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Holding a Subway sandwich in one hand, Duke Thomas, dressed in his Signal outfit, sat on a beam of a suspension bridge with his legs dangling over the side. It had become a habit of his to pick a spot to watch the sunset every day. Usually that location was in a safer environment, but Duke personally preferred a bridge to any other spot. He had wrapped up his shift of patrolling the city, so he had figured a stop by Subway and a bridge was in order. Now perched atop the beam and bruised from a few fights he had to play mediator in, Duke took a bite out of his sandwich. Carefully balanced beside him was the other six inch of the sandwich and his helmet. His identity being revealed wasn’t a concern because camera footage would not be able to see him from this position, and even in the impossible scenario it did, Oracle or Red Robin would wipe it. Benefits of knowing tech geniuses. And people don’t look up all that much in Gotham – literally and figuratively. So, he was in the clear.
Wow, do I seriously have to secure every move I make? I’m getting as paranoid as the Batman himself, Duke shook his head. The Bat may have a point with his paranoia, but Duke wasn’t planning on keeping that as a permanent addition to his own life.
Beginning to slip below the horizon, the sun casted shadows that stretched across the city. He sighed. His time was coming to an end.
Movement below his position caught Duke’s attention, and after securing a hold on the beam next to him, he leaned over the fall and glanced down to see Red Hood climbing the beams. Okay… what? he thought, Weird.
“Hey,” Duke greeted, “What’s up?”
“You,” Jason retorted.
“Ha, ha, you are so funny,” Duke mocked, half-tempted to push the older one off the beam for that atrocious joke.
Heaving himself onto the beam Duke was sitting on, Jason breathed a sigh of relief. “Why did you have to pick the most difficult place to climb to? I couldn’t even use my grapple hook.”
Duke snorted. “The implications behind a person climbing somewhere difficult to find are pretty obvious.”
“What about the implications behind a broken comm and missed rendezvous?” Jason asked in an innocent tone.
Instinctively Duke’s hand felt for his comm on the side of his helmet. Spilt wires and jagged armor met his touch. He groaned. Whenever the comm broke, you were supposed to head straight to the rendezvous – no distractions. “Great, that’s just great,” Duke muttered. The sun hadn’t set all the way yet, and he still had a sandwich to eat. Sure, he could climb down, but he was already here, and there was something reassuring about watching the sun go down. It was the signal to end his patrol, and he didn’t really feel like breaking the habit on account of nothing. But then again did he really want to dig himself a deeper hole than he already was? Glancing over at Jason, Duke realized the older boy was getting ready for the trip back down.
“Do we have to go like right now?” Duke asked with thinly veiled disappointment. His question stopped Jason, who studied him for a moment. The intense gaze made Duke regret asking, but oh well, too late for regrets. Jason seemed to be considering something, before inexplicably, he nodded.
“Don’t worry,” Jason assured him, which Duke honestly didn’t know how to feel about, “I already notified them that you are fine.” A pause and then. “I’ll just head down and wait for you. They want me to escort you back.” Jason exaggeratedly scoffed and rolled his eyes. Duke honestly couldn’t help but agree with Jason on the sentiment.
The others could be… overbearing.
A bit relieved at Jason not acknowledging the obvious ‘no we need to leave right now’, Duke began to eat his sandwich again, though a bit less relaxed and more contemplative. Jason had a history of making anything with Bruce or the Bats more so complicated and annoying than necessary for reasons that can only be assumed to be for the fun of it or deeply rooted bitterness. Or both. Perhaps this was just another one of those times? But then again, he offered Duke space without making a big deal out of it. For some reason that meant a lot. Duke mulled it around in his head, before deciding no matter what the motivations were for the action, it didn’t matter. The action meant something to Duke, so it should be somewhat thanked.
As Jason just about dropped to the next level, Duke asked, “Hey, uh, I am not really all that hungry. Do you want the other half?” It was a lie. A lie he knew he would regret in a few hours when his stomach reminded him. Duke felt hungry enough to eat the half and another sandwich. Nonetheless he offered the other untouched half of his sandwich to Jason, who gave the gesture a suspicious look. It was a gracious, if one would go so far, kind offer and, in its own way, important.
Duke didn’t make a lot of money between high school and Bat patrol. It took up a ton of time, and yeah, Bruce had offered more than once to help Duke out, but there were a few reasons Duke declined.
One, he enjoyed his independence and the pride in which being able to provide for oneself brought. Which truthfully was a chant he rehearsed a hundred times a day to make himself believe. Two, he really, really, really, didn’t want to owe Bruce anything. He knew Bruce wouldn’t charge him a single dime, and it was true that Bruce had already helped him out tremendously by paying the rent of Duke’s apartment for a couple of months until Duke found a job, but that had felt awful. Taking advantage of Bruce’s generous nature was not high on his To Do List. Duke wasn’t some rich snob at a gala, and he sure didn’t want to act like one. Three, he would most definitely be on closer terms with the Bats because of that. It was hard enough to dance around their invites to movie night, bowling, or any other activity that risked ‘bonding.’ It wasn’t that Duke didn’t like them, per say, in fact, he actually really liked them, which was a problem, because- it was just that – well… he hung out with them and it felt like family. But his family was still alive, more or less. And that just didn’t feel… right.
It kinda felt a little like betrayal every time he hung out with the Bats and thought about how much of a family they all were, how much he would like to be a part of that family- But that was beside the point and ultimately inconsequential to the point he wanted to make.
Food. Yes, food.
Duke didn’t have enough money, sometimes, to buy food, and he knew Jason was pretty much the same way. Jason had a huge flow of money that came in from the illegal businesses he did, and yet he used next to nothing of that number for actual living. Duke knew this because some months ago Jason had accidentally left a loose end that Tim picked up. Tim pretty much figured out the majority of where most of Jason’s acquired money went. Weapons, security systems, emergency fund, bribery, safe houses, charities that actually helped people, and a whole bunch of other things that neither consisted of nor alluded to necessities or hobbies. Entirely work and paranoia related. So, Jason and he were in the – not the same tiny boat but – the same massive ship, more or less. Also, Crime Alley and the Narrows weren’t that far off of each other with food shortages. A bit more in common on that part of childhood. So that was… just fantastic.
So, yes, he felt like signing himself up for sainthood, when he offered the other half of his sandwich to Jason.
Jason eyed the sandwich, before leaning forward and taking it. Returning to his original position, Jason nodded what could be thought of as ‘thanks’. Duke was never sure with Jason. Then with that, he settled himself back on the beam. Leaning back against a supporting beam, Jason relaxed, letting one leg dangle over the drop to certain death.
“What kind is it?” Jason questioned, as he took a bite.
“Buffalo chicken,” Duke responded. Jason didn’t respond or attempt to spark a conversation, which Duke expected. The two fell into a kind of companionable silence as barely knowing each other counts. It was kinda nice. And it was safe. No chance of being friends.
He didn’t realize this was the start of his inadvertent downfall.
____________________________________________
Another day of Duke learning to fly and feeling the fall. Dick said that was part of the process of being a hero. Duke thought that was more of a Robin thing.
He wasn’t Robin. However, he was a Bat, which meant that meeting with Bruce in the cave to discuss ‘what we learned today’ was a common practice. Usually everyone coordinated their mistakes so there wasn’t a line.
Obviously, Jason missed that memo.
Which is why Duke is sitting in Bruce’s study with his backpack, twiddling his thumbs and ranking the scenarios of what Bruce could do to him from best to worst and not sitting in the Cave getting lectured out of his mind.
Unlike the other Bats, Duke actually listened when Bruce spoke. He most certainly does the opposite of what he’s told like the other kids, but he listens. Hence why he gets blamed less even though he messes up more than almost any of the other Bats. It was an effective tactic. Cass and him used it all the time.
Occasionally yells drifted up from the Cave from behind the open bookshelf door and reached Duke’s ears. Sometimes Duke could even decipher a word or two. Not that he was trying to listen in. He hadn’t been with the Bats that long yet, but he already knew what Jason’s problem with Bruce was. Their arguments consisted of many things, but it all danced around what actually bothered both of them. Broken trust. That was something that couldn’t be easily mended. Sometimes, it could never be mended once broken. It wasn’t Duke’s business though. He wasn’t a part of the family.
And I prefer it that way. The way his heart clenched in his chest hinted to something- but it was best for him not to investigate. It had been acting up a lot lately. He had chosen to ignore its weirdness. Instead, he focused on his still living mom and all the reasons why it wouldn’t be right for him to-
Then all at once the voices quit out. The echo of footsteps stomping up the stairs from the Cave put Duke on guard. Yeah, the talk between Bruce and Jason must have gone swell.
“Hope you didn’t do anything too drastic that he will take out on me,” Duke commented, expecting Jason to storm out without acknowledging him. It had happened every time. At least every time before. This time, Jason huffed and stopped in front of Duke, who mentally groaned. Yep, finally ticked him off. Now you’re gonna start another argument between him and Bruce.
Placing his helmet under one arm, Jason began rummaging through the bag he was holding. Duke sighed, preparing to be threatened. Probably not an AK-47 this time, soooo possibly his modified M1911 pistols. It’s been awhile since-
A bag of Nutbutters fell right in Duke’s lap, who took it and for a moment thought What a lovely grenade, he probably uses it to confuse the enemy. Make them think they’re getting a snack, when they’re actually getting medical bills. It’s like all those hidden fees on insurance. Except it didn’t explode in his face, and Duke opened it to realize that indeed, it was just Nutbutters. Delicious little Nutbutters.
He looked at Jason curiously. To be perfectly honest, Jason looked one bad day away from having a mental breakdown, and one inconvenience away from murdering the entire city. So yeah, at least he still looked normal.
“My gratitude for your sacrifice,” Jason explained. The sarcasm in his voice was a cheap way to cover up some dark emotions whirling around, but Duke could have sworn he sounded kind of, sort of apologetic? That was a stupid thought. Jason doesn’t apologize, and certainly not to any of the Bats. Which in the Hood’s head meant that Duke, being associated with the Bats, would never get an apology – on anything. Except…
Duke studied the bag, and his gut twisted. He could laugh off the gesture, usually he would just make fun of it, but that didn’t seem right, and acknowledging the fact that Jason was genuine – at least to some extent – would place both of them in an uncomfortable position. It left him with one option.
Before Jason could high tail it out, Duke grabbed a bag of Oreos out of his backpack and shoved it into Jason’s hand. Jason tensed up – Duke distantly wondered if Jason thought what he did whenever the Nutbutters were thrust into his hand, but he mentally shrugged the thought away – but then once he realized what exactly he was holding, his face just seemed… blank.
“A trade for a trade,” Duke said, trying but probably failing to put carelessness into his tone. For some reason, he felt the need to make this entirely businesslike to push away any chance that Jason would think he pitied him. Jason didn’t seem to notice or care about that though. Jason didn’t seem to be noticing anything.
Hoping he didn’t overstep and push something he shouldn’t have, even though he didn’t know what, Duke added, “Though I consider Oreos better than Nutbutters… I feel like I lost out a little.” It was a weak attempt, but by the small smile that curved its way onto Jason’s face, Duke felt a bit of triumph.
It was weird.
On his way out, Jason gave Duke an awkward pat on the shoulder. Confused about Jason and mildly concerned, Duke watched him leave, before rising from his seat and heading to his doom.
____________________________________________
It would be fun, they said. It would be worth the loss of sleep, they said. It would be eventful, they said. Well, they said wrong, and Duke would kill them if he wouldn’t fall over from the effort.
All he could feel was the disappointment of a century and the weight of a brain fully asleep. Bruce had told everyone that a major shipment was coming in and that all hands would be needed on deck. The shipment was said to arrive on this morning at 3:49 a.m.
On a freaking Saturday.
Did these guys seriously not believe in days off? Or a sleep schedule?
Nonetheless, all hands were on deck, except Bruce had been kind enough to look at Duke and give him a pass on this one since he already did day shifts – if Duke wanted. Which what was Duke supposed to say that? ‘No, Bruce, I can’t help you stop the overflow of illegal drugs pouring into Gotham because I need to catch up on sleep and homework’. Yeah, that would weigh on Duke’s conscience the entire time he was supposed to be sleeping. Not to mention, when the entire pack of Bats are looking at you with big eyes and begging you to come with them and promising explosions and epic tales of ‘good doing’, well, who could say no to that? Apparently, he should have. Curse his urge to be a good person. He should have been selfish. The stakeout turned out to be a bust, because the shipment was delayed until Monday. If Duke could strangle whoever was responsible for the delay, he would. Now, at 4:13 a.m., Duke was in a gas station, staring down snacks and trying for the life of him to remember what Steph had wanted.
“How long are you gonna look at those chips?” Jason, who volunteered, along with Duke, to grab drinks and snacks from the nearest gas station, asked. Duke honestly thought it was kinda funny that they both volunteered at the exact same time. They both didn’t want to be around the Bats, even if their reasoning was different. It made Duke feel a bit special that Jason didn’t protest Duke’s presence, like Duke knew he would if literally anyone else had volunteered. So, that’s nice. He didn’t mind being paired with Jason, even though he knew some of the other Bats still held a bit of understandably warranted caution. But Duke hadn’t really thought that Jason was that bad of a guy. Also, he was too sleep-deprived to care if he was at risk of a coma. At this point, he only wanted sleep, and if that was the fastest way to do it, he accepted with open arms.
“I can’t remember who wanted chips,” Duke answered, rubbing at his eyes, “I thought Steph did, but didn’t she ask for-” The darkness that had shrouded his eyes by rubbing at them was tempting, and Duke began to lean his head against his hand to find some form of sleep.
"Duke, Duke!" Jason called, “Stop dozing. The faster we buy this stuff, the faster you can go home and sleep all you want.”
“No, I’m not going to get to go home and sleep,” Duke whined, “I have homework, and patrol starts at dawn-”
“Well, falling asleep in the gas station isn’t going to solve your problems,” Jason poked at him, “Come on. Wake up.”
“Fine, I’m awake,” Duke muttered, after Jason poked him again. “Stop that.”
The grin on Jason’s face could practically be heard, when he responded, “Dickie wanted an energy drink.”
“Why are you telling me that?” Duke asked, a bit annoyed. Okay, more than a bit, but Jason had interrupted his chance at recovering some energy. Sleep made people murderous, so really, Duke was being rather merciful in thinking that Jason’s antics were annoying and not worthy of murder. Wasn’t he such a good soul?
Jason shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t Timmy want an energy drink?”
Suddenly, Duke’s brain was trying to process all the possible links that this situation was posing. It definitely was a trap of some sort. There was really no way it wasn’t. Jason was exhibiting all the symptoms of a man crazed enough to try anything. The fingers jerking with boredom, the eyes alight with unusual interest, the body posed in anticipation, and the foot faintly tapping the floor in barely contained energy. And Duke knew for a fact that Jason wasn’t all that interested in him, much less helping him remember what Tim, of all people, wanted. “Yeah…”
“Great!” Jason exclaimed, slinging his arm around Duke’s neck, further increasing Duke’s terror. However, the rate at which his brain was processing prevented him from registering the clear intent of Jason’s actions.
Duke really wants to blame his lack of sleep for why he doesn’t realize that energy drinks need a refrigerator to keep cold.
Hiding in the baked goods aisle, Duke cursed Jason for the fourth time for trying to freeze him. The cold had helped in keeping him awake, as he continued to collect everyone’s orders, which was probably the intent of Jason’s actions. However, that piercing frozen feeling had almost left him, and he was realizing just how much of his wakefulness was actually stemming from the shock of the cold. “Stupid Jason, and his stupid sense of humor,” Duke muttered under his breath as he glared at the package of bagels in front of him. In his mind, he swore revenge with the bagels as his witnesses. As the comfort of warmth seeped back into him, consciousness was rapidly slipping through his fingers. Leaning against the racks of packaged delights, Duke found a comfortable position to rest.
Then Jason’s voice stopped him from falling off the edge into oblivion. “Do you have everyone’s orders, yet?” His voice was still tinged with the so-called humor from the attempt of freezing Duke to death.
He groaned in response and straightened himself up. Too quickly, it seemed, because then spots were swimming in his vision. “Duke!” A hand on his shoulder steadied him, and Duke felt himself leaning into the touch. “Hey… are you okay?”
Duke blinked. The tone of Jason’s voice sounded annoyed, but also, unsure? For some reason, Duke felt the urge to explain himself despite the encroaching darkness flocking around his vision. “Oh, sorry, Jay, uh, I just- I’m tired. Just, um, can I rest here for a minute? It’ll only be a minute.” He dropped his head onto Jason’s shoulder, as the rest of his body began to lean against the older boy. The hand on Duke’s shoulder turned into a grip on his arm and another hand was wrapping around his back, trying to support some of his weight. Jason went stiff against him, but Duke didn’t care. He was nice and warm, and so very tired.
After a while of Duke resting, he became aware of an alternating rhythm of light tapping and rubbing on his arm, which he discovered was rather soothing. Blinking his eyes open, Duke stared right at Red Hood’s jaw. Weird.
As much as Duke hated sharing personal space, this was pretty nice. Well, not the bone digging into his cheek. “Your shoulder is bony,” he mumbled. The rhythm of comfort on his arm stopped, and Duke wished he had kept quiet a bit longer, because he immediately missed it.
“Yeah, shoulders aren’t really made for sleeping against,” Jason retorted.
“Sorry,” Duke mumbled, slightly embarrassed for the situation he found himself in. Apparently, he needed to make up for a lot more sleep than he had originally thought. Duke straightened himself up. To his surprise, Jason helped to steady him again whenever his balance was momentarily lost. Then he murmured some excuse that Duke didn’t quite catch before leaving him to go scour the gas station once more. Duke dozed in place, and just as he was wondering what was taking Jason so long, the older boy showed up. The two headed to the checkout, which seemed to put the lady behind the counter in shock and on guard. She kept eyeing the two of them suspiciously every ten or so seconds. Duke supposed it was a fair reaction though. Anyone buying from a gas station at this hour either had a death wish or was robbing the place.
Duke knew which one he was.
As they walked back to meet up at the rendezvous with the rest of the group, Duke found the lure of sleep become increasingly more tempting. He began leaning into Jason, and for some reason, Jason didn’t push him off.
However, a block before the rendezvous, Duke forced himself to walk on his own. He was sure he looked like a baby giraffe taking its first steps and occasionally glanced at Jason to see if he would make some snide comment about it. For some reason though, Jason remained steadfastly silent on their way back.
Once everyone had their snacks, Duke was ready to head home. In his retreat, he was stopped by a hand on his arm. Jason handed him a plastic bag filled with food and drinks. Duke’s brain stuttered at the sight, as it tried to comprehend what it had just been given and, more importantly, why.
“If you’re not going to sleep, might as well eat,” Jason shrugged.
Duke opened his mouth and then closed it. Because when did Jason figure out that he rarely slept? And why did he care?
But it was free food. And he definitely loved the words ‘free’ and ‘food’.
He should have said ‘thanks.’ That’s what his brain helpfully supplied him with four hours later. Instead, he wordlessly accepted the bag of food and nodded.
The guilt didn’t show up.
____________________________________________
The usual text of ‘movie night’ came as Duke was working on an essay for school. After what seemed to be the hundredth annoying ‘ding!’, he checked his phone and sighed at the amount of texts in the group chat. Cass had typed a question pointed at Duke ‘u coming’. She was just as bad as the rest of them at actually forming sentences when texting. No matter how terrible their ability to type was, their ability to comprehend a message and respond in kind was impressive. His phone was blowing up with the same question in different variations and forms of pleading. The Bats really were a pain to avoid. He glanced at the essay that still needed to be finished and bargained with himself that he would duck out early just like every other movie night to finish it.
Then again, he could stay the entire time. The essay was almost done anyway, at least twenty more minutes. He could tell them that he would be a bit later and stay the entire time instead of leaving early.
Nope. He needed an excuse to leave. He couldn’t trap himself there.
‘Yeah sure’ was Duke’s reply.
Then after thinking about it for much too short of a time to make such a radical decision, he typed, ‘is Jason coming?’ Of course, Dick was the first to respond with ‘no’ and Damian was the first to ask ‘why’. Realizing he dug himself a hole, Duke slumped in his chair and groaned. Lazily dragging his fingers over the keys, he typed out, ‘just curious’ in response. Like that was going to work. The truth was Duke didn’t know why he asked. But for some reason he wanted Jason to be there.
Tapping his foot against the floor to dispel some of his nervous energy, Duke opened Jason’s number – still unnamed from when Bruce first forced everyone to exchange numbers – and typed ‘hey man you coming to the movie tonight?’ He hit send and sat back, but still felt on edge. ‘There’s gonna be food. Alfred’s food.’ He had typed and sent it before he even realized he did it. A few minutes passed, and the answering ‘ding!’ jolted Duke from his thoughts. ‘How are you going to get Alfred’s food without dying?’
Duke smirked. ‘We. And I have a plan.’
‘Famous last words.’
Duke decided that was good enough of a ‘yes’ that Jason would give. Now whether he would show up to help or show up to fan the flames when the blame was put on someone other than Duke, that’s anyone’s guess. Duke just hoped he would show up. Not for any reason… just so that he was there. The gas station trip with Jason had been on Duke’s mind for a while now, and he had been confused on why that guilty suffocating feeling that usually sat at the pit of his stomach when he hung out or developed any sort of emotional connection to the Bats didn’t show up when he was around Jason. The incident baffled and relieved Duke, because maybe now he wouldn’t have to worry about that awful feeling, if Jason was there. By consequence, Jason needed to be there for movie night so that Duke could feel better. Weird.
And maybe slightly selfish.
But he had an extremely legitimate reason. The first time he watched a movie with the Bats, he had to bail halfway through because the urge to puke and claw out his intestines grew every moment he sat there with them. He had given them the excuse that he had just remembered some homework that he still needed to get done before the next day. They had never let him live it down, and he had never stayed for a movie long after halfway ever since. Maybe this time he could do it, if Jason showed up. Besides, it was for food. He could do that.
By the time Duke arrived at the Manor, a war was simmering below the horizon over who would get to pick the movie. Duke found the source in the living room in the form of Stephanie ‘calmly explaining’ to Damian that if he picked another National Geographic movie about orcas, she would disown him. To which Damian was ‘politely reminding her’ that you can’t disown someone unless they are in your family. That led to a conversation which Tim looked extremely uncomfortable with. Duke found his way to his beloved seat, which put him farthest away from the racket and discouraged anyone from sitting with him because it lacked space for more than one and was disconnected from the rest.
Taking his customary seat, Duke feigned interest in a magazine and occasionally glanced at the two going back and forth, offering more fuel to the fire whenever it seemed to be dying. Tim threw accusatory glances every time, which only spurred Duke on. Dick came in a couple times to tell them that Babs was almost done training Cass, so ‘shhh’, which Duke translated as ‘shut-up or I’m dropkicking you into the next century’ or something along those lines. Of course, Dick was too kind and thoughtful to ever say such a thing – at least to Duke - but the fact that Duke had never seen Dick explode made him wonder if he ever did. Hence, the lack of explosion created an internal translator in Duke any time Dick spoke.
Soon Duke found an article in the magazine about light, which intrigued him enough to pull him out of the conversation around him. This made him miss the ruckus that Jason’s arrival brought about. He didn’t, however, miss the weight of Jason’s body dropping next to him on the chair’s arm and the gaze that rudely looked over his shoulder. “Whatcha reading?”
Duke couldn’t help the sudden relief – wait, had I been tense? – that washed through him and the excitement? Why was he excited? Jason barely even knew him. Probably didn’t even like him. Literally just came for the food. It struck Duke as a bit odd that he actually relaxed at that last thought. He was just here for food. Not anything else. He wouldn’t be expecting Duke to be good at anything or bond- wow, back it up. Where did that come from? Focus, he reprimanded himself. It is all just for food. Duke stuck out his elbows to hint personal space to Jason, who ignored him and just slipped into the crack between the chair arm and Duke’s body. “So, about that plan you said you had?”
Slightly annoyed that Jason was invading his space and forcing him into an incredibly uncomfortable position, Duke nodded. “Yup, we’re going to have to wait until at least an hour into the movie, that’s usually when the demand for popcorn becomes the strongest. We’ll both volunteer, and then from there, we’ll enact Phase Two.”
Jason snorted. “Phase Two? Okay, whatever. I don’t make the codes for the operations. But, uh, one question, doesn’t the popcorn usually get served at the beginning of the film?”
Duke shook his head. “No, well, yes, but the beginning of every film is usually boring, so the popcorn gets eaten faster. Then they whine for around fifteen minutes until Dick gives in and finds a stopping point in the movie.”
“Ahh,” Jason nodded, “Alright, understood.” Duke glanced at the room and noted that everyone was taking their seats. Jason reclined himself back against the cushions of the chair, crushing Duke further against the other chair arm. From the faint smirk on Jason’s face, Duke knew that Jason was attempting to annoy him to death. In retaliation, Duke elbowed Jason in the ribs to which Jason responded by retracting his arms around his middle to protect himself. Duke huffed and resigned himself to his fate.
Right on the dot, the cries for popcorn started, and exactly as Duke predicted - more like as he had observed for the past thirty-seven movie nights - Dick stopped the movie around fifteen minutes after the first cries.
“I’ll do it,” Duke volunteered, gaining a smidge of satisfaction from shoving Jason unnecessarily hard as he stood to his feet and headed to the kitchen.
“Are we seriously sending him to the kitchen by himself?” Jason protested. For a moment, Duke felt caught off guard. He turned around to see Jason standing up and pointing a finger accusingly at him.
“Like you would be better,” Tim rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, well, someone has to watch him,” Jason stated, crossing his arms.
Oh, Duke thought, Oh. It would seem off to everyone if Jason and Duke both volunteered. Well, that was kinda stupid of him to forget that. At least, Jason covered for him before anyone else picked up on it. Chiming in, Duke stated, “I don’t want Jason to go with me though.” He made his voice as whiny and annoying as possible to run everyone’s patience dry. “Why not-” He scanned the room. “Barbara! Barbara can go with me.”
Barbara, who was sitting on Dick’s lap, immediately grabbed Dick’s arm to wrap around herself protectively and shook her head. “Nope. I’m fine here.”
Internally, Duke smiled and scored a point for himself. Dick and Barbara were practically inseparable on movie night, because it was one of the few moments they were able to have something together that felt domestic. So, he felt like a genius, when he pleaded, “Dick?”
Dick sighed. “Why can’t you just go with Jason, Duke?”
Duke let the groan fall out of his mouth and exaggeratedly responded, “Finneee.”
He left the room, calling over his shoulder. “Come on, Jason.” When he got into the kitchen, he turned around to find Jason grinning at him. Duke couldn’t help but smile back.
“Smooth,” Jason complemented, “Good job.”
Duke’s brain stalled out a bit at Jason, freaking Jason, complimenting him – miracles do still happen - before he quickly recovered when he realized Jason was still watching him expectantly.
Ah, right. Phase II.
“Now we have approximately ten minutes before someone comes in to check on us,” Duke informed him, “However, there is a slight chance they will send a scout in sooner, because they believe we will kill each other. Let’s try to keep that narrative.”
____________________________________________
The food heist had happened three weeks ago, and still, no one knew who stole Alfred’s food. Most of the blame bounced between Damian and Steph. Jason would have been a part of that line up, if it wasn’t for Duke giving a ‘hesitant’ confirmation that Jason couldn’t be it, because ‘I was watching him like a hawk’, while simultaneously agreeing with everyone else that if it wasn’t for ‘constantly keeping an eye on him’, Jason would have been his suspicion as well. In moments like those, Duke felt like an evil mastermind. And he revels in the feeling.
Alfred knew who the real culprits were though. Duke knew he knew by looking the butler in the eyes for the first time after the incident. And if Duke had been scared to death, well, that was between him and God – who apparently was Alfred.
Why Alfred didn’t have Jason and him cleaning every inch of Wayne Manor as punishment yet kept Duke up at night, which just made him think that the butler was waging psychological warfare.
Nonetheless, Duke thought the mission was a flawless success, besides the issue with the omniscient butler. There was one other hiccup in the plan that neither had really considered. How to pick who got what. In the time crunch at the Manor, they weren’t able to decide, instead opting to smuggle out whatever they could carry. Later, they came up with the solution that, for fairness’ sake, they would meet up at Duke’s bridge at the beginning of his patrol and at the end of his patrol with a different meal so that the spoils were equally enjoyed. The spoils had run out last Tuesday.
Jason and Duke still met up at the bridge.
Crazy, right? Yep. Extremely crazy.
But like they still brought food, so like it wasn’t like… anything.
Honestly, Duke never expected that him and Jason would get along, but they just… did. They met up for food, obviously, because like why else would they meet up? But they also did other things. They would do risky stunts, dare each other, and even occasionally patrolled together before they would have to part ways. Just two weeks ago, they were getting lectured out of their minds together by a very confused Bruce, who was trying to understand the logic of blowing up a warehouse with items strictly found in a kitchen. Neither of them could keep it together, especially when they glanced at each other every so often, and they kept interrupting Bruce with their barely contained laughter. Yeah, Bruce hadn’t been able to grapple with that situation at all. He was so frazzled that he let them go with a warning of ‘don’t ever do it again’ and that they would have to show up for dinner sometime that week. Bruce’s confusion turned into outright bafflement when right in front of him, both Duke and Jason decided on a night that worked for both of them to show up together. Duke wondered if it was really that out-of-this-world that he and Jason wanted to go together.
The thought lasted a total of two seconds before Duke realized how strange it really was. Huh.
Yeah, they would get into crazy trouble sometimes. It was fun though. He found that Jason was fun to spend time with, and as far as he knew, it seemed that Jason at least enjoyed spending time with him too. He kept showing up at the bridge, so he had to be.
One time, Jason helped Duke with his homework, which led to a startling realization of how much of a nerd Jason was. It was kind of sad too, because Jason still hadn’t finished high school, and from the way he watched Duke do his homework, it was evident he wanted to. So, hypothetically, if one time Duke copied his homework lesson and dared Jason to race him at answering questions, well, Duke just wanted to make the lesson more entertaining. Nothing to do with Jason. And if he kept doing it, because he liked seeing Jason’s eyes light up, well, that wasn’t important. Nope. Not at all. Jason was just a nerd, and Duke just wanted to be entertained.
Anyway, Duke found himself getting more involved in the extracurricular activities of the Bats on the hope that Jason would be there. Sue him.
Which is why he was walking on his way to the Manor in the freezing cold rain, because he missed the freaking bus. He tugged his backpack closer to his back to try to give himself some semblance of warmth. Curse his inability to plan.
Sighing, he stopped at the intersection and waited for the cars to hurry up and get through their green light. That’s when a car pulled up beside him and honked. Glancing at the car in mild confusion, Duke immediately recognized who the person sitting in the driver’s seat was.
Duke is pretty sure Jason was paid a lot of money by Dick or maybe Cass just threatened bodily harm. Either way he was here to pick up Duke and drive him to Wayne Manor. Which wasn’t as weird as it would have been three weeks ago. Crazy how things change so quickly, right?
Jason shoved open the front passenger door. “Get in the car.”
If ‘I don’t get paid enough’ was a person, Duke could guarantee that person was Jason. “Hi, Jay! I’m doing good, doing well. Thanks for asking. Really appreciate that. How are you?” Duke teased, though he quickly shoved his backpack in front of him and sat down in the seat, closing the door behind him. He desperately tried to shake off the shivers wracking his body. The heat burned his frozen fingers, almost making him jerk.
“I’m feeling extremely tempted to shove you out of this car,” Jason responded, “Pay up, before that temptation becomes reality.”
He reached out his hand to Duke expectantly. Duke gave the hand a thorough once over before smacking it. “High-five!” Despite the sensation of spikes driving into his skin, Duke deemed the action worth it, when Jason sighed in exasperation. However, his hand still remained held out, waiting. Rolling his eyes, Duke aggressively opened his backpack and handed him a pack of white powdered donuts.
“Good feelings back,” Jason mocked. Opening the package, he experimentally took out one of the powdered donuts and ate it. “Oh, these are good. Bring more next time.”
Licking his fingers, Jason drove the car out of the intersection and pulled out onto the highway. For the first eighteen minutes of the drive, everything was fine. Then there were blue and red lights flickering behind them with a siren flashing and blaring. Duke started and glared at Jason.
This was one hundred percent Jason’s fault: no question about it. “What did you do?”
“Nothing!” Jason stated defensively.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Fine, pull over,” Duke ordered.
“What?!”
“Jay, if you had drugs in the car or had murdered someone recently,” Duke explained, “I would have been telling you to make a run for it – because I am in the car! – but since none of that is a problem, we will face the law. I mean, whatever they pull us over for can’t be that bad, right?”
As he turned the car to the side of the road, Jason glanced at him quickly and cleared his throat. Duke noted the nervousness, and a sudden twinge in his stomach made him rethink eating his last meal. “Jay…” Duke started, “It can’t be that bad, right?”
Sighing, Jason stated, “Well, you know how the Joker killed me and all with the uh, explosion and-” Duke couldn’t handle the long winding path Jason was gonna take to the truth, and Duke needed to know now if he should make a run for it or not. Time was running short. The cop was literally getting out of the car.
“Skip to the point!”
“So, I was fifteen when I died, right?” Duke nodded exasperatedly and motioned ‘obviously’. “Yeah, well, when I came back, I was kinda busy on a revenge mission back then so of course-”
“Jay!”
“Fine, fine, okay, I don’t have a driver’s license!”
Duke stared in shock, jaw dropping. A tapping on the window startled them both. They both turned to see an officer motioning for the window to be rolled down. “I should have made a run for it,” Duke muttered.
Jason threw him a glare. “Act natural.” Rolling the window down, Jason sported his brightest grin and said, “Good evening, officer. How may I help you?”
The officer ran through the usual question, “Do you know why you were pulled over?”
“Poor life choices?” Duke guessed.
The officer gave a laugh, but Jason didn’t seem amused. Murderous maybe, but not amused. Duke couldn’t find it within himself to care. Jason wasn’t the one whose entire schedule was going to have to be revamped and a possible trip to jail because of Duke driving without a driver’s license.
“Taillight is out,” the officer corrected.
Duke couldn’t handle the disbelief, and it shone like a beacon on his face. “A taillight?” he sputtered, “A taillight? Of all the things you have done in your life, and a taillight is what did you in?” Yep, the gaze from Jason was definitely murderous.
The officer looked a bit concerned though unsurprised. Not that Duke thought that the officer’s lack of surprise was not slightly disturbing, but Gotham will be Gotham. “Driver’s license?”
Duke’s heartbeat picked up to a very unhealthy rate. This is how it ends. Wonderful! Never thought I would go out this way. While Duke was wallowing in despair and defeat, he was vaguely aware of Jason stalling. Not even Steph would have been that stupid to drive without ever getting a- An idea so absurd it just might work came to mind and before he could think better of it, Duke blurted out, “He doesn’t have a license, officer.”
Jason stopped in whatever conversation he was engaged in with the officer and went tense. “He is learning how to drive.”
The officer looked skeptically from Jason to Duke then back to Jason. “How old are you two?”
Duke beat Jason to it. “I’m sixteen, and he’s nineteen. He was too scared for the longest time, just the longest time, Officer, to learn how to drive, and because his older siblings were around all the time, he didn’t need to learn since they drove him around. So, to ease his fears we are learning to drive together. We borrowed the car from a friend who obviously didn’t take care of the taillight and didn’t warn us about it. I am sure you remember how completely un-dependable high school friends are, sir. And how stupid they can be.” Duke refused himself the pleasure of pointedly staring at Jason. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw how Jason had his elbow resting on the window edge and was keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead. “Oh, umm, here’s my driver’s permit,” Duke unbuckled his seatbelt to reach his wallet and shifted closer to Jason to hold out the card in question. First step down, he thought.
Taking the permit from Duke, the officer briefly observed it. “Only family members can ride with a student driver for the first 180 days.”
Heart skipping a beat, Duke put his hand on Jason’s shoulder closest to the officer, which made him have to get closer to the driver’s seat. Second step down, he mentally checked. The action caused Jason to look at him with a thousand daggers telling him not to say the next lie, but Duke was determined to not spend any time in jail. “We’re brothers.”
The officer raised an eyebrow. “He’s adopted.” Duke nodded, as Jason’s eyes began promising a hundred creative ways Jason was going to murder him. Briefly it came to mind about which part of Duke Jason would start with. The fingers are always a classic, but the- “The family member also has to be over 25.” Jason’s head turned to Duke.
If looks could kill, Duke would be dead in thirty universes and wanted on three planets, in sixty-seven countries, and forty-eight cities. Yeah, that was definitely not Duke’s best lie, but good thing he wasn’t depending on it. Duke shoved his leg in an awkward position to reach the brake and pressed down, while simultaneously switching the gear to drive. Jason got the memo pretty quickly, and hit the gas pedal as soon as Duke let off the brake. The car sped off away from the officer, who was furiously shouting at them.
“Drive!” he yelled at Jason, who roughly moved Duke’s leg over.
“What do you think you are doing?!” Jason shouted back.
“Escaping!” Duke responded. Frantically, Duke searched through the compartments in the vehicle. “Where is a map? Do you have a map? You better have a map-”
“Yes, I have a map,” Jason retorted. He opened a compartment that Duke swore he was just about to search and shoved the map into Duke’s chest.
“Why, thank you, Jason,” Duke taunted, “you are so polite.”
“Don’t you even know where you are?” Jason asked, “You literally grew up in this city!”
“Yeah, well, so did that cop, who also regularly patrols this area, and will have backup on the way,” Duke responded, “So, it’s time to get creative.”
“Just shut up and plot the escape,” Jason ordered.
Duke shook his head from side to side and mimicked his words in a high-pitched voice, as he scanned the map.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he noted the lights and sirens gaining on them. “Don’t they have elsewhere to be,” he muttered to himself, “it’s Gotham. There has to be something more important going on.”
“More important, and more chances of getting shot,” Jason pointed out, “Less risk in this harmless chase.”
At that moment, Jason took a sharp left turn, and Duke’s body aggressively shifted to the right. “Yeah, less risk,” Duke speculated.
“Are you going to keep giving sarcasm, or are you finally going to give directions?” Jason retorted.
“Fine, fine,” Duke huffed, “This was exactly what I wanted to do today. Read from a-”
“Really, Duke!”
“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Duke feigned reading the map before silently letting the map defeat him and telling Jason a random direction instead, “Take an immediate left.”
Jason spun the wheel to the left, sending the car’s back veering to the right.
“How graceful,” Duke commented.
“How helpful,” Jason mimicked.
Duke shook his head in exasperation, before giving him the next improvised instructions. “Go straight through this light, after it turns green.”
Jason did not listen to that last half.
“You didn’t stop at that red light,” Duke stated. A question occurred to Duke a little belatedly… Was he being petty?
“Uh huh, and?”
“Follow the law, Jason!” Just maybe a little petty.
“We are being chased by a cop!”
“How difficult is it to stop on red, and go on green?” Ohhh, yes, Duke was definitely being petty.
“Apparently, as difficult as it is for you to ‘act natural’!”
“You shouldn’t drive without a license,” Duke emphasized each word by stabbing the air with the side of his hand, “It’s against the law!”
“Ohhh, now you want to follow the law,” Jason responded, “Says the guy who lied to a police officer not too long ago.”
“Just stop at the red light! It’s not rocket science!”
In hindsight, that was probably why they had to ditch the car at the next red light. Apparently, they should have ditched the car in the beginning because they easily evaded the cop by using the back alleyways. Duke heaved a sigh of relief.
“Yay,” He mock-cheered, “We did it.” The adrenaline of the chase left him feeling giddy, and when he glanced at Jason, he realized it had that effect on him as well.
“Such an accomplishment.” Jason laughed. “Remind me to never hire you as my lawyer. What kind of cheap shot lie were you trying to sell back there?”
“Better than yours,” Duke grinned.
Jason shook his head. He glanced about himself, observing their surroundings, before suggesting, “I’m starving, you want to go get ice cream?”
Duke laughed. “Why not?”
It took forever for them to find an ice cream shop.
Once they had bought their ice cream, they quickly decided to head to the bridge, as it was too late to catch up with the Bats. And there was no way either of them was calling the Wayne Manor to tell them why exactly they would be arriving late. Instead, they did what they did best and bailed without a warning. Walking at night in Gotham City was asking for trouble, if you didn’t know which streets to avoid. Fortunately, between the two of them, they were able to avoid most of the bad streets.
“You know, I never would have thought that we would both be eating ice cream together,” Duke commented, before taking another bite out of his moose tracks ice cream.
Jason shrugged. “Honestly, it doesn’t really shock me as much.”
“Why?” Duke eyed the older boy curiously.
“Alfred says you don’t really stick around with everyone else,” Jason replied, in between bites of his Neapolitan ice cream, “He told me that the movie night I came to was the first time you stuck around until the movie actually ended.”
At the mention of the godlike butler, Duke’s mind scrambled to figure out what game the old man was playing. Pyschological warfare.
At a loss for what to do, he merely hummed in response.
It caught Jason’s attention. “Why don’t you ever stay?”
Duke stuffed his mouth with another bite of his ice cream to stall for time. How would he be able to explain? Should he explain? It’s not really Jason’s business. They barely knew each other. If he just shrugs, Jason might let it go, and Duke won’t have to ruin this perfectly nice moment with… stuff he’d rather not talk about.
His shrug effectively stopped Jason from pestering any further.
Except Jason’s face turned more contemplative, and scarily calculating.
“I don’t really like hanging with them either,” Jason began, seemingly innocent, but Duke wasn’t that stupid, “For a different reason from yours though.”
Duke’s curiosity was incredibly overwhelming. “And what’s that reason?”
Jason shook his head. “Besides the obvious moral difference?” He gave a laugh. “Well, besides that… it just doesn’t feel like home. I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but, I guess, imagine it’s like entering a haunted house. You don’t know why, but you feel as though you don’t belong, and that you’re intruding here. You want to leave as soon as you enter.”
Focusing on his feet, Duke nodded.
Jason nudged with his arm. “Your turn.”
Duke huffed. “I didn’t agree to this.”
“Don’t tell me you’re gonna back out?”
Jason’s mocking tone spurred Duke to respond before he could think better of it. “I don’t stay, because every time I do, there’s a sick feeling in my stomach that makes me want to puke.”
At Jason’s questioning gaze, Duke’s tone drips sarcasm. “I guess, explaining it would be like explaining what the flu feels like.” Jason snorted, and Duke can’t help but smile.
“So, you feel guilty?” Jason guessed.
Duke shrugged. “Yeah, but it doesn’t really show when you’re around.”
“Aww, I’m the special one.”
“So special that I’d trade you away for a burger.”
“Wowww…”
The arches of the bridge caught Duke’s eye, and he suddenly realized they had reached the bridge. Without calling to Jason, he rushed to the side of the bridge to gaze over the quiet water. The lights from the city buildings reflected in the water danced about the sloshing water.
“The river’s only beautiful at night,” Duke murmured, remembering the deep color of filth it was shaded in the sun.
“That goes for the entire city,” Jason responded, coming up to stand beside him.
“Not the rich neighborhoods-”
“You can’t see their filth in the sun, but it’s there all the same.”
Duke hummed. “True.”
The next few minutes passed in silence, but not in Duke’s mind. In that space, a thousand questions were pouring out, but he knew he needed to choose wisely on what to ask.
“Am I the same as them?”
“What?”
“Am I like a haunted house to you, too?
Jason laughed. “Sticking with that terrible analogy?”
“It’s poetic,” Duke teased.
Shaking his head, Jason answered, “No, you’re not like a haunted house.” Then tilting his head to the side, he seemed to ponder something. “You’re more like an annoyance.”
Duke rolled his eyes. “The feeling’s mutual.” A warm feeling in his chest wholeheartedly agreed.
____________________________________________
The hospital smelled, it wasn’t up to protocol, and Dr. Thompkins wasn’t doing the surgery. She wasn’t doing the surgery. That was all Duke could think about. The one life line he had held onto was that Leslie would be the one to do it. She wasn’t. Duke was sitting on a bench in the hallway, only five doors down from where his mom was. She was having life-saving surgery. For the past week, he had been getting calls that her health was declining rapidly, and that the effects of the gas were inexplicably surging.
It got to the point of a last stand.
Duke shifted his feet. What the nurse at the front desk said rung in his ears. 'Let her go, kid. Just let her go.' She had told him that without even knowing that he didn’t have the money for the surgery to begin with. She had said it like it was easy.
Grabbing at his shaking head, he tried to steady himself. Duke couldn’t. He just could not. She was all he had. The only family he had left. He couldn’t just let go. The tears were falling before he knew it. This was it. And in some part of his head, deep down he knew. He knew that nurse was right.
He should move on.
But, god, that felt like losing. That felt like… betrayal. To just throw down your family, when everything went south. Just because they couldn’t remember your name, just because they couldn’t remember your birthday, just because they couldn’t remember you.
But that’s what really stung, wasn’t it? She didn’t know him. He was holding out for a shell of something long gone. He was tearing himself apart for a parent that didn’t know he was. He was dying outside her surgery room, praying she wouldn’t. And she was probably lying in there, laughing. The toxin had killed both of his parents but left their bodies.
Duke felt his whole body convulsing.
A hand on his shoulder shocked him into reality, pulling him out of his thoughts. A voice, “Duke?” Someone knelt in front of him, and Duke distantly thought to warn them about the filthy floor. “Hey, are you alright?” The voice sounded uncertain, and it sounded like… Jason.
Smearing his tears across his face with the back of his hands, Duke stared at the older boy in front of him. A surge of embarrassment at being caught in such a weak state had Duke standing abruptly and retreating down the hallway a bit to regain his composure. His voice already knew the cues though, it came out steady and joking, everything Duke didn’t feel, “Oh, hey, Jay, what’s up, man?”
He heard the shuffle of Jason standing up. “Nothing much.” It was an automated response, and something inside of Duke eased knowing that Jason was as out of his depth as Duke. “Are you okay?” The question was quiet, purposely so.
The impulse to hide caused him to bring up his arms and cross them over his chest. Shakily, Duke sighed. “Yeah- yeah, I’m good.” His voice cracked, and he internally cursed himself. Yeah, sure, that’s convincing. You sound ridiculous. Humiliation weighed like a stone in his stomach. He wanted Jason to leave. Why was he even here? No one was supposed to know. How did he know? “You got business here?” His tone sounded sharp and biting, even to his own ears.
“I heard about your mom,” Jason started, and then seemed to reconsider continuing and stopped. But Duke could feel the anger at his parents for leaving him in this situation, at Jason for deciding to show up now of all times, and at himself for being weak rising within him. He hadn’t wanted to be alone, but he certainly didn’t want the Bats showing up.
Then why are you okay with him being around you?
Inexplicably, his shoulders began to rise and fall with laughter.
“Duke…” Jason began again, and it just took Jason lightly touching his elbow for Duke to explode.
Duke whirled on him and slammed his fist into Jason’s chest. “Jason, back off! Alright? Just stop! I didn’t want you to be here. I didn’t want anyone to be here. Why are you guys always asking me to be there? I don’t want to! Do you understand? I can’t stand it! All of them… all of them are so happy, and they have each other and I just want to be alone! Okay? Just leave me alone! I-”
Jason’s stunned face made Duke stop. He shut his mouth, before anything else could slip past. Oh… fantastic. He was just going to drop all his screwed-up issues on the one person who he looked at as a…
Yep, that’s just the way to get people to stick around and care for you. Tire ‘em out with all your drama, just shut up, shut up. Don’t ruin the one thing we have.
Swallowing the lump threatening another outburst, Duke quickly tried to throw together an apology, “Jay, I’m sorry, I- I just needed, I mean, I’m a bit on edge right now, because of the um, surgery, and all, you know?” His hands were twisting each other into oblivion, and the pressure of Jason watching him was promising to crush him.
A beat of silence drifted between them, as Jason visibly attempted to get a grasp on what was happening.
“Can I hug you?”
That was it. That’s what finally broke the last bit of Duke’s walls. Now he knew the last thing he and Jason had in common. They didn’t have anybody left. He had been so terrified that he had lost his mom, that avoiding the Bats meant he wouldn’t have anyone, that he had slipped up and wrecked it all, and Jason was asking… Through the tears that were racking his body, Duke nodded shakily, and in the next moment, Jason was hugging him. Duke clenched onto Jason’s jacket and held on for dear life, fearing that Jason would let go. But he didn’t.
Jason didn’t talk, just hesitantly rubbed his back and held him. Duke doubted Jason really knew what to say, or maybe he just knew Duke didn’t want words, that he just really wanted comfort. Duke felt himself being rocked back and forth, and it dawned on him that Jason never answered why he was here.
“Where’s the food?” Duke asked, his voice muffled by Jason’s shoulder.
“What?”
“Well, usually, when you meet up with me, it’s something food related.”
“Oh, yeah. This time I just wanted to check on you.” It was whispered, and Duke clutched onto those words as tightly as he was clutching Jason’s jacket.
“Oh,” Duke whispered back, “That’s nice.”