Gotham by Streetlight AU

Chapter seven

They waited till Bruce's car was no longer in the driveway then set out to explore their new living space. Jason decided they should start top to bottom, hoping that they'd find something creepy in either the attic or the cellar. He was always in need of a good scary story to freak Tim out at night and one based off the place they were living in was sure to get a good scare. 

Past their bedrooms were a few more guest rooms and a study. Finding nothing special, they tried the other way and eventually found a locked door. 

"That must lead to the attic, why else would he lock it?" Tim theorized. 

"Alright, let's just bust it down," Jason stated, beginning his run-up. However, the eldest of the trio stopped him.

"Yeah because a busted down door isn't going to raise any suspicions. We just need a card."

"Debit or credit?" Jason joked, receiving an eye-roll. "No need to be uptight." He ran off and then returned with a gift card. 

"Where did you get that?" Tim inquired as Dick took it. 

"Found it," he stated. After some fiddling, the door swung open and Dick returned the card to the younger.

Inside the room was pitch black. They could make out the first few stairs thanks to the light from the hallway but that was it. Admittedly, it was slightly terrifying to stare into the inky blackness of the unknown and Jason was hesitant to return to the leadership role he took on earlier. 

"Do you think it's haunted?" he muttered.

"Ghosts aren't real, right Dick?" Tim responded though he felt extremely uncomfortable at the sight of the stairwell. Dick shrugged and took a few steps forward, finding a light switch and then flipping it to light up the room. 

"If there were any ghosts, they wouldn't be able to sneak up on us now," he said before ascending the stairs. The younger pair followed, keeping behind him just in case something happened. The attic itself wasn't anything special since it mostly consisted of dusty old furniture. 

"Well this is a lot more boring than I thought it would be," Jason complained. They split up and had a look around before the sound of cooing made them all pause. They looked up to the rafters, finding an owl perching itself on the wood. Dick's eyes glanced off to the side, finding the top of what looked like another set of stairs. He liked high places so he instantly began his search for the bottom of the stairs.

Whilst he did, Jason began pestering the owl to come to get Tim. The younger became both irritated and scared by the threat and began slapping him to make him stop. That did little for the situation as Jason took it as a chance to fight him. 

"Dick, Jason is being mean!" Tim shouted. They paused their fight when there was no warning from the older to knock it off.