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Jason was angry.
A man cried in pain at the bullet landing on his knee.
Admittedly, it wasn't hard for him to get railed up at the drop of a hat, but this time he had fair reasons to be pissed, wouldn't you agree? Tomorrow was his birthday and all he wanted was to spend some time with his stupid siblings patrolling the stupid city and eating a stupid burger.
Hell, he had even been willing to go back to the cave and see his stupid old man if his siblings asked nicely after patrol.
"Sorry littlewing, I'm tied up with a big case, won't be back to Gotham this weekend, next one?"
Fine, it's not like he cared, Dick was usually busy in Blüdhaven, whatever.
"I'll be with the Titans on a mission, why? Need anything?"
Tim was always fucking busy with his friends in San Francisco anyway.
Jason punched a man unconscious.
"Movie night with Steph."
Of course, Cass and Steph were always together, and why would they bother inviting him to their little dates? It's not like he wanted to fucking spend time with them.
"I will be patrolling with father, obviously. We'll stick to our side of the city so you stick to yours, Todd."
Like he cared what the little demon was up to, he could go to hell with the old man for all Jason cared.
Someone screamed as soon as Jason pulled the knife out of his hand.
"Got a big test on monday, Bruce banned me from patrolling all weekend!"
Fine, whatever, Duke always did day patrol anyway, it would be fucking weird if Jason went out so early.
"Oh yeah, got a hot date, if everything goes well I won't come back until sunday, wish me luck!"
Of-fucking-course Harper fucking Row had a fucking date for the first time in fucking ages this exact fucking weekend.
"I got a big lead on a criminal the Birds of Prey have been hunting, we'll be following the lead all weekend, but if you need anything just patch in on your comm and I'll make some time to help out."
Like he could blame Barbara for having better things to do.
Jason kicked someone's ankle hard enough to break the bone.
Listen, Jason didn't even want to celebrate his birthday, he never did. For most of his childhood "birthday" meant stress. Stress for his mama to save up some money to give him a birthday present or a cake or anything she could come up with what little they had, stress for him at knowing that the money his mama was spending could be used for food or essentials or later on, drugs meds, stress for his dad to get on extra shifts or try and get a free day at the expense of not being called or being beaten for the disloyalty and more stress for Jason, wondering if they would leave his dad alive this time.
So of course, in the manor, he hadn't wanted to celebrate either. The first year he had made sure Bruce didn't do anything, he didn't wanna be a burden and get kicked out and was hellbent on keeping a low profile. The next year Dick had found out and forced him to go on a trip. "It's brother bonding Littlewing, you can't get out of it", he explained, and afterwards confessed it was his gift for Jason when he hugged him in front of the fire they had made for the night. And the next last year Jason had allowed a small gathering and cake, because Dick wouldn't stop pestering him about it.
Then he died.
What was even the point of celebrating a birthday if he died already? So hear me out. Jason didn't care about it.
But it still stung that not a single person cared enough to remember.
Jason broke a man's arm.
He wasn't expecting a big party or a fucking parade, all he asked was to not spend tomorrow night patrolling fucking alone, but apparently that was asking too much of his shitty family. Like, sure, most of the kids had no business knowing what date it was, and it's not like the league of assassins did birthdays so Damian got a pass, but he thought at least Tim —being the stalker he was— would know the date.
Whatever.
Dick and Babs though, they both knew it, did they just not remember or simply didn't care at all? Barbara was smarter than that, she wouldn't just forget, so it was easy to tell she just didn't care, and ain't that something? Her rejections always felt fucking different than Dick's or Bruce's, it was it's own kind of hell. But Dick? "Birthdays are important, Littlewing", "we gotta celebrate, Littlewing", "Don't give me that face and choose a cake, Littlewing"
Jason smashed a man's face against a concrete wall with a roar.
Of course the asshole had forgotten all about that, after all his stupid "Littlewing" was fucking dead and all that was left was Jason, of course he didn't fucking care anymore.
Did bruce remember?
Someone begged for mercy, Jason punched him in the stomach hard enough to send him against a wall.
Jason didn't care, he didn't, he didn't. Bruce could go to hell for all he cared. Jason wasn't gonna go asking the old man if he remembered, he was scared didn't care. If he thought about it, Bruce probably remembered, being the paranoid asshole he was, but it made sense he wouldn't reach out or try anything. Alfred was the only saving fucking grace in this shit show, the only one who remembered and asked Jason to go out for breakfast tomorrow morning to celebrate.
Then again, if Alfred remembered, why didn't he say anything? Why didn't he make Bruce invite Jason over or something? Did he mention it to his siblings? Did they ignore it? Did he think it wasn't worth mentioning? Did he make the invitation out of obligation? Pity? Fuck if Jason was gonna take pity from anyone, even Alfred. No, Jason fucking Todd didn't need pity. Whatever.
Fucking whatever, if they didn't care then he didn't fucking care! He saw a man curled on the floor and kicked him in the stomach, screaming his lungs out. The kick was so hard he sent the man nearly flying back a few feet, puking.
He stood still in the middle of the warehouse he had just raided, surrounded by fifteen men in different states of unconsciousness and covered in their blood, panting as he tried to catch his breath.
Whatever.
Jason was fucking tired. He took a deep breath and zip-tied everyone before calling the police to clean the mess and then he fucked off. He was done, he needed his bed; if he kept going he would end up just terrorizing people and, more importantly, he was disgusting and wanted to shower, so he grappled away, decidedly not thinking about his asshole family and the stupid birthday and the stupid tiny cupcake he had bought and the stupid pain in his chest at the thought of eating it.
He didn't care anymore.
He reached his balcony, deactivating the alarms before opening the glass door to enter in silence. He sighed and closed the door, carefully putting the alarm back in place to close his blinds and go to bed.
Except, he only managed to take one step before the lights turned on and he was faced with his whole damn family screaming "surprise" and "happy birthday" on his helmet face, with freaking confetti bombs all over the place.
Jason was frozen in place, startled like a deer in headlights while trying to process the scene, but the more people he saw the less he understood. Everyone was cheering and laughing and talking and he couldn't for the second life of him grasp on what was going on.
— Wha… What? — how fucking eloquent of him.
Steph stepped in front of the crowd with a giant smile and a tiny birthday hat that she gingerly placed over his helmet.
— Happy birthday! — she beamed and stepped aside with a mischievous grin as Tim took one step closer and then a camera was flashing pictures at his appearance.
Everyone and their mother was cramped in his tiny apartment, it was almost hilarious. Alfred, Bruce, his siblings, friends, and Outlaws past and present were all there, smiling at him and talking over each other so Jason had a hard time tracking anything anyone said, so he didn't bother.
— It's not my birthday yet — he managed to say.
— Sure it is — Harper shrugged, looking at her wrist watch — it's almost 2 am, took you long enough by the way.
— Yeah, happy birthday man! — Duke smiled and lifted a gift box with both hands — Wanna open the gifts? Mine's the best!
— Not true! — Steph argued, and mostly everyone got derailed, arguing about that.
Jason just watched, feeling a little under water and a little as if he was watching from a window at the lively scene. His body was a little numb, he clenched and unclenched his fists slowly and watched everything unfolding in slow motion for maybe a minute, two? He wasn't sure, whatever, he had to focus.
He blinked, and suddenly the noise was right there, loud and clear and everyone was moving properly again and Jason just laughed.
Everyone quieted down at the sudden outburst, and Jason was grateful he didn't take off his helmet yet, because the voice modulator hid the way his laughter broke down and became wet, grabbing his stomach as he laughed the pain away.
— Who's idea was this? — he asked once he managed to calm down.
Every single one of his siblings and friends immediately pointed at Dick, and his big brother raised his hand with an oblivious smile.
— Me! — he chirped.
— Fuck you dick.
Jason flipped his brother off and everyone laughed at the indignant noise Dick made.