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In Bruce’s defense, it started as an accident.
He’d been in the Watchtower’s laboratory working on breaking down a new Gotham compound he didn’t have the equipment to deal with in the Cave. Barry had been doing his own research across the room while Hal pestered him. Their bickering had gone on for a while now. Barry had been playing along at first, but now he’d lapsed into silence. Hal was still leaning over his shoulder, spinning his own chair, and complaining about boredom. The normal.
Now, Bruce had gone more than an advisable amount of time without sleep. All of the kids were home for Alfred’s birthday and with that came more petty arguments and not-so-petty fights than he was used to dealing with in recent times. In addition to that, Jason had picked up this chemical in one of his patrols and the two of them had been working on it for the past two days.
With this in mind, it’s maybe not so surprising that his gut reaction is to snap, “Jason, settle down!”
Both of the other heroes turn to him. “Who’s Jason?” Hal asks, giving up his spinning for the more interesting new topic.
Bruce’s shoulders tense imperceptibly. Well. He hadn’t meant to reveal the existence of his children to the League today, but ten years of working with them had led to a measure of trust. It wouldn’t be the end of the world to reveal this much. “My son.”
The two heroes turn fully to him now. “Son?” Barry asks, shocked.
Bruce nods. “You reminded me of him for a moment. My apologies.” He stands to leave now. Perhaps a nap is in his near future.
“Wait. Wait a second.” Hal calls as the two stand up to follow him. Bruce has stepped out into the main room now. Clark is reading through a report on the couch while Diana eats her lunch.
“Tell us something about him.” Barry says.
“About who?” Diana asks between bites of her lunch.
“His son. Jason.” Hal informs the room. “Spooky said I reminded him of him.”
Bruce disagrees with the specific phrasing, but he doesn’t correct Hal. He’s regretting revealing that tidbit of information now that it means he has to answer more questions.
“You have a son?” Clark asks him. He seems politely interested, if not slightly hurt to have not already known. Diana focuses on him now too.
“Yes. I have a son named Jason.”
“And?” Hal asks. “Tell us something else about him.”
“Yes Batman. Tell us something about your boy.” Diana tells him.
And look. Maybe Bruce is feeling a little bit petty because Jason is more than half of the reason he’s had so little sleep. Not because of the case, no he’ll always help his kids with those. No, Jason has been relentlessly antagonizing his younger siblings. Tim had even taken to sleeping in the office to avoid the pranks his older brother had been setting up.
So he answers. “He’s your biggest fan. Sleeps in Wonder Woman pajamas almost every night.” It’s not even a lie.
It also in no way satisfies the League’s curiosity.
In the following weeks, the League takes to asking him little questions about Jason.
“Why Wonder Woman?” from Hal.
Bruce shrugs. “He says she’s cool.”
“What is your boy like?” from Diana.
“He’s a sweet kid. He loves to read.” It seems like the easiest explanation for Jason’s jason-ness.
It’s when Clark asks, “Is he in school yet?” that Bruce realizes they think Jason is a child. It’s not entirely surprising. He himself is still in his thirties and the League has no reason to expect Batman of all people was a young parent.
Sue him, he plays along.
“He just started last week. He’s enjoying his reading class.” Not a lie. Jason had chosen to start a degree at GothamU recently. Reading was really just a simplified word for 19th Century English Literature.
“How do you balance it? Superheroing and being a parent?” That one he can answer, even if it’s been years since Jason was young enough to need supervision. He tells Barry it’s a combination of a support system and careful scheduling.
On and on it goes. He’s honestly enjoying talking about his son more than he thought he would. The League are his friends, as hesitant as he has been to admit that, and his family is the most important thing in the world to him. So he answers their questions.
It comes to a head nearly a month after he first accidentally revealed Jason’s existence.
The League is holding a meeting. The usual members, the Trinity, Hal, Barry, and J’onn are sat round the meeting table. J’onn had not chosen to take up the same line of questioning as the other members, but he’d absorbed the answers all the same. Bruce had the sneaking suspicion that he already knew.
The meeting was nearing its end. Bruce was closing out his presentation. “Any questions?”
Diana raises a hand and he nods his head towards her in acknowledgement. She crosses her hands in front of herself on the table. “We would like to extend an invitation to your boy to visit the Watchtower. We want to meet your child, Batman.”
When he glances around the table, the rest of the League are nodding in agreement.
“Please, Batman.” Clark says. “You know so much about us, we’d love to get to know you a little bit better. Even if you still keep your identity a secret.”
He’s almost flattered they care so much. Still, to bring Jason to the Watchtower? He can only imagine how that will go. And imagining it amuses him, so the idea is growing on him. Bruce pictures the League’s reaction to his adult son in his full Red Hood glory on the Watchtower.
Bruce is nodding before he realizes he’s even agreed. Diana is smiling now, and the rest of the League are quick to follow suit.
“Great!” Barry says, clapping his hands together. “We can’t wait to meet the mini Bat!”
Bruce can’t wait either.
He tells Jason about the invitation over dinner.
“You hear that?” Jason gloats, pointing at his siblings around the table. “He told them about me first. That makes me the certified favorite.”
“I don’t have a favorite.” All of the children roll their eyes.
“And,” he continues, still gloating. “I get to go to the Watchtower.”
Dick helpfully does not point out that he’s been there too, though the League didn’t know he was Bruce’s child. Bruce also does not mention that the League expects a five year old, not a twenty year old vigilante. That little secret will be for his amusement only.
And maybe Dick’s, the way he’s looking at Bruce with barely disguised amusement.
He’s in the kitchen making himself a cup of coffee later that evening when Dick walks up to him. “Wally told me that his Uncle Barry thinks Batman has a six year old.”
Bruce snorts into his mug. “It wasn’t on purpose, trust me.”
Dick rolls his eyes. “I’m sure. I’m assuming Jason doesn’t know?”
“He does not.”
His son nods. “Make sure your suit is recording.” He walks out of the kitchen.
The next day Jason meets him down in the Cave.
“So old man, finally going senile?” Jason asks with a laugh.
“Hardly.”
Bruce spins his computer chair around to face him. Jason is in uniform, helmet under one arm and mask off.
“I can’t think of any other reason I would be the first of your brood to get an invite to the Watchtower.” Maybe in the past he would have said this with real venom. Now, there’s a laugh in Jason’s voice as he leans back against the computer desk.
“It just happened that way,” Bruce starts. “But then I couldn’t stop myself from talking all about my baby.”
Jason rolls his eyes. Hard. “Ha ha. You think you’re so funny.”
“I know I’m funny.” He replies. He really can’t wait for Jason to get the irony of his statement.
Jason snorts. He claps a hand to Bruce’s back before he heads to the locker room to shower and dress down into casual clothes.
The meeting is scheduled for later that week. Bruce and Jason are both in uniform. Never before has the sight of Jason in his uniform brought Bruce so close to the brink of laughter. He looks at all six feet of his son, wrapped in black tactical gear and leather, guns strapped to his thighs, blood red helmet gleaming. He cannot wait for this meeting.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Let’s go old man.”
Clark is sure the rest of the League is just as nervous and excited as he is as they wait for Batman and his son to arrive for their meeting. For once, everyone had arrived early. Barry is fidgeting in his seat and Hal is tapping out different rhythms on the table. Clark himself is waiting for any hint of sound from the zeta tubes.
Finally, he hears the zeta’s voice announcing Batman and a visitor. He strains his hearing, expecting to hear a quicker heartbeat to accompany Batman’s slow and steady one. Instead, he finds two similar heartbeats progressing down the hallway.
He frowns in concentration, and Diana notices. “Is something wrong, Clark?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing’s wrong really. I just didn’t expect-”
Batman walks into the room alone. Everyone’s eyes turn to him, expectant.
“Where’s the kid Spooky?” Hal asks.
Batman is still standing in front of the door. He reaches a hand out through the doorway behind him as if to tell someone to wait. “I would like to introduce you all to my son, Jason.” With that he steps aside.
A tall man with broad shoulders steps in. He’s huge, matching Batman in stature with tough tactical gear and thick soled boots. He’s practically bristling with weapons, including several visible guns. It’s topped off with a gleaming red helmet.
Clark feels himself blanch. The League around him has gone similarly still and silent with shock. Diana is the first to recover.
“Hello Jason. I am Wonder Woman, you may call me Diana.”
All of a sudden, the tension is shattered. The man lurches forward with a hand outstretched towards the Amazon. “Hello Diana, it’s an absolute honor to meet you. I’m your biggest fan.”
She takes his hand courteously. Clearly, the shock hasn’t dulled her excitement to meet the Batman’s progeny. “We have heard so much about you.”
“All good things I hope?”
Batman snorts and Clark finally turns his attention back to the man. Batman is hard to read, but now he’s practically vibrating with restrained laughter. Barry and Hal haven’t quite shaken off their shock yet and that only seems to amuse Batman more.
“Only good things, I promise Jay.” He says to his son. “They think you’re a perfect child.” His shoulders are shaking visibly now.
Jason seems to ignore his father in favor of introducing himself to the rest of the League. He pulls his helmet off to reveal black hair with a streak of white in the front. He looks young, not more than twenty, but Clark has to wonder at Batman’s age now. It had been not easy to accept, but believable at least that Batman had a child. But an adult son?
Jason sets the helmet on the table and turns to face the rest of the League. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I’m Jason, but most people know me as the Red Hood.”
The name is familiar in a not entirely pleasant way, but the League ignores it for a moment. There are more important issues.
“You are Batman’s son?” Hal asks aghast.
“Yes?” Jason asks, appearing confused under his mask.
Barry gathers himself. “How?”
Jason’s confusion doesn’t leave his face. “How do most people have children? You knew I existed or you wouldn’t have invited me here.”
Batman twitches.
“Yeah, but we thought you were a kid. How does Batman have an adult son?” Hal asks. Clark’s glad someone had the guts.
Jason turns slowly to face his father. “Did you tell them I was a kid?” He asks incredulously.
Batman is openly laughing now. The League stares at him in their most open display of shock yet. Jason just looks irritated.
“Quit it Dad! Did you actually tell them I was a child? You didn’t think to tell me that before we came here?”
Batman settles enough to answer his son’s question. “No I didn’t. They assumed that themselves.”
Jason’s whole body shifts with what Clark can only assume is an extreme eye roll. The reaction seems justified to him.
“You could have at least told me.”
Batman shakes his head. “This was better.”
Barry and Hal appear struck. Regardless, they gather themselves enough to address their guest. “Either way, it’s nice to meet you.” Barry says.
Clark too composes himself. “Yes, it’s nice to meet you Jason. We have heard good things about you. I’m glad you could make it up here.”
Jason uncrosses his arms. “Yeah it’s cool to meet you all.” He walks over to elbow his father hard in the arm. “No thanks to him, apparently.”
Batman puts his hand on Jason’s shoulder. “I was glad to have the opportunity to talk about my son. I thought you deserved to finally meet him.”
Jason nods. “Though you’ve already met my older brother.”
The League dissolves into chaos once again as Barry sums up their thoughts.
“Older brother?!”