Jason paced back and forth throughout his apartment, debating whether or not this was a good idea. But it seemed that he was the only one Jason could call to get this dampener collar off for sure and without raising suspicion. He was good with all that tech and stuff, Jason had seen it firsthand in the field, but after everything would he even show up to help Jason?

He glanced down at his phone. None of his messages had been read so far and Jason refused to call. Feeling the second thoughts creep in, Jason shook his head. It was too late for that now and he just sent off another five messages, becoming more and more panicked with every text. He had been really jittery for some reason, making him feel on edge and that his senses were heightened. He wanted that collar off of the kid as soon as possible.

While pacing down and back in the hallway, He peered through the cracked door to see Danny fast asleep on the bed. He hadn't slept in a while, and Jason finally managed to convince him to sleep without Jason by his side after a bit, saying that he had work to do and that he would still be in the house standing guard.

That seemed to work and the kid had let Jason go, but all it did for Jason was add an ache to his heart, a dull feeling of needing to curl up and protect him in the back of his mind and making his fingers twitch at the thought. However, getting this thing off of Danny was the first priority.

Jason was honestly quite glad he didn't need to call him 'the kid' all the time. And being called by a real name probably made him feel more humanized. Jason didn't miss how Danny winced when Alfred said 'poor thing'. He definitely had a problem with being treated as less than human.

The thought of what he'd been through made Jason grit his teeth as he looked back to the phone and sent off another few messages. He didn't care that he was spamming at this point; he just needed him here now.

Jason didn't even notice the bubbles on the screen or the read receipt before there was a message.

'Dude WTF, it's like 9am!' There was a pause while Jason started writing his response. 'Way too early for this.'

Jason quickly typed back, 'you comin or not?'

'FINE, be there in 20.'

Jason rubbed his forehead and put the phone down on the counter. Now that that was dealt with, he could only wait.

The waiting didn't feel quite as long as Jason thought it would. Most of the time he spent continuing to pace while thinking of all the ways this could go, how he should have done things differently, and how many ways he could murder a bunch of child experimenters very graphically and painfully. Mostly that last one.

There was a knock on the door and Jason would have jumped if not for his training. He expertly hid his surprise and rushed over to the door, swinging it open without even looking through the peephole. This was a safe house and no one would be here unless Jason told them the address.

"There you are, I was wondering if you were going to actually show up."

"Jason, what the hell? What was so urgent that you had to spam me with all these messages?" Tim Drake held up his phone, facing the text messages between them towards his older brother. Tim was standing just outside the apartment door in civilian clothes. There was also a cup of coffee from some shop clenched in his hand, the caffeine-aholic that he was.

)-(

Why can't Tim have one single normal day to himself?! He had just got back from patrol and was about to have his scheduled weekly two hours of sleep when his phone started blowing up with notifications. He tried ignoring it and rolled over in his bed but the pings just kept on coming and Tim was way too curious not to find out what was happening. Flipping over his phone, he discovered the profile of the last person he would ever think to see messaging him: The Gotham Crime lord, Mob Boss, Anti-Hero, Red Hood aka Jason Todd aka his older adopted sort-of brother.

Tim sat up so fast that his head spun before he started trying to read the messages. He didn't think Jason liked him, like at all! Especially after he, well, you know, tried to murder Tim in Titans' Tower, broke his arm, threw him down a flight of stairs and slit his throat, etc. Red Hood hated Robin, everyone knew that, well, now Red Robin. Jason and Damian still didn't seem to get along, but he never tried to kill Damian as he did Tim.

Tim shook his head, dispersing those memories from his mind. Right then, Jason was messaging him and it had to be for a good reason. He scrolled up through the seemingly panicked messages, which often ended up repeating themselves. But it was definitely Jason.

Ugh, Tim groaned, rolling out of his bed. He wasn't really planning on sleeping, he was looking for an excuse anyway. He quickly sent off a response as he changed into his civilian clothes and headed to the garage for his car.

After a reeeeeeeeeally quick stop at this coffee shop that opened nearby, he headed over. He made sure to park outside of Crime Alley so he could still have his tires when he got back. He glanced at his phone again to make sure the address was right, and then he looked up at the grungy apartment building that had at least a few dead bodies hidden somewhere out back.

Tim took a sip of his coffee and headed in with a shrug. The apartment was easy enough to find even if Tim wasn't sent the exact room number. The thing had more locks than every other door in the hall, which in Gotham the regular was three or four. It also had a bunch of traps on it that Tim recognized as common bat traps. Jason still tended to use the old ways.

Tim, instead of disarming the traps and just heading in, decided to knock. It's not like he wanted a skull full of bullets today. The door whipped open so fast that Tim almost stumbled backward and reached to grab his baton that was concealed on his belt.

"There you are, I was wondering if you were actually going to show up."

Tim immediately pulled out the phone and complained about the amount of messages he had received before Jason swiftly grabbed his arm and dragged him inside the safe house.

Tim stared at Jason while he turned around, closing the door behind him and locking it. Jason looked the sleep-deprived teen up and down once, and Tim thought he was tired, but Jason looked so much worse. The bags were dark under his eyes, his brow furrowed with stress and worry.

"You didn't tell anyone you were coming, right?" He asked, well, more like demanded, hurriedly.

Tim crossed his arms. "Well, seeing as you said it like eight times in your messages, I didn't."

"Good."

Jason rushed forward and grabbed hold of both of Tim's arms, pushing him further into the apartment and causing him to almost drop his coffee. The sloshing inside the paper cup made Tim anxious at the thought of the lost precious nectar.

Tim's eyes wandered over to the weapons that were placed around the living room and kitchen, being dismantled and cleaned and put back together again. His eyes widened a fraction as he glanced up at the older man still holding him by the arm. "Jason… You're not trying to kill me, are you? I still have a panic button. I can call the cave at any moment." He warned.

"Why would I call you to my apartment just to kill you?" Jason said nonchalantly. "That would be stupid. It would immediately lead back to me." Jason rolled his eyes, but let go of Tim's arm, causing him to subconsciously rub where Jason gripped through his hoodie.

Tim crossed his arms with a scowl. "That didn't stop you from coming in full get-up to try and murder me at Titans Tower."

Jason winced slightly at the comment, but didn't snark or comment about it in return. "Okay kid, I just… need your help." He sounded like he was fighting to admit it.

"Jason, I'm not helping you hide a body." Tim rolled his eyes. If that was the only reason Jason wanted him here, he was going to riot. "If you wanted that, you should have asked the demon brat. And I'm not a kid, I'm seventeen."

"It's not a body—"

"—That's good. I really didn't have time today." Tim waved his hand to the side as he took another sip of his coffee. "And Bruce would totally get on your case again."

Jason reached out and grabbed the teen's cup, pulling it away from his mouth to get his attention. "Look Tim, just…" Jason pulled at his hair with one hand. "What do you know about Metahuman collars?"

Tim stared at him for a long moment, surprised by the randomness of the question. "I know… enough. Why?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Can you get one off?" Jason ventured.

"Probably… Jason, what's wrong? You wouldn't call me for help on the best of days, from most of our interactions I would go as far as to say you want to kill me. The only reason I showed up in the first place was because of how much you were panicking in your messages, and how strange of an occurrence this is."

Jason sighed. "Okay, look—I found this… Kid."

Tim's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Jason what did you—" Jason put his hand up to stop whatever Tim was about to say.

"He is really badly injured and definitely experimented on. He's wearing a metahuman collar, or at least something very similar to one, and it's stopping him from healing. You're one of the only tech-y-like people I know and I need your help getting it off."

"A collar?" Tim tilted his head, still in slight shock. "You know how Bruce feels about Metas in Gotham."

Jason rolled his eyes. "And you know I don't give a shit what Bruce thinks. Are you going to help me or am I going to kick you out?"

"I-I mean, of course—"

Jason grabbed Tim's arm and dragged him further from the door onto the tile of the open-plan kitchen. "Okay, the kid is terrified. Like crazy terrified. You will have to be very careful here, you got that? No sudden movements. You guys are similar ages I think so that may help."

Jason glanced towards his bedroom door, and Tim's eyes followed before snapping back to Jason. "Where did you find a meta kid?"

Jason ran his hand down his face and leaned back against the cupboard. "He was bleeding out in an alleyway when I found him. Absolutely terrified out of his mind. He was emitting this strange feeling of 'Help me,' so I followed."

"And you just… took him home!?" Tim asked incredulously.

Jason quickly put his hand to Tim's mouth. "Shhh, not so loud."

Tim ripped his face off Jason's hand and rolled his eyes. "Fine, so you just took him home?" He repeated, this time with a hushed sarcastic tone.

"Of course not, I'm not an idiot." Jason crossed his arms over his chest. "I took him to Leslie. And then I took him home."

Tim raised an eyebrow. "What did she say?"

"That it was a miracle he's still alive." He ran a hand down his face. "Though he may not be as alive as we thought, especially if his eyes have anything to say about it."

Tim took a single sip of his coffee, staring up at Jason. "So you think the kid has something to do with the Lazarus Pit?"

Jason chuckled lightly "You pick things up fast, huh." He pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan. "I don't know. It's the same colour, and him being around affects me somehow."

Tim raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "What do you mean?"

"Ugh, I don't know. It makes me feel protective, I guess? Sure, let's go with that."

Tim smirked. "So you adopted a kid and are now very protective over him."

"I'm taking care of him for the time being. At least until I can put the people that did this to him in the ground." Jason clenched his fists tightly and his eyes flashed with a tinge of green for a moment.

Tim winced slightly at that—his memories of the green were not kind ones—but he made no comment. 'Remember not to mention these people to Jason when he is angry or you might get punched in the face' was carefully archived into Tim's brain.

"Alright, alright." Tim held out his hands, "Where's the kid? I'll have to see the collar before I know if I can get it off or not."

Jason sat up, pushing away from the counter, and started towards the bedroom door. "His name is Danny, and he can't talk right now. I don't know why, but his throat sounds like he has eaten shredded glass and he's been smoking for his entire life. Something probably happened to his vocal cords."

Tim chuckled. "Dick will be cooing over his new nephew soon enough."

"No one is going to be cooing, or touching, or coming near anyone. You are helping me get the collar off and nothing else."

"If you say so." Tim said in an almost sing-songy tone

Jason reached out and put his hand on the handle. "Stand back over there, I need to see him first."

"He's your kid." Jason stepped forward and Tim narrowed his eyes, not sure about what to expect from this whole thing. Jason knocked lightly on the door before stepping in and closing it behind him, leaving Tim standing there in silence.

Authors notes

Beta Read by: BloodyBecauseYes, and Oceanaslana

Lol, who guessed Tim? I know it was kinda obvious in some ways but still! Thank you all for the support and I am so excited to continue on with this fic! It is one of my favorites and while it does take longer to write up chapters it is still fun! This chapter did feel a little off in wording to me but I think it turned out okay. I originally wrote the Tim and Jason interaction scene after writing the second chapter of the fic! I always had it planned but I ended up having Alfred come over first! Who do you think is next to discover Danny?

Thanks all again please leave a comment! they are always so amazing to read! I love to hear what you guys catch in my writing and most importantly if you enjoy it. Stay safe and have a great week! :D