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“Jason!”
The scream gets Bruce’s attention, causing to look up from the newspaper he was currently reading. He pauses, listening out for more shouts and waits to decide on whether he needs to go and interfere with whatever is going on. He takes a sip of his coffee, ready to go back to the paper
“Stop it asshole!”
He puts the coffee down and sighs. He takes a deep breath and lets it before calling out, “Jason, don’t set your brother on fire!”
Bruce knows exactly what’s happened without even needing to be in the room witnessing it. He knows because he knows his kids.
“It’s not my fault!” Comes the response. “The little twerp knows to not sneak up on me like that!”
“How was I supposed to know you’d be in this room? I don’t always know where you are!”
“That's a total lie and you know it! You always know.”
Bruce rubs a hand across his forehead, wondering where he went wrong in his life. He loves his kids, he does but sometimes they are a pain in the ass. In the room not too far away he hears a couple more screams and arguments between his middle two sons. One of them had clearly upset the other and now they’re fighting.
Despite what was going on in the room next door, Bruce stays in his seat and ignores the commotion. He’s learnt that sometimes it’s best just to let them fight it out. He’ll check on them and scold them in a bit when things have calmed down.
He was just getting back into reading the paper when he’s joined by another body. Bruce glances sideways as his eldest son comes strolling into the kitchen, picks up an orange from the side before joining him at the table.
Dick wordlessly peels the orange and starts eating the segments, after three he finally speaks up. “So, any reason why you’re in here instead of pulling Jay and Tim apart?”
Bruce hums noncommittedly, “I’ll deal with them in a bit, once they’ve calmed down.”
As if on cue, a loud crashing sound could be heard and another scream. Bruce continues to ignore it in favour of the paper, deciding that it was too early to be dealing with such antics.
Next to him Dick snorts, “Bet you wish you just stopped at one huh?”
Bruce shoots him an amused look with a raised eyebrow in question, “Just one? Most of the time I wished I never started at all.”
Dick looks at him for a moment before pouting, “That was mean.”
He doesn’t give Dick a verbal answer, only a smirk in response and goes back to his paper. He loves all his kids and they all know it, even if he was sometimes bad at showing it. He wouldn’t change his life now for anything else.
It goes silent between the two of them while they do their individual tasks. Bruce sips his coffee and reads the paper while Dick munches on the orange. After a while an audible sigh comes from next to him, “And once again I’m doing your job. You really ought to step up Bruce, you’re lucky I decided to come and visit this weekend. How do you guys all survive without me?”
“We have Alfred.”
Dick pauses from where he was getting up and considers his answer for a moment. He nods in agreement, “Yeah okay, I’ll give you that, but still…”
Bruce watches as his eldest chucks the orange peel in the bin and as he heads out of the room towards where his brothers were still arguing. There was another crash and Bruce lets out another sigh, he wishes he had something stronger than coffee in that moment. Kids. He loves them but they are most certainly a pain in the ass.
As Dick heads towards the room his brothers were in, he mentally prepares himself for the onslaught that’s about to come. He stops outside the door, rolls his shoulders back and grabs the fire extinguisher that’s placed outside of the room.
Since Jason developed his powers, they’ve taken to having fire extinguishers in every corridor of the Manor just so they can be on hand as Jason often lost control of his powers, they were helpful in managing the outbreaks.
He walks into the room and finds a scene that was familiar. Tim was crowded on top of the cabinet, shouting curses at Jason who happened to be on the floor shouting back up at him with his hands lit up.
“Come on Timbit! Just come down here I promise I won’t do anything to you.” Jason said after Tim called him something Dick doesn’t want to repeat. Why he doesn’t just teleport away Dick wasn’t sure, unless he’s injured somehow.
Tim’s powers were a little different, unlike Jason who had fire manipulation, Tim had teleportation powers, but if he was injured in anyway then he couldn’t use them. The only explanation for that is because they’re fairly new and Tim was still getting used to them, once he’s older and stronger then he’d be able to do more.
“Fuck off you liar. As soon as I come down, I’m toast. Literally!”
Without even being near his brothers he could feel their emotions and he knew straight up that Jason was planning something harmful to Tim as soon as he touches on the ground. Jason was lying and they all knew it.
His powers were different again, he was an Empath. He has the ability to read someone’s emotion by simply touching them, to a further degree he can manipulate them and a few other things.
“Come down here!” Jason yells, clearly losing his patience now.
Tim doesn’t move from his spot.
“Jason!” Dick calls getting both of their attention. “Put out your hands and let him down. Tim knock it off and get your ass down to the ground.”
Jason’s hands light even more as he turns and glares at Dick, “Oh I see how it is. You come running when he cries for help and makes me look like the bad guy but where were you when I needed help huh? Playing favourites much.”
Dick rolls his eyes, Jason can be so childish and this isn’t the first time they’ve had this argument. Dick sends him an unamused look, he holds the end of the extinguisher up and pointed at Jason, “If you don’t put your hands out I’ll spray you.”
His brother raises an eyebrow, “Wow, such a cold threat Dickie.”
“Just do it.” Tim pipes up his place on top of the cabinet.
There’s a beat or two as both Dick and Jason look at him. Blinking at the teenager who simply stares back and shrugs but doesn’t offer any further comments.
Jason turns back to Dick and lights his hands even more so there were small flames in his palms. “Is this challenge? I will beat your ass and once I beat yours I’ll beat his.”
Dick really wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with his brothers bullshit, or more accurately, Jason’s bullshit. This is the stuff Bruce really needs to sort out, not him.
He gives Jason a deadpan look and says, “No, not really,” before spraying him with the hose.
Dick isn’t going to deny that he didn’t enjoy seeing Jason getting doused with the foam, it was always fun to spray his brother but again he really shouldn’t have to do this. About a minute later he turns off the extinguisher and puts it down to the side before walking over to where Jason was coughing and spluttering. The foam was everywhere and he’d have to apologise to Alfred for the mess but that’s a bridge to cross when they get to it.
While he waits for Jason to get himself together movement catches his eye and he sees Tim starting to climb down from the cabinet. He waits until the teen was on the ground before addressing him, “Don’t even think about it.” He says sternly, halting Tim in his tracks on the way to the door. “Come here.”
He gestures with his hand to Tim who looks at him with wide eyes.
“Tim. Come here.”
The teen reluctantly walks over to him and once he’s in reaching distance he reaches out to grab Tim’s wrist to bring him in close. Dick looks over his brother in concern, “Where are you hurt? And don’t say you’re fine because you aren’t, you would have teleported if you were fine.”
Tim grumbles under his breath but slowly lifts up his t-shirt which was burnt black. Underneath, his pale skin was now a harsh pink colour and looking very sore and Dick winces at seeing it. From where he still had Tim’s wrist in his hand, he could feel his brother’s pain through his powers
Knowing that Tim wouldn’t admit it, he simply says, “That looks sore Timmy, go and see Alfred okay.”
“I’m fine, it isn’t my first burn.” Tim snatches his wrist out of Dick’s grasp and sends a glare in Jason’s direction. “There’s no need to bother Alfred over this.”
Dick rubs a hand tiredly over his face before giving his brother a stern look. “He’d rather you go to him than get some sort of infection or even be in pain. He’ll heal you in under three minutes. Now go.”
They stare at one another for a minute or two. Dick doesn’t back down and eventually Tim relents. He stalks away mumbling unhappily under his breath. Dick watches him go before turning around to face Jason with a disappointed look.
“You could have seriously hurt him you know,”
Jason glares at him, “He startled me. I jumped and reacted in defence and he was in the way. That’s on him, not me.”
“You need to be more careful with your powers.”
“Don’t have a go at me! It’s his fault in the first place for sneaking up on me when he knows he shouldn’t. Why aren’t you having a go at him huh?”
“I’ll have a word with him once Alfred has healed him alright. Just try and be more careful, please.”
Jason narrows his eyes before looking away, quietly and reluctantly agreeing. Again, this is the sort of shit Bruce ought to be dealing with, not him. It probably doesn’t help that they’re all stubborn mules that constantly butt heads but here they all were as a dysfunctional family.
He snorts, “Sometimes this is the reason why I moved cities in the first place, you guys drive me nuts.”
Jason raises an eyebrow, “Oh please, you would be bored if we weren’t here. We keep you on your toes, make things exciting.”
“You certainly do.” he agrees exasperatedly but fondly. No matter what he says he wouldn’t change them for the world. “Now that's been sorted I’m going to go check that Tim actually did go to Alfred and then have a word with him and then one with Bruce while I’m at it.”
It was halfway through the battle when Tim sees Dick fall to the ground and not get back up again. He knocks the goon he was fighting to the side, whacking him on the head with his staff so he crumples to the ground unconscious before rushing over to Dick’s side. Sliding to his knees, Tim takes in his brother’s form and tries to work out what’s wrong.
“Nightwing? Nightwing!” He scans his brother’s body until he finally sees a small puddle of blood forming at the man’s hip. Being as careful as he can, he maneuverers Dick’s body so he was lying on his back so Tim could see the wound. He tries to not let panic seep in at what he sees.
He raises a shaky hand to his comm, “Nightwing’s down. A bullet wound in the abdominal area, not sure on the severity of it yet but its bleeding profusely. I’m going to try and slow it down.”
He starts getting bandages out of his belt and applying pressure to the wound, he doesn’t know if the bullet is in there or not but a quick glance at Dick’s back, it looks like it went straight through in what was hopefully a clean shot. But something else must have happened for Dick to be knocked unconscious. Tim hopes there wasn’t a head injury to pair up with the bullet wound.
He needs to move him, get him to Alfred who would be able to heal him, but there’s no way Tim would be able to teleport him in this condition. He’s prone to bleeding out before Tim could get them at the cave. Teleporting now would do more harm than good.
“I’m coming Red, don’t do anything ‘til I’m there.” Jason’s voice comes through on his comm and he frowns. What was he going to do beside try to not get shot or let Dick die? He’s not stupid.
What seems like years later, Red Hood was sliding down on Dick’s opposite side. Tim says nothing as he watches the older man do his own examination of the situation.
“I’m going to cauterize the wound, that should hold off the bleeding until you’re able to get him back to the cave.”
Tim blinks up at him behind his mask. “What? Hood, I can’t move him like this! He’s in too of a precious state, it could just end up doing more damage. And I’m not exactly experienced enough to move an unconscious body!”
He was still learning his powers. They hadn’t developed too long ago and Tim was still working out all of the kinks to them. He can barely teleport someone who is conscious let alone someone who is unconscious, he isn’t skilled or powerful enough to achieve that yet!
Opposite him Jason starts tearing away the Nightwing suit to reveal Dick’s bloody and wounded skin. If he wasn’t used to seeing this sort of thing, Tim would have puked. Jason rips his gloves off and lights his hands up, a small flame alive in the middle of his palm.
Tim swallows thickly, knowing what was about to happen wasn’t going to be pretty. He shifts around so he’s pressing Dick’s other side and arm to the floor to try and keep him in place just in case he wakes up and thrashes.
“As soon as I’m done I want you to take him, understand Red?” Tim swallows again and nods in acknowledgement but he refuses to meet Jason’s eyes, or at least the direction of his gaze as his brother was wearing his helmet.
“Red.”
Damn him, Tim thinks. He still refuses to look up, he grits his teeth and says, “Yeah I get it Hood. Just get on with it.”
Understanding what he needs to do is different from actually doing it.
“Right I know what you’re thinking and you’ll be fine, Dick will be fine. Quit thinking with that oversized brain of yours and just focus on getting your ass to the cave along with Dick.”
Tim finally snaps his gaze up, glaring at the man through his mask. “What if I can’t! I don’t know what’ll go wrong with my powers!”
A frustrated sound comes from Jason’s helmet. “Jesus Christ Red, nothing will happen. Do you know where you need to go?”
“How do you know that?”
“Do you know where you need to go?”
“Yes.”
“Then picture it and go there when I tell you to. Don’t think about anything else. Ready?”
Tim grits his teeth again to stop himself from commenting, instead choosing to nod and try to listen to what Jason was telling him. The cave. He needed to go to the cave where the medical bay was. He can picture it, knows the image off by heart. It’s an easy place to teleport too, or should be.
Jason places his hands on Dick’s wound and for a moment nothing happens but then his brother was awake and screaming. His body jerks and thrashes as it tries to get away from the pain but both Jason and Tim hold on, making sure he doesn’t move away from Jason’s hands.
Then like that it was done, and the lovely smell of burnt flesh hangs in the air. Once again, Tim wants to vomit but he’s able to keep control of his stomach before anything happens. Dick slumps back down on the ground, his body going limp and was breathing heavily, seeming like he’s fallen unconscious again.
“You need to go.” He looks up to find Hood staring at him as he puts his gloves back on, hands clear from any flame or fire. Tim blinks at him, digesting his words. “Red you gotta go.”
“Right, right,” Tim mumbles looking back down at Dick’s body. He grips his brother tightly and wills his powers up. He can do this. He can get them there. To the cave where Alfred was and where the med bay was.
He wills his powers up, letting them wash him as well as Dick and concentrates on the picture of the cave in his mind and powers himself there.
The landing could have gone much better. They sprawl out over the floor in a heap and in a tangle of limbs. Tim squirms away and shoots up looking at their new surroundings, he lets out a cry in relief when he finds that they are in the cave. He did it, he actually did it.
“Red Robin are you alright?” A voice with a British accent speaks out.
Tim turns to find Alfred rushing to them, he gestures to Dick’s limp body, “You need to heal him, quickly, he’s got a wound. Hood cauterized it but it needs proper healing. Please, just help him.”
Alfred doesn’t waste anymore time, he picks Dick off the ground like he weighed nothing and drops him onto the cot. Knowing his brother was now in good hands Tim slumps down to the ground and doesn’t move. A voice comes through his comm, letting him know the battle is more or less wrapped up now.
About an hour later Alfred tells Tim that Dick will be alright, once he’s had food, got some rest and sleep he’ll be good as new. Tim thanks him and appreciates how lucky they are that they have Alfred and even better that he has the ability to heal people. He’s saved their asses so many times it’s unreal.
Once Tim has showered and had something to eat himself he goes and sits by Dick’s bedside, watching his brother sleep. While today hadn’t been that bad it was still terrifying, it’s never nice when one of them gets injured. Then of course there’s the part with his powers, he had managed to teleport them both with no trouble. That’s great news because it means he’s getting more fine control over them but also now he’s getting stronger.
Tim’s brought out of his head when a hand lands on his shoulder. He jumps and looks around to find Jason grinning at him. The older man moves his hand off his shoulder and ruffles his hair before collapsing into the seat next to him.
“Told you, that you could do it,” he states simply.
Tim snorts and rolls his eyes, “Whatever.” Of course he was ecstatic over that fact, but he wasn’t going to let Jason know that.
“Confidence is key Baby Bird, stop using that too massive of a brain of yours to overthink everything and just get on with things.”
“Only if it was that easy.”
Jason opens his mouth to comment but he gets cuts off by a groan. Their attention moves to the bed as Dick starts to shift and his eyes open to look at them. A dopey grin takes over his face, “Hey guys, how’s it goin’?”
“How do you feel?” Tim asks him instead of answering. Dick blinks tiredly at them and takes a moment to answer.
“Tired, a little achy. I’m fine though.” He pauses as if thinking about something he looks down before looking back up. “Did Alfie work his magic on me?”
Tim nods, “He did. You got shot if you remember, we got you to the cave and he fixed you right up.”
Movement by his hip gets Tim’s attention and he finds Dick’s hand opening and closing, he reaches over to grasp it in both of his, holding it tightly.
“How did you get me to the cave?”
Tim goes to answer but he’s beaten by Jason, who stands up and clamps his hands on his shoulders. “Our little birdie is growing up, he got you to the cave by himself. I had to cauterize the wound with my powers but he got you here to Alfred himself.”
Dick blinks at both of them before another smile crosses his face, “Thank you Timmy. I’m proud of you. I would give you a hug but y’know, not right now.”
Tim shrugs, knocking Jason’s hands off as he does so, “It was nothing. I’m just glad you safe.”
Something else seemed to click in Dick’s mind because he’s giving them both a thoughtful look, “You guys worked together? To help me?”
Tim shoots Jason a confused look, “Uh kind of?”
“I’m so proud of you guys! You can work together, we’re family we all love each other really.”
Tim lets out a chuckle, hearing Jason do the same next to him, “Uh sure Dick.”
“Just this once Dickie,” Jason says, “I ain’t promising there won’t be no more fights after this.”
Dick pouts at hearing that but he seems to resign, “Fine, I’ll take the win while I can. We’ll work on it.”
They both laugh again and let Dick drift off back to sleep. Tim glances at Jason before looking away again, “Uh, thanks for today. It, um, it helped.”
“Not a problem runt. Like I said confidence. Perhaps we could work on it if you like sometime?”
Tim looks back at him with surprise, “Really? Sure if you want to.”
Jason grunts and nods, he stands back up and starts walking away. Tim figures he’s probably had enough feelings for one day. “I’m done for today, talk to you tomorrow about it.”
Tim lets him go without any words, he turns back to Dick’s sleeping body and smiles to himself, feeling stated in a way he wasn’t before. It’s something to look forward to at least, there’ll undoubtedly be hiccups ups along the way but it’s something at least.