Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jason

Jason can’t sleep. It’s been an ongoing problem for a few weeks now. Thankfully his helmet and his general grumpiness have kept it from being too noticeable. He lays in his cot now, eyes focused on the ceiling of their sleeping box listening to the sounds of the Opera house. He can hear Peter’s steady breathing from his own cot, and Steph’s storing from the girl’s box. Somewhere down in the auditorium Tim is typing away at his laptop, music playing quietly. Jason sits up and scrubs a hand through his hair. 

“Jay?” Peter asks.

“Bathroom, go back to sleep,” Jason tells him. Peter hums and rolls over pulling his blanket back up over his head. Jason grabs the shirt he’d left on the floor next to his cot and pulls it on over his head as he heads down to the auditorium. He finds Tim in the orchestra pit sitting at Jason’s computer. His legs are pulled up onto the chair and there’s a twizzler sticking out of his mouth. Jason frowns at the three energy drink cans sitting crumpled on the desk. 

“I know I know bedtime,” Tim says. Jason lets out a grunt and drops onto the extra chair he’d brought in. 

“What are you working on?” he asks. 

“Not sure,” Tim admits. “Searching for any abnormalities in the communications between the Green lantern corps.” 

“Did you hack the green lanterns?” 

“No, I stole Hal’s credentials.” 

“I knew I liked you for a reason.” Jason says. He slides down a bit in the chair and props his feet up on the desk. “Did you find anything?” 

“No,” Tim admits. “I was thinking about having Kon take me to the fortress of solitude next.” 

“You think there’s something out there?” Jason asks. 

“I don’t know,” Tim admits, “But Peter seems to, doesn't he? He’s not exactly subtle about it and I don’t think even he knows the real extent of his Spider sense.” 

“Bruce hasn’t found anything either?” 

“No,” Tim sighs and slumps back in his seat rubbing at his eyes. Peter’s been acting off for the past few weeks. He’s trying to hide it, trying to be his normal self but there’s something in his gaze, in his actions. They know that something isn’t right but what could it be? What is it that’s got him so on edge? Bruce is pushing the Justice League to figure it out, Dick has deployed pretty much every hero that’s ever been a Titan. But Peter doesn’t even seem to know what it is that he’s looking for, so it’s not like there’s any solid leads to follow. 

Jason scrubs a hand over his face. He needs to sleep. They all need to sleep. Peter’s been running on about three hours of sleep on the nights they can get him into bed. He predicts they have about a half hour before he’s up again and if he sees Jason and Tim both awake he’ll worry about them. He’s got his suit fitting in the morning for the Gala and he’s already stressed enough about the whole thing. Jason’s been debating sneaking in as a waiter just so he can keep an eye on both Peter and Damian, but he can’t trust his brother’s not to do something stupid if they spot him there. 

“Could it be Big Blue? Have you found anything about his mission?”

“No, nothing at all. I’m not even sure Bruce knows where Clark is right now,” 

“That could be concerning,” Jason drops his feet to the ground and pushes Tim’s chair out of the way while he uses the backdoor to the Batcomputer that Tim had put in. He knows that Tim has probably already searched these but a second set of eyes never hurt. Tim throws his legs onto Jason’s lap and pulls his hood up to cover his eyes. Jason hopes that he’ll at least get to sleep. If Tim falls asleep on him then Jason can use it as an excuse for why he didn’t go back up to his cot when Peter wakes up. Tim mumbles something unintelligible and in just a few seconds he’s out like a light. Jason takes the Twizzler out of his mouth to make sure he doesn’t choke in his sleep. 

Chapter Text

Peter

A gala is exactly what Peter expected it to be. Stuffy and boring and if he could actually get drunk he might have even considered snagging a glass of the champagne the waiters had been walking around with. As it was Dick had pressed a glass of sparkling cider into his hands shortly after they’d arrived and Peter was still carrying it because the bubbles made him want to burp and he didn’t think that would be the polite thing to do. 

“This is ridiculous,” Damian grumbles from beside him. Bruce’s personal tailor had made matching suits for them on Peter’s insistence. If he was going to be forced to dress up at least he could have a little fun with it. Bruce hadn’t made the official announcement about who they were, in fact he hadn’t even shown up yet. The Bat signal had gone up and Bruce had taken off halfway through getting ready. 

“It won’t be too much longer,” Peter guesses. The gala hadn’t even started until seven pm and if Damian was a normal child he’d probably have like a nine thirty bedtime at the latest. Dick had almost immediately been pulled off by a bunch of young socialites and Tim was apparently also running his parents' businesses here in Gotham and somehow he’d completely forgotten to mention that to Peter. He couldn’t figure out when Tim found the time to do everything and really his constant sleep deprivation made a lot of sense, but he was obligated to mingle with some of their business partners which left Peter and Damian on their own for the time being. 

“If I had been allowed to go with father then surely we would have returned by now,” Damian crosses his arm and glares at some older women that have been eyeing them. Peter puts a hand on Damian’s shoulder and pulls him closer to his side flashing his best smile at the older woman. 

“Just smile and try not to insult people to their faces,” Peter says through his teeth. “Think of it as an undercover mission. You wanna be like B so bad then you’re gonna have to come up with a face person like him and Dick did.” 

“I have to act like a drunken fool?” Damian asks, crossing his arms. 

“No of course not… I know you’re not gonna like it, but you are young. They won’t suspect anything if they think you’re just some cute little kid,” Peter shrugs, he sets his still full glass on the tray of a waiter that passes by and whispers a quiet thank you to the man. 

“So… what? I should act like a child?” 

“Exactly,” Peter smiles down at him. Damian narrows his eyes but he doesn’t look like he’s going to get violent about it at least. 

“Interesting,” Damian muses. “I shall consider your proposal Parker.” 

“Oh,” Peter blinks, “You will?” 

“You’re not exactly an imbecile I would be foolish not to consider your opinion on the matter,” he admits. 

“Oh I think that might have been a compliment,” Peter might cry. 

“Don’t get sentimental. Where is Grayson? Is he not supposed to be our chaperone until father arrives?” 

“He is. Though he kind of looks like he might need a rescue. You wanna try it out?” 

“The childish act?” 

“Yeah, Dick’s your brother now after all.” 

“I will attempt,” Damian nods. He seems to think through it then nods his head and hurries over to where Dick is still surrounded. Peter follows behind him at a distance. Damian uses his small size to slip through the crowd and wraps his arms around Dick’s waist as he looks up at him. Dick stops talking immediately and looks down at him. 

“Dami?” He says, his eyes dart around and he spots Peter through the group. Peter winks at him. 

“Akhi!” Damian says with a whine in his voice. “Where is Baba?” Dick looks utterly bewildered for a moment. 

“He’s not here yet buddy,” He says, lifting Damian up and settling him on his hip. Damian pouts. 

“I’m hungry,” He says, laying his head on Dick’s shoulder. Dick looks like he might cry. 

“Sorry folks, seems like I’m needed,” Dick gives them all a smile and moves out of the crowd and over to Peter, He wraps his free arm around Peter’s shoulders and brings them both over to the table with all the hors d'oeuvres. 

“You’re right Parker,” Damian says smugly. “It is a very effective method. You may release me now, Grayson.” Dick is clearly trying not to laugh as he sets Damian back down. 

“What was that about?” He asks. 

“Training,” Peter shrugs and picks up a plate looking over the food. The only thing on the table he can name is the mini quiches so he puts a couple of them on his plate. 

“Well it worked pretty well then,” Dick says with a laugh. He keeps a hand on Damian’s shoulder to keep him from wandering away. 

“Where is Bruce?” Peter asks. 

“Emergency meeting,” Tim says as he slides up beside them and shoves a mini quiche into his mouth. Damian watches him with disgust. 

“Is it going to be long?” Peter asks, glancing around the ball room. 

“Yeah afraid so. Dick you might have to take the lead on this one,” Tim holds a napkin over his mouth as he speaks with his mouth still full. 

“Any chances of a rogue crashing the party?” Dick asks. 

“Harvey’s been feeling a little less homicidal lately we could probably convince him to do it,” Tim shrugs. 

“Oh yeah ask him,” Peter says. “I have questions for him. Where is he? I bet Jason could get him out of Arkham real quick if we asked.” 

“As tempting as that is, I think Bruce might be a little disappointed in us.” 

“What about Catwoman?” Peter asks, he’d met her briefly over spring break when he’d gone on a patrol with Batman. 

“Selina was technically sent an invite,” Tim admits. Dick considers it and then pulls out his phone. 

“Okay fine, you and little D can have your big intro to society at the next Gala when Bruce is here.” 

“I knew you were my favorite for a reason,” Tim says as he throws an arm around Peter’s neck. “Anyway I’ve done what I need to do so me and Peter are gonna go downstairs and do some science.” 

“What kind of science?” Peter asks as he lets himself be dragged away. 

“The fun kind,” Tim promises. 

“I am coming with you!” Damian declares trying to free himself from Dick’s grip. 

“Nuh uh little D we’re gonna practice your cute kid face,” Dick says as he picks Damian up. As Tim and Peter hurry through the halls of the manor to Bruce’s office they hear a distant sound of shattering glass and an alarm is triggered. Tim cringes a bit. 

“Alfred’s gonna kill us if that was a window,” he admits. 

“Sounded more like the champagne glass tower,” Peter shrugs. 

“Right… still the sooner we get out on patrol the safer we are from his wrath,” Tim says as he opens the door to the Batcave. 

Chapter Text

Jason

With the Bat out of town Jason has a lot more freedom to run the streets of Gotham but something about it just doesn’t have the same appeal when there are bigger things going on. He does his part of course still. He has to keep his gang in line though his lieutenants are pretty on top of things. It seems that at  least for now people are respecting his reign over Crime Alley. There’s been no word of anyone trying to deal to kids and he’s working on shifting away from drugs and putting efforts into repairing the long since neglected infrastructure of this part of the city. 

He’s hanging out on a fire escape eating some empanadas a very nice older lady had insisted that he take with him when she’d caught him in the alleyway outside her house looking for one of the street kids he’d heard was in the area when he notices a kid peeking around the corner of the building to watch him. 

“What?” he asks, his helmets off and resting on the fire escape. 

“Are you Red Hood?” The kid asks hesitantly. 

“Yeah, what about it?” 

“Do you know Batman?” 

“Unfortunately, why?” Jason picks up his helmet and drops down into the alley. He hasn’t finished his food but the kid looks like he could probably use it more if Jason can convince him to take it. Judging by the state of his clothes he’s probably not living in a stable place. There’s a lot of shelters all around Gotham and most of them aren’t very trustworthy. Just the week before one of them had a little bit of an explosive accident after he found proof that they’d been using the shelter as a way to traffic people. Of course it was conveniently right after everyone had exited to a safe location for a fire drill. Jason’s been working on the whole killing thing. He’ll investigate the staff first and make sure that only the ones who knew about the operation. And well if Wayne enterprise had already purchased the remains of the building with plans to open one of their own shelters then no one had to know that Red Hood was involved with that.

“Um I’m only supposed to tell Batman,” The kid says looking around hesitantly. Jason’s pretty sure he’s about to make a run for it so he kneels down to the kids height and holds out the tupperware with the rest of the empanadas. 

“How about a snack?” He suggests. The kid eyes him and the food then darts forward to grab one before backing away. He has it scarfed down in seconds and gladly takes a second when Jason offers it to him. “Batman’s with the Justice League right now, but I can get Nightwing or Robin for you.” 

“It’s… its about one of the Robins,” The kid admits. Jason frowns and checks his wrist computer. Tim’s tracker has him and Peter on the east side. 

“What about him?” Jason asks. The kid shifts awkwardly with a guilty look on his face. Jason offers him the last empanada.  

“It's… He got hurt,” The kid admits. “The Robin’s were fighting a bad guy and he got hurt. He came to hide with us but some of us think he needs to go to Doctor Leslie but he won’t listen. But he’ll listen to Batman!” 

“The Robins?” Jason has to fight the urge to frown at that. He keeps his face neutral as he checks once more that Tim’s tracker is moving normally. 

“Yeah,” The kid says. “Can you get Batman now?” 

“It’s gonna be a while til he can get here, a few days maybe. I’ll tell you what, why don’t I come with you and try to convince this Robin to get help. If I can’t then I’ll call Nightwing. No one can ever say no to Nightwing.” 

“Are… you a good guy?” The kid asks, eyeing the guns strapped to Jason’s thighs. 

“I don’t hurt good people,” Jason shrugs. “That’s about as good as I can be.” 

“Robins are good people,” The kid shifts on his feet, glancing over his shoulder. “Okay you can help.”  

“Cool,” Jason stands up and stashes the now empty tupperware in one of the large pockets of his jacket. He considers putting his helmet back on but kids tend to be more trusting when he doesn’t wear it. He’s been doing his best to care for the homeless kids in Crime Alley but most of them aren’t trusting of adults and while he’s still only nineteen that’s old enough for them to think of him as an adult. Only the lucky Crime Alley kids make it to nineteen after all. This particular kid seems to have decided that he’s safe despite all that so he takes a hold of Jason’s hand and pulls him down the street. Jason twists his free hand in just the right way to turn his own tracker back on just in case its some sort of trick. He doesn’t often let Oracle or Karen track him so both will take it being turned on as a sign to keep track. 

“It’s just this way,” The kid says as he ducks into a small opening to an abandoned building. It’s a tight squeeze for Jason and he really hopes there are no cameras nearby for Oracle to watch him climb his way through. It’s also going to be really shitty to get his way out of if this really is a trap. 

“So you said that it was a Robin? Like one of the ones that runs around with Batman?” Jason asks. Once he’s through the opening the room is a normal size so he’s able to stand to his whole height and the night vision on his domino mask kicks on so he can see the room they’re in. 

“No like one of the other Robins,” The kid says as he hurries down a hallway. “The ones that came after the earthquake.” Jason had heard rumors of that. When an earthquake had nearly taken out all of Gotham and things had gone crazy there’d been a lot of talk of a group of kids running around calling themselves Robin. No one else had said anything about it so Jason had figured they were just rumors. But if these kids had still been running around after all this time then he’d be pretty impressed they’d evaded Bruce for so long. 

The kid leads him into what probably used to be the basement of the building and Jason’s not surprised to find that it seems to have been turned into a hide out for a group of kids. It’s not uncommon for places like this to pop up. Kids taking care of each other. There are blankets draped over strings that hang from the ceilings and lanterns here and there to light the room though not many. Kids scurry away from their path as the kid drags Jason by his hand to one of the more brightly lit sections. There’s a group of older kids gathered there. Several of them decked out in red and yellow outfits with R’s sewed onto them. 

“It’s Red Hood!” Someone yells. The kids get to their feet quickly pulling makeshift weapons out and facing him. The kid that had brought Jason there lets go of his hand quickly and moves behind him. 

“He’s gonna help!” he insists. There’s an old twin mattress in the middle of the section and a dark skinned teen lays on it. The ratty jeans the teen is wearing are covered in blood and the red jacket he was wearing had a massive rip over the shoulder. 

“I come in peace,” Jason says as he moves further into the room and kneels beside the teen. He hears the crackle of a taser and reaches out to grab the wrist of the teen that was about to hit him with it. “None of that. How long has he been down?” When Jason lets go his would be attacker moves back quickly. Jason sets his helmet down then pulls his medkit out and sets it down on the ground before opening up the kids jacket more to get a better look at the cut. There are bandages stuffed over the wound and they’ve clearly been attempting to stop the bleeding at least. The kids skin feels hot though and he’s worried about an infection.

 “What’s your name?” 

“Duke,” The teen on the bed says. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.” 

“Yeah when you’re dead?” Jason grabs his scissors and cuts away Duke’s clothes around his wound. He cleans it carefully so he can get a better look at it. It’s definitely going to need stitches at least and proper cleaning. Probably some antibiotics too just to be safe. 

“I heal fast,” he says. 

“You’ll heal faster at the clinic,” Jason grabs his helmet and puts it back on then gathers the teen up in his arms as he stands. There’s a weak protest from the other kids gathered there. Jason ignores them. “If you don’t want your friend to die then show me the best exit.”