Chapter Text
Jason steps through his apartment door and immediately draws his gun, only to stop in his tracks at who is actually sitting at his table. A kid. A little child. Four, maybe five at most, in age. Just sitting at his dining table. Eating his cereal like it was a normal afternoon. Like Jason doesn’t have nineteen security measures so no one, except for maybe his brothers or Batman, could break in.
The kid freezes at hearing the door open and stares back at Jason with wide-eyed panic, spoon half way to his mouth. His black hair and clothes still wet, no doubt from the pouring rain outside, and one of Jason’s towels wrapped around his shoulders.
Jason blinks and decides to stop looking like an idiot with his jaw hanging and gun out, however he doesn’t get to even formulate a word before the boy drops the spoon with a clank and books it to the nearest window. He doesn’t try to stop him. He knows there are three locks on all the windows, one in particular quite tricky. Instead he just closes the door behind him and puts his gun back in his holster, eyes not leaving the frantic boy looking to run away.
“Kid.”
Said kid whirls around as if ready for an attack, face guarded and stance wide. Yup. That’s alley kid behavior alright. But this young? One of the older street kids should be looking out for him. Geez, he’s just a baby.
“Stop tracking water all over my clean floors,” he scolds, knowing just what to say to get him to stop and focus.
The boy does stop and guiltily glances down at the glistening tile. Jason doesn’t actually give a shit about the floors. The tiles are chipped and scratched beyond repair and he’s spilled blood on these floors on more than one occasion. But that’s not really the point.
“And you were just going to leave me with your mess to clean up?” he pointedly looks at the bowl left on the table and the splatter of milk from when he dropped his spoon. Towel discarded half on the floor.
The child winces as he also looks at it, shifted from foot to foot as if contemplating whether Jason wants him to clean after himself right this second or was just complaining.
“Sorry…” the young voice mutters and oh. That’s- that makes his heart clench a little. Geez, Jason, stop being a dick, the kid is literally shivering.
“I’ll tell you what,” Jason starts, arms folded over his chest, “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll lend you my shower and some clothes while your stuff’s in the wash, and I’ll even cook you up a hot meal.”
He waits. The kid narrows his eyes, clearly suspicious.
“What do you want?” Huh. That wasn’t a Gothamite accent.
“Just answer a couple questions.”
The boy thinks hard. Jason can see the longing for a shower and hot meal. He wasn’t gonna let the tyke back out in the rain just to get sick. Plus he really wants to put some food in the boy, he looks so skinny and unhealthy, especially with his pale skin.
“What kinda questions?” he demands.
“We can start with your name,” Jason suggests. “My name’s Jason.”
The boy rubs his arm in thought, but as predicted, caves shortly after.
“Danny.”
“Well, Danny, I’m gonna go see if I can find any clothes that won’t fall off you.” He might have something of Damian’s from a while back. “The door’s unlocked. See?”
He turns and opens the door just to prove it and closes it again. Danny watches him like a hawk.
“I’m not keeping you here. You can go if you want, but you just won’t get that shower and meal.”
Jason steps away from the door and Danny’s eyes flick back and forth, shoulders hitched up in paranoia. Jason looks back at the door and it clicks.
“Do you want me to lock it?” he asks, trying to keep his voice neutral.
Danny looks a little unsure, but eventually nods hesitantly. As soon as he puts the chain on the door, locks the deadbolt, and the knob, the kid’s shoulders slowly relax a bit. Which is the complete opposite of the usual response to being locked in an apartment with a stranger, especially an alley kid. Unless he thinks someone’s chasing him.
Those light blue eyes landing on his expectantly brings him out of his thought.
“You can finish eating your cereal while you wait. I’ll still cook you something, don’t worry, but cereal don’t keep you very full for very long. Think of it as a snack, yeah?”
“Okay,” Danny agrees quietly, still unsure but willing to go along.
Jason nods and calmly makes his way to the bedroom, not looking behind him as he leaves the living room. He leaves the bedroom door open a crack so he can still hear the boy shuffling around and the clink of the spoon against the bowl.
The first thing he does is pull up his camera feed in the apartment and rewind until he sees the place empty. He plays the visual. Then plays it again. Then again. Jason watches it a fourth time and it doesn’t change. There was a reason he didn’t get an alert his traps had been sprung or tampered with. Danny didn’t touch them. He didn’t touch anything. He watches the boy poke his head through the window without opening it, like it wasn’t even there, followed by his whole body when he sees the place is vacant. Danny can density shift. Holy shit, did a child Martian break into his house? He didn’t think there were any left.
If anything the kid was a meta with the power to walk through objects like they weren’t there, in which case he was probably in a bad situation and ran away with good cause. People weren’t as accepting of meta children as the public liked to make everyone believe. Especially human traffickers.
Deep breath. One thing at a time.
He shoves his phone back in his pocket and rummages through his closet until he can find a pair of gym shorts with a drawstring and the smallest shirt he can get his hands on. The outfit will no doubt shallow the tiny kid, but it was the best he can do on such short notice.
Jason takes the clothes back into his living space and relaxes a bit at seeing Danny still there. The kid could literally walk through walls, he could leave any time he wants to. He guesses he didn’t want to give anything away when Danny didn’t just leave as soon as he saw Jason. If he feels safer hiding it, then Jason wasn’t going to mention it.
Danny is trying to wash the bowl in the sink and Jason doesn’t hide the quirk of his lips at seeing the kid’s armpits hit the counter and his chin resting on the sink ledge. He was so, so tiny.
The kid notices him with a jerk and Jason’s smile falls. Yeah, this boy was hurt. Someone hurt him and he’s running.
“I cleaned,” Danny announces, pointing to the now wet towel on the floor where Jason can see he tried to soak up the water from earlier. What’s funny is as he points, his wet and soapy hand leaves a trail of water droplets on the floor next to him. Danny looks down at the mess and- oh god, he’s just a baby.
Jason snorts and Danny flinches. Jason pretends not to notice.
“That’s okay, bud. Don’t worry about. I was just giving you a hard time earlier. No sweat,” he assures. Danny needs to know that he won’t be punished for making a mess. Jason would never hurt a child, but Danny doesn’t know that yet.
“Leave that, I’ll do it later. Come on, let’s get you that shower I promised, yeah?”
Danny sets the bowl in the sink gently and wipes his wet hands on his already wet shirt. A shirt that is probably two sizes too big, same as the shorts, and when the kid pads over to him, Jason notices he’s almost stepping completely out of his shoes as well.
The boy follows behind him quietly minus the flop and squish of his too big, wet shoes.
The bathroom is nothing fancy, just the necessities. He sits on the lid of the toilet and calmly explains what each bottle is, how to turn on the shower, and gave him a new washcloth. Now that he’s thinking about it, do kids his age take showers? Should he draw him a bath instead?
Danny seems nervous, but excited to finally have some warm water and get clean. His shivering had kicked up a notch now that his adrenaline wasn’t pumping.
“Now, I gotta ask,” Jason turns so he’s facing the boy completely, “do you have any injuries?”
He tenses up at the question.
“I’m only asking because some cuts shouldn’t get any water in them. If you let me, I can treat anything that hurts.” He waits for a moment and watches as the boy hugs himself tightly. “I’m not going to hurt you, Danny. I promise. I don’t hurt kids. It’s a rule of mine.”
He tries to explain in the most sincere voice, but Danny still looks scared. He glances down at the arms protecting his middle.
“Is that where you’re hurt?” he asks gently. Danny takes a step back.
Jason sighs through his nose and tries a different approach.
“I’ve got a lot of scars. There aight nothing I haven’t seen. Wanna see some of ‘em?”
Curiosity piques in those blue, blue eyes. He nods hesitantly.
Jason nods back and strips his sweatshirt off over his head. Danny’s attention is immediately drawn to the many scars decorating his arms. Jason rolls the sleeves up even more to show his bicep.
Childish fascination reels the tyke in as he stares. One of his small hands pulling away from himself to gently traces one of the raised lines. Surprisingly, the kid doesn’t jump away when Jason speaks.
“As you can see, I’ve gotten hurt a lot, so I know what I’m doing.”
Danny slowly pulls his hand away, leaving ghost fingers skimming his skin and raising the hair on his arm. He flexes to make it go away.
The boy is self-conscious, looking down at his dirty shoes and holding himself like he would fall apart otherwise.
“Mine’s big,” Danny confesses in a whisper.
Jason hums. “I’ve got a big one, too. Right here,” he presses a finger to his chest.
Danny glances between where his finger is pointing and Jason’s face, looking for deceit.
“Bet mine’s bigger,” the brat challenges, but the confidence in that statement leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
“I don’t know about that, squirt, mine is pretty gnarly,” he teases. “I show you mine, you show me yours?”
Geez, that came out wrong. Fucking idiot.
Danny doesn’t pick it up thankfully, instead just nods his head with an intense look in his eye.
With a steady breath, Jason tugs the bottom of his shirt to just below his chin, showing off the autopsy scar from years ago. He’s not a fan of it. Making dead jokes is fine. This, however, felt like proof, a reminder of what happened to him, as if the nightmares and memories weren’t enough, there had to be a permanent picture every time he steps out of the shower. It took him a long time to even consider taking his shirt off during sex. So this was important. Showing it off to some kid just so he felt more comfortable with his own injury was a big step in the right direction. A personal victory.
Jason watches the boy’s eyes widen to giant saucers, staring at the Y incision with shock and surprisingly hope? Is he even breathing?
“See?” Jason smiles encouragingly. “I told you it was a pretty gnarly-“
Whatever he was going to say is lost as his mind goes blank when Danny lifts his own shirt. A replica of his own autopsy scar is mirrored on Danny’s small torso. The only difference is Danny’s looked to only be weeks old. Still pink and new.
What the fuck? What thefuck?
Jason is frozen. His mind, his heart, his breathing, all took a mini vacation as he tries to process what he is seeing. What that ugly thing is doing on a child.A child that is certainly not dead.
He is overwhelmed. He can feel his emotions get the best of him as protectiveness and disgust and rage take over.
He hears Danny gasp as his eyes swirl green with murder. Whoever dared do this to a child was going to die a very, very painful death.
He glances up and freezes. Again.
Fucking-
Danny’s eyes-
Just like his own, those baby blue eyes change to a bright, almost glowing, toxic green. They were far more vibrant than his own, but they were mirror images of each other. Like a fucking matching set. Oh god. What the fuck?
“We’re the same,” Danny mumbles out in awe, his eyes fading back to blue and tears turn them wet.
Before he can think, speak, do anything, Danny is throwing himself at him and latching those skinny arms around his waist. Jason barely feels the dampness soaking through his own shirt.
Breathing is hard and stuttered, his heart beating too fast like he’s been running over rooftops all night. Jason doesn’t move until he feels the shaking in the tiny legs pressed against his own. He removes the boy’s arms just to scoop him up and pull him into his lap. God, he weighs practically nothing. He can feel his ribs through the wet shirt far too easily.
Danny immediately shoves his face into his chest and grips his shirt like a lifeline. He’s shaking so bad.
“It’s okay,” he hears himself say because what else should he say? What else can he say? “You’re okay now. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
The sound of Danny sobbing nearly breaks him. He holds the boy in his arms tighter. Jason’s thoughts are scattered, hopping between vengeance and making sure Danny’s okay and puzzling out who did this and he’s never letting anything else hurt this little boy ever again and maybe he should call Alfred, he’ll know what to do.
Rubbing the boy’s back seems to soothe them both as Jason learns to take deep breaths again. He reminds himself to focus on the here and now.
Danny is calmer now, sniffling and wiping his cheeks. He still needs to get out of these cold, wet clothes and get clean. Bath it is. He thinks he still has some body wash, so maybe a bubble bath. Those always seem to cheer him up.
He does manage to get Danny in the bath with lots of bubbles. The large scar across the little boy’s chest – and wasn’t that still a major mind-fuck? – was healed enough to be wet, but he made sure not to fill the tub high enough to submerge the wound.
It wasn’t long before the water was brown and chilled. Danny looked a lot better though with his hair not so dull and his face clean enough to see his adorable freckles that looked like stars. Although by the time Jason drained the tub, Danny was blinking slowly in exhaustion.
Jason fumbled with the towel to help dry the tyke and dress him in the clothes he found, which were indeed too large on the small frame. He had to roll the shorts three times before they stayed on Danny’s waist.
The adult in this situation – oh wow, yea he was a whole ass adult, wasn’t he? – herded the child out of the bathroom and back into the living room, Danny rubbing his eyes tiredly. Jason checks the time. It was just after three in the afternoon, having coming back from the auto shop. He would have worked later, but wanted to get back to do more research on the case he was working on. That’s out the window.
He promised food, but it was a little early for dinner and the kid looked tuckered out. Kids took naps, right? He could put him down for some rest while Jason figures his shit out.
“Danny,” he calls to the boy leaning against the couch and zoned out. The boy looks up at him and, oh yea he needs some shuteye. “Come on, squirt.”
He follows slowly behind Jason, still not fully trusting him, but not so resistant anymore after their little show and tell earlier. Jason folds back the covers of his bed, mentally berating himself for not washing the sheets last week like he should have.
“Hop up,” he pats the spot.
Danny only hesitates a second before he’s crawling into the bed and sinking gratefully into Jason’s pillow, rubbing his face against the loved fabric. Jason covers him until he’s snuggled in warmth. He smiles at the content sigh Danny releases. At least he’s doing one thing right.
“Rest for a bit and I’ll come wake you when food’s ready, alright? Or you can come help me if you wake before that.”
Jason pats his shoulder and turns to walk away.
“You’re leaving?” Danny asks behind him, almost panicked.
“I’ll just be outside. I’m not leaving the apartment. You’re safe,” he reassures, but Danny’s lost little puppy dog eyes make him almost want to cave. He thinks for a second before going over to the closet and rummaging for that stupid gag gift Dick gave him for his birthday last year.
He stands to present his find to his audience, Danny perking up at the object in his hands. The average sized teddy bear dressed like Wonder Woman is held like a precious gem.
“I will lend you Wonder Bear if you promise to try and get some sleep. Maybe she can keep you company while I’m busy. What do you think?”
Danny eyes the bear with a flicker of hope, like he was used to being teased with things and having them taken away. Jason felt like strangling someone.
“I can sleep with her?”
Jason melts.
“Of course you can. She’d be happy to.”
Jason easily hands over the bear and Danny gently takes her like she’s made of glass. Carefully, he tucks her under the covers with him and squeezes her close to his chest. For the twelfth time in the last half hour, Jason is slammed with the reminder that this is a tiny, vulnerable, hurt child that needs and deserves all the care and love in the world. Well fuck him sideways and call him Janet if he wasn’t already committed to making sure Danny gets exactly that.
“Rest well. I’ll be right outside so call me if you need anything, okay? I’ll leave the door cracked to I can hear you.”
Danny seems a lot more accepting now with half his face cuddled into the teddy bear. He nods and leaves the boy to his nap, keeping the door cracked open like he said he would. Keeping his word will go a long way in regards to gaining Danny’s trust, and if he wanted the boy to stay then he needed Danny to feel safe and secure here. He wanted Danny to choose to stay, not just bribe him with hot water and fresh food.
The first thing Jason does is grab his computer. He searches for missing children with Danny’s description in the area and then checked CPS’s database. Both turned up empty, none of the pictures matching the boy in his bedroom. He doesn’t have time to expand the search, but it could be a possibility that whoever cut him open were human traffickers who took organ’s to sell on the black market, in which case Danny could have come from anywhere. He would need to ask Danny more questions to get the full story and track down these motherfuckers to make sure they pay.
He pushes the theories back to focus on the now.
Next on his to-do list is look up how to take care of a kid as young as Danny. It shouldn’t be too hard, right? Feed him, clothe him, keep him warm and safe, what else is there? Apparently a lot says the internet. He clicks through so many Mom blogs that his head spins.
His phone is in his hand and his fingers are dialing the familiar number before he’s even released the breath he was holding.
His favorite person answers on the third ring.
“Master Jason, what a pleasant surprise,” Alfred greets.
“Hey, Alfie, you alone?” His volume low so he didn’t wake the sleeping child in the next room.
“Yes, in fact. Just tidying up a few of the spare bedrooms.” There is a question in the tone that implied he was waiting to hear what was so urgent. Jason was sure his voice wasn’t as steady as he thought it was.
“I need your help with something. Can you keep it between us? Just for now? I don’t want B knowing just yet.”
“And what is it you need help with?”
Jason let’s out a deep sigh. He’s overwhelmed and stressed, but already there is a weight off his shoulders because Alfred knows what to do. He doesn’t have to do this completely blind, he has help.
“I came home to a surprise…”
Jason proceeds to tell his pseudo-grandfather everything he knew so far about the situation, about Danny walking through his wall, about the likelihood of the kid living on the streets with no one else for an unknown amount of time, and most importantly, about the scars on his body and the green in his eyes. Alfred stays silent through the entire explanation.
“I’m loading the results for the nationwide search for a four to five year old male, black hair, blue eyes, but something tells me I’m not going to get any luck there either. I know he came from someplace awful, but I don’t know if he was kidnapped and has parents looking for him, or if it’s something else. He didn’t go to the police, which makes me think he’s on his own. I’ll ask him some more questions when he wakes up and get a clearer picture of what’s going on. Oh, yea, he looked really tired after everything so after I gave him a bath I set him down for a nap. Do kids his age usually nap around this time? And I was going to make him dinner, but he’s so tiny, Alfred, like almost malnourished. Should I just stick with a soup or try to make something more hearty?”
Alfred hums in thought.
“If he hasn’t been eating regularly, or healthy, then some soup and bread would be best to start. Let him eat until he’s full, not until the bowl is empty or he’ll be sick. As for naps, it’s been a while since taking care of a child that young, but if my memory is correct then naptime is a little after lunch. One or two in the afternoon, until they’re about five or six years old. Only up to two hours, of course or their sleep schedule will be off.”
Helpful as always.
“Thanks, Alfie. Can I text or call you for any other questions that pop up?”
“You know you always can, Master Jason. Can I ask though, how is the young lad?”
“He’s…” Jason cringes as he really thinks about it. “He’s scared. Skittish. He doesn’t know if he can trust me yet, but hopefully I can change that. I just wanna keep him safe.”
“Actions speak louder than words. It will do you well to remember that.”
Jason sighs and nods even if Alfred can’t see him.
“Yea.”
“And do not forget to tell the others you won’t be out tonight.” Jason can practically see the knowing raise of his thin, British eyebrow. He runs a hand through his hair. He did, in fact, forget, which Alfred obviously already knew.
“Right. I’ll come up with something. Thanks again, Alfred.”
“Anytime, Master Jason. Do not hesitate to contact me about anything. And as soon as you know of any dietary restrictions, you let me know.”
He smiles, warmth in his stomach. Alfred really wanted to cook for the kid and Jason couldn’t exactly blame him. He now knows where he got it from.
“Sure thing, Alf. Good night.”
“Good night to you as well.”
Jason sighs long and hard before glancing at the clock. Four-thirty. He didn’t have the ingredients for homemade soup, but knew there were a few cans of chicken noddle in the cabinet.
He turns his head when he hears something to see Danny peeking out behind the door, still holding Wonder Bear close to his chest. His hair was flat on one side and a mess on the other from sleeping on it still damp and his clothes were rumbled, barely hanging on to the tiny frame. They really needed to go out to get him new clothes and shoes.
“Hey, kiddo. Did I wake you?” Jason tries to sound friendly while keeping his voice low. Danny doesn’t move closer.
“Who were you talking to?” he asks cautiously.
That was fair.
“My grandpa. His name is Alfred. He’s taken care of quite of few kids in his life and I trust him. I just wanted to make sure I was taking care of you properly. I gotta be honest, I’ve never done this before,” he gives the boy a small smile.
Danny seems to think on that, searching for any lies. He creeps forward into the room, anxiously looking around him for threats.
“Will he tell anyone I’m here?”
“He won’t. I trust him,” he repeats because he wants it to be known.
Danny continues forward until he’s leaning against the arm of the couch, playing with the arm of the bear.
“I can take care of myself, you know.”
Jason smiles at the familiar defense.
“I know, but I want to help. Will you let me help you?”
Danny’s sky blue eyes flick to meet his own and it reminded him of himself staring down Bruce when he first took him in, looking for lies or deceit, questioning if this guy was for real. Questioning why. Why would he take in a street rat? Was this charity? Or was this an opportunity? Weighing the risks and evaluating the threat.
In the back of his mind he thought this might be karma.
“There are bad people who want me back,” Danny suddenly says like jumping into the cool water of a pool.
Jason leans forward. This was important.
“What kind of bad people?” His tone turns serious.
“They’re called the GIW. They’re…”
He trails off, getting cold feet. Jason understands not wanting to share everything, especially if it’s linked to painful memories.
“Are they the ones that gave you that?” he asks neutrally with a pointed look to the horrific scar under the boy’s shirt.
Danny unsurprisingly flinches. He nods, hands shaking as he holds the bear tighter.
“Then they are very bad people,” he reassures. Danny looks to him like a lost child in the grocery store times ten. “Can you tell me everything you know about them?”
Danny hesitates.
“It’s not like you can do anything about it. I’m just hiding and I’ll run again if they find me,” the child says with soul crushing depression.
Jason only thinks about it for about a second before deciding fuck it. He stands and Danny stumbles back a step at Jason’s tall and imposing mass.
“Let me show you something,” he tells the boy, slowly steering him back towards the bedroom, a large hand to the back of Danny’s head because that’s as far as he can reach before he has to bend over at the waist. Danny allows it if only because he’s curious.
Jason goes back to his closet and makes sure the boy is watching before he pushes a button hidden above the doorframe and a secret compartment opens up on the back wall to show his Red Hood gear and several weapons hanging up for easy access.
Danny stares with wide eyes, processing the reveal.
“You’re- You’re Red Hood,” the child stutters out in awe. Good, he doesn’t seem afraid of him.
“That’s right. Which means I can do a lot more than just hide you away, Danny.” Jason squats down to get to his level and looking him dead in the eyes. “I can protect you if you let me. I can also go after these- very bad people and make sure they never hurt you again.”
Danny stares back with such a blossoming hope it almost hurts. Those baby blues mist over for a second time that day.
“Would you like that, Danny? Will you let me do that for you?”
Danny nods in a jerky motion as if he can’t control his movements.
“Yes, please,” he cries, tipping forward to hug the man.
Jason wastes no time wrapping him up in his arms and holding the boy close. Bruce will probably chew him out for revealing his identity to an impressionable and easily manipulated child, but he doesn’t regret it if this was the response. Honestly, it’s Bruce’s fault for passing on the ‘adopt any child in need of help you see’ sickness because these protective instincts rearing up were not normal, not to this extent. Yes he helped out the street kids in Crime Ally, but they knew how to take care of themselves, it was all they knew. This was something different.
Danny was too young, too tiny to properly take care of himself. Plus the fact that he survived the horrific act done to him as well as got away from his captors. He needed not only someone in his corner to get justice for him, but also a caretaker that could understand. They held the same scars, their eyes flash green. Jason had a feeling he was the only one Danny was likely to trust. And for whatever reason, Jason was more than willing to fill that protective parenting role.
Yeah. It was all Bruce’s fault.
He easily scoops up the kid and awkwardly sways back and forth to calm him down. He closes the compartment with a press of a button before exiting the bedroom, kind of bouncing as he went. He’s seen mothers do this to their kids when they were upset, did it work on kids Danny’s age?
Jason props the boy on his hip while getting things out for dinner, the boy must be hungry by now and all these emotions probably didn’t help.
Danny eventually settles down as he watches Jason open two cans of soup with one hand and dumps them in a pot on the stove. He sets the heat to low and gets out bowls and spoons. There was only a half a loaf of bread on the counter.
“How about some toast to go with it?”
Jason doesn’t actually expect the tyke to answer.
“I don’t like toast,” Danny mumbles with a pout into his neck.
“You don’t like toast,” he repeats because that’s a weird thing not to like. “How about bread and butter? Not toasted.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. Alright.”
He pulls out a few slices of bread and the butter. He’s interrupted when Danny wiggles to get down.
“I can help,” the tiny child announces, reaching over the countertop to snag the bread he just took out.
Jason sets him up at the table and has him butter the bread. There are a few holes and rips through the soft bread by the end and uneven clumps of butter, but he didn’t dare say a thing at the proud look Danny sends his way after he’s finished.
They eat together comfortably with Wonder Bear sitting on the table and Danny wiggling happily in his chair from having something warm in his stomach. Wild how fast the kid’s mood changed, but good food does change everything.
“You feeling better, bud?”
Danny nods while shoving more bread into his mouth. Geez, he looks like a chipmunk. Why is he so cute?
“How old are you, Danny?” he asks with curiosity.
“Five. How old are you?”
Hello, Uno Reverse, haven’t seen you in a while.
“I’m twenty-two.”
“That’s old.”
Should he be offended? He thinks he should be offended.
“It’s not that old,” he weakly defends.
Danny gives him a Look and Jason feels properly put out. He wasn’t that old!
“Do you have any siblings?”
The boy looks down at his spoon, twirling it like a toy. He frowns.
“Big sister. Jazz.”
Okay.
“And do you know where she is?”
“With Mom and Dad.”
“And where are they?”
Danny shrugs a shoulder.
“Home I guess.”
So he does have a family. Why does he feel just the slightest bit disappointed by that?
“After we make sure you’re safe and the bad guys can’t hurt you anymore, I can take you back home to your-“
“No!” Danny shout, shutting down that thought process and starting a whole new one.
“Why not?”
Danny glares down at his empty bowl, looking like he’s trying to make it spontaneously combust. He drops his spoon and snags Wonder Bear off the table before leaping from the chair and running into the bedroom to hide.
Well.
That could have gone better.
Jason sighs. He picks up the dirty dishes and quickly washes them, allowing Danny some time to calm down on his own. By the time he’s finished it’s only six-thirty. Creeping over to the bedroom, he peeks in and sees the lump under the covers. Jason knocks on the door anyway. Two little eyes pop up to look at him cautiously, only highlighted by the light from the living room.
“Hey, sweetheart. Do you wanna watch a movie with me? It’s still a little early for bedtime.”
Danny perks up but doesn’t leave the bed.
“I won’t ask anymore questions like that tonight, okay?”
“…What movie?”
“How about we pick together?”
Danny slides off the bed and takes a few steps forward.
“Can Wonder Bear watch too?”
Jason smiles.
“Yea, she can watch.”
“Okay.”
They agree on some children’s movie he doesn’t remember seeing. They sit on the couch together, Jason with his feet on the coffee table and one arm across the back of the couch and Danny curled up beside him with Wonder Bear in his lap.
As the movie progressed (something about magic and a dragon, how original), Danny would fidget or rock or stand, still watching the movie, but clearly needing to move constantly, until he wound down to leaning against Jason while absently chewing on the collar of his shirt. He needs to make sure Damian never sees this shirt again.
He slyly texted Alfred when bedtime should be and the response was ‘is he not in bed already?’ which, okay, to be fair how was he supposed to know? Jason hoped that nap Danny took earlier was enough to hold him over. The movie ends with Danny pressed against his side.
He doesn’t look like he could fall asleep right this second, but he wasn’t moving around as much. Wait, he could read Danny a bedtime story. He could do that. That’s something he’s actually good at.
“Alright, squirt. Let’s get ready for bed.”
“But I’m not tired,” Danny predictably protests.
“Then I guess you don’t get a bedtime story like I was planning on reading to you.”
Danny’s eyes spark with intrigue.
“A bedtime story?”
“You said you weren’t tired,” Jason shrugs as if saying ‘what can you do’.
“I can listen. I wanna hear a story,” he hops up and down in anticipation.
“Go use the bathroom then.”
Jason points and Danny is pattering across the floor and closing the door behind him. Thank god he’s old enough to not need potty training. Jason is just turning off the TV when the door opens behind him.
“I’m done!”
“Did you wash your hands?”
Danny freezes and looks away. Jason sighs and ushers him back into the bathroom to wash his hands. Finding an extra toothbrush under the sink, they brush their teeth together, Jason having to lift Danny up so the kid could spit in the sink.
They get comfortable, Danny tucked into bed and Jason sitting propped up over the covers.
“Do you know Treasure Island?”
Danny shakes his head with interest as he stares at the cover of the book. Jason smiles and turns to the first page. He gets through two chapters before Danny can barely keep his eyes open. He marks the page and sets it aside to continue for tomorrow night. Hopefully.
“Get some sleep, Danny. I’m gonna be right outside in the living room, okay?” he explains as he adjusts the covers around the kid. Danny blinks up at him, sleep already pulling at him.
“And you’ll keep the door cracked?”
Jason nods, “Yep, so I can hear you and you can hear me.”
Danny doesn’t seem happy with that, but satisfied enough. Jason bids him goodnight and takes with him some sleep clothes from the closet, an extra pillow, and his phone charger. He takes a quick shower before making his bed on the couch.
He curses when he remembers to text the others that he was taking a night off and sends it with no explanation. Of course they thought it was odd, but taking one night off really wasn’t suspicious enough for them to investigate. Plus he knows half of them are knee deep in their own shit, no reason for any of them to come crawling through his window to question him.
Next, he pulls his computer closer to continue his research, adding the GIW that Danny mentioned to the top of the list. He exits out of the pages missing children in the nation, not even bothering to look anymore. With Danny’s reaction there was a good probability that his folks never even reported him missing. That just seems to make him angrier, or more justified in keeping the boy, if he allows him. Shit, was he already considering adoption at this point? He’s had Danny for not even a day.
He pulls up an empty file and fills it with all the information he learned. Saving it, he pushes it to the side and switches gears to continue researching the new drug that seems to be circulating his streets and causing D.O.’s left and right. He had planned to do a stakeout tonight, but with Danny being here he doesn’t feel comfortable leaving him by himself in the middle of the night.
Jason continues until close to midnight before calling it quits and closing it down. If he wants to be well rested when he takes Danny out to buy new clothes and necessities, then he should get some sleep sooner rather than later.
However, not twenty minutes after he lies down does Danny come shuffling out of the bedroom looking nervous.
“Hey, bud, what’s wrong?”
Jason sits up and reaches out a hand like it was second nature beckoning the boy closer. Danny does come closer, playing with his fingers and not looking directly at Jason. He furrows his brows in worry at how skittish the boy is again after he was so relaxed when he left him.
“What’s the matter?” he tries again, rubbing the back of Danny’s head to show comfort. The boy seems to lean into the touch without thinking about it, a sign of trust.
“Can I sleep with you?”
Jason blinks in surprise, eyebrows rising quickly.
“You- Are you sure?” he asks in disbelief. No one has ever come to him for comfort, not even his siblings. This was new. It made his chest warm with something unfamiliar. The only thing he can compare it to is when a victim thanks him after saving them. The feeling of being needed? Wanted? When someone seeks him out because they know he will do his job and do it well. He feels… honored?
Danny nods his little head shyly and Jason melts, a strange buzzing under his skin he can’t quite identify.
“Sure, sweetheart. Yea, let’s- let’s get you back to bed, yea?”
Danny follows along almost eagerly, bouncing forward back into the bed and looking expectantly at Jason. He gets under the covers and gets comfortable, almost hyperaware of his movements as little eyes watch him. When he settles, Danny carefully scoots closer until he’s just barely touching Jason’s arm. Deciding to take a chance but trying not to spook the kid, Jason slowly tucks his arm under the boy’s head and around his back. Danny quickly snuggles into his side with a content sigh, finally closing his eyes.
Wow. Wow.
Was his heart beating really loud? Should he hold his breath? Why was he nervous? He felt almost giddy. This little, vulnerable child trusts him to protect him while he slept, to comfort him if he woke from a nightmare. He choseJason to hold him.
God, this felt- he couldn’t stop glancing down at the top of messing black hair. Lips pulled back into a wide smile. He was never letting go.