Batbros Forever

A Family Resemblance

"Jason, we have been over this. No means no." Bruce said dismissively as he placed his newspaper between him and his second eldest. "And if you dare say anything about how all the other kids at school are doing it, you will be benched."

"It's not about the other kids," Jason whined. "I just want a couple of streaks, Bruce. It's harmless." Jason wasn't lying this time. He had never been one to join in on school trends, and while half of the kids at Gotham Prep were sporting highlights of every color in their hair, he was not in it to fit in.

"One day, you'll look back on this when you're older and thank me for not letting you dye your hair." Bruce promised as he stood up and headed to the garage. Jason grumbled as he watched him go. His siblings always got what they wanted when they asked permission first. It looked like Jason was simply going to have to ask for forgiveness.

III

Jason stuck his head into the hallway and checked that the coast was clear one more time before closing his bedroom door.

Bruce had gone to work. Alfred was overseeing the gardeners. Dick was out with friends. Cass was having a girls' day with Babs and Steph, and he had only moments before seen both of his younger brothers heading down to The Cave, most likely to work on case files and train, respectively. If he was going to do this, now was the time.

Reaching under his bed, he pulled out a box of blood-red hair dye. He had bought it days ago in the hopes that Bruce would give in, but now it seemed that he'd have to do this on his own. After watching a few videos online, Jason was confident that he would be a redhead in an hour's time.

The dye color had been mixed. He had all the supplies. This was it. The moment of truth. He picked up a lock of his raven hair and...

"Jason!" Someone called from the doorway. The boy jumped, almost spilling the bowl of red down the sink. "What the hell?" He snapped upon seeing Tim and Damian. "Haven't you two heard of knocking?"

"What are you doing?" Tim asked, moving into the bathroom and reaching out to examine his brother's experiment. "None of your business." the older boy grunted, slapping his hand away. "I thought you two were in The Cave."

"We were, but I want to spar, and Drake is too much of a coward to face me without a witness." Damian huffed. "Well, I'm busy." Jason told them and began pushing them towards the door. Unfortunately, Tim managed to duck past him and was back at the sink in a heartbeat.

"You're doing this wrong." He stated as he picked up the box and began scanning over it. "Oh yeah, Replacement?" Jason huffed. "Just what did I do wrong?"

"Well, for starters, your portioning is off, and you don't have proper ventilation, but most importantly, this color won't show. Your hair is too dark." Jason glared at him before an idea crossed his mind. "Well, if you're so smart, how bout you help me?"

Tim backed up immediately, shaking his head so hard his own dark hair fell in front of his eyes. "No, no, no. Bruce said you're not allowed to dye your hair. I'm not going to be your accomplice."

"I'll help." Damian grinned, to which his brothers both raised their brows. "Oh, don't look so surprised." He scoffed. "I've always thought any change to your physical appearance would be an improvement. Besides, I want a front-row seat when Father grounds you."

Jason ignored the Little Demond's reasoning. Help was help, and apparently, he needed all the help he could get. He turned to Tim. "Come on, Timmy. It's just a bit of chemistry. You love chemistry." He wheedled, to which Tim folded his arms.

"Fine, don't help." Jason sighed. "But know that when the brat poisons me, you could have stopped him." Tim muttered something under his breath before scooping up Jason's concoction and examining its contents. Jason grinned. His new look was going to be awesome.

–––––––

Tim had been right. The red would never have shown through the midnight black of Jason's hair. Luckily the kit had come with a bleaching agent that Jason had overlooked. Soon the front sections of Jason's hair were a ghostly white and ready for coloring.

"We'll start with this and see how it looks." Tim explained as he had Jason tip his head over the basin. "From here, it looks like you all with be spending a lot of time in your rooms." Bruce's voice boomed. The boys all whipped around, Tim dropping the dye and letting it run down the drain. "Father, I can explain. Todd made me-"

"You two go to your rooms." Bruce ordered, cutting off Damian's excuse. Jason stood straight with defiance as his father stared him down. "Well?" Bruce prompted. "Isn't this the part where you explain yourself and offer up some sort of apology?"

"I'm not sorry." Jason said shortly. "I wanted this, and if you weren't going to give me the ok, I decided this was the only way." "But why?" Bruce pressed. "You had to know this would make you stand out in all the wrong ways. Why would you bring that kind of attention to yourself?"

Jason bristled at that. He shoved past Bruce out of the bathroom, and Bruce followed. The man watched his son snatch a framed phone off his desk and caught as he sent it sailing across the room. Bruce looked down at their last family photo.

Him, Alfred, Cass, and the boys all dressed their best and smiling for the camera. Damian had even gotten Titus and Alfred the cat the sit nicely at his feet. It was a lovely picture, but Bruce didn't see what it had to do with anything.

"You don't get it do you?" Jason grunted. "I want to stand out! I'm tired of hearing how I look like you. I'm sick of teachers mistaking me for Dick. I don't want people comparing Tim or Damian to me. I am done with looking like a Wayne!"

Bruce staggered back as though he'd been struck. He sat down on the bed in a bit of a stupor and stared at the photo again. Jason was right.

He and Damian were the only ones who shared any DNA. Yet, everyone in the picture had the uniformity of black hair, and most had almost matching blue eyes. Even the animals had black fur.

While it had never been a conscious observation, Dick used to joke about their family resemblance. He'd seen those unfamiliar with their family mix the boys up, but he was their father.

He knew his children were all different and unique. He knew their ticks and habits. Their individual methods of comfort. He could tell them apart in a pitch-black room by the sound of their breathing alone. But that was just him. Bruce may have known the intricate little differences between his children but the rest of the world could never understand them like he did.

"It's not easy," Jason sighed after a stretch of silence. "Walking around, having everyone know who you are on sight. Expecting certain things from you because they know your family name. Even at The Watchtower, everyone sees the mark of The Bat on my chest and expects me to be you."

"I never wanted you to be ashamed," Bruce said softly. "I'm not." Jason promised. "It'd just be nice if sometimes I was just Jason." Bruce stood up and placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

"You are so much more than just Jason." He assured. "You can keep the white streaks for as long as you want. What's done is done. But no more roping your brothers into your schemes. They can find enough trouble on their own." Jason grinned as Bruce set down the frame and headed for the door.

"And clean up that mess in there." He ordered. "Alfred will not appreciate you mixing chemicals in the sink." Jason nodded, and the two Wayne men shared a smile. It didn't take a family resemblance to come to an agreement.