Not the bird you think (Dick and Jason)

[justlikeacircus]

There wasn't anything strange about the evening when it started, he finished up his shift and swapped one uniform for another same as he always did, and patrol was relatively quiet.

Then he dropped in on a mugging in progress - only to find somebody else had beat him to it. Somebody with a very familiar R on their chest - and that was where the familiarity ended, because it sure as hell wasn't Tim.

He held back until the mugger was dealt with and the victim had long since fled, since the stranger seemed to have the matter well in hand and he didn't want to ruin anything by joining in the fight unexpectedly. He did step forward before the 'Robin' could disappear, though, head titled curiously.

"Funny, I'm sure Batman would have told me if he was hiring somebody else, I normally get to be on the interview panel." he quipped.

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[robintoo]

Jason took the clothes with a smile. "Thanks," he said. It was guarded still, but genuine enough.

He took them into the bathroom, cleaning up a little and changing into the clothes Dick had given him. It was a better fit than it likely would have been on the Jason Dick knew, who was bigger than this version. Dick was a little taller than Jason, though Jason was broad shouldered for his size. The pants were a little long, the shirt a little tight. But it was fine. Better than half his own clothes given how little he went to buy new ones and how oversized his hoodies tended to be. They even smelled a little bit like Dick which was ... nice. And definitely better than Jason's usually did. Laundry wasn't his first priority lately.

He took a few minutes to just ... think. Settle. He was in another universe, with another Dick Grayson, where there was another Jason Todd who'd died. Part of him wondered if it really was the Joker, or if that's just what this version said, if anybody had seen it. But he wasn't gonna ask.

He splashed some water on his face finally, emerging with hair a little damp and Dick's clothes on, his own stuff tucked under his arm and his feet bare save for socks, until he sat down to start pulling his boots back on. If anything went down, he didn't want to have to run barefoot. He checked to see if Dick was still on the phone before asking, "they say anything?"

[justlikeacircus]

"Yea I can do that, it's not a problem," Dick was saying as Jason came back into the room "thanks Babs. Just let me know."

He hung up and turned to Jason when he spoke, nodding.

"Left a message for Clark and spoke to Tim and Babs, they're going to work together to look into a few things and come back to us, though Babs said she'd call if she had any questions for you. That leaves us at a bit of a loose end for now, there's no point us hanging around bothering those two while they get their nerd on, and they'll let us know as soon as they find anything, so we can... hang out, I guess. You hungry or anything?"

It was a little awkward, he knew, and Jason would probably chafe at the inaction, but hopefully Dick would be able to keep him distracted while they waited for Tim and Barbara to find something.

[robintoo]

Left a message for Clark was never not gonna just be a little mind blowing. The fact that anyone could just give Superman a ring whenever they felt like it ... yeah. It made Jason wonder again if his Dick could do that, if he ever had. There was a shitton that Jason didn't know, probably. Would never know.

He finished with his boots and then sat back, aware of the uneasiness between them. With the Dick he knew, Jason would have pulled at that tension, made it worse with sarcasm and insults. But this wasn't the same guy, and Jason needed him. Plus he was being decent, so it was just left feeling ... awkward? Strained? Like what family dinner probably felt like when you had to go with relatives you didn't actually know except you shared a name. Or he'd guess, anyway.

"Yeah ... I could eat, I guess. I can find somewhere to crash though, if you've got a spare burner phone I can keep on me," Jason offered, just because it felt like he should.

[justlikeacircus]

"You have a place to crash, here." Dick said firmly "You're welcome here, Jason, you might not be the one I know but you're still family. Kind of. Look I know it's weird but I'm going to help you and that includes letting you take the guest room."

He was kind of struggling with how exactly to treat him, normally he knew how to act around Jason but there was a familiarity that was lacking here and he wasn't totally sure what to do about it or how to deal with it, but at the very least he knew he was going to do everything he could to help him get home, and in the mean time he'd look after him because that's what Dick did.

"You wanna order in or go out some place to eat?" he added

[robintoo]

Jason thought he'd say that. The Dick he knew would probably say it too, but Jason would believe it less. And the bed he'd be offering up wasn't a spare room in an apartment that felt real, it was a room in a sky-high rich tower. It wouldn't feel the same.

Still awkward as hell though. Especially when Dick kept saying family. Jason hadn't had family for a long time, and hearing someone just say he was theirs like it was that easy, or that certain - it itched at him. If Dick knew him, he wouldn't say that.

But Jason kept quiet and just nodded. "Okay ... yeah, thanks." He cocked his head. "Out?" he decided. "Get a look around, see how different it is from my Gotham." And maybe a little less searching for something to say out in public, Jason figured.

[justlikeacircus]

"Sure," Dick agrees easily - it's a reasonable request after all, and he can tell there's a little bit of nervous energy in the guy, maybe a trip out to find something to eat would allow him to work some of that out, make him feel a little more productive instead of sitting around waiting for take out.

"Let me just grab my stuff and we'll get going." It doesn't take him long to grab his jacket and get some shoes on his feet, so barely five minutes later he's holding the door open for Jason and tucking his phone into his pocket.

"There's a few good places not too far away, but we can take the scenic route so you can get a good look around." he offered - he was kind of interested to know how different it was here, as well.