Chapter Text
Jason is afraid.
He has been ever since he came to this stupid mansion with that bat guy. He's supposed to be completely fine after moving in with random adults
Anyone could be a threat to him. All of them are rich men, exactly like those he meets at Crime Alley, exactly like them.
And so, jason needed to do something about it, he can't stay unprotected between all of those men.
Firstly; the door and windows are always locked at night or else he won't be able to sleep properly.
They never helped him back then, but it's a habit that helped him to relax a little.
Secondly; there has to be a knife under his pillow at all times, he knows a thing or two at dealing with knives, they might not help with those grown men—but it's what he can take from the kitchen without anyone noticing.
Thirdly; all the lights are off by midnight, and in the morning, only his desk light is on. He made sure to memorize some hiding places in the room so that he had more advantage within the dark than them,
The mansion is huge. He's sure they don't remember every single corner in it.
These were the main rules he kept to himself, in case of anything happening.
But that wasn't enough for jason to feel completely safe. He was always on alert for any small movement, there's always a small pocket knife in his jeans, he always carried around little drug patches if he ever needed to make someone pass out.
He felt bad sometimes, that he's alerted of people that have helped him out without anything in exchange, they've never asked for anything when they fed him, when they dropped him off to school, when they bought him things teenagers like that are worth 50 dollars like it's nothing, they were sure to never touch him without permission,
But he isn't gonna risk it, because he is finally comfortable somewhere, and he was so tired of forcing adults off of him, he was tired of attracting creepy pedos after him.
He was so fucking tired of it all.
And it's not like his so called 'family' is making it easy for him, their eyes follow him around everywhere, especially pennyworth.
Despite being the least to talk among everyone, whenever he meets his gaze, it's like he's looking inside his soul, his eyes wonder all over him, not in a creepy way, but an observant one.
He understands and knows jason without a single word shared, only glances. And as helpful as it is, it's a scary thought to jason.
That means no matter how much he hides his emotions, someone will always know how to read him and can tell the others, but so far now he haven't told anyone about how anxious jason is inside all of his anger, how terrified he is despite the tough mature act he puts on.
And the second most scary person to meet their eyes is damian. He's the most dangerous-looking between all of them
Well, not that he intends it in a racist way—but damian is so well collected, his back is always straight, his chin never down, he holds himself in such a way even bruce can't copy.
And when he meets damian's eyes? He'll immediately feel like he's shrinking in his own shoes, those cold pair of green eyes stare immediately into his intentions, as if he's a walking truth radar.
Jason always feels the need to immediately fold and confess his sins to damian like a priest, and Jason's not even that religious!
So jason made it his mission to always make sure to avoid all of them, and he successfully did so,
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Until that sunday morning, he went to the library in the mansion,
If there's anything that's keeping jason around is the amount of books bruce owns, and buys for jason.
He have always loved reading, yet due to how much he can afford, jason didn't own many books back then, only two that he have reread multiple times to the point he knows them from heart.
But now? He has access to so many series's and books that he would be fine just living in the library by himself.
His favorite books so far are the Harry Potter series, so he made his way to get the third book of the series, only to see how far away it is, as it was placed in the top shelves.
Luckily for him, there is a ladder to reach the top shelves, so he took it fearlessly. He climbed and swirled around with the ladder until he found the shelf that had the book,
He was so close to taking it, that he forgot to hold the ladder carefully,
And now he's feets up in the air, and it felt more terrifying then he has assumed before,
He closed his eyes tightly until he felt himself land in someone's embrace. He takes a few seconds to collect his breath, then he opens his eyes slowly—only to be met with soft green eyes staring back at him,
It was damian who catched him. They stood like this for couple of seconds before jason tensed completly, he looked away and panickly tried to get out of damian's grip, and was able to only because of damian allowing it.
Jason hurried to stand on his feet, facing away from damian as he clutched on the hem of his shirt,
"...thank you." He heard damian hum in response, turning around to leave if it wasn't for the hand clinging on his sleeve
"D-don't you want me to repay you?" Jason asked in a hushed tone, still avoiding his eyes.
Damian stared him down for a few seconds, then turned around so he is facing jason and crouched down, so he can be on the eye level of the kid.
"Not necessarily, although I am curious on how you're gonna repay me?"
Jason was a little surprised that he looked up, this was the most damian has spoken to him, he let go of damian's sleeve and ruffled with his shirt, internally cringing at his posture,
He straightened up as he gathered the courge to tell him, "I can..i know how to cook."
Damian shot up an eyebrow at that "can you now?"
Jason just nodded in response "nothing fancy though, it's gonna be like street food.."
Damian took a second before nodding foundly "I do surely enjoy street food sometime."
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30 minutes later, and the food was infront of them, they had taken permission from alfred to use the kitchen, since they both know how dangerous it is to let a wayne here without preparing for a burning oven.
It was nothing special, really. But damian kept praising it to no end
"Hm, the taste is better then I'd originally thought, would you like to better your cooking?"
Jason blobbed down in his seat with a flush red neck, he was never praised for cooking, nevertheless for freaking pasta.
"Im fine.." he mumbled with spoonful in his mouth, looking away from the older man, who hummed in response.
Despite the embarrsing situation, it was actually nice talking to one of them, since nobody has talked to him in a while, it was refreshing.
And from then, if damian made sure to stay with jason at the library until he grabbed all the books he needs? Nobody needed to know.