A Dark Sense of Humor
Jason sighed deeply as he flopped down on the couch and turned on the television. Dick headed out early that morning after he and Jason had gotten Kaden ready for school. He had started second grade at Gotham Academy today, for which he was rather excited. It was amusing, because, growing up, Jason always hated school. Not that he went for very long, having been forced to drop out when he was eight to take care of his drug-addicted mother.
He flipped through the channels, not finding much of interest, so he settled on a football game. Isn't that was most men his age were always so psyched about? Well, honestly, he didn't really see the appeal. Although it was amusing to see a bunch of grown men slam into each other. And the occasional injury managed to get a laugh out of him.
Bored with that, he flipped through a few more channels until something finally piqued his interest; UFC. Now this was something he could get into! He sat up on the couch as he watched the current fight, a capoeira fighter versus a kickboxer.
"C'mon, go, go go! That's it! Get him!" Jason shouted at the television screen, really getting into the match. He was practically up off of the couch when the capoeira expert landed a series of dance-like moves for the knock out.
"Yes!" he shouted, raising his hands in the air. He grinned to himself and sat back down on the couch. Fuck yeah, just found myself a new hobby! Jason glanced toward the door when he heard the doorknob rattling and minutes later, his seven-year-old son came through. He quirked an eyebrow, then glanced at the clock; 3 pm. Wow, time flies...
Kaden came through the door with an animal balloon, a dog, in hand.
"Hey champ, how was school?" Jason asked. Kaden smiled and dropped his backpack down beside the couch.
"It was okay," the boy replied. Jason quirked an eyebrow at the balloon and gestured toward it.
"What's with the balloon?" he asked. Kaden smiled up at his father as he tired it to a hook beside the window.
"A clown gave it to me. He was really nice."
"A clown huh? Where'd you meet him?"
"On my way home. He wanted me to tell you he said hi, and that he's going to come visit soon." Jason suddenly froze in the spot. The clown was going to come visit soon? Oh no. No, no, no...Jason was up off of the couch and grabbed Kaden by his arms, kneeling down in front of him, a look of panic on his face.
"Kaden, did the clown say what his name was?" he asked. Kaden frowned.
"He said you'd ask me that. He said to tell you he's called the Joker." Jason's face contorted in terror as he stared blankly into his son's face. No, no, no! He's targeting my son now?!
"Dad, what's wrong?" the boy asked. Shaken from his thoughts, Jason shook the boy a little.
"Listen to me Kaden, that man is very dangerous! Do you understand?"
"But-"
"No, Kaden, listen to me! If you see him again, you run. You run as fast as you can, and you call me, or Dickie, or Bruce, do you understand?!" Jason asked. When the boy didn't answer right away, he shook him a bit.
"Do you understand me?!"
"Yes," he whimpered, tears forming in his eyes at seeing his father so angry at him. Jason felt a pang of guilt in him and crushed the boy to his chest.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry," he kept murmuring into the boy's hair, hugging him as tight as he dared. Kaden hugged his father as he cried into his father's shoulder. Jason just held him, rocking him back and forth a little.
"Daddy's sorry. Sssh, he was just scared. I'm sorry," he whispered to the boy, kissing the top of his head. Truthfully, he was terrified. The Joker was targeting the most vulnerable member of their family, a child with no fighting skill whatsoever. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he should have taken Damian's advice and started training him.
"Why don't you go play with your toys, okay?" Jason suggested with a smile, patting the boy on his head. Kaden dried his eyes and gave a little nod, retreating to his bedroom. Once Kaden was out of sight, he rushed for the phone and grabbed it up. He tried to punch in Dick's phone number, but his hands were shaking so bad, he kept missing the numbers.
"God dammit!" He shouted, throwing the phone across the room. It crashed against the wall and shattered and Kaden came running out of his room, terrified.
"Daddy?!" he shouted, fear clear in his voice. Jason cursed mentally, feeling terrible for scaring the boy like that. Shit, shit, shit, get a hold of yourself Jason. Calm down...
"Sorry, daddy's fine. Go play," Jason called to him. Kaden stood there watching his father for a few moments before he retreated to his room again. Jason raked his hands through his hair and started pacing back and forth. Then he moved into his bedroom and grabbed the bedroom phone. He was still shaking pretty badly when he began dialing the number, slowly. When it rang, he took a few deep breaths.
"Jaybird? I'm on duty, can't this wait?" came Dick's voice. Jason breathed a sigh of relief.
"No, it can't. Dick, you need to get home, now," Jason said. Dick didn't miss the tone of Jason's voice and he was quickly taken over by concern.
"Jason, what's wrong?" Dick asked in a low tone.
"Just get home!" Jason shouted into the phone, and shutting it off. It was unfair of him to yell at Dick like that, but he was so terrified he wasn't thinking straight. He sat on the bed, on the verge of a panic attack. Had the Joker just come after him directly, he could have handled that. But targeting his son? Fear, he found, was slowly being replaced with rage. But he had to keep calm, now was not the time to lose his head.
Jason heard the door knob rattling and he bolted off of the bed and rushed to the door just in time to see Dick coming through, still in uniform. He immediately threw his arms around his husband and hugged him tight.
"J-Jason? What's going on?" Dick asked, gently pushing the man off of him. He looked down and saw Jason's hands shaking, then looked back up into the man's eyes, concern clearly etched on his face. He cupped the his jaw with his hand, thumb idly stroking over his cheek.
"Jason, you're shaking like a leaf. What the hell happened?" Dick asked softly. Jason swallowed hard and then glanced toward Kaden's room. He looked bacl toward Dick and sighed deeply.
"The Joker went after Kaden today."
"WHAT?! Is he alright?!" Dick near shouted, attempting to race over to the boy's room, but Jason stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Kaden is fine. He came home with an animal balloon and a message. He said the Joker said he was 'going to visit soon'." Jason said. Dick looked at Jason with a fear-stricken expression, pretty much the same look he had on when Kaden came home.
"W-what do we do? Dick, we have to protect Kaden, but I...what...what the fuck do we do?!" Jason asked desperately, looking to be on the verge of breaking down. Dick collected the man in his arms and hugged him as tight as he dared.
"We'll go to the manor immediately. Okay? You need to calm down, and stay cool. Any stupid thoughts you have brewing in that brain of yours, ignore them. Focus only on Kaden, okay? Kaden and me. Can you do that?" Dick asked him, framing the man's face in his hands. Jason took a few deep breaths and nodded. Dick's heart wrenched to see his husband like this; this wasn't Jason. Jason got angry, he took charge, he went looking for solutions. But given that this was the man's child...he fully understood the fear and panic he could feel radiating off the man right now.
"Kaden, come on buddy, we're going to stay with Grandpa for a little while, okay?" Jason called. Kaden came out of his room minutes later with a smile on his face. He loved visiting with Bruce and Damian.
"Okay!" Jason smiled down at the boy and he and Dick led him out to the car. Dick took the keys from Jason's hands who didn't protest; he knew he was in no shape to drive right now.
Kaden hopped in the back seat and Dick and Jason in the driver's and passenger's seat and pulled away from the apartment building, heading straight for the manor. Jason was looking out the window almost lifelessly and Dick felt a pang of sorrow to see the man like that. With one hand, he gently laid it on top of one of Jason's, thumb brushing over the skin. Jason looked at the man and flashed a weak smile.
It's going to be okay he read in Dick's eyes. He wanted to believe that, but this was the Joker. The man who tortured him for four, almost five months. And now his child was in danger by the deranged clown. But right now, the one, singular thought that swam in his head, that pushed aside all else and dominated his thoughts was if he touches my son, I will fucking kill him.