Notes: Another instalment in the Teen Titans Age Reverse where the ages for the Robins (and Batgirls) is reversed. This one also features Dick and Jason and happens before The Wayne Family Gathering.
TTAR - Dick and Jason in Jump City
Jason Todd (Red X) – 18
Dick Grayson (Robin) – 16
Dick Grayson may love being Robin, but he also loved being Dick Grayson. That was why he sometimes took 'training days' and 'training trips' away from the Titans. Days where he could just be Dick and not worry about the city or training.
This particular day came right after they put Mumbo back in prison, meaning most of the Titan's regular criminals were currently behind bars. There had been no current crimes or whispers which suggested anything big coming up.
It was the perfect time to go out as Dick Grayson. Dick changed in the tunnels connecting Titan's tower to Jump City, pulling on a blue hoodie and jeans. He moved around the city with ease, checking out the places most people his age hung out.
In a local arcade, near the pizza place the Titans often frequented, Dick literally ran into someone wearing a red hoodie.
"Ow! Watch were you're going… Dick?" The last word sounded more like a surprised question instead of an insult, making checking who he had run into jump to the top of Dick's priority list.
Underneath the red hood was a familiar streak of white surrounded by black fringe.
"Jason?" Dick gaped. Jason glanced around at the attention they were gathering and pulled Dick to his feet, shoving the sixteen year old into a nearby alley.
"What are you doing here?" Jason growled, baring his teeth threateningly. "Why aren't you in your fancy tower with your oh-so-good friends?"
Dick blinked up at the eighteen year old. He found it difficult to be angry, probably because his body still ached from when they crashed into each other. He had taken Jason's shoulder or arm or something to his head.
"Because I'm Dick Grayson right now."
Now Jason looked baffled.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Then realisation hit and his eyes softened. "You haven't told them your real name."
"So?" Dick responded, looking away.
Jason snickered.
"I thought you and your goody-good-good team would have shared all your secrets by now."
"They know that my parents are dead and what I'm like-"
"So, they know that you spend your days wandering about Jump City as a civilian."
Dick flushed with shame and growled. There was the annoyance he usually felt around Jason. He just didn't understand why the older teen wouldn't accept him as part of the family. However, before he could say anything, the ground rocked and gravel came flying across the street. Both Dick and Jason tensed into battle stances.
Now, if any other member of the family was there, they would remind them that they were out of costume. As it was, neither Dick nor Jason gave that a thought before rushing out.
The bulky and hairy form of Mammoth was lumbering down the street, tossing cars, street signs and whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted.
"I thought the HIVE were in jail," Jason grumbled.
"So did I," Dick responded.
"Titans GO!" Cyborg yelled over the chaos and Jason reached out, pulling Dick back as Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy leapt into action.
"You're not in costume!" he hissed to the younger teen. Dick glared up at him, bright blue eyes fierce. Jason ignored the flare of protectiveness as Dick struggled. "Calm down! Your team can handle it."
Dick frowned and bared his teeth a little before twisting in Jason's arms. The team did seem to be winning, pushing Mammoth back.
Pushing Mammoth back towards the alley where they were.
"Oh -" Jason swore and shoved Dick away as Mammoth turned and noticed the two possible hostages. Mammoth grabbed the closest one by the arm and twisted Jason out in front of him like a human shield. "That hurts, ya dumb lummox!" Jason couldn't help shouting. He had been hoping it would be enough to get Mammoth to loosen his grip a little but no such luck.
"Jay!" Dick cried out in panic. He rushed towards his brother only to be stopped by Cyborg.
"Don't, little guy," Cyborg said, blocking his path. Despite the danger of the situation, Jason snorted as Dick's noise crinkled up in distaste. He looked a little like a pug, probably because Jason last remembered that expression on Damian's face. Cyborg continued, oblivious to the silent communication of the two brothers, "Rae's got it."
"Don't call me that," Raven said as she appeared in her shadow raven form behind Mammoth. Her heart wasn't in the scolding though. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She dropped a bucket onto Mammoth's head and Starfire came flying through, punching the bucket hard right where Mammoth's chin was and then sending eyeblasts to his feet.
Mammoth howled and dropped Jason, who kicked him to the ground before running over to Dick.
"You okay?" he asked the younger teenager. Dick blinked at him in surprise.
"Uh, yeah. How about you? You were the hostage."
"Hey, I got a hit in. What did you do?"
Dick silently looked at his feet in shame. He hadn't done anything while Jason did everything.
"No, we're fine," Jason said to the police and the paramedics who turned up at the scene. Mammoth was hauled away, shouting things about how he would get revenge.
"It's probably a good idea," the officer said, trying to convince him.
Jason would not let himself be swayed.
"No. We're fine," he repeated. He was acutely aware of how Dick was standing right behind him, trying to hide himself from anyone who might know him as Robin. Jason thought it was a waste of time as they wore masks for a reason.
"We do heavily recommend protective custody for the next 24 hours," the officer said again.
Jason sighed. He had heard this all before. Protective custody in case the super-powered criminal got out and decided to come after their last victims again.
"We're fine." A moment later, a strong arm rested on his shoulder. It brought up memories of when Bruce would do the same thing and Jason tried to slap the arm away, only for it to knock against metal casing. He cursed in pain.
"Look guys, if you don't want to hang with the cops for the next 24 hours, we'll take you up at Titan's tower."
"You sure, Cy? Robin's not home," Beast Boy said while the officer agreed gratefully.
Jason glanced back at Dick, who looked both horrified and proud of Cyborg's offer. He smirked as idea for how to annoy Dick for the next day came to mind.
"I guess we could accept," he said.
"We?" Dick questioned in shock as Jason slung an arm around his shoulder. "Oh no, I'm perfectly fine going with the nice officers."
"Why? You scared of the heroes?" Jason sneered in amusement. This was already fun.
Dick saw the hurt expressions flash across the Titan's faces. Even though someone who didn't know them so well would have missed it.
He had hurt them.
"Fine," he muttered, leaning into Jason. If the older boy was offering comfort so readily for once, he was going to accept it. It made for a good way of hiding his face from his curious friends.
The Teen Titans loaded the two teenagers into their car. Starfire almost floated out of the seat as she tried to look around Jason at his small, shy, little brother. She was hoping to draw the kid out of his shell.
"Hello new friend, I am Starfire! What is your name?"
Jason smirked between Dick, whose hidden face was flushed and the growing sad Starfire. He nudged his brother.
"Come on, the lady asked a question."
Dick glared at him, his blue eyes flashing intensely as the light hit him.
"You have most lovely eyes!" Starfire said, trying another friendly smile. "They are like the sky."
"You… think so?" Dick said quietly. Star liked his eyes! He was happy even though this situation was dangerous. If they realised he was Robin then, not only would they be unhappy that he spent time in Jump City without them, they would probably be disappointed with him. There was nothing special about Dick Grayson.
"He's Rock." Jason smirked at the annoyed look Dick gave him. "And I'm Peter."
"Rock?" Cyborg questioned flatly.
"It's a nickname," Dick muttered, staring at his feet. Cyborg was giving him a disapproving look.
Jason looked around and sighed. Dick looked extremely uncomfortable and was making the rest of the car feel the same. It didn't seem as fun to mess with the Teen Titans down like this. They didn't even realise what was going on or who he was.
He wrapped an arm around Dick and pulled the kid in close.
"What are you doing?" Dick hissed at him.
"Selling our story," Jason whispered back. "We're brothers, remember?"
Dick blinked up at him, biting his lip and blue eyes wide and unassuming for a moment. Jason's own eyebrows raised as he wondered just how Dick felt about him calling them 'brothers'.
Without the mask, it was hard to remember that this sixteen year old was the strong, unyielding Robin and leader of the Teen Titans.
'Curse you Bruce, he's just a kid,' Jason thought with a pang of annoyance. Hadn't the old man learnt his lesson after Jason went out in a bang? They weren't raised assassins like Damian or geniuses like Tim. They were just a street rat and a circus brat.
The Teen Titans gave them a basic tour of the tower. Jason noticed how they skipped some rooms and even entire floors as they went towards their destination of the common room and living quarters.
"Alright, gamestation time!" Beast Boy declared, dashing out of the elevator and leaping over the back of the couch.
"Dude! Guests!" Cyborg reminded him, even though he was walking over to join the green bean on the couch. "Gimme the first controller."
"Uh-uh, no way. First player is mine."
"Idiots," Raven said.
Starfire looked at Jason and Dick and smiled, floating a little off the ground.
"Do you require the food for nourishment?" she asked.
"Uh, not right now," Jason said when Dick froze up.
Raven rubbed her temples and went to make tea, muttering something about projected emotions.
Dick pulled Jason down so he could whisper in his ear.
"What do I say? I have no idea what to say!"
Jason smirked. Dick was still chewing on his bottom lip and he wondered if that was a trait the boy had before joining the family or if he had picked it up from Tim.
"You could tell Starfire she's hot and you want her."
Dick shoved Jason away with an insult thrown in his direct while he laughed.
"It is not nice to treat family like that!" Starfire said.
"Don't worry about it, Starfire," Raven said. "Boys are like that."
Jason enjoyed himself. Cyborg was around his age and open to talking about anything. He even managed to get a glimpse of parts of the Tower plans and some gadgets Cyborg had planned. He beat both Beast Boy and Cyborg at their videogames.
"It's like you've never played these before!" he teased. He laughed and did a quick glance around the room. Only to see Dick still sitting at the eating table and staring outside at the ocean and Jump City. "Excuse me a moment." He slipped into the chair next to his brother and whispered, "you know, brooding over here will make it very easy for them to figure it out."
"Go away," Dick responded. "What do you care anyway?"
"Wow. And I thought I had the title of 'grumpy one'."
Dick gave him a curious look. He recalled how Jason had looked while playing with Cyborg and Beast Boy. This must have been the Jason which the rest of the family knew, the boy behind the mask. The one Dick could never replace. He didn't want to but, he still had to live up to the expectations that Jason had left behind. Expectations of Robin.
"Okay, look, I think I can get us out of this." Dick gave Jason a hopeful look and he smiled. "They've got their guard down."
They made it to the door before Raven appeared on the other side. She stared at them. They stared back. She raised an eyebrow.
"You understand that for your safety and ours, you are to stay in this room," she said in her unimpressed deadpan.
"Okay, that was a bust," Jason shrugged.
"Please tell me you have another idea," Dick said, "something a little sneakier than just walking out the door." Jason gave him a blank look which said he didn't have anything, yet. Dick sighed, "we can't just wait for the next villain to attack and distract them."
He shouldn't have said anything because, at the moment, Jason's face lit up. His eyes sparked. Dick felt worry curl in his gut.
"Don't worry, Baby Bird. I'll get us out of this and no one will get hurt." Jason pulled out his phone and dialled a number. He couldn't deny that being with Dick like this was fun. The kid had all the good ideas.
Control Freak attacked the tower. He pulled creatures from the covers of Beast Boy's game and DVD collection and was flashy, preached about proper treatment of games and even blasted a hole in the common room door.
"What did we ever do to you, man?" Cyborg complained as he surveyed the distraction. Whatever slight Control Freak attacked them for, it wasn't enough to keep him around long enough for them to arrest him. He vanished into the TV, announcing that they would see him again soon.
It wasn't until they started cleaning up and Starfire commented that, "Robin's not going to be happy to hear about our failure to defend our home," that they noticed the two teenagers were gone.
It was a crazy plan, but Dick had to admit that Jason came through this time. Robin came back to the tower after spending the day 'training' and found it in a mess.
"It's alright guys, we can't win them all," he said.
"Are you sick?" Beast Boy questioned, placing a palm over his forehead.
"Must have been good training," Raven commented in regards to their leader's mellow behaviour.
Robin was just happy to be Robin again. Although, Red X seemed to pick up a new, annoying nickname for him.