Chapter Text
“Todd,” something shoves hard at his shoulder. “Wake up, Todd.”
Jason groans, and reaching up throws Damian off him. “What?” He has a right to be cranky, it’s his night off and he’s being woken up at who knows when.
Damian seem unperturbed about this, resettling himself across from Jason. He’s still in the Robin costume, which means something definitely happened. Jason doesn’t exactly care what right now on the other hand. “I’ve made a friend.”
Craning his head Jason sees that it’s 4:17 in the morning. “Christ. Couldn’t this wait for reasonable hours?” Sure he’s glad for the kid, but time and damn place.
The mask allows enough to get through that Jason can see Damian roll his eyes. “Please, I’m not here for congratulations. I want you and Cain to adopt him.”
“Wait, what?” It is far too early for this, Jason hasn’t even had food, let alone caffeine.
A huff. “Despite everyone knowing father’s proclivity for picking children up, asking him to take in Colin seemed like a poor idea, and you and Cain are the only other people with mostly stable lives. Ergo, you should adopt him. The two of you would have much to relate with, him being on the streets too.”
That makes sense, just not to Jason’s brain at the moment. “Street kid?” Somehow his brain manages to dredge up that while Damian’s heart might be in the right place that didn’t mean this kid’d like that.
“Yes, well, he says he has a place in a local orphanage, but he feels that if things keep going the way they’re going it would be ill-advised to stay there. So I suggested you two, he’s interested in meeting you.” Damian turns towards the door slightly and opens his mouth.
Jason slaps a hand over it before Damian can call out. “Is he here right now?” He hisses.
Damian’s eyes narrow, but he nods.
“You know what?” Jason removes his hand. “It’s far too fucking early for this.” Offended radiates off Damian, but Jason continues. “No, you spring this shit on me I’m gonna deal with it in my own way. Cass isn’t even here to talk with her about it. So, you two can stay the night here, and after I’ve had breakfast and tea maybe I’ll consider it. Maybe.”
The expression he gets is sullen in return. “Fine,” Damian’s at least learned to stop while he’s ahead. “I’ll tell father I’m here then get Colin settled in the guest room.” He stands and hops off the bed.
With a groan Jason flops on the bed and tries to go back to sleep.
-
Once the clock on the wall shows 8 AM, Damian uncurls himself from the couch and gets to work. Colin and Jason are both still asleep, but Damian can still make preparations.
Desdemona—she was Jason’s favorite out of all the cats, it’d seemed best to bring her here after he’d gone to tell father he’d be staying the night here—follows him as he steps into the kitchen and fills up the kettle before turning it on. He won’t attempt breakfast, but he can do tea.
It’s perhaps a good thing the others are still asleep, because the lengths he has to go to to get at the tea itself is embarrassing at best. Todd clearly needed to not keep the tea as high up as he did.
He measures out enough Irish breakfast for a pot then pours in the water, setting a timer. Reading on his phone fills up the time until the tea’s done, he pours some out in Jason’s favorite mug, than some for himself as well. Now he only has to wait for Jason to wake up.
After another fifteen, twenty minutes, he finally hears movement. Putting his own mug down he stands and grabs Todd’s, mentally preparing another argument to convince Jason that he and Cain should adopt Colin.
Todd stumbles out, half dressed and yawning. Damian waits for Todd to approach him before handing him the mug, Todd’s engagement ring is as eye-catching as always as his fingers curl around the mug. He also notices Cain’s is on the chain of Jason’s necklace, meaning she’s off on a mission somewhere.
“You and Cain were adequate caretakers last summer, so beyond a shared history with Colin and stability, you were obviously the best choices.” Damian feels he’s being very magnanimous in that regard. It’s really a perfect solution, everyone involved just needs to understand that. The past year have made him quite skilled in Wayne family ‘discussions.'
Jason groans into his tea. “Seriously?” He eyes Damian as if trying to figure out how best to kick him out. As if that would work. Desdemona butts against Todd’s calf and the man looks down, with something like a sigh he shifts his grip on his mug then crouches down to scoop her up.
“You know I never joke, Todd.”
Todd turns and somehow manages to point a finger at him. “I’m willing to hear you out, Damian, but you are going to be quiet about it until after breakfast, understand?”
Sighing Damian nods. “Fine.” He can bide his time. Since he can’t talk about Colin then… “How was your trip yesterday?” Father had been pleased when Jason had started gaining friends, although he perhaps thought their ideas of fun needed work—on the other hand it was fun to watch Todd and Grayson bicker back and forth about Todd ‘stealing’ Grayson’s friends.
With ease Todd somehow manages to get Desdemona to drape herself around his neck like a living stole before opening the fridge. “It was fun,” He responds as he starts pulling out ingredients. “Took like an hour to convince Kori and Artemis that cooking the whole boar over an open fire would take far longer than any of us were willing to wait. Roy’d decided boar hunting was far to high stress for him so he fished, which I’ll admit was pretty relaxing after the actual hunting part. Course now I’ve got more wild boar than I know what to do with.” As he talks Jason moves around the kitchen until he’s acquired a whole collection of food stuffs, Damian sets himself the challenge to figure out what they’ll be having for breakfast, but isn’t sure whether it’ll be waffles or pancakes.
“Cass and I’re watching Lian this Friday if you’re interested,” Todd tries to sound casual about it but doesn’t do very well.
“If I must,” Damian answers with a roll of his eyes. Lian is fine, although she has a habit of claiming her parents can do anything he can do, but worlds better. It’s perhaps true, especially for her mother, but she doesn't have to brag about it.
Todd snorts as he mixes up batter, Damian frowning some when he sees him add peanut butter and chocolate chips. “It’s not a chore, Damian, but it seems you’ve already made one friend, a second wouldn’t be too awful would it?”
He probably has a point, but Damian keeps himself silent on that. A foot or so away Todd’s phone chimes and Damian, welcoming the distraction, scoops it up. He only manages to glance over the stream of emoji before Jason snatches it out of his hands. “Don’t read my texts, kiddo.”
“As if anyone could read the gibberish you and Cain send to each other.” It’s astounding they understand each other.
“Exactly,” Todd gives him a finger gun. His phone chimes again and he gets an utterly besotted look on his face as he types back. “Always good to have a secret language, Damian.”
Damian understands that, but he doesn’t see why it has to be emoji. “Where is Cain anyways?”
Todd slips his phone into the waistband of his sweatpants before turning to the stove and flicking on burners. “Bludhaven, helping Dick with a human trafficking ring. He thought they might be using one of the amateur ballet corp there as a front, and since he can’t do ballet for shit he asked for Cass’ help.” Setting pans down he turns back to the island and Damian, cracking eggs. “She should hopefully be back tomorrow.”
Before Damian can comment on that there’s more sounds behind him. Colin finally waking up. Without really thinking about it he turns and smiles at Colin when he comes into the main room. “Good morning. Colin, this is Todd, the one I told you about.”
Colin stands by the island for a few seconds, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Morning, Robin.” Mmm, it would perhaps be good to ‘reveal’ his identity soon if Todd and Cain did adopt Colin. Granted Colin was intelligent enough that he might make the connection on his own. “Hi, Mr. Todd,” Colin’s voice turns more shy, a fact which baffles Damian.
Jason turns and looks Colin over once, Damian not quite anxious to know what he thinks. “Call me, Jason,” he responds easily. “Not old enough to be Mr. Todd yet unless you’re with the government,” he snorts. “Hope you like peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes kiddo.”
Brightening some Colin hops into the seat next to Damian’s own. “Sounds delicious. Smells good, too.”
Todd smiles and Damian gives himself a mental pat on the back. As far as first meetings go he’s going to consider this one going practically as planned. Stable relationships have been built on far shakier first meetings—just look at him and father.
“So, Colin,” Todd gives Damian a look and Damian finds himself narrowing his eyes at it. “How’d you and Robin meet?”
-
Mr. Todd is nothing like Colin expected him to be, not with Robin’s description. He expected someone...shabbier, with anger in his eyes and bruised knuckles from fighting.
Instead Mr. Todd looks...eccentric. Cat around his neck, a bird skull necklace, easy going smile, drinking out of a mug that proclaims he’s ‘the ghost with the most, babe’. He was even cooking, in what has to be the nicest apartment in Crime Alley. It’s just taking Colin’s brain a little bit to reconcile what he sees with what Robin said—not that he thinks Robin is lying, but he clearly left a lot out.
“Um, can I have something to drink, please?” Polite, always good to be polite during an interview the mental chorus of Sisters reminds him. This isn’t an adoption interview in the traditional sense Colin knows—he’s too old now to have recent experience—but it doesn’t hurt.
Before Mr. Todd can answer Robin hops off his own seat and goes to the fridge. Mr. Todd gives a fond sort of huff that Colin knows fairly well before turning his attention back to the stovetop, flipping pancakes and pouring the beaten eggs into another pan.
Robin hands Colin orange juice and he takes a few sips. “Robin and I met last month.” He’s glad the stools at the counter have backs, because it means he can pull his knees up and not worry about tipping backwards. “I was dealing with some guys who I’d found beating up another guy… uh, Robin sort of swooped down and finished them off.” Colin scratches his cheek. “Nothing too exciting I guess.”
That gets a laugh from Mr. Todd, and Colin watches in something like amazement as the older man flips the cooking eggs with a toss of the pan. Colin didn’t know people could do that in real life. “Robin, can you get the butter and toppings out please.”
It’s kinda funny to see Robin heave a sigh and get up again. Butter and syrup and marmalade and raspberry jam and molasses appear on the counter. Barely a second later Mr. Todd puts two plates full of eggs and pancakes before the two of them. “Eat up.” He grins before turning his attention back to the stove, pouring out more pancake batter.
Colin finds himself digging in without a second thought, slathering the pancakes with butter and syrup before going at them—Robin, he notices, puts molasses on his pancakes, ew. After a few bites his brain registers how good it is. “Thank you for breakfast, Mr. Todd,” Colin even remembers to say it before he starts chewing. He tries some of the eggs, which have a slightly weird taste to them, but they cut through the sweet pancakes alright.
Mr. Todd finally joins them a few minutes later with his own plate, seemingly fine with the quiet as he eats. Colin does find himself smiling as he watches Mr. Todd offer the cat some of the eggs.
“Todd, stop feeding my cat people food,” Robin grumps.
It was Robin’s cat? Colin knew Robin had a dog, and a cow—which was apparently why Robin was vegetarian—but he didn’t know there were cats too. How many pets did Robin have exactly? Colin found himself a little jealous.
“Maybe you should think twice before bringing her over then.” Mr. Todd scratched under the cat’s chin. “Anyways it’s just eggs and fish sauce, not gonna kill her.” The cat purrs and butts her head against Mr. Todd’s neck.
Robin gives an aggravated sigh.
Another few minutes silence before Colin himself found himself breaking it. “How do you know Robin, Mr. Todd? Um...that is…”
Even around his mug Colin could see Mr. Todd smile. “Don’t mind the question. If you really want to know,” the smile turns into something of a grin as he sets his mug down. “I used to be Robin too, actually. Far cooler than this one here,” he reaches over and ruffles Robin’s hair, who tries to swat Mr. Todd’s hand away. “I got a case of the deads a few years later though. Granted I was so awesome that five years after that they just sent me back, far too cool for the afterlife apparently.” He shrugs.
“Anyways,” he waves a hand. “Robin’s mom helped me become even more of a badass over the next few years. Then I met my now fiancée, who pretty much wiped the floor with me. There was some chaos and it ended with her, me, and Robin here living together for the next few months. We moved back to Gotham last year when everyone thought Batman’d died. She and I kind of took up the job for a few months, and trust me while he sounded like it wasn’t happy about that when he got back, he definitely was.” Mr. Todd gives a broad wink.
“Woah, that’s so cool.” He’d known Mr. Todd had to be connected to the superhero community here, but Colin hadn’t guessed the older man had been Batman for a while. “Why didn’t you tell me he used to be Robin and Batman?” It’s not quite an accusation towards Robin, but it would’ve been nice to know. Granted Robin had weird ideas about things that were important.
Robin huffs. “I’m clearly the only Robin that matters,” he responds haughtily.
“Brat,” Mr. Todd responds without much heat. “Let’s hear you try to say that to, Dick.”
Colin doesn’t know who Dick is, but Robin groans and slumps into his chair some. “Fine. You other four were important too, I guess.” It’s kinda funny when Robin gets grumpy. “Anyways, Colin, that’s why I thought you might like to live with him and Cain, you and I can go patrolling whenever we want and you don’t have to try and hide it.”
-
Jason sighs into his mug as Damian brings up that again, to be fair breakfast is done for all intents and purposes. But there definitely needs to be a talk about time and place, not that Damian’s likely to pay all that much attention to it. Even if Bruce himself gave it.
For now Jason’ll just have to go with it. “Robin,” definitely weird calling Damian that off of the field as it were. “Said you were living in an orphanage, you like it alright?”
Colin, who’s a little on the scrawny side although probably about Damian’s age—the colorful bandaids make him look a little younger though—scratches his cheek. “It’s okay. Food’s not bad and the Sisters are nice, the beds always creak when you move though,” he makes a face.
Jason knows what that’s like. “Gonna be in trouble when they find out you’re missing this morning?” Colin’d probably been smart enough to wait until after bedcheck last night to sneak out, but if it’s a orphanage with Christian leanings missing Sunday mass won’t go over too well.
“Yeah,” Colin rests his chin on his knees. “Father Morgan’ll probably talk to me again, and I’ll have to help out in the kitchen for the week. Do Wednesday mass, too,” he makes another face. “They’re all nice though, even if they do make me do math,” childish displeasure fills his voice for the first time. Jason does his best to hide his smile behind his mug. “Don’t want them to get hurt though, if someone finds out about...stuff. I can take care of myself enough,” His arms wrap around his legs. “Thought it might just be best to leave.”
Damian shoots Jason a look. Jason gets it but isn’t sure what else to do now. “Do you want to be adopted?” If Damian thinks he’s good enough to partner with then it’s likely the kid really can look after himself if he decided to try the streets, but not everything there was a fight and there were lots of traps you didn’t notice until it was too late.
“I guess,” well there’s a rousing affirmation. “You’re nicer than a lot of the other people who interviewed me when I was younger, and it’d be nice not to have to sneak around anymore.”
Jason snorts. “Well if you do come and stay with us there’ll be rules about that, but let’s not count our chickens.” Desdemona makes an unhappy sound as he finally pulls her off, setting her on the floor. “Let’s get you back to the orphanage for now. Cass and I’ll talk about it and we’ll come see you on Saturday one way or the other alright?”
Damian doesn’t exactly look happy about this suggestion, but thankfully keeps quiet. Colin meanwhile gives a bashful smile. “Alright.”