#Tims contemplating how bad it would be if he killed someone who's already legally dead

[discocandles]

Jason Todd, but he's not around the batfamily very often, bc i can.

It's not unusual for Jason to just kind of be gone for anything bat-esque for a while. Sure he'll still be in Gotham doing some crime fighting, but just not make many appearances in Wayne Manor/the Batcave.

And it's not out of sheer spite, surprisingly enough. its bc after being a crime lord then quitting to be an anti-hero, he came to the realization that being Red Hood couldn't be the only thing he was using his life for. he would end up like Bruce, only using a civilian identity when he absolutely had to. But Jason Todd was legally dead, so he wouldn't ever have to be a civilian, but at the cost of losing himself to a vigilante identity. I don't believe Jason would want to take that risk.

So he makes a fake identity so he can live in a (shaky) routine as a civilian. He still goes by Jason, given its a common enough name. but he changes his last name to Devoss, as it has the same meaning as todd but is of Dutch decent rather than english, bc I'm the kind of nerd that still wants names to mean the same thing even it's not the point whatsoever, so Jason is too. Plus its better than most of the name changes DC has done.

Anyway. Jason's "routine". The only reason it could be considered a routine is bc he typically goes to the same places. he drops by the same coffee shop at least three times a week, frequents the same gym, and visits the library about once a week. he's in the bare minnimum of consistency & sticks to it.

Despite being given enough money from Bruce to count as a solid income, Jason still lives in walking distance of Crime Alley. the landlords there don't care who you are so long as you pay rent, bc who wants to live near Crime Alley? barely anyone. Later he gets a job, which actually cements his routine. he works as a chef in a chain restaurant, and he's so good at it, it's like hes being petty about it.

Actually, being petty is the most common thread most of the people who know Jason Devoss as an aquaintance have. He's petty about entitled customers who start screaming in at his regular coffee stop, if someone he tends to work out with has a cheating partner and the assholeperson has a hole in thier can of mace and their knife is suddenly dull(neccessities in Gotham), Jason has no clue how someone could manage that. Absolutely none.

Ok, back to Jason getting a job. So like I said earlier, Jason gets a job as a line cook, bc they really dont keep people from the job unless you're actively supposed to be in Arkham(exemptions can be made for blackgate). Which is why having a civilian identity is helpful, bc being both legally dead and spending some time as a mob boss probably wouldn't jive with any hiring manager ever. But he's able to make himself a normal part of the scenery, and makes the most effective closing shift, totally not be he has patrol that he's already late for. He begins to have to switch between taking orders and making food.

And this is how he ends up meeting Bernard, bc they have to work together to figure out what Tim would want. Jason realizes that this isn't some other kid named Tim he thinks "oh this is going to be rich." bc no one in the family has been to his work so far since he started working in the front of house, and he hasn't mentioned it to them.

So Tim walks in, and sees his bf, then he sees Jason, who just says "Oh, you must be Bernard's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." Smiling like he's never done anything remotely wrong in his whole life. Now Tim is questioning everything and can only repond with something akin to "Mhmm yup. Nice to meet you too." & is on edge for the rest of the date, bc his brother is being paid to watch his date, and will interrupt them for refills or other nonsense when he was beginning to forget Jason was there.

Bonus points if it's before Tim introduces Bernard to the family.

The batfamily knows where he is, and he knows they know. No one who has met Batman once can have him be unaware of their whole family tree, of course he knows where his son is. Jason will sometimes get visits, most often from Duke, be despite the fact that Crime Alley is mostly terrible, the sunset view is pretty dang good.

Duke will just be sitting on his couch when he gets home, like "you wanted to talk?" to which he and Jason will simply chat. and jason will often give critiques to Duke's technique.

The other common visitor is steph, but that's most ofting in the form of her ding dong ditching him,

-

#petty Jason is something that can be so personal #I almost want to make a fanfic of Jason being the first to meet Bernard after he starts dating Tim #and lording it over tim until he introduces Bernard to the rest of the family #but as I've said at one point I barely know anything about Bernard's character other than kinda sassy conspiracy theorist so idk #jason todd #batfam #let Jason care about his mental health a little please #tim drake #bernard dowd #timber #Tims contemplating how bad it would be if he killed someone who's already legally dead #meanwhile Bernard is just like wow this guy really goes above and beyond with customer service. I should remember to tip him well for it #duke thomas #I was tempted to say Jason pranks Duke during his patrols and that's why Duke lowkey breaks into his apartment #but I think Duke would just show up bc he can #stephanie brown #Steph really brings the get the F off my lawn out of Jason #Bruce would show up but he thinks Jason doesn't want to talk to him so he stays away #bc of course he's gonna be awkward about this it's Jason

[gravitywhatgravity]

Hello! I have a potential prompt? :D Jason and Dick trying to enjoy their date night but every time they have one, some villain (or family) ruins it!

Thank you so much for this prompt! You can read it below or on my AO3 page, which also under the name gravitywhatgravity, here:

 http://archiveofourown.org/works/11370873

Sometimes, there are things in life that make you want to say fuck it. Not the inconveniences that make you momentarily question your decision to get up and attempt to live some semblance of an ordinarily and achieved life, or that weird moment when you someone say something so fucking stupid that you genuinely contemplate shooting yourself.

No, this was the kind of shit that made you seriously consider the idea that the whole of your life was actually a giant set up, all building up to this moment of complete ‘What The Fuck?’-ness.

Because, really, Jason died. He died and came back. And you’d think, hey, maybe that was the climax of shit things that can happen in a person’s existence.

Then Tim fucking Drake decided to pull up a seat and interrupt Jason and Dick’s date.

“I get that it’s his job, but really, who does he think he is?” Drake was blatantly eating Dick’s starter at this point. If Tim touched Jason’s food he’d be stabbed with a fancy fork, but Dick mostly seemed amused. It was a classy place, with low mood lighting and the kind of price tags that made the crime alley kid in Jason cry a little. Tim continued both eating and speaking, “Sure, I can’t expect him know about my other activities, but running a company is difficult and…”

Neither Dick nor Jason were paying much attention, but that didn’t seem to make much difference to Tim. Jason wondered if this what a mental breakdown looked like now. He supposed it was an improvement on trying to clone your dead best friend. Then, anything was an improvement on trying to clone your dead best friend.

“Tim,” Dick said, cutting into what he was sure was a very interesting and informative rant about the real world applications of statistical modelling, and how somehow Tim’s professor was wrong about all of them. “Little brother, what exactly are you doing here?”

Tim blinked like he’d forgotten Dick was even there. “Oh. Remember when Steph caught the Mad Hatter a couple of weeks ago-“ Jason didn’t, but that could be because Tim’s ‘a couple of weeks’ meant anything from ‘literally two weeks ago’ to ‘possibly five plus years ago’, “-well it’s finally been passed through legally. She wanted to celebrate.”

“Like a date?” Dick wiggled his eyebrows.

Tim turned bright red. Usually, Jason would be all over that. While dating Dick should have pretty firmly shoved Tim out of the brother category, the fact that he was dating Dick mostly just meant that he’d been dragged into Bruce’s sad excuse for a family in a different way. Jason had kind of assumed that Tim was privy to that, but from the looks of things he might have overestimated Tim’s deductive skills in a social situation.

“No! Like two very platonic friends who can continue to be friends despite a failed relationship-“

“Talking about me?” said Stephanie, stood behind a very startled and spluttering Tim. “Not gonna lie, I didn’t expect this to be a double date. Not that I don’t appreciate your company.” She winked at Jason and Dick.

“Yeah, neither did we.” Jason said, a little sharply. So he wanted to spend some time with his… whatever Dick was. Sue him. Dick was shooting him the kind of look that was usually reserved for nights when Jason got a little too close to permanently ending someone’s criminal career. Jason shoved down the little bit of hurt curling in his stomach at Dick’s desire to leave Tim in the dark regarding their relationship.

Unsurprisingly this didn’t seem to end Tim’s general state of confusion.

“I- Oh. Sorry? But you’re not-“

“World’s greatest detective my ass,” Stephanie grabbed Tim, presumably to leave Jason and Dick in peace. Of course that was too much to ask.

“Hey, you don’t have to do that,” Dick said. “Tell me about this case.”

Steph gave him a strange look, then slowly pulled up a chair and sat down. It was cramped for the four of them; Stephanie narrowly avoided elbowing Jason’s Moules à la marinière off the table. Tim still seemed kind of confused about the whole situation, as if it had just occurred to him that yeah, maybe Dick and Jason were at the romantic restaurant for the same reason as Tim and Steph.

Dick was ignoring Jason in favour of pulling Stephanie into a conversation that had quickly progressed to discussion of the top five best places to get food at 3am. There was this weird feeling in his stomach, like someone and pushed their hand through the lining of his stomach to rearrange his internal organs. Not quite a pain, just a feeling of overwhelming off-ness. Suddenly his food didn’t look quite so appetising.

“Hey,” Tim was looking up at Jason, “I didn’t mean to interrupt. If you want me to go-“

“No, its fine,” Jason glanced over at Dick, who was still engrossed in conversation. Suddenly the room felt just a little too small. “I’m just going to go-“ he stood up and gestured to the door “-get some fresh air.”

He caught a concerned look on Dick’s face and tried to placate him with a smile, though in all likelihood it probably looked more like a grimace. Jason tried to slow his reflexive run as he left the building.

“Jason!” Dick called. He knew Jason, knew that sometimes things spooked him. He’d learnt the hard way that the best thing to do when Jason was hurting was to let him have his space. But the longer he waited, the more nervous Dick had got. He’d left Stephanie and Tim with a quick apology and rushed out the door.

“Jesus, Dick. I’m here. Calm down,” Jason was stood around the corner of the restaurant. He stunk of smoke, which was the kind of thing that Dick usually would have complained about if he wasn’t so worried. Dick pretty much launched at Jason, pulling him into a hug. His skin was cold to the touch.

“Hey,” Jason said, rubbing his hand on Dick’s back. “You didn’t have to come out here.”

Dick jerked away. “Sorry, I should have let you be alone-“

“What? No, it’s fine. If you want to spend time with Tim and Steph then that's your choice.”

Dick’s eyes widened. The pieces were slotting into place. “Jason, if you didn’t want Tim and Stephanie there you could have said something.”

Well, Dick thought so. Tim and Stephanie were important to him, sure. Then, so was Jason. And this was supposed to be their night together, for the first time in a while. Sure, they’d planned to spend time together, but vigilantism was pretty time consuming. Dick got a strange sinking feeling as he watched the anger rise in Jason’s face.

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to tell them to fuck off? After you invited them to our table? Of course you did, why wouldn’t you-“

“Jason, I-“

“-think any different? The big bad Red Hood already tried to kill the kid, why wouldn’t I stop him seeing his brother, too? Of course-“

“-didn’t mean to offend you, okay? I thought you’d be okay with us spending time together, but maybe-“

“-you’d expect that of me. Of course you wouldn’t want them to know -“

"-this wasn't such a good idea, maybe-"

"-about us. I shouldn't expected that you-"

“Maybe we should break up.”

“I…What?” They’d been getting progressively louder, but in the silence Dick could hear Jason sucking in shaky breaths. “Dick, I didn’t mean-“

“It’s fine,” Dick said, though he looked anything but fine, “I just... this isn’t going to work.”

Jason looked… Jason looked broken. Dick turned away, but the image of Jason’s face, wide eyes and mouth, was burned into his brain.

“Dick…If this what you want, then I won’t stop you,” Jason said, the words sounding painful. Dick squeezed his eyes shut. It was incredible, really, how this could go so horrible wrong so quickly. A few weeks of acting like they had a chance, like making plans they couldn’t keep and a few coy phone calls would really constitute a relationship. Dick hadn't expected it to last, but he’d honestly thought they could make it a little longer.

Still, knowing Jason doubtlessly blamed himself was heartbreaking.

“This isn’t your fault,” Jason snorted, and Dick made a frustrated noise in response, “I’m not good for you, okay? I can’t- I should have known something was up. Hell, Tim knew something was up. I can’t just expect you to sit through my shit without complaining, without wanting more than me.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jason murmured, pulling Dick into his arms, “We had a misunderstanding, okay? Calm down, sweetheart.” Dick was shaking a little. Jason held him tighter and prayed he wasn’t making it worse.

“If you want this to be over it’s done, okay? No questions asked. But… if you’re just trying to protect me, let me tell you, the only thing you could do to hurt me is leave.” Dick still had his face buried in Jason’s neck. “Wait, no, I mean you can still leave. It’s not like I can’t cope. I mean, I’d be sad but that shouldn’t mean you stay just for me, I… Dick, I’m trying to be serious, okay. Laughing isn’t helping.”

Dick pulled away a little, giggling. Even with tears in his eyes he was still the most beautiful person Jason had ever seen. “Sorry! Really, that was a great speech you had there, really well thought out.”

“Yeah, yeah, catch me trying to be nice to you-“ Jason very suddenly found his mouth occupied with Dick’s mouth. Not that he was complaining.

Dick pulled away, pressing his forehead to Jason’s. He licked lips, and God, it was crazy that Jason had never noticed before, how pretty Dick was with his lips all shiny with spit. No, that was wrong, he’d always noticed. The real question was how he resisted. Even now, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and pressing his thumb to Dick’s bottom lip, watching as his pupils dilated, eyes all big and pretty.

“Who hurt you, sweetheart?” Part of Jason regretted it, watching those gorgeous expression slide off of Dick’s face, but he needed to know.

“No one,” Dick said, not meeting his eyes, “Really. I don’t have any excuse for being like this, not really.” A flash of anger burned in Jason, big and bright and short-lived. He had a pretty good idea who had given Dick the idea that all of his relationships were doomed. Either way, arguing about it wouldn’t help.

Jason kissed Dick again, desperate to get that awful look off his face. “That’s fine, okay? We don’t need a fight to know I’m a little fucked up. We’re gonna be fine,” Jason pressed his lips to Dick’s forehead. They stood there for a moment, just breathing. But Jason wasn’t that much taller than Dick, and his neck was probably going to start hurting soon, and Dick was going to remember that he’d left Stephanie and Tim at their table, and they were probably a little worried that both Dick and Jason had left in a hurry to shout in the car park of a fancy restaurant.

They’d have to go back inside, and probably give Stephanie and Tim an explanation that wouldn’t leave them feeling guilty. Plus there was the matter of the really expensive food that had probably been devoured by now. They could order some more food, maybe sit down with Steph and Tim and order a hugely expensive sharing platter.

But for now, they had a moment.