_**Collaboration between Sloth and Dblade, for the hilarity of Jason and Damian brooding at each other.**_

Something one had to be aware of when they were a full time caped crusader in Wayne Manor was the possibility of a Batarang to the face at any given moment, whether it be part of Bruce's honestly kind of screwed up training regiment or an accidental outburst from one of your fellow teenage companions. 

Jason hardly had enough time to move his head to the side after opening the door to his former paradise of a bedroom to avoid the Batarang that went flying into his old dresser on the opposite side of the room. They could've at least started with some ginger ale. Guess Bruce didn't exactly tell anyone he was invited. Before he'd even gotten a good look at his assailant, Jason had to reach his hand out to catch what appeared to be a broom handle and redirect the force to send...a child? Into the door-frame while Jason backed up slowly into the servant's hallway. 

"You must be the new kid."

Damian tried to suppress his surprise as the intruder dodged his throw with what looked like an infuriatingly small amount of effort. Whoever this creep was, he was obviously a cut above the average break-and-enter type of idiot. Damian was pretty sure this was the sort of situation that called for a pun or casual banter or something, but he found all of that pretty tedious so instead he just charged and leapt at the man, swinging the...

It was definitely a broom handle, now that he saw it in light of swinging it down at someone's skull. This had to be the fifth most demeaning weapon he had ever had to assault someone with, honestly. At least it wasn't a rubber chicken this time. He was still regretting not being able to permanently silence the thug he'd hit with _that_ thing. No wonder Robins got so little respect.

His scowl-inducing thought process was interrupted when the "thug" he'd attacked casually redirected his overhead strike and sent him smacking into the door-frame. He'd trained too long with lethal weapons to remember that his current "sword" could be caught like that, and he'd hardly been expecting a move that took that amount of training. He pushed the sudden burst of stars and pain out of his head to stand up and reassess his opponent, only to hear the man call him a 'kid'

"I'm not some kid, and this is a private party! So who the hell are you?"

See? He could do puns and banter after all.

Well, if anything, the particularly small doppelganger of Bruce's scowl confirmed that Bruce had, in fact, not told anyone he was invited. Or maybe Bruce hadn't bothered to tell his son about his older adoptive siblings that weren't generally seen in Gotham's premises. Kids these days show no respect, I swear.

"What, Bruce never told you about me? Figured I'd be the main example of why _'Killing is unacceptable!'_" Jason looked over his shoulder to see if anyone else was waiting to pop out and grab him. One could never be too careful in Wayne Manor. He simply rolled his shoulders a couple times and lowered the hood of his sweatshirt to better reveal his face, motioning for one Damian Wayne to lead the way.

"Come on, we wouldn't want to leave the rest of the family waiting."

Suddenly Damian's headache and inability to smash this smug jerk's face in suddenly made a whole lot more sense.  He dropped the embarrassingly ineffective broom handle and switched from scowling to idle curiosity. Not guilt or anything at attacking one of Batman's adopted sons though, honestly! That kind of shame was beneath him, and if a life of being raised by a secret society of ninjas and Batman had taught him anything, it was that a little paranoia was a sign of good health. 

"So, you're Jason Todd. I imagined you taller. You fit all the rumors and angry warnings well enough I suppose. So...ah...welcome home?"

Jason allowed himself a smirk while the duo began making their way out of the almost frightfully dusty hallway and towards what would probably be one of the more awkward Christmas Eve parties in history.

"Yeah, whatever you say, short-stack."

Damian flashed a scowl again at the comment "You know, a year or so ago a crack about my height would have earned you an execution. You're lucky I'm feeling generous." Without stopping for further banter Damian slid open the 'secret' entrance to the hallway and walked out to the others like he hadn't been hiding and not-sulking all night.

"I brought a Christmas present. I tried shaking the box, but I think it's mostly filled with insolence and excrement."