no rest for the wicked [jason todd]

forty one

ROLLING OVER, JASON THREW AN ARM AROUND HIS GIRLFRIEND.

He even pulled his eyes open to look at her, scanning her sleeping face, and smiled softly. He moved his hand up to her cheek, pressing his palm there and rubbing his thumb against her cheekbone. Her eyelids fluttered, resting on freckled cheeks, and finally seemed to drag themselves open to stare at him tiredly. She reached one smaller hand up and placed it over his own, lips pulling into a sleepy smile. "Baby," she mumbled, "go to bed. It's creepy when you stare."

"I'm not staring," he argued softly, pulling his hand away and sliding his hand down to rest on her hip. He shifted, glancing toward the clock to check the time. The flashing red time reading 3:46 AM.

He finally closed his own eyes again, trying to focus on the feeling of the pillow against his face, the sensation of her skin under his own hand.  It helped ground him when he felt torn away from himself. After a moment, he was even ready to fall back to sleep, but then he heard a crash. His eyes moved open and slowly but surely, he reached a hand into his bedside drawer. Curling his hand around the pistol and pulling it out, he raised it toward the bedroom door as he stood up, finger on the trigger.

He was quiet as he stepped toward the exit, checking Tye's sleeping form briefly. Then, he leaned out, gun moving from one size to the other, checking to see if someone was there. Then he stepped out toward the left, heading toward the living room. His gun pointed toward the figure lying on his floor now but paused when he saw someone familiar. "Dick?" He asked in shock.

Dick sat up slightly, wearing the Nightwing suit, a tear in the middle. He was bleeding from the wound, some wiped and dried near his nose. "Hey Jay," he managed, coughing into his fist. "I – Okay, fuck, give me one second – I was going to take out some shitty deal going but I got ambushed by these stupid Black Mask looking goons and... Look, I was worried. Is Tye okay?"

Jason's face fell slightly. "She's fine," he told him, tucking the gun into his waistband now. "Grayson, you're an idiot, don't bleed out onto my carpet. Lemme... Okay, I'm gonna grab a towel for the couch and then I'll..."

"Mm, Jay?" Tye asked tiredly from the hallway now. He groaned, leaning his head back for a moment. She stepped into the living room to find him, wearing one of his t-shirts as a long nightgown. Pushing some of her hair from her face, she looked sleepily toward her boyfriend before she noticed Dick. Muttering a curse, she stepped past him and bent down at her friend's side. "God, dumbass," she muttered to Dick, "What the hell?"

Dick laughed but grimaced moments later, pressing a hand against his chest. "Damn," he muttered under his breath, and then a little louder, he continued, "I'm a hero, c'mon. We all get injured sometimes."

"You look like a zombie -- like an actual corpse, Grayson," Tye told him firmly, brushing her fingers near the wound. He winced back and she jerked her hand to her side, eyes narrowing slightly. When she saw his eyes fall exactly where she knew they were going to fall, she moved away slightly, pulling on the shirt. She did kind of look like she'd gained weight, but she was holding off the announcement.

Gotham City had a better way of dealing with pregnancy in the station than most other police stations, but she didn't need to tell Gordon just yet -- didn't need Barbara to find out either.

"You sound like Jason," he said, shocking her from her thoughts. "With the whole... 'Grayson' shtick, Tye. It's actually kind of endearing you guys are starting to sound like each other." He laughed again, this one more pained and brief than the first. "Damn it. Where's Jason?"

"Towel and first aid kit, dumbass," Jason muttered, shouldering the door open wider and stepping over to his mostly adopted brother. He reached for him, passed the towel to Tye and helped him stand to his feet. Tye laid down the towel and Jason helped him to the couch, muttering as he made Dick lean forward only slightly. When he managed to get the top half of the suit down, they saw the cut in his abdomen.

It wasn't deep, but it was a little wider than she'd expected; it had to be painful.

"Hey... Be still, okay? Jason's gonna clean your cut and it's definitely gonna hurt like a son of a bitch," She rubbed his arm gently and he sighed, turning his chin to face her instead of looking at his wound. "Look at me, Dick. Just keep your eyes on m—"

Dick's arm immediately latched onto her arm and he cried out. "Fuck, Jay!" He jerked his head back, looking up at the ceiling. "Jesus, this was a mistake. Oh my God, don't— don't do that. Get off of me." He readjusted his grip on Tye's arm, making it softer, his eyes scanning her face. "This hurts so much. I swear, I want to die."

"Very funny," Jason replied in a mutter, eyebrows lowering, "trust me, I've tried that. Isn't as fun as you'd like to think."

Dick's gaze softened but he didn't look over at Jason. Instead, he shifted one last time and decided to focus on being still for his nearly adopted brother. "You guys are sensitive to noise, honestly," he said after a moment, "I mean, one guy crashes through your window at what? 4 am? Suddenly, wham, you're both up and ready to help."

"Been a little on edge," Jason offered, "since everything happened."

He didn't mean to say it, he didn't, and he knew he'd fucked up when he did. He glanced over at Tye, eyes just a fraction too wide, lips curling into a grimace.

"Oh my God," Dick said, "do you have a tapeworm? I knew you looked thinner, Tye!"

Exasperation filled Tye's next exhale. "Oh my God," she muttered, turning toward his wound now. "No, Dick, I don't have a — I look thinner?"

"No, I don't... I don't know, okay? You look different, I just never really paid attention to your weight before, so I assumed you lost weight and you were like trying to get me to notice, you kn—" He broke off to shoot a glare at Jason when the guy pulled out a needle.

"I'm stitching you up," he deadpanned now.

Dick sighed audibly and then pressed his mouth into his shoulder, smiling toward Tye now.

"I'm pregnant," Tye said after a moment.