#ler!dick

That’s all to say that, while nobody expects to wake up in another person’s body, Dick weirdly recognizes the weight he wakes up with, has a muscle memory of throwing the weight around the last time he and Jason ended up in this situation. Last time, Jason’s body had been sore, bruised ribs and two fractured fingers that he hadn’t bothered to mention to anyone. This time, he feels pretty alright other than the ebb of exhaustion encroaching on his alertness, and the dizziness that could likely be contributed to missing a round of meds the previous night. 

He can hear a groan from somewhere down the hall, the clattering of stuff falling to the floor, and predictably, Dick’s own body is dashing through the door. Jason looks beyond fed up, and the only relief is that he hadn’t gone home to Roy and Lian the night before, and that he had somehow, for the second time, avoided Roy seeing him in this embarrassing ass situation. Jason rolls his eyes with a grunt before glaring daggers towards Dick, “what the fuck did you do this time?”

“Me?” Dick gasps, offended, but unsurprised. He has been known to piss off a magician or two from time to time. “It was your fault last time!”

“Was not! How was I even supposed to know there was a witch in Gotham? She wasn’t fuckin’ around in crime alley, I never encounter the weird shit that you and Bruce do!” 

“Master Jason,” a voice says from the hall, Alfred clearing his throat, “language, please.”

“Sorry, Alfie,” Jason sighs, looking down at his hands. 

“Wait,” Dick says, tilting his head to one side, dark brows furrowed, “how’d you know that’s Jason?”

“Consider it an old man’s intuition,” Alfred looks between the two of them, partially flabbergasted that Dick’s body is wearing an expression so vividly Jason, and Jason’s body is wearing one that’s so vividly Dick. “Though I was unaware we were dealing with another magic incident.” 

“We were unaware too,” Dick groans, “I want out of this bulldozer.” Dick makes for the door, grabbing Jason and dragging him non-committedly behind him. They’ll have to call Zatanna again like the last time, and Dick is praying she’s not off-world again. He doesn’t love having to call one of his ex-girlfriends to get him out of embarrassing, avoidable situations, but it could’ve been worse, Wally had begged Dick to stay the night last night, and Dick is suddenly very glad he had said no. 

Jason rolls his eyes, following behind Dick, not making much of an effort to actually walk, “don’t talk about my hard-earned muscle like that.”

When Jason stops in the kitchen, claiming he’s hungry and his pit-stop is Alfred-approved, Dick paces the hall anxiously, hearing constant, numb buzzing in his mind. He remembers the noise from their last body-swap, remembers having to fight off a green haze that nobody else could see. Jason grins when he peeks his head into the hall, but it seems he hasn’t even realized that he’s not hearing the buzz, as if he’s the same with it or without it.  “Chill, dickface. Can you like, eat an egg or something? My body needs protein.”

Dick glares in Jason’s direction, and it almost startles Jason how stern his older brother is able to look in a body that’s not his, “I’m sure you’ll last two hours without a protein bar.”

“Says you, you weigh like three pounds,” Jason jabs, walking into the hallway to follow Dick to the cave. 

“I’m lean,” Dick groans, “you try doing a quadruple front flip with the body of a football player. In fact, I’d love to see you try.”

The cave, as usual, is dark and cold, a breeze seeming to come from nowhere at all. Tim is at the table closest to stairs, slumped over his laptop, eyebags deep and drooping. He has a mountain of Monster cans in front of him, and a coffee pot that Dick is certain Bruce swapped for decaf at some point, though it seems it didn’t matter anyways. Dick shoots him a disappointed look, letting out a tired sigh knowing that he’ll probably have to drug Tim’s tea or something to get him to actually sleep. 

Tim looks startled by the expression, a light blush on his cheeks, and Dick is reminded that he’s not in his body, but in Jason’s. Jason shows his affection through playful aggression, he doesn’t have the oldest sibling instinct to be exhausted by Tim’s shenanigans instead of worriedly amused.

“Timmers,” Dick calls, Jason’s timber voice coming out higher, more cheerful, “is B down here?”

Tim’s brow furrows, and he squints at Dick, His glasses sit low on his nose, and he pushes them up closer, but seems no more satisfied, no less confused. “Uh, I think so. He was like,” Tim takes a moment and looks at the time on his phone, “like two hours ago? I don’t remember him leaving I think?”

“Great, thank you, Timmy!” Dick skips deeper into the cave, and Jason has to physically restrain himself from tackling his own body because of how fucking stupid Dick is making it look. 

Bruce doesn’t look as exhausted as Tim, but he’s certainly getting there, slouched over a pile of files, sifting through them lazily and looking between them and his computer screen. He looks infinitely more exhausted when he looks at his eldest sons, putting his head in his hands and lightly pulling at the ends of his hair, “I will contact Zatanna again.”

“Thanks, B!” Dick exclaims, grinning widely. There’s something dopey about the expression being on Jason’s face, but Bruce still has to look away to hide his own grin at seeing a rare smile on Jason’s face. 

Dick turns back around, heading back towards where Tim was sitting, and Jason watches as Dick throws the younger boy over his shoulder, overestimating Tim’s weight, or, more accurately, underestimating his strength, and having to adjust. 

“Jason, what the f-”

“Not Jason!” Dick quips, pretending to drop Tim, “all thanks to some evil witch or warlock out there.” 

“Even worse,” Tim responds, but he hardly struggles when Dick moves to the stairs, intending to get him to finally sleep after who knows how long awake. 

Jason takes the opportunity to move towards the training area, hoping to try out Dick’s escrima sticks in Dick’s own body. He had tried to use them a few times, when he found them lying around or during the odd training session, but he just didn’t have the nimbleness to make them work, it was all about fists when he was fighting. 

He does a few flips, practices throwing himself around like it’s nothing, grabbing onto things he had never been able to jump to, doing tricks he hasn’t done since his Robin days. When Dick comes back, he watches Jason attempt some sort of backflip, one that lands him facedown on the mat. 

Dick rushes over, grabbing one of Jason’s arms and flipping him over on his back, looking unimpressed when Jason groans, a hand finding his face. “You better not have just bruised my body.”

“Bruised? You’ll be fine, dickhead, I’m sure you’re not made of glass,” Jason replies, rolling onto his side. 

“What hurts? Seriously, Jason, if you messed up my body I’m going to break one of your fingers before Zatanna gets here.”

“Chill!” Jason replies, sitting up, criss-cross in a way that makes this feel like he’s in a primary school class, getting chided by a teacher for spoiling To Kill A Mockingbird for the rest of his class.

“You’re impossible,” Dick sighs, reaching down and reaching for Jason’s ribs to make sure he won’t be feeling pain once he’s back in his body. Jason jolts away with an aborted squeak, swatting at Dick’s hand. 

“Fuck off!” Jason shouts, rolling away from Dick, he stops once he feels far enough away and gapes at Dick, “your body is like, crazy ticklish.”

“Oh, shut up,” Dick replies, waiting to plan his attack.

Jason eyes the room’s exits, figuring out which one could get him as far away as possible. Dick just grins, knowing it won’t matter once he catches Jason, knowing there will be no way for him to actually escape. 

Luckily for Dick, he sees Jason looking shiftily towards the back exit, the one that leads from the training room down the hallway to the medbay. Dick jolts forward and narrowly misses Jason as he runs, making it to the hall. Dick rounds the room to another exit, walking briskly down the hall, and he’s soon cutting off Jason’s path, grinning evilly as he watches Jason contemplate his next move. 

“You know what’s about to happen,” Dick says with a light laugh. 

“Can you ever just leave me alone?” Jason grunts, looking around to bolt again, “you’re so annoying.”

“I legally can’t,” Dick responds, and in seconds he’s tackling Jason to the ground, Jason, who had made the mistake of looking back for an escape route, “I’m your favourite big brother, after all.”

Jason is grappling against Dick’s hold, but he knows it’s over when Dick uses his thighs to pin him down, Jason’s current body no match for his actual one when it comes to strength. He doesn’t even know where to protect, other than the vague ideas he has from when Bruce used to tickle Dick, or he and Dick would get into mostly one-sided tickle fights as children. He moves his arms down to protect Dick’s ribs, but he’s not even sure if they’re Dick’s worst spot, and he’s beginning to realize that Dick knows exactly where to tickle, it’s his body, after all. 

Dick grins, lopsided and playful like he always has when he’s messing with his siblings, and he pretends to think, looking at Jason as he gradually grows more anxious. Dick moves his arms down so they rest limply by his sides, and Jason, noticing that the hands are eerily close to his sides, tries to jerk away. Dick grins, teasingly wiggling fingers next to Jason’s stomach, content when Jason starts to squirm. 

“Whahat thehehe fuhuhuck,” Jason giggles, “why ahaham I laahahaughing?”

Dick blushes faintly, shaking his head, “no way, is this bothering you?”

Jason shakes his head, brows furrowed, “it’s yohohour fuckin’ bohohody, why ihihis thihis getting me?”

“It’s the anticipation,” Dick explains, frustratingly level and calm, despite the pink blush on his cheeks, “I guess my body doesn’t like it.” 

“Yohohou’re tehehlling meHEHE,” Jason shrieks as Dick’s hands finally truly descend, fingers spidering over Jason’s tummy, “DiHIHICK! Stahahp ihihit!” 

“Nope, I’m taking full advantage of this situation, I never tickle you anymore.”

“Behehecause I’d kihihill yohohou!” Jason squeals, hands firmly on Dick’s wrists, not doing enough to push his hands away. Jason doesn’t know enough to predict that Dick is going to go for the sensitive spot between his belly button and left hip bone, but he’s suddenly arching his back, gasping and squealing as he tries to figure out some sort of strategy to defend this body he knows nothing about. 

“Hmm, where should I try next?” Dick thinks out loud, examining Jason’s red face, the smile up to his ears, he shakes his head when Jason insists that he try nowhere, and settles for a spot that will make Jason snort, “you know, I’m pretty bad on my ribs.”

Dick’s fingers wiggle upwards and drill into each rib, and Jason flops between arching his back and falling flat, “Plehehease! Yohohou- yohohu’re stuhuhupidly tihihicklish!”

Dick blushes, but he doesn’t bother denying it, he’s very acquainted with it, “alright, but right now it’s you that’s stupidly ticklish.” 

Dick does a motion that’s something between pinching and spidering on a middle rib, and Jason snorts before falling into hysterical giggles, throwing his head back. When he does the same to the top rib on both sides, Jason shrieks, trying to clamp his arms to his sides. Jason’s face is progressively growing redder and redder, and he can’t seem to figure out a way to predict where Dick will go next, entirely unaware of how ticklish Dick’s body is and where. 

Dick’s tries to put his hands under Jason’s arms, but is unable to because of how strongly Jason’s arms are clamped down at his sides. “Alright, well, you asked for this.”

Dick’s fingers fly down to Jason’s thighs, skittering between his mid thighs and hipbones, and Jason screams, bucking violently, flinging his arms instead of strategizing. “FUHUHUCK- N- DIHIHICK, PLEHEHEASE!”

“I think you can take a little more,” Dick laughs, shaking his head, “I have pretty decent lung capacity.”

Jason has felt Dick tickle him to pieces before, he knows that Dick’s skilled in tickling younger siblings to pieces, tickling all the back-talk and sarcasm and bad moods out of them. He himself has been tickled to tears at the hands of Dick. But this? Jason has never felt so thoroughly tickled before in his entire life. Every spot, every tactic, completely taking him apart. 

When Dick pinches above Jason’s knee, scratching underneath it every few seconds, erratic and unpredictable, Jason’s done for. He descends into wheezy, silent laughter, his hold loosening on Dick’s wrists. 

Dick relents, pulling his hands away as he watches Jason try to catch his breath, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes. He suddenly looks sheepish, looking off towards the door, “you know, I uh- I actually can’t tell your signs when you’re in my body. Did I go too far?”

Jason waves Dick off with a limp hand before covering his face with his arm, “you do that weird half snort half wheeze thing.”

Dick glares, his voice scandalized, “no I don’t!”

“You so do,” Jason responds, reaching a hand up to taser Dick’s bottom rib. 

Dick snorts, rolling off of Jason, “you’re still ticklish? Why didn’t you try to fight me off?”

“One of us has some self-preservation skills, Dickie,” Jason says with a wink, the expression is completely Jason, even though it’s Dick’s face, “you and I are going to have some fun when this is over.”

Dick pales, laughing nervously. “Uh, did you hear that? I think I heard Bruce call me, I’ll- I-” Dick bolts from the room, leaving with a bright blush. 

“I’m staying out of this,” Roy shrugs, “but your team kind of sucks at mini games, Dick. Why don’t we go back to the races?”

“Hey!” Wally gasps, sending a scandalized look in Roy’s direction, “half of our team sucks, that’s an important distinction.” 

Dick’s jaw drops, pausing his character selection to gape at his boyfriend. “It’s not my fault you decided to take the opportunity to try out new characters!”

“Well it was either choose a new character and have an excuse for losing, or have to admit that my boyfriend absolutely sucks at Mario Kart!” Wally exclaims, gesturing vaguely towards the screen. 

Just as they fall into a rhythm of back-and-forth bickering, the front door opens down the hall, the chattering of Steph, Mia, Cass, and Donna floating through the foyer. Quick, quiet footsteps dash towards the living room, and Steph pokes her head in, looking warily towards the couch. “We brought Dunkin.”

“Fuck yes,” Jason exclaims, rising from the couch to grab a coffee, Roy trailing behind. 

Wally and Dick stay on the couch, customizing their cars as they wait for Roy and Jason, that is, until Donna’s head is suddenly popping into the room, “doughnuts too!” They’re in the kitchen, quite literally, in the blink of an eye, raiding the box of doughnuts while Mia, Cass, and Jason talk about what they’ve been reading. Mia is only interested in talking about Tennessee Williams, ‘going through a phase’ as Roy describes it, and Cass divulges that she’s been in a reading slump. Jason could only suggest Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the only book he’s read in the last two weeks, courtesy of a special request from Lian. 

Dick and Wally get wrapped up talking to Donna about some off-world issue that Diana, Clark, and Hal had been tending to, and whether Dick should bring back the discowing costume. The opinion is a hard, resounding no, but Dick still argues for giving it a new life, now that they’re in a 70s resurgence. By the time Wally and Dick return to the living room, Jason and Roy have already resettled, Cass and Mia also now in the room, sitting on one of the far couches while contemplating joining the game. 

When Dick finally sits on the couch, he notices that the game has been changed; Coin Runners was ended prematurely, and Jason and Roy are in the character selection for a 200cc race. They have already chosen their characters, Wario and Dry Bones, and are waiting for Dick and Wally to select their own. Dick glares Jason’s way, ignoring the impatience on his younger brother’s face.

“Just choose Cat Peach so we can play already,” Jason chides, jokingly grabbing for Dick’s controller on the coffee table. Dick intercepts him, attempting to shoo him away by poking him in the ribs. Jason shies away with a grunt, quickly recoiling out of reach. When he’s upright and no longer as vulnerable, he locks eyes with Dick, eyes squinted. 

Dick grins back, mischievous and lightly malicious, quite Chesire cat. Jason knows exactly what the look means, and before Dick can even move a finger he’s catapulting himself over the back of the couch, making a mad dash down the hall. “Oh fuck no.”

Dick makes chase, giggling maniacally and frantically as he follows Jason’s loud footsteps out of the living room. 

“Leave me the fuck alone!” Jason yells as he’s backed into a corner, seriously considering whether it’s worth it to scale the wall next to the stairs to get to the second floor. He decides that it is, throwing himself as high as he can get, hoping to grab onto the railing. He falls back down with a thud when Dick grabs him around the ankle, tackling him to the ground. “Fucking ow, dickhead.”

“This is all on you, Jaybird. We could’ve just played Coin Runners,” Dick teases, trying to grab Jason’s wrists as Jason bucks wildly. “Hey, Wally?” Dick calls down the hall, back towards the living room. 

“Yeah, babe?” Wally responds.

“I need your help!”

Wally is next to him before he even finishes the sentence, grinning down at Jason and Dick grappling. Jason grunts when Dick manages to gain the upperhand for a moment, stradling Jason, and Dick is quick to tell Wally to grab Jason’s hands. 

“Fuck, no, West, I will kill you,” Jason threatens with a glare. He considers, for a fraction of a second, calling Roy, but that would be admitting defeat. He continues to fight until Wally shoots a slowly vibrating finger towards Jason’s ribs, Jason squealing and tensing enough for Wally to scoop both wrists into his hands. “You’re so dead, you’re not living to see tomorrow, West.”

Wally pales, but plays it cool, “you know, I’m not too worried. You don’t look all too threatening right now.”

“I promise, it will be slow and-” Jason clamps his mouth shut, biting hard on his bottom lip. Dick had brought his hands up to dig into Jason’s sides, going from slow, teasing circles to spidering in with his fingertips, switching at random intervals. 

“C’mon, Jaybird, I know you wanna giggle. I see the smile peeking out,” Dick teases with that disgustingly endeared voice he does when he’s pulling the Big Brother card. 

Just as Jason gets used to Dick’s maddening pattern, Dick reaches a hand back and squeezes Jason’s hip, and Jason snorts loud enough to be heard all the way down the hall, the dam finally breaking. 

“You forget,” Dick grins, “I am your older brother, I know exactly how to get you to break.”

“Fuc- fuhuhucking- no,” Jason cackles, throwing his head back with another snort when Dick continues to squeeze. He makes a show of pulling at his arms, but Wally can tell its nowhere close to Jason’s full strength, something Dick knows all too well. 

When he’s satisfied with how many snorts he’s produced from Jason, and satisfied with Jason’s embarrassment about his uncontrollable snorting, Dick’s fingers move to Jason’s stomach, pinching the skin on both sides of his belly button. Jason squeals, bucking up and down as he starts to giggle, uncontrollably. Jason would have taken this to his grave if it weren’t for Dick, if it weren’t for his older brother analytically conjuring the most embarrassing reactions he can from him. 

“You know, if I didn’t value my life, I would say that this is almost cute,” Wally chirps, and Jason squeals out a string of curses and threats. Wally thinks he can make out something about time travel, and something about Barry and space, but it’s not as scary when Jason is red in the face, giggling uncontrollably as his older brother tickles his tummy. 

When Jason feels his shirt move up, seeing the evil glint in Dick’s eyes, he absolutely screams, bucking as hard as he can, desperately squirming to get away from his brother’s rapidly descending face. “Dihihick, no! Yohou’re so dead! I sw-” Jason cuts himself off with a screech, trying to melt into the floor to get his stomach away from Dick’s lips. Dick just laughs along, giving him a few more before relenting. 

“I’m not done just yet,” Dick teases, “one more spot, Jaybird.” Dick looks up from his brother for a minute and notices Roy leaning against the wall, trying to hide his endeared grin at the state his boyfriend is in on the ground. Dick starts to rub soft, ticklish circles under Jason’s belly button, grinning when his brother starts to giggle again. “Oh look, we even have an audience.”

Jason hadn’t realized his eyes had been screwed shut, but he opens them quickly, looking up at Roy, mortified. “Dihihick, you’re going to die.”

“Well, yeah, we all are,” Dick says in a sing-song tone, “but you first.” With that, his fingers dart up to Jason’s armpits, and his younger brother shrieks, trying to jacknife away from too all-too-knowing fingers. “Good to know this is still your worst spot!” 

Jason tries to dispute it, tries to continue to threaten his brother, but it all tickles so much, and his body feels like a live wire. Something about Dick tickling him always made it so much worse, it made everything tickle so much more, and he always felt completely helpless up against Dick’s Big Brother Skills™ and Big Brother Tactics™. 

Wally suddenly lets go of Jason’s hands, and Jason manages to wrestle Dick away from him, rolling onto his stomach and giggling into his arms. 

“You broke my boyfriend, Dickie,” Roy says, jokingly upset. 

“Nah, he’s just fine,” Dick waves off with a grin, “he’ll sit there and giggle for a few minutes, and blush for the rest of the day, but he’ll survive.” 

Jason groans, something so incredibly embarrassing about how Dick cannot only precisely predict Jason’s reactions, but also the aftermath of his attacks. He tries to sit up, but just continues to giggle, proving Dick’s point as he brings his hands up to cover his face. 

Dick ruffles Jason’s hair, standing next to Wally, “hurry up, we’re playing Coin Runners.”

Jason just groans, flipping him off as Dick and Wally walk back towards the living room. Roy moves closer to Jason, kneeling down so he can see his face. He puts a single finger under his chin and leans in, placing a kiss just on the corner of Jason’s mouth. “That was really cute.”

Dick panics when Jason remains silent, but he can see his brother struggling to escape the cape. He slides on his knees across the hardwood to get to Jason, quickly untangling him from the fabric. 

“No!” Jason shouts, batting Dick’s hands away, “you’re ruining it, Dickie! I’m supposed to save you!”

Dick sighs with relief, scooping up his brother, cape included. “Oh my god, you scared me, Little Wing. I thought you were hurt.” 

“I’m not hurt, this cape is just dumb and long,” Jason giggles when Dick ruffles his hair and leans down to press a soft kiss in his dark curls, “go back! Go back! I need to save the city!”

“Fine, fine,” Dick laughs, making his way back across the living room.

“This time hang on to the back of the couch! Like you’re holding on to a skyscraper!” Jason shouts, running back to the side of the room he had originally been in. 

Dick laughs, surprised at the request, and decides to do a little extra to make the game more realistic for his brother. “Want me to hang from the ceiling?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Jason cheers, jumping excitedly. 

“Alright, just be careful, Jay.” 

“Always am, Dickie,” Jason says before taking on a full sprint, this time being extra vigilant about the fact that Batman’s cape is almost double his height. He bounces off of the couch, landing on the top of a bookshelf, perfectly steady. 

He takes a moment to consider his options, but Dick’s exaggerated wailing quickly snaps him out of his thoughts. 

“Batman, please help me!” Dick shouts, rocking the chandelier that he’s handing from, “I’m going to fall!” 

“Don’t be afraid!” Jason responds, backing up in preparation to jump, “Batman always saves the day!” He takes a leap and manages to grab onto Dick’s torso, wrapping his legs and arms around him like a koala.

“I have saved you, civilian! You are safe now!” Jason exclaims, positively beaming up at Dick. 

“Thank you so much!” Dick says, using one arm to maneuver Jason higher on his torso, “I must repay you!”

Dick swings his legs up onto the chandelier, creating a human hammock for Jason, maneuvering them until one of Dicks elbows is locked into the chandelier, his body securely holding them both up. When they’re both secure, Jason still holding onto Dick with dear life, Dick’s free hand shoots down to scribble over Jason’s tummy.

Jason squeals, burying his face in Dick’s chest, the cape flapping everywhere as he tries not to squirm for fear of falling. “Dihihicki nohoho!”

“No? But I have to repay you somehow, you saved me, afterall!” Dick exclaims as if it’s just common sense. Jason giggles harder at the silliness, his legs gripping tighter around Dick as a substitute for kicking his feet. 

Dick leans his head down and blows air over Jason’s ears, and the kid squeaks, shaking his head back and forth, black curls obscuring his face entirely. 

“Batman, are all heroes this ticklish?” Dick teases, beaming down at his brother.

“Nohoho!” Jason squeals back, “wehehe’re ihihinvincible!”

Dick laughs along with his brother, tickling him wherever he can reach: his sides, his neck, his belly, and even his shoulder blades, spidering his fingers in every spot Jason exposes.

“DIHIHICKIE!” Jason screeches when Dick manages to get his hand under Jason’s arm, “NOHOHO!”

“No? But Batman, isn’t it rude to deny my thank-you gift?” Dick asks, feigning innocence. 

Jason shakes his head rapidly, though his words are lost to the childish, bubbly giggles that pour freely from his lips. 

Bruce wanders down the hall when he hears the laughter of his eldest, laughter he hasn’t heard much since the two of them stopped getting along so well. He watches as Dick hangs from the chandelier, using his body to cradle Jason, tickling the child silly.