Chapter 9
AN Enjoy. :)
Dean sighs, dusting his hands off as he looks Sammy over for injuries, making sure that the demon they just sent back to hell didn't cause any irreversible damage to his baby brother. When all he sees are a few scratches and bruises, he turns his gaze to himself, cataloging a broken rib, a twisted knee, a possible concussion, and a few other scrapes and bruises. When Sam asks him if he's alright, he lies, like he usually does, telling him that he's just a little banged up.
Sam's exhausted after the last few hours, but Dean's too wired to sleep, so when Sam gets out of the shower and flops down on his bed with all the grace of a beached whale, Dean hops into a quick shower, emerging a few minutes later, dressed in new clothes, and much to Sam's somewhat sleepy concern, heads out again, telling Sam he's just heading to the bar to grab a few beers.
He catches sight of his new favorite shadow as he heads out of the motel parking lot, foregoing the car as he sets out on foot, not sure where exactly he's heading, but allowing his feet to carry him to his destination.
He stops by a few of his past haunts before he realises what he's doing, and it's about that time that his shadow draws closer, close enough to hear Dean if he felt like talking. "You know, you've got a tail of your own" Dean says, pretty certain that Red Robin can spot a sloppy tail, but deciding to let him know that he can as well.
"I know." is all his shadow says, jumping from the roof he had been perched on to fall into step next to Dean. "how about we head back to the park?" he asks after a few blocks of companionable silence. "Yeah, sure. Any reason for the visit tonight?" Dean asks, turning to look at the young man who's keeping step beside him, his birdlike costume blending with the shadows as they walk through dark city, the air crisp in their lungs, even through the cloying scent of garbage, decay, and despair.
"I looked into you, last night, after I got back home. Your secret, it was, stuck in my head. I couldn't ignore it, couldn't, forget it. I've got a camera in my cowl, it records everything I encounter in a night, so that if something happens, my associates can review footage, so that I can review the footage on fights to try and see where I went wrong, what I need to improve, stuff like that. I showed someone who I trust the footage of our conversation, I needed a second opinion on whether or not to help you out, looking for your brother. Little did I know, Jason Todd, your brother, was the person I was showing the footage to. I was skeptical at first, but then I noticed the matching bracelets, and he told me about a picture and a batarang you would have as well. I did a deeper dig after that, adoption records have your name down as Dean Todd, before you were adopted by your biological father and his wife and took their names a year later. You and Jason were arrested on the same day, but while you were sent to an orphanage, where you eventually gave them your name, he was sent to Juvie, where he gave them a fake name. I did a DNA test after that, I already had Jason's on file, and yours was easy to track down, what with the multiple arrests and all, and after a quick few tests, it was confirmed. Fraternal twins, separated at eight years old." Red Robin says, knowing that Jason is listening in through the comms, as well as watching their interaction from the rooftops.
Dean continues walking on autopilot, his body working completely separately from his mind as he tries to process this information. His mind is going a mile a minute, and he feels like Red is waiting on him to say something, but he's sort of in shock. Finding his brother when he wasn't even looking for him, it's not something he had thought about before, nothing he had even considered. So he's glad when Red starts talking again, giving him time to come up with words for what he's feeling.
"He panicked when he realised it was you. Yelled at me for letting you walk away from me. After a little research and some talking, we decided that him showing up at your motel in the middle of the night claiming to be your brother with no proof aside from a few easily cloned items as proof would have immediately gotten your defences up. But since we had already met, and you had already told me about it, I figured if I talked to you first, let you know the facts, showed you the DNA test" Tim pauses here to pull a piece of paper from his belt, handing it over to the silent Dean "and sort of gave you a few minutes to process, that it would be, easier on everyone." Tim says, his pace slowing down as they reach the gates of the park, Dean still operating on autopilot beside him as he opens the gates, heading in first and letting Dean follow him. Dean's eyes are glued to the piece of paper in his hands, reading it over, and then again, before finally meeting Tim's eyes. Or at least, the whites of the cowl where his eyes should be.
"Splash this on exposed skin and nick yourself with this." Dean says after a moment of indecision, tossing a flask and a knife towards Tim, who only hesitates a moment before doing as Dean asked, raising an eyebrow as he hands the items back at the man's nod.
There are more than a few beats of silence between them before Dean speaks again.
"Where is he?" he asks then, his voice breaking from the hard tone it had been just a minute earlier into that of a scared little boy, and though Tim's got enough emotional defences to shield himself from the most charming of conmen, he feels sympathy flood his veins at the grief and pain in Dean's eyes.
Tim is saved from having to answer as Jason drops out of one of the many trees in this overgrown park, landing a few feet to Tim's left. Tim retreats then, trusting Jason enough to leave him alone with a potentially dangerous man, knowing that he'll greatly appreciate the privacy, so it's as they stare at each other, sizing the other up, that Tim exits the park, taking himself a few blocks down before stopping, staying close enough to be backup if his brother needs him.
Back at the park, Jason finally moves, just enough to tug his sleeve up, exposing the leather bracelet on his wrist, Dean following his motion a moment afterwards. Green eyes meet blue in a pain filled stare, neither of them really believing what they're seeing for a moment, but that look. The one filled with a shared grief and longing for the other half of their souls, has them colliding in an embrace that feels more like home than anything either of them have experienced since they parted almost twenty years earlier. They both feel oddly melancholic, happiness blending in with the grief of twenty years lost without the other. The pain and sadness of their almost two decades spent apart has tears falling from both of their eyes as they grasp each other tight, the mutual thought that if they let go, the other will be gone forever lingering in their minds.
"Asshole" Dean says, the familiar insult falling easily from his lips as he waits for Jason's to reply with his half of their joke.
"Fuckhead" Jason breathes, a smile splitting his face at the old insult from his brother.
"I never thought I'd see you again" Jason murmurs into his brother's hair, having gained a few inches on him since they'd last seen each other.
"I was convinced you were dead" they say in tandem, both of them pausing a moment before laughing out hysterical laughter at something that used to happen as regularly as breathing.
"Fuck. We have a lot to talk about." Dean says, his arms still wrapped around his brother, his soul feeling whole for the first time since he was eight years old.
"Hell yeah we do. You missed a whole bucket load of shit." Jason replies, gaining a laugh from Dean.
"You don't know the half of it" Dean mutters, both of them finally feeling secure enough that the other isn't leaving to release their grip on each other, and instead walk shoulder to shoulder over to a low stone wall, which they sit with their backs against. Pressed together shoulder to ankle, just like they had that night in the police cruiser.
It's then that they fill each other in on all the important bits of their lives, and some of the not so important ones.
Dean tells him about Mary and John, about Sammy.
Jason tells him about Bruce and Dick, about Alfred.
Dean tells him about monsters and hunting and how it all started.
Jason tells him about Batman and Robin and dying.
Dean tells him about the Apocalypse and Hell.
Jason tells him about the pit rage.
Dean tells him about the nightmares.
Jason tells him about Tim and Damian.
Dean tells him about Cas and Bobby.
Jason tells him about Red Hood and the empire he's created.
Dean tells him about Purgatory and him and Sam's reputation.
Jason tells him about their mother's final overdose when he was twenty two.
Dean tells him about their father sacrificing himself to save Dean.
Jason tells him about all the ways Bruce is a shitty dad.
Dean tells him about all the ways John was a shitty dad.
Jason tells him all the ways Bruce was an amazing dad.
Dean tells him about before Mary died, when John was a great dad.
Jason tells him about missing him, about the pain and the grief, the sadness and the rage.
Dean tells him all the same things.
They laugh and they cry.
They learn all about each other's lives, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
They never once lie to each other, because that was something John taught Dean, something that Bruce taught Jason. Before their fathers, before their mentors, all they had was each other. And they never lied to each other.
The sun is cresting the horizon, their throats are sore from talking, and their asses are sore from sitting on the cold hard ground the whole night, but neither of them have felt such a pure sense of happiness as far back as they can remember and it's worth it.
AN Thoughts? Good? Bad? Meh? Lemme know what you think. :)