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Tonight’s patrol has Dick sat in the cave, in charge of comms instead of out with the others. It’s not ideal - he doesn’t enjoy being on comms, but with how things are, it’s his turn to man them. Bruce is currently with The Justice League and Babara’s recovering from a particularly nasty concussion. Usually, this would mean that Alfred would take over comms, but it just so happens that he’s on annual leave.
In the wake of Bruce’s absence, Kate has been joining them on patrols. She’s different from Bruce in many, many ways, but similar in that they’re both good leaders, and skilled in combat (even if Kate does fight a little dirty). With Dick on comms, patrol consists of her, Cass, Steph, Tim, Damian and Duke. Despite the latter normally taking the day shift, he’d insisted on helping make up numbers. Dick had allowed it on the grounds that he agreed to sleep as soon as he gets back. Duke had accepted the terms, but Dick’s has no doubt that he’ll try to sneak out before he can get as much as three hours sleep.
“We’re doing one more sweep of The Narrows,” Steph informs Dick, “then we’ll be heading back.”
“Okay Spoiler,” Dick replies, sitting back in the chair and crossing one leg over the other. He presses the button to switch to Duke’s channel, “Signal, any update on the robbery?”
“Just finished talking to the police,” Duke explains. “We got the lackeys, but not the main guy. Orphan and Batwoman are searching for him now.”
“All right. Spoiler and Robin are in The Narrows, see if they need a hand.”
“Got it. See you later.”
Dick checks in with Cass and Kate briefly, learning from Cass that chasing the leader of the robbery has led them to uncovering a bigger operation. Dick tells her to be careful, to give him a shout if she needs him, before letting her go. Another reason he hates being on comms is because he can’t do anything if something goes wrong. Not physically, at least.
Standing up, Dick stretches his arms up as his back clicks. Patrolling the city might lead to injuries, but at least Dick gets to move around and stretch his legs. He’s never been able to sit still for long periods of time. Being on comms is like his own personal hell. As he sits back down, reaching his hand out to get his drink, he hears footsteps coming down the stairs.
In the doorway, just seconds later, stands Jason. His hair is standing up in every direction possible, and Bruce’s black comforter is draped over his shoulders and tucked to his chest. He barely looks awake as he shuffles over to Dick, before all but flopping into his lap.
Dick does his best not to groan, but that’s easier said than done when his 6 ft something brother has just fallen into his lap. He’s been waiting for this -- they all have, actually, for Jason to slip into his headspace. It’s been apparent that it was just around the corner all week, with various symptoms showing themselves; the craving of affection, the sensitivity to conflict, the inability to stay awake all day without a nap here or there. Jason had been furious when Dick had benched him (had just about managed to keep his tears at bay), but Dick knew he was making the right decision.
Jason tucks his head into the side of Dick’s neck, resting his legs over Dick’s. Immediately his eyes close again, and he brings the corner of the blanket up to his face to rub against his cheek.
Dick can’t help but coo. Time spent with his siblings whilst they’re regressed is time that Dick treasures, whether it’s colouring with Steph or taking Tim to the park. Jason rarely reaches a headspace of over two, however, and so has earned himself the title of the ‘baby’ of the family, despite physically being the second eldest (and even that’s debatable, given that Cass claims she’s the second oldest). Whenever they spend time together, there’s a lot of affection involved. Jason’s the only one who doesn’t reject it, with Steph claiming she’s ‘too old’ for kisses (unless Dick is kissing a scrape on her knee), and Tim running off before Dick can so much as wrap his arms around him, turning it into a game instead. Jason, however, is more than happy to bask in the warmth of Dick’s arms, giggles when kisses are pressed to his cheeks. Not only that, but he’ll happily seek out Dick when it need of attention.
“Tired?” Dick asks, running his hand over Jason’s hair. With his hand under Jason’s knees, he shifts him closer, his arm wrapped around his back. “You would be after the week you’ve had.”
Jason likes to fight his headspace, regardless of how much he needs it, or even wants it. There’s no doubt in Dick’s mind that it stems back to the prejudice and hateful attitude that Jason’s father displayed towards Littles when he was a child. It’s one thing to take someone out of the environment, it’s a whole other thing to shift their mindset from it.
Jason looks up at Dick, the corner of the comforter now in his mouth, slowly sucking on it.
“Let’s get you something better than that,” Dick says, though makes no attempt to take the comforter away from Jason just yet. It only takes getting bitten by Jason once to learn better. Dick rolls the chair so he can open one of the three drawers to the left of them. In the top one, lays a few of Jason’s pacifiers, diapers and wipes, and a beaded string which connects to a pacifier on one side, and whatever desired piece of clothing on the other. He takes the latter and a pink pacifier, of which Tim and Steph have matching ones.
Jason doesn’t have time to whine (or bite) when Dick takes the comforter out of his mouth, a paci immediately being slipped in its place.
“Isn’t that better?” Dick asks, attaching the string to Jason’s t-shirt, the other already clipped onto the front of his pacifier. He kisses Jason’s forehead before rolling them back to sit in front of the computer.
Dick lets them stay for a couple of minutes before forcing himself to move. Jason isn’t padded right now, and Barbara will kill him if she returns and her chair smells of urine. Hoisting Jason up into his arms, Dick gets the supplies from the drawer and collects the changing matt from the medbay.
“Shh, shh,” Dick soothes his brother as he lays him down, Jason not a fan of the sudden loss of contact. “Once we get this on you,” he holds the diaper up to show him, “we’ll go back to cuddling, okay?”
Tears well up in Jason’s eyes as he stretches his arms out, making grabby hands towards Dick. “Now,” he whines, pacifier falling from his lips.
“Soon,” Dick promises, placing the pacifier back in Jason’s mouth. He runs his hand over Jason’s cheeks to soothe him, his other hand tugging the waistband of his sweats down. Once he’s got the sweats down by Jason’s knees, he leans back so he can get to work. He makes quick work of it, swapping his briefs for a diaper. The ones Dick’s opted for has stars and rocket ships on it, which probably means it’s Tim’s, but he doesn’t need to know. “There we go,” he says the moment he’s finished, standing back up with Jason in his arms. “Isn’t that much better?”
He’s decided against putting Jason’s sweats back on, partly because he doesn’t think they’ll fit around the diaper anyway, but mostly because he thinks Jason’s adorable in just a t-shirt and diaper.
“Dick, are you there?”
Dick almost jumps at Steph’s voice in his ear. “I’m here, Spoiler,” he says, sitting down in the chair. He drapes the comforter over the two of them, Jason resuming his previous position. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing. We’ve met with Orphan and Batwoman. Signal’s here, too. We’re calling it a night - we didn’t find anything big in The Narrows, and Orphan and Batwoman have some leads to follow up back at the cave. Gonna stop at Batburger first though, do you want anything?”
“I’m good,” Dick replies. “If you’ve finished, I’m going to head back to the manor. I should get something for Jason to eat.”
Steph’s quiet for a moment, before, “He’s finally dropped, then?”
“Yep,” Dick confirms, already standing up.
“We can pick something up for him,” Steph offers.
“It’s all right, but thanks. A bottle should suffice, then he’ll probably fall back asleep.”
“Well, let me know if you change your mind.”
“See you later, Spoiler.”
---
Despite it being almost four a.m, the weather outside is still pleasant. The sun may not be visible yet it’s warm nonetheless, stars shining through the velvety blue sky. It’s for these reasons; the pleasant heat, the stars, the sky, that Dick’s decided to feed Jason outside.
The porch swing rocks slowly, Dick controlling it with the pads of his feet. Jason lays across his lap, head resting against his shoulder. Dick watches as Jason drinks from the bottle, lips around the nipple, milk running down his throat.
Jason’s eyes begin to close as the milk comes to an end, eventually moving his head to pull away from the bottle. Dick discards it to the side of them, busying his hand by running it through Jason’s hair. Jason, in return, closes his eyes completely and pushes his head into Dick’s hand, not in an unfamiliar way of a cat, or more accurately, a kitten.
“Have sweet dreams, Jay,” Dick whispers, continuing to rock them on the swing. He slips the pacifier between Jason’s lips, leaning down to press one final kiss to his forehead.
Jason turns his head, nuzzling his nose into Dick’s shoulder.
They stay like that for a while, Jason fast asleep in his brother’s arms, Dick more than content to sit there, holding him. Maybe being on comms isn’t so bad, after all.