Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jason learns more about politics, literature and maths in his first week back at school than he ever had in his entire life. Before, he had to take care of his mother, worry about his father but now, the whole world is his. It's not an improvement, not really, it's just different. Life is different. 

Still, Gotham Academy is a sea of knowledge and if Jason had learned anything in his short life is that the more you can learn, the less likely you are to get yourself killed on the bad side, his classmates are unbearable little shits.

Jason was chewing gum and watching some old TV shows the same morning that Dick burst in the mansion full of fury running through his blood.

It was strange because he was sure he didn't see Alfred opening the door, what it must have meant that Dick had at least kept his keys. Even if he had heard him threatening Bruce weeks earlier with something along the lines of "leaving forever and never seeing him again."

But luck was never really on Jason's side and Richard hadn't kept his promise. Here he was, back at the house.

Dick entered the living room with agitated and angry steps that got to an end when he saw that it was Jason, the one sitting peacefully on the sofa that was in front of the TV. He inspected Jason, the same way he always did when he saw him, and gave him a carefully constructed smile towards his direction.

“Don't you happen to know by any chance where Bruce is?” Dick voice was tough with a spark of trying to sound cold but not really hitting the mark.

Jason looked at Dick for that moment, really looked at him, inspected his fake smile and his so-called "cold voice." He knew Dick wasn't really a business person, and refused to become one. He was still of course raised by one, and at that moment when his eyes met Richard Grayson seemed to Jason Todd as fake and spoiled as anyone else in the Gotham élite.

“Wouldn't know I'm not his boyfriend.” Dick expression had a frown for less than a second before putting the well put on charade back on his face.

He was also silent for a moment there. Jason was already missing it. 

All his interaction with the first Robin were just a reminder to Jason, that even if he was Robin, and he was training with the Batman, and he was Bruce Wayne's adopted kid to Dick Grayson he wasn't more than just a complete stranger. One who had invaded his home putting himself in the Robin costume to become a liability in his life.

Well he would have to deal with it because Jason Peter Todd wasn't going anywhere any time soon. He was here to stay. 

“Well, I'll be around for the rest of the day.” Dick seemed to think his next words carefully like he didn't want to tell Jason way too much, truly trained by the bat. 'A paranoid bastard at his finest' Jason thought bitterly.

“Just tell him if you see him that I'm here and I want to talk with him just for a sec.” Jason really thought of just telling him to fuck off but, his instincts of 'just don't mess with people who you don't need to mess with' kick in faster.

“Yeah, ok,” was all he said it wasn't really worth it to waste more breath in his words. He knew Dick wouldn't be listening. He never listened.

Dick left in less than blink, probably to say hi to Alfred or to argue more with Bruce. It's ok. 

Jason didn't care anyways.

Three weeks later, Jason found himself adjusting quite well to the rich life. He was reading Moby dick in the complete silence and tranquility of his room when he heard Alfred calling him.

God no. Jason knew what that voice meant it was Alfred's 'I'm really disappointed at you' tone.

“Yes Alfred?” Jason tried with his most charming and sweet voice, trying his best to tame the beast.

Not that it really matted when it came down to Alfred being pissed off at him, (or anyone for that matter.) His punishment had already been made. 

“Come down here please Master Jason.” So Jason walked towards Alfred's kitchen.

Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, Dick was there. His 'Surprise visits' had become more and more normal since the last time. Jason had the theory that whatever had made Dick so pissed off was put aside when he had been threatened to get cut off monetarily

That theory came from the fact that Richard dirty looks towards Bruce hadn't stopped, and yet Jason hadn't heard him complain once since his last visit or argue with Bruce for that matter. He was behaving.

So there he was, present in the middle of the kitchen where Jason was about being executed. Dick didn't have much interest in the situation and was just using his phone without many care in the world.

Still, a part of Jason's wished Alfred didn't scold him in front of the...

(Adult? Boy? Man?)

Whatever Dick was, probably a Dick.

“Did you really lose your backpack again Master Jason?”

So, Alfred knew about the other little incidents, that was new information for Jason.

He went directly to Bruce before, knowing full well Alfred would burn him alive if he knew, like they did with those old witches. Yep, that was him. 

It wasn't like Jason didn't know how to take care of his things of course he knew, after all, he was an alley kid. He had grown up with a total of three things, and not knowing how to take care of them meant death in some cases.

He'd have to take care of everything he owns because they could be gone in a second, and he wouldn't be able to replace them.

But living with Bruce Wayne was a completely new thing to him, now he had way too much stuff, and he just couldn't keep track of everything he owned.

Besides, it really didn't matter if he lost something because if he did lose it got replaced immediately. It seemed like some sort weird form of magic to him.

It was something Jason never in his life had gotten to experiment.

It was nice.

He felt safe, not completely safe but close enough. Jason was sure he had ever been completely safe in all his life. 

(It was a survival instinct, useful for the streets, now it was useful for his Robin job.)

Maybe if he explained that to Alfred that he had never taken care of so many things at the same time, and that in the end it didn't even matter if he lost them. Because there were people who would make sure he still got a backpack at the end of the day.

Then maybe Alfred wouldn't be so pissed at him. He certainly wouldn't be so disappointed.

Jason wasn't going to explain that to Alfred anytime soon though. It would imply a level of emotional maturity he didn't have just yet.

“I'm sorry Alf,” Alfred was cold ice to anyone who didn't knew him, but to those who did he could be sweet and understanding. Right now, Alfred truly was ice-cold.

Jason then saw in the corner of his eye how Dick picks up his head to look at him. And then to look at Alfred, like if he just only now had realized what was happening around him.

A true detective indeed.

Oh, great just what he needed, the asshole watching him get publicly humiliated.

Except that, Dick's gaze was warm when he saw him and Jason got completely in shock seeing him standing up from his sit on the kitchen table to stand beside him.

“Alfred, cut the poor boy some slack. He is still learning how all of this works.” He said while gesturing at the huge fancy kitchen.

Alfred's glare shifted from Jason towards Dick. “I mean the poor boy probably has never even owned a real backpack.”

Ouch, true, but still ouch.

Dick's voice was truly charming. Jason would have to take notes of that later and in his face there was a tiny smile not big enough so it's smug tho.

Alfred's glare seems to soften, still there, but softer. He changes his gaze towards Jason eyes “Master Jason this time I'd give you a warning but there better not be a next time” with that Alfred retired.

Dick went back to his sit with a self-satisfied grin “You're welcome,” he said.

Jason glared at him and then went back to his room with a slam in the kitchen's door.

Why would Dick help him if he couldn't stand his sight? Who understood that jerk.

The jerk.

Next time Dick went to the manor he didn't come to see him or even say hi and Jason was a bit stung by it.

It wasn't like they were close now they were just on peace terms which meant that when Dick came around he'd say hi. Not have a full on conversation, not even a two minutes one but still it was progress.

He was at the kitchen table doing some art homework when he looked through the window where you could see the living room, the one they used of course.

(They have way too many in his opinion.)

He saw Dick being scolded by The Bruce Wayne, something new, yeah sure Dick and Bruce had epic fights that was something he was aware of and Nightwing had been lectured by Batman.

But Richard Grayson being scolded by Bruce Wayne? Yeah, that wasn't something you could see every day.

So Jason was pretending to do his homework while watching the thing without being noticed by the two adults.

Bruce opened his mouth and even if he couldn't hear what he was saying, a part of Jason ache when he saw Dick's face.

It was completely clean off of the usual self-confidence or the fake expressions he normally gave Jason.

His gaze was weak, and he couldn't even look at Bruce in the eyes; everything from his eyes to his posture screamed vulnerability.

Suddenly Jason couldn't stand seeing those blue eyes but not in the same way he couldn't stand them before.

So Dick didn't come around for a long while Jason had only seen his costume self only a few times since last time.

Summer holidays were rolling around so logically Jason was doing homework and studying in his room. He needed to end the year with the best grades of his whole class.

He'd show them.

So at that moment the heat of his room was helping him concentrate. The first reason why he didn't have the AC was the second reason being he loved heat.

“Hiya.”

Jason turns around to see a person in his window and not just any person it was Richard Grayson.

“So can I come in? Or what?” Jason was more than a little shook to see him standing in there, but he let him in anyway.   

“I thought you would disappear.” Jason said a little too harshly.

Dick didn't acknowledge his comment and just walked around the room touching and looking at everything.

“It's boiling in here, put on the AC.” He said while he walked around the room.

Jason just stared at him “No way, I hate that thing, if you can't stand the heat then you can go to your own home.”

It was a bit low saying your 'own home' as if this wasn't also in some ways still his home.

Jason didn't care.

Dick didn't listen to his words as he kept on checking everything Jason had like a curious monkey.

Everything from pictures, to books and magazines, even his drawings, suddenly stopped when he saw the picture he had with his mother.

“Would you please stop doing that?” Jason said loudly towards the other boy.

Dick looked at him with piercing blue eyes then suddenly he remembered why he came in here in the first place.

“Oh, yeah right.” Said Dick while he hesitated to say whatever was he actually wanted to say.

“Jay, B is an ass sometimes.” He said very seriously as if Jason didn't know this already, but to his credit he didn't stop and continued talking.

“So knows that he loves you, even when it seems he actually hates you” Jason looks at Dick quizzically he knew this already. 

     Why would he tell him this?

“And I've told I'm way too much like him sometimes,” He grimaced when he said that “I hope you know I don't hate you either,” Dick now was looking at him directly into his eyes “ And I do think of you as my family.”

He smiles a little “I think you are a worthy successor.”

Jason didn't know how much he needed to hear this until now.

So, yes he was learning how to live this new crazy life, but he had live far worse things in his life than an annoying brother and snobby rich people.

“Ok.” He said, looking at the smile Dick gave him.

A true smile this time.

And while Dick was climbing out of the window, Jason yelled, “I think of you as my family too”.

Chapter Text

Dick eats the chicken with his hands. 

Jason looks at him disgusted, and Dick can't make out who this kid is, or worse yet, who he isn't.

Maria, the tarot card reader back at the circus, would've given Jason half a look and told him his aura was purple-pink like the jacaranda, or some other made-up color from a story he doesn't know.

Jason stares and stares, at Dick's greasy hands. Bless be the hand that prepared the meal.

Dick thinks, analyzes, overanalyzes, because once a Robin, always a Robin. His mother would've told him, a soul in pain looks for other souls in pain, to keep themselves company. Mi amor, be kind. Always the be kind with her.

(Dick wonders, bitterly, if she'd like seeing how kind he is now. And just how much of himself he is willing to sacrifice himself in the name of that kindness.)

He ponder his made-up mom's advice. A soul looking for company. 

But that seems more of a Bruceism course of action rather than a Jasonism. At least from what he has gather out of the two whole hours this kid and him have been stuck together.

He thinks and thinks, is Jason a Robin or a wannabe? He already gave him the suit, there's no backing down, back it up, now. Still, it'd be nice if Maria was here, to let him know for sure. If he has the right colors in himself, in his soul, to be one. 

His father would've told him to put him to work cleaning the animal's stables or working the rope. That will tell you his true character. A hard worker is a good man. But Dick already knows Jason is a hard worker.

He needs to figure out something else about him. What ticks, what ticksn't. How they, Nightwing and Robin do.

What is a Nightwing and Robin?

Bruce would've made him swear an oath underneath a warm candle light. But ultimately, two Robins don't need an oath. There needs to be something else.

Dick cleans his hands in his Nightwing uniform and throws the KFC bucket in a nearby trash can. 

“So,” he tries. 

“So?” Jason tries back.

“Have you ever had your fortune told?” By the look Jason gives him, that's a hard no.

“Told by who?” Voice filled with confusion, and an expression so filled with disbelief, like Dick is about to play a prank on him. 

Be kind.  

And for a second there Dick gets excited to introduce him into the world of occultism rituals, and divination. That's how it'd start, their own brand of boys will be boys.

Robins will be robins: Robins get their fortune told. 

He gives the kid a look, the kind he only gave Batman when he was Robin. Playful. There's been no time for playfulness as Nightwing, responsibilities hang heavy when you lead to battle, but maybe sometimes you can lead towards something else. 

They stop by a shop with a sign in bright neon “Madame mystery.” It reads, and if Dick thinks it's a bit of a stupid name it doesn't matter, desperate times call for desperate places to shop for tarot cards, and Jason looks at him suspiciously.

“Should we really do this in costume? While on patrol?” He gestures to his uniform, R embroidered, the red, the yellow. It makes Dick's heart ache, in a not pleasant way.

He got it out of the way already, gave the kid Robin, and said goodnight Bruce here you have a blessing you can have another kid. 

And it's true, truer than anything. But the uniform in itself hurts, the colors, the shape of the R: Seeing a legacy take life of itself, and leave him completely. 

Jason, a perceptive kid, notices his souring mood. “It's everything—”

“Didn't you know?” Dick asks, before Jason can inquire him about his mental health, “This is what Robins do.”

Jason's eyes, glittery now and suddenly proud of their complicit Robinhood, tries to fight back the smile, but he can't. “Alright,” He says, more self-assured.

The title gives meaning, the meaning gives purpose, purpose gives confidence. 

They go in. The girl behind the counter, early twenties and with a nose piercing, the metal ring shines with the artificial light in the store, looks stricken back by their presence. Dick supposes from her expression and body language that vigilante sighting isn't as usual here as it is in other parts of Gotham.

The store looks bigger, and more luxurious on the inside than on the outside: protected by magic, if he were to guess, maybe he'll give Constantine a call, ask him if that's an actual thing. But tarot decks and Demon summoning are on two very different sides of the spectrum of magic, Constantine might hang up on him before he finishes uttering the question. 

Jason stands in the middle of it all, shocked. 

“Pick a set of tarot cards brat, my treat.” Dick nudges gently. 

This is how it starts, a new thing. His mother would be proud, the be kind mixed with his soul so deeply, and so intertwined it grew out wings and found another kid to spread to. Maria would be proud that he is buying the cards, his father, John, would be proud that it is done with his own money.

Bruce is alive, so Dick won't think about him...

“I want the Sailor moon one,” Jason challenges, or that's what Dick guesses but he doesn't mind, he'll buy him all the purple-pink tarot cards Jason wants him to. 

He grabs them and leaves them over in the counter for them to be ring. The girl, quickly and swiftly, relaxes her previously shocked expression. Like nothing happened, like she doesn't recognize them. She hands him over the plastic bag with the cards and complementary incense sticks. 

Dick is so calling Constantine about this. 

“Nightwing,” Bruce calls from their shared line. Oh, oh, he angered the mother goose. 

“Yes, yes, we're getting back on track right now.” Dick says rolling his eyes before Bruce starts lecturing him. There's a reason why they don't work together anymore, and Dick doesn't need any reminders. 

“Here,” he hands the cards over to the kid, like a rite of passage, feels his cold hands over his. Dick wonders if Jason will give his costume pants, if maybe the legacy can stay the same, if it changes a bit. He wouldn't mind, but Dick does not say it. 

“Thanks, N.” Robin says, and it feels good to be a big brother.