A/N: What's this? An update?

Anyway, I own nothing :(

AH! I can't believe how many people like my story on the first chapter! It was truly remarkable! So thanks you guys! You made my life!

I hope all of you can bare with me for the rest of the story. ^^

This is my first attempt at writing the Red Hood (in fact, this story is a lot of firsts for me). He's quite a difficult man to write. I hope my explanations make sense, they do in my head. In case it isn't clear, Jason is 19 and Dick is 14. There's a 5 year age difference.

I kind of like how both of my chapters have started with the letter "D"... I think I'll work that into the rest of my story.

Sorry it's shorter than chapter one...

Erm...that's it...I guess...

Ch. 2-Deals

It's best to create the angle of yourself before you try to make a deal.
―Max Markson

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

It was a vicious cycle that Red Hood found himself in. Although never particularly fond of the little bird, he never actually wanted him dead. Truthfully, he hadn't even thought about the possibility that the little squirt could die.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

By the Joker too. Same guy who killed him the first time around. If he wasn't in such a shocked stupor, Red Hood would have laughed at the irony of it all. Bruce Wayne, losing both sons to the same man…and all because he was too chicken to kill, honestly, this stuff was just too dramatic to be real.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

But then again, it wouldn't be surprising if Batman killed for his little Robin. The Dark Knight did favor the younger boy after all. He let the kid be his partner while Red Hood had to go out and prove himself before Batman decided training was necessary. Red Hood hadn't been allowed to be publicized, Robin had. The little bird was called the first sidekick, but the secret that only members of the Bat Clan knew was that Red Hood was the first.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

True, Robin did start at a younger age, and Red Hood knew that if the brat had been able to grow up, he probably would have surpassed even the Bat's skills…But Red Hood was in the hero business years before that kid came along. The sometimes vigilante remembered when it all started. He was twelve, living in Crime Alley, and got caught stealing tires. By Batman. Off of the Batmobile…

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

When Red Hood was taken in by Bruce Wayne and discovered Batman's identity, he wanted to be a hero. Bruce said no. Red Hood went out anyway. It was like that for a while until Bruce realized he couldn't stop the kid and chose to train him instead. Not being a circus kid like Grayson, Red Hood avoided the press with ease. He wasn't an attention seeker. The League didn't even know about him, except for maybe Superman. During his stint with the Bat, Red Hood went up against none of the Arkham baddies. He wasn't allowed. Until one day when he was sixteen, when the Red Hood met the Joker.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

Or rather, the Joker met him. While taking down a gang all on his lonesome (he'd been relieving himself of some pent up anger caused by hiding in the shadows of an eleven year old Grayson), Red Hood was knocked out and taken away. Apparently the gang was actually Joker's henchmen. At the time, Red Hood, who was going by a different name, believed Batman would get there and save him. But Batman is only human, and the realization hit Red Hood hard. Like, beaten to a pulp with a crowbar and caught in an explosion hard.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

He died. His civilian identity was said to be traveling the globe on some soul search, like what Bruce had done the seven years before he became Batman. One year later, Red Hood appeared thanks to one Ra's al Ghul. The Dynamic Duo was shocked to say the least. Red Hood still gets jitters up his spine when he remembers the looks (really, only a member of the Bat Clan could have noticed the "looks") he received upon revealing himself to them. Of course, they haven't fought against each other very much since then… It's probably because Red Hood left Gotham City…too much drama.

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

Red Hood wasn't quite sure when his animosity toward his "younger brother" began. They got along fine when they were living in the same house. Although that could be because they rarely saw each other, being wrapped up in their own lives and whatnot. Sure, he admits that he may have been a tad jealous of the constant attention shot the kid's way, but he hadn't held it against him. After all, Grayson had grown up with all eyes on him; it'd be too big of a change if he started to get ignored. Anyway, Red Hood had a suspicion that it started when his revived self first saw a newsfeed of Robin. The, by that point, barely twelve year old was all smiles and laughter. He didn't appear at all affected by his own "brother's" death! It'd been a reality check to Red Hood just how little he'd meant to his so called "family." Still, now that the kid was dea- wait a minute…

Pause.

Rewind.

Play.

"Son of a bitch," Red Hood breathed out upon closer inspection of the shitty news feed that someone recorded, supposedly of Robin's demise, that he'd been watching for the past three or four hours.

Pause.

"Son of a…why didn't I see that before?" he asked himself in frustration from where he sat on the edge of the couch. Red Hood's apartment was miraculous in comparison to Red Arrow's. It was clean, thanks to the maid, and filled with everything Red Hood needed to feel comfortable, even though the money wasn't necessarily earned fairly. He had DVR, a couple of laptops, and even a kindle or two. It was the bachelor's paradise.

Power.

The plasma screen flicked off.

Red Hood stood up from the couch and picked up his empty beer can. That's when someone started banging on his door.

Only one person had the guts to do that.

"OPEN UP THE DOOR, I'VE GOT A SURPRISE FOR YOU!" the unmistakable voice of Roy Harper shouted.

Red Hood groaned and walked over to the door, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT HARPER?" he shouted back.

"I told you, it's a surprise."

Red Hood glared at the giant piece of mahogany where he assumed the slightly (less than a year) younger man's head was on the other side.

"Come on…" Roy urged.

A silence followed for about three minutes before Red Hood flung open the door, "You better have a real fuckin' good reason for being here Harper, or I swear-" he stopped his rant abruptly when he saw who Roy was with.

"Good to see you too Jason," a smiling and, as just recently noticed, very much alive Richard Grayson greeted.

Jason Todd, a.k.a. Red Hood, stood in the doorway blinking. First he thought Grayson was dead for days. Then he finds out the bullet actually hit Robin where his Kevlar was located while watching TV, so he was not dead. Now his not so dead replacement was standing outside of his apartment. Is there a sign that says "let's screw with Jason's sanity" or something?

"Told you I had a surprise," Harper had the guts to butt in with a smug smile while Jason was momentarily stunned into silence.

Grayson, noticing Red Hood's loss for words, walked passed him into the grand apartment. "You know, you could've at least let us in. Especially since this place is so asterous," the young teen walked over to the fridge and pulled out a piece of frozen pizza Jason had left over from the previous day's dinner.

Empty beer can still in hand, Jason walked over to the kitchen, Harper closing the door and following not far behind. The nineteen year old Jason could feel an inadvertent glare forming as he looked between his two not so welcome guests.

"Yeah," Harper's voice suddenly spoke up, successfully distracting Jason from his hatred fest, "Jay's a rich bastard,"

Grayson swallowed his mouthful of pizza, "Business is good for you then?" the kid's undertones of disapproval were clearly there, but the question did bring back Red Hood's voice. So, knowing that he had regained his ability to speak, there was only one thing he could think of to do.

Jason chucked his beer can and nailed Roy directly on the forehead. Then he did what he was known best for, he lost his cool, "WHAT THE FUCK, HARPER! You can't just come to my home this late at night with my not so dead replacement, barge in, and have the fucking kid EAT MY PIZZA!" In his peripheral, Jason could see that Grayson had the balls to take another, especially large, bite of said pizza wearing a pleased expression. "Give me one good reason not to throw the both of you out," he seethed.

Roy rubbed his head where the can hit, "Jay, he's hungry," the archer explained as he bent down to pick up the projectile that'd hit him, "Besides, I'm sure you're curious about why he's not dead."

"If you think I give a damn about what's going on in Grayson's life, or the reasons behind this mess, you're completely-"

"You watched my death for almost four hours…you care," Grayson interrupted having finished his pizza, he then wandered over to the older boys who'd migrated towards where the television and couch were, "whether it's the good or bad kind of caring, I have yet to figure out," and then as an after thought he added, "And I'm not a replacement. We were active at the same time for a good year or so."

Harper looked confused, "There's a bad kind of caring?" Apparently he'd opted to ignore Grayson's last statement.

"Course there is. The good kind is when I want someone to be all good and healthy; the bad kind is when I wanted to be the one to kill the bastard or I get all happy knowing that someone's kicked the bucket," Jason elaborated casually, an almost complete turn around from his previous hostility.

"Oh," the red-headed archer muttered. And boy did Jason feel all giddy inside upon seeing Harper's expression which clearly read sorry I asked.

Grayson, sensing the shifting direction of the conversation, decided to regain control, much to Jason's distaste, "I'm not here to talk about your feelings towards me, anyway," the kid stated looking his supposed brother in the eyes, "This isn't some twisted type of family counseling with Roy being the mediator. Bruce isn't a part of this at all; it's my plan and mine alone."

"You planned your own death?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.

Grayson's confidence visibly faltered and an almost appalled look overcame his features, "What? No! I would never kill my Robin persona; you of all people should know how personal that name is to me. My death was all Batman's doing."

Jason smirked; he finally had the upper hand, "I thought you said Bruce had nothing to do with this."

"He doesn't…Well…He does…But not in the way you think," Jason saw Grayson send a pleading look to Harper only to have the older boy hold up his hands and take a step back. Clearly Roy Boy didn't want to get involved. "Well, I mean, it is my plan…But he's part of the reason I'm even going through with it….Not that it's just his fault…" the kid's incessant rambling was starting to irritate the Red Hood, so he decided to move things along a bit, he was a busy man after all.

"Cut to the chase!"

Eyes wide, Grayson instantly stood up straighter and recited, "About three months ago I came up with a fool proof plan to leave because I noticed the babying that everyone was giving me, it was an insult and showed a lack of respect. Since then, I have been gradually preparing myself to put my plan into action, you know, the moment I couldn't take it anymore. That moment was the night Batman and I fought the Joker. I saved his life, and he fires me for being 'reckless'! A little gratitude would've been the proper response, because honestly, my life was never in danger. He knew that was where the Kevlar was too!"

"…You ran away," Jason was dumbstruck. Here was golden boy Grayson, the Boy Wonder, the second half of THE Dynamic Duo, in Red Hood's apartment, (the fallen child, and the villain according to some people's logic) saying that even he hadn't been enough to please the Dark Knight. Truthfully Jason didn't know if he wanted to laugh at the kid or show his understanding towards the unusually high expectations of Batman. Instead he settled for, "So why did you come crying here?"

Jason almost regretted asking when a smile lit up Grayson's face, "As I told Roy, I have a business proposition for you." Now that got his attention.

"I'm listening."

"Blüdhaven definitely isn't feeling the aster, wouldn't you agree?"

"Don't screw with your words or I'll punch you in the face."

Ignoring the comment, Grayson continued with his confidence somehow renewed, "Personally, I think it sort of resembles Gotham. Although…it lacks a certain cape and cowl..."

"Your point?"

"I want to make Blüdhaven my Gotham."

Jason glared down at Grayson for having such an idea, "You're out of your fucking mind, a hero there wouldn't even last a day! Especially since that's where my business is after Batsy kicked me out!"

"Relax Jay, I know all about your business in Blüdhaven. That's also what makes that city the perfect place. There's so much crime there, I can avoid your guys completely and still make a significant difference. It also allows for easier contact with the Red Hood."

"Why would you need easy contact with me?"

"I'm not ready to go at it alone…yet. I mean, I'm only fourteen. I acknowledge that. The thing that the League failed to notice though, the reason that I left, is that I need new experiences. The JLA has been shielding me. I mean, how will I get better if they'll always view me as the little boy they originally met? I won't be suitable in the field if my knowledge is limited to what they've let me see. So…I figured, the best way to gain new experiences and skills would be if I were trained by my big bro for a while."

Jason gaped, "So let me see if I got this. Dickie Bird here left big bad Brucie, and now he wants me to train him so that he can be all vigilante like in the city where I work taking down other baddies, but nobody involved with me. That right Roy Boy?"

Roy, who'd successfully avoided the conversation up until then, gave an unsure, "Uh, yeah, I guess so."

"That's what I thought," Jason nodded, then he turned his attention back towards Dick, "Now why the hell would I do that!?"

"Because, it'll get rid of your competition in Blüdhaven…I'll also need your help buying my own apartment. I've got the money, just not the age requirement." Grayson answered.

"Get rid of my competition? Not good enough."

"I didn't want to play this card, but you left me no choice," the ex-Boy Wonder gave an absolutely devious smirk, "If he were to ever find out that I left him and came to you, it'd make Bruce positively furious."

Red Hood cursed under his breath. The kid had him there. "Evil Kid," he said loud enough for Roy at least to hear, given that he snorted in an attempt to smother his building laughter. "So what this deal implies is that I get you a place to stay, I train you, and I help you on your way to going solo. In return you go after my competition and when Bruce finds out, because let's face it he will at some point, it's gonna piss him off," Red Hood attempted to clarify again.

"That about sums it all up. So, what do you say Jay, do we have a deal?" Dick Grayson, sometimes known as Robin the dead Boy Wonder, extended his hand.

And Red Hood begrudgingly shook it.

A/N:... So...yeah...Review and what not pretty please. I hope you enjoyed it, if not, please PM me to tell me what you didn't approve of (besides the logistics, I already know how out there it all is, that's why it's AU) and I'll try to fix it.

Once again, thanks to all of you people who reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this!