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Jason woke up the same way he woke up every damned day: thrashing. Sometimes he woke himself up with his own screams, sometimes he even fell out of the fucking bed, but he never woke up quietly, with a breath and a clear thought. Today he thrashed so hard that he tore the fitted sheet off the bed and the deep red bedspread was thrown haphazardly on the floor. He sat up and clenched his eyes shut, willing away the green-tinted dregs of the nightmare.
After a scalding hot shower, fresh Neosporin on his cuts from last night, and two cups of coffee, he felt a little less like a monster and a little more human, but he still sat on his couch for two hours trying to get his hands to stop shaking. He had shit to do today, but some of it involved people, and these people did not need any more hints of the mess that he was every morning.
He strolled up to the three-story warehouse like he owned it, and he pulled his black winter coat closer to his neck because Gotham was fucking freezing today. The warehouse had broken windows and the bricks were crumbling in spots, but he forced his way inside anyway and waited.
“Hey, Jay.”
Jason looked up and grinned. “You got me that time, kid. Good job.”
Tim hooked a line to the rafter he was standing on and dropped down to land lightly next to Jason. “First time for everything, but you must be wiped out if I made it in without you noticing.”
Jason frowned. He had wanted to avoid this.
“You look like hell,” Tim added. “Are you hurt?”
“I do not look like hell. I look like any reasonable vigilante after a night on patrol and then having to meet another dumbass vigilante way too early in the day.”
“It’s two-thirty in the afternoon. I’ve been up since six,” Tim said.
“Yeah, well, some of us don’t run on Red Bull. What did you want?”
Tim looked around, like maybe another vigilante might have joined them, but there was no one else there. “I have a dumb problem,” he said, and managed to actually look sheepish. He brushed his black hair out of his eyes and shrugged. “I split my time between the Manor and my apartment, you know?”
Jason cocked his head. “Yeah, who cares?” he paused, and then, just to be a shit, “You woke me up for this?”
Tim scowled at Jason, but ignored him and plowed forward, which was kind of his forte, Jason’s found after the last year of working with the bats again. “I found a dog and Damian already has one and my apartment doesn’t allow them. You want it?”
Jason stared. He blinked. “A dog? You came here to give me a dog?”
Tim smiled, and his eyes gleamed. “I did. I was just going to leave her outside your apartment door, but I didn’t want to run any risks of her running off. She’s kind of jumpy.” He looked past Jason to the door that was now open and whistled. Nothing happened. He frowned and whistled again. Still nothing.
“Um, Timmy? What the hell are you doing?” Jason asked, because nope. No way. He wasn’t taking a damned dog. He could barely get himself out of bed most days, much less take care of an animal.
Tim took a few steps toward the door, and Jason must have been really tired because Dick poked his head around the corner with a sheepish grin.
“I kinda wanted to bring her in myself,” he called to Tim. “Wanted to see Jason’s face.”
“I’m gonna break your face if you bring that dog in here, Dickhead.” Because really, he didn’t want to see it.
Too late. Dick came bounding into the warehouse with a purple leash in his hand and a yellow ball of fluff on the end of it. Dick was ridiculous to begin with but grinning madly and trying to keep from getting tangled up with the fluffball was an extra helping of adorable. Jason’s smile broke through despite his best efforts.
And the dog, well. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?” he snapped at Dick.
Dick’s answer was to lean over and unleash the dog, who promptly barreled at Jason and put her paws on his knees to try and get to him. She was a yellow lab, probably about a year old, and she had a bad scar across her right eye. She looked a bit too skinny, and she had some parts where her fur had clearly been cut away to get rid of mats. She barked at Jason and he couldn’t help but lean over and rub her head with a smile. “Hey there,” he said, and then he glared at Tim.
“I can’t keep a dog,” he said.
“Why not? She’s got all her shots and Bruce gave me the name of a good vet near your place if you need it, and I’ve got an order of supplies ready to be delivered to you as soon as you say yes. A good crate, plenty of food, and some toys. She really likes stuffed animals.”
“How do you know?”
“She tore up four of Damian’s in one day. Made it easier to convince him that you should have her instead of him.”
Jason tried to process several parts of that sentence and was left with one pressing question. “How many stuffed animals does Damian have?”
“Two toy chests full,” Dick said.
Jason blinked at that. The dog was butting against his legs, and he couldn’t help but drop down to pet her and hug her. She really was beautiful. He sighed. “I can hardly drag myself out of bed each day, you assholes, and I know you guys know that.”
Dick nodded, and his eyes filled with that sympathy he was so good at. “Yeah. Well, we thought maybe she could help with that. We just thought it was worth a try. You always liked dogs."
He did. He’d always wanted one, but Bruce hadn’t been worn down to the point of saying yes until Damien came along. It didn’t stop Jason from pestering him about it every time they saw a dog anywhere, though, when he was a kid. Wait. “Was this Bruce’s idea?” he asked.
Tim and Dick shared a look, and then both nodded. “He said you used to want one,” Tim said.
Dick added quietly, “He said he wished he hadn’t been a stubborn jerk about not letting you get one, too.”
Jason focused on the dog for a minute, until he could blink away the wetness in his eyes. She was leaning against him already, but she leaned harder and tried to put a paw up on his knee. “This is a bad idea,” he mumbled.
“Why,” Tim said, kneeling down next to Jason and the dog. “Because anything that might help you has to be a bad idea if it didn’t come from you?”
Jason shoved him without thinking, but Tim rolled with it and hopped back to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest. He did that chin jut thing he did when he was going to be stubborn, and Jason couldn’t help the exasperated sigh that came out of his mouth.
“Kid’s not wrong, Jay,” Dick said quietly. “Come on. Take her for a few days and see if you like her. I’ve got a friend at work who said they’d take her if it didn’t work out. A good home.”
‘Take her there, then,’ is what Jason should have said in response, but the dog rubbed her face against his chin and gave a small bark. It was the cutest sound he’d ever heard. He closed his eyes. Bruce wanted to give him a dog. Fuck.
He stood up and grabbed the leash. He looked at the two idiots standing there watching and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Make sure there are a bunch of high-quality chew toys in that order. My furniture and shoes are shit, but they’re all I have.”
Tim’s face lit up and he grinned from ear to ear.
Dick clapped his hands and the dog barked again. “What are you gonna name her?” he asked.
Jason looked down at the dog. It was a fun idea, having his own dog, but he would probably screw this up six ways from Sunday before she’d been there a week. “I’m not naming her. I’m not even sure I’m keeping her.”
Dick and Tim shared a look and then Tim nodded. “Sure. Let us know. I’ll have the stuff delivered within the hour but let me know if you need anything else for her. She’s housetrained, by the way.” Jason raised an eyebrow and Tim added, “Damian’s very good with dogs, even when he’s mad at them.”
Jason took a deep breath, looked at the eager, happy dog at his feet again, and set his shoulders. “Fine. Thanks. Whatever,” he said, and left the warehouse with the dog trotting happily at his side. He’d normally take the bus home, but it was only a mile and a half or so from there, so he walked. Figured the dumb dog could use the exercise. When he got home, two huge boxes were sitting in his living room. Fucking bats.
Epilogue:
Three weeks later, he tumbled into his apartment through the window after a very long night catching drug traffickers and getting the shit beat out of him before he managed to down all of them and tie them up for Gordon and his people. A low whine came from the living room, and he couldn’t help his grin.
“Hey, girl. Gimme a second,” he called because tonight he had blood running down his fingers from a cut on his hand, and he didn’t need her licking that. He headed to the bathroom, washed his face and hands and put a bandage over the cut before he walked to the living room and knelt down in front of the large white crate. “Hey beautiful,” he murmured as he pressed open the lock. Out tumbled his pile of golden fluff, and she barked and pressed her two front paws to his chest and head butted his chin.
“Yeah, yeah. You gonna be good for me if I take you out first? No destroying any more sweatshirts, gottit?” He’d moved his shoes to the top shelf of his closet, but apparently dragging clothes off their hangers wasn’t out of the question. She barked again.
Ten minutes later he’d changed out of his uniform and into jeans and a sweatshirt and Gotham Knights ball hat, and they were heading around the block when Tim, Dick, and Damian rounded the corner in front of him. He stopped and groaned. They all had Starbucks cups in hand, and Tim had two. He handed one to Jason as they approached. “We come bearing a gift of that shitty chai tea garbage that you like.”
Jason glared, but he took the cup. Turning down chai tea was impossible.
Damian didn’t say anything, just knelt down and started petting Jason’s dog. “You’ve had her three weeks. What is her name now?” he asked without even looking at Jason.
“What are you guys doing here?” he asked Dick instead of answering.
Dick grinned. “Well, we knew you’d need to take her for a walk before going to bed, and you’ve been absolutely silent about her since you got her, so we decided to see for ourselves how she’s doing.” He glanced down and obviously noticed how she had gained some weight and he probably noticed the new purple polka dotted harness she was wearing.
“She’s good,” Jason admitted. “Now go home.”
“Awww,” Tim said, reaching down to pet her, “Why do you have to be that way? Let us go on the walk with you. Tell us her name.”
Jason gave a short whistle and turned, and they walked away from the boys.
“Jason!” Dick called, and something in his voice made Jason stop and turn. “Bruce wants you to come for dinner tomorrow night if you can. Alfred’s insisting. You’ve haven’t been out for a month.”
It was true, and Jason was usually better than that about visiting from time to time. He and Bruce even had a pretty good run of civil conversations going these days. He bit his lip and met Dick’s gaze. “Can Sasha come?” He asked with a smile.
Dick nodded furiously as Tim and Damian both seemed to understand right away that her name meant protector, and yeah, clearly, they thought that was cute as fuck. “Okay, fine,” Jason said. “I’ll be out around six.” He looked at Damien. “Hide your stuffed animals. I still can’t get her to stop chewing.”
Damian nodded and said, “I shall research some strategies to share with you before you come.”
Jason turned and left, sipping his delicious tea. When he and Sasha got back to the apartment, he gave her fresh water and food and he took a shower while she ate. Afterwards, they both tumbled into his bed, and he woke quietly, with a breath and a clear thought of how amazing his dog was, six hours later.