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Bruce led the way back home, quiet and despondent. Nothing Dick or anyone else said could get a reaction from the man. He kept thinking, ruminating, spiralling on what they had seen. He couldn’t believe that he had let his son just leave like that, that he let Jason walk away from them but he didn’t know what else he could have done. Jason clearly wasn’t happy that they were there and he was clearly happy with that other man. With Daredevil.
Bruce felt like he was failing Jason, failing his son. Like he was failing as a parent for letting Jason walk away, leave their family. He didn’t know what to do with Jason. He knew he’d made mistakes with Dick, many, many mistakes. The worst ones were probably kicking him out for wanting to go solo then cutting him off after Jason died because of his own grief and self-loathing because he felt like he didn’t deserve to have a family. That just having Dick in his vicinity would kill his eldest as well. He’d made mistakes with Jason, taking Robin, leaving him in Ethiopia, failing to save him. Almost killing him a second time. He knew he was still making mistakes with Tim and Damien but he was trying, he was doing his best, even if it wasn’t perfect it had to mean something right?
Bruce parked the Bat-mobile in silence, not moving as Damien got out and started to get changed, it was far too late for anyone to do any patrolling. He couldn’t get himself to get out of the car, he just couldn’t get himself out of his head. Away from the thoughts that he was letting his son down. That he was making another mistake.
“I know the Bat-mobile is cool but I didn’t think you liked it in here this much,” Dick joked as he pulled open the door. Seeing that Bruce barely reacted other than a quick glance, Dick slipped into the passenger seat and shut the door, leaving them in a silence.
“Bruce, I know it was hard leaving Little Wing but, you heard him, he wanted us to go. We didn’t really have a choice either, the NYPD would have tried to arrest us, we don’t have any good will from them like we do with the GCPD,” Dick started, trying to stop Bruce’s ruminations, as he’d always done.
“We don’t know him,” Bruce finally said the thing that had been looping in his mind. “We don’t know about his life. He has a partner, a kid, a life, outside of us, outside the masks and we didn’t know. We only found out because of some other vigilante that we don’t know!”
“B, I know, I get it. It sucks,” Dick nodded, his words coming out in short bursts, frustration clear. “I mean, he’s apparently dating my best friend.”
“We don’t know that, Daredevil could have been lying.”
“But Jason didn’t deny it. He got embarrassed but he didn’t deny it,” Dick shrugged, “I mean, whenever I joked about him dating Artemis or someone else, he’d immediately deny it. Shut me down, make it clear as possible they weren’t together. With the joke about Roy, he didn’t deny.”
“He said ‘it’s only been’, like there was something to talk about,” Bruce added.
“Looks like I need to give Roy a shovel talk,” Dick joked and it got a small smile from Bruce.
“Just give him some space,” Dick said after they’d sat in silence for a few minutes.
“He lives in Crime Alley, he only comes to the mansion once a month. He had his own patrol route and routine, he’s doing his own thing. How much more space can I give him?”
“You need to give him time as well. I mean, I just needed space and time away. Remember how badly we fought when I was his age.”
“I lost 5 years with him, how much more time do I have to lose?”
“You can either lose a few months, maybe a year, now as he gets used to being with us again, or you can lose him forever,” Dick shrugged
“Do you really think he’d cut us off?” Bruce asked, horrified at the possibility.
“No, I’m being dramatic,” Dick smiled slightly, “you know Jason, family is important to him. We’re his family. You’re his dad. Me, Tim and Dami are his brothers. He’s never left us just like that. He’s just angry, he needs to sort it out. I did.”
“What? He's going to be as outgoing and bubbly as you?”
“You mean how he was before?”
“I miss that version of him,” Bruce hummed.
“Give him love and he’ll come back.”
“You’re right,” Bruce nodded, slumping into his seat. “I’m just worried about him.”
“Me too.”
“Did you know he knew Daredevil?” Bruce asked after some silence.
“No,” Dick sighed, “Did you know about him and Roy?”
“No. I want to know, I want to know more. I want to know my son.”
“So find out.”
“I thought you just said to give him time and space.”
“We’re a family of detectives and paranoid people. We’ve all stalked our friends a little bit, a lot of it with each other. It’s how we show love. We stalk, we find out, we don’t talk about it until the other person comes to us about it.”
“Like with Tim and Bernard.”
“Exactly!” Dick smiled, patting Bruce on the shoulder. He threw the door open and gave Bruce one last smile. “Keep me updated! I’m going to make a quick trip to Star, I need to have a quick chat with Roy.”
-
Jason had gotten back to Gotham after a week away, still avoiding his family. The only people that had been able to get in contact with Jason had been Alfred and Damien, the others being ignored by the wayward family member. Dick and Bruce were starting to get antsy about Jason.
Everyone had just gotten back from patrol, greeting Duke as he got ready for his day patrol, and were having some food with the news on in the background. It had become a habit that they all kept, stemming from Bruce, mostly to unwind after the patrol to see how the city was doing at the end of their shift and to keep an eye on each other when they were apart. They all froze when a certain name came up.
“Red Hood was spotted in Hell’s Kitchen,” the news anchor started, a grainy video playing, showing the familiar silhouette of Jason, “working with the Daredevil, the two seemingly working together to dismantle a drug smuggling ring on the docks. However, it appears that the Red Hood was caught in an explosion that was caused by the smugglers. He was last seen being carried away by Daredevil. Citizens are concerned for the hero’s safety.”
The feed then cut to a street interview.
“Red Hood is a hero, dude, he helped me when I was getting mugged, he also helped my cousin in Gotham get into a good rehab for free. Saved his life,” the civilian said into the microphone.
“I saw Red Hood and Daredevil working together a few months ago, they stopped a sex trafficking ring. The amount of women and young girls they pulled out of there and helped, not just by saving them, but by helping them afterwards. That’s what really makes someone a hero in my mind,” another woman spoke.
“He’s the only member of Team Red with some sense in him,” a police officer muttered. “Don’t get me wrong, Spiderman and Daredevil will prioritise civilian life above anything else, but when they’re with that Deadpool fella collateral damage goes out the window. Hood seems like the only one who can keep them focused and I can appreciate that, even if he’s another joker who refuses to stick around and debrief us.”
“Jay’s in New York again?” Dick asked the other silent family members.
“Yeah, he told me about their drug smuggling mission,” Damien nodded easily.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Bruce asked gruffly.
“He asked me not to,” Damien shrugged, “I didn’t think it was pertinent to tell you.”
“He’s injured,” Dick pushed.
“Now. With the information I had, I did not think it was needed.”
“Damien, we need to know where everyone is at all times.”
“He asked me not to, he wasn’t under duress so I didn’t tell you.”
“We should check on him,” Dick interrupted, “make sure he’s being taken care of.”
“I’ll get the batplane,” Bruce nodded, disregarding his argument with Damien, wanting to check on his second eldest son. “Tim, find out as much as you can about those drug smugglers.”
-
Batman and Nightwing walked through Hell’s Kitchen, taking notice of any movement they saw around them. Very few people were out at 4am so it was mostly still aside from the occasional late worker or prostitute.
“What are you doing here?” a voice came from behind them. They both spun around to see Daredevil watching them, standing in the middle of the road with his arms crossed.
“We came to check on J- Red Hood.”
“He’s fine.”
“Recovering from an explosion is fine?”
“He’s recovering fine.”
“He should be with us, we have better facilities and resources that will help him expedite his recovery. You should have brought him back to Gotham as soon as your mission was complete,” Batman scowled, crossing his arms and giving Daredevil the ‘judgemental and disappointed parent stare™’
“He’s got a concussion, dislocated his shoulder and broke a leg. He’s in no state to travel, his boytoy is busy and I’m- I can’t leave Hell’s Kitchen unprotected,” Daredevil retorted, "I don’t have a gaggle of sidekicks to cover for me, unlike you.”
“Hey, I’m not a sidekick!” Nightwing defended. Daredevil’s helmet shifted slightly to stare at him directly. “Anymore.”
“Besides we’re here now so take us to Hood and we can take him home,” Nightwing gave Daredevil one of his award winning grins as he approached the conversation like a mediator who refused to let this devolve into a catty, barbed fight. “You’ve been a great ally to my brother but we can take it from here.”
“I just said he’s in no state to travel. Not to mention, he’s in a lot of pain which means a lot of pain killers because of his absurd resistance which leaves him really out of it and he doesn’t trust himself to be safe around a lot of people. I’d rather make sure he’s safe and feels comfortable here than send him off and risk a panic attack. And that’s on doctor’s orders too.”
“He’s my s- responsibility, I have the right to see him.”
“I know he’s your son. But you don’t ‘have the right’. He's an adult and he can choose who sees him and if he wanted you to be here his phone wasn’t damaged, his comms weren’t damaged and he could have just called you. He’s on bedrest, not in a coma… but he didn’t, did he?”
“Why are you being so difficult?!” Nightwing groaned.
“Because I don’t trust you and I don’t like you. Red is my friend, I care about him and his safety physically and mentally sure, but also emotionally. He might forgive you, or want to forgive you, after everything because you’re family and he wants you in his life, but I don’t have to or want to. I don’t think you’re safe for him.”
“Because of what Red Hood told you?” Batman growled out. He didn’t know what to think, he didn’t know what Jason might have told this stranger. He didn’t know if the man’s refusal let them even see Jason had to do with Jason’s story telling or history itself. He hated that he didn’t know.
“In spite of what Red Hood told me. He’s told me how much you try, how you keep trying again and again but in my mind, a 10th chance is a few too many. Forgiveness is something that is very important to me but you have to earn that. While Red might feel you have, I think you have a lot more work to do.” Having, apparently, said his piece, Daredevil walked away, heading for an alleyway likely to disappear into the shadows and run back to whatever hole he was based in.
“Are we going to follow him?” Nightwing pressed, looking between Batman and the alleyway that Batman didn’t doubt Daredevil was still watching them from.
“No. Let’s go home.” Batman denied.
He tried his best not to overthink, not to spiral, not to panic. Jason had always been the most independent of his kids, including when he was still Robin. Yes, Bruce knew it was hyper-independence and hyper vigilance from his time living on the streets but Jason always had some kind of separation, a foot out the door. Bruce couldn’t change that then, he clearly couldn’t change it now. He didn’t trust Daredevil, at all, but he didn’t have a choice in the matter, Jason hadn’t given him one. He could only try to show his son his love and support however the younger man would accept it.
-
It was a week later when Dick’s phone rang and he almost tripped over himself to answer it when he saw it was from Jason. A few hours later they were once again in New York, in a secluded area. Jason was wearing civilian clothes, supported by Roy. Lian was on Jason’s other side, her small hand carefully holding his. His left arm was in a sling and his left leg was in a cast. He gave them a smile as they climbed out of the plane.
“Hey Dickie,” Jason grinned.
“Hey Jay, how are you doing?”
“Shit, but ready to go home.”
“You’ve got Lian with you,” Bruce offered, watching the little girl.
“Yeah,” she smiled, “Dad and Jaybird said we’re going to visit you and Uncle Dick for a bit.”
“You excited for a sleepover?” Dick asked, chirpy and excited himself.
“Yeah! I want to see Goliath again,” Lian grinned. Jason smiled at the both of them and let Dick help him up into the plane as Bruce held Roy back to talk.
“Thank you for bringing him home,” Bruce said, hoping his sincerity made it across in his tone.
Roy snorted and shook his head, “Oh, that wasn’t me. You have the Devil on his shoulder to thank for that.”
Roy patted his shoulder and walked away to handle the luggage Dick had left abandoned, leaving Bruce to brood and contemplate. He didn’t want to feel indebted or appreciative of Daredevil but… according to Roy himself, he was the one that got Jason to call. Daredevil got Jason to reach out to them, and got Jason to accept their help. He didn’t like Daredevil at all, but he could be thankful that he hadn’t completely cut them off from Jason.
Roy stopped halfway up the batplane’s ramp and looked back at Bruce, “Just thought you should know, he’s gotten real protective of Jason. So if you screw this up, you might want to watch your back. The Devil may work alone but he’s got friends in weird places.”
Bruce grunted in response.