Raising Robins

Vacation Pt. 2- An Italian Vineyard

When morning came, Jason was still sore but he got up.

"You're up with the sun, Master Jason." Alfred noted. "Will you be journeying with us to the vineyard?"

Jason shook his head and yawned. He shook his head and wiped his eyes. "No, sir. I really messed up last night and that sounds like a lot of walking and..."

"Sitting?" Alfred finished.

"Yes, sir. It's what? An hour drive?"

"42 minutes tops if you were driving." Damian snarked. 

"Wha-"

"Dad found a speeding ticket. It popped up on his phone this morning at three."

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep at three or did you pis-"

"Master Jason!" Alfred warned.

Jason thought of his butt and of the soap. He quickly apologized (but only to Alfred). The teen miserably thought about not having his phone. Tim called it "ass rule" that as long as your bottom still hurt, you couldn't have your privileges. It wasn't set in stone, but it was pretty accurate. A paddling took about three days, a hand spanking took about two, and the belt took about a week. The boys tried to play off "ass rule" by sitting normally, but damn that could hurt.

"Jason." Bruce said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, thank you, father." He responded curtly, before leaving to go to sleep and spend the next few hours alone. Bruce had other plans. He called his son back.

"I think you should go to the vineyard with us. It would be nice. You can try wine."

"Dad, I've tried moonshine when I was seven. Wine is nothing."

"Yeah!" Damian cheered. "We're all getting drunk!"

"Actually." Bruce said. "You and Tim will be quite sober."

"So Dick and Jay are getting turnt?" Tim asked, sipping coffee, raising one eyebrow.

"Never say 'turnt' again, Timmy." Dick said, messing up Tim's hair. "But seriously, Dad. We can drink?"

"With out getting turnt, why not." Alfred asked.

Dick shrugged. "Cool."

All of the boys dressed nicely to enjoy the expedition on their vacation. They sat, cooperatively, in the car, where Jay sat on a pillow for an hour and pulled in to a stone lodge, with lovely masonry work and handcrafted clay shingles. They entered into the building and Jason practiced Italian with a cute receptionist.

They toured around the facility and got to try grapes. Damian mostly enjoyed throwing grapes at the back of Tim's head while they walked through the rows of concord and green grapes. Tim held back a large vine for his family to walk through, but allowed for it to swing and hit his youngest brother in the face. Damian tried to bite Tim later in the tour, but as it turned out, Alfred could quickly grab hold of the youngest boy's ear and tow him around. That was strike one for Damian and Tim.

As it turns out, fourteen was old enough to try wine with a parent's consent. Damian just had grape juice, but did once or twice get to dip his pinkie in different wine, which he remembered drinking similar flavors back in the palace he was raised in back in the Middle East with The League of Assassins. Strike two came when Tim jabbed Damian in the ribs for him being obnoxious and finally, as they decided to separate from sitting by each other, and kept trying to insult each other in Italian that Jason was teaching them, Jason got a strike and Tim and Damian were marched out to the vineyard between the rows of grapes, far away from the taste room and patio and down the hill until Bruce had the boys explain. They were made to turn around and bare their bottoms one at a time and receive a hard swat for each year of age and three for the strikes that they had occurred, before pulling up their briefs and shorts and walking, sorely, back to the van.

That night, Damian had a meltdown and so he slept up top in Dick's bunk until the oldest moved the sheet stealer into his own bed. The next morning, they packed and loaded the plane to fly home. School started in a week. Bruce left the cockpit and talked to the boys.

"I want good behavior for the next WEEK." Bruce said before explaining. "No spankings. Just grounding. No technology. Do you understand?"

"This is sudden." Dick noted, leaning forward in his chair. "So what happens if we do act out? Corporal punishment is kind of our go-to."

Jason added on. "Yeah, at least a spanking gets it over with. And people NEED help, so grounding us is dumb."

"Taking away technology is a nightmare. It's like taking away my friends."

"That's because you have no friends in real life." Damian sniped.

"At least I have friends." Tim replied.

Bruce had enough. "Well, here is what happens. We are getting your uniforms tomorrow, Tim and Damian. Dick, you have an internship at the Bludhaven Community Center set up, right?"

Dick nodded. "And Jason. You're going with the other two for school supplies."

Jason shrugged one shoulder and made a face before leaning back. "Okay."