Chapter Text
Jason decided to just bide his time and see how everything shook out.
He spent the two hours before lunch reading Artemis Fowl, then went down to the kitchen just before noon. True to everyone’s word, Jason got to sit down at the table with Dick and Bruce and eat as much food as he wanted off the table, serving himself seconds and everything.
Because of that, actually, Jason might have eaten too much. He wasn’t really sure what to think about that…
Bruce and Dick were super nice all lunch, too. They chatted away, and kept trying to get Jason to join in, but Jason mostly just sat there quietly listening to them instead. Dick mostly just talked about what was happening at school for him. Apparently he had skipped school that day to stay home with Jason.
Jason wasn’t sure why, but maybe if Jason got hurt while playing with him, it sort of made sense? But he hadn’t even tried to spend the morning with Jason, so…
It was confusing.
Once they were all done eating, though, Alfred came back and started to clear the table. He smiled at Jason as he took his empty plate and asked, “Did you get very far in that book, lad?”
“Which one?” Jason asked, toying with the hem of his sleeve. Had he already talked to Alfred about books? Obviously he had to have told someone he liked reading, if he had so many books already…
Really, he wasn’t sure what to think of that. Him just… telling them what he liked. It wasn’t always smart to tell adults things like that. Taking away things he liked would be the first thing they did, if they wanted to hurt him…
But Alfred said, “Artemis Fowl,” with a smile, “I suggested it to you yesterday. I think you’ll enjoy the precocious main character in that one.”
“Oh,” Jason said, “I don’t remember… so I started over. I like it so far.” He wasn’t super far into it, but it had been fun so far.
“Do you remember where the library is?” Bruce asked, from where he was still sitting at the table, to Jason’s right. Jason had been placed right across from Dick, both of them on either of Bruce’s side, where he was sitting at the head of the table.
It made Jason feel a little antsy, how close he was sitting to them. But so far they’d been nice. And Jason didn’t exactly expect Batman and Robin to be not nice, but still. He felt antsy.
“No,” Jason responded. Because he didn’t remember anything. Actually he was kind of annoyed with how many times they kept asking do you remember…
He didn’t remember anything.
The library was definitely something he wanted to remember, though.
“Come on,” Bruce said, as he stood up, “I’ll show you.”
Jason only hesitated for half a second before he pushed himself back from the table. He definitely wanted to see what the richest man in Gotham called a personal library.
Especially if he was going to be allowed to use it.
Bruce led him down the hall toward where he’d said his study was, then showed Jason some ornate french doors. “Here it is,” he said, as he pushed the doors open and then motioned for Jason to go inside.
And.
Jason couldn’t help but gawk.
“Wow,” he said. Had he been this impressed the first time around? Maybe he should have definitely noted that it was a giant library, with probably at least a thousand books.
At least.
Then again. Why would he even think he could possibly forget?
Bruce chuckled and said, “I love how much you enjoy reading.”
“What’s the catch here,” Jason asked, not letting himself think too much about that comment. There definitely had to be a catch.
But Bruce said, “There is no catch.”
As if that was even possible.
“Okay,” Jason said slowly, as he stepped further into the room, unsure of where he wanted to look first, “But. How did I even end up here? Did the cops catch me? Were you just like, legit open to fostering some random kid you never met?”
Jason was not lucky. He was actually the opposite of lucky. If something bad could happen, it would happen. So. He didn’t believe he just got caught by cops and then a social worker was just like ‘good news! The richest man in Gotham has an opening so you’re going there.’
There was no way.
Also why would Batman just take random kids in? Wasn’t that dangerous? Some of the kids in foster care were in gangs. They could out Batman.
“Well,” Bruce said, earning Jason’s attention instantly.
So there was more to the story.
Bruce rubbed the back of his neck and looked uncomfortable, but then he motioned to the sitting area right in the middle of the room.
After eying it for a moment, Jason reluctantly followed direction and sat down on one of the couches, then watched as Bruce sat down on the couch across from him.
“The cops didn’t catch you,” Bruce finally said, “I caught you.”
Jason tensed up. Did Bruce mean he kidnapped Jason?
Caught Jason doing what?
“Last week,” Bruce explained, “I took Dick out to lunch and parked on the street near Crime Alley. I stepped away for a minute, but didn’t lock the doors because Dick was still in the car. You said you were checking cars for unlocked cars, and you found my car unlocked so you took the cash I had in the cup holder.”
Jason nodded slowly. He definitely had done that a few times already. …but during the day? Maybe. Maybe he’d been really hungry. He'd been scared, lately. He wasn’t finding enough food.
He didn’t want to die.
But trying to steal from cars during the day was almost suicidal.
“I caught you,” Bruce said, “when you turned around I was behind you.”
Just thinking of a situation like that made Jason’s stomach churn. Terrifying was what that was.
“You tried to give me the money back,” Bruce continued, “but I told you to keep it, then invited you to join me and Dick for lunch. We ended up spending the day together, and Dick and I convinced you to come home with us. I promised you I would get you a good social worker and make sure you could be safe, even if it meant taking you in myself.”
“Oh,” Jason whispered. Is that how he got 60 bucks?
How did he figure out Bruce was Batman, though?
Unless… unless Batman had actually caught Jason stealing from someone else at night.
That made far more sense.
No way in hell Jason would just get into the car with a strange man. Especially not a rich man, who had people talking about how he took Dick Grayson in for bad things.
But Batman? He’d believe Batman if he promised he’d make sure Jason would be okay.
“Okay then,” Jason finally said.
“Okay?” Bruce repeated, clearly confused.
Jason nodded. “So. Does that mean you took me in, then? Like…”
“Yes,” Bruce said quickly, “I’m your foster parent and agreed to foster you for the rest of your childhood, as long as you are still okay with us.”
Nine years was a long time. Jason was only nine. And. It definitely scared him the thought of spending his whole life in this place when he didn’t even know it.
But. Dick seemed happy.
“How long has Dick been here?” he asked. He knew Dick was a foster kid, too. That was what people said, New Jersey just let Bruce foster a kid so Bruce could fuck him.
Jason wasn't fully sure what that meant, but he knew it was bad. His dad used to complain about it. Fucking pedos, he’d say, they should just all die.
“About seven years,” Bruce said, “since he was eight.”
Jason nodded. So Dick was still happy after that many years. So. Jason probably could be too, right?
As long as the rumors were all false…
“You’re not a pedo, right?” Jason heard himself asking. He felt himself flush immediately after.
He didn’t mean to just ask that.
“No,” Bruce said instantly, “I’m not. I promise you, you are safe in this house. No one will hurt you in any way, ever.”
“Okay,” Jason said again, nodding. He’d expect as much from Batman, after all.
Bruce looked at Jason like he was still seriously confused about something, but Jason wasn’t sure what. And also he didn’t care.
“Can I take books to my room from here?” he asked.
“Yes, of course,” Bruce said, “you can even keep them in your room if you’d like to keep them. If theres a book we don't have, just tell me and I’ll get it for you.”
Jason smiled at that. He definitely had a list of books in his head he wanted to read. “Do you have Harry Potter?”
Bruce returned the smile and said, “We do,” he got up and walked over to one of the dozens of shelves and pointed to the entire series, “right here. Dick loves these books, so I’m sure he’d love to talk to you about them. He’s got his own copy in his room.”
“I’ve never read it,” Jason admitted, jumping up to go look, “but I want to.” His neighbor used to tell him all about it, the few times Jason ended up walking home from school with her and her little sister. But Jason hadn’t been allowed to check it out from the library yet.
“Feel free, lad. This library is yours now, every single book.”
Jason grinned and pulled the first book off the shelf. “Can I go to my room,” he asked.
“Of course. We’ll have dinner at 7 if I don’t see you before then. If you want a snack before dinner, help yourself.”
“Thanks,” Jason said, unsure of how else to respond.
Jason had to be dreaming, he’d decided.
Although he wasn’t quite sure why his brain would decide Bruce Wayne was Batman. That little detail was the only reason he was inclined to believe this was real.
- - -
Time started to pass, and Jason felt no less dazed by everything.
Bruce signed him up to attend Gotham Academy, just like his journal promised.
He actually went to the school the Monday after he woke up, right at the end of the day for an admissions interview.
Dick and Bruce walked around with him and the headmaster on a grand tour of the school, and he got to meet his new teacher and hear all about what the school offered. There were so many extra curriculars, and Bruce told him he could do anything he wanted. If a club sounded cool, he could sign up for it.
There were a lot of cool sounding clubs, so Jason was going to have to really think on that one. He couldn’t do them all.
The headmaster also had Jason take some tests, which he’d told Jason was just to tell them if he would need any extra support. Jason had been scared they’d turn him away for being too dumb or something. Too uneducated, at the very least, due to his crappy schooling so far, but by the time Jason was done with the testing, he’d been placed into the gifted program.
Jason Todd, street rat from Crime Alley was in the gifted program at Gotham Academy.
Jason definitely didn’t stop smiling, even after Bruce and Dick took him out for ice cream to celebrate.
- - -
The first day of school was surreal.
Jason had to wear a tie. He had no clue how to tie a tie, so Bruce taught him, knelt down next to him in front of a gigantic mirror in Bruce’s room as he slowly walked Jason through each step.
They practiced for a good ten minutes, and while Jason’s knots didn’t look great, he was confident he could maybe fix it, if he had to take it off during the day.
But then Bruce taught him how to take it off and put it back on without untying it, and Jason was definitely confident he’d never have to tie his tie ever again.
Once they got to the school, they dropped Dick off at the high school, then Bruce parked next to the lower school and walked Jason to his classroom. He had butterflies in his stomach as he stepped away from Bruce and walked into his classroom, where the other kids were all settling in for the start of the day, too.
Ms. Sorrentino, his new 4th grade teacher, smiled wide when she saw him. “Jason,” she exclaimed, “It’s so good to see you. Come on in, let me show you your desk.”
Jason turned around and gave Bruce a small smile, before he followed his teacher into the room.
His class seemed okay. The kids all looked at him nicely when Ms. Sorrentino called him up to the front once the bell rang, and at lunch the boys invited him to sit with them. Then they all played kickball at recess, and Jason had a blast. His team kept saying how fast of a runner he was, which was true.
He didn’t tell them it was because he was used to outrunning people after he robbed them, of course. Rich kids didn't need to know that. They might accuse him of trying to steal from them, now.
Jason didn’t have to steal from anyone anymore. He had plenty of food now.
After lunch they had literature, and Jason could hardly contain his excitement.
They actually had a class called literature.
The teacher set a book down in front of him, The Bridge to Terabithia, and said they’re on chapter four, but it was okay since it was his first day. He could catch up over the next week, but he’d just smiled up at her.
“I’ve read this,” he said.
“Have you?”
He nodded.
She smiled and said, “Well, don’t spoil the ending for the others,” with a wink, then went up to the front of the room and started going through the homework worksheet with everyone.
Even though he hadn’t done the worksheet, Jason raised his hand twice and was able to answer two questions correctly, and his teacher smiled brightly at him each time.
After school, Jason went out to the pick up area Bruce had pointed out to him that morning, and Dick found him pretty quickly.
Because Dick wanted to wait with Jason for Bruce each day, after school.
“How was your first day?” Dick asked, and Jason couldn’t help but grin wide.
“It was great.” He loved this school.
Dick smiled brightly at him, and it struck Jason that it was the best smile he’d seen from Dick. All warm and all happy.
Then when Bruce pulled up and stopped in front of the school, Dick opened the back door for him to slip in first, then slid in next to him. Bruce asked him all about his first day as he drove them home, and Jason couldn’t help but answer all the questions with excitement.
He had no idea what even happened, how this happened.
But.
It was good. It was so good. He knew it was good.
And he could hardly believe it.
- - -
Time kept moving. It was crazy, actually, how fast time moved, and how normal everything started to feel.
In the first several weeks, Jason spent a lot of time in his bedroom. No one ever bothered him in there unless it was important, but then a month in, Bruce surprised him with a cell phone.
He wasn’t even ten yet, and he had a cell phone.
Once he had that, Bruce never bothered him ever, but instead would just text him to tell him stuff.
It was neat.
But eventually Jason started exploring the rest of the manor. Dick invited him to movie nights or board games all the time, and he found a game room and several living rooms he liked to watch TV or play playstation in by himself.
Somehow, he started finding himself sitting with Bruce places, watching TV with him, or playing chess, or Mario Kart.
And.
Jason liked it. He really, really liked it.
Bruce was great. Dick was great. Alfred was great. Alfred was really fun to play cards with, and twice already Alfred had asked Jason to help him make cookies or cupcakes, which was awesome. Jason kind of wanted to ask Alfred if he could help cook more…
But none of them ever brought up the fact that they were Batman and Robin. Not once.
And Jason was absolutely, positively sure they were. Because neither Bruce nor Dick were ever home at night. Dick often got home first, but it was never before midnight. Never. Jason had checked, several times.
Once, almost six months after he woke up in Wayne Manor, Jason accidentally actually found Bruce in his room when he went to check at about 10pm. Usually he went to check and found the room empty, then he went down to the kitchen to sneak a snack ‘after bedtime.’
But this time, Jason pushed the door open, and was immediately met with Bruce’s eyes snapping to him, from where he’d been sleeping. In his bed.
Jason panicked, but Bruce snapped Jason out of it instantly when he asked, “Jason? Are you okay, what’s wrong?”
“I—“ Jason started, but he couldn’t tell Bruce I was checking to see if you were out as Batman before I sneaked chocolates.
They’d been telling the truth, all the times they told him he could eat whatever he wanted whenever, but candy wasn’t really included in that. So. He wasn’t sure how Bruce would react to him sneaking some…
But also they were lying to him by not telling him about Batman and Robin, so Jason didn’t feel bad sneaking candy, either.
“Did you have a bad dream?” Bruce asked, now sitting up.
“Yeah,” Jason stammered. A bad dream. Yep. He definitely went and woke Bruce up because he had a bad dream.
That was definitely a thing Jason would do.
Not.
Bruce rubbed at his eyes as he pushed himself up to his feet, then he walked across the room and set a gentle hand on Jason’s back as he led him back toward his room. “It’s okay, lad,” he murmured, “it was just a dream.”
Jason just assumed Bruce would make sure Jason got back into bed before telling him to go back to sleep, but instead Bruce had sat on the edge of Jason’s bed as Jason settled back down, and talked to him for a while.
How often do you have nightmares, was one thing Bruce asked, to which the honest answer had been sometimes.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Bruce had asked next, but Jason just shook his head. There wasn’t anything to talk about, after all.
“Do you want me to read you a story? To get your mind off it?” Bruce then asked, and Jason stilled.
“You’d do that?” he whispered.
Instead of answer, Bruce had twisted around to look at Jason’s current book on the nightstand and picked it up. “This one?” he asked.
Jason simply nodded, then laid back against his pillow and just watched as Bruce started reading right from Jason’s bookmark. Jason didn’t even know if Bruce had ever read the book before. Did Bruce have any idea what was even happening in the story?
He hadn’t even had a nightmare, he wasn’t even scared or upset about anything. But. Bruce still took it super seriously.
His dad used to roll his eyes and tell him to get over it whenever Jason complained about nightmares. Because he wasn’t a baby, and only babies were bothered by nightmares. It had never even crossed his mind to go to Bruce over one.
But there Bruce was, losing out on rare sleep just to make sure Jason felt safe and okay.
Once Bruce finished reading the next chapter half an hour later, he’d replaced the bookmark and set the book back on the nightstand. “You okay now,” he asked, not getting up yet, “Think you can sleep?”
“Yeah,” Jason said. He was exhausted, so sleeping would be simple.
“Okay,” Bruce said, as he stood up. But then he turned around and helped Jason settle down under his blanket and then tucked him in. “Good night, lad,” he said, handing Jason’s teddy to him.
Because apparently he thought Jason slept hugging onto it, or something.
Which. Jason didn’t always do. But the bear definitely at least sat next to his pillow at night.
“I love you,” Bruce then said, and all Jason could do was watch with wide eyes as Bruce leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, before he stood up and left the room.
“Night, Bruce,” Jason mumbled, really unsure what else to say.
“Sleep tight,” Bruce said, as he got to the door, “You can wake me up again if you have another one, okay?”
All Jason could do was nod.
What even was his life?
- - -
The Batman secret didn’t last forever. Jason didn’t think it would, but he kind of expected Bruce or Dick to, like, tell him, right?
But no. That didn’t happen.
Instead, six months and two weeks after Jason found himself living with Batman, he finally got tired of them dancing around it, and just told them he knew.
He didn’t really get why they hadn’t told him already, especially since obviously he’d known, before he got his concussion. But. He also kind of understood. Secret identities were a big deal.
But it was weird to tell a kid I love you and then lie to him, too. But whatever. Jason wasn’t taking it personally.
Then one day, Jason skipped into the living room where he, Dick, and Bruce were going to play a board game and instead found the TV on and tuned to some news report. Dick was watching it attentively, and Bruce was standing behind the couch, on the phone, also staring at the screen with a serious face. The screen said something about aliens invading in Chile.
Bruce looked over at him, when Jason stepped into the room, and his face went blank, but he nodded and said into the phone in a deep voice, “Understood. I’ll be there in ten.” He quickly pocketed the phone and turned toward Jason.
“The Justice League will be responding,” the news reporter said, “we’re expecting them any moment.”
Before Bruce could open his mouth and make some lame-ass excuse for why he couldn’t play monopoly with them, Jason asked, “Are you going to fight the aliens?”
Fighting aliens was pretty damn cool, actually.
Bruce blinked at him, then furrowed his brow and asked, sounding honestly shocked, “You know?”
“Yeah,” Jason said, rolling his eyes. He stepped around Bruce and collapsed down on the couch next to Dick, ready to change the channel once Bruce and Dick left.
Or. Well. Would Robin go, too? Probably not, actually. Jason was pretty sure Dick didn’t go on League missions. He’d never seen Robin in pictures with the Justice League.
So maybe they could still play monopoly, just without Bruce.
“You remember,” Dick exclaimed.
“No,” Jason said slowly, “but, uh. I had written it down in my notebook, so…”
“Your notebook?” Bruce asked. He walked back to the back of the couch, and Jason could feel as he put his hands on the cushion behind him, but Bruce wasn’t touching him or anything.
“I found a notebook under my pillow with notes I took before I got hurt,” Jason admitted. Jason had basically told Bruce everything he’d written in there, anyway. So it was fine if he knew about it. Jason was confident Bruce wouldn’t care.
So far Bruce never got mad at him, ever. Annoyed a few times, sure, but never mad. And every time Jason thought Bruce would be mad about something, he’d always been totally fine with it.
It was weird.
Nice, though.
He’d even told Bruce he had a run away plan, just in case, a few weeks before. Bruce had smiled at him and said, “I’m glad you have a contingency plan. Do you think you’ll need it?”
“No,” Jason had responded, ducking his head back behind his book, so Bruce couldn’t see his cheeks turn red.
Bruce rounded the couch and stopped, right in front of Dick and Jason, and smiled at Jason fondly.
That always made Jason squirm, a little. How just… fond Bruce got. For no damn reason. But. Jason also liked it?
Yeah. He liked it. It was nice, having a guardian actually like him.
“I have to get going,” Bruce said, “but we can talk more later.”
Jason nodded, then watched as Bruce offered an arm to Dick, so Dick jumped up and let Bruce wrap him up tight.
“Stay here,” he said, a little forcefully, as he still had Dick trapped in the hug, “You need to keep Jason company anyway. I’ll call you with updates.”
“Sure thing,” Dick said, returning Bruce’s hug with a smile, “Don’t worry about us.”
Bruce then turned toward Jason and offered an arm to him.
Jason considered it, but shrugged and got up, letting Bruce wrap him up, too.
So far Bruce had hugged him a couple times. But not, like, big hugs. Just quick, unexpected side hugs that always caught Jason off guard. The first time Bruce had done it, he’d immediately apologized to Jason. Because Bruce cared if he made Jason uncomfortable.
But. Jason didn’t mind.
And this hug felt nice. It felt really really nice and warm and strong and.
Jason still wasn’t sure how this was even his life, but he liked it a lot.
“I love you boys,” Bruce said, as he let Jason go and stepped back, “I’ll see you when I get back and we’ll play a game then.”
Jason merely nodded. He still didn’t really know how to respond. How was someone supposed to respond when Batman tells him he loves him?
Dick, however, seemed to know exactly, because he said, “Love you, too, Bruce. Stay safe.”
“Yeah,” Jason agreed. Fighting aliens was probably pretty dangerous, even for Batman.
But Jason wasn’t worried about it.
“Want to watch a movie,” Dick asked, once Bruce finally left.
Jason grinned and dropped back down on the couch as he said, “Yeah, but not Disney.”
He was so over all the stupid Disney movies Dick kept making him watch. Just when Jason thought they had to have seen all of them, Dick somehow found another animated musical, and Jason was going mad.
Why couldn’t they just watch a funny non-musical movie for once?
Dick looked over at Jason sharply, and Jason wasn’t even sure why, but then Dick grinned wide and said, “Fine. Just this once we can watch something not Disney.”
As Jason settled down into the couch, right next to his brother, he had to admit.
He actually kind of loved his new life.