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Jason had absolutely no clue how he ended up here.
Or well, maybe he did have a clue. The clue was Dick Grayson. The oldest son of Bruce motherfucking Wayne. Who seems to be convinced that he was his little brother. Absolutely ridiculous if you asked Jason. At least it sounded ridiculous. Jason? The long lost son of a billionaire? It sounded like something straight out of a movie. Things like this didn’t just happen to random people on the streets.
And that’s exactly what Jason was. Just a random guy on his way back home from work, when he had accidently bumped into Dick Grayson.
Which pretty much sums up how he ended up on this show. Because Dick Grayson was not only handsome, charming and rich, but also a fucking drama queen. Who just had to scream all over the street.
“Jason?!”
“Is it really you?!”
“You look exactly like my brother, Jason Todd!”
“That can’t be… he’s dead.”
All the pedestrians around them had heard them. Some recognized Dick and started to take pictures and videos and of course, typical for the 21st century, posted it on the internet. It went viral. Because of course it did. Which explains how Jason ended up here. With Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne.
On a fucking TV show.
The cameras started rolling and the audience was watching them with great interest. Behind Jason, on the big TV screen, a video started showing. The introduction to their case.
“Four years ago, the Wayne family was hit with a big tragedy as their then youngest member, Jason Todd-Wayne, died in Ethiopia due to a terrorist bombing. But only a week ago Dick Grayson met someone in New York, who looks exactly like his dead brother.”
The video showed his and Dick’s meeting on the streets, then it flashed to video clips of a young Jason Todd with Bruce Wayne.
Jason couldn’t deny, him and Jason Todd did look similar, but that didn’t mean anything. Just like the first name. Jason was a common name anyway. And Jason wasn’t even sure that it was his real name in the first place.
The host, Julie McNamara, was looking at a camera when she started speaking, “Today, not only the whole country is watching, but especially Gotham City has its eyes on our guests. Is Jason Todd still alive? Keep watching to find out. Please, Jason, tell us something about yourself.” She turned to look at him with a friendly smile when she said the last sentence.
He knew what he was supposed to do. Like many other people he had seen at least a few episodes of the show. Now he had to introduce himself and tell the audience why he thinks this DNA test is needed. Uncomfortably he scratched the back of his neck. His nerves were going haywire. Not only was the audience watching driving him crazy, but to imagine that millions of people were watching as well? It was a lot.
Jason cleared his throat, “My name is… Jason Peters. I work in a bookshop in New York, and well… that’s pretty much it.” His life sounded pretty boring, even to himself.
“What do you mean with ‘that’s it’?” Julie didn’t sound unfriendly, just curious.
He risked a glance at Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. They were watching him with eagle eyes, and he was 100% percent sure that their eyes had never left Jason’s form for a second.
“It’s because there isn’t much to tell. I like books and there isn’t much you can do without a social security number, or birth certificate, or any type of papers. I was lucky enough to meet an old man who needed help in his bookshop and was ready to give me a chance. I’m not even sure if Jason Peters is my real name. I don’t remember.” He licked over his dry lips and averted his glance from the Wayne’s back to Julie. It wasn’t completely a lie. He did remember a bit. At least he remembers the name Jason and a distant voice calling him that. So, he was pretty sure that was his name.
“What do you mean exactly when you say that you don’t remember. What can’t you remember?” The stage, where Jason, Bruce and Dick were sitting had three couches. On one sat the Wayne’s, on the other Jason and on the third one guests. Today’s guests were a doctor, a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a model and an actor. He really didn’t know why the last two were here. Thankfully it was the psychiatrist speaking. It was an older black man, with kind eyes hidden behind glasses. His name tag read Dr. Laurens.
Jason shrugged. “Pretty much exactly what I said. I don’t remember. I woke up in a hospital a few years ago. Everything before that…” He waved his hands around in front of him, as if he was trying to grab the missing words, or memories in his case. “Blank. Everything’s just blank before I woke up in the hospital.”
Dr. Laurens nodded in understanding. “Memory loss can have a lot of causes and has a lot of different characteristics.”
The model next to Dr. Laurens, Hailey Gorzona, looked at Jason, her gaze lingering on the white streak in his hair. “Mr. Peters, have you tried to remember anything? Your family? Your life before?” she asked.
Jason rolled his eyes at her, internally of course. What kind of stupid question was that? “Of course, I tried. But like I said. Nothing.”
“And how did you come up with your name? Did you make it up, considering that you don’t remember anything?”
He hesitated for a second. “Well, I do think Jason is my real name. When I tried to remember who I was, I heard a voice, calling me Jason and… I don’t know, it just felt right I guess.”
“Was it Bruce Wayne’s voice?” the actor, Harry Sherwood, asked.
“No, it was a woman’s voice. I think it was my mother.”
Bruce Wayne whispered something to Dick Grayson and Jason was pretty sure he heard how he said ‘Jason loved Catherine’. Who the hell was Catherine?
“What about your last name?” asked Harry Sherwood.
Jason just shrugged. Honestly, he couldn’t even tell how he came up with it. “It was the first thing that came to my mind after Jason. So I just went with it.”
That was the moment when Dick Grayson decided to open his mouth. In Jason’s opinion he should just leave it closed. Because whenever he opened his mouth, Jason got nothing but problems. “That was Jason’s middle name. His full name was Jason Peter Todd.”
The audience started to whisper among each other and even the guests looked a bit surprised. All eyes turned to Jason, as if he held all the answers in his hands. But he didn’t. Because in case everyone had forgotten: He. Had. Lost. His. Memories. So the only thing he could do was to raise an eyebrow in surprise. “I didn’t know.” It wasn’t even a lie. He didn’t know anything about Jason Todd.
Julie turned to Dick Grayson. “Mr. Grayson? Can you tell us what happened that day when you met Mr. Peters for the first time?”
Dick Grayson cleared his throat. “I was in New York, on the way to visit some friends.” He glanced at Jason. “While I was on the way I saw Ja- … I mean Mr. Peters. And I guess my brain just stopped working.” He let out an uncomfortable laugh and raked his hand through his hair. “All I could think was that I found my little brother. I haven’t even thought about… you know that he’s actually dead.”
His eyes wandered back to Jason. “I am really sorry that I made you uncomfortable.” It sounded at least honest, so Jason nodded at him.
While he was still mad because he got dragged into this mess, he could understand why Dick Grayson had reacted this way. Jason didn’t want to imagine what it feels like to lose your little brother.
“As unfortunate as the situation was-” Bruce Wayne began to speak and threw a judging look at his son. “We hope that with the help of the show we can resolve this situation quickly. And finally clear some things up.”
The people in the audience started to talk among themselves. Jason had read some comments about this whole thing before he came onto the show. And most people had a lot of sympathy for Bruce Wayne. It must hurt to be confronted with his son’s death all over again after five years.
The host addressed Bruce Wayne, “Mr. Wayne? Would you be so kind to tell us something about your son?”
He nodded. “Of course. I met Jason when he tried to steal the tires of my car.” The audience laughed and a small smile appeared on Bruce Wayne’s face. “I tried to talk to him but he hit me with the tire iron, called me a big boob and ran away.” The audience laughed even more.
Bruce Wayne looked like it hurt him physically to utter the next words. “There was this fire inside of him. I did not only want to give him a better life, I wanted to help him nourish this fire and see him do amazing things.” He gulped as if he tried to swallow down his tears.
“May I ask a few questions?” Dr. Laurens asked and looked at Julie. When she gave a nod he turned to Bruce Wayne. “Mr. Wayne? While I am deeply sorry for your loss, can you please explain how your son had died?”
Bruce Wayne looked shaken up at the question. He averted his gaze from Jason to Dr. Laurens and the other guests on the couch. But Jason knew that he was still the center of his attention. And it scared him, how he knew that. Because he just met this man for the first time in his life. Even if looking in his blue eyes brought up a pleasant feeling inside of Jason. He almost felt protected, loved . Maybe it was just Bruce Wayne’s fatherly nature? The man did have a bunch of kids after all.
“I’m sure most people know the story, but Jason got kidnapped by terrorists in Ethiopia and died in an explosion.” Bruce’s voice was strained. To Jason it seemed like he was trying to hold information back. “That was almost five years ago.”
The audience was mumbling, most of them seemed to remember when this whole thing had hit the news. It wasn’t everyday that the 15-year-old son of a billionaire died.
“Jason, when did you wake up in the hospital?” asked Julie.
“I… I am not very sure to be honest.” Frowning, he tried to remember what had happened after had woken up. “I remember waking up in a hospital, but not much after. Everything is pretty hazy. I think I ran away? I’m not sure though. My first clear memories start about 3 years ago? But like I said, I don’t remember it clearly. So, I wouldn’t trust my memory on this one.”
Dr. Laurens nodded in understanding, as well as the doctor, Dr. Hill. An elderly woman, who had her hair in a strict bun. She had years of experience in the field of neurology. “Jason Todd had ‘died’ in an explosion.” She made quotation marks at the word died. “Let’s assume he managed to survive; the explosion would still leave a huge physical trauma on him. And blunt force to the head can cause amnesia.”
“But so can emotional trauma,” interjected Dr. Laurens. “Depending on how traumatic a certain event was, the brain can suppress this memory for years.”
Dr. Hill turned her full attention to Dr. Laurens. “Mr. Peters said he had woken up in a hospital, but doesn’t remember much. There seems to be a huge gap in his memory after he had woken up in the hospital and until he started to become clear of his surroundings. My take on this is that he had sustained a serious brain injury and when he had woken up, his brain wasn’t fully healed, yet.”
As Dr. Laurens got ready to bring up another argument, the lawyer, Mr. Chen, intervened. “As interesting as this whole discussion is, there is one thing everybody seems to have forgotten. Jason Todd-Wayne is considered deceased. In a legal way. He has an official death certificate and was buried. His funeral was all over the news.”
“But no one had seen the funeral. Bruce Wayne-“ Hailey Gorzona looked at Bruce Wayne for a second, “-no offense Mr. Wayne, told every single news outlet to fuck off, when they had wanted to attend the funereal.”
“Well, can you blame the man? He was about to put his son six feet under the ground.” Harry Sherwood looked at Bruce Wayne with pity.
And Jason saw the way that Bruce Wayne clenched his jaw, like he was grinding his teeth together. And honestly, he couldn’t blame the man. He pitied him in the moment. The way the people talked about his dead son must be really frustrating. And he felt kind of offended. They were here to find out if Jason is the son of Bruce Wayne and yet they talked about him being buried six feet under.
But Jason wasn’t dead… so why did he feel so offended?
Harry Sherwood cleared his throat. “What I’m trying to say is, if Jason Todd is buried in a casket, how is he supposed to wander the streets of New York?”
At his words Jason broke out in cold sweat. His heart started to race and his throat clammed up. He tried to take a deep breath, to calm himself down, but the air suddenly smelled like wet dirt. The smell was so intense that Jason could taste it on his tongue and feel it beneath his fingertips.
“Yes, but no one had attended the funeral, except for Bruce Wayne! So no one truly knows if he had buried his son!” Haily Gorzona seemed pretty convinced, but for Jason her voice seemed very distant.
“Oh, you and your conspiracy theories again!” argued Harry Sherwood.
Everything felt very distant. Whenever he tried to remember his life before the hospital, he got like this. The air started to smell like wet dirt, he got claustrophobic, if he was in a small room. Sometimes he even woke up in cold sweat when he laid on his back.
But the nightmares were the worst. He never remembered them but whenever he woke up he could hear laughter. A manic laughter that has been haunting him since he became clear of his surroundings. And who knows, maybe even before that.
“Excuse me.” Bruce Wayne’s voice stopped the argument between the guests and managed to calm Jason’s racing heart. And everybody’s attention, including Jason’s, was on Bruce Wayne. He looked extremely uncomfortable. “I would like to say that both Mr. Sherwood and Mrs. Gorzona are right. I didn’t want anyone at the funeral, because it was extremely personal and I wanted to grieve in peace. It was enough that Dick couldn’t attend, because he was abroad.”
Dick Grayson’s face didn’t change at the words. Or at least it didn’t look like it changed. Yet, Jason saw how his eyes darkened. He could see the anger in his eyes and could almost feel it radiate off Dick. As if Bruce Wayne’s words had a deeper meaning. Yet, no one seemed to notice except for Jason.
“We buried a closed casket… because… because….” Bruce Wayne licked his lips and took a deep breath, as if he was reading himself for a confession. “Because the casket was empty.”
That was a lie. This thought filled Jason’s head and the air suddenly smelled like wet dirt again.
Shocked gasps filled the whole studio. Even the host seemed shocked. Never, had a reveal like this happened on her show. The woman was too stunned to speak. Everybody was too shocked to speak.
Bruce Wayne’s head hung between his shoulders and he was looking at the floor. His hands were clenched into fists between his legs.
“They couldn’t find a corpse. The Ethiopian fire department onside had said, the explosion was so enormous and the fire so hot, that there was no body to be found, that they could have pulled out of the debris.” Dick Grayson’s voice was nothing more than a whisper.
That was a lie.
A hot fury overtook Jason. He felt so angry… like he was being lied to. “There was no body and you are telling me that you didn’t think that Jason Todd could still be alive?! Did this thought not occur to you?!” screamed Jason. His fists clenched at the couch. Otherwise he would have leaped up already and punched Dick Grayson in the face. And Bruce Wayne as well.
“You haven’t seen the warehouse. There was nothing left anymore except for debris.” Bruce Wayne lifted his head again and looked apologetically at Jason.
Yet his apology meant nothing. Because Jason was absolutely sure that every single word out of his mouth was a lie. He had never been so sure of something in his life. He felt his heart hammer in his chest and somewhere in the back of his mind he heard a weird beeping noise. Almost like a timer. Jason could practically see the timer in his mind… see the time tickle down.
“Excuse me, Mr. Peters.” Mr. Chen’s voice was calm and diverted Jason’s attention from the Waynes. “Why are you so offended? It almost seems like you were in that warehouse and are mad that no one found you.”
“I-” Why was Jason so mad? Why did the whole situation feel so personal to him? “I- I don’t know.” He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the smell of wet dirt around him. “God-! I really don’t know.” Jason buried his face in his hands and gripped his hair, tugging at it lightly. The pain in his scalp reminded him that this was all real and not just a fever dream.
“I’m afraid we won’t get really far with questioning Mr. Peters.” Dr. Hill said and explained, “Amnesia is a tricky little thing. He could start to remember while being confronted with things from his past. But there is no guarantee for that.”
Dr. Laurens nodded in agreement. “That’s true. There is also the possibility that Mr. Peters may never regain his memory. There is absolutely no way of telling.”
Dick Grayson huffed. “Slowly, I’m starting to think that we’re running in circles.”
For once Jason agreed with him. They were getting nowhere because Jason couldn’t remember anything from before he woke up.
“Mr. Grayson is right.” Julie McNamara stepped up to the middle of the stage. “I think we should have a look at the results.”
A staff member came up to the stage, holding a sealed envelope. He gave it to Julie with a nod and ran off the stage.
Now it was time. The moment everybody has been waiting for. The DNA Test.
“A few days ago, a blood sample of Jason Peters was taken. Our laboratory checked if it was a match with the blood samples of Jason Todd-Wayne. The blood samples were given to us by the Wayne family’s private doctor Dr. Leslie Thompkins. And we will reveal now, if Jason Peters is truly Jason Todd-Wayne.” Julie held the sealed envelope. While her face was neutral, her eyes betrayed her excitement.
Everybody else in the studio was looking at the envelope, as if it was the ring from the Lord of the Rings. Bruce Wayne himself looked like there was nothing that he wanted to do more than to rip that envelope out of Julie's hands.
Julie opened the envelope carefully and took out the letter. Her eyes skimmed over the content of the letter, and she took a deep breath, before reading, “The results of the tests show that the probability of Jason Peters being Jason Todd is 100 percent, as the blood samples are a complete match.”
Chaos erupted in the studio. But Jason didn’t hear anything except the ringing in his ears. That couldn’t be. How was this possible? He saw the people in the audience talking among themselves wildly, just like the guests. Yet, no sound reached his ears. His head felt like it was full of cotton. Nothing was reaching him. His brain wasn’t able to comprehend what was being said. It just couldn’t be true.
And yet, somewhere deep in his mind he saw something. Like a long-lost memory. It didn’t feel like his own though, more like he was watching a scene from a movie.
Because in this scene he saw Bruce Wayne, who showed him a bunch of papers. He couldn’t read the words on the documents except for four. Jason Peter Todd-Wayne. Bruce Wayne was showing him adoption papers and he wore a bright smile on his face and happy tears were glistering in his eyes. And Jason felt pure utter joy as he threw his small, childish frame against Bruce, who hugged him tightly. So tightly that Jason could feel his bones creak and the only thing he did was to try to hug Bruce just as tightly. He felt how Bruce’s tears wet the top of his head and he remembered how Bruce always denied that it had happened.
Jason was ripped away from his thoughts back into reality as strong hands gripped his upper arm and pulled him to his feet. Everything in Jason cramped up and he was reading himself to fight. His fight or flight reflexes were going haywire.
Until he realized that the person that had pulled him up was hugging him. Surprised, Jason looked up and came face to face with Bruce Wayne. His blue eyes filled with tears and yet he was smiling. “Jaylad, I can’t believe it,” he whispered, as if he didn’t want the audience to hear. He cradled Jason’s head in his big hand, the warmth from his palm spreading through Jason immediately.
“You have the same look on your face,” Jason couldn’t help but blurt out. At the confusion in Bruce’s face he elaborated, “Back then, when you showed me the adoption papers for the first time. You made the exact same face. And then you pretended that you hadn’t cried.”
More tears spilled from his eyes. “Dear god, you remember.” And then he pulled Jason back into his arms.
His tight hug, that made Jason’s bones creak. The tears that wet the top of his head. The warmth of Bruce’s body against his. This familiar warmth. Just like in his memory. Tears started to prickle in Jason’s own eyes as well. Because of this familiarity… there was no way in hell that he could make this up. Whatever he saw, it had to be a memory. It had to be his memory.
“Bruce,” he croaked out and hugged the man back.
He was distantly aware of all the people and cameras watching them. This would be the story of the year, probably even of the century. Dead son of billionaire Bruce Wayne is back from the dead and doesn’t remember jack shit. Great headlines.
Suddenly he felt another arm on his back. A softer touch than Bruce’s. When he glanced to the side, he saw Dick Grayson. He wore the same expression as Bruce. “I’m so happy, little Wing,” he said and moved to join the hug. The words little wing were whispered so quietly, like it was a shared secret between Dick and Jason. Something Dick wanted to share only with Jason. Dick’s hand moved up to ruffle Jason’s hair as he kept mumbling the same sentence over and over again against the side of Jason’s head.
Between the chaos that was still happening in the background and the warmth of the two men holding him, Jason could think only one thing: What would happen now?