JASON: THE TIES THAT BIND

[lazarusinred]

It was not unusual for Jason to wake up a few times during his sleep. He could not be sure if any of the times were because Dirk had gotten squirmy or not. Every time he woke, Dirk was still there. Last night had not been some kind of dream.

Long after the the fingers of dawn had crept around the edges of the bedroom's blinds, and the full light of morning had lit them gently, the alarm Jason had set hours ago chimed. He had been drifting in a doze and the pull to wakefulness was easy to follow. Easy because he had planned for a slow start before they had to leave. Which meant plenty of time to laze around in bed. He still had to fumble a bit with his phone to turn the alarm off.

"Dirk," he said softly, his voice not quite as awake as the rest of him. One hand wound into Dirk's now dry hair, and Jason let the other trail down Dirk's back. "Dirk, it's time to wake up." Now his voice was operating at normal volume.

Comments

[evenindeath]

Dirk considered what was surely the new multitude of marks left behind from their activities between dinner and the last time they saw Damien. He took a very long drink of water before nodding.

"Yeah. I'd appreciate it. Big house, easy to get lost. Thanks Wayne," he said, nudging Jason under the table and glancing pointedly at one of the new hickies on his neck.

[lazarusinred]

Jason tilted his head innocently, the shift making it even easier to tell the new marks from old. The oldest looking days old. The look in Jason's eyes said he knew exactly what he was doing and he was light years away from being innocent.

"The house can be dangerous to wander idly. While the gym is in the house, the training rooms are in the... basement," Damien said. The exchange between Dirk and Jason going unnoticed.

"Still have a collection of swords to practice with?" Jason asked innocently.

"Of course," Damien replied his look of practiced disinterest breaking for a moment before quickly being put back in place. "If you return them as you found them you may borrow some."

[evenindeath]

Dirk bit at the inside of his lip as he realized Jason was fully aware of what he had been doing.

'Ass,' he mouthed with a perfect fondness while Damien was distracted.

The question of practice swords did get Dirk's attention, too, after all. He didn't have any, not really. Some that had gone dull over time and left that way for whatever reason, but none were specifically made with the intent of training. Could be nice to not have to worry about causing serious injury that couldn't be returned from for Jason, though Dirk did note how he was healing quickly.

"You know how to use a sword?" he asked Jason with a small grin.

[lazarusinred]

Jason blinked sweetly at Dirk's mouthed comment and spared him a small grin.

"I do," Jason replied.

"Your skills with a blade are passable," Damien said.

Jason snorted, but it was all part of the game. "I'm a jack of all trades."

[evenindeath]

"You could use some practice blocking," Dirk teased Jason, and he was so completely enamored with him he couldn't stand it. The second they were alone he was kissing Jason breathless.

"If I'm ever over when you're not busy we should spar sometime, Wayne. I don't get a lot of practice against people smaller than me," he pointed out. Most of the Empress' drones were massive creatures, and his own robots he built for fighting were about his size or a little larger. He'd fought some smaller goons in Skaia during the game, but it was very much a blind spot he needed to keep an eye on.

[lazarusinred]

Jason made a soft, mock, incredulous sound and bumped his knee into Dirk's. Then he left it there. Touching Dirk in some way was becoming his neutral state. He wondered how it would feel when he needed to go out on his own - if Dirk being absent would make the ache more or less acute.

"Since moving here to live with father, I have not had many skilled opponents to cross blades with. I accept your offer, Strider," Damien said, a quick small smile revealing that he was actually pleased with the idea.

It made Jason happy to see Damien getting along with Dirk so quickly. It had taken some effort to get Damien to relax around him, and maybe those efforts were smoothing the way here. That and the two probably had more in common than they realized. Damien had not grown up as isolated as Dirk, but an assassin cult was a close second to one of the last two humans alive.

[evenindeath]

While their circumstances were not even remotely the same, there was something to be said about being so far away from everyone else's that that alone created a kinship.

Dirk gave a solid nod and a thumbs up. It was a deal. Out of all of Jason's brothers, Damien was also the easiest for Dirk to understand right away because of this. He did want Jason's family to like him, and he didn't have years to set up the perfect plan to make sure everything went well like he had when faced with other circumstances like that.

Probably for the best, he'd overplanned and fucked all those up, while he seemed to be doing ... okay. With the kid and with Alfred at least.

He hooked an ankle loosely around Jason's under the table, continuing that casual touch as he finished up the dinner.

[lazarusinred]

Damien stared at Dirk's thumbs-up gesture and slowly returned it as if mimicking an unfamiliar action. Jason knew it was not the first time Damien had seen anyone use a thumbs-up at him or anyone else. Usually, his reaction was to stare disdainfully at what he probably thought of as base interactions. Still more evidence of Damien's growth. It was important to be a person living in the world, and it was something that Jason often needed to be reminded of as well.

Damien had finished eating before either Dirk or Jason, but he had lingered. As Jason was finishing what he considered a reasonable amount of dinner for actually having eaten three whole times today, Alfred appeared in the doorway.

"Is there anything any of you require at this time?" Alfred inquired.

"Thank you, no," Damien said.

"Good for now," Jason said.

[evenindeath]

Dirk paced himself to finish at about the same time as Jason, though he didn't eat quite as much as the other man. He looked to Jason for direction before answering, a small shake of his head as well. He was curious when Alfred ate, but that was probably not a normal question to ask now so he kept it to himself. He was learning, too.

[lazarusinred]

"Dessert is not ready yet, so please amuse yourselves for a time and it should be ready when you are," Alfred said with a hint of a smile.

"Young master," Alfred addressed Damien directly, "there will be cookies if you finish patrols unharmed and at a reasonable time."

That seemed to light Damien to action and he quickly got to his feet. He gave Alfred a nod before starting out and asking over his shoulder, "Are you coming?"

Jason started to ask a question when Alfred said, "Yes there will be some for you two as well as some other items I do not get a chance to make as often as I would like."

"Thanks, Alfred," Jason said fondly. To Dirk, he asked, "Shall we?" Even as he got to his feet. Even if they weren't going to follow Damien there were better places to pass the time than at the dining room table.

[evenindeath]

"Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful," Dirk said, a little haltingly, trying to follow what the proper thing to say was but terribly sincere about the sentiment itself if nothing else. He was also sincerely interested in finding out where the training rooms were and seeing to these practice swords.

Getting to his feet, Dirk leaned in and kissed Jason quickly before they moved away from the table.

[lazarusinred]

Jason did not move away from or try to hide the display of affection. Instead leaned into the quick kiss and took the opportunity to take Dirk's hand.

"You are both welcome," Alfred replied warmly. As they passed Alfred patted Dirk on the shoulder, a light touch meant to bring attention to the speaker and the moment. "Thank you for the assistance earlier."

Then they were catching up to Damien. Damien wasn't trying to outpace them and both Jason and Dirk had much longer legs. The route Damien chose was down the stairs, which were hidden behind a different wall panel than the elevator. The stairs themselves were cut from the stone under the house and were just as cool as the marble floors. Unlike the marble they were not finished to a high shine, giving them a bit of traction but not so rough that they were uncomfortable on bare feet.

As they made their way down the softly lit, gently turning way down Damien gave a small lecture. "The Batcave is the most secure place on the planet. Father has entered your information into the security system, Strider. You will be able to come and go unattended. You will be logged of course, but it will not set off alarms. The only passive recording devices are at the perimeter. Signals in or out must go through the official connections, making this location all but invisible from any outside observation. This is how we stay safe."

The passageway opened up suddenly high up in the cave. Down below Dirk could easily see the part of the cave he had already seen, just from another angle. The big man himself, Batman was again (or still) at the huge bank of computer screens. "I will be right down, father," Damien called down. Batman looked up and nodded, barely visible at this distance. Amongst all the dark materials it was easy to see the empty plate that was sitting on a side table, implying that he had eaten down there. Jason guessed adding a new set of powered dimensional travelers to be on the lookout for had added more work for the night.

The stairs curled around the wall of the cave and then back into the stone. The steps became even flooring and the passageway opened up into a wide hallway. Double doors with no handles were set on either side. Damien approached one and the doors swooshed open. Inside was a large open room, past a deep entryway. The lighting was diffuse and difficult to pinpoint where it was coming from other than generally ambient from the ceiling. The floor a couple of feet in was slightly raised and looked different from the hard, smooth floor of the hallway. The far walls also looked if not slightly cushioned, intended to cut down sound.

"When next you visit, we will spar, Strider. For now; good night to you both," Damien said with a polite bow and hurried off down the hall.

"Night," Jason replied, and then stepped into the room and turned around to face Dirk. He gestured at the wall on either side of the door. "Weapons are here," he said with a growing smile. The wall contained well organized weapons racks. Not only swords of many sizes and shapes but a wide variety of weapons. The collection was quite large, and while it did not contain every melee weapon known exactly, it had something that would stand in for the basics of how that weapon worked. Since Damien had come to live here the sword collection had grown quite a bit.

[evenindeath]

Dirk nodded somewhat bashfully at Alfred's thanks. Truthfully he wanted to clean up as well but he supposed he'd pushed himself on Alfred quite enough for one day. Besides, he was interested in this training room. Hand holding on to Jason's, he mentally mapped the route they took with what he had seen of the rest of the home, put it to memory to fill in the blanks of the layout as he was learning it. Little bit at a time. Dirk kept hold of Jason's hand through the whole walk, even to when they made it into the training hall.

Damien got a polite nod in return and another thumbs up of acknowledgement. It was Dirk's thing. Only then did he finally let go of Jason's hand - so he could go inspect the weapons, taking up a practice sword similar in size and weight to his own favored blade.

"Impressive spread," he commented, giving the sword a few practice swings.

[lazarusinred]

The swords were sharpened to a blunt edge. They would cut skin, but not deeply. A very far cry from impossibly sharp blades that cut through Jason's armor. Jason stepped over to the racks looking for the right blades. "Bruce, it would take you half a second of internet searching to figure that one out, has a bit of a thing for learning skills. He is proficient with everything here," Jason said as if he did not do the exact same thing. Was exactly the same in that way. "I don't have as many years of practice, but I also have my favorites."

Finding what he was looking for Jason took up two swords. They were straight sabers, the blades close to two feet long and wider than a fencing saber. A sword type originating in China, but not often seen in use. He started to get a feel for these particular blades when it occurred to him that he was not in possession of a magical inventory of shirts. Resting the swords against the racks for a moment Jason shrugged out of his hoodie and put it safe pile to the side.

Picking the swords back up he gave them a couple of practice swings and said, "Unless this is too distracting. Wouldn't want you overly distracted."

[evenindeath]

Dirk didn't need to be told that Jason and Bruce were birds of a feather that way with how Jason perused the weapons, Dirk happy the kid had gone so he could appreciate the view without needing to feel self-conscious about it. He might not, but he didn't want to find out the hard way he had grown some kind of shame.

Then he had to go and lose his shirt, too. Oh, that was unfair.

"Who's distracted?" Dirk asked, like it wasn't him. He did have a magical inventory of shirts, but Jason's jacket was not something he had a duplicate of, so that got removed for safe keeping- along with checking to see what kind of surveillance was in the training room itself.

It would be good to know. For possible future needs.

"Need to warm up? You seem a little hot under the collar already, but..."

[lazarusinred]

In complete honesty, Dirk simply existing near Jason was distracting. "Oh do I?" Jason asked in response, a grin forming. He spun his blades in a smooth figure eight. The loops of the eight cutting tight to his sides. His teacher for this particular weapon had him drill this for hours while standing between two metal poles. There was nothing like the feedback of striking something unmovable and metal. His form was still good and that was plenty enough to get the feel of the practice blades.

Dirk's glance about did not reveal any surveillance. Jason had caught his looking about, which could have a few reasons. He tilted his head toward the ceiling. "We can change the lighting in here and no recording devices. We're too much a family for that to not be abused." The stance he took was loose and neutral-ready.

[evenindeath]

Dirk gave an easy shrug, tossing the practice sword from one hand to the other, testing the weight of it in each hand because of course he was good with both. Really he could watch Jason showing off all day, except for that the other option was to take part in it himself.

... and there wasn't any witnesses to worry about. Sure someone could still come in, but... with the kid and his dad apparently going out on patrol, well.

Dirk liked to keep his options open.

"Let's go then," he said, as the only warning before he darted in to close the distance with a low swing, moving almost before the warning.

[lazarusinred]

Jason had kept a mental catalog of the things he had observed Dirk being capable of during their first fight. It came with the territory. Dirk was fast enough to block bullets with a sword, flawlessly ambidextrous, and favored a long, slightly curved, single-edged blade. Yes, yes a katana, but Jason preferred to not let a name attached to a style of use get in the way. No actually being human to give him the upper hand this time.

A portion of his mind was considering the likelihood of someone walking in (low) and if he cared no matter how things might progress (it would be their own fault).

The rest of him was focused on Dirk. Taken in by watching him move. Honestly very distracting, but it did mean that it was easier to let his thinking mind be distracted and get out of his way when Dirk gave him a lot more warning than he had been expecting.

Like their first fight, Jason waited until Dirk had committed to his strike. He skipped back a step, using one of his blades to catch Dirk's, he then stepped forward to push it back in a tighter, unbalanced arc. With the other, he unwound a chest level strike.

"What are the stakes?" he asked.

[evenindeath]

Blade caught, Dirk let the momentum of it redirect his own, moving so quickly he was a blur to avoid the chest strike as he spun, back millimeters away from bumping against Jason's until he leaned back on his heel to stop his own movement with the wall at his back now.

"I'd say we could bet for clothes but you're starting off at a disadvantage," he pointed out, judging Jason's stance and looking for weak points.

Really.

Definitely looking for weak points.

[lazarusinred]

Definitely absolutely eyeing each other for weak points.

Completely why Jason's gaze lingered along Dirk's body, as he turned his head to keep Dirk in view. He did not completely turn, but switched his hold on one blade so it came to rest as a guard to his back.

Just from that brief exchange, it was easy to tell that Jason understood the blade that Dirk used. The swords that Jason used were shorter which did mean he had to get well into Dirk's strike range to land a hit. Many melee weapon users learned rote exchanges, small subsets of how to respond to any given attack, it sometimes made them predictable. While Jason had also learned those things, he had fully embraced the skill of reacting without thinking. It went well with his more acrobatic moves and made him very difficult to predict. The weakness being that the right person could trick him into reacting to the wrong thing. Which was where his ability to take a beating and keep going really came in.

"Maybe you need the handicap," Jason teased, with complete affection. He spun and pressed the attack with a couple of testing strikes, pushing his own speed, but not near his own maximum or the speed that Dirk had just displayed.

Testing for weak points.

Definitely not to watch Dirk react.

[evenindeath]

It was just practice, no need to show off, but Dirk couldn't resist a bit of a flourish in every move to block the test strikes. One caught the edge of his own shirt, opening a small tear in the fabric before Dirk was able to dart out of the way of it.

"I hope that means you're better with swords than you are with guns," Dirk teased in return, flashing a flirtatious grin over the edge of his blade at Jason as he feinted going high for the next blow before going low again.

[lazarusinred]

Jason started to react to the feint before seeing it for what it was. Dirk was very good with deception. It would worry Jason, except that Dirk had been upfront with it. Had expressed a desire to change that and Jason only cared that Dirk be honest with him in the things that mattered. So it was that Jason was pressed to get out of the way of the low strike. He felt the sword catch the cuff of his pants before as he sprung out if the way.

"My greatest skill is being a smart-ass," Jason replied, for a moment still, a playfully flirtatious grin on his face. Then he sprung into an unnecessarily acrobatic leap. At the peak of arc he twisted his momentum into a high and mid level strike.

[evenindeath]

There was a difference between lying about life and in a fight, Dirk thought. But he compartmentalized so much of himself, sliced off into different versions careful of who he showed what and when.

He wanted to stop being that way, wanted Jason to know all of him, but it was hard.

The acrobatic leap might have been unnecessary but damn it was nice to watch. He waited until the last moment possible to duck and roll away - letting the sword catch on his shirt to tear it half open. He turned still in a crouch and moved his own sword up in a swift arc to see if he could catch Jason off guard with his landing.

[lazarusinred]

Jason was patient when it came to the things that he wanted. He would make space for and encourage Dirk to share every piece of himself. It would take time for him to share all that he was. It was hard.

With his choice of strike directions, Jason had expected a return attack from below. He was also maybe a little too distracted by partly disrobing Dirk and had to bring his other blade down to push back and halt his forward momentum. Not the kind of move a person of precision would make and it did do the job... for the most part. Catching Dirk's blade between his own did not last and he was forced to bend back to avoid it, but the tip still grazed a line across his chest.

"Fuck, you're fast," Jason breathed with a mix of admiration and desire. His heart was racing and only in part from the physical effort. In an attempt to press his advantage of being the one not crouching down, Jason let his own speed show and pushed himself upright, then into a double bladed strike down.

[evenindeath]

Dirk was fast but Jason was strong in a way Dirk was unused to and it was arousing as hell - knowing he'd been with Jason a few hours earlier. Knowing he'd be with him again soon.

"So're you," Dirk pointed out, because that was also true. He brought his sword up to block, let himself seem like the double strike had too much force for him and he was going to buckle, only to use that to angle his blade so Jason's only cut his shirt the rest of the way off when they fell and left superficial injuries on Dirk's body in the process as he 'fell' back in a controlled drop to rapidly rabbit kick at Jason's legs to knock them out from under him.