The window let out an ominous scraping sound as Jason slid it open. He crept inside, out of the cold air and into the quiet warmth of the manor. He had snuck out of the same window plenty of times and it had never squeaked then. Even if Jason hadn't known Alfred was out of town, he would have been able to guess.
He looked around his old room and took off the Hood, tracing one finger through the dust on his old desk.
Then again, if he hadn't known Alfred was out of town, he wouldn't be here. Bruce was on patrol, Alfred was on vacation, and the replacement kid was tucked away in his own little house with his own little family.
The manor was empty. Jason wouldn't see Bruce or Dick or Alfred, wouldn't speak to them. When was the last time he had a civil conversation with one of them? It must have been- It didn't matter. Jason was just here to retrieve a few useful things, and go.
He wondered why he had chosen to break into the manor through this room. His room. Bruce hadn't given it to the replacement. It looked the pretty much the same. Jason stepped quietly away from the window sill, turning in a slow circle. Maybe the room seemed a little smaller.
A very different Jason had lived here. A Jason held back by Bruce's stupid rule. He had always been a killer. The only difference was that now, he accepted it.
He clenched his jaw and left the room. There was nothing there to take with him.
He was here for a reason: he would grab some of Bruce's tech and leave. Then he could study it, and design more for himself. There was only so much you could do with a couple of guns and a grappling hook.
His gloved hand brushed the doorway as he stepped into the hallway, careful to keep his boots quiet on the hardwood floor, even though there was no need. Sure, Bruce's camera's would pick him up, but Bruce wouldn't see the footage til Jason was long gone. Jason was actually pretty proud of the short work he had made of Bruce's alarm system.
Down the stairs and past the library and the dining room… Jason tried to keep his eyes straight ahead, but the memories of this place were unexpectedly vivid and alive. It was worst when he stood in front of the old grandfather clock. He remembered the first time Bruce had shown him the secret entrance. Jason had been so excited, he could hardly believe it when the clock slid back-
Stay focused. He had to stay focused. He wasn't here to go tramping through memory lane. Those days were gone, ruined, and he knew better than to be happy in Bruce's sheltered, idealistic world now.
He reached towards the clock and started turning the hour hand towards the ten when a creaking sound on the stairway caught his attention. He froze for a full second before he turned around, cursing his reflexes that seemed to be unusually slow tonight.
He turned around silently and looked over the dark manor. He was sure he had heard something; why had he left his helmet upstairs? Stupid. The manor was messing with his head.
A moment later his eyes fell on the stairs. There, a figure, too thin to be Bruce, too tall the be the replacement kid…
"Dick?" Jason said before he could hold it back. As his arms dropped to his sides, he realized he had never reached for his guns.
He wanted his helmet, so he wouldn't have to feel so damned vulnerable as Dick slowly walked down the stairs, closer and closer. It was definitely him, graceful gait and dark hair, hands stuffed in his pockets. As if he wasn't wary of Jason. As if he didn't know Jason was a killer.
"It's- it's good to see you, Jay," Dick said as he finally stood right in front of him, close enough that he could have reached out and touched his shoulder.
Dick wore ordinary clothes, as if he had never left Gotham to become Nightwing. As if he had never left the manor. Jason hardly went anywhere in civvies anymore.
Jason could barely believe they were standing face to face like this. They hadn't talked in ages, and Dick's greeting made it sound like it had just been a few weeks. He swallowed and found himself unable to say anything.
"I've been wanting to see you for-"
"Oh shut up," Jason snapped, finally pulling himself together and turning away from Dick, arms crossed in their leather. Dick made it sound like Jason hadn't gone against everything Dick and Bruce believed in, as if they all didn't want to just forget him as soon as possible…
Jason found himself facing the clock again.
He had never fit into the role Bruce wanted him to play.
Never.
He was always too reckless, too willing to go too far.
And when he… when Bruce couldn't save him, well, that took care of a problem Bruce would have had to deal with sometime or another.
But then Jason had to ruin it by coming back to life. Jason knew they all just couldn't wait to forget him. He was a mistake.
"Cut the crap, it's not gonna work. Just tell me what the hell you're doing in the manor and we can get this over with," Jason said, starting to pace, looking anywhere but at the man he might once have thought of as a brother.
"What, you think I'm lying to you?" Dick sayed, and Jason would think he sounded hurt if he didn't know better. "You think Bruce and I- even Tim- you think we were all just fine with letting you go off on your own?"
Jason stopped walking, again near the clock. "Of course Bruce doesn't want me loose in Gotham. None of you get that the way I do things is the way they have to be done. But it's not Bruce's choice, it's mine!" His voice was rising steadily.
"Jason, that's not what I meant-"
"Don't bother trying to persuade me to follow Bruce's stupid rule, or to move back in here, or whatever it is this time!"
"That's not why I'm here!"
"Then why are you here? And how did you know I would be here?" Jason demanded, his sense of paranoia rising. "Have you been following me?"
"Not like that-"
"You have been! You've been following me! Been reporting back to Bruce, huh? Telling him just how badly he messed up with me, just how much blood the one he trained has on his hands now-"
"Jason, shut up!" Dick shouted, his face slightly red, and Jason was shocked into silence. Dick never yelled at him. Dick had seemed like the perfect Robin, the one Jason could never quite live up to, quiet and controlled and funny and honest.
He finally glanced at Dick, caught a glimpse of horrified look in his eyes, and quickly looked away.
"I can't believe that's what you think," Dick said softly.
"What?" Jason blurted, taken off guard. Wasn't Dick about to lecture him for-
"I can't believe you think that we think of you as- as a mistake."
"I kn-"
"You know what, this is Bruce's fault," Dick started to rant. "Just because he couldn't man up and talk to you about what happened after you- after he-" He faltered slightly.
Jason cut in harshly. "After I died."
"-when we found out you were alive, that you were the Red Hood-"
"Dick-"
"Stop interrupting!" Dick swung around and grabbed Jason's shoulders. "Listen to me, somewhere between being Red Hood and spending too much time alone you came up with some completely twisted version of what's really going on, and you need to have the record set straight. If you think, for just a moment, that Bruce and I don't give a damn about you, you're wrong."
Jason really, really wished he had his helmet. It was getting harder and harder to look Dick in the eye. He started to pull away.
Dick didn't let go. "No, listen to me for once. Maybe Bruce and I don't agree with everything you do, but Jason, we care about you."
That was it. Jason immediately broke free of Dick's grasp and stumbled away, mind reeling and face red.
"Then what the hell- then why-"
Dick spared him having to finish the sentence. "You came here to restock, right?"
Jason's glare lacked its usual bite but it was enough of an answer for Dick.
"Come on, then, let's get what you came for." He spun the hands of the old grandfather clock and the entrance to the batcave slowly slid open. Dick put an arm around Jason's shoulders and ushered him inside. "We have a lot to talk about."
AN: Thanks so much to Rookblonkorules and Purplehood, who always encourage me in my writing, and especially to Rookblonkorules, who challenged me to write this Jason Todd one-shot!