Archive of Our Own

Jason was dead tired from the fight, sure, but now that he’s in Batman’s car, clearly not on the way back to Crime Alley, he’s starting to get worried. “You know, if you turn me over to the social workers, well… the chances of a kid my age findin’ a decent home are slim –”

“Don’t bet on it, Robin.”

“Robin?” Jason’s head whips around and he stares at Batman in horror, “Robin!?”

Batman’s smile falters, and he starts explaining slowly, “Yes, you’ve proved yourself quite a lot tonight, young man. I think you’d make an excellent Ro–”

“Fuck that!” Jason cuts him off and starts undoing his seatbelt frantically. Batman manages to pull over just before Jason opens the door and stumbles out of the car. He follows Jason with a concerned frown on his face. 

“Jason, what’s wrong?”

Jason just stares at the man, absolutely baffled. He can’t be serious right now. “Are you fucking insane? You want to put me in that outfit after the last Robin was shot and killed ?” 

Batman freezes a little, looking like he just remembered something important, and mumbles out, “Oh, I’d forgotten that’s what the public thought…” He clears his throat, and says confidently, “Don’t worry, the old Robin is still well and alive, Jason! He recovered from the shot without a hitch.” 

Jason involuntarily mutters, “Oh my God, he is insane,” and Batman looks far too much like a confused and kicked dog at that statement. “A kid. Got shot . In that costume. And you want to put me in it.”

Realisation dawns on Batman’s face and he stutters a bit, “W-well… I thought that you handled yourself really well during the case and would be skilled as Robin, and you remind me of my younger self– full of misguided anger. I want to help channel your destructive tendencies into a positive goal.”

Jason feels outrage bubbling up inside him the more that Batman explains. Voluntarily and loud this time, he shouts, “You’re fucking insane ! I pretty goddamn directly told you that I only do what it takes to survive, asshole! Hell, the only reason I got involved in this stupid-ass case is because I told you about it and it seemed like nobody was doing anything. I don’t wanna do it every fucking night!”

His lungs are burning a little, and he’s panting from screaming so much, but the ashamed look on Batman’s face fills him with righteous vindication. Jason runs a hand through his hair, and says, “Listen, man. If all you want is to turn me into a traffic light kid soldier then you can piss right off n’ just drop me back at my place. Fuck, I’ll walk there myself, alright? Just don’t get me involved in this costumed bullshit.” 

Batman flinches and exclaims, “No! That- that wasn’t all!”

Jason looks at him in suspicion and asks, “What else, then?”

Batman considers, for a moment, what to say. “I… I want to give you a safe home, Jason. You’re a kid with a good heart, and you don’t deserve to be living the way you do now. I want to make sure you’re safe.”

Jason searches the man in front of him for any sign of a lie, and quietly asks, “You’re being for real? You’d foster me– no Robin involved?” 

Looking sincere, Batman nods seriously. “No Robin involved, I promise.”

Swallowing the hope swimming up his chest, Jason sighs and gets back in the car. “Fine, but I’m running if you try any shit, got it? I’ll go somewhere you can’t fucking find me.”

Batman nods several times, the smile returning to his face as he gets in the car too, and starts it up. “I’d expect nothing less.”

There is a nauseous feeling distantly rising in Jason’s gut, and he laughs a little hysterically. “Bruce Wayne. Batman is Bruce Wayne. Oh my fucking god, Batman is Bruce Wayne .” 

Batman– Bruce – looks deeply concerned and his hands hover awkwardly around Jason, like he’s not really sure what to do with them. Jason hasn’t been able to appreciate the tech-haven splendour of the Batcave– even if it has a stupid name – with the overwhelming shock of seeing Bruce Wayne when Batman took off his cowl. 

Jason slides down to the floor and sits there with his knees to his chest and his hands in his hair. In the corner of his eye he can see Bruce looking even more concerned. “Oh my god. Bruce Wayne is Batman,” he mutters under his breath for at least the 15th time.

Just then, there’s a sound of a door opening and a british voice calls out, “Master Bruce? Have you returned?” Footsteps echo through the cave as an old man in a perfect suit emerges from the staircase. He pauses upon seeing Jason, and though his expression remains neutral and professional, he suddenly seems to radiate displeasure. 

“Master Bruce, If I seem to be remembering correctly, you’d said that you wouldn’t be taking on another child sidekick after what happened to Master Dick, didn’t you?” His tone is sharp and full of cutting sarcasm. 

Bruce flinches a little, but Jason responds before he can. “I’m not going to be- I don’t want to be Robin– any kind of sidekick. Any kind of hero at all. I already told him that. He- he agreed that he wouldn’t try to make me.” 

The old man looks at him with a faintly surprised expression, mumbling, almost too quiet to hear, “My word, common sense ,” and Jason involuntarily snorts. The man gives him a small smile, walks over, and offers his hand to help Jason up– who takes it and stands, a little wobbly. 

“Well, my dear boy, it is a great relief to know you have no plans on frollicking about at night.” 

“It’s not frollicking , Alfred,” Bruce mutters in mild offense, but looks away nervously when Alfred gives him a pointed look and a raised eyebrow. Jason feels a rush of admiration and respect at the sight, and resolves himself to learn how to do that.

Alfred turns back to Jason and says, “That has reminded me, my sincerest apologies for impoliteness. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, and it is a pleasure to meet you…” he trails off in an unspoken question. 

“Jason. Jason Todd.”

“A pleasure, Master Jason–” Jason shudders at that and feels his face scrunch up a little in discomfort. He tries not to be obvious about it, but Alfred pauses and rephrases, “A pleasure, Jason. ”

The tension in Jason’s body releases and he nods. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr Pennyworth.” 

Alfred waves him off and says, “No need for that, dear boy. Just Alfred will suffice. Now come, we’ll give you a tour of the manor.”

Jason is abruptly reminded that Batman is Bruce Wayne, and he’s in the fucking Wayne Manor right now. He tries ignore the nausea in his gut that grows more and more the further they get in the tour. Oh God, the place is goddamn huge. It has like six different living rooms and a library. A fucking library. Jason makes a note to check it out later when he doesn’t feel like he’s dying. 

Finally, around a half-hour later, Alfred says, “Well, now that we’ve finished the basic tour–” basic!? “–I’ll let you get to bed, lad. My sincerest apologies– had I known you were coming, I would have prepared a proper room. For tonight, you can take a room in the guest quarters. Here we are, my boy. Breakfast will be at ten, tomorrow.”

Jason wishes Alfred a good night and closes the door, locking it. He takes a look around the room. It’s massive, with a queen-sized bed in one corner, a love seat couch and a little table in the other. There’s a door which leads to an equally fancy bathroom, and a large wardrobe next to it. 

Jason sits down on the bed and immediately gets back up. It’s far too soft, he feels like he’s sinking. Walking over to the couch, and sitting there carefully, he lets out a sigh of relief. It still feels too weirdly soft, but it’s better than the bed. He slips his shoes off and lies down, not bothering to grab a blanket– he’s used to not having one. 

He lies there, only falling asleep around an hour later, with the thought What the fuck even was today? playing on loop in his head.

It’s been a few months since Jason was taken in by Bruce. He still struggles sometimes, getting used to his new life, but it’s been good.  

Jason’s been going to school again, which has been phenomenal. History is the bane of his existence, and doing Math sometimes makes his vision blurry and chest tight with memories of his dad– but he’s been excelling in English, and having a lot of fun in all the clubs he’s joined. Bruce had looked shocked when Jason’s first report and activities card came in, muttering something like “Of course, not having to multitask being a vigilante would have let him join this many clubs as well,” with a nostalgic expression on his face. 

Honestly, other than suddenly being filthy rich, the weirdest thing about his new life was Bruce. Jason didn’t really want Bruce to be his new dad, but he’d had the expectation that his foster parent would, well, parent him. Generally, it seemed like Bruce really had no idea what he was doing when it came to Jason, and was sort of floundering. There were many moments when he’d try to parent Jason and end up slipping into being Batman– to which Jason had berated him about every time. It makes Jason sort of concerned about how on earth he used to treat Robin. 

As they’re eating dinner together, and Bruce trails off halfway through saying, in a Batman-esque tone, “Make sure your moves in the Taikwondo club don’t compromise our identities–”, the thought comes full force into Jason’s mind and he blurts it out. 

“Bruce, where the hell is Robin, Dick? What happened to him?” 

Bruce flinches and looks away with a frown and a complicated expression. “I don’t know.”

“... What? ” Jason is blue-screening. Jason’s head is filled with a sort of white noise and he’s blue-screening. “What the fuck does that mean, Bruce?”

“Language,” Bruce mutters exasperatedly. He and Alfred have been trying to improve Jason’s swearing habits– and have been failing rather badly so far whenever Alfred wasn’t in the room. He looks at Jason with curiosity and concern, “I don’t know what happened to Dick or where he is. I know he goes by Nightwing now, but he hasn’t contacted me.”

Jason clenches his his hands in a facsimile prayer, remembering Alfred’s shocked mutter, those months ago, of “ My Lord, common sense ” and feels the lack of it resonate so fully in Bruce’s words. 

“Bruce. Bruce. You’re telling me that your son – I don’t fucking care if you didn’t formally adopt him– left here, what, more than a year ago, now? And you haven’t contacted him at all? Because he didn’t contact first ?”

Bruce shrinks back at Jason’s words, and unsurely replies, ”Yes?”

Jason takes a deep breath, tries to calm himself down, decides that trying to calm himself down right now is stupid, and screams, “ Call him , you fucking dumbass! Oh my fucking god, does he even know I exist!? Go fucking call him and tell him to come home, you idiotic asshole! I don’t want to fucking see you again until you can tell me Dick is coming here soon! ”

Bruce scrambles out of his chair and runs out of the room, just as Alfred calmly walks in. He begins meticulously and silently clearing Bruce’s plate from the table. Jason puts his head in his hands and speaks with a whine, “Alfred, how the hell did you live with those two until I got here. How the hell did you survive? ” 

Alfred looks at him with a wry, miserable, sort of smile and says, “I truly don’t know, my dear boy. I truly don’t.”

An hour later, Bruce walks into Jason and Alfred lamenting to one another about his idiocy over tea, and mutters, “Dick is visiting for lunch on Sunday.” 

Sunday is tomorrow.

Jason and Alfred both frantically– Jason far more visibly than Alfred– go to the kitchen and start planning what to make.

Jason nervously smooths out the folds of his sweater. He’s not nervous about meeting Dick. Sure, the guy may have been Robin , and he may be Jason’s technically-sort-of big brother, and he may be Dick Grayson , Jason’s personal hero, but Jason is not anxious about meeting him. 

It’s almost twelve now, Alfred had called Dick to get an exact time when he was coming, and Jason heads down. He just wants to greet Dick at the door because that’s the polite thing to do, not at all because he’s excited to meet him and terrified of making a bad first impression. 

But when he gets downstairs, he notices that Bruce is nowhere to be seen, and a mix of exasperation and fury courses through him. He has a perfect idea of where the man is, and he’s not happy about it. Jason stomps to the Grandfather clock in Bruce’s study, but makes his way down the stairs to the Batcave silently– he still thinks that’s a stupid name .

“ Bruce. Fucking. Wayne, ” Jason practically growls out, and Bruce startles violently and whips around. He shrinks back at the snarl on Jason’s face. “Wanna fucking tell me why you’re down here instead of at the front door to greet your son ?” 

Bruce swallows thickly and tries to resolve himself as he says, “I- I have a really important case. I need to get it do–” 

“Doooon’t care,” Jason drawls menacingly. He grabs Bruce’s arm and drags him out of the chair. 

“God, you’re such a fucking idiot. Do you think I can’t tell you’re scared of seeing him? That you’re avoiding him? Grow the fuck up, Bruce!” He knows that Bruce could definitely make Jason let go if he wanted, so Jason’s iron grip is unnecessary, but it relieves a bit of the anger in him so he doesn’t bother loosening it. 

He continues berating Bruce while dragging him upstairs. “I mean, fucking seriously? Are you a damn middle schooler avoiding your friend because you accidentally said something mean? Greet him at the goddamn door! I made you invite him over for him , and for you . Him coming over means jack shit if you don’t come to see him, you fucking imbecilic piece of–” Jason cuts off abruptly as he turns and sees Dick staring at him and Bruce with a dropped jaw and a flabbergasted look, Alfred at his side with a twitching mouth. 

Jason’s face starts burning horribly and he mentally curses Bruce with every name under the sun for making this his first impression, until Dick suddenly bursts into uncontrollable laughter. He cackles so hard that he’s clutching his stomach, and gasping for breath with tears in his eyes at the end of the fit. 

Dick looks up with an expression of pure unbridled joy and says, “Oh my God, you’re getting humbled by a baby and you’re just taking it! This is amazing, has he met Babs yet? Please tell me he’s met Babs.” 

Jason bristles a bit, and grumbles, “Not a baby,” but he feels relief flowing through him at Dick not having a bad first impression of him. “Who’s Babs?” 

Dick turns to him with a sunny grin, and chirps, “I’ll have to introduce you two later, we can make it a day out!” Jason forces away the stupid excited grin that tries to make its way onto his face. 

Lunch, overall, goes really nicely. Dick and Jason get to know each other fairly well, and with Jason’s vitriolic glares prompting Bruce– which Dick giggles at every time–, he and Dick had catch up with each other as well. Jason manages to convince Alfred to join them for tea afterwards– Dick looks at him in pure awe for that– and he catches up with Dick too. 

When it’s evening and they’ve finished the tea and snacks, Alfred goes to clean them up in the kitchen. Jason feels pretty satisfied with how today has gone, but he takes one look at Dick and Bruce, and knows that there’s more work to be done. 

He grabs both men’s arms and begins dragging them upstairs. Bruce is already used to his manhandling by now and just follows along, but Dick startles a bit and looks at him in puzzlement. 

Jason takes them up to one of the guest bedrooms, a neutral area, and shoves them inside. He crosses his arms and says, “Talk about your feelings. I don’t care if you have to scream them, but no punching or breaking shit allowed. Come to the library when you’ve sorted out your problems.” 

He focuses on Bruce and adds, with a scowl, “If you try to run around with your words or shut up then I’ll know and I’ll make sure there are consequences. ” When Bruce shudders– remembering the last time he didn’t listen to Jason, most likely– and nods, Jason shuts the door and heads down. 

Alfred is waiting for him with Neopolitan ice cream, Jason’s favourite. He gives Jason a warm embrace and his words are laced with gratitude when he speaks, “Truly, my dear boy, I don’t know where we’d be without you.” 

Jason and Alfred go to the library and finish the ice cream together while reading. It takes around two hours– wherein they can occasionally hear shouting– but when Dick and Bruce finally come to the library with tear stained faces, finding Jason and Alfred, the tension between them is gone, replaced by a tired sort of satisfaction and understanding. 

Bruce ruffles Jason’s hair as he passes, before collapsing next to Alfred, leaning on his shoulder. Dick flops down by Jason, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him into a half hug that makes Jason feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy. He rests his cheek on Jason’s hair and mumbles, “Thanks, Little Wing,” passing out before Jason can say anything. 

Alfred and Jason share a look, both adjusting slightly to accommodate their new leaches comfortably, and return to reading.

Jason stares at the nervous looking kid in front of him, and turns to Dick with venomous eyes. Dick is avoiding Jason’s gaze, but he’s wringing his hands together and sweating bullets. Jason rubs the bridge of his nose and groans. He tries to keep his gaze softer when he looks back at the kid and asks, “What’s your name, again?”

Gulping, the kid speaks with a high-pitched voice, “Uhm, I’m Tim!” 

“And you came here because you think that Batman needs Robin, Tim.”

Tim looks looks even more nervous, but he nods vigorously. “The- the statistics say it all! Batman has grown exponentially more violent ever since Batgirl disappeared from the field, and he’s been becoming steadily more reckless ever since Robin left, two years ago! He needs to have that partner out there who helps him and keeps him in check!” 

Jason frowns a little at the mention of Babs’ leave. Thankfully, the Joker’s bullet had missed his sort-of-sister’s spine by barely inches, and she’d be able to walk again eventually, but she was having to take a long break to recover. He forces his frown to ease at Tim’s look of fear.

“Right. Okay, Tim. Where are your parents, and how old are you?” He lifts a hand to stop Tim from exclaiming something with the indignant look on his face, “I’m not sending you away or dismissing you, I just need to know before I can respond properly.” 

Tim frowns, and answers a little reluctantly, “My parents are globe-trotting somewhere , they get busy for work. And I’m twelve.” But Jason has gotten good at detecting subtle lies, and squints suspiciously at Tim, who looks down and amends, “I’m almost twelve.” 

Jason sighs deeply and considers what to say. He first gestures to the couch across from the one he’s sitting on. “Sit down Tim.” 

He continues speaking when Tim does, “I want you to imagine an eleven year old, any eleven year old than isn’t you. And I want you to think of a profession where it feels normal, where it feels okay to say that an eleven year old should be an adult’s partner . Tim, I want you to think of a profession, where an eleven year old, where a child is expected to be an adult’s partner, be responsible for that adult , and get hurt constantly– and tell me that’s all okay.”

Tim’s brow is is furrowed and his lips are pursed into a frown when Jason is done, he’s looking down at his fists, clenched tightly in his lap. Dick has a similar expression beside him. 

Jason adds with a gentler tone, “But I can tell that you’re a smart kid, and that you really want to help. What do you think of something like supporting Batman remotely?” 

It’s something that Babs is experimenting with at the moment, but doesn’t see herself continuing once she’s recovered. If they could make sure Tim wasn’t trying to do vigilante-ing on his own, continue having the remote help that was proving extremely valuable, and let Tim live out his obvious needs to help people? It’d be a pretty miraculous three birds with one stone. 

Tim looked up at him with adorably hopeful eyes. “You’d let me?”

Jason gets up, ruffles his hair, and says, “Sure, kid. We’d have to work out some stuff to make sure it doesn’t hurt your regular life, and you’ll need some training, but I could see it happening. Now go downstairs and let Alfred know that you’ll be needing a room.”

Tim gives Jason a beaming smile, nods aggressively, and runs out of the study. As soon as he’s out of the room, Jason places a crushing grip on Dick’s arm– keeping his older brother from booking it like he’d started moving to. Jason turns to him with a smile that looks more like a baring of teeth and grits out, “So, you were too much of a fucking pussy to tell the kid no on your own and brought him all the way here to make me do it instead?”

Dick is avoiding looking at him again and seems a mixture of terrified and guilty, “Yes! Yes, okay, yeah! You’re way more convincing than me with things like this and you’re scary about us doing stupid shit! You were gonna be able to tell him no way better than I could, okay!? And you did! I was right!”  

Jason lets go of Dick’s arm and heaves a sighing breath, running a hand through his hair. Dick glances between him and the door that Tim left from, and quietly asks, “We’re adopting him, aren’t we?”

Jason doesn’t even hesitate when he confirms, “Oh, definitely.”

Jason wakes up slowly to someone shaking him and saying his name in a slightly panicked manner. When he registers the tone, he jolts awake, suddenly worried that Tim has seen something horrible again and came to him in a panic. 

But he sees Bruce instead, looking completely frazzled.

“Th’ fuck? Wha’ happen’?” He asks drowsily.

Bruce gulps a bit and he looks like he’s steeling himself to say something he’s terrified to say, “We– Tim and I, uh, made a mistake and need your help to, um, sort it out. Please come with me to the Batcave.” 

Jason glares at his second dad with suspicion. Knowing full well that Bruce won’t answer any questions he has, Jason rubs his eyes, mourns any more sleep he could have gotten tonight, and gets out of bed.

He follows Bruce to his study, glaring even more suspiciously when his dad pulls on the cowl and hands Jason a spare domino before changing the clock’s hands. As soon as the door opens, Jason can hear shouting from Tim and an unfamiliar voice. 

He books it down the stairs, barely taking the time to put on the domino, and he sees a short blonde teen in a homemade-looking purple costume, handcuffed to a railing and seeming terrified as hell. Tim is a few feet away from her with another spare domino on, a slightly bleeding head, and an awkwardly panicked posture. 

The blonde notices Jason and clams up halfway through screaming something like “Just fucking let me go!” 

Jason grimaces, and mumbles, “Fuckin’ shit on a goddamn stick.” The blonde looks a mixture of faintly surprised and relieved at Jason’s Crime Alley accent.

Jason glances between his younger brother and the cuffed teen, then says “Okay, both of you tell me what happened– Oracle first, then you, Blondie.”

The blonde looks a bit indignant at having to wait their turn, but stays quiet. Tim stutters as he says, “B-Batman was tracking Cluemaster and saw, uh, them limping away on a rooftop. He approached but they attacked and then passed out. And they looked like a kid so I told B to bring them back here for medical attention. And, uh, they woke up while we were trying to assess their injuries, and… uh… hit me with a piece of brick we didn’t notice being in their hand. B restrained them to the railing because of that and we were both sorta panicking and thought to just get you?” 

By the end of Tim’s unsure statement, Jason turns to give Bruce a withering glare, making the man shudder. He looks at the teen again, and sees them looking a little less scared, but still full of tension. “What’s your name, Blondie?”

“Spoiler,” they respond in a clipped voice.

“Okay, Spoiler,” Jason accepts easily. Spoiler looks faintly surprised again at that, but Jason knows the importance of being able to control something in situations like this, even just the name that people use. “What’s your side?”

“Well, I was trackin’ Cluemaster, first. Got caught up in stopping a mugger earlier and got a little banged up from that, but I had a fuckin’ lead and was following it. Then that asshole –” they gesture with their chin to Bruce, “–scares the shit out of me appearing outta the shadows like a damn kid’s monster, so obviously I attack him. And I can feel myself passin’ out now, so I grab whatever I can and hold it tight. When I wake up, those two creepy fucks are hovering over me and my mask is off. I hit the nearest one with apparently a piece of brick and try to book it. Next thing I know I’m tied to this thing and they won’t fuckin’ let me go! ” 

Jason nods approvingly. “Smart, you did a lot of shit right, Spoiler,” he praises. Spoiler’s lip wobbles a bit, their eyes look watery, and they nod back. 

He turns to see Tim and Bruce looking equally guilty, and sternly says, “B, give me the key and both of you get out. Oracle, treat your head wound with one of the regular first aid kits. Go upstairs.” Both Bruce and Tim try protesting that Spoiler could be dangerous and that they’re too injured to leave, but Jason snarls out, “ Now, ” and the two of them reluctantly comply. 

When the pair is gone, Spoiler looks far less tense, though their jaw is still set and their posture is still stiff. Jason raises his hands in a gesture of peace, holding nothing but the keys. 

“Here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna go open the door to the Cave over there–”  he points and makes sure that they can clearly see where it is, “–so that you can run away as soon as I unlock the cuffs. The tunnels are a bit long but I swear on the Alley that we ain’t gonna follow you. Or, after I unlock the cuffs, you can let me treat whatever’s got you fucked up. And, you can spend the night here, we can drop you off where you need to go, or we can give you some cash for a bus and you can head out on your own. Any time while I’m treatin’ you, you’re free to run if it feels like y’need to… Got all that?” 

Spoiler gulps and nods jerkily. Jason walks to the door for the tunnels and opens it, then walks back to Spoiler and– making sure that they can see every move he’s making clearly– unlocks their cuffs. As soon as their hands are free, they nimbly jump back a few feet and stare at Jason scrutinisingly. Jason stays completely still, making no move to follow or leave. After a tense few moments, Spoiler nods jerkily again, and approaches Jason. 

“The Med-Bay is this way,” Jason says while turning around and walking towards it. He doesn’t look back and check on Spoiler even though he can’t hear their footsteps following him. He sees that they have followed him when he gets to the Med-Bay, and instructs them to sit on one of the beds as he takes out supplies. 

Jason examines Spoiler clinically, but gently, making sure to never touch them too hard or for too long, not mentioning it when they flinch. “It seems like it’s mostly bruises and scrapes, but your left wrist and right ankle are sprained. You cool with me treating you, Spoiler?” 

“Steph. Stephanie Brown. She/Her.” 

Jason looks up sharply at that, staring at Spoiler– Stephanie – in slight surprise. She seems apprehensive. Jason slowly reaches up and takes off his domino, watching in amusement as Steph’s eyes widen. “Jason Todd. You cool with me treating you, Steph? ”

Her jaw drops and she faintly says, “Oh my God… if you’re Jason Todd then that means Batman is– Oh my God. Yeah. Fuck. Yeah, you can treat me. Holy shit, holy fuck.” 

Jason smirks a little and goes about taking care of Steph, letting her work through the shock, feeling a little vindicated that someone else was as baffled by the revelation as he was. When he’s done, he pats her shoulder a little to snap her out of the daze she’s in, and says, “What do you want to do now? It’s a Saturday night– or Sunday morning– and the buses are closed right now. We have more than enough space for you to stay the night. And I’ll be the one driving you if you want to go home, instead.” 

Steph giggles a little hysterically and whispers, “Wayne fucking Manor, no shit y’all have enough space.” Jason snorts at that. Steph gives him a tired but cheeky grin and says, “I’ll stay the night, when the fuck else am I gonna get a chance to stay at Wayne Manor ?” 

Mentally, Jason responds, Oh, you have no idea. He closes the door to the tunnels, having left it open all this time, and leads Steph upstairs. When he opens the door to the study, Bruce and Tim shoot up from where they were sitting on a couch, and look nervously at Jason– unable to see Steph. Jason crosses his arms and scowls at them. “She’s stayin’ the night. You’re gonna go the fuck to sleep and apologize like your life depends on it tomorrow morning, got it?” 

The tension drains out of his brother and dad rapidly, and they nod vigorously, making their way out of the room. Jason takes Steph to one of the guest rooms– knowing full well that he and Alfred will have to prepare a proper room for her soon– and tells her, “The doors are lockable. Sleep well, Blondie.” 

She smiles at him, full of teeth, and Jason gives into the urge to ruffle her hair. He wishes her a good night, ignoring her indignant squawks, and goes back to his room, passing out as soon as he hits the bed.

Jason lets out a long groan of frustration when Bruce bursts into his room with a familiar frantic expression on his face. 

They’d only barely managed to convince Steph that going out and fighting crime as a child was bad, actually. It had taken months . Jason had to force her to tag along with him on the days he went out to help the Alley kids, Bruce had to sign her up for half of Jason’s athletic clubs, and Tim had to make her help him with Wayne Foundation Charity Projects ( and start dating her )– so that they could make sure she was helping the community, feel like she was helping the community, and get out all her excess energy. 

When they found out that Crystal Brown wasn’t a neglectful piece of shit like Tim’s parents had been, they immediately informed her about the whole vigilante operation. It had taken what seemed to be a long and tearful argument for Stephanie to explain why she’d started going out at night, and for Crystal to understand her properly, but the pair had come out of it a lot closer. They had helped Crystal with her addiction, and she’d begun joining Jason and Alfred in lamenting the lack of common sense that the rest of the family had. 

So Jason runs a hand down his face, saves his college application drafts, and gets up to follow Bruce to the Batcave as he flounders to explain. “I- I didn’t bring her to the cave this time. I have no idea how she got here. If I’m not looking directly at her then it’s hard to even see her!” 

Bruce continues with similar comments all the way to the clock. He doesn’t pull his cowl on, making Jason look at him curiously. Bruce just shrugs in confusion, saying, “She’s already seen my face?”

Jason sighs and makes his way down. As he reaches the Cave, he looks around and doesn’t see anyone there. Jason’s brow furrows a bit, but then he startles violently as a girl– short but features seeming around Jason’s age, and dressed in a ragged cloak– seemingly appears out of nowhere. 

“ Holy fuck! Give a guy some warning !” The girl continues approaching, ignoring him, but Jason senses something off. He doesn’t make any comment when she gets close and studies him, even though it feels like she’s staring through his soul. 

All of a sudden, her entire posture softens, and she leans her head on his chest, making small hicupping sounds and breathing raggedly. There’s a small but growing patch of wetness on his shirt, but Jason just tentatively wraps his arms around the girl. 

In his periphery, he can see Bruce looking a bit worried, but far more relaxed at the sight. Jason gestures to the stairwell with his head and mouths ‘I’ll take care of it.’ Bruce nods and leaves. 

Jason stays hugging the girl and rubbing her back until she stops shaking so much. When she finally looks up at him with red-rimmed eyes, he takes her hand and leads her to the chairs at the Bat Computer. Jason has a hunch about what’s happening, so he grabs a notebook and two pens from a nearby drawer before joining her. 

Just in case, he tries a few different languages first. Asking things in Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, French, and some others. The girl looks progressively more frustrated as he continues asking, so Jason finally sighs and opens up the notebook. He crudely sketches a stick figure and a little bubble with “ Words” inside it, then hands it to the girl. She takes the other pen and scribbles all over the speech bubble. 

Jason flips to the next page, and draws an ear, putting a little cross over it and adding a question mark beside it. The girl copies the drawing of the ear, but circles it instead, turning back to the previous page and adding more scribbles to the speech bubble. 

Jason feels a wave of sad understanding, and looks up when the girl places her hand on his and looks at him in worry. He flips a few more pages and once again sketches a figure with a speech bubble. He adds a little smiley face and a little frowny face by its side and taps between them a bit. The girl circles the smiley face a few times. 

“Okay. Okay,” Jason breathes out. He sketches out two stick figures, one with curly hair and the other with longer straight hair, speaking as he does, “I’m Jason,” he labels the one with curly hair, “do you have a name?” He underlines a spot near the other figure and adds a question mark. The girl looks at him sorrowfully and shakes her head. Jason frowns, and asks carefully, “Do you… want a name?” She looks at him in confusion and Jason’s nose scrunches up a little frustratedly, making her smile. 

He adds a little squiggle in the empty underlined area, then draws another smiley and frowny face next to it. “Do you want– would it make you happy to have a name,” he taps the smiley face a few times, “or would it make you sad?” He taps the frowny face. The girl looks up at him sharply, with wide and painfully hopeful eyes, scrutinizing him again, before nodding fiercely and circling the smiley face many times over. 

Jason nods seriously, and says, “Alright, give me a bit.” He leans back in the chair and thinks carefully for at least ten minutes, the girl staying still and waiting patiently. Finally, he leans forward again and says, “Cassandra, Cass.” 

Her eyes water again, and her lip wobbles. Cassandra nods vigorously. She speaks for the first time since Jason’s met her, “Kuh- Kah- Kus–” 

“Cassandra. Kuh-Sand-Ra,” Jason guides her through the word gently.

She fails quite a few times, but neither she nor Jason get frustrated, and he keeps guiding her, before she softly says, “ Cassandra. ”

Cassandra’s tears fall, and she whispers her name over and over again. Jason pulls her in for a half-hug and pats her shoulder comfortingly. 

He spends the rest of the night with her, conversing through a mixture of drawings, gestures, and words. Cassandra tells him about herself (Jason pushes aside the bubbling rage that appears when she sketches a series of images– a man and a child in some action poses, the child and a bloody figure, the child crying and running away– to deal with later) and Jason tells her about himself and the family, who they are and what they do. 

It’s already around seven when they decide to wrap up. Jason takes Cassandra upstairs and shows her a guest bedroom, but she looks at him with a pout. He knows that look very well from Dick, and occasionally Tim and Steph, so he sighs and takes her to his room instead. She smiles, a mixture of joy and gratitude, when he hands her some of his clothes and sends her to the bathroom. 

Jason settles into bed and closes his eyes, drifting off easily after a warm weight rests on his arm, leaning into him.

Jason’s always gotten along shockingly well with Talia. Dick had interacted with her far more, due to his time as Robin, but their relationship was more of a respectful and bickering mutual dislike. Jason, on the other hand, had met her for the first time when he was almost twelve– finding her having appeared out of nowhere in the Batcave– while she was flirting/harassing Bruce playfully, and they’d struck an instant connection. 

She enjoyed joking that he was her favourite step-son, and Jason liked saying that she was only his second favourite step-mom. They had similar opinions on various topics, and similar tastes in food and literature. Jason’s interest in learning various languages, and his desire to learn the League dialect of Arabic out of curiosity also made her fond of him. Talia had sort of physically faded out of his life around eight years ago, but they would keep in contact through texts and calls, much to Bruce and Dick’s displeasure. 

So when Jason’s phone rings and he sees that it’s Talia calling, he just casually picks it up. 

“Hello, my dear favourite step-son,” Talia greets suavely.

Jason’s mouth twitches and he replies in an equally suave manner, “Hello, dearest second favourite step-mother.” Upon hearing that, Dick puts down his switch and groans loudly from his place on the couch next to Jason. Jason lightly shoves him and speaks again, “So, any reason for the call or did you just miss hearing my charming voice, Mother?” 

Dick shivers dramatically and grumbles, “Ew. Don’t call her that.” Jason shoves him again. 

Talia’s voice is laced with amusement as she replies, “Actually, I did have a reason this time, though your charming voice is quite the bonus, Son. I have a surprise for you, you should come outside.” 

Suddenly, the call is a bit alarming. Jason’s smile falters as he gets up and leaves the room, and Dick concernedly follows him. Surprises in this family, and especially from a woman like Talia, aren’t something to be taken lightly. “What kind of surprise are we talking about here, T?”

“Well, I have noticed that you have quite the penchant for collecting siblings,” Jason’s brain freezes at that, despite his body starting to sprint. Dick has an alarmed look and he keeps pace with Jason.

“T. Talia. Dearest second favourite step-mother Mom of mine, please tell me you didn’t –” 

“I’m sure that you two will get on swimmingly, he is my favourite blood son, after all,” Talia cuts him off cheerfully, and hangs up. 

Jason pockets his phone just before throwing the front doors of the manor open and running down the driveway. Dick follows and starts shouting, “Jason! What the hell did she say!? What’s outsi–” both of them skid to a halt when they reach the gate of the estate and see a small boy standing right outside, surrounded by a few different luggages and duffel bags. His features are a perfect mix of Talia and Bruce. “–Oh.”

The boy scowls at them. “You two are… Grayson and Todd?” 

Both of them nod dumbly, staring at the boy with dropped jaws and round eyes. 

“Cease your foolish gawking and let me inside. I am Damian Al Ghul Wayne, and I am The Bat’s heir.”

Damian had been adjusting surprisingly well to life in Gotham… mostly. 

Despite his sharp and fancy manner of speech, he wasn’t actually too rude or mean. He seemed to have a strange hate for Tim and Steph, and a fondness towards Dick. It was obvious that he was desperate for Bruce’s approval at all times, and Jason had to take Bruce aside and give him explicit directions on how to treat Damian– knowing very well that Bruce would fuck the kid’s self esteem up accidentally if left all alone. Talia had dropped him off right at the start of summer break, when the whole family was in Gotham, so Damian wasn’t enrolled in school yet– something that everyone was a bit grateful they didn’t have to deal with at the moment. 

The only real problem was– “I still do not understand your senseless reasoning on why I shouldn’t be joining Father during patrols!” 

Dick grimaces and says, in a stilted way, “ Well, Jason and Alfred are the ones in charge here, Dami. You really oughta ask them instead.”

Damian gives a frustrated growl and exclaims, “Why does everyone say that!? Pennyworth is a mere butler, and Todd has never even been a warrior!” He stomps over to Jason, trying to read his book peacefully on the opposite sofa. “Todd, I demand that you permit me to join Father during patrols! I am highly skilled and would provide excellent support!” 

Jason calmly flips to the next page, “You sayin’ that Dick isn’t a good enough support?” 

Damian flinches a little and immediately denies, “No! Grayson is a perf- uh, an adequate support. But he will soon be preoccupied once this Summer Break ends.”

“And so will you. You’ll be busy with school.” 

“I will not lower myself to participate in an arbitrary and meaningless education like that when I could be a warrior instead!”

Jason gently puts his book down and slowly turns his head to face Damian, who starts looking nervous. Jason’s eyebrows are raised and his mouth is set into a firm line, his entire being radiates disapproval. Dick reels back a little and mutters, “ Oh, fuck ,” under his breath. 

“Damian Al Ghul Wayne, answer me this. Are you, or are you not, Bruce Wayne’s heir and Talia Al Ghul’s precious blood son?”

Damian looks a bit afraid and a bit confused, like he’s not sure if this is a trick question. “Yes… I am.”

Jason sits up, and asks, “Let me clarify. Are you, or are you not, the blood son of Talia Al Ghul, a woman of high education, with a Masters in Psychology, a Doctorate in History, and Bachelors in several other fields?” 

Damian looks down, his face starting to redden, “I am…”

Jason leans forward and continues, “And let me clarify again. Are you, or are you not, the blood son and heir of Bruce Thomas Wayne. Named after his father, one of the most skilled  and famous surgeons in the US during his time. Bruce, who’s entire reason for becoming Batman happened when he was Ten , and yet completed not only middle and high school, but several degrees for various subjects around the world, before returning home– fully armed with intellect and physical prowess– to become Batman?”

Damian’s voice is barely audible and his face is burning as he replies, “I am.”

Jason nods, “Then with your heritage– and your pride over your heritage– being so educated, you would dare tell me that school is arbitrary and meaningless? ” 

Damian doesn’t reply, so Jason finishes his piece, “You will be going to school, you will wait until you are an adult before becoming a vigilante, and you will focus on school before becoming an adult, until and unless you find a different– safe– form of education that you’re more interested in. Is that clear?”

Damian nods shakily, and Jason sighs, releasing the tension in his body and the room. He places a hand on Damian’s shoulder and the kid’s head jerks up to look at Jason. His eyes are shiny and Jason feels a bit guilty at the sight. “I’m sorry for being so harsh, kid. But we all care about you so much, we want you to be safe and happy. If the regular school system really ends up not working out for you, there are other options, okay? But nobody wants to rush you into a dangerous job that practically takes over your life when you haven’t even had a childhood yet. Not even Talia, that’s why she sent you here, y’know. Mother knows damn well that I would put a stop to any vigilante bull- uh, stuff .” 

Damian sniffs a bit and nods. “I… suppose I can understand that,” and it looks to Jason like he genuinely does, that he isn’t saying it just to get out of the conversation. 

Jason gives Damian a smile and lightly pushes him into Dick’s arms behind him. “Go shopping with Dick and get something fun. It’ll make you feel better, and we’re more than rich enough to afford whatever you want, so go wild.” 

Dick picks Damian up– ignoring his indignant shriek– and places his little brother on his shoulders. He starts chattering about where they could go and what they could get, as they make their way out of the room. Jason watches on fondly and lies back on the sofa, resuming his book, relieved that things went well. 

He can’t bring himself to feel regret for telling his youngest brother to go wild, even when Dick and Damian come home with five kittens in a box, cradled gently in Damian’s arms, and a mountain of cat supplies being held precariously in Dick’s arms. After all, Damian has the softest and most vulnerable look they’ve seen on him since he arrived.

“I’m home!” Jason calls out as he unlocks the door to the Manor. He’s immediately met by  crashing sounds, dozens of stomping footsteps, and just as many shouting voices. Jason sighs and grieves a possible peaceful weekend at home– not that he’s had one yet. 

He watches in amusement and exasperation as Bruce tries to shove his way past almost all of his children, shouting at the top of his lungs, “ They’re liars! Don’t believe them! ”, as everyone else screams various different things, all overlapping and unintelligible. 

Jason gives them all a pointed look and says, “Not even a hello?”

The whole room falls silent and his family looks away in embarrassment. Jason barely startles as Cass appears out of nowhere and wraps him in a hug. Jason hugs her back, lifting her slightly, and she whispers in his ear, “Hello, welcome back. This week has been interesting.” 

That’s almost never good when it comes to this family, so Jason heaves a sighing breath and looks back at everyone else. It seems like Alfred is in the kitchen and Babs is at work– Bruce, Dick, Tim, Steph, and Damian are all lined up. 

Finally, it’s Damian that breaks the silence, exclaiming, “Father is adopting another child and didn’t want to inform you!” and it’s chaos all over again. 

“That’s a lie! I’m not adopting him and I definitely would’ve informed you!” , “B-man is soo lying! He wants to snatch this kid bad! ”, “Father would not have told you, Todd!”

Jason raises a hand to quiet them, “Is this about Bernard? I thought we already said Bruce would never adopt the kid since that’d be hella weird, and that he counts as family for the rest of us anyways?” 

Tim scoffs a little and says, “ No , this isn’t about Bruce’s secret desire to adopt my–” 

“ Our, ” Steph cuts him off with a glower, and Tim sheepishly corrects, “Bruce’s secret desire to adopt our boyfriend– sorry Stephie. He found a new kid!” 

Dick leans on Bruce and adds, “It’s painfully obvious he wants the kid, Little Wing. He’s saying that he’s just going to foster him but we all know how that goes,” all of the children nod sagely– even Damian– and Bruce’s shoulders ride up in shame.

Jason gives Bruce a questioning look and his dad begins to stutter out an explanation, “I am just going to foster him! He’s alone right now and he hates the system. He just went through a horrible experience, his parents were Joker Gassed!” 

Jason’s face is fixed in a deadpan stare, and he counts on his fingers as he lists off, “Alone or lonely, check, already in the system, check, tragic backstory involving his parents, check–”

“His parents are alive! The doctors said they’ll recover fine in a few months and he can go back to them! I can’t adopt him if his parents are alive! ” Everyone in the room gives Bruce withering glares, looking back and forth between him and Stephanie. Bruce shrinks back a little and mumbles, “I can’t adopt adopt him if his parents are alive…”

Jason rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs deeply, “Bruce, I’m not mad. Just let me meet the kid.” 

Bruce’s entire demeanor lights up with relief, and Damian gives him a subtle scowl. Oh, so Bruce fucked something up and this was Damian’s payback, I’ll have to look into that, Jason notes to himself as he follows Bruce into the dining hall. When he enters, he can see a boy– tall, with dark skin, and medium length braids– setting the table. He startles slightly as notices Jason and the entourage behind him. 

The kid gives him a friendly smile and offers his hand, saying, “Hey, I’m Duke! You must be Jason, right? They tell me you and Alfred are in charge around here!” 

“They tell me that too,” Jason says as he takes Duke’s hand and shakes it lightly. The kid’s grip is firm, and Jason notices now that his body is rather built. Jason’s eyes narrow in slight suspicion.

Duke seems to notice, as he waves his free hand dismissively and says, “Oh, don’t worry. I know all about the vigilante stuff and I really don’t want anything to do with it. I know you’re all about that too.”

Jason’s eyes widen comically and he mutters, far louder than he intends to, “Oh my God, common sense. ”

Duke bursts into surprised laughter, and the rest of the family behind him protest in offense, but Jason ignores them as he places his hands on Duke’s shoulders and earnestly says, “Thank you. Thank you. ”

Jason moves into the kitchen, listening mildly as his family continues objecting his comment, then gradually move on to other topics of discussion. He greets Alfred with a quick hug, and begins helping him prepare lunch. 

An hour later, as Jason watches Steph, Tim, and Bernard bicker over whether the original Robin costume was cool or not, as Jason watches Dick laugh so hard at something that Babs says that he chokes on his bread, as Jason watches Bruce and Crystal seriously explaining VHS tapes to Damian who looks at them in bewilderment, as Jason watches Cass and Duke quietly and joyfully discuss something, as Jason watches Alfred finally settle down at the table to eat– Jason grins without abandon.

He can’t think of a single place he’d rather be, instead of with this batshit insane family of his.