#im screamin im cryin dick graysons eldest daughter syndrome is very personal to me

[cainware]

No because @iinmysights rb'd my post about eldest daughter syndrome dick and they mentioned dick going to jason for comfort every once in a while and now I'm having feelings.

Because Dick never had anyone he could vent to fully. He had friends, he had Barbara, he had Donna, he had Kori, but he never really tells any of them everything from what I've seen. Because in the titans, whatever he did would reflect back on Bruce, and he couldn't possibly let anything negative reflect back on Batman. That just wouldn't do.

So where does that leave Dick? Especially after Wally, one of his best friends if not THE best friend, isn't in the picture anymore? Where does that leave Dick, who has gone through so much and lost so much, when he feels like there's nowhere else to turn? Where does that leave Dick, when he doesn't want to burden Donna? Or anyone else?

Imagine the surprise when Dick reaches out. Not because Jason doesn't care, but because he doesn't expect it. He thinks he's the last person Dick would reach out to, even though it's happened in the past. He thinks, in his mind, that Dick would reach out to literally anyone else.

But he reaches for Jason. He shows up, unannounced, at the unmarked safehouse Jason is using. He's on the border between Gotham and Blüdhaven, hiding out and letting the heat drop off before he steps foot outside again. And here's Dick Grayson, the legend behind Nightwing himself, asking to come in.

Jason let's him, brings him in before the storm can roll through him too hard. Dick sits on his couch, Jason offers him some of his shitty takeout, and Dick rags on him for preferring spring rolls over noodles. Jason distracts him, makes jokes and rags on how he's still wearing the same fucking Beatles shirt he's had since 1993.

It's comforting. Jason fills the silence, he listens when Dick starts to break. Jason doesn't expect perfection. He doesn't expect Dick to articulate everything, doesn't expect Dick to crack wise and account for everyone else. Jason just let's Dick breathe, and they work it out together late into the night until Dick has spilled his guts and feels exhausted, face stained with tears from the sheer force of the emotional bomb that went off inside his body.

Dick apologizes for exploding like that, for being a mess. Jason shrugs, makes a distasteful joke about being used to bombs, and Dick ends up leaving with the sunrise. Jason picks up empty containers from the takeout, ignores the way his stomach growls because he let Dick eat what he bought for himself. He doesn't mind.

If nothing else, Jason takes comfort in knowing that when things fall through, Dick knows he can lean on him. After all, when everyone else turns to Dick, it's a pretty important gig being the one Dick turns to.