Chapter Text
Jason was bored, it was Saturday and the most exciting thing he did was clean his room. He held in the urge to sigh, knowing that it was starting to get on Alfred’s nerves since he’s been doing it every five minutes. The man was tinkering around the kitchen and Jason was about to see if he needed silverware polished, he was that bored.
It was kinda pathetic really.
He was the only one in the family without plans for the weekend. Here he was a freshman in high school and he was sitting at his kitchen table, doing a reading assignment that wasn’t due for two more weeks.
He knew it pointless to keep trying to read. For the last ten minutes, he found himself zoning out and having to start the same line over. He liked the book so far but his mind wasn’t up for it. He need to do something physical, he was getting stir crazy in the manor.
He thought about who he could bug, Dick was doing something with the Titans, he offered to bring Jason along but he didn’t feel like going to the tower today. He was pretty sure Bruce was meeting with some of the League members (Dick was ninety-nine percent sure it was for their monthly PTA meetings, since most of the ones attending had sidekicks.)
Alfred would normally be an option, but he actually had plans. He was going to have a late lunch (Jason was pretty sure it was a date) with Leslie. He knew the man didn’t have much time to relax and spend alone time with his friends, so he didn’t want chance the man canceling his plans. Maybe he could get him to make some popcorn and they could watch a movie when he got back.
He should really start making himself look more needy to get some sympathy points from the man.
“Hey Alfred,” Jason made his voice sound sadder than it was, “when do you think you’ll be back from Leslie’s? I don’t really have anyone to hang out with today, do you think we can have a movie marathon later today?”
He turned his head towards the older man, hoping the puppy eyes worked in his favor. Alfred just looked at him, clearly unimpressed with his act.
“Master Jason, have you tried to reach out to any of your school friends to see if they are available?”
Jason had to stop himself from scoffing, sure him having friends at school. He had classmates he got along with, and hung around with at school. But, that was the extent of their friendships.
He just shrugged, rather than answer and Alfred hummed knowingly. He was glad he didn’t have to admit out loud he had no friends to hang out with. If he did go out, it was usually to tag along with Dick and his friends. The older superhero teens didn’t mind if he joined them. But, Jason couldn’t help but feel like a clingy little brother.
“Well, if you wish to entertain yourself while I’m gone, the garden against the sidewall could use some watering. It was a project started by Miss Martha so I prefer to look after it personally, rather than the gardener. Since I didn’t have a chance to attend to it this morning, your help would be a great relief. Now I won’t be late for my lunch with Leslie.”
“Sure Alfred no problem, I need the fresh air anyway.” Ugh, how could Jason deny him when he put it like that? He hated to admit, but he felt a little guilty, trying to make Alfred feel bad for him. The man really just wanted to have chance for some alone time.
He headed out to the back and turned to say goodbye to the older man when he froze at a small smirk Alfred was sending him. He put on his coat and tipped down his hat, as Jason remained frozen in place. Jason can’t believe his Grandfather manipulated him like that.
He needed to ask the man for some lessons so he could try it on Bruce.
Jason went outside to clean up the garden, pulling out the weeds and making sure to water the flowers. He noticed that a soccer ball he was missing was stuck in a branch in one of the trees, so he climbed up to grab it.
As he stood on the branch, he noticed he could see over the wall into his neighbor’s property. It been almost a year since he lived with Bruce and he could count on his fingers the number times he’s since the couple that lives next door. He knows the Drakes moved in a few months ago, but he’s seen them in person only once.
They had attended a gala that Jason was forced to tag along to and he just remembered them being super snotty. Bruce let him know they were part of the old money families. Usually, those families felt they were better then other wealthy people in Gotham. Jason didn’t understand that, if they were all rich did it matter how long a family had it?
Bruce agreed and they spent most of the night avoiding their company. Jason was curious what they did, since they were never home. It seemed kinda of pointless to buy a big house and not live in it.
A bird few by and startled Jason from his thoughts, making him drop his ball into the Drake’s yard. Jason groaned, looking around to see a way for him to jump down and get back up over the wall. Thankfully, the neighbors had a similar garden set up and there were plenty of trees he could climb on their side of the wall to get back.
He jumped down from his tree branch on to the ledge of the wall diving their properties, and walked along the wall until he was in front of a tree branch on the Drake’s side that looked sturdy enough to hold his weight. He climbed down the tree, and was glad he wasn’t too far from where his ball landed.
It rolled down to what looked like a small house, maybe a pool house? Jason thought it was weird to have it hidden back here in the corner. He never would have noticed it existed because of the surrounding trees basically keeping it hidden.
As he got closer, he felt a chill run down his spine, and the hair on his arms stood up. He began to glance around, his guard up as his Robin instincts moved to the surface. He didn’t know what was setting it off, he couldn’t sense anyone around, he decided to grab his ball and head back quickly.
Maybe he could use the batcomputer to look up the Drakes just in case. He hoped he wasn’t becoming as paranoid as Bruce. He reached down to grab the ball, seeing that it was by a window on the side of the house. He noticed that there were some strange markings on the frame of the window. He ignored the voice in his head telling him to grab the ball and book it.
Those marking looked familiar, and the detective-in-training part of him wanted him had to investigate. He got closer and realized they were runes engraved in the frame. Bruce went over them, since there were people who used magic in the League and more importantly in case they had to fight off a magic user.
He even had Zatanna come over and cast some spells so Jason could learn to resist them. It also helped him sense when there was something magical nearby. That was why he’s been on edge the entire time.
He knew not to mess with runes, especially when he didn’t know if they were there to repel or trap. He would definitely be looking into them now, he wasn’t sure how he felt with magic users living next door.
He finally grabbed his ball and started to turn when a big thud stopped him in his tracks. He looked back and saw small hands pressed against the window. Hands that belonged to a child, that were desperately slapping on the window. Why did the Drakes have a child in a house hidden by trees and with window frames engraved with runes that he was now sure were meant to trap?
Jason ditched his ball and reached for the pocketknife he always carried around in his sock. Zatanna mentioned one of the fastest ways to break a trap made by a rune was to slash through the rune markings. He cut a line through one of the markings and hoped nothing bad would happen.
Once he cut through it, he immediately heard screaming coming from the other side of the window. A voice of a young boy yelling “help” and “don’t leave”.
The voice sounded cracked, like he was yelling for a long time, and he saw the hands disappear from the glass. Jason cursed, and started pushing the window open, hoping the latch was unlocked. It slid up with ease and he climbed through. He made sure to avoid landing on the body lying motionless on the floor beneath the window.
“Hey! Kid, are you okay?” Jason said, kneeling near the child and shaking his shoulder. The kid opened his eyes, and Jason gasped in surprise. The kid’s eyes were icy blue and the shapes of the pupils were almost like slits.
“Who are you?” The kid whispered and Jason had to bend down to catch his words.
“I’m Jason, I live next door. Can you tell me your name?”
“T-tim. I’m glad, someone finally heard me.” Tears began to gather in the boy’s eyes and he reached for Jason’s hand. Jason grabbed and gave it a squeeze. “You’re real. Oh God, you’re really here.” Tim’s hand went limp and it seemed like he used all his energy for the short conversation. Thankfully, he had a steady pulse and Jason felt his rising panic begin to settle.
His brain went into overdrive, Drake, like drakon. He didn’t think the Drakes were magic users, it looked they were dragons. The kid in his arms had a strong resemblance to Mrs. Drake and he was pretty sure this was their son.
He looked around the room the kid was staying in. Seeing that there was bars trapping the boy to one side of the room. The bars looked like it might be made of iron and Jason knew it was one of the few things that hurt magical beings. So why would the Drakes make their son live in a place with something that might hurt him?
From the weak state of the boy and obvious bad living situation, it wasn’t hard for Jason to make a decision. He would get Tim out of here and to the manor ASAP. Dragon or not, Bruce would never deny helping a child in need.
Then he would help Bruce take the Drakes down. He couldn’t wait to tell Dick they had a new brother and he was a dragon.