The Curious Case of Jason Todd

IX

Bruce had chosen to take a night off of patrol and went to bed early. He couldn't say no to Jason's plea to sleep in his bed. Dick had offered to take his place and Damian was quite pleased to work with his old partner. Tim did some research on one of his cases before also calling it a night.

The clock on the nightstand told him it was 2:43 am and he couldn't figure out why he was awake. Jason had rolled onto his chest around midnight, so it wasn't Jason that woke him. It was the light footsteps outside his door, the slight click of the doorknob, and the quiet creak of his bedroom door opening. Dick poked his head into the room and smiled when he saw that Bruce was awake.

"Any problems?" Bruce whispered, careful not to wake Jason.

"Nope," Dick shuffled into the room and climbed on the other side of the bed. He had changed into a pair of loose gray sweatpants and a navy blue t-shirt. Shuffling over until he was almost touching the arm Bruce had wrapped around Jason's back, Dick snuggled under the covers. "Mind if I join you?"

"Apparently, I don't have a choice," Bruce replied.

Dick lightly brushed his hand through Jason's hair, "I wish I could go back in time and change things. I gave him my number but I knew he'd never call. He's too much like you, that's probably why I avoided him at first."

"There are a lot of things I wish I could change. He needed a father, but I couldn't see that."

"Just like he needed a big brother but I wasn't interested. At least, not until after he was gone. I guess that saying is true, you don't realize what you have until it's gone."

Bruce laid a hand on Jason's back when the boy twitched and clenched Bruce's shirt tighter in his small fists, "I just have to keep reminding him that this door is always open for whenever he wants to come home. I know it will never be the same, but I want to make it work."

"One day. Maybe tomorrow?" Dick was ever the optimist. Bruce started to let sleep over take him at the dream of having all his sons together under one roof, permanently.

However, it felt like not 30 seconds later that he had Tim sneaking into the room. "What's wrong Tim?"

Tim's eyes were wide and his face paler than usual. He had another nightmare. "I-I just ... um ..."

"Here, Timmy," Dick patted the space next to him. The teenager slid in next to his older brother and relaxed at having his family surrounding him.

Bruce had almost fallen asleep again when he felt a presence hovering next to him. "Damian? Bad dream too?"

"-tt-" Damian crossed his arms and looked away, Bruce couldn't tell in the dark if his son was blushing, "I was simply curious about this spontaneous sleepover in your bed Father."

"Well, it is spontaneous. We're just missing one more. You're welcome to join us."

Damian eyed the two men, one teenager, and one small child all piled onto the king-sized bed. He climbed over his father's legs and wiggled himself in between Bruce and Dick.

"Glad you could join us Little D," Dick mumbled sleepily. Damian chose not to respond and all five people in the bed fell asleep.

Dick was promptly woken around 7 am by having Jason land on his stomach and knock the wind out of him. He groaned in annoyance.

"Morning!" Jason chirped.

"Jay? What -?" Jason scrambled off Dick and woke up Damian by accidently kicking him in the solar plexus. Tim grunted next to him when Jason's leg got tangled in the bed sheets and he tripped right on top of Tim's chest.

"Todd!" Damian snapped as he rubbed at his chest, "What are you doing?"

"I'm hungry," Jason whined, "Daddy said I can't eat until everyone gets up!"

Tim, Dick, and Damian all glared at Bruce who had just stepped out of the closet fully dressed. Bruce chuckled at their glares, "Come on Jay, let's get you dressed for breakfast."

"Oh no you don't!" Dick reached out to snatch Jason before the boy walked over him again, "I think you deserve to be punished by the tickle monster!"

Jason laughed and squealed as Dick assaulted his stomach. His legs squirmed every which way and his hands tried desperately to push away Dick's fingers.

"No, no, no, no!" Jason reached behind him and grabbed a small throw pillow that he used to deck Dick right in the head.

"Hey!" Dick raised his hands in defence but Jason continued to assault him with the pillow. Dick picked up his own pillow and threw it at the boy, only to have Jason duck and let the pillow smack Tim right in the face. "Timmy ..."

The look on Tim's face was dangerous as he raised the pillow above his head. Feathers flew everywhere when he brought it down on top of Dick's head. Jason exploded with laughter and jumped up and down on the bed, trying to catch the soft, white feathers. Damian expressed his discontent with Jason stepping all over his legs by smacking the boy in the stomach with another pillow.

Jason sat up and grinned from where he had been knocked over and threw one of the pillows spread haphazardly across the bed. If there was one thing that the Wayne boys had in common, it was a tendency to never back down from a fight, no matter how ridiculous.