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“Thank you,” Danny murmurs, voice so hoarse it sounds like he’s been gargling gravel—which he might as well have been, seeing as he was stuck inside a collapsed building filled with dust and bomb-debris for hours.
Jason eyes the kid cuddled so close to the man’s chest she’s practically sewn on, the corner of his lips twitching slightly. “You’re welcome.”
The first time Jason sees Danny out in the real world, sans all the blood and dirt, it knocks the air out of his lungs. That tiny reassuring smile he gave Ellie, laid up in a hospital bed and barely able to keep his eyes open, has nothing on the blindingly-bright grin currently on his face—and naturally it’s directed at a tiny tutu-clad, tiara-wearing, bundle of joy and sparkles who gives him an identical one in return. That head of dark curls, previously matted with grime, shifts and sways with every step and there’s a tiny pink clip on his head holding back a truly minuscule amount of hair—obviously the work of his daughter, and Jason wouldn’t be surprised if Danny didn’t even know it’s there—contrasting his all-black clothes.
Jason almost stops dead in the middle of the sidewalk when his brain freezes, refusing to compute until Tim grabs his arm and yanks him forward, snapping him out of whatever weird lovesick trance he got sucked into.
Jason is slumped over the table, head resting against the refreshingly-cold lacquered wood, when soft footfalls pass behind him in the hallway, pause, then backtrack slightly.
“Jay?” Dick lingers by the door for a few moments, but when Jason doesn’t answer, he steps into the room. “You okay?”
“M’fine,” he mutters, face slipping off his arms slightly and his nose squishes against the […]
“You don’t look fine,” Dick retorts, levering himself to brace against a nearby chair and slump to meet Jason’s eyes. “This about a case? I know you’ve been having more trouble with Black Mask lately.”
“No, I’m just…” Jason groans, letting out a sigh. I’m totally gonna regret this, aren’t I? “Did Tim tell you about the guy I saved? When that apartment building downtown collapsed?”
“No, he didn’t. Why, he involved in something?”
“No, he’s fine—he’s… perfect.”
Dick arches an eyebrow, and Jason sits up and back properly in his chair with a grunt.
“Perfect?” Dick repeats, and Jason pretends not to hear the weird inflection in his voice. “Jay, are you—”
“No!”
“You so are! Are you gonna ask him out?”
“No, I’d—I’m just…” he lets out a harsh breath, scratching at his jaw mindlessly. “We only kept in contact ‘cause his kid and I got to talking about baking, when I stayed in the waiting room with her. She said that she never gets to since her dad always burns them, and I made the mistake of promising her that I’d give her some treats made with my ‘super-secret recipe’—which is actually just Alfie’s—and then…”
“Then?”
[…]
“I’m wouldn't risk not being able to see Ellie just to ask Danny out, I’m not—”
I’m not worth that.
Dick opens his mouth to argue but Jason sighs violently, cutting him off again.
“It’s just—he’s such a good dad,” Jason complains, and if his voice was any higher it’d sound like a whine.
“Then what’s the problem?” Dick asks, confused. Wordlessly, Jason pulls his phone out and opens the most recent text thread, clicking the video Danny sent him and placing it on the table in front of his brother; sitting back to watch with a continued morbid curiosity despite the fact that he’s already watched it a dozen times.
“Which one you wanna do first, kiddo?” Danny’s voice asks from behind the camera, lens trained on Ellie sitting on her favourite star-shaped cushion and surrounded by a small pile of gifts wrapped in a variety of multicoloured paper.
“This!” She declares, grabbing a mid-sized rectangular box wrapped in light-brown kraft paper and decorated with a bunch of shaky scribbles—from his own unartistic hand—of stars with legs with tutus, tiaras, and magic wands. “Who’s it from, Daddy?”
Danny dutifully recites the text on the small card attached to a ribbon wrapped around the present; “To Princess Ellie, Happy Birthday! — From Jay.”
(Dick shoots him a look out of the corner of his eye, but Jason ignores him and stares resolutely at the screen.)
She oohs and ahhs, pointing out each of the doodles to Danny as he hums and leans it to get a better look—and is genuinely looking too, because he’s an amazing fucking dad—letting the camera tip down slightly to focus on their socked feet on the carpet.
“You gotta open it, baby,” Danny reminds with an audible smile, laughing and training the camera back up as Ellie sticks her tongue out in concentration, trying her hardest to open the box without ripping the paper. “Want help?”
She nods, handing over the gift; the video on the screen blurs as he fumbles with both the phone still recording and the box, then decides to hand it off to Ellie to hold onto while he uses a butter knife to slice through the tape.
Ellie ends up filming Danny as he works, and Jason’s already memorized his face in every frame; the ceiling-light’s off because Ellie hates the noise it makes, so the rarely-seen Gotham sun shining through the kitchen window makes his tan skin glow honey-gold, and there’s a few dark curls escaping from his signature bun to frame his face—Jason wants so badly to twirl one around his finger—while his nose wrinkles up, the same way Ellie’s does, as he focuses on trying to avoid tearing the paper just because she asked him to. Just because she likes it.
(Jason’s not fast enough to smother the barely audible huff of a sigh that escapes him, and Dick’s hand twitches slightly, the back of the chair he’s braced on creaking when his fingers inadvertently squeeze.)
Danny finishes dealing with the tape then looks at Ellie with a grin—which means he’s looking almost directly into the camera, and Jason fights a groan as the twinkle in his blue eyes. They swap items again and Ellie starts pulling open the gift as Danny corrects the shot, camera shaking slightly as he snickers; she squeals excitedly as she pulls out a set of sparkly baking utensils in the colours of the rainbow that sit atop a little Ellie-sized apron patterned with the same doodles from the wrapping paper.
“What is it?” Danny asks, humour in his voice as she holds the items up for the camera, still squealing. “If you don’t like it, I’m sure Jason could take it back—”
“No, no, I love it, Daddy! It’s baking things for star princesses, for when Jay an’ me make our baby cakes!” Ellie exclaims, eyes wide as she scans her gift up and down and then back up again, scrambling to her feet and carrying the apron toward Danny. “Can I have it on, please!”
“Alright, star princess, c’mere,” Danny murmurs, setting the phone down and the video falls into almost darkness—but it keeps rolling, two distinct but muffled voices and soft giggles heard in the background over the quiet sounds of rustling fabric. The camera gets picked back up and focuses on Ellie again, revealing her decked out in her brand new apron, grinning like it’s going out of style as she readjusts the tiara on her head and grabs all the utensils she abandoned on the ground—cradling them in her arms like they’re made of glass. “What d’you say, Ellie?”
Somehow, she manages to grin even wider, showing off her missing front teeth. “Thank you, Jayjay!”
At that, the video ends and Jason sighs, rubbing a hand over his eyes.
“I still don’t get the issue,” Dick says with a shrug, picking the phone up and tapping away; Jason doesn’t even bother to stop him. “You got her a birthday gift and she loved it—so what? Obviously her dad…”
At the sudden silence, Jason looks up to find Dick staring wide-eyed at the screen. “What?” Jason asks, voice a tad too gruff to avoid sounding defensive. Dick turns the phone around to show him; it’s his lock screen photo, the selfie Danny sent him a few weeks ago with Jason and Ellie laughing while completely covered in sprinkles and dough in the background as Danny grins in the corner of the screen, those eyes twinkling mischievously; Ellie’s eyes are closed, face scrunched up in glee, but Jason’s are opened, soft and warm and loving—staring directly at Ellie, and by extension, Danny.
“Jay,” Dick murmurs, eyes knowing; Jason takes his phone back, shoving it into his back pocket as he grabs his untouched mug of tea and heads for the kitchen.
“It’s fine, ‘Wing. Shouldn’t have brought it up anyway.”
“Jason,” Dick tries again, practically stepping on Jason’s heels with how close he’s following. “It’s okay—”
“She’s not my kid, Dick! She loved it, and I’m glad, okay? That’s it.” He lets out a heavy breath as they reach the kitchen, and both brothers stay silent as Jason dumps out his cold tea and sticks it in the dishwasher.
“I never said she was,” Dick hedges, and Jason’s shoulders twinge with how tight they’re being held. “But you want her to be.”
When Jason knocks on the door, it’s answered by the sound of giggles, running footsteps, and muffled cursing as Danny calls out a breathless “coming!”
He waits on the doormat for a little bit, and can’t help but wince slightly when Danny finally opens it. There’s some kind of batter and a dried clump of multicoloured, glittery something in his hair; a stain covering the entire shoulder of his ratty henley; and a single Ellie-sized sock clinging to the leg of his flannel pajama pants.
“You look… uh,” Jason trails off, trying his hardest not to laugh. Danny’s quiet sigh is cut off by a screech from behind, and tiny stomps speeding across the apartment as she giggles again.
“Sorry,” Danny says, rubbing at tired eyes; he turns slightly and they both watch Ellie take another lap around the living room. “I know we were s’pposed to go somewhere today, but she woke up like this and—we haven’t even eaten yet.”
There’s such a disappointed look on Danny’s face that Jason’s stomach does a weird flip and he comes to the sudden realization that he would say anything—do anything—to never see that look again.
“Hey,” Jason murmurs, voice uncharacteristically soft as he sets a hand on Danny’s shoulder and squeezes reassuringly. “It’s all good.”
Danny looks down at the ground, sighing; Jason squeezes again, firmer this time.
“Danny. Go do what you need to do, we’ll be here. Promise.”
[…]
By the time the shower turns off, the apartment smells of cinnamon, Jason’s managed to pick up most of the toys scattered across the ground so Danny doesn’t have to, and Ellie’s face and hands are sticky with melted chocolate chips from their pancakes.
//-//-//-//-//
Right as Danny walks into the kitchen—still rushing to towel-dry his hair—Ellie reaches over to smear a whip cream handprint over Jason’s nose, who merely arches an eyebrow and sticks his tongue out as he tries and fails to lick it off.
“Jayjay!” Ellie giggles, almost throwing herself off the side of the chair with the force of her laughter before Jason turns and catches her with one arm.
An hour later, Jason waits in the terminal, foot tapping restlessly as he scans the crowd of people around him; feeling remarkably underdressed in slightly-stained jeans, his leather jacket, and sturdy work boots amongst suits and patent dress shoes.
He fights to keep his hands from shaking around the cardboard sign—pink and covered in sparkles, with Princess Ellie in big, bold letters and a smaller (and Danny) written underneath as if an afterthought because he knew Danny’d think it was hilarious—as he reads and rereads the arrivals board from his position to figure out when to expect them out the doors.
Jason’s so focused on the screen that he just barely catches a loud squeal and an aborted Ellie! as tiny stomps zero in on his position.
“Jayjay!” Ellie cries, butterfly backpack bouncing around on her shoulders as she runs as fast as her little legs can carry her toward Jason. He drops the sign without thinking and extends his arms to catch her as she leaps towards him, spinning her around slightly with a laugh as her giggles echo in his ears.
As they come to a stop, Ellie still laughing up a storm, Danny finally reaches them, pulling a large suitcase behind him and hefting a heavy-looking backpack over one shoulder.
Jason arches an eyebrow at him, wordlessly spreading an arm out to make room in their little reunion hug; Danny hesitates, hands clenching on the handle of their luggage but caves once Ellie copies Jason and then starts making motions like she’s pulling Danny in with some kind of rope.
For all his pullback, Danny fits perfectly in Jason’s arms, even with Ellie tucked securely between them—squirming restlessly and chattering aloud with no regard to socially-acceptable volumes, as always.
[...]
to be continued...