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Damian hadn't meant to find the note.
It was tucked away at the back of a shoebox on top of the rest of the recycling, and he was only going through the trash at all to find cardboard to make a diorama for a school project. The box was the right dimensions, so Damian had opened it up to make sure it would work. He'd expected it to be empty.
But there something was, a small scrap of paper dotted with flowery cursive in a script Damian recognized at once. He had picked it up and was reading before he could even think to hesitate.
My beloved Jason,
The League is lonely these days, and there are times when I find myself missing the moments we used to share. Your lips, your touch… Nights are so much colder without you. You always know where to find me when you've had your fill of Bruce.
— Talia xx
Horror flooded Damian's veins. His grip tightened unconsciously around the paper. This was… beyond words. Damian threw the note back onto the pile of garbage like it had burned him, and took a step backwards, reeling.
The meaning was obvious. Jason Todd had once had a relationship with Talia Al Ghul.
Damian's own mother.
This was, perhaps, the deepest betrayal Damian had ever felt. All that time he'd spent as a small child in the League—Jason helping him train, bringing him various supplies and snacks, playing with him on the rare occasions Damian was allowed to play—Jason had been sleeping with his mother. And never breathed a word of it.
Five minutes ago, Damian would have considered Jason his second favorite brother, only after Dick. But now… now he was firmly in last place. The two had had an outing planned for that night, a trip to Batburger to try their new limited-edition Ivy's Garden veggie burgers, and now Damian barely even wanted to go. This was awful. He couldn't even think. Rational thought was gone, replaced entirely by a mixture of shock and betrayal. How could he.
The front door to the Manor opened, and Damian could tell by the footsteps that it was Jason who'd arrived. Just what he needed. Quickly, and sticking to the back staircase, Damian darted up to his room and locked the door. Jason didn't deserve to see him right now.
He sat there on his bed for a while, staring at the wall and contemplating what to do about dinner. He came to the conclusion that he would go, but give Jason as much of a cold shoulder as possible. Let him know Damian's displeasure, realize exactly how bad of a mistake he had made. His own mother! It still didn't feel real. Damian had thought Jason had more sense in picking romantic partners, questionable as some of them were, but even the worst were better than—!
It must have been almost half an hour of sulking later before there was a knock at his door. "Dami, you ready for dinner?"
Jason. Damian didn't reply, just silently climbed off the bed and opened the door. He glared at the traitor, hoping Jason could feel his wrath.
He either didn't notice or pretended not to. "Ready to head out? Bruce said I could drive the Rolls today."
Damian remained quiet for just long enough to make it uncomfortable. Finally, tersely, he said, "Yes." Nothing more.
Jason furrowed his brow, clearly taken aback by the sudden hostility, but seemed to let it slide. "Great. Let's go."
With that, Jason started downstairs, and Damian followed. He didn't say another word to Jason. And if he had it his way, he wouldn't for the rest of the evening.
The ride there was tense. Jason tried to start a conversation a few times, but stopped talking when he got no responses, and just turned the radio up instead. It didn't take too long to reach the restaurant, though, and soon the two were seated in a booth near the window.
After a few more minutes of silence, Jason set his menu down and looked directly at Damian. "What's going on with you?" he asked. "You've been acting weird all day. Are you mad at me?"
Finally, a question Damian could answer. "Yes."
Jason looked bewildered. "Why?"
"Why?" Damian crossed his arms. "Why, Todd, am I upset with you? Perhaps you should use that brain you claim to have and figure it out."
Jason blinked. "I, uh… I really don't know, Dami. You were fine yesterday when we made these plans. Did I accidentally steal your lunch or something? I know I finished the last of the frozen burritos, but Alfred can always go buy—"
"This is not about burritos," Damian said, cutting him off. He rolled his eyes. "Tt. I don't know what I expected from you. The problem, Todd, is that you slept with my mother."
That made Jason go pale. "What? How did you…"
"I found a note. A love letter. From her to you, in a shoebox you discarded. So yes, I am angry with you. You betrayed my trust not only in seducing her, but in keeping it a secret from me my entire life!"
"You think I seduced her?" There was a sudden shift in Jason's tone. "You know nothing, Damian. So how about you stop reading private fucking notes."
"There is no privacy when you're throwing something away. I was not digging through the trash for no reason; I needed a box for school. Your little note happened to be in it. And I had a right to know, regardless. She is my mother!"
Jason rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, a warning in his voice. "Damian, stop."
Damian did not stop. "All that time we spent together in the League. You acted like my friend, my ally, but you were sleeping with my mother behind my back. Do you presume to be my father? Because you are not him. You're not even Richard! You are not a parent to me. You were a brother. Now I don't know."
Jason clenched a fist. "Shut up, you fucking brat. You don't have a goddamn clue about what went on between me and her."
"No?" Damian couldn't hold back his anger now, the words spilling out of him. "Then do you deny it? Do you deny bedding my mother?"
"I don't want to do this right now, Damian." His voice trembled with barely-controlled tension.
"Well I do. I'm not giving you time to invent some excuse. Either explain yourself now, or I'm calling Richard to drive me home."
Jason clenched his jaw, leaning over the table. "You want the truth? You really want the truth?"
Damian didn't even dignify that with a response, opting instead to just glare at Jason.
"Fine." Jason pressed his lips together. "I'd just turned eighteen. Talia helped me heal with the Lazarus Pit and got me even better training. I was angry at the world and half-mad from the Pit, and she convinced me it would be a way to get back at Bruce. She seduced me. It didn't last long. If she still feels anything for me—and that's an if, because we both know there's a decent chance it's just manipulation on her end—then it's not mutual. Happy?"
Damian was stunned speechless for a moment. That was… definitely not what he had expected to hear. And— "This was right after the Pit? But weren't you…"
"Catatonic before?" Jason laughed bitterly. "Yeah. She took care of me like that. No wonder I liked her when I regained my senses."
He sounded almost sad, and Damian was still reeling. This situation was rapidly changing from anger at Jason to something he didn't even want to name.
His mouth put a word to it anyway. "Todd, that sounds suspiciously like grooming. I must be mistaken. Tell me my mother did not groom you."
Jason shrugged. "I don't know. I was eighteen. I agreed at the time. I don't know if it was quite… that bad. Just don't say I was the one who seduced her. I wasn't."
Damian uncrossed his arms, trying to shake off the shock he still felt. How had he so completely and utterly misunderstood? A deep shame burned in his chest for ever bringing it up.
Jason looked down at the table. "So. Uh. Are you still mad at me?"
"No." Damian bit his lip. "…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed."
"You went off of what you had. It was a logical conclusion." He looked away. "I should have told you earlier, anyway."
"I understand why you did not. She is my mother. You would rather pretend it never happened than damage my opinion of her. …But I can take it. I already know she is not a perfect person. This is merely another aspect of that."
Jason smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I know you can take it. You're strong."
Their food arrived, and Damian slid his plate in front of himself, hoping to dispel some of the awkwardness he'd created. "Thank you for taking me here," he said, picking up a fry. "You're a good brother."
"I know," Jason replied. He smiled for real this time. "Anytime."