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A ringtone rippled through his really damn good dream, waking him up from it.
He groaned, turning over to the side to retrieve his phone as Wally snuggled closer to him. He answers the call without looking at the contact ID.
“Hn.”
“Fucking hell, you sound like Bruce,” a voice— who he recognises as Jason but he somehow sounded more… hoarse and nasally.
“Whaddya want, kid?” Dick grumbles, turning back to Wally to cuddle him. He could hear Jason squawk at the name Dick had given him.
Well, yeah. Imagine being a 20-year-old man, built like a brickhouse, towering everyone and being called a kid by their older brother. Dick would've given the same reaction too.
“Listen, Bruce is out in space, Alfred is somewhere in England and me, Tim and Damian is fucking sick because Damian caught a flu and Tim being the spleenless idiot he is, caught it too and passed it to me. I wanted to cook us some food but I don't have the energy to do it and take outs don't feel good,” Jason informs.
Dick hums absentmindedly to let Jason know he's actually listening and not about to wake Wally so he could fuck him. “I’ll be there then.”
“What? No, you can’t cook. You’ll burn the kitchen. Don't ya have a lifetime ban from the kitchen?” Jason retorts.
“Uh, where did you even get that from? I can cook and I don't have a lifetime ban from the kitchen.” Okay, he only burned some toast when he was 8-years-old and Alfred banned him from the kitchen— that is until when he grew up and proved the butler wrong, managing to get out of the ban.
Jason scoffs. “Yeah right. And the Joker didn't beat the shit out of me and killed me.”
The older brother huffs. “Then why did you call me?”
“Uh, so your boyfriend can make us some awesome mac and cheese?”
Dick sighed exasperatedly. “Jay, you have his number. And plus, Wally is gonna be busy later on so your only option is me.”
He is met with silence and Dick checks his phone to see if Jason hung up on him. He didn't.
“Fucking fine. If you burn the kitchen, I’m telling Alfie.”
“Well a good thing I won’t then!” Dick chirps before hanging up, throwing his phone onto the bed with a small chuckle. Jason likes to be the one hanging up on people and Dick just beat him to it. His younger brother no doubt is cursing at him now.
“Was that Jay?” Wally mumbles sleepily next to him. Dick smiles and nods, pressing their foreheads together.
“Yeah, he and the other little birds are sick so he’s being a bitch,” Dick giggles. Wally let out a breathy chuckle which made his heart flutter wildly in his chest.
“Are you gonna go now then?”
He sighs depressingly. He wanted to stay in bed with Wally before his boyfriend had to go to work— but his brothers would definitely have his head if he let them starve for too long. “Yeah, I have to or they’ll try to bite me or something.”
Wally hummed. “Well that sucks. I was about to help you with your little problem…” His boyfriend mutters as his sneaky little hand slides into the blanket.
Okay. Surely his brothers can wait for a few minutes— or an hour.
“Dick? What are you doing here?” Tim calls out with his voice all hoarse and scratchy and a red swollen nose. “You shouldn't be here if you want to get sick.”
Dick waves him off as he settles down a bag of groceries onto the countertop. “Don’t worry about me getting sick, I have a really high immune system— or so I’ve been told.”
Tim raises an eyebrow at the groceries sitting on the countertop and looks back at Dick like he had grown two heads.
“What?”
“You’re… cooking?” Tim says with a disbelief tone.
Really, how did his brothers not believe he could cook other than instant food? When Damian greeted him at the door, he had said the same thing too.
“Yes, I’m cooking, so rest up your little ass before I break all the electronics in this house so you wouldn't be able to work,” Dick threatens with a wooden spoon pointed at his younger brother.
Tim raises his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. But are you sure you don't need Jason’s superv—”
“Out.”
“Ugh, fine,” Tim groaned as he turned away. “You better not burn the kitchen down while Alfred is away!”
Dick rolled his eyes as Tim exited the kitchen and to his room— well, he hoped his brother was going to his room to rest and not to work because Dick was serious about breaking electronics.
When Dick was halfway through cooking, another presence joined him and he didn't need to turn around to see who it was.
“Shouldn't you be resting, Little Wing?”
“Whatcha makin’?” Jason asked instead of answering him. Dick no doubt guesses that he was there to make sure Dick didn't burn the Manor down with his cooking.
“Daj’s special soup recipe that she would make whenever I got sick, called cignidaki zumi or stinging nettle soup but with her own touches. It’ll help you all to recover faster,” he replies as he adds some seasoning into the soup.
“And some Romani dish called sax suklo, in case the soup isn't filling your stomachs— except Dami can’t eat that, it has chicken in it but I doubt he has an appetite, so more for me,” he added, pointing at the oven.
Silence filled the kitchen and Dick turned around to find Jason staring at him with a nose matching Tim’s and Damian’s— in shock or surprise, he didn't know.
“What?”
Jason blinked rapidly. “And… you managed to cook all these without burning the kitchen? I’m impressed.”
Dick shrugged nonchalantly, turning back to his cooking. “Can you let the little birds know lunch is going to be served soon?”
Jason let out an affirmative hum and he could hear his younger brother shuffling out of the kitchen as he took the sax suklo out of the oven after it beeped.
As he laid out the dishes, his brothers had come down from their rooms— looking more rough than he last saw them. Which is saying much as he only saw them about a couple minutes or an hour ago.
“Damn, Dick,” Tim whistled at the sight of food. Dick gave them a dramatic bow before setting down some medications for them next to their plates.
“Now eat, you all look like a truck ran you over and went back in reverse to do it again.”
Damian tutted but all his brothers began eating— looking unbelievably suspicious.
Dick rolled his eyes and began eating too.
“Holy shit, Dickie. This is so good,” Jason moaned as he downed his soup.
Tim and Damian seemed to agree too— Dick could see the way their eyes lit up when they tasted his cooking.
“Ahki is correct. However did you manage to cook like this?” Damian asks as he finishes his bowl too, standing to take another serving.
“Don’t ever believe what rumours say about me being unable to cook an actual meal,” Dick retorts. “I lived with Alfred since I was eight and lived alone when I was seventeen. I usually cook for the Titans and if it weren't for me, we’d be eating pizza everyday throughout our teenage years.”
“Huh,” Tim mutters. “Why didn't Wally or Roy say anything?”
Dick shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe they assumed you guys knew that I know how to cook.”
“But Alfie did ban you, right?” Jason asked, getting himself a serving of sax suklo and getting a bite of it. “Shit, this is good.”
Dick felt the corner of his lips tug up in pride. “Yeah, that’s because I burned toast when I was eight and then lifted the ban after I proved to him that I learned how to cook.”
“Why don’t you cook often for us, Richard?” Damian asked. “You very well should.”
“Maybe I will for the next family dinner,” Dick said thoughtfully.
Damian nodded in agreement. “I shall be waiting for it then.”
His other brothers nodded in agreement too.
Dick smiles with a promise.