He's A Child Again alt ending inspired by cproblems1216 

https://www.wattpad.com/1281184096-he%27s-a-child-again-chapter-twenty-nine/page/3/comment/1281184096_b3e8653b52ee324fe591b827af907c52_1727634084_39dc79e92c

Bruce didn't want to ask this. He knew how it would look in contrast to his promise to do better but this really would be better. Dick was too out of his depth living in the Manor surrounded by a fun house mirror reflection of his home. It would be a lot for anyone, especially a little kid who'd been put through more trauma at the hands of Slade. It wasn't like Bruce didn't want him there. He did. He wanted things to go back to some sort of normal where Dick could see him change in real-time and know he made a difference. He would love to see the kid warm up to his surroundings and find a new routine. Unfortunately, that was far too idealistic. 

Since finding Dick hiding in the bathroom, his bedroom trashed and his mind racing to conclude that he was going to be thrown out, Bruce knew something had to change fast and he knew it wasn't only his parenting style. This world had changed too much with even the little pieces of it warping over time. Brands changed their packaging, food got discontinued, pop-up shops were replaced by chain cafes. He knew it was all too much alongside navigating a new family dynamic and reckoning that life would never be what it was. 

It wasn't just hard on Dick either although the kid had been his main focus. 

The family was grieving someone. That someone may still be there in the form of a child but the person they knew would never come back. Dick wouldn't grow into the exact same man he was. Damian was devastated and despite trying his best to hide it around his new younger brother, it slipped through at times. Dick would try to strike up a conversation or laugh at something he saw in such a similar way that it was difficult not to remember who he was. Damian would go to his bedroom and stay there for the rest of the day, leading the acrobat to ask what he did wrong with no clear answer. They couldn't say it was because he was himself. He'd collapse into himself and that would defeat the point of Bruce working on himself to give his kids a better life. 

The only person Bruce could look at in awe of how they were taking this information was Jason.

Jason had stepped into the position of the older brother nicely like putting on a well loved jacket. He didn't stay at the manor often anymore but he visited often just to see Dick. They got along well which Bruce supposed was due to their similar circumstances. When Jason came back to life, everything changed so fundamentally that even now years later he was still discovering new things. He knew what it was like to have people mourn the person you were knowing you could never be that again. He understood the tantrums over seemingly small issues, the days when the world outside your bedroom was too different to face and feeling so nostalgic it made you sick. 

It wasn't an easy decision to come to and he knew it wouldn't be without faults but it was the best option. Dick couldn't live in the manor anymore and he needed to stay with Jason for the time being. 

On one of the days Jason visited, Bruce asked to see him in his office for a moment. He'd been nervous to discuss his plan but when he brought it up to Alfred for a second opinion the butler confirmed it would be for the best. Dick needed a secondary space that was entirely new rather than the unnerving nature of something he once knew but had mutated through time. However, when he proposed the idea to Jason, the man was far from agreeing.

"You want to dump your kid on me because it isn't working out how you'd like?" he questioned, spitting his words as though they were venom. He stood from his chair and paced to keep himself from storming out right then and there. Bruce had promised to change and he knew it was too good to be true but damn did he want to see it happen. He should've known the moment they found Dick's room trashed that Bruce was going to realise this wouldn't be as easy as a therapy session a week and one chat about emotions. A clean slate for Bruce apparently meant throwing the slate out altogether and pretending it was never there in the first place. "You said you weren't going to give him up."

"I'm not."

"Then what do you call this?" Bruce sighed. He'd expected this, especially from Jason. Part of him appreciated how quick the man was to call him out but this wasn't a black and white situation. There was nuance and either way you looked at it, there was no purely good solution. Someone would get hurt. 

"This is giving him space," he replied. His fingers were laced together, giving an anxious squeeze as he continued. If Jason didn't agree, the plan was dead in the water. Barbara had been another option but she hadn't been as involved and he doubted it would look any better if he went with someone Dick couldn't relate all that much to. "He's been displaced in time. The world grows up with you and now suddenly his world is years ahead of him. Everything has changed."

"So you'll fix it with more change?" Jason scoffed.

"You understand him more than we ever can. Having time with you somewhere new that isn't some mutated version of what he remembers can give him that space to reckon with the world at large. Then he can focus on his place here." Put it like that and Jason could understand but he still felt reluctant. He sat back down and thought the proposition over more seriously. 

On the one hand, Dick had gotten comfortable with him. He gathered that he was the only one able to put aside their grief when interacting with Dick and they related to each other more than they should. Spending more time with someone who didn't have to try to understand would probably offer a lot of comfort. 

He liked the kid too. Seeing how similar Dick was to himself made him appreciate all those times Dick had tried to connect with him and although he held some resentment towards himself for never really humouring it, he could look back on it fondly now. He could pay back some of the graft Dick had always offered him but he'd rejected so often.

On the other hand, he wouldn't say he was kid-friendly. He wasn't all that responsible and half the time his fridge had more beer than actual food inside. He slept all hours of the day, he didn't clean up after himself much and he didn't live in a good area. For all the anger he held towards Bruce, he offered a quality of living that he wasn't sure he could. 

Then there was Dick's feelings in the matter. He'd been through so much already and he wasn't sure he could be the person he needed. He wasn't sure any of them could be and the last thing they wanted was to repeat all the mistakes that clung to Dick like barnacles on the other side of a ship. This might be the straw that broke the camel's back. If it wasn't broken already.

"Just because I can relate to him doesn't mean I can raise him. I'm not exactly parent material. I'm hardly safe to be around children material," he argued. "Don't you think he's had enough going on? To him, he's gone from living in the circus, to being in juvie, to living with you, to being kidnapped by Slade and then potentially to living with me all in the space of just over a year."

"You won't be raising him," Bruce corrected sternly. Jason was quietly happy to hear the confidence. "He'll be staying with you most of the time but my hands are still firmly on the wheel. He'll spend increasing amounts of time here until he's more accustomed to the world. I think it's for the best."

"Have you even asked him about it? Dick already thinks you're itching to get rid of him. Hell, I think Alfred's still finding glass in his room from his breakdown."

"I wanted to see you first before I bring this up to him. There would be no point in telling him if you were going to refuse," Bruce explained. "I know it's a big ask and you don't have to answer right away but I truly believe this is the right thing to do. I can take the time to be a better parent, Tim and Damian will have space to grieve and he'll be able to bring up any problems with someone who already knows what it's like."

"How long are we talking?"

"Somewhere between a couple of months and a year but it's going to be based off his own timeline. He's still more than welcome here but he needs a place where he isn't looked at like he's dead or a disappointment. I know the boys don't mean to and I'm guilty of it too but it can't be good for him to think we're unhappy with how he is."

"I'll take him," Jason said without missing a beat. "But under some conditions."

"Go on."

"Child support and some spending money to make the place not look like the drug den I grew up in. I want to be there when you tell him about this plan and he has to stay with you guys over the weekend where you have to do an activity with him. No snippy comments on how I'm looking after him either. In three months, we review and he will be there when we do."

"Those are...surprisingly reasonable terms."

"I'm reasonable when I want to be. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal."

Dick knew something was going on. He wasn't sure what it was but he knew it had something to do with Jason. Bruce kept asking him how he felt about the older, if he was nice to have around and if he wanted to see him more. All of which he answered. Jason was a great change of pace and if he answered the questions right, he should see him more. 

Then the pair told him to sit down. They needed to talk to him. He didn't expect what came out next.

"I think it would be best if you go to live with Jason for a short time." 

And for a moment, the world stopped turning. He was waking up again after having the horrible realisation that he was stuck here for good. He was trashing his room thinking that if he wasn't wanted as he was, then he would go out on his terms and not at the will of a billionaire whose kindness was in limited supply. 

They stared at him apprehensively as though he was a bomb ready to go off but Bruce soldiered on, braving the blast almost heroically if the bomb wasn't his own ward's frayed emotions.

"This isn't me giving you up. You and Jason relate to one another and whilst I want you here, I know you're struggling and we're not helping."

"I won't let Bruce get away with shit either," Jason insisted. "We'll do a review in three months. You'll spend the weekends here and the weekdays with me. It's not a manor but it's a nice enough place and we'll bring all your stuff over. Or half it. Whatever you want."

Shock stole his tongue. He had so many things to say and argue with but he couldn't. All this time he thought things were going well and that they'd gotten over the worst of it but he was wrong. When would he learn it could always get worse? It would always get worse.

"Dick, it's okay to be upset," Bruce assured him. Upset was too light a word. "I know you've been experiencing far too much change but we both agree that this will be for the best. Damian and Tim are doing their best, so am I, yet we're still causing damage. Jason is undoubtedly a better fit."

"And this isn't forever. It's till you get used to everything. You need space to work it out. I've been through it before and everything you're feeling, I've felt. Think of me like your Batman for the world being weird. I'll mentor you through it."

"Do you understand Dick?" 

"Yeah," he said, more confidently than he'd expected his voice to come out. He didn't want to be here anymore anyway. The person he used to be ran away whenever he could and whilst his life was hard, he'd made good friends out of it. He made it to his twenties. He was a little younger now but he'd figure it out. He didn't feel very young. 

"How do you feel about it?" Bruce asked.

"Fine," he responded. He wouldn't be sticking around so there was no point in being truthful.

"Right well, we'll start packing tomorrow. You'll spend the rest of the weekend with us and then move in with Jason on Monday. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

Throughout the process, Dick was quiet. He wasn't sure if it was the determination he held for not letting others pass him along anymore or if it was still the shock that he'd soon have to venture out into a world he no longer understood. If he ever understood it in the first place. They were kind to him at least. They kept asking how he felt and he would always say some variation of fine. He could see the exchanged looks and he was sure he could feel them being passed behind his back but he didn't see any point in addressing them. 

Jason's flat was small but he didn't scoff at it. He'd grown up in a small caravan, he'd been thrown in a cell upon his parents' passing and held captive in a tiny room by Slade. All in all, he'd lived in worse. His room was nice. Jason said he'd kept it as a second bedroom for when someone called Roy crashed. Roy would have his room again, Dick thought to himself. It was plain with the intention of him making it his own but it clearly had him in mind. The Superman bedsheets weren't lost on him.

Dinner was fine. Jason ordered pizza and let him choose the toppings. His cupboards were full yet he hadn't bothered to touch it. Maybe to make Dick feel comfortable in a place he'd only heard of. He shrugged his attempt off, had a few slices to give him the energy for tonight and went to bed early. He thought he could disappear into the night as he so easily disappeared in the thoughts of those around him but Jason had other plans.

"Whatcha doing?" Jason asked as he leaned against the doorway. Dick stopped in his tracks, one leg outside the window and hovering over the fire escape. He stared back at him with wide eyes and tightly held to the straps of his rucksack with everything he held dear inside. On his bed was a note he'd written explaining that he was going away for a long time. He didn't dare take the phone Bruce had given him. Probably a tracker inside of it knowing his mentor.

"Running away?" he replied unsure of what else to say. It wasn't like he just happened to be enjoying the night sky with his bag ready to go.

"Why?" He didn't sound angry. Curious and maybe a little bemused but not angry. He stayed leaning on the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. 

"I didn't know what else to do."

"You could stay."

"You don't want me here. Nobody wants me around anymore." Jason nodded to himself.

"I get it looks that way but it isn't. Besides, you know your family. They're stalkers. They'd find you everywhere you go," he replied with a confident shrug. Dick brought his leg back inside and sighed with a seriousness too harsh for his years.

"They're not my family though. They're his," he pointed out. "I get that they care about me in some way but they only care because of who I used to be." 

The ambient noise of the city filled the room as Jason sat on the ledge beside the boy. It was cramped and he was more leaning rather than sitting like trying to use the hostile architecture seats at a bus shelter. He'd spent plenty of nights by the window sill with a cigarette in hand and a bottle of beer. The city made it both incredibly hard and far too easy to feel lonely. He wondered if Dick did the same in his apartment but with a mug of coffee or bowl of cereal although being angsty over some cheerios wasn't nearly as fitting.

"I can't deny that might've been how it started."

Dick closed his eyes and took in a deep breath but Jason didn't know what he was bracing himself for. He couldn't help but tense up too. 

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he stated without opening his eyes. "I never thought things could go this wrong."

"I know the feeling," the older muttered. At that, Dick opened his eyes and glared daggers at the wall. 

"I should've ignored him," he snapped. "I should've told him to shove it and just gone through with whatever would turn me back to how I was."

"Dick-"

"Everyone would've been better off. No grief, no getting passed off to you and I wouldn't be here." 

He turned to Jason with a look he'd only seen on his own features at the same age. Having it mirrored to him left him speechless. He was starting to get why Bruce was the way he was. How many times had his mentor seen this face and wondered how on Earth he was supposed to respond? There wasn't much sympathy he could have for a man like Bruce yet he was finding some now.

"I can't do this," he whispered. "I lost Bruce. I lost Robin. I miss my parents. Why'd they have to die so soon?"

"I don't know," Jason answered. It wasn't much of an answer. There wasn't one. 

"I should've been normal. B said my temper would get the better of me. Never really believed him till now."

"You're not here because of that," the older was quick to argue. "You're here because you've got a lot to handle. The manor is so different but also the same. It's confusing. It'd be hard to get used to all of this surrounded by something so uncanny."

"Yeah well, it's not like I'll be going back, is it?"

"You're going back."

"Yeah and I've got secret superpowers," he snarked. "B will like it better now. You'll get sick of me. You'll pass me off to someone else. At least Slade wanted me."

"Fuck that," Jason replied. "I've seen you spiral one too many times Dick Grayson and for what it's worth, I'm sick of it. I'm not gonna let you get away with that shit. This is all complicated, I'm not saying this is going to be a walk in the park, but you're not gonna go around saying you'd be better with Slade. No matter what, you would've been hurt. This is just the better option."

"So what? I'm supposed to be all bubbly and giggly like my life doesn't suck? Well it sucks and I hate it and I wish I was still in the right time as Robin with a Bruce who didn't give me away."

"I'm not saying it doesn't suck but you're gonna get off rock bottom."

"Doesn't feel like it."

"No, it doesn't," Jason agreed. "You hungry?"

"What?"

"Are you hungry?" He shrugged. "You didn't eat much and B doesn't know what a normal amount of money is for the month. We should go somewhere. You know a place?"

"Probably closed."

"Probably. Maybe not. A lot of places have become 24/7. Great for us. Everywhere serves coffee. Sometimes we get it for free," he explained. Dick quirked an eyebrow but relaxed.

"There's a diner by a bookstore. Only place that stayed the same. Know it?"

"No. You'll have to show me."

"What if it's closed?"

"We'll find another place. C'mon, you're already dressed for going out. May as well do something with it."