Dpxdc AU: Danny can’t fix Jason’s whole…deal… and doesn’t want to answer any questions on ectoplasm but he can get Jason to the best therapist he knows! Jason mistakes Danny constantly pushing Jazz his way as an awkward little brother move to set them up romantically- which uh, isn't necessarily a bad thing? Jazz has her own vested interests.
… heads up that this got long...
Jason ran his hands through this hair, relieving them from their previous position of cradling his face in embarrassment. Why was he sitting in a nice cafe with Danny’s redhead sister and a five dollar chai latte? For all the awkward live wire feelings he had, at least she was calm and composed. How many times had this happened already?
“So… the green stuff again?” Jazz asks, taking a sip from her own stupidly expensive drink and giving him eyebrows that beg for his explanation.
“Yeah. I was trying to get your brother to explain stuff without all the science mumbo jumbo. I just, I guess that means he defers to you.” Jason sighed, and tried to not think about how pretty her eyes were as she observed him.
“Not likely. But is the search for your answers helping you cope from day to day or making you climb an impossible mountain?” Jazz asks and it makes Jason fluster.
“It’s a moving goal post, sure, but I need answers if I’m going to fix my-“
“I think it might help you to realize that people don’t need to be fixed, they just need to grow.” Jazz interrupts.
They finish their drinks in a comfortable nonchalance, the rest of their conversation doesn’t go anywhere beyond their mutual hobbies and he’s grateful for that.
Jason's been doing a lot of introspection since this all started.
——
The first time it happened was months ago.
He confronts Danny after a mission, just wanting a simple answer on whether or not Danny thought the Lazarus pit contained ectoplasm? Could ectoplasm be separated from blood? Danny looked a little uncomfortable.
“Look dude, I know you want to know more but like, having this info isn’t going to help you. You need to talk it out.” Danny sounds sad and his eyes are filed with something adjacent to pity. It riles up the pit inside him.
“Oof. See that whole reaction thing. That’s not ectoplasmic, that’s something different. C’mon follow me.” Phantom cringes as he talks to him, and then floats across the rooftops, going slow enough that Jason can keep up on his grapple.
The arrive at a modest apartment building, not too far from his territory but clearly outside of it. Danny opens a window and slides in ahead of Jason, and all of a sudden he’s seated at a kitchen table with hot chocolate and teal blue eyes peering into his soul.
“Danny, some warning next time you’re bringing a crime boss to my apartment.” Jazz sighs and its not said with any malice or sarcasm. Danny gives her a grin and a peace sign before disappearing.
“So you want to talk about it?” Jazz turns back to him and asks.
“About?” Jason’s deep voice is going through the modulator and it sounds more sinister than it should.
“Death. Dying. The afterlife. Those are the normal things Danny brings people to me for.” She blinks.
“There’s a misunderstanding, I don’t need to talk, I need answers on Ectoplasm.” He grits out.
"Hm. Well that's not my field of study, but I can tell you that however your feeling is probably a valid response towards the trauma you've faced in life. Do you think showing yourself some kindness might lessen your desire to know the knitty gritty details?"
Jason scoffs.
"Oh. You're serious. No. I don't think being kind to myself is a valid approach to dealing with an infection that's cost me a lot of family relationships." Jason rolls his eyes. The woman looks contemplative for a moment and Jason can tell that while the dim kitchen lights are doing her no favors, she's incredibly beautiful. He pockets that information and refuses to think about it.
"So...Lets take this a different direction. Do you think successful people know what they're doing or do you think successful people need help to get where they want to go?"
"Most people are dumb and trying to get by." Jason grits out.
"So, accept that you're dumb. And then get by." Jazz replies, and then sighs and leaves the room.
Jason however, is now pissed off. Who the heck was she to say that to him?
____
The next time he finds himself across the table from Jazz, he's been on a wild goose chase with Danny and lands himself in a fancy restaurant. Why the hell was she here?
"Uh, it's called self care." Jazz replies, because apparently Jason asked that out loud. But he's not going to let this lead get away from him.
He takes off his helmet, years of muscle memory make him check that his Domino mask was in place, and sits down across from her. She raises a brow and then sighs.
"You think Danny might give me answers if I hold you hostage over, what is that, some kind of gnocchi dish?"
"Mm. Probably not." Jazz says, taking a bite and pulling out her phone.
"You're just going to ignore me then?" Jason finds himself a bit flabbergasted, he was a fucking crime lord, not someone to be ignored! Like he's just- just some bad blind date!
"Uh huh. You don't want to work on your issues and it's not my job to lead a stubborn horse to water."
"The expression is that you can lead a horse to water but you can't-"
"Can't what? Or are you still going to tell me it's not a huge waste of my time to tell you that you need to accept and forgive yourself to be able to move on. Find peace. Rest." Jazz is taking bites between her last few words but her glare remains unshakeable.
Jason is about to get up and leave when a terrified waiter comes over: "A dish, as compliments from the chef. Your guest's meal as well." He's shaking as he speaks and it makes Jason feel bad.
"Thanks." He grits out.
"...Is that the lasagna?" Jazz is looking at his food curiously, and Jason pushes it forward to indicate that she can take a bite. Probably not the safest thing for a civilian to do considering people regularly try to poison Jason but, meh. He's kind of pissed off at her still.
"It's pretty good. I was debating between that and the gnocchi- Okay let's think about this differently. You want to know about the green stuff, Danny is never going to tell a mortal about it and you keep denying yourself basic self-respect. What does your support system look like?"
"You're really pushing my buttons lady-" Jason can feel the green, but after a breath and seeing her unimpressed gaze "-I have a few friends who know what my deal is, I have an older brother who claims to forgive me, and a merry band of goons that I call my henchmen."
"Henchpeople?" Jazz asks.
"I mean, sure. That's more accurate."
"What do you do for fun?" She asks.
"I take down crime syndicates-" she levels him with another glare, he wonders why its so effective on him "-I read."
"Yeah? What genres?"
"Classics." He can admit only that much.
"Nerd. Are you going to eat any of that? You really shouldn't let food waste like that when it's not even fighting back."
"I don't know why I'm even bothering to talk to you right now." Jason spoke plainly.
"I dunno either but it's easier to tolerate you without the stupid helmet speaker. Anyway, If you like to read, hopefully that means you like to see new scenarios, new plots, stuff like that. You ever think to put yourself in side-character mode and contemplate what your whole deal is bringing to the table?"
"...How so?"
"Like, if you don't think it's worth it to treat yourself well, how do the main characters feel? Or, you know, if you were a child reading your story, what would you shout at them to move forward differently?"
"... I've decided that I only read poetry." Jason grumbles, trying to deflect with humor the fact that he does have some thoughts about what she's saying. She actually laughs at his joke though- he hadn't anticipated that.
"Uh, what is the Dr. Suess line? Stop telling outlandish tales, stop turning minnows into whales? something like that."
"Dr. Suess? Really?" Jason laughs.
"Sorry Mr. Classics, I spent most of my childhood raising my brother, forgive me for not knowing any fancy poetry." She huffs but he can tell she's laughing with him still.
They get off the topic of his mental health crisis and it turns out the Lasagna isn't half bad.
----
Jason keeps chasing Danny. Danny keeps leading him to Jazz. It goes for a few rounds before the ghost kid makes a joke about Jason liking her better anyway. Jason asks what the hell Phantom means by that, but Danny just laughs and says that Jason should just ask for her number.
...This does not sit right in his gut all of a sudden. Does he think that, that Jason is only pursuing this knowledge to keep talking to Jazz?? Does Danny want him to pursue Jazz? Does HE want to pursue Jazz???
----
He spots the Replacement in the Cave's lab before he heads upstairs to grab a cookie and leave as a civilian. The reason he even looked that way being that Tim is holding glowing green vials.
"Is that-"
"Yeah. They're literally the same except for the magic mumbo jumbo that Ra's has mixed in with the pit. Leave me alone now."
"So there is a way to heal it or, or extract it or-" Jason can feel his heart racing, but his constantly-exhausted sibling is looking at him like he's grown a second head.
"Dude. You're not gunna be able to flush it out with like, a juice cleanse. You're probably better off trying to find a magic user to deal with the curses and a therapist to do the rest." Tim looks like he's trying to be patient despite being deeply, deeply vexxed.
"Therapist- why in the hell would I-"
"I mean hasn't that been Danny's entire solution for you? He's only had one strategy the whole time he's lived in Gotham." Jason rolls his eyes.
"His solution is setting me up on dates with his sister not-"
"Dates!?! His sister is THE break out psychologist, she's done more for Arkham in the last year than decades of political reform! You've been goin on- wheez- oh my god I have to call Danny-" Tim is cackling, the lazarus water all but abandoned.
"Don't you fucking dare!"
After a (from both brothers) number of punches, a few headlocks and a large portion of threats, Jason agrees that Tim can tell his boyfriend but no one else.
Kon can keep a secret right? That's why he's the favorite?
----
"So... You and Jazz huh?" Danny looks amused as he floats by- Kon could not be trusted. The entire Justice league knows. Jason might have to die again. Apparently he said as much.
"Oh buddy, it's okay! You don't have to die again! I'm sure that if she likes you, she likes you just as you are, weird little zombie boy." Danny teases, turning intangible as Jason swings a punch at him.
"What do you mean if she likes me?" Jason asks, swinging with his grapple, trying to keep up with Danny.
"You think I read her diary or something? Weirdo. You need to talk to her about it tho, it's funny and all but I'm sure she's not a fan of the JL hot goss."
"I didn't start any of this-"
"My guy. Chill. I know, but uh, I did definitely tell her about it so... Oh look! We made it all the way to her apartment! BYE!"
Jazz is standing in the window and she looks like an absolute vision. Her glare makes him want to shit his pants however, and he knows that it's going to take all of his brain cells making contact to survive this encounter.
He sits on the fire escape when he realizes that she's not moving from her spot in the window, blocking his way. Ouch.
"So let me get this straight, you thought this whole time-"
"I thought Danny was being annoying and trying to set us up! I didn't know you were a shrink!" He tries to defend himself.
"...Why should I date an idiot?" the like yourself goes unsaid but he can hear it. Jason is scrambling.
"...I can make even better lasagna than that fancy restaurant you like." is what he lands on. Jazz bursts out a laugh.
"I was just fucking with you, but honestly what a great response." She's wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Just fucking with me?" He grins a bit, unable to stop himself from getting excited.
"Yeah, I've been telling everyone at work that I'm dating the Red Hood for like, months now. It's been stellar for my hostage record, I haven't had an issue since I started the rumor!"
"We're dating?" Jason asks, a bit bewildered but charmed.
"I wouldn't give free therapy to just anyone! Now about that Lasagna-"
Something, something, something- they seal the deal with a kiss.
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Like Son, Like Mother
Danny was doing homework at the kitchen table with Jazz when he heard it. A bang, a clatter, and his father’s shout of “Maddie!”
This was not all together that unusual. But for some reason, both him and Jazz looked up from their books to glance at the basement door.
Jazz /never looked up anymore.
The silence seemed to echo.
Jazz skated her eyes over to meet his, raising a confused eyebrow. Danny shrugged in response.She shrugged back. Which was.. really not helpful honestly.
Well, only one way to find out.
Danny pushed back his chair with loud scrape and walked over to the door. He opened it and shouted down, “Dad?? Everything okay??”
There was another clatter.
“Sure is, Danno!” There was a slight waver of uncertainty to his Dad’s voice.
Danny furrowed his eyebrows, taking a step down, then another. “You sure?? Jazz and I heard a pretty loud bang and-“
Danny stopped at the bottom of the stairs, one foot still hovering, “You’re sure you’re okay?”
Jack smiled at him from where he stood in front of Maddie, “Sure as a bear, kiddo!”
Danny leaned forward, trying to peer around Jack’s form, “Mom?
Maddy hesitated but answered, “Yes honey?”
“You’re sure you’re alright?”
There was a moment of pause and then Maddie leaned out from behind her husband, goggles and suit hood on, “We’re fine sweetie, don’t worry about us.” She smiled comfortingly at him.
Danny glanced between the two of them again, before slowly starting to turn around, “Alright, if you’re sure..uh.. Have fun, I guess.” Then he turned fully up the stairs and went up the hallway. They caught a snippet of him telling Jazz it was okay before the basement door closed once more.
Jack’s shoulders drooped with a whoosh of breath and he turned back to Maddie, eyes filled with worry.
“Mads?”
Maddie tried to smile back at him, pulling back her hood and goggles with one hand.
“Don’t worry, snookums, we’ll fix this,” Maddie said, patting Jack’s shoulder.
She looked down at her other hand.
Her other hand stuck halfway through the metal of their lab table.
She sighed, a few strands of pale hair falling in her eyes as she did so.
“Somehow.”
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