No one asked, but I'm gonna write it anyway. Here's a Jason Todd experiences the dad gene when he finds Danny in an alley and has to fight not just some thugs, but also the urge to adopt on the spot
Ao3
Part 1 |Part 2 |Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 |Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | | Part 11 | Part 12 |
Jason's heavy boots are stomping hard against the black Gotham pavement. Not his Red Hood boots, no, just his plain old Jason Peter Todd boots. The splash he sends over his jeans from stepping in one more puddle does not help his growing anger, either.
It's been a long fucking day. Long fucking week, actually. From handling crime to his own underlings to his siblings, this week was just too goddamn much. And it was just Wednesday.
Bruce wanted a, what did he call it? Ah, yes, a 'family brunch'. A brunch that turned into lunch turned into "Bruce I swear to god just fuck off" at 4 in the afternoon.
He's almost at the block where his most comfy hideout was at, his 'real' apartment, when he gets soaked by a passing car, not even slowing down in the slightest when he nears a giant lake forming on the side of the street.
Jason doesn't even bother yelling or even grunting when he turns into the next alleyway and punches the nearest dumpster, leaving an immense fist shaped dent in the rusting metal.
"Off all days", he mutters, dripping wet hoodie pulled over his face. "One day of peace, just the one, can't I have that?"
Thunder rolls overhead and he takes it as a universal no when the rain becomes heavier and water starts collecting in his boots.
"You kill a few people!" he exclaims, waving his hands in the air, "You try to make up for it! You even move back to the shitty city it aaaaaallll started in, you even promise not to kill anymore, and what? Can't have one, just one tiny bit of reprieve?"
He punches at the wall behind the dumpster, less impactful but enough to rattle the brick façade as he shakes his anger off.
Hints of green are pricking at the corners of his eyes, but he takes deep breaths, forcing them away with evened breathing.
'Not now. Not today. We're not doing this'
He's almost at a calm pace when he hears gunshots further down the alley, instinctively reaching for his own guns until he realizes he's in civies.
He grunts, but still pursues the commotion. He doesn't need guns to punch someone, after all.
Jason expects a mugging, a hit-and-run, or even assault of the worst kind and is ready to crack skulls instead of walls when he sees two gunmen cowering behind a heap of trash, guns pointed at a kid who couldn't be more than 15 at best.
Even more bizarre is the fact they're shaking not from the cold, but from fear. A closer look at the boy shows him the boy is hunched over, snarling and guarding what looks to be a thermos and a myriad of small boxes, exuding an eerie familiar green glow.
He outright growls at the men to back off and when the two men refuse, he braces himself for an impact of several bullets, were it not for Jason.
He snatches the guns from their hands with such an amazing speed he barely has time to register the guns he's holding, ammo dropping to the ground and shoved to the side along with the weapons he pulled it out from.
"If you have half a braincell between you two", he towers over the trembling men, "You leave and don't look back. Capice?"
He says it more like an order than a question and the scrambled attempts at running away are more than enough of an answer for him. But something tells him, it's not from him they run.
He looks back at the kid, worried he might be bleeding somewhere when he sees him calmly packing up the items on the ground.
"Uhm, hey, are you-"
Jason moves closer but halts. The boy hisses and protectively holds the cubes and thermos to his chest. The same green colour flows from his eyes and he can see patches of it on his utterly soaked hoodie and t-shirt. More importantly, he can see it in his cheeks.
He stares at the kid who's breathing in heavily and whose eyelids drop lower with every second standing there in the rain despite the fixed gaze he keeps on him.
He may not know why he has the weird coloration in his cheeks, or what the patches are from, but he knows a fever when he sees one.
"I'm not gonna hurt you", he keeps his hands up, palms outstretched towards him, "I just wanna help."
Jason expects the boy to yell. In all honestly, that would've been the normal response. To tell him to fuck off or for him to run, really. There's all sorts of responses he has gotten over the years, friends and foes alike.
When the boy disappears before his eyes, that startles him, sure. Wouldn't have been the first time he finds a meta with teleportation powers or someone with super speed.
But when he turns around and finds the boy sniffing him, he doesn't exactly know how to react.
"Uuuuhm...I'm not-, I don't-," he slowly tries to add more space between him and the boy, but the kid creeps closer, vibrant green eyes boring into his skull , and Jason swears the kid is floating, until he finally seems satisfied somehow when he rests against his chest and breathes out a long, tired sigh.
The kid clutches his belongings close to his chest as they stand there in the pouring rain, just the sound of water crashing into the sewers below.
Jason isn't quite sure how to react to that. He decides to comfort the kid and slowly pats him on his back.
"There there", he says, mentally already picturing Dick scolding him for his approach but in his defense, what the fuck was he supposed to do?
'Be a functioning adult?' he hears Dick scream in his head but let's be real here, was he either of those things?
A purple backpack then catches his attention, a noticeable hole on the bottom of it.
"That yours?" he points, and the boy barely glances up from where he's standing.
"Yeah", he mutters with a drawl.
"Alright, you have a name to go along with that backpack?"
The boy waits a moment before he speaks up again. The silence grates against his nerves with the boy standing so close to him.
He replies softly, like he's scared someone else but Jason will hear him.
"Danny."
"Danny. Okay Danny, how about we grab your backpack and find shelter?"
He gently pries the boy away from him as he marches over towards the purple bag.
"I know there's a homeless shelter nearby, if you don't have a place to stay at, and there's a diner across from it where you can get some fo-"
A loud thump makes him spin around, dropping the backpack to the ground again when he sees the boy, Danny, had collapsed, still clutching the cubes tightly.
Jason rushes over, unsure of how to proceed with this clearly non-human kid as he goes over his options.
He is definitely not calling Bruce or any of the other birds, fuck that. He doesn't need help that bad. But just dropping him off somewhere else is out of the question too.
He glances around for a solution to drop out of the air when he spots the balcony to his apartment, begging him to come home.
Jason sighs, taking the boy and his stuff in his arms as he starts making his way home again.
Part 1| Part 2 |Part 3 |Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 |
It's been at least 10 hours since Jason got home. 10 hours since he encountered Danny in that alley. 10 hours since the kid laid down, asleep, on his couch covered in all the blankets Jason could find in his tiny apartment.
It's been approximately 9.5 of those since he completely lost his shit when he discovered Danny's pulse was barely there and instead of warm, the kid felt colder that a corpse. And he should know, after all.
But he seemed, oddly enough, to be doing better. His breathing, or, lack thereof, was even. He was sleeping soundly and a small puddle of drool was forming at the base of his pillow.
Jason hadn't dared to remove the cubes from his hands but he did manage to get him to put the thermos down next to him, even if it was just to calm him down whenever he reached for it.
He didn't want to pry, this kid was none of his busines but...He was here now. All up in his space. He even forewent his patrol and when asked about it by one of the bats, he shrugged it off with "Do you want me out there when I want to rip all your heads off after that 'brunch'?" and that seemed enough to them.
He had started a book a while ago and has read the same page over and over because every time he saw Danny move, he put it right down to check on him, a false alarm every time.
It didn't look like the kid was going to wake up. Not that he wanted the kid gone that bad but it wasn't like Jason was the best person to be around. Especially not fragile kids like Danny.
He moved towards the kitchen, wary not to make too much noise and started making some food for himself. And maybe a little bit for Danny.
Could he eat? What couldn't he eat? What if he was allergic? What if he killed the kid with bacon??
'What the fuck am I even saying??'
Jason scrunches up his nose at the incessant worrying over absolutely nothing.
"I fucking sound like Bruce", he mumbles, placing the strips of meat in a hot pan.
"What do I know about kids? They eat, just like anyone else. I can always ask if he's allergic when he wakes up."
He glances over his shoulder, Danny still soundly asleep on the couch.
'If. If he wakes up'
"He will, he will. He's fine...I think."
He finishes plating up some bacon and moves to grab a kettle. One thing he owes Alfred at least is the way he taught him how to make tea.
Prepared with a plate of meat and a cup of camomille lavender tea, he sits on his kitchen counter. He tries not to tap his feet against the cabinets as he munches on the food, sunken in thought.
'What's my plan here even? Kick him out as soon as he's awake?'
'I can give him another backpack, got enough spares and some old clothes that might fit him. And then he'll be gone. Marvelous'
He glances over to Danny and then back to his food when he glides off the cold stone surface. He softly makes his way to the sleeping kid and places the food down on the coffee table as he kneels in front of him.
"Kid?" he whispers. "You awake?"
Danny doesn't respond.
"Hey, I know you want to sleep but, ya gotta eat."
He reaches a hand over towards him to pull away at the blankets when a hand grasps his wrist.
Danny holds him still with those green eyes of his until the glow gradually ebbs away to reveal bright blue eyes staring back at Jason's.
'Mental note: do not show to Bruce'
Slowly but surely Danny lets go of his wrist (and Jason makes note of the way too tough grip that kid has)
"Sorry" he mutters weakly.
"'s Okay", Jason assures him. "I'd be surprised if you weren't wary when you wake up someplace unfamiliar."
He smiles gently at the kid, but he can clearly tell there's still a slight panic in his eyes as he looks around the room. Seemingly content at the barren walls of his modest abode, he stares at the food Jason set beside him.
"Can I?" he points bluntly.
"I did tell you to wake up and eat so," he hands him the plate and a fork, "yeah, you can."
Danny shoves his face into the leftover food and Jason's already on his way to the kitchen to make more.
"You want some eggs with that? Or cereal?"
"Is it morning already?"
Jason peaks out behind the blinds on his windows, the sky as dark as ever.
"No fucking clue. It has been half a day already but any time is breakfast time when you're just awake."
He grabs some eggs as he turns to Danny. "Scrambled? Omelet? Benedict?"
"Who the hell is Benedict?"
Jason lets out an undignified snort as he cracks the eggs open in a bowl and starts mixing them together. "Scrambled it is"
He reaches for his spice rack when he pauses.
"You uh, allergic to anything?"
"Crazy fruitloops and animated hotdogs, but other than that, nothing much."
"Oooowkidoookiiii", Jason lets out, definitely not understanding what this kid is babbling about.
Danny giggles behind him, still snuggled up under blankets as he stumbles towards the kitchen counter.
"What?"
"You said okidoki"
"....And?"
"Just, you, big, buff and all raaah I'm tough", he curls his biceps.
"Didn't think someone like you would say that."
"Kid, full offense, you barely know me, you woke up on my couch and you have the balls to insult me? I'm wounded."
"Oh boohoo", Danny quips, "I'm so scared and sad now"
'This kid has some goddamn nerve-'
Jason can't help but smile at the retort.
"What?" Danny asks confused.
"Nothing, nothing. Just reminds me of something."
Danny narrows his eyes but doesn't press further. Instead he focuses on the eggs sizzling on the furnace.
"I'll make you more bacon, relax. Eggs first."
Danny doesn't protest. Instead he chooses to wait patiently until Jason finishes cooking up a full breakfast for him: bacon, eggs, cereal and even fresh fruit juice at that.
He inspects the food intently. Too intently for Jason's liking.
"I don't know whether or not you think I would poison you, when you've been unconscious this entire time, or that you don't like my cooking. I prefer the former."
"Just checking it won't kill me."
Jason raises an eyebrow at that, but when Danny starts eating happily from his eggs, he doesn't get to ask any further.
It doesn't take long before this plate too is empty again and Jason has to wonder if it's because of the fever or...
"Are you still hungry?"
Danny shrugs a bit too nonchalantly which is supposed to mean no, but Jason knows better.
"I don't have any more bacon", he looks inside his fridge, "or a lot of eggs for that matter, but I can make you pancakes. Will take a bit longer though."
Danny pipes up at the mention of pancakes. There's a hint of hesitation there, but he hums in a way Jason can feel resonate in his chest that tells him it's okay.
Jason's been in the kitchen longer than he intended to today, but he doesn't mind as much when he sees how happily the kid eats his food. At least someone appreciates his other talents.
"Sooooo..." Jason drags on as Danny finishes up his nth pancake with a godawful amount of syrup.
"Want to, ya know, explain the whole," he gestures at his face, "green thing?"
"You mean the glow in your eyes?"
"The-, In my eyes?!" Jason panics and looks in the reflection of his window to see what the hell the kid means. To his relief, his eyes are normal.
"I'm-, I am not even going to begin talking about that." he runs a hand through his hair. "This is not about me, this is about you, you little shit."
He directs his attention to the cubes in his lap and the thermos next to the couch.
"The fuck are those and the fuck are you?"
He sees Danny shrink away a little, clearly not happy with the attention.
"Sorry, that-," he pinches the bridge of his nose, "that was too harsh, I didn't-"
He slides his greased hands over his face. Probably not the best idea but hey, at least there's your excuse for a shower, he thought.
"Look, kid, I am not in the best headspace right now but I know I can't just let you leave without an explanation. I can tell you're not entirely human."
Danny cradles the cubes, running his thumb around the edges as he looks deep in thought, as if he's considering using whatever powers he has to just up and run.
Jason doesn't know how he could stop him, considering all the exits are locked but, well, if it didn't stop Tim from snooping around his stuff he doesn't see how it would stop Danny from leaving with the powers Jason thinks he does have.
Eventually Danny gets up to retrieve the thermos. He puts it down before Jason but keeps the cubes to himself.
He motions for Jason to go have a look at it, himself gazing instead at the cubes.
Jason lets the thermos roll around in his hands. It's sleek and obnoxiously coloured in silver, white and neon green accents. He notices a series of scratches on the paint, faintly deciphering the word 'Fenton' on it but not much else.
When he opens it, Danny watches him from the corners of his eyes, as if he's making sure the thing doesn't eat him.
Jason sees noting out of the ordinary. It looks and feels like a thermos, although he can feel a soft tugging on his chest before he caps the thing again.
"Okay, that, does not tell me much, kid."
He puts the thermos down and leans over on his arms. "Want to actually tell me the truth or am I going to have to investigate myself?"
Danny's eyes grow wide, an inherent dread crawling across his face which makes Jason back up immediately.
"I'm not gonna-, kid what do you think I'm gonna do to you?"
Danny doesn't answer, but the way his shoulders tense is enough to provide one anyway.
"I don't want to know for the hell of it", Jason explains. "I just, want to know what to do from here on. I don't exactly know how to take care of metas."
"I'm not a meta", he says pointedly. "Just....different."
"Sure, that you are but, please, be a bit more specific."
"What do you want to know?"
It's careful, the way he asks. Like he knows he needs to give some info but he needs to be sure what that info is. How he will give it. If he will give it.
"Maybe, like, for starters, the way you have superstrength? And likely superspeed from how you turned on me so fast. Or something like that."
"Something like that."
"And whatever those cubes are", he nods, "must be pretty damn important if you're willing to risk your life for them."
"They're my..." Danny wrinkles his nose, searching for the right word. "They're my...responsibility. If I don't care for them, no one will."
Jason hums, not entirely content but he knows Danny isn't going to give him any more than that.
"What about family? You got someone waiting for you? Friends?"
"I have a sister", he replies. "But she's got her hands full right now."
"No parents?"
"No parents that matter."
"Sure."
Jason doesn't want to ask further, sensing it's a sensitive topic and instead asks about other things.
"Do you need...stuff?"
"Stuff?" Danny echoes
"You know, the way speedsters need extra food and Kryptionians need sunlight, that kind of jazz."
Danny looks even more sad when he asks the question, but he doesn't really understand why.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"I said I don't know!" and Danny almost wails.
Jason's hand is under the kitchen counter, mindlessly keeping it in reach of a taser. It's a force of habit, to reach for anything that can be a weapon in a moment's instance. But he takes it away when he sees how Danny's eyes get wet.
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay."
"I-", Danny's voice breaks a little. "I don't really need to eat much I just need...ct..pls...."
"Heh?" Jason lets out.
"Ect...pl..m."
"Ect...Ect what?"
"Ectoplasm."
Now Jason is definitely in over his head.
"You mean, the stuff that-, ghosts? The supernatural? The whole spiel?"
"Yeah..." Danny shrugs once more. "It's enough to keep me going. If I don't have enough, I need to eat more. Sleep more."
"Even without a fever?" Jason tries to tease.
Danny rolls his eyes at him indignantly. "Even without the fever, yes."
"Okay, so, you're one of the magic meta's"
"That sounds so fucking wrong."
"Hey, language."
He raises a stern finger at him.
"Where do you get this...ectoplasm from?"
"I don't need to like, eat it. I mean I can, technically and sometimes it really does wonders for me but, normally just, the environment provides it. Gotham is just a giant ectoplasm pool. It's basically flooding into everything."
"I'm just going to assume you mean the rain and not an inconspicuous substance, thank you very much", Jason laments, really wanting that shower right now.
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep big guy."
He fills the air with silence as he fiddles with the cubes again, reluctant to share anything else.
Jason, again, is the one to continue on.
"You didn't seem fulfilled though. Considering," he gestures at the plates around them.
"And if you say Gotham has enough ectoplasm to practically drown you..."
He doesn't like to think of where this kid was that it got so bad he was essentially starving, but he knows it sure as hell wasn't Gotham.
"Have you been eating well?"
Danny considers the question, like he's asking him what it's like breathing underwater, or having two heads.
"Mayhaps."
"Aight, that's a no."
Jason picks up the plates and places them in the sink behind him. He then moves around the living room, grabbing his jacket and finally, placing a hand on Danny's forehead.
"You don't seem to have a fever, not that you feel any less cold than before."
"I feel fine, I'm fine, you're fine, it's all fine", Danny swats at his hand.
"Yes, yes I can see that Mr. Smartass."
Jason walks over to his bedroom, rummaging through the closet.
"Here", he throws a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie towards him. "I've got an extra backpack in there too. Get changed."
"You're already kicking me out? After pouring out my life story and everything?" Danny quivers his lip, putting a hand to his seemingly wounded chest.
"No, dumbass, I'm giving you clothes and bag so you can go out with me and get groceries, maybe even lunch. Or dinner, whatever, we'll see when we get there."
"You're not gonna rat me out?", Danny eyes the clothes thankfully yet with worry. "Sell me out to the Justice League or, or Batman?"
"Fuck if I care what Batman thinks. My house, my couch you slept on, my rules. Do you want more grub or not?"
Danny walks over to him, inspecting him again like he did before and Jason swears the kid is chirping at him.
Without a word Danny leaves to get changed and is right behind him in minutes as he packs his belongings in a small red backpack.
He waits patiently for Jason as he leaves the apartment and Jason has to convince himself he didn't just chirp back at the kid, hoping grub is all he was going to give the kid.
Okay so, here's a little dabble, don't know if I'll continue it, but if you like Vlad being a better person and maybe becoming a mentor of sorts to Danny, here's a fun little fic for ya!
Ao3
Summary
Danny doesn't remember much of his uncle. He knows he came over sometimes to babysit, back when he was little, but for all in name, he has no memory of the man.
Driving down the hidden paths in his family's camper, his uncle's mansion comes into view.
Inside, a man eagerly awaits the arrival of his guests, hoping that his former best friend shall meet his demise right there.
He does not expect to see his godson afflicted with his own ailment, and the urge to exact revenge meets an unexpected contender:
The urge to protect.
"Wake up Danno, we're almost there!" Jack yells from behind the wheel of their homemade Ghost Assault Vehicle.
He's been yelling it every ten miles, not granting Danny a peaceful sleep on the ride there. Not that Danny had been sleeping peacefully at all lately since the accident. He rolls his eyes, turning around again to still get even a mere minute of rest before they actually arrive at their destination: a mansion on the edge of a forest, all the way out in Wisconsin.
Danny shared a look with his sister when their parents told them how they would visit the man only a couple of days ago, barely any warning to their leave. Jazz had thrown a fit, saving Danny the trouble, although she did it mostly to not have to interrupt her studies. She'd have to retake a test because of this trip. Not that she even had to take it, she excelled at everything several classes ahead of her fellow peers, but it was none of Danny's business.
He'd lost the drive to keep up his grades as soon as they dropped along with his attention span and sleep schedule, having to fight ghosts regardless of time and place.
Jazz had argued on his behalf too, saying how her little brother needed the peace and time at home too, which technically he did, but for different reasons. Even without knowing his secret, she was still looking out for him.
Alas, there was nothing she could do to keep them away.
As the country side rushed past, Danny tried to see what he remembered of the guy. Which was, not much. Apparently the man was his godfather, having baby sat him and Jazz when he was younger, but Danny had no recollection of him. His parents never talked about him either, as if he just dropped out of nowhere with his invitation all of a sudden, sent by letter no less.
What, guy couldn't call from all the way here? Guess he really liked being cut off from he world. Imagine being alone, with nothing but the stars to keep you company, finally visible without all the light pollution.
Imagine all that.
Danny sighed, not able to go back to sleep again. He propped himself up against the window, leaning against the cold glass when he saw the brick work of a building appear in the distance, fenced off by iron gates.
"Don't know what I expected," Danny spoke as he gazed upon the building.
"Expected what?" Jazz asked without looking up from her book.
"I don't know?" Danny shrugged, "The mansion?"
"You didn't expect the man inviting us to a mansion to actually...live? Inside said mansion?"
"I expected a mansion, not a whole, frigging castle" Danny waved his hands around. "It's weird our parents even know a guy with that much money, let alone someone who willingly calls themselves their friend."
"And your godfather no less," his mother added as they pulled up to the front gate.
"Hey there V-Man!" his dad leaned out of the window into the intercom, tilting them all with him, "We're here!"
Without a response, the gates swung open. The black asphalt made way for paved roads, leading them up around a fountain. The feature was ornate and decadent, like everything else on the premise. Even the hedges and bushes were trimmed to form several shapes one of which Danny could swear was one in the form of a man behind the mansion.
"Sure likes himself a lot," Danny muttered as they parked the GAV right at the front door. Awaiting them in the doorway stood the man himself, Danny could guess that much.
"Vladdie!" Jack jumped out, running like a bull for their host. Graciously the man dipped to the side, letting Jack crash into the wooden doors as he ignored him in favor of Maddie.
"Madeline, it is a pleasure to see you once more," Masters held her hand to his lips, "Oh how beautiful you still remain."
"Vlad, always the charmer," she giggled, taking back her hand.
As she continued to chat with him, joined again by Jack, Danny shuddered, a wisp of blue escaping his lips ever so slightly.
"Damnit," he whispered, "please just let it be cold."
He smiled, sensing Vlad eyeing him as he shut his mouth, hoping the man wouldn't notice the puff of condensation in the middle of a warm day.
"Anywho", he man turned back to his friends, "I prepared your rooms for you. I hope the trip here was uneventful?"
"Oh, far from it! We got to test so many of our new inventions, my man!" Jack exclaimed enthusiastically. "Several of our Fenton Detectors went wild, I think we even had an accurate reading at one point! But then it got stuck on Danno so, we had to turn it off. Maybe we can look at it all together!"
"But of course," Vlad assured him, casting a quick glance to Danny as he closed the doors behind the Fentons. "Your rooms are upstairs, take your time unpacking, I will prepare dinner for you all. No dietary restrictions I presume?"
"None whatsoever, our family can eat anything thanks to our patented Ecto-Dressing! One bite of that and you'll have an iron stomach," Maddie professed proudly.
"Ah," Vlad grimaced lightly, "That sounds..."
"Disgusting?" Jazz replied. "Yeah, we didn't know either until we learned she put it in our baby food."
"What-,"
"It's alright Mr. Masters," Jazz took Danny by the shoulder, "We're not picky, I'm sure your cooking will do great."
"As long as it's not hotdogs," Danny interjected, "I don't want to fight those again."
"Right..." Vlad trailed off as he saw his guest disappear. He turned on his heels, making a quick stop in his garden before he entered the kitchen, bringing forth his best cooking skills. As he prepared the ingredients, he saw the youngest Fenton standing in the hallway.
"Oh, do you need anything, Daniel?" he asked, putting a pan on the stove. "I have some soda's stocked, although I don't know if they're still your favourite."
"I mean, I just wanted to escape my parents," he admitted. "They're doing the ecto sweep of the room-"
"Danny, why didn't you pack your ecto-spray?" they hear Maddie yell from above. "It's okay, I brought extra!"
"Your mother sure hasn't changed," Vlad smiles at the boy as he watches him cook. "The soda's are in that cabinet."
He pointed behind him, chopping up some vegetables and herbs in the meantime.
"Oh, cool," Danny replied holding up a purple can. "I haven't had one of these in a while."
"Yes, well I did bring them over whenever I visited. They don't sell them in Amity."
"I keep forgetting you knew us as kids," Danny held the can up, cracking it open with a slight fizz.
"Ow Daniel, now I am hurt," Vlad cooed. "Surely you remember your favourite uncle."
Danny dejected, showing a genuine hint of guilt for not remember him.
"It's alright," Vlad assured him, "It's been a while and you were quite young at the time, I don't blame you for not remembering me."
"Sorry man," Danny apologised. "Why didn't you visit afterwards? I mean, unless you have your reasons, it's none of my business."
'Kinda is' he thought. 'Would've been nice to have a normal person around. Even a billionaire.'
"Well it was not really my choice," Vlad continued in between chops, "I had to be elsewhere more and more for business and eventually, lost track of time."
"Is that why you invited us?" Danny asked, chewing on the can tap as he sat down at the counter, "To make up for it?"
"Something like that," Vlad tossed some garlic with the onions in the pan.
"Well, at least your cooking smells nice," Danny admitted, dropping the subject.
"Oh that's just garlic and onion," Vlad laughed, "That always smells nice when you're cooking."
"I guess, " Danny laughed with him. "I suppose adding all of these will make it smell good regardless of the taste too."
Danny twirled a branch between his fingers, sniffing it: "What herb is this?"
"That, is a branch of a carrot, Daniel. It will not be included."
"Oh..." Danny dropped it back on the counter.
"I take it you don't do a lot of cooking?" Vlad asked, less out of small talk and more out of curiosity.
"Not really," Danny stated said. "Jazz sometimes cooks, but she's busy with school and doesn't have the time to make big meals. Usually we order food or go eat with friends."
"Microwave meals and noodles?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, "That's college food, you know."
"Oh no microwave food, definitely not," Danny chortled. "I don't want to fight those again. The mash? It always finds you."
"I will...not ask further," Vlad looked the boy up and down. He did look skinny. Skinnier than he should be at this age. He grabbed some extra carrots from the fridge, handing it over to the boy.
"Could you wash and prep these? I think another two would suffice, diced fine, not minced."
"Uh, sure?" Danny joined him behind the counter, putting the carrots underneath the tap. Vlad handed him a knife and peeler, along with a cutting board.
"Try not to cut the counter," he added.
"I'll try not to damage your property," Danny joked halfheartedly.
"I'm not worried about that," Vlad waved the comment aside, "It dulls your knife, which makes it more dangerous to use. I'd hate to see my godson hurt the first time I see him again."
It wasn't a heartfelt statement, nor was it a lie, but he could see it took the boy by surprise. He briefly halted, half of a carrot peel stuck in the peeler before he finished the carrot completely.
Vlad let him continue, the onions nicely browned in the pan while he added the rest of the ingredients.
"You may hand me the carrots now," he eventually said.
Danny didn't hand it as instructed, making Vlad leave the fire momentarily.
"Daniel, the carrots?" he joined him.
"Sorry, I don't know if these are okay?" Danny held up a handful of chunks as he tried to bring them all over.
"No no," Vlad stopped him, making him put the chunks down. "Those are too big, and you can just bring the cutting board over instead of scooping them all up."
"Oh, my bad," Danny fiddled with a stray piece of carrot. He stood nervously to the side, the large kitchen way too small.
"It's alright," Vlad exhaled, taking another knife. "I take it you haven't really been taught how to dice them, have you?"
Danny hunched his shoulders, responding without a word.
"Here, you hold them like this, so you don't cut yourself," he showed the teen. "And then you cut them like this, and then through again like this."
After some attempts, Danny managed to prepare them as best as he could, adding them to the rest with a sizzle.
"Not perfect, but I'm sure they'll taste nice," Vlad complimented him. "If you like, you can help me with the rest?"
It was out before he knew it, asking for company. Company was the last thing he needed when he was going to add a little extra spice to Jack's meal, that of the poisonous kind. Carefully planned out, this meal was going to be the start of Jack's misery during his stay, with a poisoned steak the first of many steps. Vlad had taken months to prepare, many hours put into planning it all out so he would be the one Maddie would chose over Jack once he showed what an oaf he was.
With a bit of luck, the boy would decline, too bored or tired to help an estranged family member cook his own meal after a long journey. He should stay in his room, both children only there out of courteousness.
To his surprise, the boy accepted the offer, without as much as a groan.
"You don't have to," Vlad quickly added. "I can tell you're tired from your trip."
"Hah," Danny cackled, "I'm always tired."
Vlad could argue, but the dark circles underneath Danny's eyes told him arguing was useless.
"Are you not sleeping well?" he found himself more concerned than he wanted to be. Who cared about the nightly escapes of a teenager? He was probably staying up way too late, as most teenagers of his age would.
"Not really," Danny sipped from his soda, "But what's the saying, c'est le brie?"
"C'est la vie," Vlad corrected him. "I'd have to talk to your parents about that," he joked.
"No!" Danny nearly dropped his can. "I mean, no, you don't have to, it's alright."
"Okay," Vlad didn't press further, giving Danny something else to do instead. "Would you fetch me that basket?"
Vlad pointed his head towards a brown woven basket on the dining table, several greens sticking out from it.
"Sure," Danny left his can on the counter and heaved the basket over, taking the vegetables and herbs out.
"Wash?" he asked, before putting them in the sink. He rinsed the first ones, dirty water flowing down the drain.
"I picked them from my own yard," Vlad exclaimed proudly. "I am especially proud of my tomatoes."
"I don't think I could-," Danny hissed, dropping the next batch to the floor, "Fu-, dge, that hurt."
"Are you alright?" Vlad ran to his aid, inspecting his hand, "I didn't put anything sharp in there to my knowledge."
"It's nothing," Danny lied, holding his hand to his chest.
"Show me your hand," Vlad asked politely, but stern, to which Danny reluctantly agreed.
Small blisters dotted his fingertips, a slight green hue appearing around them. Seeing the green, Danny tried to hide it to no avail, Vlad's grip stronger than he let on.
"How..." Vlad examined the food Danny dropped, seeing red flowers at his feet. He picked them up, holding them closer to Danny. The teen winced as the blisters became more abundant, to which Vlad pulled them away again.
"Oh, that's..." Vlad stammered, unsure of what to do. "Uhm."
He gathered the remaining flowers, dumping them in a waste bin.
"No you don't have to," Danny protested, "It's probably something from home I got on my hands, it's nothing. You can still add it-"
"NO!" Vlad's voice was louder than he wanted it to be, making Danny flinch.
"No, I'm sorry," he regained his calm, "I'm-, I should've checked."
He brought Danny's hand to the tap, turning the water slightly cold as he let the water flow over his hand: "I should've checked for any allergies, I am so sorry."
"It's okay, you didn't know, heck, I don't even know myself," Danny defended him.
"No...of course not," Vlad hummed, "You couldn't have known..."
He addressed Danny's wound, letting him rest as he continued to cook.
Despite the missing ingredient, dinner went perfect. He let Danny plate the food and dress the table, as he was reluctant to touch any other food. Even when Danny dropped one of the plates seemingly straight through his hands, Vlad didn't feel like reprimanding him.
When they were all happy and satisfied with their meal, Vlad rinsed off the plates himself, the bottle of poison he prepared untouched in the back of the cabinet. He dried off the plates, put back the cutlery and sighed.
He left the kitchen unlit, going down to the basement to retrieve a bottle of wine. With a big sip, he downed a glass or two before voices rang from nowhere.
"So, we doin it tonight boss?"
"Ye the man's sleepin like a log."
"Snoring like one being cut too."
Three glowing green vultures appeared before him, flapping their wings silently.
"No," Vlad hummed, filling up another glass, "I'd like you to cancel that specific appointment."
"What, but the pay-"
"Will still be delivered," Vlad inspected the red liquid. "I would like to change it."
"To who? Are we killing the woman?" the first one asked.
"Absolutely not!" Vlad nearly spilled the wine. He clarified: "No killing. Not tonight."
"No killing?" the middle one askes surprised. "Then what do you expect us to do?"
"I want you to..." Vlad thought about it, the changes in his plan, the preparations he was throwing out the window.
"Don't kill him."
He said eventually, putting the bottle of wine away. "Proceed as planned, but don't kill him. Look out for any unwanted visitors."
"So, just pummel him?" the third one asked. "That's all?"
"Yes, that will be all. I have something else I need to look into."
"Alright, you're the boss," they said, flying through the ceiling.
Vlad ignored them, walking deeper into the the wine cellar until he came across a sealed door, unlocked by his finger print. Inside the room, filled with various lab equipment, he walked over to his computer, a scanner positioned next to it.
"Let's hope I'm wrong," he said, putting the can Danny drank from on it. It went to work, coming alive and whirring as it analysed the can, more specifically the DNA collected on it.
Part 3 of And I Turn Away To See, Proud Evening Star
Okay before we continue, I have some announcements!
I have the fic planned out! If it goes like I'm planning to, this will be a 23 chapter fic (If you look at it from the future when there are more chapters/the fic is done and you see something different, it's because future me couldn't find the energy to go edit this message and if it IS 23, yay me for sticking to the planning!)
Second note! This one relates to content and trigger warnings!
I will update the tags eventually but if the following things upset you, please don't continue reading:
- There will be talk about vivisection and other horrible procedures. Cores that are damaged and ghosts who have been reduced to just their cores. I will NOT talk about it in graphic detail but people like Danny will talk about it
-Jack and Maddie Fenton, as much as I do like the caring, loving parent thing they have in canon albeit neglectful, are way worse than just neglectful in this fic. There is a reason Danny is in Gotham, after all
-Jazz will be there! Don't worry! I'll explain where she is eventually
-I do not have any shipping in this story, as I do not like JasonxJazz or JasonxDanny. Danny is 14-15 in this. He is a child. Jazz is almost 18, which relates to why Danny isn't staying with her right now
There will be angst. People are going to get hurt but they will get comfort, I promise! There will be enough fluff for all the angst
Okidoki that's all, enjoy the fic! Here or on Ao3! Part 1|Part 2| Part 3| Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 |
In all honesty, Jason thought Danny would have bolted as soon as he stepped foot outside the building. Why wouldn't he, he got food in his belly, sleep and new clothes and a backpack. Or maybe he's just staying for the extra food he's about to get.
Every time Jason rounds an aisle, he expects Danny to be running out the front. And yet, he doesn't. He's scouting up ahead, sure, but never too far away.
By all means of logic, this kid shouldn't even be around him. What crazy kid stays with the first random person that doesn't try to mug him and takes him, unconscious! For the record! To a strange apartment! Then again he did some weird shit as a kid too. And as a teen. And-
'Okay, message clear, brain, we're both weird and fucked up.'
Eventually Jason makes his way to the back of the store and stares at the frozen produce section. He figures it's best if Danny gets fresh food and who's he kidding, he can make incredible lasagne himself, but he still takes a few meals with him, just in case.
He's about to ask Danny if he wants any ice cream, after debating it's wise to turn the corpse cosplaying kid into an icicle when someone slams the door to the store wide open, a rack of snacks near the register falling over from the force.
"Nobody fucking move!" a man calls out as he waves a gun in the air.
Jasons curses, crouching down to the floor and peeking in between chips and bags of nuts to take a look at the guy. From afar, he can tell the man is nervous. Nervous is bad. Calm people he can predict, they follow patterns and rules they made in their head. Nervous people? They're too trigger happy and reckless.
The gun the man is holding is small, ridiculously so. From afar Jason think it might even be a derringer. But he's not worried about the man with the smaller gun guarding the exit.
He's more worried about the m1911 his companion is pointing at the cashier. Sure it's nothing compared to his own guns but it's still a weapon aimed at someone's forehead. A young teenager no less. Much like his own who, now that he's looking for him, can't find.
"Fuck me" he mutters under his breath.
He leaves his basket of food behind as he crawls closer, looking for a good hiding spot where he can neutralise the man at the register. He reaches for his own weapon and silently smacks himself in the face.
'Rubber. Fuck.'
Jason wanted to get a nice shot up his noggin, that would've solved shit pretty quickly but noooooooooo "JaSon YoU cAn'T KeEP kiLliNG pEoPLe iF YoU LiVe iN GoThAm".
Instead he opts to throw something at the aisle behind him, making sure the gun is pointed away from the teen so that when he breaks the man's kneecaps, he can't reflexively shoot. When he finds a can of salted cashews, he gets ready to launch it across the story but then, he freezes.
"Drop the motherfucking Cheetos!" Tiny Gun Idiot shouts, pointing his gun (definitely a derringer) at his idiot.
Danny's standing in front of him, unbothered by the gun as he munches on a Cheeto, fingers and mouth stained a staunch orange. "I was gonna pay for it, I swear."
"Get down on the fucking ground, or do you have a death wish?" Bigger Gun Idiot gives him a crazed look.
"I mean, are you a genie then?" Danny chuckles in a way that is too unsettling for anyone present, especially for the other shoppers who do not have a deathwish.
On one hand, Jesus fuck this kid reminds him too much of himself, on the other, he's succeeding at what Jason was trying to do, so, if they survive, he's gonna get the kid more Cheetos.
He makes his way over to the terrified cashier, making it clear he needs to stay quiet as he points his gun at their assailants. Luckily for him, the cashier stays quiet. Danny however-
"Whatcha gonna do, shoot me? You can't fucking shoot me, that would make you an extra bad criminal. Like, stuffed in the oven and cooked a bit too long, ya know?"
Jason isn't sure whether to laugh or cry, why is he like this? Why must he have the same nonsense attitude as Damian?
Shoving aside the growing worry about both the kid and the people who also decided to go shopping at the bitching hour, he aims for the man closest to him. With a soft pop, the rubber bullet hits him in the back of his kneecap which sends him down the floor with a scream.
He's on the guy's back in an instant, taking his gun from him and pushing his boot onto his definitely fractured knee. He's keeping his weapon on him and an eye on the second one, fluttering from staring at Danny and Jason.
"Drop the gun, or your buddy gets it."
"You can't shoot him! That's-, that's illegal!"
"But armed robbery isn't??" Danny exclaims from behind him. "You guys went in here with your guns first."
"B-but he can't shoot him, he's not a cop!"
"Exactly, I'm not a cop", Jason clicks his gun for dramatic effect, "no rules for me to follow here."
As he talks to the guy about how he has not a single moral backbone, he lulls him into a fake sense of calm while Danny behind him grabs a fire extinguisher. Jason hopes he's gonna use it to knock the man out while he silences the man below him, also taking note of Danny's actions and trying to warn his partner, to no avail.
When Tiny Gun Idiot starts to frantically panic, Jason yells at Danny to hit him.
"Uuhhh, you're a stellar looking fella?"
"Hit HIM, not on HIM!"
"Oh, right!"
Danny brings the red metal cylinder down on the man, sending him straight through the floor of the store as he lets out a whooping "Oof".
"Danny what the fuck-" Jason brings Bigger Gun Idiot upwards, restraining him by his wrists.
"I panicked! I never had to fight humans before!"
"What the fuck does that even mean?!"
"I'd like to know that too", a low, smooth voice enters the store along with a man with black hair and a blue bird across his chest.
"Noooooooooooooooo", Jason drawls, letting his head drop low as he knows immediately who just decided to catch him red hood handed amongst the mess. "Please just leave Nightwing-"
"And what, leave you here like this", his older vigilante brother teases, "Now that would be irresponsible."
Jason stares, deadpanned: "Irresponsible like when you flung off that chandelie-"
"Apapapapapapapap!" Nightwing presses a spandex covered finger against his lips as he takes the injured robber from him, putting cuffs onto his hands he pulled from Ancient's know where on that skintight suit.
"Be responsible here, random citizen, let the pro's handle it."
"Fine", he smiles with venom, "You dig him out yourself then, I am not gonna help you anymore"
"Like you were going to do that in the first place!" Nightwing calls out when Jason leaves the store.
He's walks away a good few blocks before he realises a) he left his groceries and b) he left the kid he was getting groceries for.
"ONE BREAK", he yells rushing back towards the store, "JUST ONE!"
When he returns, Nightwing and some police offers are handeling the robbers and are interviewing the people from the store. Unfortunately, he doesn't notice Danny among them. He doesn't know if he should be relieved or worried about that.
He decides he's annoyed at it in the end, especially when Nightwing approaches him for a "Witness Report".
"Come on, sir", he ushers him away from the crowd and behind the store building.
"So," he puts his hands to his hips, "want to tell me what happened there?"
"Nothing."
Nightwing doesn't even raise an eyebrow at his bullshit answer.
"Fine, fine. I just went to get food, there were men with guns, I just intervened, no one got hurt."
The aforementioned men with guns are loaded onto an ambulance as he explains himself, groaning and grunting.
"Okay maybe those two but not badly."
"One of them was smashed through the floor!"
"Not by me!" he defends himself, "I just shot the other one!"
"You shot him!? In civies!?"
"IT WAS A RUBBER BULLET PLEASE GET THAT STICK FROM YOUR ASS."
"That still counts! That is still shot!"
Jason grunts, louder than the wounded gunmen and drops his head against the brick exterior. "Dick, please, just let it slide, I'm not in the mood to deal with this now."
"I can't just ignore it either, you know I can't. Otherwise-"
"Yeah, yeah, B will do it for you, I know, I know."
Jason slides down the wall, plopping down the asphalt. He's really not in any way willing to talk to Dick about something so stupid as a robbery, where he didn't even kill anyone!
To his surprise, Dick slides down next to him, resting his arms on his knees.
"Want to talk about the kid?"
Jason ignores the question, instead looking at rat scampering away.
"He's not....yours, is he."
"What?" he whips around to face him.
"You didn't...ya know...Do the frick frack-"
"Dick, when would I have?? Where? With whom? Why-, ya know what, we're not-, we're not gonna talk about that. No he's not mine."
"Oh. Cool. Cool cool cool cool cool..."
He rubs the back of his head to fill the awkward silence. "He looks like a Bruce Adoptee-"
"I know right?" Jason gestures with his hand. "He even has the weird recklessness all of us has and the snark and the sarcasm and-"
"And?"
Jason closes his eyes, unsure of whether or not he should talk with Dick about Danny properly. It's Dick, he wouldn't snitch. He would be pissing annoying, yes, but he'd shut up. Probably.
"I found him."
"Where?"
"Couple blocks from my place. Soaking wet, fever, getting mugged."
"Hmmmm."
"I wasn't gonna do anything other than scare the thugs away. I thought he was on his way home or towards a shelter or something."
"Let me guess, he wasn't?"
"Honestly, I think he was going to keep walking till his legs gave out. He collapsed before I could get an answer."
"And what did you do then?"
Jason hates it. The way Dick asks that question. The "You should know better" tone. The rhetoric "Come on, tell me what you did wrong" approach. In some ways it's even worse than when Batman gives him the disappointed dad speech.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Be all condescending and high and mighty."
"I'm not!"
"Dickhead you always are. But if you are so set on giving me a lecture, I took him to my place."
"Your place."
"Yes, echo of the day, my place. I put him on the couch and he slept for like, 10 hours. I gave him some spare clothes and stuff and went to get more food and hoped he'd be gone by then."
"Well, that last part is true."
Nightwing rolls his head over towards him. "I tried to talk to him when you left but he was just, gone. Don't know how he got away, he's not even visible on any of the camera footage. Think he took your generosity and bolted."
"Great, that's good for me. I don't have to feed him, not my problem anymore."
Jason gives him a halfassed smile he doesn't bother making genuine.
"Geez, you really have the adoption gene bad, huh?" Dick elbows him in his side. "You know him, what, not even a day? And you're already worried about him."
"First of all, fuck you. Second of all, fuck you. Third of all-"
"Fuck me?" he grins.
"Yes, and also, no, I don't want to adopt him. I'm just worried."
"There are a lot of homeless kids on the streets of Gotham, Jay. Even meta ones. We can try looking for them, but if they truly don't want to be found, they won't."
"I don't think he's a meta", he eventually admits.
"Either he's a meta or another super clone. Don't think Supes' will be happy about that, he's barely working through it with Connor."
"That's not really it either", Jason differs.
"Then what do you think he is?"
Jason bites on his lip as he thinks about it. What was Danny? He said he's not a meta and Jason is inclined to believe him. But anyone could see that the kid was not normal either. Definitely not with the animalistic tendencies, the weird chirping, the green. The toxic, violent Lazarus pit green. He knows Danny isn't some kid you can just leave roaming alone unsupervised. Hell, if Jason had half the powers he has when he was that age he would have done more than just steal the tires of the Batmobile.
"Dick, how much do you trust me?"
Even under the mask, Jason sees his expression change from neutral to surprised. "Why do you ask that?"
"It influences the next part of the conversation, dumbass."
"I mean..." Dick sighs, positioning himself across his younger brother and crossing his legs over each other. "You've only been back to Gotham a couple of years."
He takes Jason's silence as a sign to continue.
"And things...they've not been all too good. But-",
"But?"
"I know you're trying. I can tell you are. And I...I'm here for you, okay?"
He thinks about putting a hand on Jason's shoulder but Jason isn't that emotional.
"Okay that uh, that's enough, right."
He clears his throat while Dick still smiles at him. "You can talk to me. I won't snitch."
Jason takes a deep breath, grating his head against the rough texture of the wall behind him. "I think he's sorta like me."
"You mean..."
"The Pit, yeah. I can't really prove it or explain how but there is something about this kid that just screams Pit at me."
"In a bad way? Have you...."
"Opposite really," Jason says in earnest. "I was seething, close to it after that 'brunch'."
Dick shudders when he mentions it.
"I thought I was going to kill those thugs mugging him in the state I was in. But Danny just, has the opposite effect on the Pit. Yes he stresses me out but the Pit was so quiet when he was around. I'm not saying he got dunked in it. But I think he might have been exposed to it at least. He mentioned ect-"
Jason bites his tongue, thinking that maybe this is not the time to bring that up yet. "Extra strength", he says instead, "not like Superman I don't think, he's fast too. Or something of the sort. He reminds me a bit of myself when I first came back. Maybe he just stumbled across a pit, maybe not, I can't say, but I don't want this kid alone on the streets. And I definitely do not want B to know of this."
Jason gets up, staring at his older brother. "Promise me you won't tell him. Not yet. Let me figure things out on my own."
Nightwing gets up too, stretching his back along the way. "I won't tell him. But we both know that if you're going to hide something from him, he's going to find out eventually."
"I'm counting on eventually."
"Right."
Jason breathes a sigh of relief, glad Dick is on his side on this one.
"What do you need from me?"
"For starters, food."
Jason looks back at the store, the police drizzling out. "I left it during the robbery."
"Can do. You want help finding your kid too?"
"He's not-", he grunts, "I don't care, fuck off."
"Sure, let me get your food and we'll start making a plan at your place."
"Whatever, never mention this again."
"Love you too little wing!" Nightwing calls as he leaves for the store.
"I'm still taller than you!" Jason calls back
"Only in height!"
When Jason makes it back to his building, Dick is already waiting for him there, suit changed for jeans, a T-shirt and a blue denim jacket.
"How did you get here so fast? In civies no less?"
"Hmmm, secret of the traaade", Dick sings as he follows him inside.
"You sprinted on the rooftops and got changed behind that one Batburger, didn't you."
"Can't I have one ounce of appreciation for my drama?" he whimpers.
"You are such a loser."
"Says the one who literally lost a child."
"I'm regretting telling you."
"Take an L."
"What the fuck does that mean??"
"I don't know, Tim said it to me once."
They both shrug it off as they near his apartment.
"I think we can begin with some of the other stores", Dick starts," if he needed the food that bad he might have gone to another store for it when he didn't get any from the one you were at."
"Yeah I already have a map ready for that," Jason mutters as he turns the handle to his home.
"We can try the sh-Hey! What gives, Jay?" he yelps as he crashes into his back upon attempting to enter the room.
Jason slowly moves into his living room, Dick following suit when he sees why Jason stood frozen in the doorway. On the kitchen counter, eating cheetos, was a blue eyed, black haired kid waving at the two men.
Part 1| Part 2| Part 3| Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 |
Jason stares at the orange speckled kid sitting on his kitchen counter. He drops his groceries to the floor as he walks over towards him. Danny leans back, just a little if it was just to keep Jason from grabbing the Cheetos away from him. Jason keeps a trained eye on him as he places his hands on his shoulder, taking in a deep breath before he cries out:
"Where the FUCK have you BEEN!?"
Jason is almost shaking him like a ragdoll at this point and Danny lets him, reaching for another chip as he does.
"You are the one who left the store and me behind. I should ask you where the fuck you've been!"
"Don't you dare spin this on me!"
"Well, he does have a point-"
Jason shoots his brother an antagonizing glare, daring him to continue that sentence. Unlucky for him, Dick is not threatened by him in the slightest. For now.
"It looks to me he just went back to the apartment when you left him at the store. Not the best plan of action, but it's a close second."
"See, this guy gets it", Danny wiggles a Cheeto at him.
"The name's Dick," Dick walks over to him as he puts more of the groceries next to him. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Dick, I'm Danny. See, this man has a good brain and manners. Even introduced himself to me."
And then it dawns on Jason he never actually told the kid his name. From the way Danny is wearing a devilish grin on his face, that is exactly what he was jabbing at.
"Riiiiiight....Introductions...."
Jason dances on the balls of his feet with an awkward clap of hands when Dick asks him the unavoidable question.
"Jay...Did...Did you not tell him your name..."
"Maaaaaybeeee....I kind of....forgot..." he mumbles the reply as he diverts his attention to the groceries he needs to put in the fridge and freezer instead of looking at the two around him.
Dick and Danny laugh as he puts his eggs and bacon in the fridge, pretending to think about what food he's going to prepare.
"So, his name's Jason", Dick eventually clarifies.
"Yeah, I kinda already knew that", Danny admits with the biggest shit eating grin Jason's ever seen. "Saw it on the inside of the backpack he gave me."
Jason essentially gains a strawberry blush he manages to hide by sticking his face in the fridge. "There is no fucking way it has my name in there, absolutely no way."
Dick agrees quickly, both knowing none of them leave personal info on items that could be traced back to them, not even civilian items. It's because of this they eventually stare Danny down.
"There is no way that is true", Dick says in earnest at Danny, crossing his arms as he does so.
"Uuuugh," Danny groans, "Don't do that."
"What?"
"That's such a dad pose. 'Young man, you know you royally fucked up, come clean now and I won't give you a spanking'"
"Do I look like-?!"
"Well, he does have a point-" Jason mimics his brother.
"Shut up Jay." He turns his attention back to Danny. "From what did you learn his name?"
"Okay, I'm gonna tell you, but you gotta promise not to get mad. Or give me more Cheeto's. That also works."
Dick tosses him a bag of Flamin Hot Cheetos, waiting for his explanation.
"So," Danny opens the bag and eagerly takes some of the chips, "Uhm. How do I explain this nicely without you guys being like, overly worried."
Both Jason and Dick give him a raised eyebrow in response.
"Okay so I didn't actually leave the store, I was just hiding and I was going back here but then Jason walked back and truly, I am touched you would get so worried over little old me, and he started talking to you-"
"Wow wow wow wow, hold up", Dick holds his hands in a T position, "Back to the 'and then he started talking to you' bit. I was never there."
Danny halts a Cheeto right at his mouth, eyes screaming: "Really. That's the route you're gonna take?"
"Aside from the fact he called you Dick", Danny munches on the lingering snack, "Assuming he used your name, it's not like I can't tell you're the same person. Also you really need to find a better changing spot than behind that one Batburger. It's not that secluded", he mentions casually.
From the way Dick and Jason have their mouths hanging agape, Danny takes it as a sign to continue talking. "And then on the way home you did also call him Jason so yeah, not that hard to figure out."
"Can we like, pause at the part where you never left the store and was with us the entire time?" Jason rounds the corner of the kitchen counter. "Where? We never saw you anywhere!"
"Uh, duh, that was the point?" Danny hops off the counter towards the sink. He grabs the dish soap and starts cleaning his hands after he rubbed the excess Cheeto dust from his face.
"How did you do that?" Dick asks curiously.
"I just, turn invisible?" Danny shows him by vanishing before his eyes and reappearing behind him to rummage through the rest of the grocery bags. "It's not rocket science."
"Kid, let me just", Jason leans against the fridge. "Before we left, you didn't want me to know a single thing about you. And now you're just, showing us one of your abilities? Just like that?"
Danny shrugs as he notices a pint of ice cream, turning it over in his hands. "Yeah?"
"Why?" Dick asks in disbelief.
"Because you promised Jason not to snitch on him and Jason said he was worried about me."
"I never-"
"Subtext, subtext", Danny waves a hand. "Can I get a spoon?"
Jason grabs the ice cream from him and sets in in the freezer behind him. "No ice cream before dinner or answers."
"But I just gave you answers", Danny whines.
Jason has to admit, he did answer them. Sort of. He pulls out some pasta sheets from the bags and shakes them at the boy. "Shoving aside the fact you blindly trust us just after that, if you heard what we talked about, how much of my speculation was right then?"
Danny, to his surprise, doesn't evade the question. "I mean, I don't really now what a "Pit" is. Or who Lazarus is and why it's his but, it sounds like you're just talking about ectoplasm to me."
"The ghost stuff you mentioned."
"Yup"
"The what stuff?"
Dick looks back between Danny and Jason. "Did you just say ghost?"
"Yup" Danny pops the P at the end. "I thought you already knew about that? Sure when I told Jason he thought I was talking bullshit but even if you call it something else, the same thing still applies. Rose, name, sweet yadda yadda."
"I am....not prepared to deal with this", Dick mutters with a hand over his mouth.
"What? Both of you deal with this on the regular from what I can tell and it still surprises you?"
"We never deal with ghosts. The supernatural, occasionally, but ghosts are not our territory."
Danny snorts: "You say like Gotham isn't one giant ghost hub, lmao"
"Did he just say lmao out loud?"
"I think he just said lmao out loud..." Dick whispers to Jason. "What's a lmao?"
"Anyway", Jason ignores that for now, "So, what, you're saying you're a ghost. And that we're ghosts."
"I never said that. I just said you deal with it. You're like me. Dick is liminal."
"Excuse me."
"Good Ancients, am I explaining this to toddlers? I've had lunch meat more cooperative."
He points at Dick: "You surround yourself with death and ectoplasm, but you're still human. Just a bit wonky. Slightly to the left. "
"You on the other hand", he then points at Jason , "You died."
Jason knows he's right. And if he's a ghost, it makes sense he would know. But for someone to just blatantly point it out like it's nothing is a new experience for him.
"Oh, uh, I see you haven't really processed that yet..." Danny says apologetically. "Sorry, I figured with how long you've been back you would've. But I should've known in your condition it wasn't, my bad."
"My condition?" Jasons sits down, ingredients to a dish forgotten dropped to floor.
"You called it Pit Rage? I think?"
Danny picks up the fallen produce and puts them in the sink as he gives them a good rinse. "You thought I calmed it?"
Jason doesn't like to admit it when he mentions it. He balls his fists, staring into nothing and no one.
Danny senses his growing unease and looks him over, a decision forming in his head. He reaches into his backpack and walks over to Jason. He extends a hand, waiting for Jason to accept it. When Jason finally relaxes his hand, he reaches for Danny's, not knowing what he will do.
"Here," he places one of the cubes in his hand. "How does it feel to you?"
"Like, a cube?" Jason doesn't really know what to think of it. Danny lets Dick have a go at it but keeps his hand on his, wary despite the trust he gave them moments ago.
"It feels, like, it's humming?" Dick responds. "It's heavy and light at the same time? Like there's a weight to it, an importance to keep it in my hand. What is it?"
Danny contemplates how to explain it. "Have you ever played Pokémon?"
"Of course we've played Pokémon, we're not cavemen."
"Well, look at this as Ghost Pokémon."
"There's a ghost in this-" Dick looks at his hand as if it grew ten times the normal size.
Danny gently rubs against the sides of the cube before handing it back at Jason. "Does it feel like, safe, in a way? When you hold it?"
"I suppose so? Fuck if I know", Jason rumbles while staring at the cube. "It feels...warm I guess?"
"Good, good, that means your core can detect it as a safe space."
"My what now-"
"Your core. It's like, your ghost heart? It's complicated but that sort of sums it up really."
"So you're saying I am a ghost."
"I said ghost heart, stop jumping to conclusions man, it's not like I have a Powerpoint for this kind of talk. I've only ever met one other halfa and he already knew more about it than I do. Not that he was that nice about explaining it, but still."
"If he's not a ghost, then, what is he? What are you?" Dick tears his gaze away from the pulsating cube. "A, what did you call it, a halfa? And why are you talking like Jason somehow is..."
"Wrong?" Jason interjects. "Faulty?"
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Oh yes you did, I can tell you wanted to say that."
"Jay, calm down, I just want to know what Danny meant."
"Yeah, and what do you think that is. He already pointed out I died, it wouldn't surprise me if he knew how I came back aaaaaall wrong."
He's growling at him against his will, his grip tightening around the cube.
"Uh, Jason, hand me the cube back, please."
Danny is edging his way closer to Jason who had shot up from his chair. He's almost at the cube when Jason pulls away, a hiss escaping him.
'Why am I doing this? What's going on?'
There's a panic building in his chest, a rising green to his eyes.
'He's not attack me, he's trying to help, stop, stop, STOP, STOP-'
Jason's shaking now, eyes darting between Danny and Dick and he can feel the cube resonating against his palm.
'Why is it pulsating, am I hurting it, am I breaking it, what am I doing, why can't I let go?'
It's taking every fibre in his being to not crush the cube in his hand or to lunge at the people in front of him when he feels a pair of arms wrap around his torso. His chest is heaving but the ache is settling, calming down. The green drains from his eyes along with the strength from his arms as he lets his weight rest back on his feet.
"It's okay, you're safe", Danny whispers against the fabric of his shirt.
He shouldn't be the one doing this, a kid shouldn't have to be comforting an adult damnit, why can't he get a grip on himself? But it feels warm and safe and it lulls the pain away from the Pit in a way it had never done before. There's a purring in and against his chest Jason can't shake because it feels so natural. Like this is how he was supposed to feel along along, back when he came back to Gotham, when he saw his family again, when he came back from those pernicious waters.
The tension in his jaw dissipates and he feels his shoulders drop. Along with the cube he was holding.
With a sharp thunk the metal thuds against the ground.
"Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck-" Jason is back to panicking again until Danny calmly picks it up.
"Danny I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay", Danny smiles warmly.
'How can it be fucking okay? I just dropped one of your most prized possessions after I almost broke it'
"It's okay, really", Danny is almost a radiant sun with how he's holding it so softly.
"It's sturdy, it won't break from a fall alone."
"But...I-"
"I didn't know how badly your core was damaged, I'm really sorry", Danny admits. "I thought it was just, ya know, a little ecto deprived. Usually being around other ecto beings would fix that, especially things like the Ecto Cube that are housing them. I wouldn't have given it to you if I knew."
Jason rubs his hands together, a restlessness settling into his digits. He doesn't ask further about the state of his core, not wanting to have another episode like that. "Are you sure it's okay?" he opts to ask instead.
"Yeah don't worry, it's all fine! It doesn't hurt the ghost inside. Besides, if it did agitate them, the ghost would just leave the cube and I don't think they did."
"Oh boys, what a messy kitchen this is!" a female voice chirps up from above the furnace.
"You can't really make lunch here like this, can you?"
Danny chuckles nervously, turning around to explain to a concerned Dick and Jason, a fighting stance baked into their bones ready to fight. "Okay, this isn't what it looks like-"
"There's a ghost lady floating above my onions!"
"Okay, maybe it does , but she won't hurt anyone!"
"Hurt anyone, why would I do that? Unless", the woman looms over towards Jason and Dick, a static lacing her voice, "Have you not been feeding the boy well?"
"Uhm", Dick gulps, "I just showed up with groceries..."
"Groceries!" she exclaims happily. "Let me see what you got, what were you gonna make? Pasta?"
She eagerly snatches the pasta sheets from the counter.
"Lasagne?" Jason offers carefully.
"Wonderful! I'll get started on that right away!"
Before Jason can even protest to someone else using his kitchen, several knives, pans and pots are already floating throughout the room, slicing at onions and tomatoes.
"Danny, what the fuck-" Jason ducks away from the kitchen, joining Dick and Danny in the living room again.
'I'm going to be saying that a lot now huh'
"Like I said, she won't hurt anyone! If you're just nice to her about food. Her name's Lunch Lady and she just wants to cook food."
"Her name's just Lunch Lady. Just that", Dick exclaims.
"Ghosts often don't remember their names or their past lives, just what kept them here. For her it was serving food, specifically at school. She's a really good cook though."
"Aww, thank you dear, that's so nice of you!"
Dick gives Jason the 'what the hell are we gonna do with this look', which he returns with 'fuck around and find out'.
"It smells really nice, actually", Jason admits. He takes a closer look at what she's doing and hums approvingly. "That's like how I would do it."
"Right? It's easy and delicious", Lunch Lady agrees excitedly.
Jason awkwardly tries to help her with cooking, a gesture of peace he supposes.
"I'm uhm, sorry for, ya know..." he tries.
"Oh don't sweat it dearie, I just thought a nice homecooked meal would be good for all three of you. Here, have this."
She hands him a few breadsticks and a green looking dip, smiling an extra toothy grin. "It's good for you, really."
Danny eyes the suspicious dip before making a grabby hand motion.
"Of course you also get some, child." She hands him another bowl of the substance. She then turns her attention to Dick, a stern expression on her face. "Now, you can have some too, but not too much. Only for halfa's and ghosts."
"Yes ma'am", Dick replies, not interested in the slightest to eat whatever she just gave Danny and Jason.
Lunch Lady returns to her stove, satisfied, and continues stirring the ragout in a pan.
"What is this?" Jason whispers to Danny as he takes a seat next to him while Lunch Lady takes care of their food.
"It's ecto dip."
Jason waits for more information that never comes. He tries to discern a smell to the dip but he can't detect any. He doesn't like how it looks like Lazarus Water, even though this looks clearer and lighter.
"Is it like you mentioned earlier? How you can eat ectoplasm but don't have to?"
Considering Danny's share is already halfway empty, he takes it as a yes.
Carefully, Jason makes an attempt to eat from it, ignoring the crazed look in Dick's eye who absolutely does not want him to eat the glowing green dip. Such a buzzkill, really.
To his amazement, the dip actually isn't that bad. The opposite in fact with how much it fills his stomach and chest with a buzzing he can't quite explain. It tastes like everything and nothing all at once, as if he's eating every thing he ever ate and then nothing at all. Overall 10/10, would eat again.
"See, told you it was good", Danny remarks after Jason finishes his in one go.
"You never said anything of the sorts, but yeah", he scrapes the sides clean, "Pretty damn good."
"Poor thing, you must be starving."
Lunch Lady hands him and Danny another serving. "I hope you at least fed yourself well, Danny."
Danny strategically opts to look at the counter.
"Danny?" Lunch Lady asks, spatula in her hand.
"Oh wow look at the patterns in the wood here, so pretty."
"Danny ", Lunch Lady speaks up. "What would Jazz say if she found out you weren't eating properly?"
Danny drops his breadsticks along with the ecto dip, a sudden realization dawning on him. He jumps from his seat and snatches his backpack, rummaging frantically through it.
"Everything okay?" Dick enquires as more cubes are piled on the counter along with a thermos.
"Peachy, yup peachy", Danny mutters as he finally finds what he was looking for. He holds out a phone, tapping the passcode into the screen. He winces, like the phone he's holding is scalding hot.
"72 missed messages and 23 missed calls", he grimaces.
"Oooof, you're in for an ass whooping, " Lunch Lady whistles, turning down the heat on the furnace.
"From who?" Jason wonders aloud.
"Um, well, remember I said I have a sister?"
"Yeah?"
Danny dials the number shown on the screen, arm outstretched as the phone rings.
"H-"
"DANIEL PETER CASPER FENTON!" a girl shrieks from the other side of the phone.
"Hey, Jazz", he shields his ear from the screeching, "I missed you too."
I just wanna say: sorry for the delay!! I was supposed to upload every 2 days or so but then I had my orchestra concert and Ao3 crashed when I had just typed in my chapter (TwT)
Don't type into an internet source kids, write it in word or in notes lest you lose your progress when your site/internet crashes.
Anyhow, hope you enjoy!!!
Ao3
Part 1| Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 |
It had been close to an hour ever since Danny had started the call with his sister, taking his leave towards Jason’s bedroom for privacy. A silence sat between the people left behind in the living room, save for the occasional shouts or cries.
Lunch Lady had retreated back into her cube after she made sure the lasagne was to her standards. Jason had been given as much ecto dip as he still wanted, which he clearly abused considering the 6 empty cups in the sink, sides scraped completely clean.
After leaving enough for Danny, he had picked up the book he had started the night he met him. He’d made more progress than last night, actually becoming engrossed in the story when he could tell someone didn’t want him to be.
He put down his book once more, turning his head towards his older brother. Dick was sitting on the couch stuffing his face with gummy worms as Jason spoke up:
“Are you going to spit it out or are you going to bore more holes into me than bullets ever did?”
Dick looked at him incredulously. “You mean, the worms or-“
“Not the fucking worms you idiot, whatever it is that’s keeping you staring at me while I’m trying to read.”
Dick swallowed the candy down with an undignified gulp. “Well if we’re going to open a can of worms-“
Jason groaned, regretting putting down his book.
“How are you?”
The questions wasn’t unexpected, but it still surprised him. “I’m fine?”
Dick shot him a look, knowing full well he was talking bullshit.
“I’m fine, Dick, really.”
“After all the information you just got? You’re fine? Really.”
Jason can’t help but scoff at the incessant habit of nagging his brother seemed to have. Even when he does appreciate the concern.
“What do you want me to say? We’ve heard weirder things.”
“Yeah about others. But this is you. This is information that, if we had it when…when you…”
“Dick, it’s been so long ago, it’s fine-“
“Is it though?” Dick snaps back. “If we knew what we know now back then, when you…” he wished the blockage in his throat was just from the gummy worms, “when you died. When you came back. Maybe, maybe if we knew, then we could’ve-“
“If you knew back then we wouldn’t be sitting here like this. You weren’t even there in the first place, regardless if you knew about ghosts and halfa’s.”
Sure the comment was harsh and cut at Dick’s guilt even more, but it’s not like Jason was going to sugarcoat anything for him.
“Did you know we…we considered it?”
“Considered what?”
“Bringing you back?”
Jason blinks, startled by the information. “You thought about bringing me back?”
“Well, not me, Bruce did. I think a few days had passed by then. I had to talk him out of it.”
“So, you didn’t want me back, I see, I see.”
“I wanted you back more than anything”, Dick almost lunges himself off the couch towards him. “But I knew it would hurt you more than it would help us. I-, I thought you’d feel out of place, and who knew if you might still feel pain from when…From when you died.”
Jason mindlessly crosses his arms. It’s not like Dick was wrong, but it wasn’t as if he wanted him to be right about it either. The nights Jason wakes up bathing in sweat because he can feel his blood flowing over his face from when Joker made it collide with steel. The heat from the explosion fusing the fabric of his Robin costume with his skin. The clawing at his ribs, the yelling, the screaming of something inside of him to be let out, to be held and be safe. It’s only now that he knows that was his core trying to form, and failing miserably at it.
“We can’t do anything about the past. Just work with the consequences.”
Dick looks back at the bedroom door, Danny’s shadow cast underneath it whenever he walks past it. When he returns to Jason, he finds him staring at it too.
“You think he can help you?”
“He already did. When I almost destroyed his cube.”
“But you didn’t.”
“But I could’ve.”
“But you didn’t.”
“But I could’ve.”
“And you could’ve behaved at the last gala but you didn’t do that either.”
“And you could’ve landed on the floor instead of the appetizers but you didn’t do that either.”
“You make one mistake-“
“And this is what happens, Dickie boy.”
Jason laughs as he walks over to join him on his leather couch, the brown, worn leather sagging as he sits himself down.
“Do you think you could’ve come back like Danny, if we knew?”
“What, not with my ass backwards like a lego figurine?”
“Not the way I’d say it but sure, not backwards.”
“Maybe. Who knows. Maybe I could’ve been stable. Maybe I wouldn’t have hurt people the way I did.”
It’s out before he knows it, the guilt, the pending apology. He knows his anger was just, he had every right to feel like he was betrayed and forgotten. But knowing how much his messed up core messed him up, who knows how much of it was really him? Was it all true what he felt?
“What if Danny can fix you? Your core, I mean.”
“Then I can finally turn invisible and fuck up your gym equipment.”
“You’re a little fucked up evil boy, aren’t you, Jay.”
“Fucked up? Yes. Evil? Eeeeehhhhh, maybe. If I feel like it.”
Dick hits him on his arm, knowing just how hard to punch to make his tank of a brother feel it. Which in his case, was quite hard.
Jason snorts, swatting at his hand. “Yeah yeah, whatever, bro bonding over, get a grip on yourself.”
“Awwww.”
“What.”
“You called it bonding! You care!”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“What, like it’s hard?”
“It was! In fact! Very hard to kill you! Unlike me-“
Jason slaps his knee as he cackles loudly, even more so when he saw Dick’s miserable face.
“You can’t make that goddamn joke-“
“I can, you can’t.”
Jason laughs even more at his own jokes, wiping away a stray tear when Dick burrows his face in his hands.
“I hope when Danny fixes you, he fixes your awful sense of humor too.”
“Hey, let’s not put too much pressure on that kid, he has it hard enough.”
They hear Danny talking wildly on the other side, pacing up and down the room. “More than we think.”
Dick and Jason both hope he will emerge soon but judging from the way the conversation in the other room was still going on, it didn't seem very likely. It makes both of them uneasy when they think of Danny being in trouble, or worried.
“You care about him, don’t you. Not just because you’re alike in sarcasm.”
Jason crosses his legs, leaning back against the cushions. “In more than just one way.”
“We can’t make his life miraculously better, you know that.”
“I think we’re already doing more than whatever his folks did when he got his powers.”
His mood sours after he thinks about it for a second. “You ever thought about it?”
“What?”
“His powers. What he is. What I am.”
He starts explaining: “I came back wrong, I know that. But he’s around the same age I was when I died. But I got to grow, to grow up. If he has his powers now…”
“It means he either died very young or really recently.”
Neither wants to continue that train of thought. To imagine Danny having to go through dying and coming back and being on the streets of Gotham protecting ghosts more than he would protect himself…That wasn’t something a kid should go through, or anyone for that matter.
“You think his sister knows? Or his parents?” Dick finally asks.
Jason hums in response: “I know he said his sister had a lot on her plate, so maybe he didn’t tell her so she wouldn’t worry. His parents though.”
He balls his hands into fists. “I hope for them they’re out of the picture.”
“Abusive?”
“Maybe. He didn’t want to talk about them. But what parent would let their kid go through this unnoticed? Either Danny is afraid of what they’ll do to him, or what he could do to them. Either way, I hope we don’t have to cross paths.”
Dick fumbles with the bag of gummy worms again, offering one to Jason who takes one in his mouth.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do from here”, he admits, sucking on the soft candy. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Well, for starters, you’re not alone.”
Dick reaches for another bag of gummies, sour ones this time. “I’ll help you out. We can both take care of Danny until we find a way for him to live a life, as much as he can live as a ghost. And while he stays with you, I’ll try to figure out how to keep B and the rest of the bats away.”
“You think you could do that? Have them keep their nose out of my business? It’s only been a few months that B stopped having you guys track my every move. If they see Danny, they’ll ask questions.”
“Then we just have to keep him hidden.”
“What, like locking him up? House arrest? Regardless of the fact he didn’t even mention staying here, let alone somewhere we take him, I can’t just make him listen to me or you for that matter.”
“He can be invisible when you go out. And, yes, we can’t make him do anything, but, do you really think he wants to go anywhere else?”
Dick makes Jason turn his attention to him. “He came back from the store. He didn’t have to. He could’ve bailed on us, on you anytime he wanted. With his powers he could have been all the way in Metropolis by now, but he didn’t. He trusts you. The least we can do for now is offer him a place to stay.”
“But then what happens after that?” Jason gets up from the couch swinging his arms around exasperated. “I can’t take care of a kid! Definitely not a kid like him.”
“In all honesty I think you’re the only one who can. Would you rather Bruce adopts him?”
“I’d rather fucking die again before he can do that.”
“See, you already have that parental defense for him.”
“Don’t say that!”
“I’m not wrong! You both benefit from it! And it’s either this or him being on the streets, would you rather have that happening?”
“No, but taking in a kid is a lot of responsibility! Do I look like-?”
“Absolutely you don’t, but what else is he gonna do?”
Jason groans, knowing Dick is right. “Why am I doing this.”
“Doing what?”
Danny’s voice rings from the bedroom. He’s tucking away his phone when he enters the room again.
“Nothing, nothing. How are you?” Jason asks quickly.
“All good, all good.”
“Right. And your sister?”
“All good, all good.”
Jason and Dick exchange knowing looks, years of repression and training as vigilantes putting the obvious lie on display.
Danny looks tense, a wariness etched right underneath his eyes as he walks over towards the kitchen, grabbing a cup of ecto dip and breadsticks.
“Danny, if something is wrong with you or your sister, we will try everything we can to help.”
Jason leans over the kitchen counter, closing the distance between him and Danny. “You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to, though.”
Danny shrugs, swirling the ecto dip around. “She’s okay, really.”
“But are you?”
The tired teen looks up, giving both him and Dick a tired smile. “I’m not really hiding it well, am I?”
“You’re pretty transparent, yeah.”
“Wow, 10/10 great joke Dick, would recommend the Joker to add to his repertoire”, he rolls his eyes at him.
"Ouch. I'm wounded, Danny"
"Oh do you want a kissie wissie for your ouchie wowchie?”
Jason cackles, happy to see the kid at least still has enough in him to make jokes. When he finished making fun of him, he turned back to Danny, eyes serious once more.
“All jokes aside”, he says in earnest, “If you don’t want us to know, that’s fine. It’s none of our business. But you’re welcome to stay here, and that also means you can tell us if you’re in trouble, or if something’s wrong. With you, or your sister.”
“Gee whizz, Jason”, Danny gives him a dry laugh, “I didn’t know you were such a half cracked vigilante mom.”
“Don’t push it, kid.”
“Aight, noted.”
Danny sighs, setting aside the dip and choosing instead to sit down and fiddle with his thumbs. Jason can see he’s forming some sort of icicle between his fingers, rolling it back and forth. He adds that to the increasingly longer list of powers Danny seems to have. Hopefully the last one of them.
“I just…miss her. That’s all.”
“Are you two close?” Dick asks, grabbing a seat across him.
“I mean, we were as kids, and then we weren’t, but we're good now. Not like, close close, but still. Normal brother sister stuff, ya know?”
“Yeah, we know”, Dick nudges Jason who scoffs softly back.
“For all her worrying and nagging, she’s a good sister. Taught me how to read, made me breakfast, lunch and dinner. Helped me with school. Tried to take care of my bullies at school, as much as she could as a 16 year old of course.”
“You were bullied?” Jason remarks.
“Oh, all the time,” Danny jokes. “It got better though. People can change.”
“Sure. Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool.”
“You can’t go after my high school bullies, Jason.”
“Not that you know I would.”
“Sure, whatever you say big guy.”
Danny’s smile quickly drops, a tiredness breaking through the façade he put up. “She’s already had to do way more for me than she should’ve. She doesn’t deserve to have to worry about me more.”
“That’s just what siblings do. They want the best for their younger siblings”, he glances over to Jason. “Even when they get taller than you.”
“Nah, my sister is a giantess in the making. I’m lucky to still be able to hug her around her waist by the time I make it to her age. If I even do, I’m not even sure I can.”
Noticing the heaviness he put in the air, he quickly changes the subject. “But yeah, she’s…she’s real good. Not having her around constantly…It’s.. lonely, I suppose.”
“Does she live back home?”
“No she’s…she doesn’t live back at home anymore either. But she has to deal with so much right now. She’s gonna be eighteen soon and she wants to go to college. She wants to be a psychiatrist, or a therapist, you know? Jazz has her way with psychology, I’m sure she’d do great.”
“Then why the long face? I’m sure she’d like you to share in that happiness.”
“I- I know, I want to be there but…”
“You’re afraid of your powers, aren’t you?”
Danny drops the icicle he turned into an orb, barely able to hold it in his hands before it rolled off the counter.
Jason points to it as he lets it sit underneath his fingers. “Does she know?”
“She does. She does…”
The way Danny says it snatches onto Jason chest. It’s a feeling he knows all too well. One where he knows that people would be hurt around him, afraid of him or on his behalf. It’s the feeling he had when he couldn’t save his mother, in his final moments.
When all you want is to just sit on a couch, read a book while they’re next to you, safe and without having to worry about this or that. He sees how Danny is already carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders so others don’t have to.
“Don’t you want to see her then?” he offers. “I think she’d like to see you again after ignoring thousands of messages and calls.”
“I can’t just do that!” Danny scoffs in disbelief. “She has-“
“A lot on her plate right now, yes. But if you go see her, that’s one less thing she has to balance on it. Wouldn’t you want to see her if the roles were reversed? Wouldn’t she go see you?”
“I-, I wouldn’t even know what to say.”
“Really?” Dick interjects, sour gummy worm in between his teeth. “Cause you sure had a lot to talk about when you were in there.”
“That’s different, I missed my check in call with her so she was worried.”
“All the more reason to go see her! Show your face after she was so worried just now.”
“I don’t know, I…I don’t…” Danny stumbles across his words in a way so unlike him.
“What if we take you?” Jason offers. “We can give you a ride, you can show her who you’ve been crashing with, all that jazz.”
He puts an emphasis on the jazz part, now realizing why it had irked him when he said it before. Luckily, Danny gives him a warm smirk for his efforts.
“You’d go with me?”
“All the way.”
“Just because?.”
“Just because.”
“Not because you feel guilty or you’re planning some weird experiment.”
“Kid, if I wanted to dump you I would’ve done that before I let you drool on my couch or got you food. Besides”, he points at the green goo, “I think I am well beyond being sane enough to give a shit.”
Danny looks at Dick, expecting a similar response.
“I’m here for the gummy worms, man”, Dick grins at him. “And also for that idiot over there. He couldn’t take care of a kid to save his life.”
“You took me to a club when I was 15 and passed out on cocktails. Pot, kettle, black.”
“Well fuck you too then.”
Dick downs another gummy worm and moves to grab his jacket, taking a pair of keys from it. “We taking my car?”
“Fuck no, I’m not letting you drive.”
“Oh, are we gonna sit on your motorcycle then? All three of us? No snacks?”
“You can’t just persuade Danny with snacks.”
Jason found himself proven wrong when Danny had already taken his backpack and another bag filled with snacks, appearing right next to Dick with a smile roaring to go.
He groaned, closing the door of his apartment while they went ahead.
“Mimimi, I don’t know if I should go mimimimi oooohh snacks!” he mocked the teen. But when Danny had dozed off leaning against him after Danny had entered Jazz’s address in the GPS, he let a tiny smile show, unbothered if Dick saw it in his rearview mirror. He promptly fell asleep himself, having gone without for almost two nights now.
When he woke up to the sound of the navigation telling them they had arrived, he tried to see if he recognized the place. He had expected a small apartment much like his own, or a studio fit for a soon to be college student. He knew they hadn’t been driving for more than 3 hours and thus he scanned the scenery so see where it had brought them.
He hadn’t expected to arrive at a tall white building, the parking lot surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges. Walking inside, they passed several people dressed in scrubs going in and out of the numerous rooms.
Eventually they reached a room numbered 229 where a nurse walked out, calling over her shoulder. “Don’t forget to take a break from all your studying, Jazz. You need the exercise!”
“Will do, Vera!”
Danny waits in the doorway, hesitant to walk in. From behind him, Jason can see a young redhead surrounded by books sitting upright in bed, blue covers laid across her legs and crutches standing in the corner. He gently taps him on the shoulder which prompts him to look back at him. With an encouraging nod, Danny knocks on the open door.
“Vera, I promise I’ll take a break, I’m almost done-“
Jazz moves to look up at the doorway, jaw dropping when she sees her little brother, waving at her. The book she was holding falls to the ground as she starts to cry when he comes close to hug her.
“Hey sis”, he croaks when he she pulls him in.
“Hey, bud", she sobs, burying her face in his hoodie as she returns the greeting.
Part 16 ! And I Turn Away To See, Proud Evening Star !
Ao3
Part 1| Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 |
"Why didn't you protect him", Jason snarls, barely held back by Dick and Tim.
"You were unconscious!" Bruce replies, equally exasperated. "He begged me to help you, he held his own-"
"Yeah, I can clearly see that!" Jason is on the verge of tears, fighting against his brothers.
"Jaylad calm down", Dick struggles with his younger brother.
"We won't be doing jack shit if you're behaving like this", Tim added onto that.
"Son, I-", Bruce started but got shoved towards the cold, damp walls of the Batcave. He can fight back, he knows, but he doesn't. He understands the severity and the anger his second eldest is going through, having been in his shoes several times before.
"I don't need you to be my dad, I don't need you!" he holds his eyes brimming with green onto his father's. "I need the detective to find my son."
"And we will, we will find him, but arguing with me won't speed up the process."
Jason relents, slightly. His hair bounces wildly between his fingers as he paces before the giant monitor.
"I can't think straight, I-"
The last time he felt this panicked, he was half the size he was now, half as mature as now. Standing surrounded by more family that he ever had before, he felt utterly alone, defeated.
Useless.
"Captives?" he eventually asked, feeling the nervous buzz of a very unnerved core resonating throughout his body.
"None that are talking," Damian eventually chimed in. "Unless I am allowed to do the interrogation."
"No," several people responded, turning Damian's usual sulking expression even more sour.
"I'm not saying we have to sever their phalanges," he clarified, "but normal human interactions don't seem to work on these people. They have seen things. Things that scare them more than we do."
"I'll show them something to be afraid of", Jason growled as he stormed towards their holding cells. Now usually, they don't keep people right at their own home. Especially not the kind they don't know much about. The Justice League has custom rooms just for guests like these and even then, there's plenty of other places to go.
Quiet, unknown places. Far away from prying eyes.
Right now though, none of those things are of Jason's concern.
Let them see. Let them come here. I'll be waiting if they do
He swiftly made it to a wide corridor. At the end, blue tinged energy shields resonated against the rocky surface of the ceiling and floor. Several cameras monitored the movement of the people locked up inside of the box. One of three captives was stretching, seemingly unbothered by their situation as they chattered along about nothing to their coworkers. As if they hadn't just kidnapped someone.
My someone.
Jason tapped a code on the nearby keypad, teeth grinding together as he felt them become sharper the closer he got to his intended target.
The box separated the three into their own little corners, making sure the other two couldn't make a break for it as he dragged the last one out of his cell.
"You can't-" they sputtered, sliding across the floor as Jason held onto their collar, the fabric barely held together as the edges of his fingernails started to rupture through his gloves and tear into their uniform.
He never slowed down, no matter how hard they pleaded or cried out how this was a violation of their rights, not even when he jostled them through and through in front of the remaining Batclan members.
Only when he reached their sparring room, did he drop the impromptu prisoner, right in the middle of the room.
"Do you know where you are?" he whispered low, voice layered with static.
"You can't keep me here against me will!" they tried to defy him.
Jason smiled dryly, making his way to the console panel they used when they trained here: "You see, I personally don't use this room as much."
He tapped something into the console, the exits blocked by a similar energy field as from the cells.
"Red Hood, don't do this", Nightwing stood on the other side, knowing full well what his brother was planning.
"We use it for simulations," Jason continued, "scenarios where we train for, among others, those kinds of events that aren't really limited to just bank robbing and minor criminal activities. World ending threats and the like, you know?"
"What, you think a simulation will scare me?" the figure scoffed.
"Of course not," Jason replied in earnest. "That's not what I'm doing."
With the exits sealed, he walked back over to the person on the floor, crouching next to them: "What's your name, pal?"
"Go fuck yourself"
"I see, well, it was more of a courteous action, I don't want to be rude when I am calling you names."
Jason examined his gloves, noticing the growing claws. "I don't like it when I'm beating someone to a pulp without a little bit of basic interlocutor etiquette. See, for example."
He pointed towards himself: "I'm the Red Hood, you even get to see me without my helmet on, only a minor mask for you, that sure is special."
"You see," he cocked his head, a canine peaking from behind his smile without his consent, but not unwelcome, "that kid your boys kidnapped?"
He whispered in their ear, hand on their thigh as he let the claws sink in, drawing pinpricks of blood: "That was my kid."
"Are we not, like, going to stop him at all," Tim asked Bruce and Dick from afar. "He's going to kill them."
"Not until he gets what he wants," Bruce acknowledged. "Until then, we are on stand by."
"B, are you sure?" his eldest asked. "Jason's not....stable."
"Nightwing," Bruce kept his gaze on Jason. "What would you do if you were Jason?"
He looked back at his brother, keeping a firm grip on his captive: "I think they'd be dead already."
"So", Jason felt his nails grow longer, digging through layers of muscle while the person underneath tried not to scream, "Just tell me who you are. If you don't, all fine by me, there's two others I will have no problem going through after I'm done with you."
They screamed as Jason's fingertips were almost embedded in his leg, his gloves soaked with blood.
"Sorry, what was that?" he held up a hand to his ear, "you need to enunciate that better."
"I don't have a name!" they cried out, "We're just numbers!"
"And which number might you be then? Who assigns these numbers?" he retracted his nails, pressing the palm of his hand on the wound instead.
Once more they screamed, beads of sweat forming on their forehead: "I don-, I don't know their name-,"
"Sorry, wrong answer," he drenched the heel of his boot with their blood. He could feel his arms shaking with adrenaline as the person yelled out for him to stop.
"D dash one R seven seven seven! We don't know our bosses, just their orders!"
"Seven seven seven?" Jason grinned maliciously, "Lucky number, right?"
He released the tension on their leg, crouching beside them once more: "Well then Seven, can I call you Sev? I would like to know, where the rest of your boys, took my kid. Just answer that, and I'll let you go."
"Never, I won't negotiate with your kind," they spat.
"My kind?" Jason responded bewildered, "now, Sev, what is that supposed to mean?"
"All you disgusting creatures, pretending to be human," Sev clutched at their injured leg, "Pretending to be something you're not, thinking you can just, own whatever you want, do whatever you want just because you defied the after-"
They gasped, hard, not expecting the knee with hundreds of pounds pure rage attached to it pressing down on their rib cage. The soft snap echoed through the sparring room louder than it should have as Jason's image started to flicker.
"Listen here, you cretin," his voice was hollow, his hair slowly turning into tiny wisps, "I don't give a shit about you, your organisation, your remarks or your believes. I only care about my son, and believe me, I was doing this job long before I gained these upgrades."
"Hngnng," Sev groaned and panted, "I-, If you tr-truly, th-think that, y-you're just as, as bad, as that vermin we took from you."
Jason howled, screamed with a rage he hadn't felt since the Lazarus Pit. White flashes appeared before his eyes, coating the entire room in a blinding white light as he could feel his hands turn to cinders, pure fire coursing through his fingertips as he grabbed Sev, launching them across the platform they were on and into the wall, leaving a Sev shaped indent.
Blue flames appeared in his hand, growing hotter and hotter until they condensed into pure energy, a whirring and spinnig mass gathered in the palm of his hand. He crossed the distance in flash, ghostly energy engulfing the hand he landed next to Sev's head, scorching the hairs right off and leaving first degree burns as he lingered there.
"You're all the same," Sev cried, "Filthy, unnatural creatures."
Jason's breathing became erratic, overcome with emotions he was never able to control well. On instinct he tried to dig his claws into Sev's chest, closing his hand just in time to just land a sucker punch instead of tearing out his vital organs. He watched, from the corner of his illuminated eyes, his brothers and father frantically trying to get into the room.
He slowed, trying to put oxygen in his half dead lungs. The fire retreated, the air still thick with heat.
Sev didn't move as Jason stood there, hunched over them. Slowly but surely, colour returned to his face, his hair, back to strands of black and white. He inhaled, collected his thoughts:
"You will tell me," he opened his eyes, returned fully human, "Where you took him, or else, I will break every bone in your body, torture you in a way you wish turned you into the ghosts you so despise, and destroy you. The regular, human, non supernatural way."
Sev trembled, their pristine white outfit covered in dirt and grime, turning red at a rate too fast for their own good: "You can't get away with this. We won't stop until we're free of you."
"I don't think you're in a position", he pressed his elbow against their chest, "To talk of freedom right now. And I'll tell you this."
He leaned with his full weight on their injured ribs, waiting for more of the satisfying crunch: "If I don't find him, or, if I do, and he has a single hair on his head ruffled, a single scrape or bruise, I will skin you alive."
"You'll never find it," Sev laughed hysterically, "Even if you do, you'll just make our job easier. Two birds with one stone."
"What" he slammed his their head against the wall, just enough to hurt, "is" he hit them again, "Your"
He grabbed onto their face, the blood from his gloves smeared all over them: "Goal?"
"Hruagh," Sev gagged, a concussion sure to have followed from the beating, "We'll show, show all you filth, not even, even, y-your king is, s-safe."
Jason roared, the lights above him sporadic in their illumination as he shook Sev around: HE'S A CHILD."
"It's a menace" Sev croaked out.
"Where. Is. Danny?"
Sev whimpered, not looking him in the eyes: "Preten-, prentending that thing has a, has a name. Rancid"
"Sev," Jason grabbed their face, forcing them to look at him, "You're not afraid of ghosts, are you?"
"You lot, can't fucking, break me," they managed to let out. "I know everything about your kind. I know how you work, your intimidation techniques."
"Ah, so, not the human kind then?" Jason grabbed a gun from his holster and held it right against their forehead. "Humans, after all, are the biggest monsters out there. Maybe-"
Jason clicked the safety off the gun: "Maybe I will just turn you into a ghost then, keep you trapped here, as that thing you hate so much."
"You won't, you're bluffing," Sev hoped. "You can't kill me, I didn't, I did not, do anything wrong."
"Oh, is kidnapping no longer a crime?" Jason grinned, kneeing Sev there where it hurts most. "I guess I have nothing to fear then."
"Ghost don't have rights!" he cried once more, crumpled up on the floor, "You are not sentient, not intelligent, you're less than a wild animal!"
"You fucking wish I was a wild animal," Jason held up his gun once more and fired a round into Sev's knee, a blood curling scream following suit. "Wild animals don't torture their prey."
"Now", Jason instead pulled a knife from his belt, holding it up close for Sev to see: "Where. Is. My. Kid."
"Hood, enough" Bruce intercepted the knife, the exit open once more. "That's enough."
"It won't ever be enough," Jason snarled, still looking at Sev.
"I know," Bruce gently pulled him away, letting Nightwing intercept them. "We don't need them dead."
"I want them dead," Jason's hands were trembling as Nightwing escorted them back to their cell. "I want to find him."
"We will," Bruce assured him, leading him back to the monitor where Tim was rapidly typing on the keyboard, several cans of energy drink empty on the table next to him.
"I have several possible locations where he might be," Tim explained. A tab appeared on screen, showcasing a map of the surrounding areas. "From what I can tell, these guys operate under a legitimate branch of the government."
"Like fuck they are," Jason retorted.
"Not for long," Bruce guaranteed him. "Their legal operation is shoddy at best. I already have Lois and Clark working on processing it faster."
"Is that why Supes was here?" Jason inquired.
Bruce nodded, joining Tim at the helm: "I can't do much else as Batman," he turned to his son, "Or as Bruce, but I can rely on others to help where I can not."
"I'm not sorry for what I did to them, if that's what you're hoping to achieve," he stared at his bloodied hands, removing the gloves and examining the slightly elongated nails.
"I'm not asking," Bruce conceded, trying to to look at the physical changes Jason was experiencing, "I don't think I'd contain myself the same way you did."
"I find that hard to believe," he tossed the gloves aside, looking for a spare pair. Or at least some fingerless ones.
"You don't know what he looked like when you were gone," Tim replied, back turned against him. "You haven't seen what grief did. I think he of all people, understands the feeling of losing your kid."
The reply silenced them. Bruce's grief over Jason was rarely addressed and if it was, this was not the part they mentioned. It was always the actions that followed the grief that predominated the conversations, or, the lack thereof.
"I'm....sorry," Jason eventually said. "For lashing out at you. You did what was best." He opened and closed his fists as he spoke, struggling with the claws and the apology.
"Don't be, I-, I get it," Bruce comforted him. "It's my fault."
"Fuck off, man," Jason scoffed, "You didn't bring them there, they were probably following me and Danny anyway."
"Even so, we've handled worse, I was perfectly capable of protecting both of you."
"You can't always do that though," Nightwing joined back in, having tended to Sev's wounds. "You can't always be there for everyone."
"I was there, I-," Bruce lamented, "I was there. Not Batman."
"It's hard to be him when you're our father too," Jason remarked. "You always thought us the cowl comes first."
"It should, but," Bruce balled his hands into fists, "You're still..."
"I know," Jason gave him a small smile. "Unable are the Loved to die."
"For Love is Immortality," Dick placed a gentle hand on Jason's shoulder. "We'll get him back."
"If we can narrow it down," Tim interjected," we could get him back sooner than later."
He beckoned his older brothers closer: "These facilities are the ones used on the record by the Ghost Investigation Ward."
"And off the record?"
"Several adjacent ones," Several green dots appeared on the map. "These two are closest to our current location. Danny's most likely to be in either of these."
"Assuming they don't have any other transportation means," Jason pointed out. "We're basing this on normal logic."
He paced around again, hand to his chin as he thought out loud: "These guys are no stranger to ghost logic. It's how they took me out and got Danny so fast. They're not going to follow regular procedure."
"Hmmmm," Tim hummed as he typed, "If you want to hide a ghost, where would you do it?"
"Somewhere people don't want to enter. With enough space to house the tech needed for it."
"Looking for a place with a high power usage," Tim continued tapping. "Large enough to have cells or other equipment."
"There's a chance they use portal technology," Jason pointed out.
"Like ours?" Tim inquired.
"No, the ones..." Jason trailed off, looking at the display of confiscated materials, gaze landing on the weapon used to stun him. He picked it up, inspecting the logo on the side. The same logo scratched out from the thermos Danny carried with him. The weapon shattered in his hands, engulfed by flames as it crumbled unto the floor.
"That was evidence-" Damian tried, but quickly relented.
"It doesn't need to work," Jason quickly retorted. "After I get him back," he watched the fire in his hands burn out, "I'm going to pay a 'family' visit."
Jason ignored the steaming pile of scrap metal, walking past it and on route to retrieve his helmet. He put it on the scanner next to the monitor, syncing it up to the Batcomputer.
"What are you thinking?" Dick inquired.
"I'm thinking," Jason replied, looking for the CAMERA function linked to his helmet.
"Welcome, Jason Todd."
"Tim, hook it up to the map."
"I thought I couldn't interact with it?"
"Add ectosignatures: Tim Drake. Bruce Wayne. Damian Wayne"
"Affirmative."
"I'll see if I add the rest later," Jason sighed, looking for a specific tab. "Emma?" He tried.
"Ecto Emergency Assistant: Activated"
"Told you the name was accurate," Dick grinned.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jason let a smile small escape. "Emma, can you locate my haunt members again?"
"Affirmate: Dick Gray-"
"I know, I-, fuck," Jason groaned, the fading adrenaline slowly being replaced by fatigue, "Locate Danny."
"Error. Haunt Member not visible."
Jason's heart dropped: "What?"
He sat down on a nearby chair. "He can't-"
"Emma," Dick jumped on it before Jason's mind could spiral, "What do you mean, 'not visible'? Do you mean he's just invisible? Like, he's using his powers?"
"Haunt Member not visible: Ecto Signature obscured."
"Okay, okay," Dick sighed in relief, "He's not gone, he's just...obscured."
"How do you obscure an Ecto Signature?" Tim asked the device.
"Method one: mask the signature by cloaking. Method two: core retraction."
"Let's hope it's not the second one," Tim muttered. "How do you cloak one?"
"Blood Blossoms..." Tim hummed, opening a second tab on the monitor. "What do they look like? What do they need to thrive?"
As he continued to click away, Emma showed him several pictures and instructions on how to care for them.
"Caution is advised. Close and repeated exposure to Blood Blossom can result in: Nausea, headaches, numbness, paralysis, extreme pains, death."
"Tim, type faster," Bruce hurried him.
"I am, I am," he said, looking for-
"There!" he pointed at the screen: "This place received a shipment of flowers resembling Blood Blossoms a while ago. According to what I could find of the place, this is the only facility with enough space, power and resources to cultivate them. It's a botanic garden, open to the public not that far away from here."
"Do you have any footage?" Jason piped up, "anything?"
"Not from recently" Tim admitted, "It seems like what little cameras that are there aren't up to date. It's just shipments of plants and the like that get in and out, along with the few people that visit the place."
He flicked through the images, showing the same building throughout different times of the day, all without any signs of nefarious activities.
"Maybe I was wrong," Tim apologised, "Just cause they house the flowers doesn't mean they also have Danny."
"Wait, go back", Jason leaned on Tim's chair. "There."
"This one?" Tim enlarged the footage. "There's nothing there except some crates and some decorative ornaments?"
"Those ones, the ornaments."
As Tim zoomed in on the image, Jason clutched his stomach, needing to stop himself from retching as he held a hand over his mouth. Several clicking noises escaped him, not being able to stop himself while he trembled, more and more high pitched clicks and chirps freeing himself from chest.
Realisation dawned on him, panic and terror forming bile on his tongue.
"He's there, I know it."
"How can you tell, from just some, some ornaments?" Damian felt the rising distress, his fellow family members barely able to supress the urge to reply with clicks and chirps of their own.
"Those ornaments," Jason looked up at the screen, illuminating his face, white as a sheet.
Part 15 ! And I Turn Away To See, Proud Evening Star !
Ao3
Part 1| Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 |
Slight TW though, Danny is gonna joke about his catchphrase 'going ghost' by making some 'well guess i will kill myself then' adjacent jokes so I think I should put a TW suicide mention? Ish? If it's too much please let me know so I can change the rating and tags accordingly.
To be back at the Manor was, of al things, more lively than things had been with just the two of them at their apartment. In more ways than one.
The whole 'meet the family' thing was never Jason's forte, especially not with Danny. Considering the circumstances at which this particular instance happened, it could not have gone worse of course.
It wasn't that he was counting the days they'd been here and not at their own little piece of home, and it definitely wasn't that he got a little antsy whenever he saw Danny hanging out with his family (well, technically, their family) because wouldn't these normal, mundane interactions in between breakfast, the normal, ordinary conversations about what Damian and Duke were doing at school mean that, maybe, it all was normal?
Maybe it wasn't that bad to have ended up here again, after all?
So far, things had been uneventful.
Boringly so.
"We're leaving."
"What?"
Bruce nearly dropped his spoon as he scooped up another bite of carrot-pumpkin soup. "Right now? Where to?"
"Not right now, obviously," Jason rolled his eyes, slathering a bread roll with butter, "I wouldn't be so rude as to leave in the middle of dinner, do you know how much time Alfred puts into cooking for you lot?"
He dipped his bread in the soup, letting it soak all the moisture in.
"But I don't know," he shrugged as he felt several eyes zeroing in on him," Probably a couple days from now? I'm being courteous here by announcing it."
"And by we, you mean you also asked Danny?" Dick asked nonchalantly. "Who says he wants to leave?"
"He is sitting right here, and can hear you too," Danny graciously slurped from his soup.
They waited for him to continue as the liquid got refilled as quickly as he consumed it.
"Thank you, Alfred," he thanked him as he continued to eat, "But yeah I would like to, spread my wings like a Robin, as they say."
"Not a single person says that, Daniel," Damian patted a serviette along his lips.
Danny groaned, resting his elbows on the table: "I told you not to call me that."
"And we told you he will keep doing it regardless," Tim spoke up, not looking away from his tablet, "Trust me, he won't."
"I am tenacious if anything," Damian smirked. "And also, I couldn't refer to you as Todd. That would be confusing. Although both of you share the same stubborn defiance."
"I'll fucking show you defiant-"
"You're defiant-"
"Ahem," Alfred glared at them once, and only once, to which the boys sat down once more.
"In any case," Danny spoke again, "I was never one to stay cooped up, even in a manor. Scratch that, especially in a manor. I need to like, go do something, punch someone in the guts for robbing an old lady, ya know? I will literally explode otherwise."
"That seems a little over dramatic," Duke piped up softly. "Or...do you...actually?"
"I mean, I probably won't?" Danny waved his hands around. "But like, you know how, hmmmm...."
He pondered over his soup how to best explain it.
"You know how certain mechanisms are designed to do one thing? Like move in one specific direction regardless of obstruction and they'll keep doing it until either they or the obstruction breaks or both?"
"I didn't think of that before but I get what you mean, thanks," Duke replied with a nervous smile and continued eating quietly like before.
"Point is," Jason continued for him, "We know you guys just don't want us to leave, considering," he gestured towards himself," All of that, but I, have a business to run and Danny needs to do, uuuh,"
"Vigilante ghost training!"
"Yes, that, totally," Jason agreed. "Plus it's getting a little crowded with us all together like this for such a long time."
"It's been months since we've finally been able to sit together like this, Jay," Bruce swirled his spoon around, "With no one on patrol during dinner, thanks to Superman."
"Which, by the way!" Jason completely turned towards him, "Are we never going to address that?"
He looked at his siblings: "You just bat your eyelashes at Supes and he just happens to be in Gotham with nothing to do so he will happily patrol for you? Paranoid you? Who wouldn't let us patrol on our own for, how long was it, Dick?"
"Oh for me at least several years."
"You pummeled criminals while cackling, Dick. It wasn't just for my own sanity, that was for Gotham's sanity."
"Point taken," he admitted defeat with a grin.
"Anyway, not the subject, not important," Bruce waved the topic aside, "It's just, medical observation."
"Medical. Observation," Jason repeated.
"Yes."
"B. It's been weeks."
"Recovery can take up to several months."
"I'm fine. We're both fine," he growled more than he grunted.
"Can we not discuss this during dinner?" Bruce pleaded.
No, that wasn't right, Jason thought. Bruce doesn't plead, he orders. Demands. Requires. He does not plead. Pleading insinuates care and expectant empathy.
As much as Jason didn't want to have any of that, didn't want to feel any guilt because why? Why should he feel guilty or bad about wanting to go home with Danny?
Maybe, he already was without accepting it.
Regardless, he sighed: "Alright," he held up his hands in surrender, one hand holding bread and the other a knife, "We'll discuss it later."
"But-" Danny wanted to protest. A swift glance at his dad however, made him realise that this wasn't the right time to discuss his freedom. He too had to admit, they weren't held hostage. They were held onto. A feeling he usually only got from his sister, friends and Jason since recently.
Having a whole extended family was something he needed to adapt to. The least he could do now was appreciate the food that family's butler made.
Not that he had any trouble doing so.
Dinner dragged on, like several others to follow. And still, they remained at Wayne Manor.
"Oh I need some help with this case"
"I totally need to show you this latest thing"
"Have you seen this? You gotta check this out!"
By being as obnoxious as possible, they managed to keep the pair tied down. Yes, they knew it was to prevent them from leaving. Yes, it felt absolutely suffocating.
But, it also, felt nice, for a change.
No patrols, no work, no fights.
No danger.
That last part especially is what made Jason so easy to persuade. Ironic considering having Danny meet this circus full of monkeys and what nots was the thing that had unnerved him most of all, but now that it happened, he forgot how nice it was to have more people to fall back on.
Not that he didn't have that after he left, far from it. The Outlaws were often at times more family than his actual family ever was. Sides he could show them but never Bruce. Vulnerability which could resurface with Artemis but never Dick.
And yet, seeing how Danny got along better than he expected, seeing how he himself felt better at ease within the tall walls and polished wooden floors than he wanted to let on, he couldn't fully go back to this life.
The life of the second son, second Robin.
He still remembers, as he walks down several corridors, how his pictures had been removed when he had died and only a while after been put back. How worn out the carpet leading up to his room was, the threads thinner than they were when he was still alive.
He remembers how the dust in Dick's room sat quiet longer than it usually would. How the dust in his room never settled, as if the room itself was waiting for his return.
There was an urge to fill up what he left behind, the gaping hole that death made into the small family of barely four. A hole that never quite got filled, not even when he came back.
After all, he came back wrong.
In a place as big as this, having so much room could feel intoxicating. A sense of freedom that concealed how truly trapped you felt.
A bird in a cage, made to perform.
But there was safety in that cage. Food and water. Warmth, and shelter.
A cage, no less.
Was he not putting Danny in that same cage? Was he going to exchange his wings for golden bars? Was he-
He stopped at the end of another hallway, right in front of a large, ornate mirror. Jason clenched his fists, landing his knuckles against the grainy wallpaper of the wall next to the mirror.
"Am I like Bruce?" he whispered to his reflection.
"I sincerely hope you're not," a voice rang from behind him.
Looking back at him in the looking glass were a pair of green speckled icy blue eyes. Danny calmly walked up to him, forehead slightly creased in thought.
"I don't think you are," he added finally. "You're similar, in a way, but not the same."
"In a bad way?" Jason asked.
"In a bat way," Danny replied.
The older vigilante chuckled, pressing his back against the wall and running a hand through his hair. Danny mirrored him, opting to cross his legs mid air instead of leaning against the walls. He continued as he floated:
"You both have that same, tenacity, I guess you could call it?" he scratched at the back of his neck. "You have this almost obsessive urge to protect the people you care about most."
"Well, according to EMMA, that seems to come with the core," Jason retorted.
"Okay just because you happened to have that-"
"And so do you."
"JUST BECAUSE I HAPPEN TO HAVE THAT-", Danny gestured dramatically before settling down again. "You both just want the same thing."
"Done in different ways."
"I guess?" Danny turned to lay down mid air. "I'd like to go back home, but there could have been worse ways to be right now. Also the food, man."
"Told you Alfred is amazing."
"I am going to like, find his favourite author in the Ghost Zone or something like that. Portal to get him his favourite limited edition tea or such."
"I think he'll appreciate you just complimenting his skills."
"Okay but tea though."
"Valid, valid," Jason sighed happily. They listened to a clock ticking away from the other end of the hallway as Danny drifted up and down, taking in the place Jason lived in, as short as that time was.
He could hardly imagine Jason, the Red Hood, living as some rich kid in a mansion, going to galas and being the latest Wayne addition. Then again, Sam also lived that life and was nothing like the elite her parents mingled with.
"I can't imagine you as a kid running through these halls," he eventually admitted. "It seems so foreign."
"What, the running through a mansion or me being a kid?" Jason chuckled. "I used to be your height too at one point you know?"
"Ha ha, yeah yeah built like a brick shithouse Todd," Danny rolled his eyes. "I dunno," he looked at the ornate artworks and paintings on the walls, "You just never, I mean, I know about your Robin days. But I can't really see you in bright primary colours or clinging to a teenage Dick like that."
"Hey woah woah, I did not 'cling'," he held up his fingers in quotation marks, "Dick was barely around when I got here. Emo rebellious ass was too busy."
"Emo-," Danny floated closer, " rebellious ? "
"I tell people this ALL THE TIME," Jason waved his hands in exasperation, "But Dick! Was never! A sunshine! Kid! He was a bitch boy!"
"Le gasp!" Danny patted his cheeks. "No fucking way."
"Yes way!" Jason got off the wall. "Come on," he dragged Danny away, all the way back to his room.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm gonna-," he opened his room, unlocked as locking a door in this house would never be locked longer that 0.3 seconds anyway, "Show you."
Despite having been here for a while, Danny had never been inside Jason's actual room. Always retreating to his own guest bedroom (which Bruce insisted on could be his own actual room) or one of the other hundred rooms they all commonly used, he respected Jason's privacy that much.
Piling into the spacious bedroom, Danny expected things to be...different.
Large red curtains draped onto the floor ever so slightly, framing the giant windows and bound by golden tassels. A bit too ornate considering Jason's usual taste, but considering this was a manor and not an apartment in the city, he guessed it made sense.
As Jason went over to a drawer, Danny inspected the built in shelves:
Several objects were put on display or carefully laid out like little keepsakes. An old version of a batarang, with a different alloy. A little pin, shaped in the signature Robin R. A note, hastily scribbled down on a napkin reading "Thank you" laid underneath it. A crudely carved birdarang, or maybe it was a birdarang that never got repaired, Danny didn't know.
On the shelf next to it were several books, neatly stacked together and arranged alphabetically. On was leaning against the others, seemingly missing it's predecessor which Danny found laying on the night stand next to the bed. A small drawing protruded out from the the back of the book, indicating Jason was almost done with what looked like a well worn book. He couldn't make out what the drawing was, only a signature D.W. at the corner.
"Where did I put them-," Jason muttered as he was looking around the wooden edges of the drawer, definitely not looking inside it like a normal person would.
Danny let him continue, walking over to the walls lined with pictures. Several people he didn't even recognise, most of them he did. It showcased how little he knew about Jason before his death. Or even from before they met. He did know that some things, he best not know at all.
"Found them!" Jason laughed triumphantly, having seemingly disassembled the drawer somehow.
"What'cha got there?"
"Blackmail" he grinned. He pushed onto one of the handles and to the side of one of the panels and the disassembled drawer became whole once more. "Dick never figured out how to get into the secret compartment. And I also have some copies elsewhere so he wouldn't bother even if he did."
"So," Jason plopped onto his bed with a browned envelope in his hands. "Now this, is what Dick looked like back when I was Robin."
He handed Danny a pile of pictures, some of Dick, some of Jason, and some of both of them.
Danny hardly contained himself as he let the different depictions of Dick slide through his fingers.
"Not the heavy eyeliner-" he nearly cried, "Ancients above, the mullet-"
"And the foul language back then!" Jason exclaimed, "He's all 'watch your language mimimimi' now but if I had a nickel for every time that man spouted profanities or insulted people, I would be richer than Bruce."
"But he's so, he's such a-"
"A golden retriever?" Jason laughed," A goody two shoes? Dick is the most unhinged Robin out of all of us. And that says something."
"With your current Robin that is surprising," Danny admitted. "And here I was thinking you were the trouble child."
"Hey, hey, come now," Jason put his hand to his chest, "Don't mock my reputation. I was a delight back then. I am a menace right now only because the people around me were worse."
"Pppffffft," Danny pushed him off the bed with only a tiny bit of help from his super strength. "Bet?"
"Fucking bet!" Jason leapt up again. "I am the one and only Red Hood, of course I am."
"Aight, mister Red Riding Hood-" Jason delivered upon his kid a whole tray of knuckle sandwiches as Danny continued, "When are we sneaking out then?"
"Oh, are you challenging me?" Jason felt delighted to see Danny have a bit of mischief going on for him, "Are you challenging me?"
"I'd say yes, but it is hardly a challenge," Danny taunted him. "I do want to be back on time before dinner tonight though, so let's make it a race."
"We gotta make it a race the Flash can't even win," Jason gathered the pictures again, "I have to help Alfred prepare. Timing is key with this roast."
"Normally I'd mock you for saying things like that," Danny whirled around him, " but having tasted his cooking I'm afraid I'll get cursed if I do."
"Yeah," Jason hid away his blackmail folder again, "Do you wanna race the civilian way or the vigilante way?"
"Uh, duh? ", Danny replied mocking him. "Soul divorce style."
The rings flashed over him in an instant, revealing his vibrant green eyes and white hair once more.
"We gotta work on your catchphrases," Jason said already walking out the room.
"What, going ghost not good enough? Let me sewer slide? Gonna sleep with the fishes?"
"Nooooo."
"Pushing daisies?"
"Gods help me", Jason groaned as he closed the door.
"Singing with the angels?" Danny continued.
"Who raised you?"
"The dead?" Danny retorted. "You?"
"Man did I do a poor job then," he laughed.
"Oh!" Danny clutched his metaphorical pearls, "I am at a loss for words!"
Despite being at a loss for words, Danny continued to make several jokes until they almost reached their apartment. Of course, he won by a mile.
"I don't know why I thought I could win," Jason huffed as they reached the final rooftop. "You cheat."
"Uh, you said vigilante style. Not my fault you can't fly as a vigilante," Danny responded with a cheeky smile.
"One day," Jason laughed with his voice modulator on, "One day I will win."
"Sure, whatever you say pops," Danny lazily flew ahead. "You think we can go back in real quick?"
Danny pointed at their place: "I want to grab some ecto cookies."
"Wouldn't they have gone stale after all these weeks?" Jason pushed himself off from the ground.
"The cookies. The cookies made with ectoplasm. The cookies made with the stuff that keeps the dead alive. The ectoplasm cookies-"
Jason put his gloved hand against his mouth, the fabric of Danny's mask muffling his laughter a bit.
"I get it I get it, jeez," Jason teased him, "I'll leave you behind next time."
"Little old me?" Danny phased through his hand, "You wouldn't dare."
He floated off the edge towards their apartment building as Jason suddenly grabbed his hand.
"What, scared you'll lose again?" he joked.
"Something's off," Jason turned serious. "Look at the windows."
"I don't see anything at the windows."
"Exactly."
Jason tapped the side of his helmet. "When we left, that night, what did we do?"
"Uh, I don't really recall?"
"Were our curtains open, or closed?"
"Open?"
"So why are they closed now?"
Danny turned to look at the windows again, eyes narrowing: "Someone's in our apartment."
Jason readied his grappling hook, guns at the ready as he aimed: "Time to welcome them then, don't you think?"
"Homecoming it is."
As the duo made their way over, they waited, using Danny's powers to enter their little abode once again. Cloaked in darkness, they made out a figure rustling about the place, carefully looking over every cabinet, crack and object they could find.
At Jason's signal, they both wrestled the figure to the ground, Danny pressing his knee on their back and Jason holding them at gunpoint as he turned on the light of their apartment. Immediately, he was startled by the sight:
"B?"
"Br-, I mean, Batman?" Danny's eyes widened.
"Hnnggg," he groaned in response.
"Gee whiz Batman, what the fuck are you doing here?" Jason exclaimed as he lowered his gun.
"Investigating," he replied as Danny released him.
"Investigating what, exactly?" Jason's anger rose. "Behind my back no less? I-, for fucks sake, I was starting to finally trust you a little!"
Jason waved his hands around exasperated. "You do this every damn time, you know?"
"I have an explanation, I can explain-"
"Well then start explaining fast!" Danny joined in, equally mad, "Is this just a billionaire thing? Lying to people and then backstabbing them? I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, man!"
"I wasn't lying-"
"Not telling someone who lives in your own house that you are breaking into their home while not letting them leave is kind of like lying and if I may say, a little if not a lot of manipulating!" Jason yelled.
"I was trying to make it safe!" Bruce yelled back.
"By breaking and entering?" Danny snapped.
"I admit that was not the best way to do it, but it had to be done discreetly, I don't know who else is listening or monitoring you."
"Aside from you, of course?" Jason bit back.
"I swear," Bruce held up his hands, "I only arrived today. I wasn't planning on doing it. But I needed to check."
"Check what? That we're not a threat? That I needed to be collared and put on a leash?" Danny's venom was palpable. "That I wasn't going to hurt Jason?"
"Only at first, but-"
"Oh, so you do think I'm dangerous, of fucking course," Danny hunched in on himself. "It's always, always the same-"
"I was not investigating either of you!" Bruce hissed. "I was investigating the people hunting you."
"What?" the perplexed vigilantes stumbled backwards.
"I looked into it a while ago," Bruce admitted, "First it was just you, yes, I admit that, but I knew you weren't a threat any more than Superman is. And I trust both of you with my life. But the reason you ended up here, the reason you had to run...."
He looked over at Jason: "I needed to be sure that it wouldn't follow you here."
"W-what did you find?" Danny turned more transparant. "Did they?"
"I-" he stopped, eyes on the windows. A fleeting shadow cast over the curtains.
"DUCK!" he yelled, grabbing Danny with him as the glass shattered over them. Smoke filled the room along with several figures in white, honing in on Jason. Several dropped to floor already as Jason took them out, leaving Bruce with Danny.
The table shattered as Jason got pushed towards it, dropping his guns from the impact.
"Oh yeah, guess what you fuckers, I got some new upgrades!" he yelped triumphantly.
"Jason don't! They're not-"
Danny got cut off by Jason's ear piercing shriek, dropping lifeless to the floor as the figures in white loomed over them, weapons in hand that marked the horrifying signature of Danny's family heritage.
"B, you have to help him, don't let them take him," Danny begged him with tears in his eyes as he turned the assailants next to them into human icicles. "I can buy you time!"
Bruce nodded, already crossing the distance and taking out the people dragging Jason's body away.
"Like hell you will," he growled as he landed his kevlar boot with a sickening crunch onto one of their faces. The other tried with the same device, landing it on his lower abdomen and grinning widely, only to be met with a fist as Bruce knocked him out cold.
"I don't know what you think you're achieving with that thing," he said, turning to the last assailant who was very eager to suddenly leave again, "But it won't work on me!"
With a swift punch to the gut, the third one lay motionless on the floor along with his colleagues. Enemies down and secured, he focused on Jason.
"Can you hear me? Hood?" he checked for vitals, glad those were at least still there. "Jay, can you hear me?"
With a groan, Jason slowly turned towards him.
"Hey, easy, easy," he helped him get up, propped up against the couch. Not the first time that had happened.
"Wh-," he wheezed heavily, "Danny?"
"He's okay, he's-"
Bruce turned, scanning the room for the kid.
"Danny?" he left Jason on the ground, going back to where he last saw him. Then to the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom-
"Danny!?" He yelled, voice filling with desperation when he found only his mask.
