#but Jason fortified his apartment far too well | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

britcision · 2 months

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As promised, part two!

First Chapter:

Part One of this chapter:

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So That Just Happened part 2

In the bathroom, Jason turned the hot tap on as high as it’d go and stood over the sink, breathing in the steam. He just… he just needed to clear his head. Get his thoughts straight.

Sleep for the next six fucking weeks and make Pitty someone else’s problem, ideally.

The weight of Frostbite’s gift sat heavy in his pants pocket and he pulled the case out, shaking a single glowing ice chip into his hand. The rising temperature of the bathroom didn’t affect it at all, which didn’t surprise Jason.

He considered putting it under the stream of hot water but didn’t bother.

Frostbite said not to use them too much, or get too dependent on them. On the other hand, fuck today. So much.

He crushed the shard in his hand and shoved the pieces into his mouth. This time it tasted like ozone and limes, and stung the inside of his mouth. In a good way, though.

The rush of energy was the same, and Jason would swear he could feel his frayed edges slowly closing over. Not a real substitute for food or sleep, but sure as hell beat coffee.

He had a couple dozen more ice chips, which he tucked away in the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. The mirror wasn’t supposed to have a cabinet, but it had been easy enough to make one, and so far none of his siblings had found it yet… if they even found this apartment.

(None of them would have been able to resist commenting on the collage he’d made across the back wall of their most “interesting” family photos. Or the little batburger figurines of each of their alter-egos.

Jason had made sure he got the worst ones on the market, and knew their exact positions. If a single one shifted, he’d know.)

It was on the outer edge of Crime Alley, far from the heart his family all expected him to hole up in, and the rest of the building was a completely unremarkable old library which had been abandoned before Jason was born.

Getting himself a well secured home had been easy to slip into the renovation plans; he’d had Bruce “buy” the building through Jason’s funds to start restoring it, keeping it well removed from Red Hood’s name. It was the first project he planned to put his own name on, now that he was officially alive again.

The Catherine Todd Memorial Library.

The building itself wasn’t open yet, the main part of it still being remodelled, but the needle drop off and exchange was already running from the front entrance.

This was home, as much as anywhere ever was. More than anywhere had ever been since Wayne Manor.

Jason tensed against the anger, but nothing rose this time. The ecto-ice had given him a flood of energy, the same almost static clarity, but he still felt drained. Like there was no anger left in him.

It would have been nice if it felt good.

The steam had fogged the mirror now, collecting in the air even against the bathroom’s fan. Shutting the tap off, Jason closed his eyes and sucked in a few more deep, fortifying breaths.

Maybe the ecto-ice had been a mistake. All he wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep, but he wouldn’t be able to for at least a few hours now.

Patrol was out of the question. His body may be revitalized and humming with energy, but his head wasn’t in the game. Even Lady Gotham’s embrace couldn’t pull his scattered thoughts together.

What he needed was some mindless TV, some stupidly indulgent junk food, and a blanket. He’d heard… well, things about the new Sex and the City spinoff. Not exactly good things, but things.

Carrie Bradshaw’s not-problems could be the perfect backdrop to a night in.

Alfred would probably send him cookies if he asked. This being an emergency and all. Although… it wasn’t like they could explain the nature of the emergency without the whole ghost reveal.

… Probably still worth a try though.

His Red Hood phone was still at the safe house he’d slept in, but at least one of his spares for his civilian life should be in the apartment somewhere.

The steam had mostly cleared too, leaving the mirror only slightly foggy around the edges. Jason gave it a careful wipe down out of habit; dots on the mirror didn’t usually bother him, but… he’d put Catherine’s name on the building. He wanted to keep everything in it nice.

(Which was why a lot of stuff was unused.)

It wasn’t until he opened the door that he realized he really hadn’t said anything to Danny before disappearing.

Would he have left? Fuck, that’d be the obvious choice, wouldn’t it? Getting dropped off just inside a stranger’s door, and then they just walk away from you into the bathroom.

Shit, Danny had probably left. That… Jason didn’t know how to feel about that, and the empty hall only confirmed his suspicions.

On the one hand, he really wasn’t up to more talking. He didn’t even want to think about everything that had happened today, and especially not whatever the hell was lose in his city, trying to feed his rage. He couldn’t handle one more gentle reassurance that it was okay to be angry.

On the other hand, he really, really didn’t want to be alone. The noise from the TV and the snacks would cut it in a pinch, but the only thing he actually wanted right now was company. Quiet, nonjudgemental company.

He hadn’t told any of the bats about this safe house. Not even Bruce’s contractors knew he’d snuck it in. He’d wanted it to be safe from them and from everyone else, and now he could keep his fucking secrets at the cost of being alone.

A little heavy handed as a metaphor.

… Fuck, Alfred couldn’t even bring him cookies without knowing where he was.

He turned away from the hall and made for the bedroom to grab the spare phone, though he wasn’t sure who he’d message anymore. Just as he was debating the merits of messaging Cass and getting her to do him a delivery, a noise from the kitchen caught his attention. Hope rose, slowly and uncertainly. Had Danny not left?

… Why was Danny in his kitchen, when he was a self professed fire hazard?

Caution and concern flaring right alongside that hope, Jason backtracked and hurried to the kitchen.

There were not enough dirty dishes.

There was like, a mug, a coffee pot, and two plates. Really, Danny should have been done in minutes and fidgeting for something else to do.

But then he’d been looking for where to put the plates away, and he’d found a really impressive spice cabinet. Right next to the stovetop, made sense he guessed, though personally he preferred to keep the damn plates where they’d be used.

He’d perused a couple of labels on the little jars, mildly amused by how many he absolutely could not even guess at. What the fuck was “marjoram”? Or “zataar”?

So the logical thing to do had been open the jars for a sniff.

All well and good. He didn’t recognize most of the smells either, and couldn’t imagine why you’d put almost half of them in any kind of food, but some of them smelled really good.

But then he’d found the garlic powder.

Danny did not cook, as a rule. Sam cooked, mostly from spite, and she always used fresh smashed garlic. Danny’s youtuber chefs mostly said the jarred chopped stuff was fine, but what the fuck was garlic powder?

And what garlic powder was, was pungent. Really, really strongly scented, and super light. Just opening the jar had puffed up a cloud of the stuff, and Danny had been about to sniff it anyway and took a bigger huff than he intended.

And then he’d sneezed.

And now Jason’s entire kitchen was dusted in garlic powder, including the dishes he’d just washed and left on the counter while he found their homes.

So Danny panicked.

Trying to dust the garlic powder off the counters with his hands only got more of it into the air, and he wasn’t falling for that fucking trap again, no sir. He went ghost again and stopped fucking breathing is what he did, then grabbed a garlic covered towel and tried to wipe the powder into a pile.

No dice.

But Danny was a professional superhero. He calmed himself down. He stopped panicking. He went looking for a dustpan and brush like a sensible adult.

And then he heard the bathroom door open, froze like a deer in the headlights, and reflexively jerked straight off the floor.

Because right, he had fucking ghost powers.

At least he already hadn’t been breathing. Luckily, Jason seemed to need something from the other side of the apartment since his footsteps pretty much immediately moved away, and Danny let out another relieved breath.

He could still fix this. This would be fine. He could telekinetically pick up all the garlic dust, and throw it in the trash because a lot was on the floor and the rest was on him and also Every Other Surface On Earth, and buy Jason more tomorrow.

Before Jason came back from wherever else he was going and realized Danny was a fucking menace. Focusing hard, Danny let his aura suffuse the room and focused on the garlic powder. Willed it to lift off whatever it was touching, and come towards him.

Of course, some of it was now on the clean dishes, and in the mug. Which fell over as Danny pulled its powder coating away.

Jason’s footsteps immediately stopped. And then began hurrying towards him.

And maybe Danny panicked again, just a tiny bit, but the good news was he did not ice over the whole kitchen! He’d grown so much since Ghost Puberty Part 2 Electric Boogaloo! He was totally in control!

He just iced the dishes to the counter and froze the floating garlic powder, which was why Jason appeared in the doorway to see Danny floating like a fucking dumbass in the middle of his kitchen, surrounded by sparkling ice crystals.

Danny raised both hands immediately.

“I can explain.”

So the thing about Spiderheck. The really big pain in the ass thing. Was that every round was super unpredictable, even when you weren’t playing with superheroes trying to adapt their actual abilities to spider bodies.

There really was no way to know what would be a long or short round.

Tucker had tried a couple more times to “fall” early on, only to be promptly followed by one or both of his fellow competitors.

The good news was, they were at least all tied up for now, so he’d gotten more time without anyone asking questions. The bad news was, it was match point. Whoever took this next one, if they didn’t all tie, it would be time for another set.

Aaaaand Conner and Tim were still having fun, and insisted they were just warming up, but Tucker was sweating anyway. He didn’t even know spiders could sweat.

Ancients, had he actually fucked up using his powers for the first time in years when he was trying to show off for Red Robin and Superboy?

He was going to look like a fucking newb. An absolute amateur.

And that was assuming that no one had come looking for them and noticed the empty room and still going game on the TV. Would Batman think he’d kidnapped Red Robin?

Who was Tucker kidding, he totally would. Bruce was paranoid as hell, and while he mostly seemed to be aiming it at Danny, that was probably because he hadn’t realized Tucker was liminal. Did the GIW even know about liminals? There probably wasn’t much documentation for him to freak himself out about with.

Of course, in this case he wouldn’t be wrong. Tim would be trapped. It’d just be because Tucker was a dumbass, not a malicious force. At least Tim and Conner would almost definitely believe him.

Aaaand he’d never live it down. It was only a matter of time before they both noticed he wasn’t really trying to win anymore too. He’d kept up, but that was mostly by accident. He just had a lot of practice being inside the game levels.

A lot of them could kill all the players on their own, no PVP required.

He felt like an absolute caveman when the answer finally came to him, and it wasn’t even his own idea.

Because the last level had been one of those “kill all the players” levels, and all three of them had managed to be thrown into lava close enough that the computer didn’t count a winner.

Tim and Conner groaned loudly before bursting out laughing, because of course that was what happened at their dramatic finale, and then as they’d spawned in again Tim turned to Tucker.

“Hey, can you pause before we get into this one? I just wanna catch my breath a second.”

Which, for a nanosecond, felt like the absolute end of the world, because he didn’t have his controller buttons. Because he was a dumbass.

Luckily, it also snapped him back to his senses, and reminded him of the very first time he’d put Sam and Danny into a game with him. They’d made the same mistake, not leaving anyone their actual console controls, and Danny had begun trying to actually physically break them out before Tucker worked it out.

They were his fucking powers. He could always pause them, whatever they were doing; all he had to do was close his eyes and blank out for like, a minute.

He’d been collapsing in despair that first time, and Sam had kicked him over, sat on him, and demanded he take a nap, and then they were all back in their bodies like nothing had happened.

Keeping them inside the game was the part that was difficult; it was an act of focus, and sure it felt automatic at this point because he did this all the time now, but it was still something he had to actively do. Sure, technically, he wouldn’t be controlling the game from the inside, but they’d be back in their fucking bodies in the real world.

Where the actual console controls were. And then he could reload them in, and not forget his overrides this time, and everything would be fine.

Luckily, while his brain was techno-linked, he was processing in computer-time, not people-time. There was barely a pause after Tim asked the question and the answer came, tension leaving his body so quickly he almost sagged.

He even sounded a little giddily relieved to his own ears as he answered, laughing and already shutting his eyes.

“Well, kinda. Let me just pop us back out, we should probably check the time too. Hang on.”

Luckily, this stage did not seem to have any instant death traps. Tim and Conner fucked around with the crates and the platforms for a couple of seconds while Tucker reached inside, deliberately pulling his disconnect instead of waiting, and then they were all back on the couch, controllers in hand.

He’d never been so happy to see his own hands. Or the Start button, which he promptly hit to pause all three spiders before Tim and Conner’s could swing to their deaths. Even if that would give him the win.

Tim and Conner shifted beside him, getting used to their bodies again. Tucker took the lead there, setting his controller down and stretching his arms up behind his head, the phantom sensations of extra limbs already beginning to fade.

“It stops feeling weird pretty fast, but it helps if you move around,” he explained brightly, still high on that buzz of relief.

Conner made a noise of agreement, standing and stretching his arms over his head, which made his shirt ride up. Tucker had the good sense to turn away quickly, before he got hypnotized.

Not quickly enough that Tim didn’t notice, but Tim Drake-Wayne remained the very coolest person on planet Earth and didn’t say anything. He just grinned knowingly at Tucker and rolled his shoulders, stretching out his neck.

“Okay, that was really cool. Not even a little bit the same, but really cool.”

Tucker grinned back, sheepish but still just happy he didn’t get caught.

“Yeah, there’s always the skill barrier where you can’t do the button combos, but I still feel like it helps? Y’know, understanding how the characters move and stuff.”

“I’m just glad you picked up the TTK that fast,” Conner cut in with a laugh, now bending down to touch his toes, blessedly while facing them.

Tucker swelled with pride.

“I mean, it wasn’t all that complicated. You explained it really well,” he said totally calmly, totally cool, definitely not fawning over the actual demigod in the room.

He didn’t exactly get why Conner shot Tim an entirely triumphant grin or why Tim rolled his eyes, but he wasn’t gonna worry about that. Tonight, he was batting a thousand.

He’d be tired getting back to class tomorrow, and he couldn’t exactly tell his classmates he’d been hanging out with Tim Drake-Wayne and being carried home by actual Superboy, but this was still the best week of his life. And Tim had already been talking about getting him an internship.

His life really could not be finer.

Jason took the mess well. Probably because Danny had a) already been working on it and b) panicked like a startled duckling and explained at a mile a minute, getting the order of events completely wrong at least twice.

Having the garlic powder iced over definitely helped the cleanup too. Jason grabbed a garbage bag, Danny floated what was in the air in, and they both took damp cloths to hunt down any stray garlic powder hiding in crevices.

Danny rewashed the dishes, but Jason dried them with a fresh towel and showed him where everything was. All in all, it was a blissfully domestic moment after a genuinely fucked day.

He could feel an unasked question waiting on the back of Jason’s tongue while they cleaned up, the shape of anticipation and something that wasn’t exactly fear, or even anxiety, just a low grade avoidance. Danny didn’t push it.

That seemed like the right answer too, because when they’d finished and stared at each other awkwardly for a long moment, Jason sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Look, I know you’ve got school tomorrow. If you’ve gotta head out…” he trailed off, resigned-tired filling his aura.

Danny raised both hands to cut him off.

“Hey. I can fly across this city in like, fifteen minutes. It’s not even half eleven yet, so if you want some company I’ve got nowhere else to be. We can talk about whatever, play some more MarioKart, or I can just make you some cocoa and go if you need space?”

Jason didn’t physically sag with relief, but that was probably because he’d already been holding himself carefully to hide the tension. Didn’t matter, because everything else about him screamed it as he raised an eyebrow at Danny, glancing around his kitchen.

“I’m not leaving you alone in here again until you’re Alfred-certified,” he declared sarcastically, and Danny grinned back.

“Ah, so never again. Good to know. It’s probably for the best, I’m a lousy cook for anything I don’t have to wrestle to the ground.” Not that he was any better at cooking it after he’d won the fight; he was just pretty good at the fighting part.

Jason’s eyebrow twitched and then he chuckled, shaking his head and pointing out of the kitchen.

“Tell you what, I’ll make you some cocoa while you go turn the TV on. Remote’s on the end table.”

That sounded like an invitation to stay to Danny! So he hadn’t totally fucked by not booking it out of Jason’s haunt at top speed; good to know.

And maybe he did physically sag with relief a little, because expressing your emotions was cool actually and everyone should totally be doing it more. And it was more fun in ghost form; he actually sunk til his feet almost touched the ground.

Didn’t go all the way when he remembered he was still in his boots. Jason’s other apartments had been pretty well lived in although still generally tidy, but this one was almost pristine. Whether it was new or he was just more careful here, Danny could take a hint.

He gestured quickly at his body while Jason pulled a cartoon of milk from the giant, gleaming blue-black fridge that looked mostly empty.

“Sure, uh… mind if I change?”

Jason blinked, which was fair since Danny had been a ghost for the past couple hours, then nodded.

“Not at all. There’s also some sweatpants and stuff in the bedroom if you wanna get more comfortable, but I don’t have as much of Tim or Dick’s stuff here so you might be stuck in mine,” he added a little shyly, and Danny’s grin widened as he remembered his new favourite shirt.

“You have five minutes to hide any other great soup shirts before I take you up on that,” he teased and Jason grinned back.

“Nah, go for it. I’ll only be a little longer than that with the cocoa though, so don’t do too much snooping around.” It didn’t sound like an actual warning, but he’d also already turned back to what he was doing… which already looked way too complicated.

He had a saucepan for crying out loud. Like Danny couldn’t see the electric kettle and fancy coffee machine. Tempted to stick around to watch just for curiosity, Danny floated back to the front door to change back and drop off his shoes and coat instead.

And hesitated.

Jason had given him permission to go to the bedroom. Change out of his jeans and jacket. He didn’t actually need to; the jeans were pretty comfy, well worn in, but they did have some built up salt, slush, and yuck from walking and driving around Gotham’s streets around the ends.

It was possible the suggestion had been more for the sake of Jason’s couch than Danny’s comfort.

He could just go intangible and let the dirt fall through, but that’d leave a pile which while technically being more contained would still be more mess. And sometimes it was hard to tell what was dirt and what was pants, since they weren’t exactly “his” either way.

He could just do laundry when he got home.

Luckily the bedroom door was open, so Danny didn’t have to poke into any of the other doors from the hall. Just like at his other apartment, there was indeed a separate set of six drawers with Jason’s siblings name on each drawer.

Well, “Dickhead”, “Timbo”, “The Purple One”, “Cass”, “Demon Brat”, and “Best Sibling”. Snickering to himself, Danny considered taking a picture. Or asking Duke what he’d done to be “Best Sibling”.

Unlike the other apartment, each drawer was mostly empty though. Just a pair of sweatpants about the right size, a hoodie, and a shirt that Jason had definitely assigned rather than getting one of theirs. Although Danny didn’t doubt Dick would own a Nightwing hoodie in the least.

The My Little Pony shirt for Damian was… well, Danny didn’t know him well enough to say.

With the clothes that might actually fit located (and honestly Cass’s were probably actually his best bet), Danny snooped through a couple other drawers to see if Jason did have any other fun shirts to steal.

There was actually depressingly little; Jason had plenty of clothes here, just like the other apartments, but all of them were… respectable. Plain. Block colours, simple patterns, normal people clothing.

Danny was just about to give up when he popped open the bottom drawer and stared in awe.

Jason’s regular wardrobe (from Danny’s admittedly limited experience) was kinda basic; plain shirt, sexy jacket, plain pants. Extra sweaters given the weather, but he did also have a pretty good collection of graphic tees with various swearwords usually featured boldly.

Where what had to be the complete collection of every Wonder Woman shirt ever made fit in, Danny wasn’t going to try and guess, but he knew good taste when he saw it.

Unfortunately, if he stole one of those, Jason was probably gonna want it back. Most of them were clearly worn, and just as clearly carefully cleaned to keep them nice. Danny wasn’t good at keeping things nice.

Somewhat reluctantly, he shuffled back to the siblings’ dresser and stole Cass’s hot pink paw print sweats, Steph’s 1000% bootlegged Sex In The City misprint shirt with the purple sparkle dildos painted over the girls, and the Nightwing hoodie. Never let it be said he could put together an outfit.

Fingering the shirt, he made his way back out and to the open plan lounge, his own clothes tossed carefully onto his shoes by the door. Jason had told him to put the TV on… and the worst he could do was say no.

Pulling up the streaming services, Danny went looking for And Just Like That. Mostly for curiosity’s sake, to be honest. He could probably sneak a trailer before Jason got back, just as a sample.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Jason appeared just as Danny found the right service, two steaming mugs of incredible smelling cocoa topped with a mass of whipped cream in his hands and a large bowl of popcorn, skittles, and smarties in his other arm.

Danny couldn’t even complain about not getting to have nice things, because if that wasn’t the epitome of a fantasy walking into the room he didn’t know what was. Hitting pause quickly, he hopped up to take the bowl for purely altruistic reasons.

Definitely not for an early handful, no matter how Jason raised his eyebrows at him. The handful was Danny’s reward for being a good citizen.

“Hey, that smells fantastic! Your family is gonna ruin me for shitty cafe hot chocolate,” he teased through a mouthful of candy.

Jason rolled his eyes but smiled, switching both mugs to one hand to set a trio of coasters on the coffee table. Danny reluctantly relinquished the bowl to the third if only to grab his cocoa and take a sip as Jason sniffed.

“Hot chocolate is to cocoa what instant coffee is to fresh,” he said snootily, like those were words that meant anything. Danny just stared at him, whipped cream on his nose purely for comedic effect.

Until Jason leaned in and wiped it away with his thumb, and Danny’s brain shut down. Unfortunate, since Jason started talking.

“So, uh… you a Sex and the City fan?”

“Huh?” Danny kept staring, pretty sure words had meanings until Jason jerked his thumb in the direction of the TV (which was huge and gorgeous because of course it was. This was the rich son of a bitch apartment Danny would expect of… okay, not a Wayne, it was still way below that level of fancy, but at least someone making a good chunk of change).

Then he shook himself out of it, grinning.

“Oh! No, never seen any.”

Jason cocked his head, eyebrow raised again.

“Then why…”

Danny shrugged, settling himself comfortably back into the couch. He was going to sound like a crazy person anyway, he might as well be comfortable.

“I listen to The Worst Idea Of All Time on my way to classes. And when I’m welding. It’s a couple of guys from New Zealand who watched Sex and the City 2 every week for a year, and a bunch of other stuff. Like, uh… Grown Ups 2, We Are Your Friends, oh and the first Sex and the City movie.”

And, sure enough, Jason looked appropriately baffled.

“What, all at once?”

“Nah, different years. They never did the actual show, but they’re doing commentary on all of the episodes of And Just Like That now that they’re out since they did both movies, which were after the show. Why, did you watch the actual show?”

Jason nodded slowly, and Danny snickered.

“The show’s not canon for the Worst Idea boys. Brady the Rat King is though.” And yeah, he probably could be explaining this more like a sane and reasonable person, but that just made the podcast sound worse.

This time it was Jason who raised both hands, even relinquishing his cocoa to do it.

“There are too many questions, so I’m just gonna start with “why?”” He was already smiling though, so Danny was going to take that as a good sign.

He shrugged cheerfully.

“Schadenfreude is the leading theory from the boys, and to be fair it is fun watching them suffer through the worst movies they can find. They’re both professional comedians though so it is actually really funny, and they’re really positive. Every watch has to have a shining light, which is something you actually liked about the movie that week. I did that with one of my lecturers last semester, a real blowhard, and it helped. Mostly it’s just the aural equivalent of comfort food; nothing challenging, no thought required, just two good soft boys making up crazy stories about movies every week.”

Jason was actually listening, pursing his lips as he considered what Danny was saying. Privately, Danny suspected having actually watched Sex and the City might work against him… although he might have been dead when at least one of the movies came out.

Finally, Jason sighed.

“So you’ve just watched the movies, and none of the show?” He asked, in a tone which told Danny exactly what he thought of the movies. So he might like the podcast after all.

Danny grinned and grabbed another handful of popcorn.

“Nah. They actively discourage us from watching them, even when they do directors commentary. And Just Like That isn’t getting the full season treatment though, so I kinda wanted to take a look just to see the outfits.” A stroke of inspiration struck him, and Danny dropped some of the popcorn into his cocoa.

Getting it back out again was not as easy as he’d have liked, but he got two pieces that were heavenly and was content to let the third wallow under the whipped cream where it had retreated.

Jason totally was not laughing at him, because he was a gentleman. It was the brilliance of Danny’s answers that had him smiling like that, for sure. And when he was sure he had Danny’s attention again, he pointed at him.

“Okay, we’ll watch And Just Like That tonight. But you have to come over and watch the original series at some point too,” he added quickly.

Danny pouted but considered it. He didn’t even know how many seasons there had been. Time for a counter offer.

“Only if you try the podcast.” Which was a totally reasonable offer and absolutely no reason for Jason to make that face as he nodded.

“Fine. I’ll give it a shot on my way to work. Happy?”

“Deeeeee-lighted,” Danny cackled, holding out a hand to shake. Which Jason obligingly shook, then nodded to the couch.

“No spoilers, okay? Unless there’s good hats. I’m just going to run and change.”

He even came back bearing a fuzzy throw from the end of the bed, which he dropped on Danny’s head and imperilled his precious cocoa. It was mostly empty by then though, and then Jason even refilled it for him, so Danny graciously gave him a royal pardon.

Jason graciously told him to shove it up his ass and settled in, and Danny swiped the remote for his impertinence. Long day now finally behind them, it was looking to be a much better night.

Taking a quick glance at both his League communicator and both of his phones, Bruce dismissed about thirty messages from Harley. He might have liked to talk to her earlier, and probably would actually message her back to talk later.

It had only been for a matter of minutes, but even a second of believing that Jason had died again… no. He knew he hadn’t handled it well. If he actually slept tonight, he had no doubt it would be even worse than usual, and plagued by nightmares.

Fortunately for him, he had a new case to distract himself with… or rather, a new direction for his existing case.

Diana was right; she usually was, in matters of the heart. He had to trust Jason, and trust that Jason knew what he was doing with this business in the Infinite Realms.

A year ago, Jason likely wouldn’t even have involved Bruce in the conversation, if it happened at all; he’d have dropped the evidence on Dick or Duke, or just gone around trying to blow up a rogue government agency on his own. That he had brought this to Bruce showed a lot of progress in their relationship. It gave him a reason to hope.

He would have to try and reward the trust Jason had shown in him, rather than punishing it. A proper apology, just between them… if Jason would speak to him.

A few days to give Jason time to calm down would probably help. And, if he was truthful, for Bruce to put his concerns to bed.

He may have been… hasty in leaping to conclusions about Danny Fenton. It wasn’t like him to become so entrenched in an opinion without checking it from at least a dozen more angles; the Mansons and Vlad Masters could only know so much.

Diana had been right again; he had to get to know Danny, to put his fears to rest. He trusted…

Okay. When it came down to it, he didn’t exactly trust his children not to lie to him about the dangers of a potential friend. There’d been one too many secrets-turned-disasters. But he could trust them to fact check and rat each other out if they truly believed their siblings were making a serious mistake.

For the joy of an “I told you so”, if nothing else.

Cass’s first impressions in her debrief had been illuminating. A little more discussion with her and perhaps Steph, their views were often varied enough that between them a very comprehensive picture could be built.

Talking to Danny himself again… Bruce knew himself well enough to know that wasn’t a good idea yet. It would have to happen eventually; he suspected he also owed Danny an apology for his behaviour, although no one else had mentioned it. Which was perhaps another sign of how badly he’d failed Jason.

No, he had to level his opinions on Danny first, make sure he could keep a clear head. Returning to the cave, he made his way directly to the batcomputer and sank into its familiar embrace.

Tim likely hadn’t had time to make the updates that would allow them to read through Amity Park’s data directly, but Tucker Foley had provided them with a respectable amount of downloaded data. Bruce could begin his researches there, and make some travel arrangements as well.

If he couldn’t get into Amity Park digitally, physically would have to do. Likely as Brucie Wayne rather than Batman, although repairing the town’s relationship to the Justice League was a worthy goal while he was there. And while people wouldn’t be as open to giving him information about Danny face to face, he could pick up some native tech and make his own adjustments. That should let him get past their unique protections.

And a better look at these ghosts, and an understanding of what exactly the Justice League Dark were so concerned about.

Hands pausing on the keys for a moment, Bruce briefly considered messaging Constantine again, or Zatanna. He should at least inform them that he was planning to go to Amity Park in person.

After a moment’s consideration, he sent a brief message to Zatanna. As unprofessional as it might be, Bruce knew himself well enough to know he just wasn’t up to spending any more time with Constantine at the moment.

Zatanna could brief him on any necessary etiquette just as well, with far less dramatics. A little space between himself and Constantine could only help as well. Honestly, a few days away from Gotham and all of his current headaches could only be a good thing.

Harley might even be proud of him.

——————

So here we have it! Also, by the way, that nexus thing is actually canon in the DC multiverse, and it is so much fun

#dp x dc #dpxdc #dc x dp #dcxdp #danny fenton dead and loving it #dfdali #dead on main ship #chapter 18 part 2 #so that just happened

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sassycassie-s-writing · 4 years

Text

Playful Friends

By: SassyShoulderAngel319

Fandom/Character(s): DC, BatFam - Jason Todd/Red Hood

Rating: PG-11/T-

Original Idea: I have a lot of time to think during my job right now so... yeah.

Notes: (Masterlist)(By Character)(About Me) Been a while since I really wrote and this felt so good!

@welovegroot @jason-redhood @bat-shots @jason-todd-squad

^^^^^

“Jason!” I exclaimed as my friend opened his apartment door to accept me into a big bear hug. I laughed as he squeezed me. “What is up, my dude? I missed you!”

He chuckled, a deep, resonant sound rumbling low in his chest where it pressed against mine, and patted me head. “Not much. Work’s been murder lately,” he said. “But, yeah, I missed you too. It’s been a couple weeks since we could chill. Are you thinking Mario Kart? Because I’m thinking Mario Kart.”

I laughed and let go of the hug. “Oh, you wanna get creamed?” I teased.

“I was thinking more of a rematch for last time,” he replied playfully.

I patted the side of his face. “You’re just mad that I’m better than you at Rainbow Road.”

“No! I’m not!” He paused for a second. “Seriously though, how do you never fall off?”

Winking, I edged around him to slip into his apartment to get out of the cold. “Practice,” I said.

Jason laughed, shut his front door and spun around. He came over to me—I assumed for another hug—but he surprised me by scooping me up, laughing the whole time. I shrieked, scared, before he carried me to his couch and dropped me on it. “There. Now the night can really get started.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t scare me like that ever again,” I snapped. But the actual anger in my tone was diminished somewhat by my laughing. Jason smirked and flopped onto the couch next to me.

“So, shortstop, what brings you to me tonight?”

I whacked him in the arm. “Stop calling me that! We can’t all be as tall and muscular as you!”

Jason just laughed. “Okay okay. I’ll keep the short jokes to a minimum.”

“Sure you will,” I muttered sarcastically, not believing him for a second.

“I will!”

I scoffed. “Shut up. Let’s just make a homemade pizza and let me whip your butt at Mario Kart.”

Jason laughed again. I loved his laugh. He sounded so genuine.

Actually… that was one of my favorite things about Jason in general. He was just genuine. I knew a lot of fake people—ones who put on masks to hide who they really were. Who detached themselves from other people for one reason or another. But not Jason. Jason was real. He felt his emotions and owned them. At least… he did with me. I’d never really seen him around too many other people. Not even his family. Our friend Roy occasionally crashed our game nights but usually hanging out with Jason was a one-on-one thing. He claimed he liked it better that way.

Which I could understand. It was easier not to have to perform emotions for people. And Jason and I had established that we could be real with each other a long time ago. Any space with just the two of us in it was a no-judgment zone. I’d cried in his arms more times than I had in the presence of any past boyfriend. Because Jason and I got each other.

“Alright. Let’s get started on the food and we can play while it bakes.”

Which is exactly what we did. Between the two of us, Jason was the better cook. I mostly sat on the counter and watched. But he let me put the cheese on so I could pick how much. He filled half of it with his toppings and left the other half plain for me. Then it was in the oven and we were on the couch, probably disturbing the neighbors by shouting at each other about how dare you and don’t you dare red-shell me!

Oops.

Jason dropped his controller on the ground. “How do you beat me at Rainbow Road every. D*&%. Time?!” He ran his fingers through his hair and I caught sight of the white streak that hid under his bangs. He’d never told me how he got it and I never asked, but the curiosity was eating me up inside and had been for years. It just never seemed like the right time to bring it up.

I patted his knee. “Because God or the universe or something decided that I could be better than you at one thing. One single, solitary morsel of existence. And that morsel is Rainbow Road in Mario Kart,” I said.

Jason rolled his eyes. “You are better than me in so many ways. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh sure,” I said.

Jason got up as the oven timer went off. “You are,” he insisted.

“Apart from the fact that I can’t cook to save my life, and my sense of style is far less refined than yours. I snooze my way through classic literature yet I claim to love reading. You are a classy dude—even if you try to hide it under a frat-bro façade. You’re a fantastic cook, really well-read and academic. You dress like the most elegant businessman possible when you want to make an impression. And let me tell you: you make an impression. And then there’s me. I look like a vampire who just emerged from her coffin after a three-hundred-year nap half the time. So yeah. Rainbow Road in Mario Kart is basically the only thing that I’m at better than you,” I said.

Jason had pulled out the homemade pizza in the time it took me to spew all that at him.

“Thanks for the confidence,” he said. “But you’re wrong. Your life is so much more put-together than mine. I am a trash fire about ninety-percent of the time.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree,” I said as Jason slid the pizza off the baking tray and onto a big serving plate and started to slice it up—being careful to keep the toppings separate from the plain side.

“S’pose so,” he agreed.

We dished up the slices we wanted and sat next to each other at his breakfast bar.

A few moments of comfortable silence stretched on between us. We’d always had that easy-going relationship where we understood that we didn’t need to fill every moment with conversation. Hanging out with Jason was basically me-time and I was pretty sure he felt the same way about me.

After a minute, a thought struck me. “Jay, I think you’re working too hard. We should take a trip. Go to… I don’t know. Miami? Orlando? We should just fly to a beach or Disney World for a couple days and get away from everything.”

“Beach is more relaxing, Disney World is more escapist,” Jason mused. “But I can’t just leave Gotham yet.”

“How come?”

“Too busy. I really have to get this project done. But it’s easier when you come over and hang out for a while,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” I teased, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey, if you’re going to tease me about a genuine moment, I could just… not invite you over. I can handle myself just fine on my own, thank you very much,” he said. He took a bite of his pizza to punctuate his point. “I don’t need some girl coming around and poking holes in my pride the way you do.” He had a playful tone to his voice, so I egged him on.

“Then why do you?” I asked. “Hmm? Why do you invite over some girl to poke holes in your pride?”

“Maybe it’s because I think you need some entertainment. Thought you might be getting bored.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Yeah it’s all for you.”

I scoffed. “You are so full of it, Jason Todd!”

“Oh yeah.” He laughed. Then his face sobered up. “But, for real, I wanted you to come over because… there is something I’d like to talk to you about tonight. But not now. When pizza and ice cream are over with.”

I laughed. “Okay. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah it’s fine. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about.”

“Okay.”

We finished our pizza and after waiting a few minutes—playing another couple rounds of Mario Kart that I beat him at—we had digested enough to have a quick dessert. We each had a bowlful of ice cream, laughing and joking around. Jason stuck his spoon on his nose and then tried to lick the ice cream off his nose when the spoon fell.

I sighed and set my bowl on his coffee table, leaning back on the couch. “Oh man. I missed this. How come it’s been like three weeks since I saw you last, man?”

Jason also sighed. “Been busy and… I’ve been kinda trapped in my own head,” he said, setting his bowl on top of mine on the coffee table.

“How come?”

“Op—you’ve got a little bit of…” He reached out and wiped the corner of my mouth with his thumb. “Ice cream,” he finished.

I snickered and wiped at my own mouth. “Thanks. So what’s up? Why have you been stuck in your head?”

Jason took a deep breath and sighed. “Remember the last time we saw each other? We got in that argument?”

“I recall,” I said.

“Don’t bristle. I know you still think you’re right and you probably are. But that’s not what this is about. I’m not trying to restart that argument. I wanted to… explain something else,” he said. I cocked an eyebrow.

“What?” I asked.

“Look. When you and I first met, all those years ago, I knew there was something powerful in your soul. Your fiery spirit. Your emotional and mental strength. It was stunning. And I was very intrigued on how you would use it. Then a few weeks ago when we got in that argument…” He sighed again. “I don’t know. I saw it again. That passion—that drive. And… it was beautiful.

“And… you know, I know Roy likes to joke that I’m a big brother to you. But… is that all I am? Is that all I am… to you?”

Jason reached out and touched my wrist with his fingertips. My mouth was slack but I hadn’t let my jaw drop yet. Was he really saying this?

He wasn’t done yet though. “Is this just me? I’ve seen the way you look at me and maybe I’m delusional but it doesn’t look like a platonic gaze. I could keep acting like I’m cool with this weird limbo between friends and something more—but I’m not. I just… I need you. I’m dying for you.” He took another fortifying breath. “Now, I’m not expecting any sort of immediate answer. Take your time figuring it—umph!”

His sentence was cut short by me leaning forward and planting my mouth on his.

Jason’s whole body relaxed. His shoulders curled forward and his hands slid over my waist. He let out a small, low sound—a cross between a coo of contentment and a moan of relief. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He withdrew from the kiss just enough to whisper against my lips, “So… is that a…”

“Shut up, Todd,” I teased. “I’ve been waiting for this. I just didn’t want to scare you off.”

Jason laughed. “Sure,” he replied playfully.

I kissed him again, and he reciprocated hungrily.

“I’ve been waiting years to call you mine,” he whispered.

#Playful Friends #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Jason Todd imagine #Red Hood Imagine #Jason Todd FanFiction #Red Hood FanFiction #DC #DC imagine #DC FanFiction

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sassycassie-s-writing · 6 years

Text

To Be Happy - Summer (Fin)

By: SassyShoulderAngel319

Fandom/Character(s): DC, BatFam, SuperFam - Jason Todd/Red Hood & Conner Kent/Kon-El/Superboy

Rating: PG-11 (violence)

Original Idea: Part 1 Summer, Part 2 Autumn, Part 3 Winter, Part 4 Spring

Notes: (Masterlist)(By Character)(About Me) This one is a bit longer than the others! It’s also the last part! @welovegroot

^^^^^

Approximately Four Years Later…

^^^^^

June 14, 7:15AM

Red Hood peered over the town, chewing the inside of his cheek under his helmet. Mt. Justice, to the north, stood like a mighty statue. It loomed over the nearby town—a silent protector.

Red Hood scoffed at the thought. “Sure. Leave the protecting of innocent civilians to a bunch of kids. What was the League thinking?” he muttered under his breath. After another moment of regarding the town from his vantage point on the hills to the south, he cracked his knuckles. “Well. I guess it’s now or never. If I don’t go see her now I never will.”

^^^^^

June 14, 9:10AM

I woke up to a hand gently running the backs of fingers down my face. I groaned in complaint at being woken up and peeled my eyes open.

I wasn’t in my room. I sighed. “Did I fall asleep in your room again?” I mumbled.

Kon chuckled. “Yep,” he said.

“Mm… ‘M sorry.”

I felt Kon shift on his side of the bed. His hand rested on the side of my head. “Don’t be sorry, babe. I like it when you fall asleep in here. It reassures me that you’re safe.”

“You’re so sappy when no one else is around,” I said.

“Just for you,” he said. “I'm every bit as in love with you as I was when we first started dating—if not more so.”

“Aw. That’s sweet. I am too.” I leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose. He smirked at me.

“You ever think we should move out of the mountain and find our own place?” Kon asked.

“I haven’t thought about that yet, why?”

“We’re getting older—we may outgrow this team soon like Aqualad and Nightwing. We’ve been together for four years so… maybe it’s time.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. “But I think for now the youngsters need us.”

“Hmm,” Conner hummed.

“I bet M’gann’s convinced that we’re way more physically involved than we actually are given the amount of times I fall asleep in here,” I mumbled.

Conner chuckled quietly. “Maybe,” he agreed.

OOOOOWHOOP! OOOOOWHOOP! OOOOOWHOOP!

We both sat up and looked at each other. “The town’s in trouble,” we said in unison.

Conner and I flung the covers off and jumped into action. I used my powers to summon my suit from my room and changed into it quickly. Once we were both changed, Conner grabbed me around the waist and flew out of the mountain.

From the air over the town, we could see a pillar of smoke rising over the warehouse district. Kon banked in that direction. Several stories above the ground he let me go, I dropped like a rock, using my powers to catch myself near the burning building. I did a roll anyway out of habit to spare my knees and popped up in an alert stance.

Kon landed heavily next to me, nearly cracking the pavement under him. He took my hand. Together we ran inside the burning building, looking for victims. The younger members of the team would turn up eventually.

Inside, I kept a telekinetic shield around us as best I could to keep the smoke out of our lungs.

A hoard of robots surged out of the ground the moment we ducked through. I yelped and jumped closer to Conner. He held onto me protectively and yanked me to the ground as bullets shot past us.

“Can you hold them?” he asked.

I took a deep breath. “Not for long,” I said.

We felt the mindlink connect our thoughts as M’gann swooped into the warehouse. They’re piloted, her voice said in our minds. I hear thoughts in them.

“Hold them still for as long as you can,” Conner instructed. I nodded. He pulled us both back to our feet. Once I was safely standing, he hovered off the ground, knees bent. “It’s going to be okay, babe.”

I nodded, took a fortifying breath, and turned to the oncoming robots.

Flinging my hands out, I froze the robots in their paths.

“Supes, go!” I shouted. “There are too many for me to hold for too long!” I was already struggling to keep the piloted robots at bay. Kon nodded to me and swooped away, tearing the bots apart without killing the pilots.

My breathing was already labored and we’d barely begun. I was sweating and exhausting myself trying to make the fight easier for the others. Robin leapt over my head with a flip, bo staff at the ready, and threw himself into the fray. A green eagle—Beast Boy—soared after him.

My knees were shaking and I could barely stand. C’mon Starry, Conner encouraged through the mindlink. You can do this. You’re strong enough to stop a bullet dead. You can hold these clowns!

I… I can’t… I can’t keep this up forever, I replied, panting even in my thoughts.

Just a little longer baby. It’s gonna be fine. We’re almost done.

They didn’t look “almost done.”

I… they’re too strong… struggling…

Hang on, Starbeam! Conner’s voice in my thoughts sounded far away…

My knees buckled. I went tumbling down as though in slow motion.

“Whoa there, Stars. It’s okay. I got you. I got you,” a soothing voice said. It didn’t sound like Conner but my mind was worn out from the use of my powers. I was fairly certain my nose was bleeding. It felt like Conner’s strong arms though…

“Conner?” I mumbled.

“Think again, gorgeous,” the voice said, lowering me to the ground.

I peeled my eyes open. They hurt.

Peering over me was a blob of red, black, and brown. I narrowed my eyes, confused and trying to block out the painful light of the fire and smoke. The telekinetic shield I’d been using to keep the smoke out of my eyes and lungs had dropped when I collapsed since I wasn’t strong enough to keep it up.

“Who… who… you?” I tried.

One gloved finger touched my lips. “Shh. You exhausted yourself. I'm going to give you a shot of adrenaline, okay? Everything’s going to be fine.”

My vision cleared enough to see a shiny red helmet, black top, and brown leather jacket.

Something sharp and painful hit me right in the chest. I coughed.

Before I knew it, the pain was gone—and everything was thrown into sharp relief. The helmet was set in a scowl and the black top was body armor that had a red symbol on it, partially obscured by the leather jacket. It looked a bit like a bat?

I was wide awake and wired within moments, all exhaustion gone. I jumped back to my feet. The newcomer joined me in standing. He was about as tall as Conner and built the same—muscular and powerful. I wasn’t ignorant enough not to notice the guns strapped to his thighs, but chose not to comment on them unless he used them wrongly.

Right at that moment, some bots that slipped through the rest of my team made their way to us. The newcomer’s back pressed against mine. I heard the shwing of knives being drawn from sheaths.

We jumped into the fight at the same time, watching each other’s backs while the rest of my team was distracted by their own foes.

“I know what you’re called,” I said to the newcomer.

“That so?” he asked.

“You’re Red Hood—the rogue that terrorized Gotham and usurped Black Mask,” I said.

He laughed. “At your service, Starbeam,” he said.

Something about the way he fought seemed familiar to me. Like we’d fought together before. But I’d never met Red Hood before—I didn’t think. “What are you helping us for?” I asked.

Red Hood snorted. “Bold of you to assume I'm helping anyone other than you,” he remarked, ducking so I could access a bot and tear the armor off, exposing the pilot.

Red Hood drew one of his guns.

BANG!

The bullet stopped dead two inches from the pilot’s head, spinning in the air, held in place by my powers. I dropped it and grabbed Hood’s gun. “We don’t play by those rules here,” I snapped, yanking it out of his hand.

“I don’t play by anyone else’s rules but mine, sweetheart,” he snarled.

“This is my turf and you’ll play by my rules while you’re here,” I returned. Throwing his gun into the air and holding it there with my powers, I clocked the pilot hard with my elbow and knocked him out.

“Fine,” Hood snarled. “Only because I like you so much.”

I scoffed.

Everything okay, babe? Conner asked.

Fine. We have a third-party. Red Hood. He’s helping for now. He gave me a shot of adrenaline.

S’pose I’ll have to thank him later.

S’pose so, I agreed, yanking the power source out of a robot so it crumbled, pilot still inside. There’d be a manual release to get them out.

Aqualad appeared and helped put the fire out. Beast Boy helped. The rest of us took care of the robots.

Once everything deescalated, the mindlink was dissolved and Red Hood’s arm snatched me. His other one shot a grapple gun at the ceiling. We went shooting through the smoke and climbed out onto the roof of the warehouse.

“What the heck, dude?” I demanded. “I gotta make sure my team is okay!”

“They’ll survive without you for five minutes, princess,” he returned. “But you and I need to talk.”

“That’s not a phrase that’s ever followed by good news,” I said.

He snorted. “Yeah you’re probably right. But we do,” he said.

“Why me?” I asked. “Nightwing is technically the leader—”

“Ah nah. I can’t talk to that idiot. I needed someone reasonable. Someone friendly,” he answered casually.

“I'm not particularly known for being either of those when under this mask,” I pointed out.

Red Hood shrugged. “Yeah but I know you. The real you.”

I took a step away from him. “What? How could you—? I don’t know you!”

I heard a chuckle from under his helmet. Red Hood lifted his hand and pressed something under the jaw of his helmet. I heard it hiss. Something on the back released. He bent down and pulled it off. It slipped off his head. He shook his hair out and straightened up. There was a red eye mask on his face, but that didn’t stop me from recognizing it. I’d seen his face with a mask on before—many times. That one used to be red too.

I gasped. “Jason?!” I hissed.

He chuckled. “Surprised to see me, gorgeous?”

The adrenaline he’d shot into me hadn’t worn off because I could feel my heartbeat in my eyeballs.

“Uh… I feel like surprised would be the understatement of the century. I went to your funeral! I mourned for you—I cried for you! I watched you get put in the ground!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah that would be tough,” Jason said flatly. He glanced down through the skylight at the inside of the building and then back to me. “Is it pathetic that I literally died and came back to life and still hurt to see you with Conner?”

“… What?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. But I accepted that you would never feel the same way about me when I made my way back to the States.” He made a face. “And it’s better to be the only one suffering. I’d rather be put myself through heartache if it means you’re happy. I always wanted you to be happy. That was why I didn’t tell you how I felt until right before I left.”

“Jason…”

“Nah don’t worry Stars. Don’t worry about me. The pain of dying and coming back to life and digging myself out of my own grave hurt worse,” he said. He stepped closer and put his hands on my shoulders. “Just look me in the eye and promise me you’ll be happy with Conner.”

“I promise,” I said automatically. “I promise.”

He kissed my forehead. “Good. See ya around Starbeam.” He let go and ran to the edge of the building, pushing his helmet onto his head.

“Where are you going?” I shouted.

Too late. He jumped off and disappeared.

Nightwing and Conner came through the skylight. “Starbeam?” Nightwing asked.

“Baby?” Conner asked. His hand rested on the small of my back.

“What was that about? Who was that?”

I stared at where Red Hood had jumped. “That was… that was Jason. He... he’s alive,” I said. Nightwing’s jaw dropped. He rushed to the edge to look over the town. I turned to Conner. “He made me promise that I’ll be happy with you.”

He kissed my cheek. “And what did you say?”

“I promised him that I would.” I kissed him on the lips. “I love you, Conner.”

“I love you too.”

The End!

(Epilogue)

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