It was an oddly quiet night and that always left Jason on edge. A quiet night in Gotham City didn't mean peace, it meant someone was plotting. He was in full Red Hood regalia, stomping through the muck of back alleys, looking for someone to fight.
He was alone tonight, Nightwing traipsing around in Blüdhaven while Batman and the new Robin were all the way across town at the docks. Oracle was a godsend, giving him enough information through the coms to successfully evade the old man and his replacement. He was still bitter and angry about the whole situation, but he was starting to accept it. He was a mature adult, dammit, he could be the bigger man sometimes.
He was slightly sidetracked by his own thoughts but he had lived on the streets as a kid, not to mention been trained by the Bat himself. He knew when someone was following him, and he felt the prickling on his neck that signaled someone's eyes on him.
He kept moving, because it was stupid to let someone know that he knew they were there before he had a plan to deal with them. If he strained, he could hear the faint footfalls on the rooftop over his head. So, either the person was extremely small or extremely light-footed.
They were light, though, far too light to be an adult.
A kid. A kid was stalking him through the Narrows.
He came to the mouth of the alley, rolling his shoulders and reaching into his jacket pocket, dragging a cigarette and a lighter out. If he was going to confront a kid about the dangers of following the Red Hood around, he was going to need some nicotine.
With the hood tucked beneath his arm and the cigarette burning, he took a good, long drag before he leaned back against the wall of the alley and turned his eyes up. He didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean a goddamn thing.
"Alright, kiddo. I know you're up there. Time to come out and meet the big bad Red Hood."
The night was eerily silent. Jason strained to hear anything; the slight shift of fabric, a quickened breath, anything. Finally, he heard a put-upon sigh and the light foot falls landing a few feet to his left, further down the alley in the shadows. There was a hood obscuring the kid's face, but there was no mistaking that it was a little boy that had been stalking him. Even without seeing his face, Jason could see how dejected and defeated he looked.
"You shouldn't be smoking those," the boy grumbled, stepping closer. "You know how Mother hates them."
Jason dropped the cigarette out of pure shock the moment the boy opened his mouth. He knew that voice, that accent, that condescending little lilt. "Well, I'll be damned," he breathed out, smirking as he pushed away from the wall so they were standing toe to toe.
The boy tilted his head back so he could look Jason in the eye and shoved his hood back, giving the older man a sharp smirk. "It's been too long, Todd," the boy accused, folding his arms and glaring. "You promised you would visit!" he complained, pointedly not-pouting at Jason. Jason just snickered, kneeling down so he could look the boy over.
"And just what are you doing in Gotham all by your lonesome, Damian? Does your mama even know you're here?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing that the answer was most definitely no, going by the unrepentant look on the boy's face.
"Grandfather is becoming more and more erratic. I overheard Mother say that I would be safer elsewhere until she took care of the problem. I simple took the matter into my own hands," he stated, crossing his arms and glaring up at Jason, expecting him to object.
"Oh, kiddo," he sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. "She's probably worried sick about you! Did you at least leave her a note or something? Let her know that it wasn't your grandpa that stole you away?" Damian's holier-than-thou attitude faltered for just a moment, and his shoulders slumped just a little bit more. "Ugh. Alright, here's what we'll do. I'll send a message to your mama and let her know you're alright. In the meantime, you can stay with me. It's no Demon's Head Compound, but it'll have to do for now."
Damian hung his head, shifting from foot to foot before looking up at Jason through his lashes, clenching his jaw. Jason could see the kid's fear and sadness and his heart broke at the look on the kid's face.
"What's wrong, Demon Baby?" He was still crouched before Damian, so he reached out and grabbed the boy's arms, rubbing his thumbs gently over and over the fabric of his tunic to calm him.
"Did I make an error? In coming here?" he asked, his voice small and unsure in a way Jason had not heard in many years. "Do we remain brothers, or has that changed, too?"
Jason stared at Damian in shock, struck silent by the question.
"It's just, you left. You said you would visit, but it's been years. You never came back," he said, voice cracking, his voice getting thinner and quieter the more he spoke, the more he tried to explain.
Jason sighed, the guilt of his broken promises pressing down on his heart. "I'm so sorry, Damian. Once I left, things got worse and worse here in Gotham, with Bruce and Dick and the kid that replaced me. Maybe I should have just come back to the Compound, even if it was just for a few weeks, to get my head straight again. I just didn't want to be around more people that couldn't stand me. You know what your grandpa and the rest of the League thought of me. I couldn't handle it then; I get enough of that around here."
Damian nodded, biting his lip in a rare show of uncertainty, looking so lost and dejected. Jason leaned forward, tilting the boy's chin up to look at him again. "Kid, what I'm saying is of course we're still brothers. You're my little brat of a baby brother and nothing will ever change that." Jason leaned forward and tugged Damian into his arms, squeezing him tight before pressing a kiss to the kid's forehead. "Now, let's get home and get that message to Talia."
Damian reluctantly let go, face flushing a slight red, before reaching up to take one of Jason's larger hands in his own. Jason raised a surprised eyebrow at the action; sure, the kid had shown similar displays of affections when he had been just a little kid, but he was ten now. Surely that was beneath him at this age?
He wasn't complaining. Really. Just confused.
The walk back to Jason's Crime Alley safe house was short and silent. He led Damian up the stairs to his apartment and had him wait in the hallway while he disabled the multiple alarms and triggers he had connected to the doorknob. You know, just in case.
Once the door was open, Damian wandered inside. He openly stared at the planks showing through the drywall, the sofa that was sinking in the center, and the dim yellow light slinking its way through the blinds in the window. Indeed, this apartment was a giant step down from Ra's al Ghul's compound, but he had to admit that the company was much more appreciated.
"Alright, I'll talk to your mama and then we can get you settled in." Jason collapsed onto the sofa, ignoring the crunch of the springs as he sat, and tugged his laptop onto his lap. He proceeded to pull up a handy program that Oracle had given him that would allow him to connect with Talia directly without any pesky al Ghul tracking programs or viruses coming through.
Damian hovered uncertainly at Jason's elbow until Jason tugged him down to sit beside him instead. He wrapped an arm around the kid's shoulder while the program did its thing. Moments later, Talia's harried face popped up, relief flooding her features when she saw Damian safe and sound.
"My love, you frightened me!" she scolded, glaring at Damian, but her ire was dulled somewhat by the fear and relief showing openly through her eyes. Her hands flew to her hips and she frowned in confusion when she saw who was sitting with her son. "Why did you leave? And without letting anyone know! You know better, Damian. I thought something terrible had happened."
"Apologies, Mother," Damian muttered, looking sheepish now that he was faced with his mother. "I overheard you speaking with Mosh. You said I would be safer away from the compound, so I came to find Todd. He said I could stay if I needed to."
Talia looked uncertain, turning her gaze onto Jason instead. Her eyes softened when she saw him looking so unsure and guilty, himself. "It's good to see you, Jason," she said softly, her smile something he hadn't seen in so long. It warmed something cold and heavy in his chest, flooding his chest with light and air. God, but he had missed Talia al Ghul.
"You too, Talia," he admitted, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. Instead, he turned to Damian, staring him down as he spoke. "So, what do you want me to do with the baby?"
Talia laughed at Damian's indignant spluttering before taking a moment to think over their options. "I suppose you may remain with your brother, my sweet. I trust him to look after you. Is that alright with you, Jason?"
Jason blinked owlishly at Talia, surprised at her blatant admission of faith. "You do realize I'm only eighteen, right? You sure you trust me to be all alone with the kid? I mean, Bruce doesn't even trust me not to suddenly go all crazy and start killing people again. I doubt he would leave a dog alone with me, let alone a kid."
"Jason," Talia said, voice both exasperated and fierce, "I trust you to take wonderful care of Damian. You are a good man and I know you won't let anything happen to your brother. He's far safer with you than me at the moment." Then she scowled and crossed her arms, a move that made her look eerily like her son. "And if my Beloved cannot pull his head from his ass long enough to realize you are doing phenomenally considering all that you have been through, then he does not deserve you."
That just brought up one more thing for Jason to worry about. "Uh, yeah. About Bruce," he trailed off, peeking down at Damian out of the corner of his eye. "The moment he sees the kid, he'll figure it out." Damian sighed, snuggling closer to Jason's side and burying his face in Jason's jacket. Talia sighed as well, staring down at the floor, deep in thought.
"I would like to keep him in the dark as long as possible. I know Damian wishes to meet his father, to work with him, but I don't want my child to become just another dead Robin. He's lost two now. I don't want to make it three."
"Well, at least there's a good track record with bringing them back to life?" Jason pointed out weakly, feeling the need to at least attempt to defend Bruce. Jason had been the first Robin to die, but Talia had gone against her father's wishes and brought him back with the use of a handy Lazarus Pit. Stephanie Brown, one of the Replacement's friends, had been Robin for a short while, too. Died after a plan went sideways and blew up in her face, but he wasn't really sure if her death counted or not, seeing as, from what he had heard, she had just been faking.
It didn't matter either way, in the end; Jason would be damned if he let Damian, his little brother in everything but blood, become just another dead Robin, no matter what the resurrection rate was. This kid deserved so much better than an early grave.
"Okay. I get that. So, keep the kid away from the big bad Bat. I can do that. Suppose that means no vigilantism for a while?"
"You can take him with you, Jason, but be careful. You know he can defend himself just fine, but keep an eye on him. And Damian, listen to your brother." She sighed as a commotion started up behind her. "I have to go," she said in exasperation. "I love you both, you ridiculous children. Be safe." She let her eyes lock with Jason's for a long moment, a silent conversation passing between them, a reassurance that he desperately needed from her no matter what he said.
Things like I love you, never doubt that, thank you, I trust you, I really do love you, you silly, silly boy.
Jason bit his lip but nodded back, message received even if he had trouble believing it. "See you soon, Tals?" he asked, instead of the hundreds of other things he wanted to say at that moment. This question was safe, it was something simple and easy and he could take comfort from the familiarity of it.
"Of course," she replied, smirking cockily before signing off. Jason sighed one more time before snapping the laptop closed and setting it on the table. He leaned back into the sofa and rubbed at his eyes, taking a deep breath before looking down at Damian and making his decision.
"Well, kiddo. Seems we're gonna be roomies for the foreseeable future." Damian hummed in agreement, eyes locked onto the closed laptop, fogged over with deep thought. Jason rolled his eyes and reached around the kid, throwing him into a headlock, playfully rustling his hair while Damian tugged and pushed against Jason's arm.
"You need to lighten up," Jason decided, releasing the boy and watching in amusement as he fluffed up like a disgruntled cat. "Come on, then. I'll show you your room. We're gonna have to go out and get you some normal clothes. Probably some other stuff, too, now that I think about it. Ugh, shopping."