Hey, just letting you know that my Beta reader DGM100 helped me edit the older chapters, so they will be re-uploaded today. You don't have to reread them though, the edits aren't major.
Chapter 7: A Little Slice of Normal
Jason could not get enough of kissing Danny.
The sounds of the forest at night leaked through the thin walls of the tent. Jason lay on his back, a soft sleeping bag under him. Danny sat on his hips, his knees on either side of Jason, his hands pressed against the ground on either side of his head. And they were kissing, and Jason couldn't get enough of it. He gripped Danny's hips tightly, holding him in place. Danny's teeth nipped at his lip, and Jason slid his hands up, under Danny's shirt. His fingers felt the edges of scars and Danny stiffened.
"Sorry," Jason said softly, pulling his hands away. Danny sat up, pulling his mouth away from Jason's.
"It's okay," he muttered in a way Jason knew meant it wasn't.
"If that's too far, I won't okay," Jason tried. "We can just kiss." Danny sat for a moment, straddling Jason's hips, thinking.
"Okay," he agreed and leaned back down to Jason's lips. Jason gladly resumed his exploration of Danny's mouth with his tongue. Even through the sleeping bag, Jason felt a rock start to dig into his back, so he sat up, bringing Danny with him. In the motion, he'd grabbed one of Danny's wrists and it wasn't until he tried to kiss him again that he'd realized Danny had frozen up again. He let go and Danny scrambled back away from him, only stopping once his back hit the wall of the tent.
'Fuck,' Jason thought. 'I'm shit at this.'
"I'm sorry," Jason said hurriedly. He didn't know what he'd done, but clearly it'd been wrong.
"It's not your fault," Danny mumbled, looking like a spooked animal. Jason held out his arms and Danny hesitated, before scooting back over to him. Jason pulled him to his chest and together they lay down. Jason played with this boyfriend's hair as he laid his head on Jason's chest.
'Am I ever going to get this right?' Jason wondered to himself. They'd been dating for two weeks now, and it was strange, but wonderful. The kissing was great, it wasn't something Jason had ever really done before. Sure he'd had hookups, but there wasn't usually a lot of kissing with those, at least, not of the same variety. That was more of a lustful sloppy affair, whereas kissing Danny was slow and careful. Danny had also started to spend the night's with Jason, curled up together in his bed that was too big for one person anyway.
It's been a little awkward on patrol though. Jason couldn't shake the feeling that Phantom and Danny were too similar, and yet, they couldn't find any evidence they were the same person. Robin hadn't been able to come up with an explanation for their clear differences, and Jason could without a doubt confirm Danny wasn't covering up any scars on his neck with makeup. Jason had kissed it enough to be sure of that. And Tim hadn't made any progress with the weird firewall, so no luck figuring out Phantom's past. Jason knew he was going to have to ask Danny eventually. Hell, he was going to have to tell Danny he was Red Hood before he figured it out on his own.
But Jason wasn't ready for that. Right now, everything just felt normal in a way Jason had never had the chance to know. He didn't want to let this one perfect thing be consumed by his crazy, dangerous, un-normal life.
…
That night, Jason had a nightmare. It was his usual night terror, his mother tricking him, the Joker catching him. Being beaten, dying, clawing his way from the grave, but then it changed. Batman rushed him. Batman hit him. And then Robin, and Red Robin, and Nightwing were there, and they were attacking him, and Jason was fighting back. Jason was losing.
Jason felt a hand grab his shoulder and he lunged forward, fingers tightening around his attackers neck. Green swirled in his vision, feeding on his rage, giving him strength. Hands clawed at his wrists but he only tightened his hold, and then his vision cleared, and Jason saw he wasn't choking the life out of an enemy, his hands were closed around Danny's throat. His face turning purple.
In horror, Jason threw himself back, releasing Danny in the process, slamming into the wall of the tent sending the whole thing shuddering. Danny coughed and spluttered, trying to get in air.
"Jay?" he gasped, and Jason bolted around him for the tent opening. With trembling hands he unzipped it and burst out into the night air. Barefoot he headed for the tree line, not thinking, just letting his mind go blank as he threw his fist into a tree. It hurt. He did it again. And again. And again. And again, beating his anger, fear, and frustration out into the bark. Something touched the back of his shoulder and he whirled, throwing his back against the tree. Danny stood there, a blanket around his shoulders to stave off the night chill. He looked sad, and Jason saw the bruises forming around his neck, the bruises Jason had caused.
"Jason," Danny pleaded, but Jason didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear Danny curse him, or even worse, forgive him. Jason didn't deserve that. He slipped around Danny and walked to the firepit. He'd let the fire burn out hours ago, but now, he threw more logs from their pile into the pit, and hunted around the camp for the lighter fluid. He noticed dimly that Danny sat down in one of their camp chairs by the unlit fire. Jason found the lighter fluid and a box of matches. He squirted the entire contents of the bottle onto the logs and barely noticed Danny scoot his chair several feet away. He took a step back, lit a match, and threw it onto the fire.
The fire roared to life with a whoosh of light and heat. Jason watched the blaze eat up the liquid before sinking into his chair, completely exhausted. He closed his eyes and put his head in his hands, his elbows propped on his knees.
He was now actutly aware of Danny moving his chair next to him and sitting down. Danny didn't say anything for a while, just sat with him and watched the fire. Jason kept his head in his hands. The lighter fluid burned away and the dry logs caught, crackling happily.
"I'm okay you know," Danny said softly, his voice rough. Jason flinched. "You were having a nightmare and I tried to wake you," Danny explained.
"I'm sorry," Jason whispered too softly.
"Huh?" Danny said, not having heard.
"I'm sorry," Jason said louder, not lifting his head from his hands. "I'm sorry I'm so messed up. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I keep finding your triggers," Danny flinched a bit at this. "And I'm sorry I suck at being your boyfriend."
"You don't suck at being my boyfriend," Danny said gently. Jason groaned. Danny touched his shoulder and Jason forced himself not to flinch. Then Danny touched his knuckles, and he did flinch, because it hurt.
"You're bleeding," Danny said and got up. Jason pulled his head out of his hands to look at his knuckles. They were bleeding, and for a moment Jason didn't understand why, then he remembered the tree. Danny came back and sat his chair in front of Jason before sitting. He had a medical kit in his lap, and was holding a bottle of water and some paper towels.
"Will you let me fix you up?" he asked. Jason nodded and Danny took one of his hands into his. He poured the water over Jason's knuckles to wash out the blood and tree bark, then he slathered the wounds with ointment before wrapping them up. He repeated the process with Jason's other hand. He worked silently, and Jason didn't know what to say.
"There," he said when he was done, holding both of Jason's larger hands in his own.
"Thanks," Jason said numbly.
They sat in silence for a long moment.
"Let's go for a hike," Danny blurted out of nowhere.
"What?" Jason asked, lifting his head to look at him.
"Hiking," Danny said, getting to his feet and dragging Jason with him. "Let's grab our flashlights and walk the trail." He looked down at Jason's bare feet. "And put your boots on," he added.
Jason just felt numb, but he put on his socks and boots when Danny handed them to him. He heard shuffling in the tent and Danny came out with two flashlights. He handed one to Jason, and after zipping the tent, and throwing dirt on the fire, they walked side by side through the camp site.
They passed only a few other tents and campers as they went; most people didn't camp in the fall. At the head of the trail, Danny clasped Jason's hand in his, and led him through the dark forest.
Their flashlights sweep swaths of light across the dark trees. Animals rustled in the shrubs and Danny pressed himself against Jason for warmth, though Jason wasn't sure that would help much, he ran a few degrees colder than most people.
"What was your nightmare about?" Danny asked into the quiet.
"I don't remember," Jason said, because he didn't. He could guess at what it had been, but it wasn't something he could tell Danny about unless he also told him he was Red Hood.
"It must have been bad," Danny said. Jason stopped walking. Danny took another step forward before he realized, and turned so he was facing Jason, but didn't let go of his hand.
"What?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Will you stop pretending that I didn't just almost kill you?" Jason said, trying not to raise his voice.
"Jay," Danny tried, but Jason bowled him over and kept talking.
"Look at your neck Danny! How are you going to hide that? How can you just ignore what I did?" Jason's voice was cracking.
"Jason," Danny tried again.
"I'm dangerous, and I hurt you," Jason said, tears streaming down his face as he fell to his knees. Danny's tight grip on him dragging him to the ground too.
"Why are you just okay with this?" Jason sobbed. Danny pulled Jason to his chest, and let him cry into his shirt.
"It's not your fault love," Danny said. "Next time I'll throw a pillow at you or something, okay?"
Jason didn't say anything to that, he just buried his face deeper within Danny's chest and sobbed, releasing all his pent up emotions.
...
Eventually, Jason cried himself out, and Danny pulled him to his feet. They contained up the trail in companionable quiet. Eventually, they reached the look out, an expanse of rocky cliffs overlooking Gotham and in the distance, Metropolis and Bludhaven. They just looked like distant sparkling lights from way up here.
Danny pulled the blanket that was still around his shoulders off and set it on the smoothest patch of rock. They sat down and Danny lay his head on Jason's shoulder.
"Look up," Danny urged when Jason was still trying to trace the familiar streets of his home.
"Woah," Jason breathed. All the night sky lay bare before them, sparkling with a thousand tiny stars.
"Yeah," Danny sighed. He lay back and put his hands behind his head. Jason copied him and Danny pointed out constellations for him.
"Woah, check it!" Danny exclaimed half rising when a shooting star streaked across the sky.
"Make a wish," Jason said softly. Danny chuckled and settled back down.
"What'd you wish for?" Jason asked.
"Can't tell you that," Danny said indignant. "Or it won't come true."
They both laughed a little as they continued to look up into the starry night sky.
…
"Jason?" Danny asked. They were sitting on Jason's couch, Danny's legs across Jason's lap. Jason was cleaning a gun on the coffee table and Danny had a bowl of popcorn on his chest, watching a movie.
"Yeah?" Jason asked, not looking up from his work.
"Can you teach me how to shoot?" Danny asked. Jason looked at him and saw the eagerness in his blue eyes.
"You live in Gotham, and you don't know how to shoot!?" Jason demanded incredulously.
"I never had the chance," Danny admitted with a shrug.
"Yeah, let me just finish this," Jason said, gesturing to the hand gun in pieces on the table.
"Huh?" Danny said, not understanding.
"Let me put this back together and we'll go," Jason explained further.
"Go where?" Danny pulled his feet off Jason's lap and sat up on the couch, facing him.
"To the gun range," Jason said, not looking up from the weapon, though he could put it back together blindfolded.
"Right now?" Danny asked, still confused.
"Yes right now," Jason said fondly with an eye roll. "You should know how to operate a gun, and you should have one." Jason's fingers flew over the gun.
"Don't you have to have a license or something to own a gun?" Danny asked, worried.
"Sorta," Jason admitted. "But no one in Gotham owns a gun legally. I'll just give you one of mine. There," Jason said, fitting the last piece of his weapon in place. He pulled out the clip, loaded in the rounds, and snapped it back in. He double checked the safety was still on before slipping the weapon into his waistband, where it always stayed.
"Come on," Jason said, standing and gesturing for Danny to do the same. "Go put some shoes on."
…
"No, squeeze the trigger, don't pull it," Jason corrected as Danny's shot missed the target.
"What's the difference?" Danny asked, his voice too loud with the ear plugs in.
"Intent, and control," Jason said, fixing Danny's stance and moving his fingers till he was gripping the handgun correctly. "Breath out just before you fire. It'll help keep your hands steady," he advised. Danny tried again, and this time, his shot hit dead on, right through the paper target's head. Jason grinned in pride.
"Good. Now do it again," he directed. Danny let out a breath and fired three shots, all in a tight cluster over the target's heart.
"You're a really good shot, Danny," he admitted, surprised. Danny grinned at him, and Jason's heart fluttered. He wondered if it was ever going to stop doing that.
"My friends and I used to shoot a lot, ugh, with paintballs and BB guns," he finished after having paused awkwardly in the middle of his sentence. Jason figured it was because he didn't like remembering that those friends were dead.
"Well it's paying off," Jason admitted. "Now, let's reload your gun. You remember how to remove the clip?"
At Danny's nod Jason directed him to his next target, all the while thinking of how proud he was of his boyfriend.
…
"You okay?" Jason asked Tim as he sat down across from him and Danny. They were in a coffee shop near Gotham University and Wayne Enterprises.
"Yeah," Tim said, sipping on his ungodly surgery concoction that Jason barely considered coffee. "Just a long day at the office. We're so close to a breakthrough on this light refracting camouflage scale, I just know it," Tim grumbled. "Thanks for dragging me out though. I needed a break."
"You're making camouflage?" Danny asked, confused. He wasn't drinking coffee, after the last time Jason had given him caffeine, he'd vowed to never do it again. As consolation, Danny was chowing down on a muffin.
"Sorta," Tim said. "It's more like an invisibility cloak. The scales should bend the light around the wearer so they're almost impossible to see."
"That sounds awesome!" Danny said, enthused.
"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Image the stealth applications." They were interrupted by a crash as someone right next to their table dropped a plate.
"Danny?!" a dark skinned girl exclaimed. She looked to be about the same age as Danny. Her tightly curled hair was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. She was short and rounded, but by no means out of shape. Jason could see she had muscle beneath her oversized hoodie. He guessed she was a college student by the backpack and lanyard.
"Val?!" Danny said, standing up from his seat next to Jason. The girl pulled him into a fierce hug, which Jason was interested to see Danny returned in kind. When she pulled away she gripped his upper arms and looked him up and down like she was checking for damage. Her eyes lingered on the scarring on his arms.
"You're alive?" she said, her voice soft and unsure.
"Yeah, sorry," Danny said. He sat back down next to Jason and the girl sat next to Tim, who looked miffed at being made to scoot over.
"I'm sorry," Jason interrupted. "But how do you two know each other?"
"Oh!" Danny said as though he realized he'd been rude. "Jason, Tim, this is Valerie, we went to high school together. Valerie, this is my boyfriend Jason and his brother Tim," he said gesturing to everyone as appropriate.
"Boyfriend?" Valerie asked, interested.
"Uh, yeah?" Danny said, rubbing the back of his head, unsure.
"I'm glad you're doing well," Valerie said. "But seriously! How could you just let us all think you were dead?!" she swatted his arm. "Everyone was devastated when you all died."
"I'm sorry," Danny said, solemnly. "But they thought I was dead for a while, and after all the confusion was sorted out, I wasn't really in a place to deal with it in the right way," Danny said, not meeting her eyes.
"Hey," Valerie said softly, placing a hand over Danny's. Something flared in Jason's stomach, and he was shocked to find that it was jealousy. He could tell that Danny and Valerie had been a thing at some point.
"I understand," Valerie continued. "It was hard on everyone back home, but it must have been the worst for you."
"Yeah," Danny said, finally meeting her eyes.
"Everyone moped around school for a month, even Dash was sad," she explained.
"Dash?" Danny said, unbelieving.
"Well, in his own way," Valerie allowed, a smile teasing at the corners of her mouth.
Jason still didn't know the details of the accident that had taken Danny's family and closest friends. He never seemed to want to talk about it, and Jason didn't think it was his place to push when he was still hiding so much from Danny.
"It's great to know you're alive though," Valerie said, removing her hand from atop Danny's and sitting up. "Wait till I tell everyone back home."
"No!" Danny said desperately. "Please Val, don't tell them," he begged.
"Why?" she asked, blinking at him.
"Please don't. I'm... finally in a good place, I don't need them dragging it all up again," he said, fear in his voice. Valerie still looked like she didn't understand.
"But, they all think you're dead," she said dumbly.
"Please Val. Please promise me you won't tell them," he kept trying. Jason laced his fingers through Danny's and squeezed, offering comfort. Danny squeezed back.
"Yeah, okay," she finally relented. An alarm buzzed and Valerie pulled out her phone and cursed. "Crap, I'm late for class. Give me your number and we'll catch up more later." Danny gave it to her and she bolted. An employee of the coffee shop came over with a broom and dustpan to clean up the broken plate.
"Sorry about that," Tim told her as she cleaned up the mess.
"Well that happened," Jason said to break the awkward mood.
"Yeah," Danny breathed.
After that their conversation slowly drifted back to the cloaking device Tim was working on.
...
"Red Hood, Phantom, come in," Oracle said over the coms. Jason and Phantom stopped on the roofs, looking at each other curiously.
"This is Red Hood," Jason said into his com. "I'm with Phantom. What's wrong?"
"Have either of you heard from Red Robin in the past few days?" Oracle asked. Jason could hear the worry in her voice.
"Last I saw him was out of masks two days ago," Jason admitted, he thought he understood what was going on. He looked at Phantom who shrugged.
"I haven't heard from him in at least a week," Phantom said plainly. "What's wrong?" he asked Oracle.
"So you saw him two days ago Hood? Can you tell me where?" Oracle asked, ignoring the question. Jason glanced at Phantom. If he was Danny, then saying he'd met Tim at the coffee shop would give his identity as Red Hood away. He switched to a private line with Oracle, cutting Phantom from the conversation.
"It was at that coffee shop on Main and 2nd," Jason said softly. "I met him there with Danny." Jason switched the line back to include Phantom again, who was looking at him with a suspicious expression.
"Okay, Hood, that means you were the last person to see Red Robin," Oracle said, keys clacking in the background.
"Wait, he's missing?" Phantom asked.
"Yes," Oracle said, confirming Jason's fears. "He went missing two days ago. I have security footage of him out as Red Robin from after you saw him Red Hood, but only a few minutes before he disappears off the grid."
"Has there been a note?" Jason asked, his voice dark. Phantom looked at him like he understood.
"Not yet," Oracle admitted. "But we are hoping for one. Whoever caught him knows how we operate. They disabled all of his tracking devices."
"Fuck," Jason swore. "What's the plan?" he asked, all business.
"Batman wants you at the cave, Hood," Oracle started.
"No way," Jason cut her off. "I'm staying in the field." Thoughts swirled through Jason's head. Red Robin kidnapped, and Batman wants to bench him? He supposed there could be another reason the Bats wanted him at the cave, but he couldn't think of one. Jason didn't compare to Oracle when it came to monitoring the coms and computers, and with all the fights they'd gotten into recently, it wasn't to group up. No, if Batman wanted Jason at the cave, it was to bench him. But why? Only one reason came to mind.
"Have you checked Arkham?" Jason asked, his throat going dry.
"Hood," Oracle warned.
"It's him, isn't it?" Jason said softly.
"Yeah," Oracle breathed. "It's him."
"Who?" Phantom asked, his voice equally quiet.
"The Joker," Jason growled.
The Joker. The name rang in Jason's ears as his vision filled with green. The Joker was out, and he had Jason's brother. And by god he was going to do everything in his power to get him back. He wasn't going to let another Robin die by that monster's hand. If Jason had his way, someone would die tonight, but it wasn't going to be Tim. Red Hood was out for blood.
Sorry for the cliffhanger, but things are about to get serious. Please review!