Archive of Our Own

Jason woke to the opening chords of Bikini Kill's 'Alien She' playing from a crappy phone speaker, and he immediately knew something was wrong. The bed was soft under his body, and the sun that filtered through a window fell directly on his face, when he knew he had fallen asleep in a windowless room on top of a thin mattress. Instead of the humid smell of his make-shift safe house, he got a hint of lavender linen spray, likely sprayed only a couple hours before. He couldn't sense anybody in the room, so he risked opening his eyes slightly. What he was met with were light pink walls covered in posters, a night table with a pile of papers on it, and a built in closet. Looking to the foot of the bed, there was an IKEA storage unit on the wall across from it, filled with books and stuffed animals and other things that a teenager might like. On the opposite side to the closet there was a window, and beside it a desk with a laptop.

The song finished, then started again. Through the wall he could hear a muffled voice, then a woman shouting, "Stephanie turn that damned music down! You know I haven't slept all night!." Before he could even consider that it could be trick to reveal he was awake, he had scrambled to turn off what he now realized was an alarm. "Thank you!" The voice came again, but then it was silent. So, not a trick. He catalogued the familiar accent. Upper east side of Gotham. Maybe Crime Alley, but could also be Bowery or Narrows, he couldn't be sure with such a short interaction. The question was, why did this person have a Gotham accent when, last he checked, he was in England.

Now that he was out of bed — and the element of surprise was gone — he continued his survey. The floor was covered in piles of clothes, and the blanket that had likely once covered him had been pushed to the foot of the bed, half of it falling off. A school bag was next to the door in the corner, and there was a hanging rack over the top of the door, a bra hanging from it. Everything was larger than he had expected, and for a moment he debated if he was smaller, or everything else had gotten the slightest bit bigger, but he looked down at himself and froze. He was wearing stripped pink boxers with lace at the edges and a large white t-shirt that fell down one of his shoulders. This… this wasn't his body.

Breath caught in his throat, he left the room in search of a mirror, which was way more difficult than he had expected, because apparently the apartment of whoever's body he was in had an entire hallway of closet doors? Fucking Gotham apartments. Thankfully, he found the bathroom at the end of the hallway, but that didn't change what he saw in it. Blond, curly hair that reached about mid-back and bright, dark blue eyes. It was a sharp contrast to his black hair and lazarus green eyes, and even the blue-green of his eyes before he had died. He probably hadn't swapped universes with another version of himself, then. So, what was it? Possession? Body swap?

Considering his options, he went back to the room. He had a burner-phone in the London flat, so he could rule out a swap if it wasn't answered. The phone was an older model, though not as old as his burner. Unfortunately, this ment it didn't have facial recognition or fingerprint scan. In any other situation, he would applaud this young woman, but right now it was just a nuisance. Heaving a deep sigh, he went to the closet to get dressed.

Steph ruled out kidnapping pretty quickly. Sure, the empty apartment with only a mattress in the corner with no bed sheets was kidnapper 101, and it wasn't like she had never been kidnapped before, even as a civilian. The thing is, kidnappers didn't magically swap someone's gender and, if they did, she doubted they'd let their victim be this fucking buff. Seriously, whoever's body she was in, he was absolutely jacked. Like, Batman-level. He also had a terrible sense of style because, while she could understand wearing hoodies often enough, that was the only thing he seemed to have for clothing in the duffle-bag she had found tucked into a corner. The rest of it's contents were weapons or fake IDs, which she knew were fake because none of them had the same name, birthday, or even country of origin.

As she was in the middle of struggling to find an outfit that wouldn't make her eyes bleed, the ringing of a phone echoed through the empty room. It didn't take her long to find a seam to tear open and find a small Nokia, and really, who the fuck was using those these days. It had buttons. The number was unfamiliar, but had a Gotham area code.

"Y'ello." she said, making her voice artificially bright, "who am I speaking to?"

On the other line she heard breathing, likely from the person who had called, and in the background was the sounds of the city. Cars honking, vendors shouting about their wares, and the near constant police sirens that seemed ever-present in Gotham. There was a moment where all she heard was the breathing, until the other person spoke up in her own voice. "I presume you're Stephanie?"

"I don't think it's fair that you peeked at my ID when all of yours are clearly fake." she said, putting on an offended tone, "I don't even know what to call you." there was a pause on the other line, and just as Steph started thinking that they had hung up, they answered her.

"Jason." they said finally, "It's Jason."

"He/him?"

"What?" they asked, and Steph continued.

"Your pronouns. I don't want to start calling you the wrong ones, y'know? Especially since you're gonna be in a AFAB body for who knows how long."

"Ah, yeah. Right." he said, "You're she/her, yeah? There was a pin on your backpack." Steph let out a little breath she had been holding. At least the guy she switched places with wasn't an asshole.

"Yup." she said, then, "Do you have any idea what happened? I've been looking around your apartment, and there isn't anything that explains why we would've swapped."

"Yeah, there wouldn't be. The last time I had any contact with magic was like a year ago, and they aren't the type to do this kind of thing." he continued, "I was gonna do some research on your end, but I need your password."

"Wait, you don't have my password? How did you call me?" she remembered the number and snorted, "Don't tell me you went to a payphone." The background noise suddenly made a lot more sense "You did!"

"Well, I didn't have much choice, did I? Your apartment doesn't have a landline."

"Landline? How old are you?"

"I'm like a year older than you." he pointed out, giving Steph pause. This guy was nineteen, seriously? What had his parents been feeding him? He continued, "And if you subtract the time I spent dead, I'm technically younger then you."

The pieces started clicking into place, and as strange a picture it made, she couldn't say it was the weirdest thing she ever heard. She was in his body for god's sake. "Jason fucking Todd?"

There was a long pause on the other end, then he voice came out the speaker weakly, "Yeah, Steph. It's nice to finally meet you?"

"I still can't fucking believe it." Steph said again over the phone as Jason made his way back to her apartment. They had exchanged passwords and had called her again from her own phone.

"I already told you." he sighed as he unlocked her front door and entered her apartment, "you were dead too."

"Yeah, for like a couple minutes! You were dead for years! You woke up in your grave."

"Don't remind me." he muttered, closing the door behind him and going back to her room.

"You gotta understand that this is fucking crazy."

"Yeah, and so is body swapping, but here we are." he rubbed his forehead, "all of my plans, gone in some stupid twist of fate."

"Do you think we're, like, soulmates?"

"What, no!" Jason said, then quieted himself, remembering that Steph's mother was on the other side of a very thin wall, "This isn't like some kind of soulmate fanfic. We don't switch places on our eighteenth birthday or some shit."

"You read fanfiction?"

"Yeah. Well, I did before I died. I wrote a soulmate AU a couple years back." he shook his head, "That's not the point! What I'm saying is, that isn't what's going on here. It's some Klarion type shit."

"Well, Klarion hasn't been seen in Gotham like, ever." she said, "apparently Gotham's vibes scare off most magic users." she paused, "though, I think Batman and Robin were fighting a magic user last night. Oracle was talking about it over comms."

Jason sighed, "I guess that's our first clue." he said, rubbing his forehead, "where's your suit?"

"You're gonna go out a Spoiler?"

"Uh, yeah? The bat isn't gonna talk to some random new vigilante, right? At least he knows Spoiler."

She snorted, "You've been gone a long time, Jason. You don't know how he is anymore. He doesn't trust Spoiler in the way you think." He rolled his eyes.

"You were Robin. He wouldn't do that unless he knew you were worthy of it." the was a pause on the other end, and then a sigh.

"It's in my closet. There's a false wall at the back."

"Classic." he muttered, already going for it.

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

It took some practice getting used to fighting in a smaller body again. After the pit healed all his childhood malnutrition he didn't have to worry about facing an opponent larger than him as much. Still, he had been Robin, and most of that training was preparing him to face people bigger than him, so it didn't take too long for the training to kick back in. By the time he was a third of the way through patrol, he had gotten the hang of it. It was a familiar pattern. Travel across rooftops, stop muggings, check on the sex workers and street kids. Spoiler's territory of the east end and narrows — including crime alley, though she didn't spend much time there — had the same issues as they had when he was Robin, so he was doing most of the same stuff.

Throughout the patrol he kept his eyes and ears out for Batman, but he didn't get much luck. He had Spoiler's comm in, but Oracle hadn't been saying much. Maybe Babs was busy on the other line, but her not checking in was unusual. Even before she became Oracle, when she was on comms she'd always check in on regular intervals. Now there was only a question about Spoiler starting patrol, and a request to check in when he was finished.

As patrol winded down, he finally got some evidence that Batman had even gone out at all. There was a whine of police sirens, gunshots, and then, in the distance, he saw two shadows jumping across rooftops. Nodding at the young woman he had walked back to her apartment, he left, following the way they had gone. By the time he got there, though, the fight was already over. That wasn't a problem, though. He wasn't there for a fight.

From the shift in his shoulders, he knew Batman had sensed him landing on the roof, only a couple meters away. Robin turned to him, while Batman acted as if he didn't exist. Though, it was Red Robin, now. Timothy had given the Robin mantle to Talia's kid, last he checked. Or he had been forced to give it up, Jason didn't really care, but it was strange that the new Robin wasn't with Batman.

Jason coughed into his fist, but when Batman still didn't acknowledge him, he said, "Batman?"

"Go home, Spoiler." Batman said, and a wave of anger washed through him, the memory of his last argument with Bruce replaying in his mind. This asshole. Red Robin's face did a little movement that could have been an aborted wince, looked to Batman, who still hadn't turned to face him, and stepped closer, putting his body in between the two.

"Hey, Spoiler." he said, voice a mix of nerves and pity, "look, this isn't the best time right now."

"This is about what happened last night." he guessed, and the Batman's slight shift told him everything he needed to know. He knew the man's tells. He was always still, and any movement outside of that was practiced; it had intention behind it. When he made a human move, it was to reduce the suspicion being still would have provoked. Jason's eyes narrowed, but thankfully the lenses in Steph's mask hid it. "What happened?"

Batman turned, and even through his lenses, Jason could feel the glare, but he held his ground. "Take her home, Robin." His jaw was tense, like he was gritting his teeth. Tim nodded, and gestured for him to go with him. Normally, he would have argued back, but it was clear that Bruce wasn't going to be giving him any info, so he followed him. Maybe his successor would be more open.

"What's got him so pissy?" he asked when they were out of Bruce's hearing range, and Tim tensed. Right, he was supposed to be acting like Spoiler. He didn't think the phrasing was too out of character, but Tim did know her way better than Jason did. Tim didn't mention it though, just shaking his head.

"The mission last night was…" he paused, "Unsuccessful." It was a disaster, he presumed.

"What happened, is everyone alright?" he asked, feeling a hint of concern. Sure, they weren't his family anymore, but that didn't mean he didn't care. At least, he didn't want his siblings dead. Even if he had been considering beating the shit out of Tim less than a year before.

"It's complicated." Tim said slowly, "nobody's hurt, but Robin was hit with a spell and," he hesitated, "well, it's reminded B about a couple of his worst moments."

"That doesn't clear anything up." Jason pointed out, and Tim shook his head.

"It's a family matter. You don't need to worry about it."

Tim walked her to the edge of her neighbourhood, letting Jason make his own way back to the apartment without being seen. When he entered Steph's bedroom, he sat on the floor and rested his head on the door. He swore. That patrol gave him nothing that he didn't already know. Something had happened with a magic user the night before, benching Robin and probably Nightwing, since he hadn't been seen in Bludhaven that night. Batman and his brood had closed ranks, and apparently Spoiler wasn't considered close to the family enough to be brought in as well. That would make figuring out everything way harder.

There was one thing he was sure of, though. That magic user must have had something to do with it.

"You were right." Jason hissed on the other end of the phone line. Steph just hummed, looking through the clothes rack of a small thrift store she had found. Jason continued, "I have a lead, but without Bruce it's gonna be hard to do anything. Did you find anything?"

"No. I've been looking into any magical occurrences, but nothing came up. Right now, I think our best bet is in Gotham."

"You're right. When can you get here?"

"None of the airports in London are flying into Gotham. I think the UK government put a ban on the Gotham airport. I've already booked a flight into Metropolis, but that only leaves tomorrow morning. I can probably get to Gotham tomorrow night, just before patrol." she took a piece of clothing from the rack, "do you know what colours look good on you?"

"What?" he spluttered.

"I'm looking for some clothing to wear. I will not be caught dead in the same hoodie every single day. I have some self respect." she hummed as she looked at the piece in her hands again, "yeah, I think red's your colour."

Jason groaned, "I'm not your little barbie doll." he huffed out through the speaker, and Steph rolled her eyes.

"I know that. You don't have to wear it when we switch back, I just." she paused. "I just want to feel a little more like myself, you know?" she asked, voice unintentionally going softer. Jason sighed on the other end.

"Yeah, I get it."

The next day was even less eventful than the first. After returning home he had showered in the dark — because even if Steph had given him permission, he didn't feel comfortable invading her privacy even more than the body swap necessitated — then went to sleep. He woke up at almost noon, having turned off Steph's alarm in his sleep, and it was lucky that it was summer and she didn't have school. After calling Steph, Jason spent a couple hours at a gym Steph had a membership for, but soon grew bored and looked for something else to do. He ended up going to a nearby library.

It was a newer place, with slanted roofs and a couple glass walls with flower decals all over them. On one of the windowless walls there was a large mural of the city, dated to probably when he was still Robin or just after, since a couple buildings that were present today were missing. The library itself was just after his time, since he remembered it still being under construction while he was Robin.

Just as he entered, he caught sight of the library's name and paused. Jason Todd Memorial. He couldn't stop staring at it for a time, until someone brushed past him and he was brought out of his daze. Shaking his head, he went to the shelves, looking for the classics section.

He shouldn't have been surprised. Bruce put a lot of money into public works, and he liked naming things after people he had lost. It made sense that he would name some stuff after Jason. He did have a habit of only giving a shit after someone was already gone.

He found the classics section on the second floor, though it was more of a loft. Three full bookshelves stood in the middle, while desks were placed looking out from the balcony and plush chairs were on the other side at the window. It was cozier than the rest of the library, so finding a book, he curled up by the window and began to read.

He stayed there until an announcement came over the library's speakers announcing being five minutes to closing. It was almost time for patrol, so he stood, stretched, then made his way out.

Like that day, patrol was uneventful. He saved a couple people from muggers, checked in on the sex workers, and bought a couple of the street kids chili dogs from his favourite vendor back when he was Robin. It was then, as he was enjoying his chili dog on a roof in Otisberg, when he caught sight of a black and blue figure running across the rooftops. A wave of relief washed over him as he watched his brother leap across the gap between buildings, before a chill froze it in place. He continued watching, an uncanny feeling taking over the chill as Nightwing continued to make his way across Gotham, not caring to notice that Spoiler was watching. His movements were fast, precise, graceful, but when he turned he didn't do it with a flip. He wasn't showing off his skill, being purely practical.

This wasn't Nightwing.

Without a second thought, Jason was up and running after him. He wasn't sure what he was planning to do as he ran across the rooftops after his brother, quickly making ground. Nightwing, seeming to notice his tail after a minute or so, slowed down, letting Jason catch up. When they were on the same rooftop, Jason could feel his brother's narrowed eyes on him, "What is it, Spoiler?" he asked, and even if Bruce treated Steph coldly, Dick wouldn't.

"Who are you?" he hissed, "what did you do with Nightwing?" The imposter's expression shifted into shock, then became defensive.

"I don't know what you're—" he was cut off by Jason throwing himself at him.

He didn't know why he did it, really. He should have stayed calm, asked questions, but instead he went straight to fighting.

The imposter was good, but Jason was better. Where Nightwing's movements were good in theory, his control was less-so, like he was fighting with pool noodles. It reminded Jason of himself, right after being dipped in the Lazarus pit. A body that was slightly too big, muscular in the wrong places. Unfamiliar. It didn't take long before he had Nightwing on the rough rooftop, arm pushing his chin up. It was a bad position, Steph wasn't as heavy as Jason was and Nightwing could easily push her off, but he didn't try.

"Spoiler!" Babs' voice broke through the blood rushing in his ears.

"What?" he said aloud, completely forgetting to press the speaker button on his comm.

"Get off him." she said, voice calmer.

"That's not Nightwing." he said, instinct to explain himself taking over, "Oracle, you gotta believe me."

"I know." she said, voice going soft, "I know it's not. It's Robin."

Understanding mixed with shame as he climbed off Nightwing. He should have known. Dick was a show-off and loved doing flips and stunts, while Damian, from what he'd seen, was far more practical. It made sense. A lot of things were starting to.

"What is this?" a deep voice growled, and Jason's head snapped to Batman, who was standing on the edge of the roof looking like vengeance. "Nightwing." He said, "Return to the cave."

"But father!" Damian exclaimed, but Batman didn't listen. Damian looked like he was about to argue, but after a moment gave up, pushing himself off the ground. It was silent as Nightwing stormed away. After a couple minutes of stillness, Batman turned to Spoiler.

"And you." he said, "You're benched." Jason felt his entire body tense. This scene was all too familiar.

"You can't do that." he growled out.

"You're getting in the way, Spoiler." he said.

"Only because you're not telling me anything!" Jason's anger bubbled over, "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and fix it!" he felt tears welling in his eyes and hated himself for it. He could feel his voice starting to crack, "I just want to help."

"Then leave this to me and Red Robin."

"I can't do that, B." he said quietly. He could almost sense Batman's eyes narrowing, and the man stepped up to him. He felt like a kid again, staring up at his dad, both of them too stubborn to back down. After a minute, it was Bruce who turned away.

"I don't need this." he growled, stepping up to the edge of the roof.

"What, you don't have time for my teenage rebellion?" he hissed, words leaking venom like a tap. Batman froze, and Jason felt a vicious satisfaction. Then he pulled out his grapple and swung away, leaving Jason alone.

By the time he got back to Stephanie's apartment the satisfaction had faded, and he couldn't help the tears that started to fall, curling up in the bed like he was a little kid again.

A knock on the door is what woke him up that day. He groaned as he left the bed, rubbing at his sore eyes. He hoped that it wouldn't be obvious that he had cried that night — Jason's own face had certain tells that he hoped he didn't share with Steph — but he didn't hold his breath. He wasn't that lucky.

looking through the peep-hole, he was surprised to be met with bright red hair pulled up into a messy bun. He knew who it was immediately, swinging the door open to let her in. Babs looked good. Way better then she had when he last saw her, but to be fair that wasn't saying much. Her skin was more tan than it had been back when she was Batgirl, with a healthy flush on her cheeks. She wore a simple green blouse and blue jean-shorts, and had her glasses on. he hadn't even know she needed them. Maybe it was a recent product of being Oracle.

"Can I come in?" she asked, and Jason blinked, before feeling his face go bright red as he realized he hadn't given her enough room to get past him. He gave her more room, chastising himself in his head. Barbara entered the apartment, looking around. there wasn't much to see. "Is your mom home?"

"What? Oh, no, she had a shift." he said, needing a moment to remember that he was supposed to be Stephanie right now, not Jason. "Do you want me to get you something? I was just about to start breakfast." he hadn't been, but with Babs here, he felt he had to do something with his hands. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Waffles?" she asked.

"Sure." he shrugged. The apartment was pretty open plan, with the kitchen only separated from the living room by an island. He started getting the batter ingredients, before pausing, "I don't think we actually have a waffle maker." he said, looking at Babs sympathetically. Babs only watched him, a slight furrow to her brow, "I hope you're okay with pancakes." Barbara nodded, and Jason got to work.

It was nice to cook for someone again. He had loved helping Alfred in making meals at the manor, but since his death he hadn't had the chance. The League had trained chefs, and none of the teachers Talia gave him trusted him enough to eat any of the meals he made. Which was reasonable, since he probably would have intentionally poisoned them if given the chance. Babs didn't speak much, but he didn't mind. As the pan was heating up, he grabbed a couple strawberries, checking if they were good, then cutting them up and putting a couple in the pancakes. He remembered Babs liking strawberry pancakes. At least, she seemed to enjoy them when Alfred made them when she stayed the night at the manor.

He finished off Babs' strawberry pancakes with some powdered sugar he had found in the back of a cupboard, and finished his with a pat of butter. He would have smothered it in syrup, too, but Steph didn't have any. He set her plate on the little dining table Steph owned, then when she had gotten settled he sat next to her. He didn't wait for any more preamble, digging in. Barbara watched him for a moment,making him feel a little self conscious, but then started eating it herself.

When they were finished, he took it upon himself to take their plates to the kitchen, but when he reached for Babs' plate, her eyes narrowed. "You know I can do it myself, right?" she asked, and Jason's heart stuttered to a stop. He could feel his face fall, or maybe that was just because he had become intimately aware of his expressions since he started his training, and in Babs' presence he had let himself become unguarded. Babs seemed to notice the expression at least, because her eyes softened. After a moment, she sighed, "Just let me do it with you, okay?"

"Oh, yeah, 'course." he said, and followed her to the kitchen. The sink was too high for her to reach properly, but she didn't complain about drying the plates and putting them away. When they were finished, Jason felt a bit awkward, wanting to put his hands in his pockets, but unfortunately Steph's pajamas didn't have them, so when he made the movement to do so, all he did was rest his hands on his outer thighs. "So," he said, awkwardly, "Not that I don't like seeing you, but why'd you visit." Babs hummed.

"Well, today's video game day, remember? We planned to spend the whole day playing. I took a day off and everything."

"Oh!" Jason said, realizing he had made a mistake, "Right! I completely forgot about that."

"Right." Babs said, and Jason suddenly got the strange feeling that he was a fish that had just taken the bait, "Because it's not actually video game day, and you're not actually Stephanie Brown."

And there it was. He had the instinct to run, but fought against it. There was no point; he had been had, and if he ran that would only cause more problems for finding some way to reverse the spell. "Okay." he said, "You got me. Was it really just the video game thing?"

"That and the waffles." she said, then laughed at the confused look Jason must have given her, "It's an inside joke. Steph can't even make waffles." Jason groaned, hiding his face in his hands. "So," she said after basking in his shame for a few moments, "Who are you, then? You know who I am, but haven't tried to kill me, so you aren't against the bats, at least not right now. But you also haven't come to us, either."

"It's not like Batman even let me try." he muttered, but Babs shook her head.

"We were under the impression that the spell only affected people who have formerly held the Robin mantle, but there have only been five people, including Steph. Tim hasn't been affected by the spell, and Jason is…" she stopped herself, face twisting with grief, and he could feel his heart twist with it. Then she looked up, then to the kitchen, and back to Jason, eyes widening a fraction. "Unless. Unless Jason..."

Jason winced, then gave her a small smile, "It's been a while, Barbie. Good to see you." Her mouth opened slightly in awe, but then her expression turned to suspicion.

"How do i know it's really you?" she asked, "How do I know you aren't tricking me, using that name, pretending to be him. Tell me something only he would know."

Jason paused, considering, before his face cracked open into a grin. "You beta-read my fanfics." he answered, "I was too embarrassed to go to Bruce about them, so I asked you to do it. It was mostly just Austin AUs, but once Bruce pissed me off, so I wrote a soulmate body-swap fic about him and Clark." he snorted, "It's kinda ironic now, if you think about it." he gestured to the body he was currently inhabiting.

There was a pause, and then she threw herself at Jason. He caught her, and let her pull him into a deep hug.

"Jason." she said softly, running a hand through his hair. Steph's hair was longer than his was, so the feeling was slightly different, but it's familiarity was incredibly comforting. "Oh, Jason." she repeated, "Bruce is going to be so happy." Jason tensed, pulling away from her.

"Bruce isn't gonna know." he said, and his anger was clear in his voice. Babs' eyes narrowed as she pulled herself back on her chair.

"He misses you." she said, "I understand that you're upset he didn't save you, but—"

"I'm not upset that he didn't save me." he interrupted, shaking his head, "What I'm upset about is that he didn't avenge me. That my death changed nothing."

"That's not true." she said, "After you died, Bruce broke, Jason."

"Yeah, I can tell." he said, feeling the anger in his heart that had crystallized, "'cause what happened last night? He hasn't changed that part of himself, right? He's doing the same thing that pushed me away. That got me killed." Barbara didn't answer back, so Jason just sighed, continuing, "Stephanie should be getting back tonight in my body. I'm going to help Bruce figure out how to fix this whether he likes it or not, and then I'm out of here."

"Okay," Babs said, then made her way to the apartment's TV. At Jason's questioning look, she shrugged, "I promised video games, remember?"

"Have you got any news from Steph?" Oracle asked over their private line. Jason shook his head, knowing that she was probably looking at him through one of the street cameras.

"Her flight was rerouted because of some superman-level threat. She's on her way, but won't be back until the night bus drops her off near the end of patrol."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out for her." She went quiet.

His night was busier than the patrols before; it seemed like that was the night everyone decided to start causing problems. Robberies, fights, back-lot fear toxin deals. It was only the cherry on the cake when Oracle called into him.

"Are you near the docks?" her voice cut through his thoughts.

"Yeah," he confirmed, turning midair to start heading in that direction, "What's the issue?"

"Robin's tracker went dark around there, and he hasn't been answering his comms." she answered.

"Robin?"

"Robin's body. It's Dick."

"Right," he said, already making his way to where Oracle said he was last seen. "I thought Nightwing and Robin were benched, given," he waved his hand in the air, even though she couldn't see it. She probably guessed that he was doing it, though. She knew his gestures almost as well as Bruce once did.

"He snuck out. I stayed on comms with him to make sure he's safe, but…" she trailed off.

"S'okay O." he said, not wanting her to start blaming herself. Being unnecessarily critical of yourself was an unfortunate side effect of their jobs, "You did your best."

Nearby he had found Dick's comm piece, still blinking a light green to show it was on, but not picking up anything. It didn't take too long after that to figure out where Robin was. There were only so many empty warehouses in the area, and even fewer had people milling nearby. He was able to find a pizza driver making their way out of the area, and they were kind enough to point Jason in the direction he needed to go.

"Found him." he whispered into his comms as he watched the people from the rafters. There were about fifteen people, all dressed in suits and wearing skull masks covering their whole face. When he described them, Oracle took a sharp breath.

"Those are Black Mask's men." she explained, "You should leave."

"He's the one who killed Steph, isn't he?" Before she could answer, the door slammed open and a man stepped in. He wore a white suit and instead of a mask, it looked like the skull was his actual face. Oracle didn't need to tell him who this was, what he had done. Jason could feel it in his — in Stephanie's — bones.

He watched Black Mask approached his brother with his heart in his throat, blood rushing through his ears too loud to make out any words from either him or Oracle. All he saw was Mask's fingers under his little brother's chin, lifting his face up to meet his eyes, and Jason saw red. The plan formed instantly, which probably meant it was a terrible plan, but Mask was holding a blunt object, about to swing it, and Jason could feel the phantom of Joker's crowbar, and he couldn't let his brother go through that too. Hasn't Robin already been through enough?

He landed on Black Mask, feeling the man's balance give way and throwing him on the floor, Jason landing on top of him and immediately throwing punches. There was shouting in the background, gunshots echoing through the warehouse. He didn't care, feeling Mask's nose, what was left of it, give way, and his ribs crack. Black Mask was laughing. or, maybe that was just his mind playing tricks on him.

Someone grabbed him by the shoulder and he only just stopped himself from attacking them as well. He felt like an animal.

It was Tim, Red Robin, who was holding his shoulder. Behind him, Batman had untied Robin, who didn't look injured. Tim's eyes were wide, surprise warring with pity and fear. "Spoiler, please." his successor said, voice gentle, like he was calming a victim. He probably thought he was; probably thought this was some PTSD symptom. He couldn't even say that wasn't part of it. He could still hear laughter, see flashes of green and purple.

He blinked as the world slowly came back to him. Tim wasn't wearing his mask, he realized, and they weren't in the central room of the warehouse anymore, instead in some kind of office. Tim was talking gently, wrapping bandages around his upper arm. He could see a tiny bit of blood already staining the white gauze. He had hurt Stephanie's body. Fuck.

"You with me?" he asked, and Jason's throat closed around the words he wanted to say. Tim didn't push him, letting the silence spread between them.

"Is it bad?" he asked finally, nodding at the wound near his shoulder. Tim blinked, then looked at it.

"No. It's just a graze, doesn't even look like you'll need stitches."

"But it'll scar." he finished. Tim shrugged.

"Could've been a lot worse." his eyes narrowed, "what happened, Steph?"

"That's exactly what I want to know." Batman said, appearing in the doorway. Jason really didn't want to have another conversation with Bruce, especially after last night, but he sighed.

"How's Robin?" he asked.

"He'll recover." he said, not giving him much information, "but you still put him in great danger with your recklessness."

"B, now's not the time." Tim said quietly, but Batman shook his head.

"No, it is the time."

"She was just trying to help."

"She put Robin in danger."Bruce growled, "She has been nothing but a hindrance since she came on the scene. We don't need to babysit."

"'nothing but a hindrance'?" Jason echoed, feeling that familiar anger bubbling up again. Bruce somehow knew all the buttons to push, even if he wasn't pressing them intentionally, "Maybe I could help more if you trained me more than for a couple months? If you actually treated me as an apprentice, rather than some annoying gnat you can't get rid of."

"I am not your mentor."

"And yet you keep on acting like my dad." he said, nose scrunching in annoyance, "You treat me as if I'm your kid, but I'm not. Parents don't let their kids go out in the world with no preparation, don't abandon them, replace them! They protect them, avenge them. You can't just bench me because I made a mistake, because I disobeyed you." he spat out the word 'you' with more disgust than he had intended. "You can't act like my father. You lost any right to do that many, many years ago."

"You are reckless and going to get yourself killed." He growled.

"Been there, done that." he hissed back. There was a flash of surprise on Bruce's face that turned to anger.

"Get out."

Jason didn't bother arguing anymore, instead pushing past Bruce and to the door, his arm throbbing. Pausing at the doorway and looking back. "Don't forget. I was once your Robin too." Then he was running out of the warehouse. He couldn't really tell where he was going, all he knew was that he had to get away.

He found himself somewhere familiar. The old gargoyle he had always gone to when he was upset at Bruce and needed a place to vent. It was a place he always associated with safety, high above the streets, staring out at the whole city. Even in the summer night, with all the layers of Spoilers costume, he felt the chill and curled up tighter, leaning on the gargoyle. He stayed like that for a while, taking deep breaths as he watched the world move around him, full of life even in the middle of the night. In the distance, he saw the flash of red that he knew was Red Robin continuing his patrol, and a shadow followed behind.

After a while, Oracle linked into his comm. "Steph's bus should be in the Bowery in twenty minutes. Are you still planning on meeting her tonight?"

"Yeah." he said, standing from his place on the ledge. Ensuring that his grapple took hold on the roof across from him, he jumped and began making his way to the bus stop.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Jason asked the moment he saw Steph stepping off the bus. It was three am, so even the nightclubs were closed, partygoers already making their way home, leaving Jason and Steph the only ones there as the bus went off. He had already changed out of Spoiler's costume, instead opting for an inconspicuous purple hoodie and sweatpants. Stephanie, in contrast, was not inconspicuous at all. She wore a bright red cropped t-shirt with sleeves that just barely passed his shoulder, a shirt that he definitely did not own three days ago, and a familiar pair of cargo pants that sat low on his hips, leaving his stomach exposed. Over Steph's shoulder, a leather jacket was thrown, and he wasn't sure if it was just for the aesthetic, or if it actually served the purpose of keeping her warm. It didn't look bad, necessarily, but it was not something he would have gone for, and it was off-putting to see it on him. It was even weirder when she flashed him a grin with his own face.

"I'm allowed to have a little fun with it, right?" she gave him a look over, "I'm dressed better then you, at least."

"I'm being practical." he pointed out, "I'm not about to run around the Bowery at night in a crop top."

She rolled her eyes, "Then we'd better get going, huh?"

That day Stephanie slept for nearly twelve hours, waking up just before three pm. It was probably a combination of jetlag and not sleeping for most of her flight. Her emergency booking of seats left her with a middle seat, unable to lean to either side of her. If she had known that was going to happen, she may have considered business class — Jason had the money after all — but even with everything, she was unwilling to spend that much.

Blinking awake, she saw the ceiling of her bedroom. Yawning, she sat up and looked around. She hadn't been able to see it that well in the dark, but in the light of day it looked pretty much the same as how she left it. Well, except for the clothes she had scattered on the floor. Those were gone, and the room itself was less messy. Jason really was a clean-freak, wasn't he?

Pulling herself out of bed, she didn't bother changing out of the sweatpants and tank-top she had worn to sleep. When she entered the central room of her apartment, she was surprised to find Barbara and Jason still there.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, hands going to her hips. Barbara paused, then looked up at her, eyes growing wide.

"You got big." she said, barely a whisper. Jason — in her body — smirked.

"Yeah, that's what Ra's al Ghul's bathwater does to a person." he shrugged, as if what he said wasn't crazy. And honestly, she had heard crazier. She should really consider retiring, if only to fix her skewed sense of normality. Babs' nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Please never say that again."

"I'm going to help." Stephanie said after they had given her the rundown of what they knew. Four days ago Batman and Robin had faced a magic user that had been rambling about being the youngest sibling and therefore less attention was paid to him. Classic super-villain daddy issues, really. At one point Robin was hit by one of his spells, and when Batman went to check on him, the magic user fled. Robin hadn't been effected immediately, but the next morning Damian woke up in Dick's body.

"I thought you'd say that." Babs said, "But Jason doesn't want to confront Bruce yet, so it's probably best—"

"I actually thought of that." Jason said, standing and going to her room. He returned quickly with a box in his hands. "I've been planning my return to Gotham for a while, so Talia sent this ahead of time to meet me here." he said, opening the box. A shiny red helmet stared up at them, sitting on top of what was clearly an armoured shirt.

Steph reached in, taking the helmet in her hands and looking into it's lenses, the smirked. "I told you red was your colour."

Steph and Jason didn't go on patrol that night. It was annoying, but Jason had insisted on helping her get used to the increased size and muscle mass of Jason's body. She had grown accustomed to it in the three days she had been him, but she wasn't fighting then. Fighting required it's own new techniques, since she couldn't rely on her smaller body. Jason's body was still surprisingly flexible, even with it's size, which was definitely a saving grace when she did a flip on instinct and didn't immediately sprain something. Another surprise was how good a teacher Jason was. She had been expecting Batman's teaching style, or maybe some of the league training she knew he had gone through, but instead he was gentle, pairing critiques with praise.

"Fuck Batman, you should be my mentor." she joked as she took a sip out of her water bottle.

Jason snorted, taking a sip from his own bottle, "That's hardly a compliment, given how shitty I've seen he treats you." Steph shrugs.

"I kinda get it. He's worried about me getting hurt, since I'm not exactly professionally trained."

"Well, why hasn't he done that yet? He knows you're not gonna stop, so why does he keep pushing you away?"

She stared at him, watching his scowl. He really hadn't picked it up yet? "He tried, back when I was Robin. It didn't go well." she paused, "I think I remind him of you."

"Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes, then thought for a moment, "I think all the Robins remind him of you. I think that's why he keeps us at arms length. He didn't seem like that when he was with you."

"Just because he's afraid of us getting hurt doesn't mean he can keep pushing us away. That's what made me run away in the first place."

She shrugged, "Grief isn't rational, Jay."

They didn't do much more training after that. Instead, Jason went back to Steph's apartment, while Stephanie went to the Clock-tower. They had decided it would be the best decision, since they didn't want to run the risk of her mom finding them sharing a bed and coming to the wrong conclusions. The Clock-tower had a couple emergency rooms that Steph could take over until the whole body swapping drama was over, and Babs had already set up alarms for if one of the other vigilantes was nearby. All in all, it was a good set-up, though she was itching to go home.

"Unknown mask's been seen around the bowery." Robin's voice came over the comms, which meant it was Dick speaking.

"Spoiler, come in." Batman said, and Jason clicked on his own comm.

"I'll go check it out." he said, though in his mind he was screaming. He thought he had told Steph to stay hidden.

"No need, I see them." Red Robin said, "engaging."

"Wait—" Jason didn't finish whatever he was going to say. Instead, he tried to speed up. When he arrived, they were already talking. Not fighting, thank goodness, but Tim still had his staff held out in front of him, and Steph was in a defensive position.

"Then why are you in Gotham?" Red Robin asked, seemingly in the middle of a conversation with her, "Batman has a 'no capes' rule."

Steph rolled her head back, imitating the roll of her eyes, then gestured to behind her, "Does it look like I have a cape?"

"No heroes in Gotham." he corrected. Steph shrugged.

"Who said I was a hero?" she asked, and Red Robin's body tensed, preparing for a blow that Steph didn't seem inclined to throw. Jason could guess that Tim's eyes had narrowed under the mask as their interaction came to a standstill.

"Gotham is Batman's city. You shouldn't be here."

Steph snorted, "I was born here, lived here my whole life. Meanwhile Batman comes to the Bowery, like, once a month?"

"Who are you?"

"A concerned citizen." she retorted.

"No concerned citizen has that kind of tech." he answered back.

Jason jumped into the conversation, "Hey, is everything alright here?" Steph's position relaxed the barest amount.

"Spoiler." Tim nodded to him, still keeping his eyes on Steph. Then he paused. "You know each other." It was a statement. Jason tensed, but before Tim could confront him about that, Steph cut in.

"Yeah, they've been training me for the past little bit."

"Excuse me?" Tim's eyes were now on Jason, and even with his white lenses, Jason could feel the disbelief. However, Steph had given them an explanation, and he wasn't going to deny it and make them even more suspicious. If his high-school drama class taught him anything, it was that the most important thing in improv was 'yes and'-ing your partner.

"Yeah, they wanted training, so I've been helping them out. Though, apparently I haven't been good enough." he hummed. Steph rolled her head again.

"You shouldn't be training anyone, Spoiler." he said, "You don't have that kind of experience."

"Well, it's not like anyone else was gonna do it."

"Is this about what happened a couple nights ago?" he asked.

"This is about what's been happening since forever ago. Batman can't just push people away because he's scared of them getting hurt." He said, "It happened with Nightwing, it happened with me, and it happened again with St-the second Robin." he corrected quickly. "It's happened enough times that Batman should have learned that years ago. And look, I get that grief is irrational," he said, looking at Steph, "but if he keeps repeating those mistakes, he's never going to stop grieving."

Red Robin and Steph were just staring at him, until Steph asked, "You ever consider being a therapist?"

"Nah," he said, feeling a little bit lighter, "I have enough trauma already."

Red Robin tilted his head, and Jason could feel his eyes boring through him. Then he looked to Steph, his posture going tight. Finally, he turned away.

"You should come to the Batcave." Tim told him over the phone a couple days later. He had called to Stephanie's regular phone, rather than getting into contact through the comms, which made sense, since it was pretty much the middle of the day, and he didn't actually have the comm on him.

"Why should I?" he asked, though he was already packing up the tote bag Steph had let him borrow. He had gone back to the library that morning, since there hadn't been much to do otherwise, and Steph had given him her library card to checkout a couple novels. He appreciated it, even if she said she never used the card anyway.

"We have info on the body-swapping case, and we thought you should be here too."

Jason hummed as he signed out each of the books, "I thought B didn't want my help."

"Me and Babs were able to convince him."

"Babs and I." Jason corrected, making his way out of the library with the tote bag over his shoulder, "The bus to Bristol comes at the top of every hour, so I'll be at the cave in…" he checked his watch, calculating the thirty-minute bus ride, and walking from the bus stop to the cave entrance, "one hour, if you meet me at the entrance with a ride."

"Alfred can pick you up at Kane Memorial Bridge." He said, which would cut the trip down to less than half, even if he still had to take the bus to the bridge.

"See you soon, then."

"Yeah."

The Batcave was almost exactly how he remembered it. The darkness, the humidity, and the quiet fluttering of bats above them. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine he had never left. Stepping out of the car Alfred had picked him up from, the cave welcomed him like it always had; with a sense of safety and home.

"Hey, Spoiler!" Tim said, running up to him. Jason paused, glancing down to his outfit even though he knew that he wasn't wearing the suit. And, nope, he was still wearing the lavender tee and jeans he had gone to the library in. Looking back at Tim, the teen — he was seventeen, right? — looked like he was about to jump out of his skin, almost trembling. His smile was wide too, and while he knew that Tim could smile, he had only seen it in some of the pictures in Steph's room, never in person.

"Hey?"

"B's by the meeting table with Dick and Damian, Babs is calling in from the Clock tower." He said, walking toward the meeting room, a slight skip in his step. What was up with this kid? "We're gonna go over what we know, and then make a plan. Babs said that you already have a base knowledge of what's been happening, right?"

"The former Robins have had their bodies swapped." he answered, "It was done by a magic user, and we've been looking for them. There hasn't been any progress on the case. Until now, I guess."

"Correct." Batman said from the entrance to the meeting room, his arms crossed, "It seems you did not listen to my orders to stay out of it." Jason shrugged, passing him to enter the room. Inside, Dick and Damian sat at the table in civilian clothes. Damian, at least, Damian's body, sat in Dick's usual seat, while Dick's body sat on the other side of where Bruce would sit, where Jason had used to sit when he was Robin. Dick's eyes narrowed, indicating that Damian was studying him. He couldn't tell if that was just how Damian always looked at Steph, or if it was a consequence of him attacking Nightwing a couple nights before.

To be honest, he didn't know Damian that well. Sure, from his conversations with Talia he had guessed that something was going on, but Talia never seemed too eager to introduce the two, so Bruce taking him in and him becoming Robin was the first he had learned of his brother's existence.

"Hey, Steph." Dick, as Damian Wayne, said, smile bright, "So, we've figured out a little bit? The magic signature seems to be similar to magic users from Limbo Town."

"Where Klarion the witch boy is from?" he asked.

"Yeah, exactly." Dick said, "We're thinking that someone else from his town might have made their way here, for some reason. I've gotten into contact with Zatanna, and Bruce has already sent a mesage to the other Justice league Dark members, but from what they've been telling us, there isn't currently a way to track it's signature."

"What if we get in contact with Klarion?" Jason's own voice rang through the speakers. Looking up, he saw Steph leaning next to Babs. She was wearing a facemask, seemingly hiding his identity enough to not immediately prompt a realization from the two people who had known him. She was also wearing a cropped red hoodie that clearly showed the puckered skin of his autopsy scar running through his bellybutton and past the low-waisted band of sweatpants.

"Who are you?" Bruce growled after a moment, "Oracle, why is he participating in this call."

"This is Spoiler's apprentice, Red." she said, "He's been under their wing for a little bit, they're trustworthy."

"You're, like, the same age." Dick pointed out.

"Actually, depending how you calculate it, I'm either a year older or a year younger."

"That does not make any sense." Damian said, crossing his arms and glaring at the screen, "You are either older or younger. What is the date on your birth certificate?"

"Well, my birth certificate would say I'm nineteen, but I was in a kinda-coma for like two years, so my mental age is closer to seventeen."

Tim gasped, "You were in a coma?" His head twitched to Jason in a way that set him on edge.

"Let's get back to the topic at hand." Jason interrupted before they could dig too much into what Steph was saying.

"Yes, I agree." Bruce said, "What was this about contacting Klarion?"

"Well, they're from the same town, right? Maybe there's some magical tracker that only they have. Or maybe he actually knows the kid." she shrugged, "It's worth a shot, right?"

"We will need to find a way to contact Klarion. I will contact Justice League Dark again."

"Do you think they'd have anything to contact him? He doesn't exactly get along with us all the time." Dick pointed out, "Even if they did have his number or whatever they use, it's not like we know he'd answer them."

"I think I know someone who can get into contact with him." he said, making everyone turn back to him. He bit his lip, mind racing to find a plausible reason for him to know Ducra. "Well, when I was supposed to be dead," he started, "I met this old lady. She led this whole assassin magician commune and I stayed there for a little bit. She told me to stay but, well, I didn't." he finished lamely.

"And you believe this woman can get into contact with Klarion?"

"Well, she knows pretty much everything, that was the point of the commune in the first place. If she doesn't have a way to contact him, I don't think anyone would." Bruce gave a grunt of approval, and Jason nodded. "I'm gonna need some privacy to call her, okay?" he said, then made his way out of the room.

His conversation with Ducra was nice. It had been so long since he had spoken with the woman, and even her jibes and insults only gave him a feeling of fondness. At the end of their conversation she had told him to return and continue his training after he was in his own body again. He was honestly considering it. Afterall, his plans were pretty much shot to Hell.

He found himself on one of the lower levels of the Batcave, where Bruce kept all his mementos. The ones that weren't giant enough to display on the main level, at least. It looked similar to how it had been when he was Robin, though there was more in it, of course. More trophies, more costumes lining the walls, but there was something wrong with it. Something was missing. He looked around, at each of the mementos, trying to remember something to do with the battle. But no, none of these were his trophies. None of the costumes displayed were ones he had worn. It was like…

It was like he had never existed.

He wasn't stupid, he had seen the costume on display in the cave, had taken a quick glace at the plaque. A good soldier. He hadn't thought much of it, there was only the slight sting of being reduced to just a soldier, but he didn't bring it up; didn't get upset. Bruce was grieving. But this? Hiding away his existence, the things he had done as Robin, the people he had helped? He felt a hole in his stomach that quickly filled with anger till it was overflowing.

"You okay?" Tim asked, pulling Jason away from his furious thoughts with a flinch.

"What is it?" he asked, voice a little strained, but Tim didn't mention it, his eyebrows furrowing the only sign that he had noticed it.

"Klarion just showed up in the cave. He said that he knows what's happened."

Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had a job to do, and then he could leave and put Bruce behind him. Training more with the All-Caste may be his next destination afterall.

Jason was caught in the middle of an argument, and for the first time in a while, he was not one of the people involved.

As it turned out, Klarion had a little half-brother that had gotten bored and gone to the modern world to cause some problems. Part of this was apparently trying to figure out reversing the age order of siblings, and he had used the Robins as guinea pigs.

"Everyone cares about you!" the younger boy shouted, "You get to have all this fun out in the Blue Rafters, while I gotta stay home with mama and Beulah!"

Klarion paused, looking at the boy like he was supremely stupid. Then he started laughing, sending the younger boy into more of a rage. Jason looked to Steph, who had joined them in his costume, then to Bruce, whose brow was visibly furrowed even under the cowl.

"You-you-" Klarion started, but stopped between giggles.

"What?" the boy shouted, blush building on his cheeks.

"You're the youngest!" he shouted back finally, "If you reversed our ages, you would be Beulah. I'm the middle child, I wouldn't have even been affected!" The boy looked at his brother in confusion, before his face broke into understanding and then horror, like that was a fate worse then death.

After that, everything was quickly settled. The boy didn't apologize, but Jason hadn't been expecting that. He did cast some kind of reversal spell as he was being brought back to Limbo Town, though. As the smoke disappeared, he had to take a moment to find his balance.

Looking around, he saw his siblings facing a similar struggle. Dick, now in his own body, stumbled to Bruce to lean on him, his legs shaking like a newborn foal. Damian was sitting on the floor, head in his hands and looking like he was about to throw up. Steph groaned, leaning against the wall of the room they had found the boy in.

"Robin, are you—" Bruce cut himself off, looking at all of the vigilantes in the room, and clearly noting that the only ones unaffected were him, Tim, and possibly Jason himself, if he was doing a good enough job at hiding it.

"Explain." Batman said, and Steph really wished she could come up with any words whatsoever, but her brain felt like it was splitting. She tried to look up, but the change in height only caused another bout of vertigo. She hadn't realize the mercy she had been given waking up in Jason's body and not being plopped in it without warning. This sucked.

Jason didn't seem to be feeling that same nausea, though she couldn't be sure if that was because he didn't feel it, or was just hiding it well. Or maybe the helmet helped with that kind of thing.

"I was under the impression," Batman said, "that this was an occurrence only affecting Robins."

"Steph was a Robin." Jason said, and even he seemed surprised he had said it, his shoulders tensing slightly. Nightwing, seeming to have recovered slightly, looked at Jason, then turned to Steph.

"But that means you body-swapped too, but Tim didn't change." Nightwing pointed out, he looked to Tim, "you didn't, did you?"

"Nope." Tim said, "I'm the middle, so I wasn't affected."

"Middle." Nightwing repeated, at the same time Batman's posture tensed.

"Jason?" he asked, barely a whisper.

"That's my cue." Jason said, turning and heading to the door. Tim was by him before he could reach it, hand grasping his arm.

"Wait! Don't go!" Jason ripped his arm from Tim, and Steph could picture a scowl on the face that had been hers for a time.

"I've done what I set out to do." he growled out, and before anyone else could make another move, Jason was gone.

"Explain everything." Batman said again, though this time she could hear a sorrow behind it. Thankfully, Babs took the lead, letting her recover from the body swap.

Jason needed to get out. Get out of Gotham, get out of America, just get away. After he left the house Klarion's brother had been using to crash, he went straight to Steph's apartment. Though most of his stuff had been left at the Clock-tower, he had grabbed some of his most important objects in case he needed to leave quickly and get away from the bats. As expected, it had come in handy.

The only detour he had taken before going to the bus stop out of Gotham was to a safe-house to stash his helmet, so by the time he arrived at the bus stop, it had only been an hour since they'd switched back. The next bus, the last bus of the night, was going to get there in twenty minutes.

There was the sound of a grapple and the quiet touch of boots on pavement, the swoosh of a cape, silent to everyone except those who were trained to hear it. Jason forced himself not to tense. "What do you want?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the bus schedule.

"Jason." Bruce, Batman, gasped, and Jason could hear the wetness of his voice. He didn't want to, but he turned towards Bruce. The man looked like he was breaking apart, and Jason almost felt bad for him. "Jason." he repeated.

"I would expect you to be more paranoid about this." he bit out, though he was unsure why. Maybe it was just an attempt to push him away like Bruce had done to them.

"Barbara did a DNA test." he said softly, and Jason nodded. It didn't surprise him, Babs was as paranoid as the rest of them. More, probably.

"What do you want, then?"

"I want you to come home."

Jason scoffed, "The manor isn't my home anymore." he said, "you made sure of that. Tell me, Bruce, where were all the trophies we earned together? My old costumes, other than the one I fucking died in?"

"Jason, you don't understand—"

"No, B, I do understand. I get that my death was painful for you. The thing is, it never changed anything."

"It did—"

"Oh, that's obvious." he rolled his eyes, tone sarcastic, "What with you pushing Steph away and all."

"I didn't know it was you."

"Do you think that makes it better? No, B! You avoid the stuff that hurts you, but that only means you're making the same mistakes again and again!" he shouted, anger burning hot, "you push us away and bench us just because you can't handle looking your mistakes in the eye! You pushed me and Steph away and guess what, Bruce? We died!"

"I'll do better." he said, and he sounded actually broken up about it, "I'll do better, for you, son."

"No, you're too late for that." he said, feeling the anger drain away into hurt, "No, if you're going to do better, do it for Steph and Tim and Damian. Hell, do it for Dick, even."

"Alright, Jay." he said, like he was actually going to do what he asked, "Okay, I'll do better for them."

"Damn straight." he growled, but he was too tired to put any venom in it.

"Are you…" Bruce looked in the direction where the bus would come, but it still wasn't there, "Are you still leaving?"

"Yes." he said immediately, brokering no argument.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not telling you that."

"Will I… will I ever see you again?" Jason shrugged and looked to the distance. The headlights of the bus had just became visible after turning a distant corner.

"Maybe." he said finally. Then he felt Bruce's gloved hand by his cheek, not touching, but there. He allowed himself to lean into it. Just that once.

"I love you, Jason." he said quietly, and Jason could feel the tears welling in his eyes. He pulled away as the bus stopped in front of them, the door opening.

Jason started heading to the door, but stopped at the precipice. Then, turning around, he crashed into his dad with a hug. "I love you, dad." he whispered, only loud enough for Bruce to hear.

Before Bruce could even hug him back, he extracted himself and went into the bus, paying the driver and going to the back. Sitting in one of the seats by the window, he leaned his head against it, watching as Bruce's figure faded into the distance, unmoving. Hopefully it wouldn't be the last time he saw his dad.