting in their usual respective seats around the fireplace, which was always on since it was freezing in the manor, listening to Jason’s wheezing and coughing coming from down the hall.

Dick stood up. “I’m going back there. He needs medicine or at least water.”

Bruce set down the report he was looking through, looking at Dick with raised eyebrows.

“No, Dick. Leave him to come out here on his own.”

Dick scoffed. “B, he’s just a little kid right now, I mean, we all know that he’s acting like he’s about to crack.”

“He claims not to be feeling like a child. I tried to help him earlier and he pushed me away, saying he wasn’t little.”

“He was obviously lying,” Dick walked up to Bruce, arms crossed over his tan sweater. “He needs someone.”

“I truly believe that he’ll come out here.” Bruce said, too calm and confident.

Dick believed him for some reason, but was still curious. “And why will he be making an appearance?”

Bruce ever so slightly smirked and wordlessly held up Jason’s teddy bear, making it wave to Dick, who also smirked.

“Ahhh.” Dick understood now, if Jason was truly little, he simply could not live without his teddy bear. “You stole his teddy bear?” He snorted, knowing Bruce was more worried than he wanted the other boys to know.

“I didn’t steal it. He left it out here and I picked it up earlier.” Bruce shrugged, picking the report up again and acting too busy to be thinking about Jason.

“Well played, Brucie. Well played.” Tim called from across the room, lying on the couch with Damian by his feet, slumped over, too exhausted to listen or speak.

Dick listened closely when the conversation dwindled. He couldn’t hear any more coughs or sniffles. He almost went back there, but paused, hearing Jason’s door open.

“I uh- think you were right, B.” He went back to sitting on the couch next to Tim, trying to act like he was watching tv.

Jason poked his head around the corner, trying not to let anyone see his attempt to scan the room for his stuffed animal. When he realized that it wasn’t on the floor where he left it, his heartbeat sped up.

He knows he left it there, Dick had given it to him while he was scrolling on his phone earlier, and Jason, wanting to seem tough and big, swatted it away.

He stumbled fully into the living room, looking quite… sick.

His hair was messy and stuck to his sweaty forehead, his eyes were bloodshot and barely open, and of course his nose was running like crazy. Dick desperately wanted to grab a tissue and clean him up, but Bruce had a point; Jason needed to step out himself for once.

He sent a glance over to Dick and then looked down, the little confidence he had was shaken the moment his tired green eyes met Dicks gentle blue ones, so Jason went for Bruce instead.

“U-umm. Da-Bruce?” His voice was raspy and deep, his throat was bothering him and he wanted juice, but that could wait, there was something he needed more. “Have you seen any of my stuff around here?”

There was the attempt on being nonchalant. He was wearing a black hoodie and light gray sweatpants. Dick frowned, he wanted to get him into some warm, soft footie pajamas.

Bruce once again set the report down, he raised his finger up to his mouth and tapped as if he was pondering something very difficult to understand. He moved his arm down slightly to further hide the bear from Jason’s vision.

“‘Any of your stuff’? That’s a broad category, Jason. You’ll have to be more specific.” He wasn’t being mean, he was helping to push Jason into being more honest with someone other than Dick.

Now Bruce and Jason’s conversation had the attention of Tim, he looked over to Bruce, then Dick, a devilish smirk on his face. He was dying to see how this would all play out, and who would win.

Dick was just worried. He knew Jason would start to feel little soon, if not already. He wanted to pick the man up and tell him everything was alright, and that it was okay to be little.

Jason, on the other hand, was indeed feeling little, and the way Bruce was talking to him wasn’t making him feel any more mature.

“I-I dunno.” He mumbled quietly, blinking a few times to stay alert. “It’s n-not ‘mportant.”

Bruce clicked his tongue. “It’s not? You came all the way out here for something, didn’t you?” His voice was softer, more caring than usual.

Jason fought back a whine, he nodded, finally conceding. He bit his lip and shuffled his feet, not wanting anyone else to hear what he was about to say.

“L-like my..” he wrung his hands nervously and leaned down to whisper to Bruce. “My t-teddy bear.”

Bruce held back his smirk, instead making a confused face.

“Your teddy bear?” He looked up at Jason from his armchair and furrowed his brows, wanting Jason to explain further.

“Mhm.” Jason nodded quickly, his eyes growing more wide and his face looking more urgently worried. “Teddy.” He added, like the bears name would jog Bruce’s memory.

And apparently it did, because Bruce thought for a moment before acting like it all clicked for him while nodding.

“Oh, I see. You mean this one?” He gestured down to his side, hidden by his hip and the seat, was Jason’s teddy.

Bruce watched Jason’s face as the man caught his first glimpse of his stuffed friend. Jason’s eyes glossed over and his bottom lip wobbled, he wasn’t going to cry, but it didn’t make him look any less adorable.

Jason nodded in response to Bruce’s question and blinked sleepily at the animal, making a slight grabby hand out for it. “Mine.”

Bruce studied Jason’s sleepy face. He definitely had a cold. “Here.” He handed Jason the bear and watched as he turned to walk off, back to his messy and lonely room. “Hold it.”

Jason froze, he turned around slowly. He glanced over to Tim and immediately tucked his Teddy into his side, hiding it from the slightly younger man.

Bruce was standing up now, and Jason was suddenly feeling tiny under Bruce’s worried, but fatherly gaze.

“Let’s go check your temperature. If it’s above 100 you’re taking medicine. No arguments.” He gruffed, and Jason shook his head.

“N-no, I’m all good.” He insisted, sniffling and unfortunately for him, he sneezed.

Dick, who had been holding himself back from cooing all day, chimed in after hearing Jason’s stopped up nose and sneeze. “Oh, bless you, bubba. Need a tissue?”

Jason blushed and shook his head aggressively, hiding his face in his teddy bear, shy.

“‘M not sick, Dickie.” He sniffed into the bear and gasped after he said it: Dickie. He strictly only called Dick that when he was little and now he just let everyone in the room know that he was feeling just a tiny bit little.

Dick hummed and stood up from the couch, going to his little brother. He pouted at Jason’s rosy cheeks, red from embarrassment and a sure fever.

“Jaybird, you look like you feel icky.” He said, hoping Jason would admit it. He looked up at Jason and placed his hands on both of Jason’s arms. “Honey..”

“Buh- I don’tttt!” Jason lied as he stomped and silently begged Dick to agree with him. He didn’t want to be a pathetic little baby, he wanted to prove that he was strong, like Dickie!

Dick wanted so badly to pick the man up and hold him close and to make him feel all better. But, Jason wanted to be resilient. And Dick figured Bruce wanted to spend some time with Jay, Dick was fine with it, he’d be taking care of Jason all night anyway.

Dick pouted. “Well, you’ve got a runny little nose, huh?” He reached over and grabbed a tissue from the box, holding it to Jason’s red nose.

Jason shook his head, stubborn. “N-no, Dickie… don’t need to.” He tried to move his nose away from the tissue petulantly.

Dick nodded and raised his eyebrows, keeping the tissue to Jason’s nose.

“Sweetheart, can you pretty please blow your nose for me?” He made his voice soft and reassuring and placed a hand on the back of Jason’s head, while giving him an encouraging million dollar smile.

Obviously, Jason learned the art of manipulation from him.

Jason blushed, but did as Dick asked, loving the little “good boy” that Dick murmured as he cleaned Jason’s nose like a doting mother.

But the younger man whipped his head around at the sound of Tim snorting a laugh across the room and shot him a look as Dick threw away the tissue.

“T-Timmy! Shush!” He whimpered, nasally.

“Dude, you’re cracking me up. It’s not my fault you’re so stubborn.” Tim said, sitting up straight with an amused, but loving smirk.

Damian had apparently fallen asleep next to Tim and the noise proved not to bother him in the slightest, seeing as though he was most definitely used to things of this nature.

Jason huffed, turning away from Tim. “No ‘m not.”

Tim giggled again.

“Go with Daddy and then you’re with me.” Dick patted Jason’s bottom that wasn’t protected by a diaper or even a pull-up, so he knew after Bruce helped him, Dick would need to get a diaper on him.

Jason whined. Dick held him in place as Jason tried to walk away, and gently pulled him into a hug. “Let’s be good listeners tonight, hmm? I know you aren’t feeling good, so let me and Daddy help you out, okay?”

Jason pressed his body fully against Dicks, Dick was so warm and Jason had been having the chills. He wrapped his arms around Dick and nodded.

Bruce didn’t bother waiting for Jason to break away from his older brother, he knew Jason would be there all night if he could. Bruce walked up and gently released Dick from Jason’s iron grip, lifting Jason up into his arms.

“Hey, buddy. What do you say to some apple juice?”

Jason folded, he’d been wanting apple juice for the past hour. He wrapped his arms around Bruce’s neck, letting his teddy bear dangle from his hand.

He laid down onto Bruce’s chest, loving the way his heartbeat sounded, a steady thud that kept Jason feeling secure. They got out of the living room and Jason finally let himself act how he was feeling.

“Uh-huh. My throat hurts, Dada.” He whimpered, rather pathetically, once they were out of earshot from Tim.

Warmth covered Bruce’s chest, hearing Jason of all people call him “Dada” just melted his hard heart.

“I’m sorry, Jay.” He said, oozing sympathy and rubbing Jason’s back as they entered Bruce’s large bathroom, which kept a carefully organized safety kit.

Bruce set Jason on the counter next to the sink and lifted his chin. “Let me see. Say ahhh.”

Jason let his jaw fall and stuck out his tongue, looking up at Bruce and spreading his knees slightly so Bruce could stand even closer.

“Ahhh.”

Bruce saw how red and inflamed his throat was, it looked painful especially for a toddler of Jason’s mental age.

“Ouch, puppy.” He reached under the sink and pulled out the thermometer, sticking it under Jason’s tongue and waiting until it beeped.

“Wha it say?” Jason mumbled, as Bruce checked and made a worried face at the thermometer.

Jason was obviously feeling more little by the second, his type of speech had changed into the simple way he spoke when he was feeling extra tiny or vulnerable.

Bruce would’ve smiled if he wasn’t worried about Jasons fever, Dick loved when Jason spoke like that, and Bruce was sure he’d be happy to hear it. It was adorable and yet another thing Bruce rarely got to experience since he was out most of the time.

“It’s 102.7. Not good, buddy. You need medicine and some juice.” He picked Jason back up and started back out towards the kitchen.

Jason bit his bottom lip, he was nervous. He hated medicine. Dickie made him take some cough syrup the day before and he even pouted heavily at that. And he was big then!

“No- no med’cine.” Jason pawed at Bruce’s black sweater, shaking his head.

Bruce sat Jason on the kitchen counter this time, going to a cabinet and pulling out a bottle of painkillers and a fever reducer. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and his determined face showed that.

“Your fever is too high, you’re going to take this like the big boy I know you are.” He spun around, holding a small pill and a little cup of gross looking liquid medicine which Jason whined at.

“Wuh-whyyy?” He whimpered, sharply turning his face away from Bruce.

“Because, it’ll make you feel better. Aren’t you a big boy?” Bruce raised an eyebrow, knowing Jason always wanted to prove that he was a big boy like Dickie.

But he didn’t want to take that gross medicine. So he was faced with a difficult decision for a two year old.

“Dunno.” Jason whined, clutching his teddy bear tighter.

Bruce kissed Jasons forehead, knowing that Jay had to be feeling terrible. “Okay, honey. I think you can do it.”

At the sound of Bruce’s voice, Dicks worry was amplified and he wanted to know everything about how Jason was feeling. He couldn’t help himself.

Dick stood up from the couch and ran over to Bruce. “What’s his fever? Do we need to take him to the hospital?”

Jason whimpered and shook his head. “No! Stay here!”

Bruce shushed Jason easily with a hand on his thigh. “Hush.” He turned to Dick and calmly spoke. “It’s close to 103.” Dick gasped dramatically and Bruce sighed. “Dick, he’s fine. Go relax, something tells me you’ve got a long night ahead of you.”

Dick reluctantly nodded, knowing Bruce was right. He and Jason would be home alone later that evening after dinner, since the other men would be on patrol again, which meant he’d be holding a sick baby all night. And he wasn’t complaining.

“Dickie? Yucky, don’t wanna.”

Dick looked over to Jason who looked positively adorable. Dick could tell just by looking into Jason’s big watery eyes that he was feeling horrible and small.

Dick nodded as he sympathetically pet Jason’s hair, feeling his forehead and furrowing his brows. “Poor baby. I know. You’ll feel better soon. After you take your medicine, I’ll change you.”

Bruce suddenly had an idea. Something he just knew would work. A failsafe of sorts.

“Hey, Dick? Remember when you got sick last Christmas and you took your medicine?”

Dick smirked as he caught on to Bruce’s little plan. He saw the way Jason turned slightly in curiosity, waiting for Dicks reply.

“Oh yeah. No biggie, it’s just some medicine.” He said, chuckling a bit when Jason grabbed Bruce’s hand, tugging slightly.

“I’ll take it.” He said, wanting to be just like his big brother.

Dick grinned. “Good boy, you’re so brave.” He kissed Jasons temple and walked back over to the couch.

“The sooner you take this medicine, the sooner you’ll feel better.” Bruce said, hoping Jason wouldn’t cry.

Jason frowned. “‘Kay.” He begrudgingly popped the pill in his mouth swallowing it along with a gulp of apple juice from his sippy cup that Bruce gave him.

Bruce was quick to praise him, knowing that Jason thrived on it. “Good boy. Now this one.”

He handed Jason the dreaded purple “grape flavored” medicine. Jason could already taste how disgusting it was going to be, he scrunched his face up and downed it before quickly chugging his juice.

“It was that bad, huh? Sorry, kid.” Bruce hugged the man who was dramatically sniffling behind his Batman sippy cup. “You did so good.”

Jason whined and held one arm up to signal that he wanted to be held. “Yu-yucky.”

Bruce cooed. “I know, come here.” He slid Jason off the counter and into his chest, away for a moment while Jason laid against him, burning up. He swayed and listened to Jason gulp his juice slowly. “Being sick is no fun, huh?”

Jason shook his head. “N-no fun.” He whimpered, Bruce started walking back into the living room and Jason couldn’t be bothered to be embarrassed, he felt icky and he wanted Daddy!

Damian was still asleep, otherwise he’d be making a little comment about Red Hood being cradled like a toddler by Batman.

Tim had gotten slightly softer when it came to his little/big brother. So he didn’t say anything either, choosing instead to tease Dick who was obviously worried out of his mind.

“Hey, Dickie. You look a bit stressed over there, bro.” He teased, watching as Dick wrung his hands together with his eyebrows knit tightly with worry.

Dick nodded as he stood up, holding out his hands and taking Jason from Bruce. “I’m fine, Tim. Wake Damien up, we’ll leave after I get Jason changed.”

Tim nodded and watched Dick carry Jason to his room, smirking at Bruce. “Kids, am I right?” He joked and Bruce rolled his eyes, used to Tim’s never serious manner.

Jason was whining when Dick laid him onto his back on the bed. Dick shushed him softly as he went to grab a diaper.

“Wha-what did you mean by that stuff you were sayin’ to Timmy?” He mumbled, pulling on his hoodie.

“Hold on, kiddo. Don’t sit up.” He said, Jason ignored him completely and sat up, moving to stand up before Dick turned around and tried to force his smile down; Jason was just too cute.

“Dickie.” Jason pushed his brows together and whimpered as he rubbed at his eye with a fist sleepily.

“Jay..” Dick clicked his tongue and bent over to hug Jason, rubbing his back and finally pressing a kiss to his temple. He lifted Jason’s hoodie up and off his chest, which made Jason shiver and make grabby hands again.

“I know you’re cold, bud. Give me like 2 minutes.” He cooed, pushing Jason back and trying to ignore his soft hiccups.

He pulled off Jason’s pants and boxers, quickly sliding a Mickey Mouse diaper under him. He cooed as he taped it up, knowing Jason needed to cool down, but the poor man was shivering like crazy.

So he grabbed a thin pair of footie pajamas, light blue with a white bunny on the front, and helped the man into them. As he zipped him up and lifted him up to his hip.

“Hey, Dickie needs to talk to you.” He sat on the edge of the bed and had Jason sit sideways across his lap. “Dickie, Timmy, and Damian are going to pick up dinner for everyone. But you-“

“I go too!” Jason said surprisingly energetic, looking at Dick and tugging on his sweater.

Dick shook his head. “No, baby. You’re sick, you need to stay here with Daddy. We’ll only be gone for a half an hour.”

Jason stared at Dick for a moment, breathing quickly. Dick winced, expecting Jason to predictably throw a fit.

“N-no, Dickie.”

“Yes, sweetheart.” He frowned when Jason’s face crumbled. “Oh, don’t cry, honey.”

Jason choked on a sob and turned to face Dick and clung onto him, frantically shaking his head and practically attaching himself to Dick.

“No nooo! Puh- please, Dickie! I wanna go!” He wailed, and Dick groaned, he knew this would be difficult, but not this difficult.

Dick rocked him for a moment, patting his bottom and then standing to sway around, hoping to calm the man.

“I know you do, buddy. Next time, I promise you can go. You aren’t feeling good, plus, Daddy will be here.” He cooed, wincing at how much Jason was crying.

“Mmm! I go with youuuu.” He begged, roughly shaking Dick’s arm to get his point across.

“Honey, don’t you want Daddy?” Dick asked walking down the hall.

Jason nodded but his cries didn’t falter since he hadn’t noticed they they were already in the living room. “Wan’ Daddy, buh-but want Dickie too! I- hmm!” He whined, shoving his face into Dicks shoulder when he locked eyes with Tim.

Tim winced, amused and sympathetic. Damian, finally awake, crossed his arms and pursed his lips. It was hard to miss the fact that Jason was in a diaper and footie pajamas, and though it wasn’t a completely new sight for them, Jason wanted to die the moment they saw him.

“Grayson, let’s go.” Damian said, tone annoyed and persistent. “The child will still be here when we get back.”

Jason pouted as Damian’s words registered with him. Dick set Jason on his feet in front of him and poked his nose.

“Don’t cry, Jay. It’s okay! I’ll be back before you know it.” He grinned, trying to hide his worry from Jason.

“Mmm.” Jason whined and pulled on his pajamas, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his onesie, which made Dick coo at how cute he was. “Stayyy.” Jason whispered, not wanting his brothers to hear.

He bounced slightly on his knees, upset, and clung to Dicks arm, hugging him again. Dick melted, he hugged him back for a moment, taking note of Damian’s growing annoyance at being made to wait.

Dick would’ve easily chosen to stay any other time, but he promised he’d go with Tim and Damian, and he loved spending time with them.

But when Jason looked so… clingy and sick, it was hard leaving.

“I guess.. I could-“

Bruce cleared his throat. “No, Dick. You go, I’m more than capable of taking care of my son.” He chuckled, finding Dicks protectiveness endearing. “You go with Tim and Damian, Jason will be just fine without you for an hour.”

He snatched Jason away from Dick by his wrist and scoffed when Jason cried harder and sunk to the floor, with Bruce eyeing the boy carefully as he let go of his wrist.

Jason wailed, crawling onto the couch and falling onto his stomach as he shoved his red face into a pillow, loudly crying, which Damian clicked his tongue at.

This was the first time Jason had willingly acted this young in front of all of his brothers and father, he was most certainly under the influence of a fever, as he’d never do that while healthy, but still.

“Todd, get ahold of yourself. Grayson is really nothing special.” He said, matter of factly, which Dick chuckled at. Although it didn’t seem like it, Damian was being lenient with what he chose to say.

Tim was just shocked Jason had the energy to throw a little tantrum while sick. While Dick knew that Jason was only acting like this because he had a fever, if he was in his right mind, he wouldn’t be acting quite so dramatic. Especially around the other two.

Bruce was only letting this little bratty attitude slide since Jason was sick, any other time, Jay would be in the corner. Bruce stood above Jason with pursed lips just watching as Dick walked closer.

They were all curious as to how Dick would be able to get Jason to settle down; if anyone could do it, it was Dickie.

Dick closed his eyes for a moment and then crouched in front of Jason, rubbing his back and trying to speak over the loud sobs.

“Baby, hey- listen to me. I’m going with Timmy and Damien-“ he paused to let Jason cry out. “But I’ll be back soon, with a surprise for you.”

Jason quieted down and peeked on eye out at Dick, curious. “Su’pise?”

Dick grinned as he nodded and Tim giggled mischievously, saving this memory to gently tease Jason with later.

“That’s right, honey. I know you’re feeling icky, so we’re going to get your favorite food for dinner and then I’m going to get you a very cool surprise for being such a brave boy.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “Did they change the definition of brave?” He whispered to Tim, who laughed.

Tim snorted, covering his grin. “Damn, D.”

Dick was hoping the promise of a surprise would be enough to keep his little clinger from any more tears, but when Dick stood back up, Jason whimpered again and sat up slightly.

This time though, it was Bruce who stepped in.

“Alright Jason,” Bruce spoke firmly, plucking Jason up and holding him tightly against himself. “That’s enough of that. Tell your brothers bye-bye.”

Jason gasped an inhale, trying not to choke on his sobs. “Daddy nooo. I wanna go too-“

“No, buddy. You’re staying here with me.” Bruce had no qualms about being blunt with Jason, big or little.

He knew Jason needed to feel out of control, and Bruce found that the best way he was able to provide that feeling, was by putting his foot down and taking a decision out of Jason’s hands.

Jason let out a dramatic cry against Bruce’s neck and pushed lightly on Bruce’s chest to attempt to wiggle out of his grip, which wasn’t happening. Bruce was only using one arm to keep Jay in place and had no intention of needing to use the other.

“Mm- meanie!”

“Ooooo.” Tim and Damian teased as they raised their eyebrows, wondering what Bruce would say. Damian crossed his fingers that Bruce would firmly discipline the man, and wouldn’t go easy.

But Bruce just stayed quiet, and waved at the other boys, telling them to go ahead and leave since Jason obviously wasn’t ever going to be okay with missing out.

Jason, still crying, hiccuped as he lost the strength to fight, slumping against Bruce. "I… I wanna go… "

"And Daddy said no.” Bruce said, plainly as he sat down and held Jason close. He patted Jason’s back firmly, then moved his hand up towards the back of Jason’s neck and held him there, a grip of the gentlest possessiveness possible.

Dick sighed in relief, Jason was still upset but obviously allowing himself be calmed down and comforted a bit.

Tim walked up to Dick and put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go, dude.” He looked down at Jason, who was hiding, but Tim could tell he was blushing. “Hey, bud. You’ll be okay with Daddy won’t you?”

His voice was actually kinda sweet sounding and it made Jason groan against Bruce. “Y-yeah.”

“Good boy.” He ruffled Jason’s hair, and promptly turned to tug on Dicks arm to pull him towards the door.

Dick bent down to place one final kiss on Jason’s red cheek. “Bye, sweet boy. Love you.” Finally, he let Tim pull him away after hearing Jason’s cute little voice.

“Bye-bye. Love you.” Jason mumbled, and once he heard the front door shut, he started to realize how icky he felt. He whined and sat up to press his hot cheek into Bruce’s cold one.

Bruce craned his neck back a bit to look at Jason’s pouty face. “You okay, bud?”

Jason sniffled and cried a bit, hoping Bruce would feel terrible for him. “My head hurts, Dada.”

Bruce nodded, grabbing a baby wipe from the end table by the couch and wiping away tears and snot from Jason’s blotchy face.

“I’m sure it does, my poor boy.” He tutted, rubbing Jason’s back, grateful that Jason’s cries were starting to dwindle. “The medicine should help soon.”

Jason whined again, sounding adorably pathetic. “Buh-buh gubbies.” He mumbled, Bruce smiled and nodded.

“Bubble Guppies? Yeah, we can watch that. Let’s lay you down so you can stretch out, I think that’ll help.”

He laid Jason across the couch, propping him up with pillows from Jason’s bed, the ones with the teddy bear design, since Bruce thought it’d comfort the boy.

He then covered Jason with his blankie and handed him his teddy. “I’m getting you some more juice and then Daddy will sit in here with you.”

Jason nodded, already captivated by the brightly colored cartoon on the rooms large television. He was exhausted from crying and from the fever, he wanted to sleep, but he was hungry and Dickie had a surprise for him!

He had to stay awake!

Chapter Text

As hard as he tried to stay awake, Jason just couldn’t keep his heavy eyes open. He didn’t sleep for very long though, just long enough for his brothers to get back home with a takeout container of soup.

Dick cooed at the scene in front of him. Bruce had obviously gone to heavy lengths to ensure Jason’s comfort. Jason was bundled up with his pacifier softly bobbing between his lips, his teddy bear tucked under his arm, and pillow propped up behind him.

Bruce was sitting in the chair across from Jason, so he could keep an eye on him. The volume on the television, which was still playing bubble guppies, had been lowered just enough not to disturb the sleepy man.

Tim and Damian were loud coming in though, arguing about something Dick had lost brain cells trying to work out between the two men.

Dick turned around, hands full of food, and shushed them, but Jason’s eyes were already fluttering open.

“Daddy?” He rasped, looking over to Bruce and whining at the pain in his throat. And really, his whole body hurt, so he whimpered loudly and brought his hands up to rub his hands on his face.

Bruce quickly stood up and went to the man, crouching down and petting his hair. “Hi, kiddo. Need some more juice?”

“Juice.” Jason nodded behind his blue pacifier and moved around slightly, wincing at the ache spreading all over and desperately wanting to be all healthy again.

“Alright, give Daddy a second.” Bruce felt Jason’s head and wordlessly went to get him more juice.

Jason heard Bruce in the kitchen pouring the juice and screwing the lid on the sippy cup, but then he heard someone else’s voice. Someone who he just had to see.

“D-dickie?” He asked himself, eyebrows furrowing.

He sat up slightly, looking over the back of the couch towards the kitchen and turning beet red when all of the men looked over at him, all with various expressions.

Bruce’s eyebrows were furrowed, along with Damian’s, they both seemed confused, and Damian even seemed slightly annoyed, but they both had underlying concerns.

Jason was immediately pulling the pacifier out of his mouth upon seeing his two younger brothers.

Unlike Damian, Tim didn’t look annoyed at all, he was actually amused, and Jason couldn’t decide which one was worse. Of course, Tim was worried about his brother, but he wouldn’t wig out like Dick or Bruce.

Once Jason had his pacifier out, Dick was eager to push it back in, since Jason just looked so darn cute.

Dick was immediately in front of him, holding a small bowl and wearing a sympathetic expression.

“Oh, hi sweet boy.” He whispered, inwardly squeeing at Jason’s sleepy face and messy hair.

“Did you get to go night night for a little bit?” He cooed, the words and Dicks voice lulled Jason in completely.

Jason nodded and blinked sleepily at Dick, who went to sit on the couch right beside Jason.

“Sit back just a little bit more, baby- there you go.” He blew on the soup, even though it was definitely cool enough for Jason, and then used the spoon to gather a bite for his baby brother.

“It’s your favorite soup. Chicken dumpling; I made sure they put extra dumplings.” He winked and fed Jason a few bites before Bruce came back over and handed the boy his filled sippy.

“There ya go, champ.”

Jason immediately chugged it, wincing slightly with every gulp.

“Aw, does your throat hurt, bubba?” Dick frowned, especially when Jason pouted and nodded dramatically. “Yeah?”

“H-hurts.” Jason cried without shedding any tears, his voice was raspy and high pitched. He looked pathetic and Dick looked equally as miserable.

Dicks face crumpled, he wanted nothing more than to hold Jason and coo and coddle and squeeze and cuddle-

Bruce sighed. He leaned down slightly and brushed Jason’s hair away from his forehead. He also wanted to pick the boy up, but he knew Jason was comfortable and he wouldn’t want to jostle Jay around.

“Rest today, no playing or running around, stay on this couch or your bed. Got that, Jay?” He turned to the oldest boy and spoke before walking away. “Dick, watch him.”

Dick nodded, smiling at Bruce’s pursed lips. “I got him.” He scooted closer to Jason and kissed his cheek dramatically. “Don’t I, buddy? Yes, I do.” He giggled when Jason cracked a cute little smile.

But as Jason watched Bruce leave, he swallowed thickly and let out a frustrated whine as he threw his sippy cup down the couch, towards his feet.

“Mmph!”

Usually Dick would’ve gently reminded him that it wasn’t nice to throw things, but since Jason was sick, Dick would let anything slide.

“Shh. What’s wrong, kiddo?” Dick shushed Jay as he grabbed the sippy and set it on the ground, he knew Jason needed just another little bite and then he’d have eaten enough to fill his tummy, so he leaned forward.

“Feel bad.” Jason grumbled, face scrunching up in discomfort.

“Oh baby. Dickie is so sorry. Eat just one more spoonful and then you can lay back down.”

Jason nodded, opening his mouth and swallowing the yummy soup. Dick set the bowl down next to Jason’s sippy on the floor, and told himself to remember that it was there so he wouldn’t kick it accidentally.

Dick spotted the pacifier hanging from Jason’s shirt collar. He gently held it and gave Jason a soft glance, noticing the way Jason bit his lower lip nervously.

“What’s this, baby?” Dick smiled just enough to make Jason want to reply.

“M-my binky.” He said so softly and tiny, that anyone outside of their family or close friends would never think that voice could belong to Red Hood.

Dick nodded, happy he got Jason to say the adorable word. He scooted closer and used his free hand to cradle the back of Jason’s head.

“That’s right, honey. And a binky works better when it’s in your mouth.” He said and popped the pacifier in, making Jason turn red and cuddle further into Dicks hand.

After staying like that for a moment, Dick pulled away and Jason loudly whined and went to pull Dick back, which didn’t embarrass him too much, until he saw Tim enter the living room and knew he saw the binky.

Jason took both of his large hands and latched them over his pacifier, “hiding” it from Tim, who smirked at Dick.

“How’s he doin’?”

“Feel his forehead.” Dick said plainly, which surprised Tim.

Tim placed his hand on Jason’s forehead, wincing and looking over at Dick who had a hand on Jason’s thigh or knee maybe? Tim couldn’t really tell through the blanket.

“Burning up.” He stated and Dick nodded. “Feelin’ bad, dude?” Tim made his voice a little softer and crouched slightly to look at Jason.

But Jason avoided eye contact at all costs and instead felt his bottom lip wobble as he nodded. His hands were still clamped over his pacifier and Tim wanted nothing more than to rip his hands off and see Jason’s flustered face.

But he was a nice big brother for now.

“He said his throat hurts,” Dick looked at Jason with furrowed brows. “What other owwies do you have, baby?”

Jason whined at the pet name, Timmy didn’t make fun of him though, so he didn’t outwardly complain about it.

“Head hurts.” Jason whimpered behind his pacifier and his hands, very quietly and Dick pouted sympathetically.

“Tim, could you-? Thanks.” Dick leaned forward after handing the bowl of soup to Tim who rolled his eyes and went to put the bowl in the kitchen.

“Sorry, bud. Look, put your hands down, baby.” He cooed, gently taking Jason’s hands and pulling them away from his pacifier. “Timmy doesn’t care-“

Jason went to take the pacifier out, but Tim walked in, leaning down to pick up Jason’s sippy, and looked right into Jason’s wide eyes.

“You want your juice or your binky right now?” He asked, ignoring Jason’s red cheeks and the way he tried to look away from Tim.

“Nothin’-“

Dick cleared his throat. “Answer him, buddy. He’s only trying to help you.”

Jason whined and plucked his pacifier out, but this time he looked up towards Tim and then very quickly looked away out of shyness.

“Juice.” It was so small, so embarrassed. Dick wished Jason didn’t struggle with the side of him that he deemed pathetic.

“There ya go, big boy.” Tim praised, handing the older man his cup and smirking at the way he turned from him, consumed with shyness.

Dick watched them both with soft eyes and a faint smile. He momentarily wondered if Tim was still feeling guilty about teasing Jason a few days ago, but quickly shook the idea away since he was sure that Jay and Tim had made up, Jason told him so.

Instead, Dick chalked the sweetness up to Tim wanting to be a big brother, to someone other than Damian. Tim was turning into something of a solid in between for Damian and Dick.

Damian would never stop being aggressive and blunt, plus teasing came so naturally to him, it was second nature.

Dick was, well, Dick. Sweet, gentle, easygoing, and a damn good babysitter.

Tim was a combination of the best of both other men, he was sweet, at least more so than Damian, and caring, but he still couldn’t help but to tease Jason every once in a while. Though, not nearly as bad as Damian.

“Watch your show and I’ll go get your surprise, how does that sound?” Dick cooed, grabbing the remote and turning the television up.

“‘Kay.” Jason mumbled with a tired smile around the spout of his sippy cup.

Dick stood up and put a hand on Tim’s shoulder, patting it a few times. “Thanks for being a good big brother. Could you stay with him for a few minutes while I talk to B?”

Tim wordlessly nodded and sat on the couch by Jason’s feet. “Go chat with Daddy bats.” He grinned.

Dick laughed and went off towards the kitchen, where Damian and Bruce were sitting at the bar.

He was actually surprised by how calm he felt sitting next to Jason, who was much more tolerable and meek like this. Tim was worried he would be awkward and not know how to communicate with Jason, but as the seconds went on, his confidence grew.

Tim watched the show for a few moments, he knew Jason was staring at him, so he slowly turned his head to look at the man. Jason was quick to whip his head around towards the television, acting like he hadn’t been staring.

Tim curled his lips to hide his smirk, he looked at the television until he felt Jason start to stare at him again.

This time, Tim whipped his head around too quickly for Jason to cover his tracks and instead Jason’s eyes grew wide and his blush grew deeper.

Tim outwardly smiled, amused at Jason’s nervous demeanor. “What’s up?”

“Nothin’!” Jason looked back at the television, biting his lip.

Tim giggled, he reached over and tugged on the zipper in front of Jason’s footie pajamas down slightly. “Your face is red, are you getting too hot?”

Jason shook his head and pushed Tim’s hand away, even though it was true, he was feeling hot now and wanted to throw his blanket off. But he didn’t want Tim to see him in his… less than mature clothing.

“Are you sure?” Tim asked, snaking a hand back onto Jason’s chest, he was still burning up. But Tim was sure the fever reducer was helping him, and now he was hot as opposed to having the chills.

Jason blushed and nodded. “I’m fine.”

Tim narrowed his eyes, Jason was lying to him. Tim could understand that Jason was a little embarrassed, but damn. Tim had seen Jason being dressed, bathed, (Once. Jason thought he’d die of embarrassment) fed, and held like a toddler, so Tim wondered if Jason would ever get used to it. Because Tim was tired of being left out of the tiny baby Jason side.

“I think… you’re lying. And that’s not nice, Jay.”

Jason gasped and blinked a few times at Tim, simultaneously wanting the younger man to let it go, and also wanting him to stay close.

“Lying is a no-no, isn’t it?” He paused and Jason stared, Timmy didn’t actually expect Jason to agree did he? “Isn’t it?” Tim prompted and Jason stuttered, face bright red.

Timmy never did stuff like this, he wasn’t firm or parental, he was just Timmy. So why was he making Jason feel tiny?

Jason couldn’t respond, so he just nodded. Tim also nodded, just once and continued talking.

“So Timmy is going to ask you one more time; are you too hot?” He asked, fully staring at Jason, who already had a hard time keeping eye contact when he was big, especially with people he loved.

Jason whined lowly and covered his face, not wanting to be a 24 year old man in footie pajamas next to his little brother. But it was like Tim could read his mind.

“It’s no big deal, besides, don’t ya know that Dickie will be easier to manipulate if he sees you in your little jammies?” Tim raised an eyebrow, as if he were offering Jason a top secret tip.

Jason smirked at that. There was actually truth in what Tim was saying, which made him giggle at the thought of Dick cooing all over him. Tim was being so cool and Jason was actually allowing himself to relax a bit more than usual.

“‘M hot.” Jason admitted.

“Sir yes sir.” Tim barked and grabbed Jason’s blanket, folding it and placing it on the other couch.

Jason giggled and watched as Tim came back and unzipped Jason’s pajamas down just a bit more, down to his stomach, just enough to where the top of his diaper was visible. “There, that should keep you cool.”

“Wh-wait!” Jason squeaked and zipped it up a tiny bit, to hide his diaper. “You didn’t haffta do it that m-much!” He whined, blushing bright pink.

Tim rolled his eyes, literally all of them knew he wore diapers, Jason just couldn’t stand but to be embarrassed about it. As much as Tim thought it was annoying, he found it weirdly cute how much Jason tried to hide his more babyish traits around him and Damien.

“Okay, okay. I didn’t see anything.”

Jason huffed and Tim couldn’t help it.

“Except a paw patrol diaper.” Tim teased, giggling mischievously and loving Jason’s embarrassed and shocked face.

Jason covered his face and groaned loudly, shaking his head, as if to shake Timmy’s words out from his memory.

“Timmy!”

Tim laughed for a second before patting Jason’s leg. “Ahh, I’m kiddin’. I figured after your little tantrum you’d be exhausted and sweaty.”

He chuckled which made Jason pause as he remembered how childishly he behaved an hour prior; begging Dick to stay, crying that he wanted to go with them. Ugh.

Now that his fever was a bit lower, he was thinking more clearly, and was able to realize that he should’ve been humiliated earlier.

He brought a hand up to his head and whined from the memory. “Timmyyy. Don’tttt.”

“Oh- I wasn’t making fun of you that time. It was pretty cute, how badly you wanted to go with us. Next time you can, I swear.” That was genuine. Tim was speaking to Jason like there was nothing strange about their situation.

Jason nodded, completely believing him. “‘Kay-“

“Guess what Dickie got you?!” Dick came around the couch grinning at his little brothers. He was holding two little things, one in each hand. “Aww- don’t you look cute?” He cooed at Jason dramatically.

Tim and Jason snorted at the same time, Dick was so predictable. The eldest just furrowed his brows and shook his head, not even caring enough to ask.

“Lookie here, bubba. It’s just a little something for you to hold onto.” Dick cooed, holding out a little plastic ring with different colored plastic keys, it was a “baby toy” as Jason would call it, but he wanted it terribly.

Jason held out his hand and gripped the ring tightly, before turning and shyly showing it to Tim, wanting him to see.

Tim smiled at Jason’s red, but anticipating face and made a huge deal out of it.

“Oh sick. I like the red one.” He pointed, and Jason nodded, beaming, well as much as he could while sick.

“Me too. Reds my fav’ite.” He mumbled, a shy smile on his face.

“Aww, baby.” Dick cooed, he tried not to be too loud, but his little brothers were being so precious. He went over to Jason and placed a bunch of tiny kisses onto Jason’s cheek. “So cute.”

Jason whined, face turning his “favorite color” and turning his face away with a playful whine.

“Dickieee, not a baby.” He tried not to smile, tried to look annoyed, but it was obvious he loved it.

“Oh- yes. I know. Very big boy.” He stumbled, giving Tim a smirk and wink above Jason’s line of sight.

Tim eyed the keys and snorted. “Hey. Now you can lock up the manor for us.” He chuckled and Jason laughed too, nodding.

Dick hadn’t stopped grinning. “You like it, bub?”

“Mhm.” Jason was enthralled by it, he went through and counted the keys and named the colors in his head.

“Check this one out.” Dick said to Tim, holding out another toy, this one was for when Jay was feeling slightly older. It was a tiny little nerf gun that shot out little soft bullets that wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“Ooo, a gun for a toddler. Nice, Dick. That won’t end badly at all.” Tim said sarcastically, as he rolled his eyes.

Jason looked at it, obviously incredibly interested, but still gently shaking the keys. He was still much too young for a loud and aggressive game right now. And Dick knew this of course, but thought Jason would like seeing it anyway. Plus, he kinda liked it himself.

“Dude, it doesn’t even shoot out over 5 feet. No one could get hurt.” He laughed, aiming it towards the kitchen, just generally screwing around and pulled the trigger.

“Oww! What the hell was that?”

Damian’s voice sounded hilariously pissed, he had a hand on his head, rubbing away a tiny pain.

“Oh-“ Dick stood, shocked for a moment before he and Tim burst into laughter.

“Perfect shot.” Tim cried, rubbing his eyes which were filled with tears of pure joy.

Dick gasped in a laugh. “S-sorry, D!” He turned to Jason, who was looking up at Dick with a huge smile and giggling his little heart out.

“You shot Damien!” He giggled nasally, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

Dick nodded. “Not on purpose, I swear.” He laughed. “I think we’ll put this gun up until you’re feeling a bit bigger, bud.”

Tim agreed immediately. “Hide that thing right now. From both of you.”

Jason didn’t get upset, he knew Dickie was right, plus he didn’t wanna shoot anyone, he was too sleepy. He liked his keys and his teddy bear, maybe tomorrow he’d shoot Tim in the ass or something.

Dick looked toward the kitchen again and Bruce had disappeared, probably already off to go fight crime. Damian, however, was now walking over.

“I’m going to bed before another stray bullet hits me. Drake? You need rest if you’re still insisting on coming along on patrol.” He walked past them and went into his dark room, rubbing the back of his mildly sore head.

Tim looked up at Damian in annoyance from the couch next to Jason, who was still showing Timmy the colors of his new toy.

“Very cool, bro. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Feel better.” He ruffled Jason’s hair as he stood up, but felt a hand tug on the bottom hem of his t-shirt.

He looked back and Jason was looking up at him, big green eyes filled with admiration. For Tim.

“T-thanks for playin’ with me, Timmy.” He seemed shy, but genuine.

It was obvious that he was getting tired, the poor boy. The way his eyes looked bloodshot and he had what seemed like a very hard time trying to keep them open and his nose was red from rubbing it on tissues and his sleeve.

Tim paused. He was shocked by how good that made him feel; and he hadn’t even really played with the man, just simply sat next to him mostly. The fact that Jason thought that Tim sitting next to him was fun, was almost too adorable for Tim to process.

Tim smiled, really smiled, he put his hand over Jason’s and nodded.

“I’ll play with you anytime you want, Jay. You know where I live.” He winked, and his chest was covered with warmth as he saw the way Jason’s face lit up.

“Okay!”

Tim walked away, grinning like he had just won an award, Dick ran up and walked with him for a moment.

“See? Didn’t that feel good?” Dick smirked, knowing that Tim was falling in love with being a cool older brother to baby Jay.

He knew Tim was starting to really love being around Jason when he was little, but that he didn’t want to show it too much at first. Which Dick thought was just adorable.

Tim chuckled, throwing a look over his shoulder to see Jason, clutching his keys absentmindedly and watching his cartoon with intensity.

“Yeah. He’s…” Dick watched with anticipation, he wasn’t sure what Tim would say. Tim rolled his eyes, knowing Dick was going to freak out. “He’s a cute kid, okay?”

Dick had a smug smile. “Told ya so. He loves you, man.”

“Yeah, yeah. Not as much as he loves you.” He rolled his eyes, and Dick nodded, accepting that.

“Well, I am Dickie.” He laughed, patting Tim’s shoulder. “Get some rest, hopefully you won’t catch anything from him.”

Tim groaned. “Ugh, I didn’t even think about that.” He walked off, convinced that he was next to be bedridden.

Dick went back over and gently smiled at Jason, who was winding down. He was leaned back against his pillow, with Teddy up by his cheek.

“I think it’s almost time for somebody to close their eyes and go to bed, huh?” He cooed, scooping Jason up and laying him against his chest, on his lap as he sat down.

Jason yawned and melted into the hug. He loved being held, Dickie was so warm and comforting, the smell of his cologne was basically giving Jason the green light to relax and sleep.

“You have to stay.”

“Of course, little wing. I’m not going anywhere. Do you want to go in bed or stay out here?”

“Here. Binky.” He mumbled into Dicks shirt, Dick chuckled at Jason’s shyness.

Dick sat Jason up slightly and popped his pacifier in, watching it bob around in Jason’s mouth for a second before laying the man back down against his shoulder.

“Better? Now, close your eyes.” He started rocking back and forth, a surefire way to lull Jason to sleep sooner. He pat Jason’s back, a bit more gentle than usual, since Jason was sick.

“Did you have fun with Timmy?”

Jason nodded. “Timmy fav’ite red too.”

His little mumbly voice, plus the lisp from the pacifier made it almost impossible for Dick to understand, but, since it was Dick, he knew.

“His favorite color is red too? Wow. That’s cool, bubba.” He glanced down and Jason was hanging onto being awake by a thread.

“Mmmhhh.”

“Love you, buddy.”

“Hmmm- wuv ouuu.” He was out.

But, of course, Jason was sick. So Dick knew might be woken up at some point throughout the night, but it still scared the shit out of him when he was awoken by Jason on the ground, only in his diaper, wailing into his blankie.

“Hey, hey. What’s the matter, is somebody not feeling good?” He stood up from his spot on the couch, trying to open his eyes fully. Dicks voice was tired and raspy, deeper than usual.

Jason startled slightly at Dicks voice and sat up, reaching his hands towards the man.

Dick crouched down next to Jay, wiping his tears and holding one of his hands. “I’m here, bub.”

“Dickieee. Don’t feel good!” He cried, rubbing his eyes and hating the feeling of his wet diaper pressing into him. He shoved his hands down, suddenly embarrassed about the diaper; he felt tiny, like he had earlier.

“Hey- don’t push your diaper like that, baby. I’ll change you in a second. You feelin’ bad?”

“Y-yesss!” Jason blushed, he practically shoved himself onto his big brother; sitting in front of another grown man in nothing but a wet diaper, was never going to be easy.

Dick nodded as he picked Jason up. “Okay, let’s get you changed and then you can tell me what’s hurting. Pit stop at the kitchen first.”

He grabbed the fever reducer and eventually coerced Jason into taking it, assuring him that it would help him in a half hour.

He carried him into Jason’s room, laying him on the bed and cooing. Jason whined and rolled onto his stomach.

“No diaper?” He whined into the sheets, hoping Dick would say yes. He always asked at least once if he had to wear one, it was his way of rationalizing that it was okay.

Dick shook his head. He knew this was Jason’s thing, he needed Dick to gently force him into it.

“Yes, diaper. Turn over, bub. I know you aren’t feeling good, work with me here.” He mumbled, yawning at the end.

Jason allowed Dick to turn him over and unfasten the tapes on his diaper.

“Don’ need ittt.” Jason mumbled lowly to himself.

“Mhm. Hey- No-no.” Dick batted Jason’s hands away since they instinctively came down once Dick removed the diaper. Dick, still half asleep, wiped Jason up and went to find a clean diaper.

“‘M sorry.” Came a little uncertain voice, obviously fighting tears and a whine.

That woke the older man up. Dick came back and looked down at a blushing Jason. He was a bit nervous since Jason just apologized and, as far as Dick knew, Jason hadn’t done anything worth apologizing for.

“Oh, for what?” He cooed, sliding the new diaper under Jason’s bottom.

Jason avoided the question for a moment, opting to chew on his knuckles instead. Dick wouldn’t push it, but he’d need to know if Jason was feeling bad about something.

“Hmm? Wanna tell Dickie what’s up?” He whispered, taping the diaper up and pulling Jason up into a sitting position by his hands.

“Sorry- cuz, I woke you up. And for…crying.” He harshly wiped at his wet cheeks while shyly speaking from behind his knuckle.

Dick furrowed his eyebrows. Jason apologized a lot when they first started doing age regression, especially about crying or getting upset. But he very rarely did while he was actively little.

“Hey.” Dicks voice got deeper, as it usually did when he wanted Jason to pay attention and know that he was serious. “You do not ever need to apologize for those things.”

Jason sniffed, looking down as if he was embarrassed or ashamed. Which was another weird sign, Jason often made that face around Damian or Tim, but not usually Dick, unless Dick was scolding him or cooing at him.

Dick bent over slightly and lifted Jason’s chin.

“I want you to wake me up anytime you’re upset or scared. Or even if you just want to for no reason. I’m your big brother, that’s what I’m here for.” He held the side of Jason’s cheek.

“And, baby. You know you don’t apologize for crying, that’s a silly thing to do. If you’re ever crying, I want you to come and find me. I’ll make it all better, okay?” He waited for Jason to shakily nod and sniffle before leaning forward.

“Mwah mwah. Good boy.” Dick loudly kissed both of Jason’s red cheeks and leaned back, studying his face. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

“Uh-um. Feelin’ icky.” His bottom lip started to wobble as he was able to focus on the fact that he was sick. He started crying as soon as Dick picked him up and held him close.

“Aww, Jason. Shhh. Are you cold? Want your pajamas back on?”

“Nuh-no!” Jason wailed, clinging onto Dick and thoroughly soaking Dicks shoulder with tears.

“Oh-“ Dick was caught off guard by Jason’s volume and firmness, he nodded. “Okay, couch or bed?”

Jason hiccuped loudly, aware that he should be humiliated and should at least put some pants on. But he was too little and sick for the thought to stick around.

“Your bed. Watch Mickey.”

Dick was happy to oblige. He knew Jason would be falling asleep soon, and maybe Mickey would help distract him.

Dick carried him into his room and set him on the bed, smiling sympathetically at Jasons splotchy, teary face as he clambered under the comforter.

After turning on Mickey Mouse, Dick searched for Jason’s sippy cup and went to fill it with water. He came back and gave it to Jason, who immediately pulled on Dicks shirt.

“Lay down.” Jason ordered, pouting.

“I’m comin’ I’m comin’.” Dick laid down and Jason immediately was right next to him, with Jason’s messy head of hair resting on Dicks chest.

Jason hummed contently, despite being sick, life was pretty great.

Chapter Text

Jason was big. It had been 2 weeks since he got sick, and he had no plans of dropping for another month or ideally, ever.

But of course that wouldn’t happen. He loved it, he loved getting every speck of Dick’s attention and affection. He loved when he’d get fussed over and praised for doing stupid shit like picking up his toys.

Besides just Dick being sweet, Jason’s little side brought out the gentleness and extremely fatherly side of Bruce. He was surprisingly open about how much he loved all the boys, but he made sure that Jason specifically knew and understood that Bruce loved him.

But Timmy… well, Jason would describe his current relationship with Tim as: complicated. On one hand, they fought all the time, physically and verbally, when he was big. When he was little, there was typically a distance between them. Jason being too shy and Tim simply thinking he wouldn’t be a very good big brother.

He wasn’t a caretaker or nurturing by any means, well, yeah so lately he’d been hanging around Jason a lot more than usual, big or little, but that didn’t mean Jason was suddenly close to Tim.

Tim noticed that Jay doesn’t get so tense around him, that was a recent development. Probably because the last few times he’d been little, Jason couldn’t help being around Tim.

But Tim found himself wanting to be closer to Jason, not quite like Dick, but he could definitely be a cool older brother. Maybe a bit of a bully too, but Jason was a tough guy, he’d handle it.

So when Jason went on patrol, or whatever it was, more like stalking random people and threatening mobsters, Tim, for whatever reason on this particular night, followed.

Jason didn’t know, but he had a shadow. Tim watched Jason, and patted himself on the back for being able to stalk a member of the bat family without getting caught.

It was completely dark outside, nothing but burnt out streetlights and nonexistent headlights.

Jason had just perched himself on a rooftop, letting his legs dangle as he observed. Tim just had to ruin the tranquility of the moment.

“Sup, brochacho.” He said, walking up and rolling his eyes when Jason spun around and held a gun to Tim’s nose. “Damn, touchy.”

“What the hell are you doing? I know it’s not your patrol route.” He kept the gun up and Tim pushed it away.

“Okay, tiger. First of all, holster the firearm for goodness sakes, and second of all, I… don’t know. Just thought I’d stalk ya.”

Jason narrowed his eyes. “Why?” He asked through gritted teeth.

Tim shrugged. “Bruh, I just said I don’t know.”

Jason turned around and flipped Tim the bird as he started to quickly repel down the building.

“Don’t follow me!” He called out from a few stories below. “Dipshit!” He added.

Tim smirked. He accepted that challenge. He gave it some time before he started to follow Jason yet again. He was about to give Jason another surprise visit but stopped when he saw how Jason was acting.

Jason was beating someone, in an alleyway, with his mask off. The man he was beating looked about half dead, and Jason seemed like he wanted to finish the job.

He wailed on him, punching him only in the face and one particularly strong hit had the man crumple as his nose spewed blood. Finally, Tim had seen enough and dropped down, pushing Jason’s chest away and dodging his punch.

“Replacement? Get the hell-“

Tim looked at the man on the ground. “You should probably run away now.”

The man nodded and scurried away. Tim studied Jason’s face; he looked so tense, so full of hate.

“Why’s your mask off? Bruce would lose his mind if he knew.”

Jason shrugged. “Maybe I wanted to see that guys face slowly cave in around my fist.”

“Cute.” Tim rolled his eyes. “Rough night?” He was extending a branch; he hoped Jason wouldn’t swat it away forever.

Jason wanted to tell him to piss off, that he wanted to be alone and he didn’t need a member of his family with him right now.

“No shit. Every night is rough.” He clicked his tongue and slid his mask back on. “Gonna go kill that guy. Bye, replacement.”

Jason felt a weirdly strong hand grip his shoulder. “You need to calm yourself down, seriously. I want you to take a few deep breaths.”

Jason scoffed. “Leave-“

“If you take off your mask and take a few deep breaths, I will leave you alone.”

Jason waited for a moment and the tossed his mask onto a crate in the alley. “Better?”

“Loads. So just breathe slow. Tell me about- uh your punching bag.”

Jason started breathing heavily again, and Tim cleared his throat. “Slow. Slow.”

Jason corrected his breathing and started telling Tim about the man’s backstory; by the end, Jason felt stupid about beating him up since the man didn’t really do anything that bad.

“Okay…” Tim started, he noticed that Jason was pouting ever so slightly; it was cute, but he wondered if Jay was totally 24. “You seem really on edge, and I don’t think it’s because of that rando.”

“‘M not on edge, asshole. I-I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Just leave.”

Jason was being honest, he was confused, but one thing was for certain: he wouldn’t drop, no matter how little he felt. Plus, he could hide it. Just until Tim walked away.

“Jay. Come back home with me. What’s the point of being out here?”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t want to. I have to stay out here.” If he couldn’t get through one night, beating up one bad guy, he would be pissed at himself.

But he was feeling sleepy. And a little scared; the dark was something that had always frightened him. He hated it 10x more when he was little, and right now, looking around this dark alley; he was petrified.

Or, he would’ve been, if Timmy wasn’t there.

“Jeez, you sound like Bruce.” Jason looked up and the thought of Daddy flashed across his mind; he missed him. “Let’s go home. I’m not leaving you.”

He said it to be annoying, but Timmy saying “I’m not leaving you.” Rattled around in Jason’s mind, he wanted to hold Timmy’s hand while his brother led him away from the scary alley-

“I’m staying.” He stomped, although it wasn’t a particularly defiant one. Tim raised an eyebrow, he wondered if Jason was starting to feel little.

“You need to come home. Why are you being so stubborn right now?” He asked and watched Jason’s face scrunch up.

“‘M not st-stubborn.” He sounded exactly like a stammering child and they both knew it.

Tim pursed his lips, not looking away from Jason’s mad face. “Oh really? Because you’re acting pretty stubborn.”

Maybe it was mean to keep going back and forth with the man, knowing he was probably trying to fight off his headspace. But Tim wanted to see his next reaction before making a move.

Jason made a sound halfway between a whine and a groan. “No, ‘m not! Go ‘way.”

Jason turned around since he was annoyed, also to hide the blush on his cheeks from the way he sounded.

Tim finally made a conscious choice.

“Alright. It’s getting close to bedtime, I think that’s what’s up. Come on, let’s go home.”

Jason’s face dropped in shock and horror. He spun around and didn’t have time to try to sound completely big.

“N-no, Timmy-uh, Tim. I’m an adult, I don’t have a bedtime.” He cleared his throat, looking around the damp, dark alley.

Tim raised an eyebrow. “You want me to call Dick?”

The threat was a dirty one, Jason’s eyes widened, he shook his head frantically.

“No!” He took a deep breath and crossed his arms, trying to appear calm. “Shut up. I’m staying- out here. Call Dick or don’t.” He said, feigning nonchalance and hoping Tim would just leave. “Like I give a shit.”

“Hmm. Okay then.” He watched Jason turn around. He then pulled out his phone and put it to his ear. “Yeah, hey man. Good, it’s just Jay. I think his late bedtime is catching up to his attitude-“

“Timmy, NO!” Jason ran up to Tim and pulled on his arm, his cape, anything he could. “St-stawppp!”

“Y-yeah that’s him. Jay, quit it.” He chuckled, moving away from Jason. “M’kay, yeah. Got it.” He pulled the phone away from his ear with a smug expression. “Our big brother would like to have a word with you.”

He grinned mischievously and handed the phone the Jason who whined and hit Tim’s shoulder, not nearly as hard as he could’ve.

“Y-you- you’re mean.” He huffed, and put the phone to his ear. “Timmy wasn’t being fair! I didn’t even do anythinggg!”

He whined and told Dick he didn’t need to go home and he wanted to stay out here. Dick ended up being supremely grateful that Tim followed Jay.

“Okay, baby. Listen- ah, Jay, listen.” Dicks voice was trying to get Jason to listen over the phone, which was no small feat.

Once Jason finally quieted down, he turned away from Tim’s amused face and kicked at the gravel with his combat boot.

Dick cleared his throat and tried to hide the smile in his voice as he imagined Jason’s pout.

“Shh. Thank you. Can you be a big boy and let Timmy bring you home? It’s past your bedtime, honey.”

Jason squawked.

“But-!” He yelped, Tim figured Dick was telling Jason to let Tim take him back to the manor, and Jason wasn’t happy about it.

Dick took a deep breath and turned on the charm. “Sweetheart, Timmy’s older than you, so you’re going to listen to him. Are you going to let Timmy bring you home?”

“N-Nooo..” Jason whined and fought hard against the urge to burst into frustrated tears and shove his thumb past his lips.

Dick clicked his tongue. “Hey, baby. I know you’re feeling sleepy, and probably a little scared, huh?”

Jason nodded like Dick could see him.

“Can you listen to Timmy? He loves you, and he’ll get you home soon. You’re going to let Timmy bring you home, right?”

Jason folded immediately.

“…yeah.” He mumbled, pouty.

“Good boy. Love you.” Dick cooed, making a smooching sound at the end that embarrassed Jason enough to have him totally red.

“L-love you too.” He whispered, not wanting Timmy to hear.

He hung up the phone and worked up the courage to face Timmy, he spun around and handed him the phone, frowning.

“Well? What did he say?” Tim asked, pocketing his phone. He held back a smirk at Jason’s annoyed huff.

“None of your business.”

Tim made a move to grab his phone again and Jason grabbed his arm. “Okay, okay! He said.. to listen to you.” He forced it out, knowing Tim was loving every minute of this.

Tim pursed his lips and looked up. “Oh, did he now?”

Jason whined, but caught it before it left his throat, Timmy would think he was little.

“Y-yeah. He said, ‘cuz you’re older, but you’re not.” Jason bit his lip and tightened his glove.

Tim nodded, dropping the teasing big brother act. He sighed and crossed his arms, giving it to Jason straight.

“Well, do you feel 24 right now? Just be real with me. If you feel 24, I’ll treat you like an adult.”

It would be so easy to lie. But Timmy would know, just like Dickie and Daddy always knew he was hiding his regression. Jason hesitated, but finally admitted it.

“I- no. But, I’m not a baby. I’m like.. a big boy, ya know?” He stuttered and by the end of his sentence, he was staring at the ground.

“Okay, I gotcha. Likeee, four?” Tim asked, genuinely curious. Plus, he kinda needed to know since the drive back was an hour and Tim really didn’t want to piss him off. Too much.

He stepped closer to Jason, leaning forward and raising his eyebrows. “Hmm?”

Jason blushed. “M-maybe. Maybe five, I dunno yet.”

Tim nodded again. “Well, either one is still little enough to hold my hand.” He held out his hand for Jason. “Come on, Jay. Let’s find my car.”

Jason grabbed his hand after a moment of denying himself the pleasure of being comforted, if even in such a tiny way.

“So uh- since the drive back is pretty far, we’re going potty first.”

If Jason wasn’t already blushing, his face was now redder than a tomato.

He shook his head as they reached Tim’s red jeep, parked in an abandoned lot, Jason knew how little he was feeling, he knew what he’d need help with.

“Don’t have to potty.” Jason whimpered, as Tim unlocked Jason’s door, helping him inside and reaching over to buckle his seat belt.

“Dude, there’s no way we aren’t stopping somewhere first. Plus, I’ll buy you a snack.” He clicked the belt and shut Jason’s door before heading over to the divers side and starting the car.

He was on his phone searching for a child friendly playlist, when he heard his name.

“Timmy?”

“Mhm?” He replied, finally putting on a playlist full of theme songs from Jason’s favorite cartoons.

“Can I have a blue icee?”

“Duhhh. Let me see your hands first, little guy.” Tim reached out for Jason’s gloves.

“Hey- I’m not little. I can do it.” Jason angrily mumbled. Tim rolled his eyes and watched as Jason attempted to pull his gloves off but was met with resistance.

Tim wordless held out his hands for Jason’s.

Jason grumpily handed his dirty glove covered hands over and Tim plucked the gloves off, tossing them in the backseat. “There. All better.”

“Better.” Jason mumbled, watching as Tim drove out from his spot and slowly drove them to a gas station.

Jason was shocked at how mature his brother seemed, like sure, Jason was acting like a preschooler, but Timmy was pretty mature for a 22 year old.

Once they pulled into the gas station, one that Tim and Stephanie frequented since the owners were friends of theirs, Tim got out and held onto Jason’s hand again.

“N-no, people will be in there.”

“Trust me.” Jason did. Tim led him in and sent a glance over to the old man behind the counter. Jason squealed and clung to Tim.

It was totally empty, since Jason noticed the sign out front that said “closed.”

“Hey mister.” Tim called over and the man grinned but didn’t say anything, only waved at Tim’s voice.

“He saw my face!” Jason harshly whispered.

“No- Jay-“

“He did to! Daddy’s gonna be mad-“ He whined quietly and almost started bawling.

Tim shushed him once they got into the bathroom and got Jason’s attention.

“Hey, stop. The owner’s blind and mute. I chased off a group of thugs here one night and he always lets me come in late.”

Jason sniffled, feeling embarrassed now at getting worked up, and turned away from Tim. “Oh- um okay then. I wasn’t crying.”

Tim curled his lips to force away his smirk. “I never said you were. Now, go potty please.”

Jason looked around and almost died. It wasn’t even the men’s bathroom where Jason could’ve maintained some shred of dignity, it was a family bathroom and Tim had locked the door.

Sure, Dick had done this several times, and Jason was sure it’d be less embarrassing with Timmy, since Dickie treated him like a total baby, but still.

“N-No.” He shook his head, tugging on his utility belt. He gave Tim puppy eyes and hoped that would be enough.

Unfortunately, Tim was also extremely stubborn.

“Oh- need some help?” He started walking over to Jason, who yelped and shook his head, keeping his arms outstretched to keep Tim away.

“No, I don’t! Can’t you stand- like, outside?”

Tim thought for a moment, but he remembered what Dick had told him a few weeks prior. He had said that Jason absolutely had to be gently forced into things, plus Tim had a feeling that Jason would end up needing help.

“Nah, I don’t think Dickie would be too appreciative if I did that. I’ll turn around.” He compromised, spinning around and pulling out his phone to text Dick that they were about to head home.

A few seconds passed, and Tim turned back around since it had been completely silent, and shoved his phone into his back pocket when he saw Jason’s red cheeks.

“What is it?” Tim wondered.

“U-um, Timmy?” He was tugging on his belt buckle again, obviously too little to figure it out.

‘Big boy, my ass.’ Tim thought sarcastically to himself.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He didn’t want to just immediately overstep any boundaries Jason might have for him, so he wanted Jason to man up (ha ha) and ask him for help.

“Actually- Maybe.. could you..?” He pointed to his belt, looking to Tim with embarrassed eyes.

Tim grinned, finally able to help his brother. He stepped forward and gently pulled Jason closer by his belt.

“Sure, these buckles are always tricky, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jason nodded, feeling so very tiny at Tim’s hands undoing his utility belt and hanging it on one of the hooks along the wall.

Once he came back, he very slowly reached out to grip Jason’s cargo pants. “I’m going to pull these down for you; you can do your boxers, can’t ya, big boy?”

Jason covered his face with his hands, nodding behind them. He felt Tim quickly pull his pants down and then heard him walk away. He opened his eyes and saw Tim’s back, leaning against the wall.

He clumsily pulled his boxers down and sat down, Tim chuckled at Jason’s shyness. He looked through Jason’s utility belt, smirking at a Batman sticker he found in one of the pouches.

He spun around absentmindedly after Jason flushed and said Tim’s name.

“Ready for an slushy?” He smirked, trying to ease Jason’s embarrassment at standing in his underwear as Tim pulled his cargos back up.

Jason lit up at that. He nodded quickly after washing his hands, and ran towards the door, yanking it open and running out, ignoring Tim’s yells for him to settle.

Tim grabbed Jason’s belt and slung it over his shoulder, following Jason out and grabbing his shoulder. “Bro, don’t run off. Go get a cup.”

Jason nodded and calmly walked over to grab a large cup, and gave Tim a pleading look, Tim wanted to be the fun brother so, he nodded.

“Don’t tell Dick.” He ordered and Jason’s giggle made it all worth it.

After they both walked out, Jason happily sipping at his icee and Tim drinking a redbull, Tim once again helped Jason into the car, clicking his seatbelt.

They pulled out of the parking lot with the Mickey Mouse theme song cranked up a little too loud, but Jason loved it.

After 20 minutes of driving with Timmy, Jason turned to look around Tim’s car. He never realized how much crap he had in the backseat, sweatshirts and headphones, Jason was so little and curious.

He wasn’t even confined to a car seat like when he rode with Dick or Daddy, and thank goodness for that, because he wouldn’t have been able to handle Timmy buckling him into a baby seat.

But- Jason was big enough to know how a seatbelt worked, he unclicked it and leaned over the center console, sifting through Timmy’s stuff in the back.

“What the- Jay! What are you doing?” Tim tried to focus on Jason’s large body sprawled across his car, but he was driving. “Get back up here!”

“No, I’m looking!” Jason whined, sliding further into the backseat.

Tim took a deep breath, they weren’t on a busy road, it was damn near deserted actually, but still, Jason needed to learn not to do that.

“Dude… I need you to sit up like a big boy. You aren’t supposed to take your seatbelt off, that’s a huge no-no.”

“I wanna look!” Jason screeched, not in a defiant way, just more excited. Tim cursed himself for getting Jason all hopped up on sugar.

“Do you really want me to pull over?”

Jason furrowed his brows. “Wha- what’s gonna happen if you pull over?”

If it wasn’t Tim’s first time alone with little Jason, he would’ve immediately said he’d give him a few swats, but instead he settled.

“I’m going to give you a very long and boring talking to. And you’ll have to sit on your hands for the rest of the drive.”

Jason whined and tugged on his hair, not saying anything; he was embarrassed, he’d never get over his little brother treating him like a child.

Tim cleared his throat. “Want me to pull over?”

Jason paused. “Well- n-no..”

“Then sit your bottom down up here and click your seatbelt back.” Tim sounded firm but nowhere near as scary as Daddy or even Dickie when he was mad.

“Hmm-!” Jason gasped, shocked at Tim’s words. He quickly sat up and crossed his arms, pouting as he looked away from Tim.

“Click it, Jay.”

Jason said nothing and harshly tugged on his seatbelt, clicking it in place.

Tim looked over and shook his head. “Oh so you’re mad at me now?”

Jason shook his head, still looking out the window. Tim bit back a smile, Jason was a little cutie.

“Aww, you’re cute when you get all pouty like that, buddy.” Tim reached over and put his hand on the back of Jason’s neck, rubbing it gently for a second.

Jason completely and totally melted. He sent a glance over to Tim, who now had both hands on the wheel.

“‘M not pouty.” He pouted. “‘M mad at you.”

Tim rolled his eyes. Jason was so dramatic.

“I’m sorry, buddy. If you want, I can pull over and you can sit in the back to look at everything.”

“Nooo- I wanna sit with you.” Jason whined, caught between being mad at Tim and wanting his attention.

Tim nodded. “You are, bro. I want to sit with you too. You’re such a big boy, riding in the front seat.” He cooed, ruffling Jason’s hair.

It was a little more baby talk heavy than Timmy usually used, but it was just the two of them, and Jason loved it.

Jason smiled, but then quickly caught himself.

“You’re mad though.”

“What? I’m not mad at all, kiddo. I really do want to sit with you too, but you need to keep that seatbelt on.”

Jason nodded. “Okay.”

He moved on quickly and was playing with the bottom of his shirt now, and gasped. “Timmy, look! I got a big, huge, GROSS bruise!” He picked up his red t-shirt to show Tim his toned stomach.

Tim almost got whiplash from how much Jason’s attitude just switched.

There was in fact a bruise and Tim winced. “Ouch, buddy. Why didn’t you tell me you got hurt?”

“It’s from last week. Doesn’t hurt.” He said. “But isn’t it cool?!”

“Yeah, I guess. You little weirdo.” He chuckled and Jason giggled, kicking his legs against the floorboard.

It was another half hour of driving and lots of giggles from both men, before they reached the manor.

Jason’s energy and talkativeness had been dwindling for the last 10 minutes though, and Tim knew he was exhausted.

They pulled into a garage and Tim parked, looking over at Jason, who was slumped in his seat, his thumb tracing his bottom lip.

“Home sweet, dark, gloomy home.” Tim sighed, he put his hand on Jason’s shoulder to get his attention and pointed out the window at Dick, who was walking over to Jason’s door.

“Mm- Timmy, it’s Dickie.”

“That’s right, buddy.” He leaned over and popped the door open, smiling when Jason reached his hands out to Dick.

“Hi, Dickie.” He tried to clamber into Dicks arms, but his seatbelt held him in place. Dick snaked an arm around him and unbuckled him, lifting the man into his arms.

“Hi, baby. Did you-“

Before Dick could even ask if he had fun, Jason was launching into a speech about everything he did with newfound energy.

“I rode with Timmy! In Timmy’s car! In the front seat!” He squealed, blinking sleepily. “And then Timmy took me to get an icee and I got a blue one and then he played Mickey in the car and earlier he held my hand and THEN-“

Tim listened and Dick grinned impossibly hugely at him the whole time Jason was blabbering on.

Tim got out of the car and all three men walked (well, Jason was carried) out of the garage.

“Wow, so you had a really good time, huh? Timmy was a good babysitter?” Dick winked at Tim.

Jason reddened. “He wasn’t babysitting! We were hanging out.” He pouted.

Tim nodded. “That’s right.” He winked back at Dick, truthfully, even though he was kinda babysitting, he liked to think of it as hanging out with his brother.

Dick patted Jason’s back, knowing he was growing more sleepy. “My mistake. Let’s get you in some comfy clothes.”

Jason whined, he knew that meant baby clothes and Timmy was just now starting to believe that he was a big boy!

“I wanna wear your stuff.” He mumbled into the fabric of Dick’s pajama shirt, it was just a softer than usual grey t-shirt.

“You can wear a pair of my sweats but I don’t think those big strong arms of yours will fit in one of my shirts. Why don’t you ask Timmy to go with you and help you pick out a shirt while I grab some pants?”

Jason nodded and Dick set him on his feet. Jason immediately ran over to Tim and held out his hand.

He didn’t say anything, in fear of sounding like a baby. Instead just leading Tim to his room once Tim grabbed his hand.

“Okay,” Tim look around Jason’s messy room. “You need to hire a maid. I’ve got one named Richard, I think he’d be able to help you out here.”

Jason giggled and went to his closet, looking for the “biggest boy” shirt. So that meant no Mickey, no princesses, and definitely no teddy bears.

Tim stepped up to Jason’s closet. “Okay, I chooose… this one.” He picked up a plain blue t-shirt that just had a little picture of a gaming controller in the corner.

“Mmm, okay.” Jason deemed it big boy enough to wear and attempted to pull off his shirt.

“You look a little stuck.” Dick snorted, walking in and holding a pair of sweatpants that were a little too big for him.

Jason was stuck with his arms twisted in the shirt, both Dick and Tim didn’t make a move to help him out of it.

“Dickieee. Out.”

“Ah- what’s the magic word? Hmm?” Dick wouldn’t normally tease him, but Jason was feeling a little older than usual, so he took the chance.

“P’easeee?” Jason wiggled, now blushing.

“Good job. Tim, get his shirt off.”

Tim rolled his eyes, but slipped his shirt off, just in time for Jason to see Dick tidying up the messy floor.

Jason giggled and pointed at Dick. “He’s a maid, like you said, Timmy!”

Dick looked up and pursed his lips at Tim, who winced. “A maid? Really, Timothy?”

“I never said that!” He looked over to Jason. “Raise your arms, you little tattletale.”

Jason devolved into a fit of giggles while Tim helped him put his shirt on. Dick smirked.

“Alright, somebody needs a pull-up and some pants. Come ‘ere.” Dick pulled Jason’s arm, and that’s right when Jason’s nightly bout of tears started.

“Dickie! No, pull-up! Timmy is in hereeee.” He whimpered the last part and immediately started sniffling.

“Aww, hey. I know you’re a big boy, that’s why we’re using a pull-up and not a diaper-“

Jason let out a sob at that, covering his ears and shaking his head.

“Timmy’s gonna think I’m a BABYYY.” He cried, trying to fall to the floor, but Dick lifted him up into his arms.

“No- no, he doesn’t think that at all. He-“

Tim stepped up and removed one of Jason’s hands from his ear. “Hey, dude. It’s no big deal. You’re still a big boy, okay?”

Jason cries quieted down, he looked up at Tim to see if he was lying. “O-Okay.” Jason whimpered and bit his lip. “So you still- wanna hangout?” He squeezed Dicks shoulder in fear.

He sounded so scared, like he was convinced Tim would immediately shut him down. It was cute, though, Jason was acting as if Tim had no prior knowledge about Jason’s diapers, but Tim knew Jason was just feeling insecure and too little. Tim nodded quickly.

“What? Of course I do, Jason. We can even hangout tomorrow.” He grinned and Jason brightened, pushing his cheek into Dicks.

Jason was still crying, mostly because he was so sleepy and staying awake was proving to be very hard for a toddler. But he was also crying because of the immense relief he felt flooding his body and mind now that he knew Timmy still liked him.

Dick moved quickly, he wiped a few of Jason’s tears and then set him down. “Okay, don’t cry honey. I know you’re so sleepy.”

“Nuh uhh.” Jason shook his head but they all knew he was lying.

“Sure, baby.” Dick set Jason down and pulled Jason’s pants and underwear down, making Jason throw his hands in front of himself.

The fact that his brothers were so nonchalant and acting like this was all casual, like Jason wasn’t a grown man, made Jason feel more relaxed but also more vulnerable.

Tim averted his eyes, since he knew Jason would throw another fit. Jason was blushing deeply and now that Timmy wasn’t looking, he moved one hand up to tug on the bottom of his t-shirt.

“Okay, here we go.” Dick was now holding a colorful pull-up decorated with trucks. “Step in.”

Jason did, in a hurry to get covered up. Dick patted his hip when he got it snug. Tim took it as his signal to turn back around, surprisingly Jason looked fine about the fact that Timmy was seeing his pull-up, embarrassed, but fine.

“Look, these are my sweats, as requested.” Dick smiled, giving Jason a quick peck on the cheek.

Jason smiled warmly, acting like he hated it by rubbing his cheek on his shoulder.

Dick gasped dramatically as he helped Jason into the pants. “Ouch, you don’t like my kissies?”

Tim scoffed from his position. “Oh please.” He said under his breath, very amused.

Jason shook his head when Dick got the pants up. “Wan’ another kissie.”

Dick cooed, he loved when Jason would allow affection. “Aww- mwah mwah.” He kissed both of Jason’s pink cheeks.

Jason, yet again, giggled like crazy and wiped them off with his shoulders. “Need a new one.” He stated, and Tim gasped.

“Okay, he’s an evil mastermind.”

Dick only leaned forward and planted another one on Jason’s nose this time. “Oh, definitely.” He said to Tim, and then turned to Jay. “Okay, tell Timmy night night.”

Jason went right over to Tim, who surprisingly, opened his arms for a hug. Jason fell straight into his chest, gripping him tightly.

“Thank you.” He melted as Tim wrapped his arms around him. “Nigh’ nigh’, Tuh-Timmy.”

Tim cleared his throat, clearly a little flustered.

“Um- thank you, Jay. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? Goodnight, bro.”

Jason wouldn’t let go quite yet, he had something else to tell Tim; something that he’d never said to his “replacement” before.

“Um- Timmy? I- I..” He found it difficult to say, what if Timmy laughed at him or didn’t want to hangout anymore?

But then, after a moment, Timmy put his hand on the back of Jason’s neck, like he had in the car, and Jason tightened his grip around Tim.

“What is it, bud?” Tim whispered encouragingly.

Even Dick was shocked at the usually wild Tim, being so gentle and understanding.

Jason looked straight at Tim’s chest. “I um- love you.”

“Oh- aw. I love you too.” Tim hugged him tightly until
Jason giggled and let go of him, running over to his bed, obviously ready to fall asleep. Dick tucked him in and pet his hair, watching his eyes flutter shut.

Tim walked out, shutting the lights off as he left with totally bright red cheeks and a full heart.

Dick grabbed Jason’s pacifier and popped it in the man’s mouth, still gently petting his hair.

“If you want me, I’ll be in my room. G-“

“Timmy loves me.” Jason said giddy and almost smug. He was practically asleep already and melted into his pillow.

“I know.” Dick smirked. “And so do I, Goodnight, baby.”

“Mhmm.” Jay was probably already asleep.

Chapter Text

Galas were pretty common in the Wayne household. After all, Bruce was the biggest donor in Gotham, so he was invited to every single one.

Which meant that Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian were all brought along most of the time. Even though they were each old enough to decline, they all chose to go, with the exception of Jason, each with a different reason.

Dick liked to see Bruce mingling and being sociable for once, he also loved talking with different police officers and security officials, finding it vastly interesting.

Tim went for the food.

Damian enjoyed being around fellow wealthy people, he liked sitting back and judging their attitudes, clothing, and the way they chose to beg for money from his father.

Jason usually didn’t go, for obvious reasons. He hadn’t gone to one since he was an actual child, before his death.

But around six months ago, Dick asked him to accompany him to one, and Jason had actually had a blast with his brothers, making fun of the other people and bothering Bruce.

However, tonight was a different story.

It was getting close to 7:00, they were all supposed to arrive at 8. Bruce was getting dressed, Tim was still showering, and Damian was lying on his bed in his suit.

Dick was also completely ready, just brushing his perfect hair into place. He decided to peek into Jason’s room to see what tie he’d put on, usually Dick had to pick it since Jason would rather go without a tie and Bruce wouldn’t allow it.

Dick looked in and scoffed. Jason was slouched in a chair in the corner of his room. In a hoodie and flannel pajama pants.

“Jason, dude. You’re cutting it close on time, aren’t ya?” He asked and crossed the threshold into Jason’s now tidied up room.

His toys were all neatly tucked away since he was big and big Jason acted like it physically pained him to see all of his toys (except Teddy, who never left his habitat of Jason’s bed.)

“I’m not going.” Jason mumbled, not even looking up from his phone.

“Oh? Why not?” Dick asked, sitting on Jason’s bed.

Jason didn’t really have a reason, it was more of a suspicion. He was feeling a little off balance, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle even one sweet comment from Dick.

“I dunno. Tired, I guess.”

Dick pursed his lips. “Won’t it be boring home all alone? Come watch the old ladies hit on me, you love that.”

Jason smiled. He did like that. Dick always had such a charming smile that never faded, even when a rich old hag was making dirty comments to him.

“True.” Jason put his phone down and sat up a little straighter. “Are you leaving with Bruce?”

Dick shook his head. “With Timmy and Damian? Hell no, dude.” He laughed. “I’m going solo. Unless you wanna make it a duo?”

Jason inwardly groaned, Dick was making it sound so fun! He rolled his eyes.

“You’re really gonna guilt trip me into going?”

“Yeah. Get dressed.” Dick grinned as he stood up and walked out, hoping Jason would actually go.

Half an hour later, when everyone but Jason was in the living room, Jason came out, looking as snazzy and put together as his brothers.

“Jay!” Dick yelled, jumping to his feet. “Check out this handsome devil.” He went to Jason, smiling when he noticed the tie in his hands.

“Shut it, Grayson.” Jason huffed, but Dick saw the blush on his cheeks.

“Hey, cutie pie-“ Tim started, harmlessly teasing.

Jason sent a withering glare at him, obviously intending for it to be scary.

“I’ll kill you.” He growled, annoyed.

Tim giggled, he knew Jay wasn’t actually mad. “Ooo I’m scared.”

Jason huffed and prepared to make a rebuttal, but was interrupted.

Damian, who despised waiting, was leaning on the kitchen counter, watching them with bubbling annoyance. “Father, shouldn’t we be leaving?”

Bruce rolled his eyes at his sons, never a dull moment. “Yes, come on. You too Tim.”

Both of the younger men followed Bruce out, leaving Jason and Dick alone. Jason was looking away, looking mad at himself as he fidgeted with the tie in his hands.

“Lemme tie that thing.” Dick grabbed the red tie and started to tie it quickly.

Jason scoffed. “I can do it.”

Dick sarcastically dropped his jaw. “Riveting. Will you be writing a book on that?”

“…Idiot.”

Dick looped the tie and tied the knot, straightening it and once he got it secured up to the top of Jason’s shirt, he stepped back.

“You picked a good one. Shocker.” Dick teased and Jason tried to avoid eye contact.

Jason didn’t like the way that situation felt scarily similar to little Jason getting dressed by Dickie. Jason shook the thought away before his cheeks caught up to his mind.

“Better than yours. Why is it.. shiny?” Jason said with disgust, gesturing to Dicks blue tie.

Dick looked down with a face of feigned offense.

“This is my favorite tie! It’s a chick magnet.”

It was bright blue, as opposed to the usual navy blue one he wore, and had tiny specks of gold shimmering flecks all over it.

“Maybe a crow magnet.” Jason mumbled, watching Dick go grab his keys off of the coffee table.

Once they were on their way, Jason started getting more nervous. He couldn’t understand why, he never got nervous going to these things, annoyed, maybe, but never scared.

Well, when he was younger, young enough to cling to Bruce’s arm while all the women at the event cooed over how cute and shy he was, he’d feel nervous, but now Jason was an adult.

Totally an adult.

They pulled in and Dick let someone else hop in the drivers seat to park it while he and Jason headed inside.

“You’ve been quiet on the way over. Everything cool?” Dick asked, worry dripping from his voice.

Jason nodded calmly. “Yeah.” It wasn’t exactly convincing, but Dick accepted it for Jason’s sake.

They had made it inside now, and Dick immediately spotted the table Damian and Tim were sitting at, he tapped Jason’s shoulder and led both of them over.

They both sat down and talked with the other men for a while, until Dick saw Bruce and wanted to go bother him.

“Hey, wanna come with me?”

“Nah.”

“Okay, I’ll just be over there-“

Jason rolled his eyes and brushed Dick off. “Dude,” He gestured to himself. “Grown ass man.”

Dick laughed nervously. “Right, my bad.” He headed over to Bruce before being mobbed by older women.

Damian also left to go speak with a man he knew and enjoyed talking to since he was as blunt and perpetually pissed off as Damien was.

A few minutes later and Tim got up, spotting a waiter carrying a plate full of food.

Leaving Jason all alone.

He stared at his hands folded on the black tablecloth, they were twisting nervously and he dared to look up to see if he could find any of his big brothers- he paused and reminded himself that Tim and Damian were NOT his big brothers.

So why did he feel like they were?

He felt his breath quicken as the crowd around him seemed to grow and get louder.

He felt weird wearing a suit, it was too tight and his eyes were starting to sting.

He was too flustered to notice that his bothers were all relatively close by, Dick was the closest, but was distracted by some old lady with large hair.

Jason could feel himself freaking out and as a result, he felt little. He was so pathetic.

He strictly never went little in public, as he didn’t even want to do it in private, but slipping in public was so much worse, it had only happened one other time, and definitely not in front of this many people.

He sniffed, he wasn’t going to cry. He promised himself that much at least. He looked up and miraculously spotted Bruce, surrounded by other men in ridiculously expensive suits, all fake laughing while Bruce looked barely amused.

Jason stood up, not giving it a second thought, and walked straight over to Bruce. He walked up and immediately Bruce knew that something was wrong, he furrowed his brows and held out a hand to invite Jason closer.

“Hello, Jason.” He brought Jason closer, placing his hand on the small of Jason’s back. “Gentlemen, this is my son Jason.”

A chorus of “nice to meet you” and “hello Jason” emerged from the older men. They all plastered smiles on their faces and reached out hands to shake Jason’s.

Bruce heard the little whimper under Jason’s breath and was surprised when Jason seemed to power through his shyness with a sharp clear of his throat.

“Nice to meet you all.” He said, voice monotone as he shook all of their hands. “Big night, huh?”

The men broke into various responses, Jason didn’t leave Bruce’s side, Bruce kept his hand on Jason’s back and even started rubbing it gently.

But Jason was growing more upset and scared as the seconds passed. Eventually Bruce got worried enough that he politely excused himself and Jason under the lie that he needed to prepare his speech.

He led Jason over to a quiet section of the room, separated from everyone else by a few pillars.

“Is everything alright?” Bruce asked, very seriously and put both hands on Jasons shoulders.

For some reason, that made Jason break his promise to himself. His stoic face broke and crumbled into a frighten little boy’s as he started to cry.

Bruce nodded, assuming that something like that would be happening sooner or later. He shushed Jason and brushed back his hair.

“Hey, hey. Shh, tell Daddy what’s wrong. I need to know what’s bothering you.”

Jason looked around, scared that people were staring, which they weren’t, but Jason knew he was with the most important person there and it was only a matter of time until someone noticed them.

“I don’t kn-know.” He explained, quietly, but hiccuping. Bruce pulled him into a hug, cradling his head. “I feel weird.”

“Okay, kiddo. I know it’s scary with all these people, huh?” He felt Jason nod and then pull away from his chest, paranoia setting in upon hearing footsteps somewhat close by.

“I want go home.” He whispered and pulled on Bruce’s suit jacket. Jason knew he was being unreasonable, he also knew going home wasn’t an option, but he couldn’t help it.

Bruce sighed. “We can’t go home quite yet, I have to give a speech in..” he checked his watch. “Four minutes. Damn.” He whispered, frustrated. “Come with me, let’s find your brothers.”

Jason gasped and shook his head, he didn’t wanna walk out there into the crowd of people!

“Yes, Jason. You can either sit here while I find Dick, or you can walk with me.” Bruce said, being firm and looking around the crowded room.

As much as he disliked it, he had to be firm, being unsure and lenient wouldn’t help Jason’s anxiety any. He needed to be a sure thing for Jason.

Jason’s face scrunched up, he didn’t want to leave his Daddy’s side. “Go with you.” He said begrudgingly as he sniffled.

Bruce took out a handkerchief and held it to Jason’s face, wiping the tears and his nose. He looked around into the crowd a few feet from them, trying to spot any of his sons, even Damian would be acceptable.

“Alright, Jason, calm yourself. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

Jason had deja vu. When he was a kid, Bruce would give him that same line at parties when Jason got nervous.

He nodded and Bruce felt comfortable enough to walk with Jason out into the crowd.

Thankfully, Bruce could definitely see Dick across the room and very quickly lead Jason over to him. Jason ran over to Dick and just stood next to him, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“Hey.” He sighed in relief, looking a little flustered.

Dick sighed deeply, looking pretty relieved himself.

“Jason, are you okay? I’ve been looking all over for you. I thought you got left.” Dick, unlike Jason, wasn’t afraid of a little familial public affection, so he pulled him into a hug.

Jason’s mind told him to squirm out of it, people might be looking, but he couldn’t. He was finally comfortable for the first time in an hour.

Dick looked up to Bruce who suddenly paled at the voice coming over the microphone.

“I’d like to introduce Mr. Bruce Wayne!”

Bruce turned and almost booked it toward the stage before turning back around and giving Dick a heads up.

“He’s little.” He pointed to Jason’s now shocked expression, and took off, barely making it to the stage in time.

Dick released Jason from the hug, he had already suspected that Jason was slipping, but now that suspicion had been confirmed.

Before he could say anything, Jason frowned and crossed his arms, feeling like throwing a fit, which he damn well would’ve if they were alone.

“Let’s go home.” He basically ordered, feeling his suit grow more uncomfortable and wrong by the moment. He didn’t like suits in the first place, but when he was little, every bad feeling was amplified.

Dick put his hands on Jason’s shoulders and nodded. “Let’s sit and listen to Daddy. It should only be 10 minutes and then we can head home. Is that okay?”

“Yeah.” Jason whined lowly, but sat down next to Dick when the older man sat down at an empty table.

They were in the back, away from all the suck ups who wanted to be up front, no eyes were really on them, but Jason was still very aware of all the people.

He managed to stay still and quiet since Dick kept a hand on his shoulder, but five minutes later, Jason was whining again.

“Dickie,” he let out a dry sob which grabbed Dicks attention. “I wanna go HOME.”

“Can you-“

“Richard Grayson, is that you?”

Both Dick and Jason looked up at the voice and both of them froze at what they saw.

Two very attractive young women were suddenly standing above Dick and Jason. Dick inwardly groaned, he recognized the two.

“That’s me!” He chuckled. The brunette woman was the daughter of a very important government official, so it wasn’t like Dick could immediately brush her off. “How are you both?”

The other woman spoke up, she was taller than the first woman, had blonde hair, which was curled perfectly, and green eyes that were locked on none other than Jason.

“Who’s this? I haven’t seen him around before.” She bent over slightly and furrowed her brows at the now distracted man. “Not one for parties?”

Dick looked over to Jason and bit his lip to stop from laughing, he couldn’t help but find Jason’s blush endearing.

Jason’s eyes widened and he sat up a little straighter, holding onto Dicks suit jacket.

“This isn’t technically a party.” He awkwardly mumbled, eyes darting around anywhere but the woman’s face.

The blonde smirked at his almost nerdy cadence and stood up straighter, looking at her friend with an amused expression.

Dick blinked as he waited for a split second and then realized Jason wouldn’t be saying anything else, so he spoke up.

“Um- haha. This is my little brother Jason.” He grinned. “He is unfortunately not himself right now; a little too much wine, I think.”

He laughed and Jason found himself burrowing into himself, practically giving his own chest a bear hug.

“‘M not drunk.” His aggressive, but pouty voice sounded perfectly passable for a drunk man’s.

The two women lowly giggled at his annoyance, then the blonde narrowed her eyes at Jason, studying his face.

“Poor baby.” She finally said, voice deeper to be flirty. She then turned to Dick. “Richard, take care of this man or I will.” She winked at Jason, who turned away, facing the table in hopes of ending the conversation.

The brunette, who was smirking, stepped up and glanced down.

“I’m going to go find a seat to listen to the rest of Bruce’s speech. Nice tie, Richard. Very sexy.” She flirted and walked away, the blonde followed, sending a look back at Jason.

Dick cleared his throat. “See? The ladies love the tie.” He laughed, trying to ignore the heat growing on his cheeks.

Jason exhaled deeply, but panicked as he saw Dick moving, he leaned in close and whispered.

“Wait Dickie- please don’t leave.” Jason couldn’t stop the words as they fell out of his mouth. He meant every word, he just didn’t like how pathetic they sounded.

Dick was pissed at his past self, he never should’ve left Jason. Oh well, he’d remember that for next time. He shook his head and put his hand on Jason’s back.

“No, bud. I’m not leaving; I was being silly earlier when I went off without my favorite little guy, huh?”

Jason blushed deeply and looked around with a huff. “Lower your voice! B-but, maybe, yeah. Wanna stay with you.” He looked away at the last part, embarrassed.

“Oh what a coincidence, I want to stay with you too.” He grinned. “After we tell Daddy good job, we can go home and watch a few episodes of Bluey.” He sang, hoping to entice Jason into completely being little.

Jason had explained how difficult and at times uncomfortable it was to be stuck in between headspaces, so Dick usually tried his best to have him gently lean into his little side. Even if they were at one of the biggest events of the year.

Jason’s breath hitched, he hid his face in his hands, embarrassed at Dick referring to Bruce as “Daddy” and at how much he wanted to be snuggled up in Dicks bed, watching his cartoons.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, bro.” He grinned when Jason’s eyes peeked out from his hands.

Jason smiled and moved his neck slightly, happy about what Dick was saying, but his shirt collar and tie were both digging into his skin, distracting him.

“Are those big boy clothes too uncomfy?”

Jason blinked. Every day he became more convinced that Dickie could read his mind.

He forced himself to shrug for now though. “Not too bad, you’re wearing one.”

He gestured to Dicks suit, making it clear that as long as Dick was doing something, Jason would have no problem copying him.

“That’s right! We’re twins, huh? Oh- my little boy is growing up.” He wiped a fake tear from his cheek and made his voice all crackly with dramatic emotion.

Jason immediately forgot where he was and shook his head, pulling on his tie.

“Hey- nuh- no. I’m as big as you. In between, ‘member?” He pouted, tugging on his collared shirt in growing frustration.

“Big as me?” Dick leaned forward and took Jason’s tugging hands into his own, a look of amusement on his features.

Jason nodded quickly, looking around again to make sure no one was witnessing Dick Grayson holding his brother’s hands to comfort him, but everyone’s eyes were glued to Bruce.

“Even if you’re in between, or big for that matter, I’m still bigger than you. That’s why I’m your big brother.” He put Jason’s hands down gently, unbuttoning Jason’s top button and loosening his tie, bringing him some relief.

Jason seemed to settle at that, he didn’t want to agree with what Dick was saying, but he was glad it was true, and that Dick was there to remind him.

“Okay. Thanks.” He said shyly, but the relief was written on his relaxed face.

Dick just smiled and went back to focusing on Bruce, an action Jason copied until he felt his little side bubble up. He turned his head slightly, to stare at his big brother, wanting to be held.

Once he was being applauded off stage, Bruce slowly made his way over to Dick’s table, where the two men had been waiting patiently.

Well, Dick had been patient.

“Great speech, Bruce. Should’ve been me up there, though.” Dick sighed, jokingly wistful, and Jason nodded to agree with the first part, not being able to express that he was proud.

“Uh huh. Thanks, chum.” Bruce put a hand on his eldest son’s hair, knowing it would make him fuss at it being messed up.

Jason cleared his throat after giggling at the way Dick moved to quickly fix the top of his hair.

“Hi, Daddy- um, Dad.” Jason grimaced at his slip up, staring down at his lap.

He so badly wanted to raise his arms to be held, but he had to work up the nerve to do that even in the privacy of his own home, never mind here, in front of people.

But then Bruce chuckled softly and ruffled Jason’s hair. “Jason, it’s past your bedtime.”

Jason gasped. “N-no it’s not! I’m big now, just like Dickie.”

Bruce chuckled, Jason was so easy to read. “Ohh- big, huh?” He laughed, asking both Jason and Dick.

Dick cleared his throat. “He’s not big.”

“I am!” Jason tried to interrupt him by shouting, but that didn’t work. So he hit Dicks knee with his own and crossed his arms when it didn’t get Dick to shut up.

“He’s in between and on his way to being little. I’m gonna have to take him home before he has…” he looked up and whispered. “An accident.”

“I WONT-“

“Hush.” Bruce shushed the man by actually physically covering his mouth. He looked at Dick with a pointed look. “Get him home.”

Jason looked throughly pissed off, he had a love/hate relationship with how safe it made him feel when Dick and Bruce talked about him like he wasn’t there, like they knew exactly what he needed.

He huffed and momentarily kicked his legs out under the table.

Dick chuckled at his dramatic little brother and stood up. “Come on, Jay. Tell him bye.”

Jason looked up at Bruce. “Bye.”

Bruce basically pulled Jason up and out of his chair and into a hug. “See you later, bud. Listen to Dick and behave.”

He had nodded, but a sleepy, cranky and quite frankly, bratty little boy would soon prove to not be great at listening or behaving.

Once they reached Dicks car, Dick opened the back door for Jason, which the man whined at and kicked at the gravel beneath his feet.

“Dickie, I wanna sit in the front. ‘M not a-“

“Not a baby, yes I know. But bud, it’s safer if you use your car seat.” He cooed, and managed to gently get Jason into the seat.

Jason blushed deeply, especially when Dick reached over his arms and between his legs to grab the straps.

Jason covered his face until he heard the seat belt click across his chest, locking him in securely.

“Okay, all snug.” Dick cooed, taking in the sight of Jason all dressed up in a suit and locked into a baby car seat. “You want to watch Mickey on my phone?”

“…yes.” Jason grumbled, shy for some reason. Maybe it was the fact that he was a grown man sitting in a car seat. Nevertheless, he held out his hands expectedly.

“Hold on. Let me turn it on for you.”

“N-No! Give it!” Jason reached out for Dicks phone as soon as Dick pulled it from his pocket.

Dick scoffed and looked at Jason with a shocked look, daring him to keep that attitude up.

“Woah, excuse me? Is that how we ask for something?”

Jason whined upon seeing that Dick was now staring at him and not his phone. He shook his head, pouty with his chin to his chest.

Dick went back to pulling up the show and blinked expectedly at Jason, waving his phone a bit. “Do you want this?”

Jason nodded softly, not wanting to say anything since he was annoyed at everything.

Dick clicked his tongue, Jason was basically playing hard to get. “Then ask for it. Nicely.”

Jason grumbled, sometimes he was sure Dick was letting his big brother powers go to his head, as if he was using his gentleness for evil.

He dropped his hands into his lap and poutily pulled on the straps around him. He stayed still for a moment, but when he spoke, he made sure to look up into Dicks eyes.

“Can- Can I watch Mickey on there? Please, Dickie?” He nervously popped his thumb in his mouth, but Dick had a sneaking suspicion it was to look a little cuter. Which worked.

It was adorable, like Dick would ever tell him no in a million years.

Dick nodded quickly and handed the phone to Jason. “Good boy. Let me know if you need anything.”

As soon as Dick placed the phone in his hand, playing Mickey, Jason lit up and glared at the phone, immediately becoming entranced and distracted.

Dick smirked and shut the back door, he got in the front seat and started the car, turning the radio on lowly.

He could hear Jason mumbling some of the lines Mickey always said, along with the answers to some questions Mickey asked the audience, which just warmed Dicks heart completely.

He loved when Jason would let it all go and just be himself, it usually only happened at times like these; after a tough day/night and it was just Jason and Dick.

After a few moments though, when they were only less than five minutes from the manor, Jason started reaching out for his big brother.

“D-Dickie. Wan’ you.” He strained, the phone laying on his lap as he tried to lean forward enough to grab Dick’s shirt sleeve but the straps wouldn’t allow him to fully gasp the other man.

“We’re almost home, buddy.” Dick reached an arm back and squeezed Jason’s hand for moment. “You’re okay.”

Jason whined and shook his head. Of course he wasn’t okay! He wanted to be held!

“Dickie! I wan’ you!” It didn’t come out whiny or softly pleading like usual. It came out demanding and aggressive.

He sounded so… bratty, and deep down, Dick loved it. It meant Jason was being himself, regardless of the consequences.

“Very soon, baby. I promise-“ Dick cooed. Which is how it always went, even if the boy was throwing a giant fit, Dick would try the loving route before the stern route.

Jason deflated, he pushed his hands into his hair and tugged on it out of frustration.

“Sit with me now!” He borderline screamed, wanting his big brother to suddenly appear in the backseat. He punctuated that with a kick to the seat in front of him, the passenger seat.

Dick tutted, he didn’t love that. He figured this was as good a time as any to teach Jason some manners, including not to scream in the car.

“Well, that is definitely not the right way to go about asking Dickie for something. Kicking isn’t very nice, sweetheart.” Dick said, raising an eyebrow as he totally focused on the road, listening for Jason’s apology.

Jason instead kicked at the center console of the car, which made Dick reach back and grab one of Jason’s ankles.

“Hey- Jason. No, no.”

“Hmm-!” Jason whined as he kicked out, flailing in his car seat, but Dick held onto his ankle, pulling into the long driveway to the manor.

Dick cleared his throat. He knew Jason so well, and every little mannerism that led up to a tantrum, was incredibly prominent now.

He knew there was no way around being firm with the man now, because, yes, he was adorable, but Dick didn’t want him to think he could get away with everything.

“Hey, baby. I know you’re upset, but if you do that one more time, you’re going straight to bed, no Bluey.”

Jason lost his actual mind at that. One thing that remained with Jason, big or small, were those pesky anger issues. He just couldn’t seem to kick the habit of saying rude things, even when he didn’t mean it.

So he couldn’t stop himself when he yelled something particularly hateful to Dick.

“I HATE YOU.” He screeched, shaking his ankle until Dick let go, and then promptly kicking at the seats and the console again.

Even though it wasn’t true, and Jason was just exhausted right now, Dick hated hearing the words “I hate you” from Jason.

Dick shrugged and focused on his driving, acting like he didn’t care. “I’m sorry to hear that. And I’m sorry that you chose to go straight to bed.”

Jason, in turn, hated the words from Dick’s mouth. He shook his head and suddenly realized he had a phone in his hand, which prompted him to do the unthinkable.

He threw it straight across the car and into the windshield, it didn’t break anything, but it startled Dick, who slammed on the brakes. It startled Jason too, his bottom lip shook.

Jason fully expected Dick to turn around and scream at him or to turn off the car in an angry huff.

But instead, Dick calmly grabbed his phone, turned Mickey off of it and threw it in the passenger seat. He didn’t say a single word, even as they pulled into the garage, he didn’t say the words Jason so desperately wanted to hear.

Usually when they got back home late, Dick would turn around and grin at Jason, asking if he was ready for Bluey or his blankie.

But right now, Jason would’ve settled for anything. Even though he knew he was wrong, he was still feeling bratty, and didn’t regret his actions.

But the guilt was starting to seep in.

“U-um, is Daddy home?” Jason mumbled, now nervous since Dick was being so silent, trying to change the subject and remove his little fit from Dick’s mind before they got inside.

Dick shook his head as he parked the car, he didn’t say anything though; Jason could’ve cried at just that.

Dick needed to have these few moments to calm himself; yelling at the man wouldn’t do anyone any good. So he wanted to take a second to think, he figured Jason could use the time to examine his actions too.

Dick got out of the car and made his way over to Jason’s side, opening the door and undoing all the straps across his chest.

While Dick was doing that, Jason was trying to look as cute as possible, hoping that Dick would let him watch one episode of Bluey at least.

“Du-Dickie?” He whimpered and Dick glanced up, just removing the main lock on Jason’s chest. He again didn’t say anything, instead raised his eyebrows, and Jason was getting scared.

“Stoooop! Y-you’re bein’ mean!” He cried, as Dick pulled him out of his seat and onto his feet in the garage.

Dick looked at his little brother, his suit all messed up, his face bright red and eyes getting big and teary. He looked adorable, but Dick wanted to make sure Jason knew acting that way wasn’t going to be swept under the rug.

Dick crossed his arms. “I’m being mean? A few minutes ago you told me that you hated me.”

Dick sounded solemn and serious. Jason froze with a shocked expression etched onto his face, he wasn’t sure what to say; Dickie hardly ever had to call him out like this.

“C-cuz’ I wanted you! An’ you wouldn’t s-sit with me!” He justified, whimpering and pulling on his jacket, obviously flustered.

“I was driving, Jason.” Dick raised his eyebrows, patiently listening to Jason’s stuttering. “Did you mean what you said?”

He was trying to get Jason to see the error of his ways. He halfheartedly wondered if Jason was too little to understand, but he heard Damian and Bruce’s voices, always telling him that Jason was Jason no matter how little, and he always knew better.

Jason gasped and stomped, his black shoes hitting the pavement of the garage floor and echoing off the walls.

“N-no!” He pouted, crossing his arms and looking away from Dick.

“What’s your excuse for throwing my phone into the windshield? Or kicking the seats?” He shut the car door and pulled his keys out, locking it before shoving them back into his back pocket.

Jason turned bright red and tried to speak, but found that he had nothing to say.

“It’s late.” Dick huffed and started to walk inside, knowing he sounded angry and annoyed, he also knew Jason would be upset about it. “Come on.”

Jason’s jaw dropped as Dick simply turned around and started to slowly walk away, into the actual home. If he had been in his right mind, Jason would’ve realized that Dick was purposefully walking slow so that Jason had time to speak up.

But he was too worked up to see that, he was devastated and instantly regretted everything he had done to make Dickie mad.

Worst of all, Dick walked away without picking Jason up, or even stretching out his hand for Jason. And rightly so, Jason thought, he’d told Dickie that he hated him!

Jason crumbled, he was on the floor, on his bottom with his legs outstretched.

“Dickieee!” He wailed, bringing frustrated fists to his eyes and shoving his legs out in a mad huff.

He was regretful, sure, but he was still feeling like an angry two year old, and that was a hard beast to tame.

Dick turned around and crossed his arms. He wanted so badly to scoop him up and love on him, but he calmed himself.

“You’re a big boy, I know you can walk. When you act out, there are consequences, right?”

Jason covered his face and nodded, he didn’t wanna walk though!

“Dickie… pwease carry m-me.” He whimpered loudly, sticking two fingers in his mouth, sobbing his little heart out.

Dick just couldn’t keep walking, that would be cruel. He decided to go over to him and to compromise. He cooed inwardly at his baby brother, outwardly, he still looked firm.

He crouched down in front of Jason.

“Alright, listen-“ he pulled Jason’s wrist away from his mouth and held it tightly. “Did you learn anything just now?”

Jason hiccuped and looked up, sniffling. “U-um, ‘s- to.. um.” He scrambled, he couldn’t think straight, Dickie was right there and he wanted to be held!

“Okay, I’ll tell you what you should have learned.” Dick spoke, his voice getting a little softer. “Not to yell or be bossy, huh?”

Jason nodded, blushing brightly now.

“Good. And not to throw things or kick, instead be patient.” Dick let go of Jason’s wrist, watching his face. “I want you to apologize- say you’re sorry- and then I’ll carry you.”

Jason nodded and furrowed his brows, looking serious. “I- I’m sorry.”

Dick rubbed Jason’s shoulder. “Good job.” He praised with a light voice. “And I’m sorry too, baby. I should’ve known you weren’t feeling up to going tonight, please forgive me.”

Jason hiccuped, wanting to suck on his thumb again, but Dickie always said it was yucky, so he’d wait for his binky.

“Mmm-mhm. An’ Dickie?”

Dick nodded, encouraging the man to say whatever he wanted.

“I didn’t mean it. I really really love you!” He started bawling again, feeling terrible about his behavior, as if he suddenly realized what he had said to his favorite person in the world.

Dick finally smiled his comforting big brother smile, and snatched Jason up, bringing him up to his hip as he stood.

“Awh- I know you didn’t mean it. I love you too, buddy.” He whispered as Jason fell into his chest and shoved his face into Dick’s neck, his sobs quieted to little sniffles. “I think somebody’s just overwhelmed, huh?”

Jason squeezed his brother tightly, not wanting to let go. It was 11:00 by the time they both entered the house and Jason was feeling that late bedtime.

Dick walked straight into Bruce’s bedroom, since that’s where Jason always stuffed his suit for some reason, Dick didn’t ask.

Dick set Jason on his feet and quickly tugged off every part of his suit, including his shoes, and left him in his blue boxers and black socks.

“Bluey?” Jason asked, hopeful that Dick would allow him to stay up for another 20 minutes.

Dick winced, he walked around the room searching for a diaper; Bruce had some stuffed in a nightstand just in case, and Dick immediately grabbed one.

“We’ll see, honey. I seriously doubt that you’ll be able to keep your eyes open.” He teased, laying Jason down on the bed and giggling at his fluttering eyelids.

Jason covered his face when Dick slid off his boxers and taped his diaper up.

“I- I can keep ‘em open.” He slurred, turning onto his stomach and crawling further onto the bed, wanting to get under the covers and watch the tv in Bruce’s room.

Any other time Dick would let him, but he knew Bruce would be exhausted and worried about Jason all night if he came home and found him in his bed.

Dick leaned over and pulled Jason back by his hips. “Oh I wasn’t aware you wanted to wear just your diapey to bed.”

He totally expected the glare that Jason sent him.

“No! P’ease, want my Cars.” He pouted.

“You got it, sleepyhead.” Dick grinned as he took Jason’s hand, leading him to his room and getting him all snuggly in his red, Cars themed pajamas.

Dick pacified Jason by turning on the television in Jason’s room, Bluey of course. Dick stayed with Jason in his bed, due to popular demand, for approximately two minutes before the younger man was asleep.

When Bruce and the others came home, Dick had changed out of his suit and into his pajamas. He lay on the couch, with a hand in his now messy hair, ready to tell Bruce all about his eventful evening.