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Jason sat in the dark apartment, waiting for Dick to show up. He’d been back in Gotham for several months now yet there’d been no sign of the blue bird. Really, he didn’t care when Jason was alive being a good little birdie but now he didn’t even care enough that Jason was evil now to show up?
Dick move.
So, he waited. The red helmet was on, to reinforce the fact that Jason was the ‘bad guy’ now. It was around 8:30 when he heard the door being unlocked.
“There we go.”
Jason heard the whispered words and frowned in confusion.
“Hey buddy, I know you’re tired but you need to brush your teeth before bed.”
“I don’t want to go to bed.” A little voice said sleepily.
“You aren’t fooling me, teeth then bed, little man.”
Jason was so in shock, he didn’t think to retreat out of sight. The light came on and there was Dick, a small child in his arms.
The acrobat froze in the doorway, fear flashing across his face before he forced his expression under control.
“Johnny, go to your room and call Uncle Roy.”
“But we were just-“
“Go.”
Little blue eyes peered at Jason before the child ran off down the hall.
“Whatever you want, I can’t give it to you. I’m just a single dad, living on a cop’s salary.”
The silence stretched between them.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, I don’t know who you are-“
“What do you mean you don’t know who I am? You can’t expect me to believe that the big bad Bat didn’t tell you.”
“I may have lived in Gotham but I’ve never talked to Batman.”
“Oh come on, Nightwing.”
Dick took a step back hand moving for whatever weapon he could reach, leaving genuinely astonished.
“Well fuck, he really didn’t tell you.”
“Watch your language. You may kill people but that doesn’t mean my son has to hear your potty mouth.”
Jason couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing. This only seemed to disturb the older man even more but he couldn’t stop, this entire situation was just hilarious.
As he caught his breath, the second Robin reached up to pull off the helmet carefully.
Dick literally staggered back.
“Jay.”
The name was breathed, tears filling blue eyes.
“You’re- how?”
Jason opened his mouth to reply but soon found himself in a chokehold disguised as one of his brother’s hugs.
“Oh my god.” Dick practically sobbed, holding onto his brother as tightly as possible.
“Seriously Goldie, gettin’ a bit hard to breathe here.”
“Jason Peter Todd, don’t you ever, EVER, do that again!” Dick scolded, looking the younger man in the eye, hands gripping his shoulders firmly.
“Guess you really are a dad now, huh.” Jason said weakly.
A dark look crossed the acrobat’s face briefly but was soon overtaken by a soft smile.
“Your middle name is Peter too?” A soft voice asked from the doorway.
“Johnny, you should still be in your room. It’s alright this time because Jason isn’t going to hurt us but in the future if someone’s in the house and I tell you to go, you stay away.”
The little boy ran and jumped up, being caught easily by his father.
“Sorry Dat.”
Jason had half a mind to question Dick’s confidence that they wouldn’t be hurt but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not after that welcome.
“How old is he?” The leather clad man asked, smiling slightly when Johnny peered at him from where he’d buried his face in Dick’s neck.
“Four. He was born a little over a year after...”
“And Peter?”
“His name is John Peter Grayson. He kind of reminded me of you a little bit. Something good coming out of a bad situation."
Jason wanted to ask, there was obviously more there, but he held back. There was plenty that he'd rather not talk about.
"Well I'm flattered. How'd B react to you naming your son after his dead soldier."
Dick grimaced.
"He loved the name actually, after he stopped questioning his lineage."
Jason's raised eyebrow prompted further explanation.
"I don't like talking about Johnny's mother. If he ever really wants to know about her, of course I'll tell him but-. Anyways, when I told Bruce about him, he immediately wanted to do DNA tests 'to make sure'."
Jason snorted.
"Of course he would."
As his eyes, once a bright blue but now more of a turquoise green, shifted back to the child, Dick shifted his grip.
"Johnny, this is your Uncle Jason. He was gone for a while but he's back now."
A shy little wave had some of the lingering green madness receding.
"Hi Johnny, it's nice to meet you."
"Are you gonna be watching me? Like Uncle Roy and Auntie Donna?"
Jason was surprised that Wally wasn't named but the pain in his older brother's eyes held back his questions. This night really wasn't going where he'd planned, but maybe that wasn't so bad.
"Well, not right now. I'm sort of in the middle of some stuff right now but maybe someday, as long as your Dat is comfortable with it, you can hang out with me and do a bunch of fun stuff."
An expert in Bat-speak, Jason knew his brother would want answers about the whole guns and killing and fighting Bruce later but for the moment he was meeting his nephew (that he didn't know existed) and talking with his older brother (that hadn't known he was alive). It was actually pretty nice.
Maybe half an hour later, Dick left the room to put Johnny to bed and call off Roy. Jason sat at the edge of his chair, torn. When he first got back, his plans for revenge made perfect sense. Bruce cared more about his precious code than his supposed son. He was replaced before even a year had gone by. But as he spoke with Dick, a fog seemed to clear. He was still pissed, Bruce had a lot to answer for, but it wasn't all-consuming anymore. Dick had always had that effect.
With a sigh, Jason stood and grabbed a notepad and pen that was just lying around, writing out a quick note before slipping back out the window.
Dick shut the door gently behind him before making his way back to the living room.
He was sad, though not surprised, to see that Jason was gone. If it weren't for the note on the coffee table, he may have been fooled into thinking Jason was never there in the first place.
Sorry Dickhead, don't mean to scare and run. You've got a cute kid. Unfortunately, I've got some stuff to wrap up. Once that's done though, I expect to be the one teaching JP about the wonders of Shakespeare. I refuse to let you ruin him with your frankenstein words. See ya 'round Goldie.
Dick smiled at the paper, bringing it with him as he went to get ready for bed himself. With all these notes, seemed he was starting a collection.
"Hey B, we need to talk."