Chapter Text
No matter what anyone said, Damian Wayne was perfectly capable of doing hero work while injured. Everyone else was just weak and less capable than him, which is why he was the perfect heir. So breaking into his estranged brother's apartment with a broken arm was easy work, and it wasn’t like he was alone either.
Duke was working at full capacity, with no broken limbs or other notable injuries; he was going to be a great help. So the two bats stood in front of Jason’s apartment door.
“When you asked for my help, I thought it would be some light stalking, or even me using my powers, but I didn’t expect to break into Jason's place today.”
“So you are backing out? You don’t want to help? Not that I need any.”
“Hey, I never said that. I just didn’t expect to break and enter today. What if the cops walk by?”
“You ran a gang and are an active vigilante, and you're worried about Crime Alley police?”
“You know what? You’re right.”
“Obviously.”
“You realize you aren’t exactly cleared for this type of activity.”
“Oh, shall I go back to Alfred and ask him to clear me for burglary?”
“And now we’re going to steal things?”
“If need be.”
“Whatever, how are we going to do this?”
Damian vaguely gestured towards the door with his not broken arm. “Be my guest.”
“ And you’re going to make me do all the work. Come on, man.” Duke mumbled under his breath as he walked towards the locked apartment door and knocked.
“You really think he would answer that if he were here?” Damian snarked from behind Duke.
“And would it be so much better if we broke into his apartment with him sitting on the couch?”
A minute passed in silence, with nothing but the Crime Alley violence as background noise. Duke sighed before kicking the door open.
“What happened to the police walking by?” Duke turned his head to see Damian’s smug smirk.
“Let's just figure out what is happening with Jason.” Duke walked into the apartment with Damian trailing behind him. “I'm surprised he doesn't have a crazy security system…”
Without a word, the two boys started to search and scan the apartment for any information that Jason was okay.
“He hasn’t been here for a while.” Duke stated as he picked up a very old-looking banana from the coffee table.
“Oh yeah, did your powers tell you that?” Damian said sarcastically.
“Everything is dusty, and look—” Damian turned to see the banana Duke was holding. “I don’t think he normally kept food like this.”
“There has to be something around here that—” Damian paused as he stared past Duke and into the kitchen.
“What?” Duke asked nervously, turning to look in the kitchen at the same time.
“Look—” Damian pointed to something small on the counter. The boys had yet to venture into the kitchen yet, but clearly there was something important they could find. “Is that—?”
“Jason's comms?” The two made their way over to the counter, with Duke picking up the piece to inspect it.
“Why would he leave that here? Out in the open no less.”
“Maybe he just didn’t want to worry about vigilante stuff for a while. It’s not like it’s uncommon to want a vacation.”
Damian simply raised an eyebrow. “Right, of course. And since we have found nothing else, all must be well in the world.”
“Okay, so maybe it’s a little weird—” Damian scoffed. “But it could also mean nothing.”
“With our reputation? Be honest with yourself, Thomas.”
---
It was definitely a stupid idea to roam around Crime Alley with Hank in tow, but what was a man to do? Leave an elderly, deranged man alone in a hotel?
Originally Jason wanted to keep interaction with Hank to a minimum to keep the chances of him finding out his identity low. Jason wanted to leave the man alone in the hotel. However, this did not satisfy Hank, and he had been insistent on coming with Jason anywhere.
The first day he left Hank alone, he made no fuss, yet after that he seemed to get restless. It made sense if what he was saying about being a police detective trying to find his son was true.
So that's how Jason found himself, as Red Hood, showing a grown ass man around the better stores. Nothing in Crime Alley was going to be crime free, but during the day in certain places it wasn’t too bad. The last thing Jason needed right now was for this man to get involved in a robbery and shot.
Unexpectedly, no one tried to mess with Hank. Though that may have been due to the Red Hood that stood silently behind him. Despite this, Jason still felt like all of this was a bad idea. Maybe he shouldn’t have offered to help this man. Maybe he was in over his head. Maybe -
“Hey kid, I think something in the alley just moved. You never told me this town was so creepy.” Hank called to Jason, jutting out his thumb to point to the alley behind him. It was starting to get dark, and Jason had been trying to convince Hank that they needed to start heading back.
“No, I did warn you, and your only response was—” Hank ignored Jason, like the first time they had this conversation, and turned into the alley to get a closer look at whatever he saw. Jason only sighed and followed the man into the alley.
It was definitely a dumb idea to bring Hank around the city.
The alley was only lit up by the streetlights that had just turned on, so the whole thing made Jason feel even worse. Not that he couldn’t handle it if he happened to see a threat, but it was also likely a street kid trying to find their way somewhere warm for the night.
As the two made their way down the alley, something jumped out in front of them.
Of course, with Jason’s luck, it was Black Bat, his sister. Despite the irritation he felt with Cass being on his turf, he was also relieved it was her of all the siblings.
“God, could you be any quieter? I think the ant next to your feet heard you move.” Jason joked; he would have rolled his eyes if he didn’t have his mask on.
“Hood.”
“Black Bat. What are you—”
“Hold on, hold on.” Hank, who was basically standing in the middle of the two vigilantes, interrupted, held out his hands, and turned his head towards Jason. “ That is a bat?”
“I mean... yeah?”
Hank looked between Jason and Cass with squinted eyes. “Doesn’t look like a bat to me.”
“We aren’t literal—” Jason started but stopped at a sudden realization. “And I look like a bat to you?”
“I never said that .” Hank retorted. “And you’re bat shit if you think you look like one.”
“Uh—” Cass cut in slightly before Jason could respond, her black mask looking menacing as always.
Jason sighed. “What are you doing here, Black Bat?”
“We’re… worried.” Despite having a full black mask on, Jason knew Cass well enough to know she was subtly scanning Hank with her gaze.
“‘ We’re’ as in—” Cass nodded. “Look, I’m fine, and you guys don’t need to worry.”
“Always worried.” She corrected her original statement.
“Yeah, I know. No one needs to worry, and—” Jason lowered his voice a little, walking up to get a little closer to Cass. “You’re ruining my street cred walking around saying you guys are worried.”
Cass says nothing but moves her head to look at Hank. “No, no. Don’t worry about him either.” Jason waved a finger, as if that would stop her from starting some gossip. “He’s just a friend I’m helping out for now.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? So there's no reason for you to get anyone else involved.”
“Mhm.” She was messing with Jason, and he could tell.
“Well, we’re going to go now. Get out of my territory.” Jason said with no real bite in his tone.
Jason then grabbed Hank by the elbow, ignoring his complaining, as Cass silently stared at them leave.
-
Eventually, as the dark overtook the city, leaving only the yellow glow of the street and building lights around, the two managed to return to the hotel. Did Jason have to drag Hank back? No, surprisingly. Hank had been very quiet on the walk back, almost concerningly quiet.
Jason had expected Hank to bombard him with questions and try to get information out of him, yet Hank had stayed silent and trailed behind Jason on the walk back. Maybe this would be a problem, but maybe this was a future Jason's problem.
If only Jason had realized how quickly that future would come.
“You knew that… bat? ” Hank asked as soon as the hotel door had clicked shut.
“I know her, yes.”
“How?”
“What?”
“How do you guys know each other?” At Jason's silence, Hank continued. “I mean, come on, kid I barely know anything about you.”
“Yeah, that’s for a reason.”
“It makes me… slightly nervous working with someone I don’t know anything about. Back at the police acade-”
“Hold up—what did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything; you cut me off.”
“No, no. You said, ‘working with someone.’ We are not working together.”
“We aren’t? It sure seems like it to me.”
“I am helping you, not working with you. There is a difference.”
“Not in this case.”
“What are we, coworkers ?”
“Well, when you put it like that—”
“And either way, you got all you needed to know about me from our first meeting.”
“No, I really didn’t.”
“You got my name and what I do—”
“Kid, my first impression of you was you asking me if I was dealing drugs in an alleyway after I had just gotten robbed.” Jason winced. So maybe he overreacted, but hey, a man needed to double-check.
“Yeah, but—”
“You think that people only need to know your name and what you are there to do?”
“Yes? What else would someone I’m helping need to know?” Hank stayed silent, only staring at Jason, crossing his arms over his chest. “What else would—”
“What was the deal with her? The bat ?”
“Black Bat? She’s a… coworker of mine.”
“You guys are close?”
“You could say that.”
“And she's worried about you. Along with other people.”
“We don’t have to talk about this, you know?”
“Kid, if she is someone important to you, important enough to care for you and is close with others that care about you… maybe you should talk to them.” Hank moved to sit down on the hotel chair in the corner of the small room.
“Woahhh,” Jason drew out the ‘h.’ “When did you become a licensed therapist?”
“I’m no therapist; I just got dad advice.”
“The last thing I need right now is dad advice. Trust me.” Jason scoffed, flopping face down on Hank's hotel bed, his helmet only bouncing his skull around a little. “They don’t owe me nothin’, and I don’t owe them anything either. It’s just how it works.”
“Kid, that shouldn’t be how it works. You shouldn’t just push people away like that, especially with whatever it is you’ve got going on.”
Suddenly, Jason was standing up again. “You know nothing about me.”
“I don’t, but I’ve seen things in my life, and even though you're young, you clearly have too. Holding grudges only weighs you down.”
“What if I don’t think they deserve forgiveness? I’m trying, but that doesn’t mean it's not hard.” Jason had still been standing up but was less tense now.
“Sometimes, forgiveness can make you feel better. Even if you are still mad at someone, being able to forgive them is better in the long run. Trust me, kid, I’d know.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
As Jason stood still, contemplating the older man's words, he glanced out the closed window. It was small and had a very typical Crime Alley view, but Jason couldn’t help but think there was something thought-provoking to see. Maybe there were aspects of the situation he wasn’t willing to admit to himself, and he didn’t have everyone’s story on the matter.
The wall Jason had built around himself had started to crumble around him, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. It wasn’t like a Crime Alley hotel room was the best place to have this realization.
Before he knew it, Hank was in front of him rather than on the chair. Jason had been so consumed by emotions that he hadn't even noticed Hank standing up. Without warning, Hank was taking slow steps towards Jason.
The silence was thick, and tensions were higher than normal when Hank did the opposite of what Jason thought he was aiming to do.
Hank reached out and pulled Jason into a tight hug.
For a moment, Jason froze. Yet when Hank kept the same comforting grip, Jason started to relax. Hank's grip was rough, awkward, warm, and exactly what Jason needed.
For the first time in a long time, Jason had felt better about everything, and that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t in this alone. It had only taken a grumpy old police detective to get him to understand that there were people he could rely on.
And for the first time in a long time, Jason wasn’t fighting anything.