The rest of the visit at the Wayne Manor was more relaxed, or at least Jason thought so. He wouldn't forget Jazz's tense shoulders while they listened to Danny's explanation of Jazz's actual role in the Infinite Realms.
Was she tense because she hated being an executioner? Because she found that dreadful?
He wasn't sure, and the doubt was capable of consuming him — did she really understand him, what he tried to do for Gotham, or was she projecting her own insecurities in him and wanted him to "reform" like she seemed to be doing with herself? Because it didn't escape him how she went from such a violence-heavy role to completely focusing on reforming Gotham rogues.
If all Jazz could see in him was a pet project to "fix" in any way, he knew it would completely crush him. After all they've been through, there was still doubt that any of this was real. That what they had was real.
No. He had to try. To believe.
He still felt shaken after the rapidfire revelations one after the other — Jazz was the Crown Princess of another dimension, the Spirit of Gotham was Bruce's mom, Jazz's actual job was scarily close to his, and the personification of fear wanted to marry his girlfriend. He knew he would be thinking about all of this, and come back to every little detail, that night while he was supposed to sleep.
He just knew.
Especially because when he closed his eyes, he could see Danny's haunted eyes when he pulled him aside to talk.
He expected a shovel talk, he expected vague threats from a caring brother, or maybe a rundown of what it means to consort a Princess.
He didn't expect what actually happened.
"My sister… Please keep an eye on her. I wasn't kidding when I said she takes the bad stuff and deals with it on her own," he smirked, acknowledging that he knew the couple had been eavesdropping, "but what I didn't say is how she disregards her own wellbeing."
"I've noticed."
He shook his head. "You don't understand. Jazz self-destructs, she… It's almost as if she punishes herself for wanting more. Maybe, I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it; but she is always so quick to accept the worst and plans for it without thinking that things could just… Work out. It doesn't help that things have been hard for us for so long – self fulfilled prophecy?" He chuckled. "I'm more aware of things than she gives me credit for."
Jason kept his gaze straight ahead, watching the rest play in the backyard, a tiny green dog — Cujo — running around and imprinting on Damian almost immediately.
"She loves you."
"I know."
"She lied to me for you." Danny looked at him funny. "I'm not saying it's your fault or anything. Just observing. She was ready to face the Justice League over a misunderstanding rather than telling the truth."
Danny hummed, storing the new piece of information.
"She would make rivers of blood to protect you."
Danny stayed quiet, so quiet that Jason assumed the conversation was over.
"She already has." Danny's voice was small. "One time, she was sent with an entourage as a political representative to an ambivalent community, to negotiate their alliance. Or find out if they would support Vlad. She came back a few weeks later, alone, and covered in blood. She only said that we didn't need to worry about those people anymore.
Her wounds were fatal, and we don't know how she not only survived but made the trip back. The funny part? I think that incident marks the beginning of her descent into the executioner role she finally took. It was almost as if— She was changed. I could see it. My worries were confirmed when I got word that the city she had visited had been burned to the ground. No one ever found any remains, of either faction. Just blood and rubble."
"Darling?"
"Hmm?"
He looked down, finding the teal eyes of his girlfriend. It was the same face, the same eyes, the same worried expression.
A few weeks ago, she was the woman he was so scared to reveal himself to. Now, she was so much more. It felt silly to worry about what she would think about his other life, how she went from "just" being the girl he was interested in to whatever they were now.
He couldn't see her in the same way. Not after learning what he knew now.
"Are you okay?" Her cold hand was on his cheek. When did she move? "You've been quiet."
He kicked himself in his mind for worrying her. It's just… After saying their goodbyes and getting on the road back to their apartment building, he started to let his mind wander and hadn't come back to the present yet.
They were in front of her door, the fluorescent lights illuminating Jazz's face looking up at him.
"Sorry."
She bit her lip. "Don't say sorry. No blood, no fault."
"Har har," he smirked, leaning down for a quick kiss. "Smart-ass."
She giggled. All thoughts and doubts left him as he let himself bask in the moment.
He leaned in for a kiss, smiling when she got on the tip of her toes to meet him halfway, her arms sneaking around his neck to keep him there.
Her kiss was the same. Her smell was the same. Her touch, and the way his hands fit on her waist, was the same.
She was the same person, he reminded himself. Even if every answer he got only opened more questions, Jazz was still here with him, and she still wanted him.
The door opened behind Jazz, and Jason had to quickly grab the door frame to prevent the pair from falling to the ground.
"Time to sleep." Danny was there, arms crossed, a small smirk on his face. He enjoyed his sister's grumble and annoyance. The little shit.
"Yeah, yeah." She sighed, turning to look at her boyfriend. "Talk to you tomorrow?"
She looked so uncertain and hopeful. Did she think he would run?
"Of course." He gave her another quick kiss, smiling when she giggled.
He nodded at Danny as they parted. He nodded back, his smirk turning something more dangerous for a second, but back to a normal smile when Jazz passed by as she went inside the apartment.
Jason stayed an extra second, waiting to see what Danny had to say.
"Goodnight, Jason."
He arched an eyebrow, expecting anything but that. He took it anyway. "Goodnight."
With that, Danny almost slammed the door shut in his face. Jason scoffed and went back to his own apartment, still reeling from everything that happened.
He only turned on the kitchen light, got some coffee started — if he wasn't going to sleep, why the hell not — and opened the fridge to see what leftovers he could quickly reheat for dinner.
With a warm cup and some food, he sat down on his shitty couch and turned on the TV to have background noise to think and organize his thoughts. It was some stupid procedural show, mainly focused on criminal psychology, something he knew Jazz would love.
He chuckled, sighed and put the half eaten leftovers on the coffee table.
He wasn't that hungry anymore.
Why did he feel like this? It didn't make sense — it wasn't like it was the first time he was involved with people with superhuman abilities and a complicated past. Back when he was Robin, he had gone with Bruce to the Watchtower more than once and met enough members of the Justice League. And after his resurrection he had been involved with the Al Ghuls, who were irreversibly affected by the Lazarus Pits.
No. This was different.
Jazz was… She was supposed to be a civilian. The one normal thing in his life. He agonized over telling her about his other life, but deep down he wanted to have something that made him feel less like he was adrift in life, drowning, feeling like his only purpose had become vigilantism.
He wasn't stupid. Jazz's status as a meta was something he knew early on, and the way she had been hinting at some kind of hero's life was ironic, but he could handle it.
I couldn't give you normal even if I tried.
She warned him. She told him she wasn't sure that their relationship should happen at all. She told him she risked a lot to be involved with him, and that it wasn't in her plans at all to love him.
He's different. We clicked.
She told Danny that what they had was different, and he believed her.
Crown Princess of the Infinite Realms. Warrior. Executioner.
Jazz had no place playing human in Gotham, making friends, enduring shitty bosses, having a human boyfriend.
What he understood from what the siblings explained, her actual life was a fantasy story like the ones from his childhood books – with Kings and dragons and magic and insane stakes.
A tiny part of him resented her, he discovered.
Jason leaned forward and put his head between his hands, the stupid show on TV forgotten.
Why did she involve him in this? She knew the kind of burden she would put on anybody she dated, at least anybody she was interested enough to involve in her true life. How could she think she could just give him hopes and love him and then… then what? Did she plan on leaving without an explanation when her internship ended? Was she okay with breaking up, making up a shitty excuse to feed him hoping he eventually forgot about her?
She said she planned on telling him, but how much really? How much would she have told him if Bruce didn't poke things he wasn't supposed to?
He refused to feel grateful about what the old man did, he still treated Jazz poorly and jeopardized a lot of people's existence in Gotham; but it was difficult to let go of the thought that if Barbara hadn't looked, if Bruce hadn't confronted her like he had been too much of a coward to do… That Jazz would have fed him half truths and lies by omission to protect Danny up until the day they parted ways.
His eyes felt a little damp. He blinked the moisture away and pressed the palm of his hands against his eyes until he saw stars.
No. This is ridiculous.
Jazz was very smart in many ways — she guessed everyone's secret identities after all — but she could be so dumb about so many things too. He remembered their fight, how her voice changed when she admitted she didn't know why or how she loved him. He thought about how she could remain oblivious to a guy crushing on her for years. He thought about Danny's admission that Jazz tended to be too harsh on herself and set unnecessary hard limits.
He could believe that Jazz's living in Gotham was a little experiment, a game of pretend that she was going to eventually end no matter who was hurt in the process, or…
Or he could believe that she was winging it so hard she contradicted herself all the time. That she was used to putting others above herself so much that she didn't consider the possibility she didn't have to end things. That there was no game, no further motives, no plan.
That the Princess of the Ghosts loved him, and she felt as lost as he did.
He breathed in, trying to calm down his racing thoughts.
It was useless to ponder and guess what her motives were, if she had them at all. They said they'd enjoy what they had while they still could, and going by what they learned that day, Danny gave the OK for them to be together — in a very strange and convoluted way, that is. And from what he overheard, Danny was this all powerful entity that made the rules.
A loud thud interrupted his thoughts, followed by his girlfriend's voice screaming Danny's name.
He smiled, picking up his food and considering finishing the rest of it. It was probably cold, so he decided not to. Instead, he picked up his coffee and the remote and decided to change channels, looking for something that didn't require a lot of brainpower and maybe fall asleep to.
It didn't help that everything either reminded him of Jazz, or thought it was something she'd enjoy.
Sunday was uneventful.
He decided to sleep in, pushing away the thought that sleeping alone never felt so cold before. He was being ridiculous. Everything about the situation was ridiculous.
He stayed in bed as long as his hungry stomach allowed him to, going over every conversation, every touch, every look. Trying to organize the new information and memorize every piece of detail, unsure of when exactly he'd have another opportunity to gather so much about the siblings' secrets.
He allowed himself a few moments to burn the visual of Jazz wearing her armor in his memory. She looked comfortable in it, powerful, and very inhuman. Nobody brought it up at the moment, but she glowed when she wore it. It was subtle under the daylight, and next to the living light bulb that was Danny in his King form she didn't stand out; but he had been distracted by the way everything about her had a bit of supernatural glow that separated her from the humans in the room.
It was different knowing all he knew and seeing it for himself.
Liminality. He wondered what else he still had to learn about her. What else he had to learn about himself, too. Going by how much information the Fentons gave him and after… After Jazz gave him pure ectoplasm, he was sure to expect some kind of change.
He hoped he found time to talk to Danny about the topic, and maybe coordinate a visit to these yetis they kept talking about.
The situation was ridiculous, but might as well embrace it. He had been The Chosen One for a secret sect of warriors oathbound to rid the world of an ancient evil — he could take whatever The Infinite Realms threw at him.
The rest of the day was relatively quiet, if you take into consideration the noises coming from his neighbor's apartment — seriously, what were the walls made of? Paper? — and Jazz and Danny's voices when they left in the afternoon for dinner. Jazz texted him a few times asking how he was and sending a few pictures of stray cats she saw while out with Danny. It was cute.
But he also had messages from his goons that they had some information about the Black Clovers gang. Finally.
He informed them that he would be around the base to discuss what they found. They better have something good, because he really needed to get these guys out of his turf. They threatened Jazz. Well, not her specifically, but they were looking for a redhead woman that helped Red Hood, with the vague description those guys Jazz fought a few months ago gave.
So long had changed since that fateful day. For starters, it was imperative he stopped these guys from going after his girlfriend.
And he couldn't tell her.
Jazz was dead set on trying to be normal. She came to Gotham deadset (heh) on living a normal civilian life, and she got involved in this mess because of him. She didn't need to worry about something like this, especially since he was going to make sure the Black Clovers never had a chance to find her if he could help it.
He ate a quick dinner and got ready for tonight, geared up and jumped out of the window to the adjacent rooftop — he spared a glance at the place from where he had watched Jazz like a creep for a whole afternoon. What an idiot he had been, suspecting her like that. He shook his head.
He looked down at the street when he heard approaching voices, finding Jazz and Danny walking towards the apartment, probably coming back from their dinner.
Jazz looked happy as she listened to her brother talk, nodding along his story and a small smile curving her lips. This was a side he hadn't seen yet — how she carried herself differently than when she was alone, how she kept one eye in every dark corner, every shadow. She was Danny's protector, even if the other probably didn't need such protection.
Both stopped walking once they reached the entrance of the building, but instead of getting inside, the siblings looked up – looked at him — at the same time with the same eerie eyes reflecting the street lights like a cat's.
He chuckled, waving a hand at both. Danny rolled his eyes and Jazz waved back with a big smile, her cheeks slightly red. Cute.
With a slight nod, he turned back to continue his way to his base, and did his best to not look back and check she was still looking at him.
Jazz held her gaze on the rooftop, waiting to see if he turned back, but he never did.
She sighed.
"You are ridiculous."
She rolled her eyes at her brother. "Oh, shut up."
"This is worse to watch than the thing with Johnny."
"Johnny happened so long ago, don't be an idiot." Danny opened his mouth to protest. "Eh, eh, eh. I was sixteen. You can't judge me."
"And you judged me for Paulina."
She lifted her chin. "Deserved it~"
Danny scoffed, but didn't add anything else.
The walk to the elevator was quiet. Jazz played with her keys, wondering where Jason was going, and if she could wait up and see if she could glimpse the vigilante passing by on his patrol route. Maybe she was being ridiculous, feeling this giddy about her boyfriend.
"Jazz."
She looked at her brother, humming in question.
He looked back with serious eyes. "We need to talk." She blinked, not really knowing what warranted this. "You have to tell me what happened with Batman."
She froze, but tried to play it cool. She made time walking out of the elevator when they got to her floor, and continued towards her apartment without saying anything.
"Jazz. You know you have to."
"There's not a lot to say — he found some documents and I tried to fill in the blanks as best as I could."
Danny grabbed her hand when she pulled out her keys to open the door. "Bullshit." She wasn't sure what kind of face she was making, but Danny's expression softened. "I need to know, Jazz. As your brother and as the King."
She closed her eyes and nodded.
He let her go and open the door, walking in after her. Neither bothered with the light switch, allowing the soft light of the full moon coming from the curtainless window to be enough for their conversation.
Jazz felt a sensation of déjà vu when she sat down on her couch and Danny pulled a chair to sit across the coffee table. It was another apartment, another situation; but she still had to give explanations about roughly the same things.
When would this nightmare end?
She licked her lips and got ready to talk.
"It started last week. Jason and I went on a date — our first official date —" she smiled when her brother made a face "and it was in the middle of a massive Arkham breakout."
Danny nodded. "Unsurprising."
"Yeah. So, he needed to go back to the fight and our date was interrupted. I waited up — no, shut up, let me finish — and he finally showed up. He was half dead and losing it and I really thought he was done for."
"And you used your vials."
"I did, and he got better." She nodded. "But Batman wasn't that far behind. He found us, and he found out I knew about them, and we… we kind of had a fight."
"You fought Batman?" Danny was amused.
"No… Not really. I managed to kick him out without an actual fight, but he just," she pulled her hair back, frustrated, "he couldn't let things go. Apparently, he and Oracle — yeah, that Oracle —" she nodded "joined forces and researched us. All of it, Danny. I don't know how the Ancients they managed to get some of that stuff, I'm positive Tucker had tight security."
Danny's back straightened. "He does. He was." He narrowed his eyes. This was a huge breach of security. Both knew that measurements will be taken about this. "Tell me everything."
She leaned forward, placing her arms on her knees, looking down and avoiding her brother's eyes.
"Batman — Bruce waited for me, and found me at Arkham, when I would be alone, and ambushed me with two more of their colony accompanying him."
Danny's eyes were glowing bright green when she looked up. She swallowed. After such a nice weekend she had to relive all that happened earlier in the week, and she feared his reaction.
"Go on. And spare no detail."
