Damian paused, perched on one of the ludicrous gargoyles the city seemed so fond of, senses on high alert. Feeling the eyes of another, may not be a quantified "superpower" but himself among the rest of the bats, had learned to not undermine its value, even though the darkened street below was deserted.
A soft thump behind him proved his senses correct as he turned to face his visitor, only to end flying backwards from the force of a blow to his diaphragm, winding him. Back-handspringing from his fall, Damian adopted a fighting stance, facing whoever was idiotic enough to pick a fight with him.
Tt- Todd, that answered his prior question. Narrowing his eyes at the gun now aimed at his chest, Damian bent his knees as he wondered why exactly the so-called black sheep was imposing his unwanted presence on him.
"You are probably wondering why I'm here this fine Gotham night," the vigilante stated with a smirk in his voice, though his expression was completely masked or rather helmeted because he would not play along with every other idiot in Gotham calling it a hood.
"I assume not to turn yourself in for the series of volumes listing charges against you," he replied smoothly even as he reached slowly for a projectile from beneath his cloak's cover. Jason barked a short laugh, though not in any imitation of humor.
"No, and stop reaching for that batarang before I shoot your knees out," Jason responded sharply. If any other criminal said that he would have flipped forward, sweeping the knees from under his adversary but despite the insaneness sometimes shown by the former Robin, Damian could not safely deny his marksmanship, or his will to fire.
"Fine, enlighten me, the night grows old waiting for you to finish prattling," he stated instead.
"Aw, Demon, no need to play naïve, we are both not innocent here." Damian half-heartedly ran through what he possibly could have done to offend the crime lord in the past week, impaling a seller? No, he had been supplying children which was one of the few morals one could not deny the other man of possessing.
"Cut to the chase Todd, or take yourself to the asylum where you belong."
The air seemed to thicken as the vigilante stepped forward, and for the first time Damian considered whether he should press the call-button he so far avoided.
"I don't stand for people taking what is mine brat," Jason stated slowly to which Damian quirked one eyebrow in response, a move he imitated from Nightwing.
"I wouldn't care to touch anything of yours, Hood, I might infect myself."
"Thursday, two o'clock in the morning, the building off the corner of Brackwood, East End, ring a bell?" Jason elaborated. Was that the evening he impaled the drug-dealer, no, that was the night he had a relatively crime-free patrol, as much as possible in Gotham.
"You cut Replacement's line several stories off the street." Oh yes, that had been Thursday as well.
"What of it? There is hardly love lost between you two failures seeing the amount of times you assaulted him yourself." Jason took another step forward causing Damian to begrudge his five-two stature as he was forced to look up in response.
"Exactly. Timbers is mine to attack as I see fit, and I won't have you getting it in your inflated psyche of yours that you can do so." Well, that was...unexpected.
"The tender care you show hood, Grayson would be in tears," he replied, covering his surprise.
"Goldie can shove it down his throat. But Red and I are not finished and you are no part of this, no matter if your ego can not accept that possibility."
"Tt. What are you, some sort of Joker knock off? Possessive problems, Todd?" he scoffed, tilting his head at the other man.
"That's pretty rich coming from the son of a man whose cycling relationship issues with the clown are the reason for much of this."
"Any inane and irrational supposed accord of my father is of no reflection of myself." Jason laughed shortly at this as well, placing his free hand on a hip with condescending approval.
"Is little Robin rebelling from Daddybats now? Leaving the nest so soon?"
"I am his son, not his disciple, you narrow minded imbecile. Either way none of this pertains to your suppressed feelings for Drake."
A gunshot went off, the sudden sound deafening at short range, though no pain came. Damian opened his eyes from where he found himself knocked onto the rooftop and quickly stabbed a batarang into the calf of his assailant. The hiss of suppressed pain told him he hit his mark but any small satisfaction was displaced as an arm pressed down on his throat and he looked up at the leather jacketed vigilante above him.
"Listen or not nitwit, I am not repeating myself, and this is your only warning. Timbers is mine to partner, murder, or maim as I see fit, and any assault from you will be responded to in kind." Damian barred his teeth in response and was considering reaching for the collapsible katana he supposedly had left at the cave when a voice rang out.
"Hey!" A blue blur barreled into the Red Hood as a third figure joined the rooftop gathering. Jason glanced between Nightwing in all his protective fury back to Damian.
"Message given Demon, you have been warned." A smoke bomb went off and when the air was clear the two partners were alone on the rooftop.
"Robin! Report, are you okay?" Nightwing began fussing over him as Damian dusted himself off.
"Tt- I am fine. Cease your dithering Grayson, Todd was talking drivel as usual."
However, even that early morning as the former ninja lay in bed he decided he might just be better off leaving the prior Robin alone for a few weeks. Not because the warning, or Todd's inane threats, but Drake wasn't worth the attention.
A/N: Hello there! I had this idea of what if Jason found out Damian cut Tim's jumpline and got protective, this was the result. Fun fact, when writing Damian it is nice to have a thesaurus on hand ;) Also, did anyone pick up on the collapsible katana? I wrote that and then wondered if that even existed, it seems pretty sketchy, but I liked it so it hung around. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this one-shot, please stay safe!