Gotham by Streetlight AU

Chapter nine

Are we gonna talk about my break? No. We're not.

Jason didn't know how to say it but he didn't want to sleep in the same bed as Dick and Tim anymore. Sure, he'd gotten used to the feeling of other people in his bed but that was because they had to. They had rooms all to themselves now that they could take advantage of. There was no reason to share the bed, even if the new mattress made it considerably less cramped. He'd settled into their new home too so he wanted to at least try again to sleep on his own. 

The only problem was, he didn't know how to say it. They'd always done it and if he went against the grain now who knows how they'll react? Dick didn't show it that much but he was...sensitive when it came to things like this and Tim wasn't much better. The matter plagued him. He just wished he could talk to someone about it but the only people he trusted to talk about it with were the ones he needed to tell. It was all so complicated and if there was one thing he didn't like it would be something complicated. Why did he have to care how the others felt? Why didn't he just do what he wanted to do? It couldn't be because he was nice since he got a thrill from beating innocent people up.

Whilst in the Batcave, Bruce did a little check-up on the boys he'd recently brought into his home. They didn't spend much time together outside of his business and his hero duties so this was the most he could do while he was swamped with work. He checked the cameras, finding Tim waking up Dick with paper in his hand. Probably their homework since it was around that time now. 

He looked around for Jason and found him on the small basketball court in the backyard. He bounced the ball a few times and shot it, getting it through the hoop and catching it when it bounced towards him. There was a long pause before he continued in which he looked down to the floor. 

Bruce frowned to himself as he watched the boy continue to play alone. There was something about those few moments of inactivity that set off alarm bells. Something was going on with Jason. Considering those he trusted most were just moments away upstairs and he wasn't going to them, this thing was something very troubling. Bruce glanced over at the stack of reports and then stood up to get dressed into his normal attire. Reports could wait. This could be his chance to get closer to the kid he took in.

"Something on your mind kid?" Bruce called to Jason. The younger turned to him and shook his head. 

"Nope. I was just enjoying a nice game before you interrupted me," he responded with a huff. Bruce frowned and walked over to him. 

"How about we play a game, huh? First to get ten points to win. If I win, you tell me what's going on. If you win, I'll call it quits and let you carry on." He stuck out his hand and, after some consideration, Jason took it. 

"You're on."

Timeskip because holy shit I don't understand how basketball works sshhh