Chapter Text
In the hours after Jason is shot, he’s barely alone once. It’s a fight to drive out either Danny to his job or Dick to go check in with the bats before they tear down the city at his silence.
It’s the first full day later and Danny finally left for work for the night. Dick is redressing his wounds, mask off. It fucking sucks, because sanitizing Gotham Harbor is not for the faint of heart.
“Why didn’t you call for backup?” Dick doesn’t look up from dabbing at the bullet wound.
Jason groans–not from pain, but annoyance at the topic. “I’m not part of the flock. I stick to the Alley. If anyone is going to be in my ear, it will be my guys.”
“And were they?”
The silence is telling.
Dick layers gauze, carefully taping it to his skin. “I wish you’d let us in, Little Wing. I promise, B would like nothing better.”
As if. There are too many unsaid conversations between them for Jason to voluntarily reach out for help. Being with the Bat comes with a rule sheet a mile long.
When Jason doesn’t respond, Dick sighs and moves on. “Word on the street is that a new rogue did this to you.”
“Just some assholes who didn’t like me running the trades.”
“No.” Sitting back, Dick lets the supplies fall back to the table. There are bloody bandages to be disposed of. “Sparrow. It’s catching people’s attention.”
Danny? How did that happen?
At Jason’s questioning look, he elaborates. “Some of the thugs ran and said Sparrow vanished, allowing you to be shot. I’ve heard a version where it was all a setup and he was working with the gang specifically to injure you. Another where you two planned it together. He’s causing waves.”
“He didn’t mean for me to get hurt.” Jason is adamant about the fact. Danny acted on instinct and while it might have injured Jason, it’s better than Danny being shot.
“That’s not what B thinks.”
Of course, it’s not. Of-fucking-course. Because in the end, this is all Jason’s fault. Either he’s working with the rogue secretly or he is too useless on his own to escape.
“Hey.” Dick gives a gentle punch to his arm. “I can see your brain going in directions I don’t like.”
But Jason is injured and out of it and, hell, he can wallow just a little. He almost drowned. He closes his eyes and ignores Dick for the rest of the evening.
The apartment door slamming open jerks Jason awake. He’s not sure when he fell asleep, but he’s sure awake now.
“Jay? Are you okay?”
Sparrow is back. Or–Danny, as the teen comes in like a whirlwind. His eyes are wild, flicking to Jason and then beyond him. The crackle of escrima sticks says Dick is back in his Nightwing outfit.
“I’m fine, don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“Who’s this?” Dick’s all prickly around the edges, stalking closer. “How did you find this place?”
“What the–I was just here!” Danny throws a wild look between them. “I figured you’d be gone, anyway.”
“What, so you could attack Red Hood alone?”
Jason takes pity on Danny because he’s half a second from blowing a gasket with worry. “Bud, you aren’t transformed.”
Danny glances down, confirming that no, he’s not floating, glowing, or sporting different hair and eye colors. “Oh.” It’s a very small sound.
He’s got to do all the work around here. Rolling his eyes, he waves between the two. “Dick, meet Danny. You know him as Sparrow.”
An escrima stick points in his direction. “The new rogue!”
“I’m not a rogue!”
“Dickie-bird, take off the mask. He’s good.” Jason doesn’t have the mental power to deal with this. The mother of all headaches says his body is complaining about the abuse it’s been put under. His lungs hurt every time he breathes deeply. At least the bullet wound is dulled with local anesthetic.
The arguing continues before Dick finally puts his weapons away and pulls off the mask. “Little Wing, you better trust this guy with your life.”
His answer is all barred teeth. “Nah, only my death.”
Danny snorts. Hell yeah, death jokes for the win.
Dick makes that constipated face that means he’s regretting his life choices. Not like Bruce didn’t coin the look first. Pot, meet kettle.
Leaving the door behind, Danny dumps a pizza box on the table and drops to the couch cushion next to Jason. Dick seethes at having his preferred spot taken and opts for the arm of the couch—overprotective bastard.
“Hey, I’ve seen you before.” Blue eyes fix on Dick, laser-focused. It’s so like Tim it almost hurts. “You’re the maybe-robber!”
“The what?!”
Danny ignores the exclamation, flapping a hand at him. “At Flower Reading!”
Dick still looks lost. “At Flower Reading…but the last time I went there was–hey! You wouldn’t tell me when Harley was coming back!”
“You were shady as shit, man! I thought you were casing the place!”
“I’m a vigilante!”
“How am I supposed to know that? You were in like, a business suit!”
Jason’s seen a lot of kicked-puppy expressions cross Dick’s face–he’s a genuine golden retriever of a person. This one takes the cake, though. No one is put off by the sweet Dick Grayson in civvies with a smile. No one.
His older brother swings back to Jason, likely looking for support. “How long have you known Junior here?”
“I’m 18,” Danny grumbles, which they both ignore for the falsehood it is. He can’t be more than a few years younger than Jason, though.
He hauls himself up on the couch, freeing another cushion and patting it for Dick to join him. If the idiot looms anymore, he’s going to faceplant on Jason’s injury. “A little over a month, maybe? Danny helped me out of a tight spot.”
“He got kidnapped,” Danny says, immediately betraying any trust between them.
Jason turns horrified eyes on him. “How dare you. I rescued you first.”
“You were both kidnapped?!”
“Dick, calm down. The blood vessel in your forehead is throbbing. You’re turning into B.”
“I can never make fun of him again, can I?” Dick flops against the back of the couch with a moan. “It all makes so much sense now.”
As if the family cared about Jason that much. It’s not a fair thought–Dick certainly does. Tim tries when Jason manages more than a minute in his company. Bruce would try if Jason didn’t fill the silence with quick words and quicker footsteps in the opposite direction. Maybe. Probably? He can work with them all, but patience has a limit. At least the girls don’t bother him when they are around.
Letting the humor fade, Dick folds a leg under him to turn and focus on Jason. “Jay, what’s this about kidnapping?”
Ugh. They’re going to have to talk about this, aren’t they? “Remember that tip about the egg crates?”
Dick’s eyes narrow, but he nods.
“Well, I knew about the warehouse because uh. I was there.”
“Willingly?”
“Technically–”
“Jason.” It"s only years of secretism that keeps Dick from using his full name. “Report.”
“Fine!” Jason gives him a nasty glare because this isn’t his choice. “I was looking into disappearances in the Alley and infiltrated their base. I wasn’t expecting to have them use the new gas so quickly. Sparrow, Ivy, and Harley broke everyone out. When I got back, I called in the note about the eggs.”
The whole family worked together to pull the weaponized eggs before they got into the wrong hands.
“Those eggs had joker and fear gas in them.”
“I know.” And what he wouldn’t give to forget it. “You can’t tell B.”
“Jay–”
“You can’t!”
The look on Dick’s face is more than puppy hurt, it’s broken. “Why can’t you believe your family cares about you?”
Because Batman didn’t save Robin. Bruce didn’t come for his son. He didn’t tell Dick about the funeral. He put up a case with a torn uniform that said Good Soldier.
Because, deep down, Jason doesn’t want to find out if Bruce really cares.
Danny’s been silent throughout the conversation, but he keeps a hand on Jason’s arm in solidarity. It doesn’t come across as judging.
Dick still has that crushed look on his face. He leans more firmly into Jason’s side, opposite the one that was shot. “I just want you to be safe,” he whispers.
That, at least, Jason believes.
Two weeks later, Danny and Dick are on the same couch, Jason squished between them. They’re eating chips and dip and flipping through TV channels, arguing about what to watch. Jason’s injuries have improved and, while it will take more time for the bullet wound to heal, it’s more of an annoyance than debilitating. He doesn’t even have a limp when he walks anymore.
“This week on Gotham Shore, we dive into the–”
“Only at Batburger can you find authentic–”
“Next up is Sandy with further reports of the new possible rogue–”
“15 ways to spruce up an apartment–”
“Breaking news.”
They stop fighting for the remote.
“We’ve just received word that three villains have escaped from Arkham Asylum. We urge all Gotham residents to stay off the streets until this threat is brought under control. Preliminary reports suggest Mr. Freeze, the Riddler, and–”
The TV shuts off.