This is part of a larger continuity of stories. Please consult my profile for the master reading list if you want to read them in order.

Hey everyone! So, November happened and I wrote a lot, but what came out of that is a huge fondness for, and massive store of stories from, the Earth-3 universe. This entire series is dedicated to Fox_the_Clever_Turnip over on Ao3 (Archive of our Own), for being awesome and giving me the prompt list for this, as well as inspiring me to write it all. She's amazing, and awesome, and I love her to little bits. This is my gift to her. XD

This first chapter is based off the prompt 'Dick/Jason, Bells'.

And lastly, some notes about weird names you'll see in here. Nightingale is my Earth-3 equivalent of Nightwing (because this Dick is even more of an attention-whore than our canon Dick), and Lightning is Kid Flash (because, I quote, 'it strikes fast and fucks shit up'). Arsenal and Red Hood got to keep their names. You don't have to read any pairings into this piece, but it was written with Dick/Jason, Tim/Kon, and a hint of Jason/Roy in mind. Because when you get this many late teen/early twenties, morally questionable if not morally devoid people together, with little to no shame, there's going to be a lot of sex. XD

Enjoy!

"Jason!" The call is furious, Dick's voice raised in a way that's really rare and, this time, totally my fault. It nearly makes me proud.

I scoot a little further backwards into the air vent, regulating my breathing to be slow, careful, as I peer down through the grating. I flick my gaze briefly up to the door that Dick's shout echoed out of, settling my chin a little more firmly on top of my crossed arms as I watch the room below me, and settle in to wait.

Most of the team is here and I stifle the urge to grin, passing my gaze over Wally, in the kitchen of course, perched in front of the fridge; Roy, stretched out along one couch with his feet on one arm and his shoulders against the other, examining a collection of arrows piled next to him; Tim, on the other couch with his attention firmly focused on the laptop resting on his knees, both hands on the keyboard; Kon, leaned over that same couch behind my younger brother, watching his screen with something between stoicism and confusion; and the nearly inseparable duo that is Kori and M'gann, both stretched out on the floor in front of the TV, discussing something in hushed voices interspersed with a lot of grins and giggles that should make any sane man fear for his safety. But since none of us are sane, no one else is even paying them attention.

We're missing a few people, but not everybody gets holidays free like some of us do. Not everybody has no real family to go home to, or is an alien and doesn't understand our 'human traditions'.

Naturally Dick, Tim, and I will all stop by the manor for Christmas dinner and some kind of gift exchange — Alfred giving us thoughtful stuff and Bruce handing us 'get whatever you want' certificates — but until that night we're all free, and this team is the closest thing we've got to a home outside of the manor. It's neutral ground too, which is way more important. The manor is Alfred and Bruce's territory (really Alfred's), but if this base is anyone's it's Dick's.

Dick's entrance is pretty uncharacteristically loud, his hand slamming into the doorframe as he sweeps in. I have to bite down into the jacket over my arm to restrain the laughter, trying not to move and make the vent rattle. Right now Dick finding me would be pretty seriously painful, or at least a hell of a chase.

"N?" Wally asks with a bit of wariness — which is a kinda surprisingly wise reaction to a pissed off Nightingale — a flash of speed taking him close to Dick but not within arm's reach.

"Where the fuck is Red Hood?" Dick snarls, low and dangerous, but the effect is totally ruined when he turns his head and jingles cheerfully.

Wally's head tilts a bit, as the rest of the team starts really paying attention. Kon, in particular, straightens and turns all the way around. "N...?" our speedster says, staring.

"What?" Dick snaps, and I can see the grin fighting at the edges of Wally's lips.

"You've got bells in your hair," Wally points out, losing the fight and letting one corner of his mouth tilt upward. "And on your suit."

I can see Dick's hands clench — and have to bite down a little harder not to give away my position laughing as the bells sewn in around his wrists chime with the movement — and see the tension in his neck as he turns fully on Wally, his teeth baring in a real clear threat.

"I noticed," he spits through the gritted teeth. "Where. Is. Jason?"

I bless our teammates — self-serving, opportunistic bastards that they are — as the only answer my murderous older 'brother' gets is M'gann remarking, with just a little bit of puzzlement but way more amusement, "They are rather in spirit with your holiday, aren't they?"

Kori makes a noise of agreement, not even trying to hide the wide grin that takes over her mouth. "Indeed, and rather entertaining." Oh yes, and Kori with the 'what everyone's thinking but no one had the suicidal desire to say' moment. Kon smirks but then immediately is a study of blankness when Dick's head snaps around. He's learning from Tim, I swear.

"Alright," Roy announces, dropping the arrow in his hands and pushing off the arm of the couch near his feet to prop his back higher against the other arm of it, "what am I missing?" He cranes his head backwards, to see around the edge of the couch, and promptly bursts out laughing.

I grin wider, around the leather that is the only thing keeping me from laughing just as hard as Roy, admiring my work. It was a hell of a lot of effort, but the bells sewn into Dick's Nightingale costume, and threaded and knotted into his hair, were a fucking genius idea. They're around each of his wrists, and sewn in at strategic locations on the rest of his suit. At his hips, his shoulder blades, his ankles, and around the edge of the blue symbol stretching across his chest. So he chimes with every movement even though he's a stealth expert, and it's just as great as I pictured it being. The 'thread' is heavy duty cable wires too, pilfered from Bruce's collection and melted together at the ends, so he can't just cut them off or untie them.

And they're in lovely, clashing, shades of green and red. Since it's Christmas.

Dick turns on Wally again, snarl turning to a really, really dangerous smile. "Lightning," he starts, in a nearly sickeningly smooth purr that really just sounds like he's about to gut someone with his bare hands, "tell me where Jason is, please." It's a demand, not a request.

Wally gives a nervous laugh and backs up a step, blurring a little bit in an obviously shut down instinct to be somewhere else. "Yeah, I don't know where he is, N. Haven't seen him since last night, swear."

Yeah, I was careful about that. I was hiding hours before any of the rest of the team was up, just in case. They would sell me out in a heartbeat if Dick promised them enough, probably.

… Maybe.

It is pretty damn funny, which might stop at least some of them from doing what Dick wants just so they can see him running around in those bells for a while longer. Or see him try and get them out, which will be hilarious. Kon knows where I am — the son of a bitch can definitely hear my breathing, if not the beat of my heart — and so does M'gann — psychic bitch, but she's damn useful and not so bad — and of course Tim knows. Tim's hacked into just about every security system there is, and we've got motion detectors, heat sensors, and a dozen other security measures in every single inch of this place. With the kind of people we deal with, it pays to be prepared.

Then again, I'm also pretty damn sure that Tim has all of our family tagged somehow, so he knows where we are at all times. So even without our base's security systems, somehow he'd know. It's the only thing that explains some of the places he's tracked me down in.

Dick lets Wally go from his look, turning on one heel, slowly — maybe to be intimidating, maybe to stop the bells from making any noise — to face the two couches. Roy, because he has no survival sense when it comes to anything but an actual battle, is still laughing. Eyes closed, head tilted back on the arm of the couch, throat bared and nearly begging for someone to take something sharp to it. Dick looks like he wants to, but he only adds a hint of teeth to his smile.

"Arsenal," he says sweetly, and Roy flops over onto his stomach to look at him, arms a cushion beneath his chin and a wide grin on his face. He's still shaking a little bit with suppressed laughter, and the occasional snicker is still slipping through his lips, but he's not openly laughing, and at least his throat isn't bared at this angle even if he is pretty much helpless with his arms there. Whatever, his choice.

"Yes, Nightingale?" Roy asks, eyes hidden under his mask just like Dick's are, but you've never needed to see Roy's eyes to be able to read him. Although his eyes are quite a pretty shade of green.

Dick takes one stalking step towards Roy, which should be threatening except that the bells are tinkling away and Roy just gives a snort of laughter. "You always know where Jason is," my older 'brother' says with that snarling smile, and one of Roy's eyebrows arches high as he gives a second snort.

"Sure, when he's not hiding." He flips back over, reaching back down for his arrows and picking one back up to twirl between his fingers. "Sorry, N," he says easily, not sounding even a little bit like it, "I've got no clue."

When Dick looks over Kon immediately shifts backwards, glancing down at Tim — ignoring everything and still on his laptop — before shaking his head, not even waiting for Dick to ask. "I am so not getting in the middle of an Owl-family fight," he says bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the edge of the couch.

I grin, letting go of the leather between my teeth to give the faintest whispering breath. "Thanks, Kon." He doesn't react, but I know he heard me. I'll do something for him later, some favor to let him know I appreciate him not giving up where I am.

M'gann and Kori share a look, and then M'gann turns that one 'you should be running' smile on Dick. I swear, the two of them could have a legitimate competition for scariest smile, if anyone was brave enough to actually judge it. But then the judge would get skinned alive or turned into a vegetable, depending on the loser, so it's not like anyone would ever volunteer for that kind of position. For now they just have little mini competitions between each other to see who can get someone to do what they want the fastest, I honestly don't know who the winner usually is. I've avoided it for the sake of what little sanity I've got left.

"I know where he went to hide," M'gann says, "but I won't be telling you. The bells are a nice change, Nightingale; now the rest of us can track you."

"They amuse me," Kori agrees, with a shark's grin, "and I wish to know how long it will take you to remove them." Her and M'gann trade another glance, and Kori's grin gets a touch wider, glowing green eyes narrowing. "Jason is giving me ideas about collaring you like one of your human pets, 'Gale. A bell would be a good permanent touch, wouldn't it?"

M'gann makes a rather vicious noise of agreement, and Dick's mouth is all teeth and a bright smile that screams danger and violence. Terrifying as fuck to someone a little less used to it, and so not enough to get me over the thought of Dick in a damn collar with a bell at the front. Holy shit that needs to be my next prank, or I need to make a deal with someone else to make that happen. I mean, just… Wow.

"You owe me," hisses M'gann's voice in the back of my head, muffled by my automatic mental shields but still loud enough for me to hear, and I shove a thought back at her. Communication with a psychic isn't so bad, once you get used to it.

"Yep. Later."

"Try it," Dick challenges Kori, "and I'll tear your throat out with my teeth." His voice is smooth and bright, one of his nastiest tones if you know what to listen for, and almost enough to kill all thought of doing that to him. Almost. "T," Dick snaps sharply, looking over at our younger brother, "what do you want?"

"Ten favors," Tim answers without looking up, "no limits except preestablished rules."

"Four," my older brother counters.

"Deal."

Oh fuck.

Tim clears his throat, cracking his knuckles and glancing briefly back in the direction of Dick, Wally, and me too, if you know where to look. "I'm going to set the filtration in the vents on fire," he announces, turning back to his computer, and I suck in a sharp breath. "In ten. Nine." No, he wouldn't, right? "Eight. Seven. Six." He so would. Fuck. "Five."

I shove my way forward, ignoring the way Dick's head whips up in the direction of the vent, and open the grating with a shove as I let myself fall through it. It's not graceful at all — Tim's not joking and I like not being on fire — and I land heavily on my back on the counter of the butcher's block in the center of the kitchen, the marble driving the breath out of me for a second. The symbolism does not escape me.

"There," Tim says easily, as I drag myself up to the sight of everyone staring at me, including Dick.

I give a small, only kinda nervous laugh as he takes a step towards me. "Hi, N," I say, with a small grin that's totally for show.

Dick's smile is vicious, and this was so worth it but oh this is going to hurt. "Jason," he says, head tilting. "This was a bad idea."

"Probably," I admit, getting my feet under me and my breath back, trying to ignore everyone else because really, only Dick matters right now. "But you know, N." I brace myself, ready to run the second I get my last shot out because Dick is going to beat me black and blue to match his suit if he catches me. "I thought you deserved them, since every time a bell rings an angel gets their wings." I wink, with a slightly wider grin because fuck, I haven't got any kind of survival sense when it comes to Dick either. "Still waiting for yours, darling."

I roll off the counter and bolt as he lunges, laughing even as one of his knives grazes past my side, embedding itself in the doorframe as I slip past. Because I can hear him ringing behind me with every step, and that makes this so worth it.

So I hope you all enjoyed. XD This entire series will be in the same universe (the happy-go-lucky one I am creating where the Owl-family is all together and not trying to murder one another), but there is absolutely no chronological sense to it. I'll try and tell you where each one fits in as I post them, but just know that this is probably going to be farther down the line than just about anything. This is the happy ending that Jason ends up in, eventually. (Well, mostly happy.)

Also, this is a terrible mashup of like, Teen Titans, and Young Justice, and RHatO, and I make no apologies for it. I wanted all my favorite characters together as a sorta team, as mostly adults, so they are. Deal. XD

See you tomorrow~!