Chapter Text
It started with the dreams. Jason had been having nightmares since his mom died. He couldn’t get her out of his head, and, on the occasion he felt safe enough to sleep deeply, his mind took back its pound of flesh. The dreams distorted her, her death. That didn’t change when he moved in with Bruce. If anything, once he was comfortable enough at the manor, he dreamed more often. Stupid REM.
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the dreams changed, but he thought they started about the same. It started with the quiet. He walked around his apartment. He almost always dreamed in his old apartment, but sometimes the doors led to places in the Manor or his place or elsewhere in the tangle of Gotham. Space was strange in dreams. The silence was the same as it always was. Too quiet for someone else to be home. Like the world was holding its breath. Like the world had stopped breathing.
It wasn’t his mom on the couch. It was Bruce. God, not Bruce too. Please, not him too. When he reached his side through the concrete in his bones, he reached out to check for a pulse. Bruce grabbed his wrist before he could. Was he alive? He wasn’t breathing. He was too quiet. He wasn’t—
“1-5-6-0-2.” Bruce said, urgency bleeding through his voice in a way it rarely did.
“What?”
“1-5-6-0-2.”
“I don’t understand.”
“1-5-6-0-2.”
“1-5-6-0-2.”
“1-5-6-0-2.”
“…1…5…6..0..2...”
“Jay?”
“1…5…”
“Jay, wake up.”
Jason sucked in air, wakefulness shooting through with all the adrenaline. “What?” His senses came online, and the sound of breathing was such an intense relief that he slumped back into the pillow.
“You were talking in your sleep, lad.” Bruce’s voice was soft and calm, nothing like it was in the dream.
“Mmm. Weird dreams. Nothin’ I can’t handle.”
His eyes were beginning to close again, but he caught the smile flicking across Bruce’s face before he fell back asleep. He was fine. It was just a dream.
~~~
“The safe!” Batman said. He ran to the other side of the bank, Jason fast on his heels.
Once they were close enough, the muffled cries of the Riddler’s kidnapping victims could be heard through the reinforced steel.
“Think he left a clue to the combination?” Jason already started looking around for any question-post-marked enveloped when he froze suddenly. “1-5-6-0-2.”
Batman looked back at him from where he was attempting to crack the combination lock by ear. “Did you find something?”
“No, uh, try 1-5-6-0-2.”
Click.
The victims came out in a flood, and, after coordinating them into the waiting (if somewhat delayed) arms of the GCPD, Batman asked, “How did you figure out the combination?”
Jason had no idea. Cold dread seeped through him. He flashed a smile he didn’t feel. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
~~~
Jason first met Kate Babcock when he ran into her and Bruce on the way home from school. He’d had a makeup exam a little late and was going to spend some time around the city before Alfred picked him up. Bruce and Kate were emerging from a fancy but not too fancy restaurant that probably served the sort of shrimp scampi that would make Jason’s whole face turning into a balloon worth it. The pair had twin smiling faces that Jason could see from across the street. It was nice to see Bruce happy.
Bruce spotted Jason, his face brightening in a way that made Jason feel light and special. He guided Kate in his direction. “Jason! I wasn’t expecting to run into you.”
“Nor I you, Bruce.” He raised his eyebrows. “Aren’t you gonna introduce us?”
“Kate Babcock, this is my son, Jason Todd. Jason, Kate.”
Kate smiled and held out a hand, and a sickening feeling of déjà vu washed over Jason and drained away all the lightness of the moment. He hadn’t recognized her without … with all her … “Nice to meet you, Jason,” she said, “Bruce told me a bit about you. All good things. For the most part.”
Mechanically, Jason made his mouth form a smile at her joke. She was alive. She was in one piece. For now. “Nice to meet you,” he said weakly.
~~~
That night, Bruce didn’t want to let him patrol. School night. Tough case. Too dangerous.
Jason didn’t give him a choice. And give him a little credit; he was pretty good at getting what he wanted when he really set his mind to it.
And he wanted to save Kate.