Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jason is…

Jason is many things, but after the joke that has been his life, easily surprised is not one of them. So, when he goes out on patrol that night and a group of the working girls all tell him a similar story of a man in a black homemade suit, "Looks like he sewed that shit together in his mama's basement," Cinnamon had said, with blue accents and a red visor all asking them if they knew the way to the nearest drug den before promptly running off and awkwardly backtracking through the area a few times as he got turned around it's suffice to say that Jason is royally fucking confused. The immediate thought is that this guy is a local who's gotten impatient with The Bats and decided to tackle the rampant drug rings himself.

A bit hurtful in Jason's opinion, it's not exactly a walk in the park stamping these guys out even though they somehow spend far more time in prison then your average rouge super villain, alternatively, they pop up like the heads of a hydra, always more than the last time you looked and somehow always peddling some new "Super Crack"—explaining that street name in a briefing a few months back had nearly sent Jason home from exhaustion as half of the gathered bats couldn't keep a straight face.

Jason shakes his head to himself as he grapples onto a nearby roof and catalogues the area below as he gets closer to where the girls had pointed him. There were more pressing matters, such as a new, completely random vigilante who had most likely gotten himself lit up all the way to the pearly gates. If he's lucky, he'll find the poor soul getting tortured and have enough time to save him. Jesus, the report he'll have to write for this will be exhausting, he can already tell. "It's not like I had anything else to do in the morning, but still, I would rather not waste my morning writing up some schlock they won't even…" Jason stops dead in his tracks and rappels down the side of an abandoned apartment building. The body slumped over into the murky, mold-filled alley water not wearing the suit that had been described isn't the first thing that surprises him. No, what first surprises him is the amount of head trauma inflicted on the body; if the concave skull doesn't speak for itself, then the skull fragments and brain matter decorating the brick wall say plenty.

Jason should really call this in at this point; he can already feel sweat beginning to pool on the back of his neck as the stakes of the situation change. The body could be a coincidence, but based on the man's tattoos, clothes, and the copious amounts of drugs stuffed in the hidden inner pockets of his coat, paired with the information the girls had just given him, Jason has now changed his objective from "Save New Green-Horned Do-Gooder" to "See if Red Hood can Save a Bunch of Drug Dealers From Violent Possibly Green-Horned Crazy". After quickly grappling back onto the building, Jason runs across the rooftops, now knowing he most likely won't be finding this mysterious vigilante bleeding out in any of these preceding alleyways and beelines for the warehouse.

The area is silent when Jason arrives, he silently tumbles onto the roof of the den and crouches down, blending into the shadows, as he scopes out the situation through the skylight. He's already too late; that much is clear. Bodies litter the warehouse floor with various crates and pieces of furniture tipped over, shot through, and covered in blood. Jason is about to call this mess in finally when he sees the vigilante in question humming to himself as he skips over corpses and scoots pallets of different drugs towards one of the exits.

"Just call this in, don't let this frankly perplexing ordeal drag you in."

Jason's better judgment is almost able to take hold, but then the man below takes a moment to survey the area and nods his head in approval. The vigilante begins to roll his hips and move his hands in unison, muttering some song Jason can't hear from up in the rafters while clearly unbothered by the at least dozen dead gangsters around him as he dances towards another pallet. Jason decides he's wasted enough time; jumping down, he immediately draws his gun once the other man's back is turned. As crazed as the man appears to be, it wouldn't be a good idea to get in close range so soon without having seen this guy's skill set with his own eyes.

"I'd put my hands where I can see 'em if I were you."

"What the-awe, man," The man loudly complains as he turns to face Jason, hands in the air," Look, these guys shot at me first, legally, that's self-defense!"

The two stare each other down, and Jason quickly glances to the side to look at a man who appeared to have been strangled to the point his eyes had popped out of his skull,"…you have got to be joking." The man sways back and forth on his toes before making an indignant spluttering noise and going to take a step forward with his finger pointed, before Jason points his gun at the man's head.

"That is totally unfair, just cause I'm the only alive one doesn't make me the bad guy, in fact, it makes me, like, the most badass good-guy here!"

Jason lets out an involuntary snort," You, you're a good guy?"

"Duh, of course I am! I killed all these drug dealers!" Jason does pause at that, he, admittedly, in the past had done a similar grand display when he first came onto the scene as Red Hood, so, he honestly can't throw any stones in his glass house but he's still very confused about this whole ordeal, for a man as ruthless as the scene portrays he hadn't expected him to be so…whiny.

Regardless. "Who are you?"

"Me? Dude, I'm Vigilante, only the most awesome hero out there." The man is now staring down Jason, waiting for a hint of recognition.

A pause.

"Your name is Vigilante? Did the random name generator not have anything better?"

"I didn't even need to use one, Vigilante is sleek and straight to the point! Like, what the hell even is a Batman," he says the name while doing air quotes, which Jason is pretty sure are not applicable to the situation in the slightest," Is he just a bat man or a guy who is both a man and a bat? Vigilante lets everyone know what I'm about as soon as I say it; what's your super awesome hero name then?" Vigilante lets out an annoyed huff as he places his hands on his hips, expectantly waiting for Jason's answer.

Not a Gotham native then—even though his whole performance a few years ago had garnered some national media coverage, crazy lunatics in Gotham stopped interesting the wider populace after Joker's third attempt at copyrighting an animal—or even just a psycho who had been living here for a while which means this guy is new to the area and already causing chaos on this scale. When Bruce hears about this, he's going to blow a gasket.

"I'm the Red Hood, and you just killed a shitload of people in my territory."

Chapter Text

"I'm the Red Hood, and you just killed a shitload of people in my territory."

"Your name is Red Hood, and you made fun of my name," Vigilante laughs loudly, pointing at Jason," What a lame ass, making fun of me like that, yours is just as literal!"

Jason should've seen this coming; he had tried to avoid it, but alas, his glass house has been shattered, and now he has to defend himself as his face grows hot from embarrassment. "At least mine has some mystery to it, and, if you knew the backstory, there's some very good storytelling in there and—" Jason cuts himself off and shakes his head, there is no way in hell he's letting this creep get to him right now," Cut the shit, what the hell were you about to do with all those drugs you were moving?"

Vigilante, still giggling to himself about Jason's vigilante name, straightens up and turns away to look at the pallets next to the back exit," I'm gonna take them to my secret base, can't have it getting into the wrong hands, you know?"

"Uh-huh, and the money?"

"That too! What kind of hero would I be if I didn't keep blood money off the streets?"

"That's all real heroic of you, but how do I know you ain't full a shit?"

Vigilante groans as he whips his head around in a full-bodied eye roll," Because that goes against my, like, whole code."

"Your code is to hoard a bunch of drugs and money? Why not just leave it to the cops?"

"Because they're a bunch of corrupt assholes, obviously! Are you even living in the real world?"

Yeah, okay, that was on Jason, "I'll concede to that, but how am I supposed to trust that you'll stick to your code, and why should I even consider letting you leave with all this at all?" Needling tidbits of information out of Vigilante had been surprisingly easy, so easy it put Jason more on edge; no guy who easily dispatched over a dozen seasoned gun-toting thugs could be this emotive and chatty unless it were a persona. Jason's trigger finger itches; he's waiting for that red visor to turn towards him and the hyperactive demeanor to drop so he can finally lay this guy out and put this anxious tingling under his skin to bed. Nights back with The League flash in his mind, small moments of reprieve all just a ruse to test him, never allow him to be off the edge for the rest of his life, always the feeling of eyes tracking you, unseen hands ready to strike, easy grins to distract from the poison being poured into your cup.

Goddammit, why was such a wack job in a stupid suit getting Jason to think about all this crap again? He'd buried it all into the very back of his mind ages ago. Jason focuses back on the man in front of him. Vigilante is mulling the question over, finger placed on his covered chin, before clapping his hands as he finds an answer," Because I'm not lying!"

Jason stifles a groan," How am I supposed to know that?"

"Because we're both heroes and I have no reason to lie to you, I mean, I am a very talented liar, so…if I was going to, you wouldn't even know, but I'm not! Trust me, drugs and blood money are not a part of my code. If I did use them, I'd have to kill myself, you know?"

Jason can't even begin attempting to formulate a response to that, giving Vigilante an incredulous look. He's saved when sirens join the cacophony of the Crime Alley ambiance. Vigilante whines, "Dammit, I waited around too long and now the cops are on their way, this is all your fault!"

"Me? You're the one who shot all these guys; this is all cause and effect."

Vigilante paces in a circle, muttering to himself, and at this point, Jason decides to drop his gun and holster it. If this guy really is pretending, then he deserves to at least get one good stab in for this performance. Jason glances around the warehouse and lets his brain digest the fact he's been having a back-and-forth with a mass murderer; no need to break another glass, but it is technically his job to get guys like this arrested and thrown into the slammer. Knocking Vigilante out, tying him up, and grappling away to the comfort of his apartment would be quick, easy too, so easy, incredibly easy, comically easy…

But Jason can't do it, he tries to imagine this psycho across from him being stuck in a place like Arkham and every scenario either ends with a bunch of dead rouges or Vigilante being locked up, too forthcoming, too happy, too eager to share with rouges galore about how he killed a bunch of criminals because that's the code he stands by and paying the price for it.

For some reason, Jason is strongly opposed that latter reality.

A sigh. "Vigilante, you should get out of here before the cops show up. What are you doing?"

Vigilante turns to Jason and tilts his head as he drags out each word," So, you know how I said I have a secret base? I lied, and I kind of lost my wallet, so I can't stay at another motel, which means I have to figure out—"

Jason grabs the other man by the forearm and quickly drags him to the back door. Kicking open the back door exposes them both to the October chill. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

Jason adjusts his hold on Vigilante so that his arm is now around the other man's waist. "Trying to make sure you don't get arrested and I don't get shot at."

"Pfft, I wouldn't get arrested, I could totally kill all those guys."

"Trying to avoid that too."

Jason pulls his grappling hook from his utility belt. He shoots it toward the nearest building, tightening his hold on Vigilante slightly to pull them both up safely as a nearby street fills with red and white flashing lights and the ever-increasing wail of a police siren. "Come on." Jason starts running across rooftops towards one his safe houses that is relatively far from the crime scene. If Bruce gets on the case, which he probably will, he can't give up his involvement in hiding the culprit that quickly by staying so close; he's not an amateur for, Christ's sake.

Thankfully, Vigilante gets the memo and starts following; unfortunately, he's still Vigilante.

"Dude, you have a grappling hook? That is so fucking cool! You know, I always wanted one, but where I used to live, there just wasn't enough tall buildings to warrant getting one, so I had to stick with my Vigilante-Mobile—which is fucking rad—but now that I'm here, I should totally get one, god, Gotham is awesome!"

Jason finds himself smiling beneath his helmet at Vigilante's rambling until he hears the telltale sound of Oracle calling. He skids to a halt and holds up a finger to silence the other man, who tilts his head in confusion.

"What's going on, O?"

"Hood, there's a new report coming in about a shootout within your patrol route with a possible suspect on the loose."

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Sounds like the police are already scanning the area, don't wanna get caught in their crosshair tonight, but I'll be keeping an eye out before Bruce sticks his nose all in this."

Vigilante whispers," Who is that?"

Jason mouths 'Shut the hell up' before remembering Vigilante can't see his mouth and instead pushes the man's head away.

"You could try to not sound so pleased about that, Hood."

"Well, you know how well a conversation between me and B goes."

Barbra lets out a soft laugh. "Don't we all, stay safe, signing off."

"Nice speaking to ya, O."

Once the call disconnects, Jason lets out a deep sigh and starts walking towards the safe house again.

"Who was that? What were you talking about? Oh, oh, was that your guy in the chair?"

"Essentially."

"Dude, you were such an asshole earlier, but you're seriously so cool."

Jason doesn't say anything, not used to compliments, as odd as they're given, or the feeling of being stared at constantly and knowing it's not malicious.

After what feels like an eternity, the two are on the fire escape and climbing through the window into Jason's chosen safe house. It's definitely not the nicest place, but it fulfills its role as a place to hide a bunch of weapons and gear, so he's not too beat up about it. All at once, the pace of the past hour and a half hits Jason all at once, and he nearly crumples to the ground as his boots hit the fake wood flooring. In the blink of an eye, Jason is yanking his helmet off and placing it on the coffee table so he can sink into the couch.

"Just cause you're letting me hang doesn't mean I'm gonna show you my secret identity, I'm way more secretive than yo—seriously, is that a mask underneath your mask?"

Jason raises an eyebrow as he finds the strength to raise his head and stare at Vigilante, who is now standing in the middle of the living room with his hands on his head. "Yeah? Do you not wear domino masks?"

"It's such a genius idea, I should've thought of that, I'm definitely adding it to my list."

"Your list?"

"My Vigilante shopping list! Can't go buying domino masks and grappling hooks as a civilian, it'll blow my cover."

"Right, my mistake." Jason groans as he forces himself back up onto his feet and trudges into the safe-house's bedroom for a change of clothes. If he doesn't shower now, Jason thinks the smell will embed itself into his skin. He's about to close the bedroom door before he remembers the gun-toting problem in the middle of his safe-house, who is currently pouting and firmly says," Do not go anywhere, you hear? Don't even poke your head out a window."

Vigilante petulantly says, "Not like I have anywhere to go."

Jason rolls his eyes but closes the bathroom door nonetheless. He spends most of his shower sitting on the alcove's floor, letting the water pelt him as he pretends to be caught in a rainstorm to clear his head and mentally prepare himself for facing that…man outside. Jason replaces his domino mask and steps back out into the main room. He finds Vigilante searching the living room, and he's suddenly very glad he got cable in this one. "Remote's in the kitchen area, TV has cable, go wild."

While the other man fist-pumps the air, Jason, against his better judgment, slides into the bedroom and promptly passes out in bed.

Huh?

Jason blearily opens his eyes and slaps his hand around in an attempt to find his phone. As he slowly wakes up, he hears a commercial for Scarecrow-proof water filters bleeding in from outside the bedroom door, and everything that transpired last night slowly filters back into his head.

Jason is so fucked.

Deciding he'll have to face him sooner or later, Jason silently enters the main room and finds a man, instead of the man he had been expecting in the blue and black suit, he finds a Caucasian man with wavy brown hair, light gray eyes, thin-framed square glasses, and the goofiest smile he's ever seen. "Morning, Sleepyhead!" The man says and then takes a large spoonful of the cereal in his lap, a lap clad in a pair of sweatpants that were most certainly Jason's. As he goes to look back up at the man's face, he notices the shirt is also definitely his.

"What…"

"Oh," The man says with his mouth full," Vigilante said he had to go run some errands and asked me to take his place so you would know what's going on, you know? I'm Adrian, by the way."

Jason's mouth opens and closes multiple times before his eyes lock onto the TV and see what Adrian's watching.

"Is that Fargo?"

"Hell yeah it is!"

Jason stares for a long time while Adrian laughs at the TV before eventually letting himself fall onto the couch and lie back, leaving all this for future Jason to deal with.

"I'll stop ignoring this when I feel like my head isn't about to explode."