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Jason was juggling his luggage and lightly bouncing on his toes, half excited, half dreading the trip they were about to undergo. He and Cass had talked it nearly to death, leaving Hong Kong had been a big and scary step, they had been there for a year and had built a little life for themselves. But Cass had heard the siren song of Gotham once again and wanted to return. Jason could admit a part of him also wanted to return to the place he’d lived for the first nine years of his life (even if they weren’t the best years).
He was scared too, would he fit in with the Bat family, or even worse, would he fit in with the Wayne family? How was he going to share his sister with her other family when they’d only had each other for the past year, he could already feel the tickling of a little green monster in the back of his heart. Cass was his whole world, was it wrong to want to be hers?
He felt a tugging on his sleeve, Cass urging him into the loading line as their flight had been called. He had used his fresh new passport, with the name Jason Peter Todd on it instead of a fake. Apparently he was never reported dead, only missing. One of Cass’s friends, Oracle, pushed through some paperwork and all it took was a quick trip to the American Embassy to pick up a copy of his ‘stolen’ passport. Jason would have to remember to thank her when they met.
He sank down in his seat, the aisle, Cass had snagged the coveted window seat and he could feel the urge to start tapping his foot or fidget building up. Cass nudged him, and tilted her head in question.
“Just nervous, nothing to worry about.” He reassured her.
“But you are worried.” She responded plainly, never one to mince words, his sister.
“Just, what if they don’t like me? What if I do something stupid and make a horrible first impression? I just want everything to go smoothly.” For her, he didn’t say, he wanted everything to go smoothly so she’d be happy.
“They will like you.” She said sincerely, “how could they not?” Jason knew there were probably many reasons they could not like him, his past as a Crime Alley street rat, his past as Shiva’s disciple, his past as an assassin, many reasons. But he took a deep breath and pushed it back out, letting himself fall into a near meditative state, everything was going to be just fine.
Things were not fine, Tim was supposed to meet them at the airport, Jason liked Tim and knew him well, they spent plenty of time in contact over the past year. Unfortunately, Tim was detained at work and the Wayne family butler, Alfred Pennyworth, had been dispatched to pick them up. Mr. Pennyworth was a slim man of average height, with thin graying hair, wearing an impeccable suit. He made Jason’s wrinkled traveling clothes feel even more disheveled, he tugged at them pointlessly trying to straighten the mess.
“Miss Cassandra, it’s so good to see you my dear,” the butler said before pulling Cass into a brief but firm hug. “This must be the brother I’ve heard so much about, it’s nice to make your acquaintance young sir.”
“Jason, please, no sir for me,” Jason retorted, holding out his hand for a shake, Mr. Pennyworth shook it firmly.
“We shall see, call me Alfred please.” Jason just nodded, “the car is right this way,” the man continued and escorted them outside.
The ride to Wayne Manor was long, filled with horrible downtown Gotham traffic before leading into long winding Bristol roads, he mostly stared out the window while Cass and Alfred caught up, only joining the conversation when he was addressed directly.
Wayne Manor was huge and magnificent architecturally, and it made Jason feel insignificant, something he’d felt plenty of last time he was in Gotham. But he swallowed down those feelings and put on his best smile, preparing to make headway with Cass’s other family. Alfred refused his help with the luggage, which was Jason’s only way of delaying the great meeting, so he straightened his shoulders, grabbed his sister’s hand and marched resolutely through the door.
It was a madhouse, an absolute whirlwind of people and dogs, a blonde torpedo ripped Cass away from him as soon as they were in the door. He only relaxed because he could hear Cass’s giggles. He got names thrown at him so fast he knew he’d never remember them, except Dick, not often you meet someone named Dick, he’d be easy to remember at least. But he had already forgotten the others, not sure if the youngest boy was named Titus, or if that was the dog. The group moved on to what looked like an informal living room, pulling him along like a riptide. Suddenly a barrage of questions were volleyed at him.
“Tt, so you are the twin, Cass says you are a warrior as well, do you know anything about swords?”
“Are you and Cass really twins? You don’t look alike.”
“What’s your codename? Cass won’t tell us.”
“Can you do Cass’s body reading thing too?”
“Did Shiva let you learn to talk, cause you’re not saying anything.”
Jason blinked up at the group standing around him after they pushed him to sit on the couch, Cass was half bemused, half concerned. Jason swallowed and started trying to answer.
“Shiva did find a tutor to instruct me in swordsmanship, I enjoyed it,” he wasn’t going to tell them that his instructor was Deathstroke, that probably wouldn’t go over well. “We are twins, we don’t look much alike but we have the same nose, my codename is Nomad, it’s not really a secret. I can read body language like Cass but I don’t use it all the time, mainly for fighting. Yes, Shiva let me learn to talk, you guys just didn’t give me a chance to.” He let out a long breath, “did I miss anything?” The others looked a little impressed, he gave them a large (mostly) innocent smile.
“Alright give the poor lad some space, I’m sure you’ll all get a chance to interrogate him later,” came a deep voice from the doorway. The man was tall, he had around two or so inches on Jason, broad, and well muscled, with thick black hair and piercing blue eyes. He was trying to portray a gentle air, but his body was a little too stiff, as if waiting to intervene in a fight. He walked closer and stuck out his hand, Jason stood and shook it, a firm grasp, but not a power play to show how strong he was.
“Bruce Wayne, father of this horde, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Jason, Todd,” he said a little uncertainly, since there was never any adoption papers filed by Willis was he really a Todd? “It’s nice to meet you too, Cass has told me a lot about you.”
“All nice I hope,” Jason nodded, “if it’s not too much to ask I’d like to speak with you after dinner.” Jason exchanged a look with Cass who smiled encouragingly.
“Of course,” Jason said.
“Alright guys I’m headed to my office to finish up some work before dinner, don’t attack all at once.” Bruce told them before sauntering out, looking a little more relaxed than when he had come in.
The others were a lot gentler after that, it was still an interrogation there was no hiding that, but it was at least a little slower and geared to actually get to know him, and they answered him when he tossed a question out to them as well.
Dinner was chaotic, and also delicious. Jason made a mental note to talk to Alfred about helping him out in the kitchen and exchanging recipes. It ended too soon, then came the meeting with Bruce Wayne, a man who meant so much to Cass, he really wanted to make a good impression. That was thrown out the window real quick.
“You mean to tell me you met Lady Shiva because you stole her tires?” Mr. Wayne asked incredulously.
“To be honest I would have stolen the Batmobile’s tires if it meant money for food.” Jason retorted without thinking, but the owner of said Batmobile only raised a brow.
“I had wondered for some time how Shiva chose you and why.” Jason frowned.
“She chose me because I was her son, and she wanted to prove to David Cain that she could train a better killer, I suppose she should have been more careful about what she wished for.” Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair, he still didn’t like thinking about Shiva.
“So, Shiva treated you much like Cain treated Cass.” It might have been a question but it sounded more like a statement.
“She let me speak, educated me beyond just fighting, I was her star pupil- for what good it did me, but it was brutal and dehumanizing and no place for a child, I can look back and see that now. At the time I thought Shiva was…” Jason trailed off not knowing where to go. “I thought she was home, that how she trained me was an honor.” Jason stopped, going still and quiet.
“You’ve survived a lot Jason, that’s something to be proud of no matter what it took to achieve it, you’re alive and moving on with your life.” Jason smiled a bit, and nodded. “I’d like for you to be happy here, like your sister is, so if there’s anything you need, or even just want don’t hesitate to ask.” He knew he would not be doing that but nodded anyway. He was dismissed and went to find his Cass.
He stopped by his room, changed into his pajamas and grabbed a pillow before shuffling off to Cass’s room. It felt weird to have a separate room after sleeping in the same bed for a year, one more day couldn’t hurt, right? After knocking he entered Cass’s room to find it already occupied by the same bubbly blonde that had monopolized Cass most of dinner. He felt a little sour prickle in his gut but ruthlessly squashed it.
“I didn’t know you guys were having a sleepover, I’ll see you in the morning then I guess.” Jason said, turning around again.
“No!” the blonde shouted, Steph, it was Steph wasn’t it? Or was it Stacy? Oh hell, he couldn’t remember, he had been mentally referring to her as Bubbles. “We’re just having a girl’s night, but you’re welcome to stay, be an honorary girl. As Cass’s best friend I should get first crack at making you my friend anyway.”
“You want to be my friend?” he asked skeptically.
“Of course I do, you’re important to Cass and she’s important to me, we should be friends” He couldn’t help but smile at her, she seemed so sincere, Cass thought so too, she wouldn’t hang out with a liar.
“Okay Bubbles, let's be friends,” he said with a smirk, moving to the bed and flopping down next to Cass, “so how do you do girls night?”
Girl’s Night was enlightening- not because of his new manicure, or different ways to eat whipped cream from a can, or how devious Bubbles, Steph, can be in a pillow fight, but because of how Cass acts around her. His sister had a crush. And while his body reading might not have been as good as Cass’s it was good enough to know Steph liked her back. So why wasn’t Cass making a move.
Asking her this same question got him yanked into an abandoned room, furniture covered in white cloth.
“Best friend, if we mess it up it would ruin everything.” Cass straight out whined.
“Falling in love with your best friend is the best thing ever, how many movies have we watched that made that point.”
“Those are movies.”
“Well it’s not like we have any real life experience to fall back on here.” Jason pouted, it was hard to give dating advice when he’d never dated. “But she likes you too, if I can see it, I know you can.”
“Yes, but what if it’s not enough?” Cass looked dejected, something he hated to see, he wrapped an arm around her.
“We’ll figure it out.” Maybe he could try to work a little matchmaking magic on Bubbles.
The teasing about his new purple nails was good natured at breakfast, the other guys honestly seemed jealous about not getting the invite to girls’ night, Tim looked especially put out.
It had been a few days, and everyone continued to be very nice, a little distant and sometimes wary but they were still very polite. It was hard seeing Cass being close to them, seeing her have a whole family that wasn’t him. He had given up his whole life for her, he wasn’t used to sharing. But he thought he was getting better at it with every hug and cuddle session. And he was doing a great job of keeping it out of his body language, he didn’t want Cass worrying about him.
Tonight was the first night he was going on patrol with the group, they had paired him with Cass, and they were patrolling Crime Alley, a place Jason was familiar with. It was an easy patrol for the area, stopped a few muggings, a domestic dispute, an attempted rape and checked up on the girls on the corners, something Jason insisted on, he had a soft spot for prostitutes. They also took a few street kids to a small dinner for food. Overall, Jason thought it went well, but it didn’t really exhaust him, he was still buzzing with energy when he returned to the cave. After he made his reports, he started looking around for something to do to get out the excess energy.
He spotted a few katanas lining the walls in the back and jogged over, he grabbed two, he preferred a two-handed method over a single sword, it just felt more comfortable. He ran through a few katas, getting warmed up, by the time he was finished Damian (not Titus) had wandered over.
“Are you up for a spar?” he asked politely, something he didn’t really seem capable of most of the time.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” Jason said, looking forward to the match, the way Damian spoke of the art he should be a challenge.
He was indeed a challenge, Jason had lost a sword and was surprised at how much force Damian could put into a strike for such a small child. It became almost meditative, strike, parry, block, like a dance they had both perfected. Neither were putting their entire skill set or strength into it, as it was just a spar, but it was good practice. The bout only ended when Dick called time, it was Damian’s bedtime.
“You are decent, I would not mind sparring again.” Damian admitted begrudgingly.
“You’re pretty good too, kid, it was fun.” Jason told him with a smile, he wanted to ruffle his hair but thought that might get him stabbed.
Cass jumped off her perch after he put away the swords, there was something tight about her posture, he tilted his head at her in question. She just smiled softly at him, then hugged him.
“Ugh, don’t I’m sweaty and gross, I need to hit the showers.” Jason said, Cass just squeezed harder, before letting him go shower, that was weird.
It was a few days later that he got roped into going shopping, Dick, who had been a lot less standoffish since Jason started sparring with Damian, had all but demanded he get new clothes.
“You only wear Tac pants and t-shirts, they’re all worn out, and most of them have holes, Cass Cain may not care what you wear when you’re out together but Cassandra Wayne has a reputation to keep intact.” Bringing Cass into was a dick move, pun fully intended, but it got him his desired outcome. Jason trudged along to every damn store in Gotham Mall.
“I don’t know about that one Dick, that’s a lot of colors all at once, I’m a little more monochromatic.” Dick snorted.
“Trust me I’ve noticed, but you need to branch out eventually, maybe this shirt is too much,” Dick admitted putting back the pastel monstrosity, “but this should be a good compromise.” He finished pulling a nice red and black plaid button up from a pile of shirts. It was still out of Jason’s comfort zone, but only a little. Dick could see him floundering and spoke up.
“Come on, live a little, at least try it on.” So he did, he had to admit Dick had a very convincing pout and killer puppy dog eyes for a grown man, and Jason caved way more than he should have. In the end the bill was huge, Jason sighed but pulled out his card, it held the paychecks from his assassin days, he hadn’t had much reason to spend it.
“Don’t bother, Bruce is paying today.”
“It’s fine, I can afford it,” Jason countered.
“Nah, Bruce won’t even notice, trust me, plus he’s already starting to think of you as family, I’d expect adoption papers to show up any day now.” Dick joked, at least Jason hoped he was joking, Jason was a grown man, too old for adopting. He’s sure with time he could come up with other objections but that’s all he had at the moment.
When they got home Cass and Steph made him put on a small fashion show, wolf whistling with every outfit. Later Cass sidled up to him while he was putting away his new clothes.
“I would have gotten clothes with you.” She stated
“I know, but Dick seemed really excited about it, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt anything. I didn’t know you liked shopping.” The face Cass made at that was proof she didn’t like shopping. “Next time I’ll take you and Steph, though I bet I just end up as a glorified bag holder for Bubbles.”
“She hates that name,” Cass pointed out.
“No she doesn’t, she just says so to save face.”
“Yeah,” Cass admitted, moving to straighten the shirt he had just thrown on to a hanger, conversation over.
Jason had taken over the library not long after he arrived, he had tried to worm his way into the kitchen but Alfred was a dictator when it came to his kitchen. With the kitchen denied to him the library became Jason’s kingdom, he spent long hours with old and rare volumes expanding his love for literature. It was rare he was joined by anyone except maybe Duke working on a homework assignment or Cass wanting to be read to.
Jason arrived that Saturday morning preparing to jump into his first of Jane Austen works, choosing Persuasion over Pride and Prejudice for his first try. But there was a worn notebook sitting on the cushion of his favorite chair. Jason flipped it open looking to see which of the siblings it belonged to but found no name. He read a few lines to see if he could figure it out but was soon captivated by the story inside the pages.
It was a science fiction work, space pirates, cyborgs and corrupt multi-global corporations, it was both a fun read and cerebral in a way good sci-fi was. I gave him lots to chew on. The characters were all so well fleshed out and seemed alive ready to jump from the pages, whoever wrote this was a truly gifted writer. He had only a few pages to go when Duke hurried into the library.
“Eek,” he squeaked out nervously, “you read my story!” Jason jumped at the interruption so deep in the story he had barely noticed Duke.
“This is yours?” Jason asked, holding the notebook up.
“Yeah,” Duke hedged, “just a stupid little thing I work on when I’m bored.”
“This isn’t stupid dude, it’s awesome, I’ve loved every word of it.” Jason raved.
“It’s good?” Duke asked, stupefied.
“It’s great, man you’ve got to finish it. I need to know how X’tol escapes his execution, he does escape right? Please say yes.” Jason begged.
“Oh yeah, of course he escapes, I have some more written on my computer if you want to read it.” Duke offered.
“Yes!” Jason nearly shouted, “I mean, yes that would be really cool of you to let me read it.” Duke beamed at him, his eyes turned golden and he put on a little light show from excitement.
“I’ve always worried about Corridor Corp, I didn’t come across too heavy handed did I, I need the allegory to work but I don’t want to shove it in people’s faces you know.”
“No, not at all, it was very smartly done.”
They carried on their conversation about Duke’s epic novel until it was dinner time, Cass came to find them worried when neither boy showed up for the meal.
“Sorry sis, we got carried away, you know how I am with a good book.” Jason apologized.
“Yes,” Cass’s smile was a little exasperated, “lost to the world,” she joked. Jason just smiled down at her, only a little chagrined. Cass linked their arms and they headed down to a late dinner, Duke trailing behind.
Jason was putting on his new jacket getting ready to head out to pick up Tim for lunch when Cass dropped down next to him. Jason was startled.
“Where were you?” He gasped, looking up to see the wooden beams of the entryway ceilings.
“Hanging around,” Cass answered with a giggle. “Where are you going?”
“Taking Tim to lunch, you want to come? The more the merrier.” Cass looked thoughtful before shaking her head.
“No, you go ahead, have fun.” She told him.
He took one of the sports cars in the garage, open for family use, and made his way to Tim’s penthouse. He still felt weird about just grabbing a car but Bruce had done his best to break him of the notion. Telling him that he had too many cars to possibly drive on his own, so they were always open to anyone who needed them. Plus, if he didn’t borrow a car he’d have to get Alfred to drive him and he didn’t want to lay anymore work on the harried butler.
Tim opened his door slowly, his face was mottled with fresh bruises, and he had a slight limp when he moved back to let him in.
“What the hell happened to you?” Jason asked full of surprise, sure they had a nightlife, but Tim used a weapon that generally kept the bad guys at a distance, taking blows to the face was not a normal occurrence.
“Two Face is a bastard, let’s leave it at that.” Jason just nodded, having had an encounter with the rogue himself. “We can’t really go out with me looking like this, sorry you fought through Gotham traffic for no reason. But if you want we can order something in.”
“It’s no trouble really, and are you kidding me, this is the first time I’ve had free run of a kitchen in months, I’m cooking for us.” Jason exclaimed, recipes running through his head.
“I have no food to cook,” Tim admitted.
“You can’t survive on coffee and hope Timmy,” Jason admonished.
“Don’t forget the energy drinks and Cheetos,” came Tim’s rebuttal. Jason just gave him an unimpressed face, which made Tim look only a little ashamed, he’d have to sic Alfred on him later.
“I saw a store a few blocks away, I’ll go get groceries and be right back, prepare to have your socks knocked off.” Tim looked skeptical but let him go with little complaint.
The store didn’t have the widest selection and he had to change his menu a few times, but eventually settled on chicken fajitas, easy to make, tasty and filling, plus tons of veggies to prevent Tim from dying of scurvy.
Tim was really effusive in his praise for Jason’s food, going back not only for seconds but thirds as well.
“This is so good,” he said, cheeks full like a little chipmunk. Jason brightened under the praise, it was nice to be appreciated.
After lunch they got down to business.
“Why does this have to be so difficult, it’s ridiculous, it’s like a test, if you can’t fill this out you’re too stupid to get into college.” Jason was complaining about filling out the FAFSA application. He wanted to go to college and this was his first step. Okay actually the first step had been Barbara, as Oracle, to fabricate some high schooling for him. He was just glad Tim had agreed to help him with all the applications, not just for the FAFSA but for scholarships as well.
“You know Bruce would pay for your schooling if you asked right?” Tim had been pushing him to ask Bruce but Jason didn’t feel right asking for something so big when he was already getting so much from the man.
“I know,” Jason admitted, “but I just can’t, it wouldn’t be right.” Jason said closing the subject, Tim just hummed not really agreeing but dropping the subject.
“Do you know what you’re going to major in yet?” he asked.
“English,” Jason answered promptly. “It’s a good base, I haven’t figured out what I want to do yet, but it works for lots of things, like teaching, editing, writing, even pre-med. I’ve thought a lot about being a doctor, another way to help people, outside of Nomad.” Jason admitted.
“Would you still be Nomad?”
“Of course, Nomad’s a part of me now, I don’t think I could quit. It makes me feel safe, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it.” Tim said, a small smile on his face, Jason supposed he really did get it, being a vigilante himself.
They finished up the applications chatting about Tim’s schooling, or lack thereof. Jason made it home in time for dinner, Cass was waiting for him.
“Long lunch,” she said, taking his hand in hers like she often did.
“We had some paperwork to do too, I applied for some scholarships for college.” He told her, she immediately froze, her thumb stopped moving across his hand.
“You want to go to college?” She sounded shocked.
“Yeah, I mean I’d stay here in Gotham obviously, but Gotham University is not a bad school.” Cass relaxed a bit with that.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
“I didn’t want to jinx it, I only told Tim because I was driving myself crazy trying to do all the scholarship applications and essays.” He admitted.
“I would have tried to help.”
“I know but that would have ended up with the both of us frustrated, Tim’s got experience with gordian knots of paperwork.”
“You will do well in college,” Cass told him with a smile.
“Thanks Cassie.”
The Wayne family was really opening up to him and it felt great to be trusted and liked, he had only really had those things from Cass in the past. Having someone like him for who he was and not what he could do was a novel experience and he loved it.
Getting the Bat family to trust him was a little harder, he had proved himself as an excellent fighter, skilled in armed and unarmed combat. But he could tell they were waiting for him to slip, seeing if his training would take over, would he kill someone? Jason kept his head down, handling his patrols with grace and a little bit of ruthlessness, but not too much violence.
He had patrolled several times with all of the Bat's; it had been months and he had gotten used to all of Gotham and all the different patrol routes. But Bruce had really liked what he did in Crime Alley. He had a way of getting the people to open up that none of the other Bats did. Nomad became the official guardian of Crime Alley and the Narrows. Jason was extremely proud of that, and Cass had beamed at him when Bruce told him.
He was patrolling with Bubbles- he meant Batgirl tonight. She was a fun patrol partner, quick witted, funny, had a mean right hook, was compassionate towards victims and was always down for a game of rooftop tag when things got boring.
They came in from patrol, heads together talking about a take down of Black Mask’s Crime Alley dealers when Cass jumped in between them. He studied her for a moment, taking in the tension in her shoulders and the tightness in her jaw. Oh, he thinks she has the wrong idea of what’s going on here. He’s about to address the situation when Bruce- Batman gets his attention.
“I think it’s time the Nomad costume underwent a little change, that is if you don’t mind.” When he had arrived in Gotham they had upgraded his uniform to the best materials and thicker Kevlar, he couldn’t imagine what else it could need. He just shrugged.
Bruce reached behind him and pulled out a familiar uniform, gray and black with dark red shoulder guards and knee pads. This costume however had a large, dark red bat splashed across the chest.
“Really?” Jason asked breathlessly. The others around him clapped and yelled out their congratulations. Bruce smiled as he handed over the uniform.
“If you’re going to be in the family business you should wear the family name, right?” Cass said to him with a near blinding smile.
It was an hour later and he made his way to Cass’s room. He had something to clear up with his sister. He had barely closed the door when he spoke up.
“You know there’s nothing going on between me and Steph don’t you? I wouldn’t do that to you, I know how you feel about her.” Jason put on his most honest face, keeping his body language open so she could read the truth in his words. Cass looked confused.
“I didn’t think you did.”
“Then why were you so upset when we got back from patrol?” Jason asked. Cass looked down, blushing, trying her best to think of a way to not answer. But Jason was having none of it, he tipped her face up to look at him, and tilted his head, their signal to answer.
“I am jealous.” She said, raising a hand to forestall his denials of anything happening. “Not jealous of you, jealous of her, jealous of all of them, spending time with you, becoming part of your world. Shouldn’t be, I’m proud and happy for you but I miss just us.” She was whispering by the end of her explanation.
“Cassie, I feel the same way, every time you hug Dick, I want to hug you instead, when you spar with Bruce, I wish it was me, when you sit while Damian draws you, I want to be there reading to you. But I don’t think it’s healthy for us to be the only ones in our world. Even though I miss it.”
“You’re not going to leave me when you go to school are you?” she asked quietly.
“Never,” he told her fiercely before grabbing her in a stranglehold of a hug. She kept a hold of him for several long minutes before leaning back.
“You’ll always be my sister, my twin, a part of me that no one else can be, the best part of me and I’m never leaving you.”
“My heart,” she told him, placing his hand over her heart.
“My heart too,” he said, copying her actions.