“Hay is for horses,” Dick quipped, laughing, trying to arch away from the little gremlin. As fate would have it, Jason was bigger than he had been at fourteen, with big feet and broad where Dick had been whiplash thin. And despite his best efforts, Jason had his paws latched on the fragile cargo with a death grip. In the interest of enjoying scones that weren’t squashed into a pulp, Dick decided early on to let Jay have at it.
“I couldn’t tell, Baby Jay,” the older Bat grinned, yanking one last time, before abruptly releasing his corners of the box. “But fine, you can have your scones, as a reward for your exquisite- maybe just quisite- manners. B raised such a little debutante. I’m so proud.” Nightwing wiped a fake tear dramatically from the edges of his mask, a little of the bitter ache in his chest alleviating.
He swiped up his drink from where he’d set it down and gulped down a greedy sip. A victory chug.
Then he spat it out, the still-hot liquid singing his tongue. More than that, it was definitely not his ordered hot chocolate. Scowling, Nightwing raised the little cup up for inspection, reading a cramped “tea” scrawled across the side.
“Whoopsie,” Dick apologized, extending Jason’s hot tea to it’s rightful owner.
Reveling in his victory of frosted puffed bread, Jason stuck his tongue out in a childish manner at his brother-in-legacy. The boy rolled his eyes dramatically at the wordplay as he opened the box and took inventory. Not too damaged, still perfectly edible. Oh who was he kidding; he would've eaten them no matter how beaten up they had happened to get. "I don't even know what a deb-you-taunt is, but--" Jason quickly lurched to the left, avoiding the charming spray of hot beverage now a dark puddle on the grainy roof. That was close. Too close.
"Ewwwww" Jason sneered amusingly, his nose crinkling in feigned disgust. Cradling his cargo with one arm to accept the drink with his other, he examined the less full drink. "Now it's got your germs all over it." He teased before blowing the steam rising up from the lid away with a long cooled breath.
He felt a humble sense of relief flood over him, his shoulders lowering from their usual taut curve. The Gotham sky was a glowing twilight now, the tall buildings contrasting darkly against the orange and pink of the clouds. A cold breeze tussled his wiry hair, but proved futile against his heavily clothed body. Grinning, Jason quickly jumped onto a higher platform of the roof, calling back to Nightwing without giving him much as a sideways glance. "Hurry up loser, or we're gonna miss it!"
Jason walked to the edge of the roof, looking down only briefly before plopping down on the ledge. His legs dangled over the traffic below, all fear desensitized due to months of swinging around and over these very buildings. He felt so safe up here. So far above the dirty streets, the crime, the reality of it all. Being this high above everything, life didn't seem that bad. Not to mention, he had a whole box of scones. A whole box!
