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Jason was in his room tossing a ball at the ceiling. He hadn’t slept in days, ever since the news got out about his dad he hadn’t been going to school. The funeral had been a week before. He was supposed to be going back to school tomorrow but he knew his mom was too strung out to make him and he had no desire to go. He heard something outside his window and unlatched the window pane. There was the kid, the Talon who had killed his dad. He was running from the sidewalk into the alleyway. Jason found himself slipping out the window and onto the pavement. Before the kid could get any further, Jay was on top of him tackling him to the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He pinned his arms down and looked him straight in the yellow eyes.
The Talon didn’t say anything but nudged his head.
“Thank Fuck, she took your blade away.” Jason said after a moment of realization.
The Talon frowned at that.
“What? I don’t want to get fucking stabbed for helping you.”
The Talon pursed his lips more.
“Selina already told me you tried to escape back to them last week. Do you want to go back with her or come inside with me?”
The Talon didn’t say anything but Jay could feel him shaking beneath him.
“Fuck, right the cold isn’t good for Talons. Shake your head up if you want to come in with me and down if you want to go back to Selina.”
The Talon shook his head emphatically, ‘yes’.
“Okay, you can come in with me.” He got off him but held onto his arm so the Talon wouldn’t go away.
The Talon allowed himself to be pulled and Jason helped him inside the window. “I heard you talk when you killed him, why aren’t you talking?”
Talon used his fingers to gesture and zipped his lips.
“You’re allowed to speak, you’re not with them.” Jason sighed.
Talon didn’t say anything.
“You got a name?”
Talon pointed at a piece of paper.
Jason let go of his wrist and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. He handed it to Talon.
Talon wrote in messy chicken scratch handwriting, “Dick.”
Jason frowned. “It’s not nice to call yourself that, what’s your actual name?”
Talon pointed to the paper.
“Really, Dick? Are you sure that you don't want to change it?
Dick rolled his eyes and nodded.
“Alright, Dickie. I’m Jason but you can call me Jay.”
Dick nodded and shivered.
Jason frowned. “You’re still cold.” He grabbed a blanket from his bed and wrapped it around his shoulders. “Hopefully that helps. God, I wish you’d speak.”
Dick frowned.
“Sorry not to be pushy, I just feel weird doing all the talking.”
He nodded.
“Why don’t you like Selina? You can write it down, if you want to.”
Dick moved toward Jason’s desk and set the paper down. He quickly wrote. “Don’t trust adults.”
“Oh, me either. They suck. Well Selina isn’t bad but she just drops off food. My mom on the other hand.” He grimaced. “Fuck…she’s so messed up. She’s somehow worse now that dad…anyways, do you want to sleep on my bed or the floor? Oh wait, should I get you food?”
Dick held his hands up to gesture for Jason to stop.
“Right, I’m talking fast and deciding things too quickly. Are you hungry?”
Dick shook his head.
“Thirsty? I have Capri sun.”
Dick shook his head.
“Sleepy?”
Dick shook his head.
“Babysitting is hard.”
Dick pursed his lips in annoyance.
“Sorry, you’re not a baby. Do you want to play a game? I have an old PlayStation.”
Dick tilted his head in confusion.
“Games are like, well games are um. Games are activities you do with another person or like on a console for fun. Sometimes there’s strategy or sometimes they’re just silly and simple.” He thought for a second then tapped Dick on the shoulder. “Tag!” He retreated back.”Now, you have to tag me back.”
Dick had a mischievous grin and came darting toward Jason. He tapped him on the shoulder. The two raced around the apartment playing tag for almost a half hour before they were interrupted by a call from Selina. She had given Jason a phone for emergencies once she found out he didn’t have a house phone.
“Hello?”
“Todd? Have you seen the Talon? I went to check on him in his room and he was gone.”
“You mean Dick?”
“He’s not a dick. He can be skittish and almost feral but. Nevermind, have you seen him?”
“No, his name is Dick. Yeah I’ve seen him. He’s with me. We’re fine, don’t come!”
“Todd. He killed someone.”
“He was forced to. Just please I’ve got this. I’m the one who figured out his name. We understand each other.”
“Okay, just call if you need anything.” Selina sighed. “I guess it makes sense that you two little shits get along.”
“Or you’re just meant to be around pussy and not people.”
“Todd!”
Jason hung up with that.
A few days went by and things weren’t looking so great on the home front. Jason’s mother was still in a deep depression from the passing of his father and had yet to leave the couch since the funeral. The power had gone off in the apartment and there was notice on the door about the rent. They were fine on food but that was about it. Desperate times called for desperate measures. That was how Jason found himself in Crime Alley removing tires from the infamous Batmobile.
Jason was moving quickly with apathy. He jacked up the car and the bolts off the front tire and stacked it in a pile. He moved onto the next, he was about to remove the fourth when a looming black shadow appeared over him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A gruff voice grunted.
“Fuck.” Jason murmured and turned around.
“Aren’t you a little young to curse?”
“Aren’t you a little old to play fucking dress up? Or is it a cosplay? It’s not a very convincing Bat costume.”
Bruce was caught off guard, typically kids his age would be awestruck by Batman. “It’s not a Bat costume.” He scoffed. “What were you doing?”
“Well if you’d been considerate and you just been gone another God forsaken ten minutes, I could’ve-
Bruce cut him off. “Stolen tires off the Batmobile. Pretty bold, I must say.”
“Well, you were enough of a dumbass to park in Crime Alley.”
“I rid Gotham of crime every day, why would you try to steal my tires?”
“Someone’s got a fucking God complex. Not everyone can afford one hundred thousand dollar cars with shiny rims and a damn sunroof.”
“What do you need the money for, kid?”
“More like what don’t I need the fucking money for. Do you put on the voice by the way? It’s not as intimidating as you think.”
Bruce took a deep breath as he was losing patience as he argued with a middle schooler. “What do you mean?” He didn’t answer the question.
"Did a villain damage your throat, or do you put on the 'I am the night' voice? Because most folks who stalk the night are working girls and it doesn't really fit."
“Get the tires back on the batmobile and I’ll get you something to eat.”
“Catwoman all over again.” He murmured.
“What?”
“Oh nothing. I don’t need your damn sympathy, I know your type. Moral code that only works in a perfect fucking world and doesn’t understand that sometimes good people do bad things to get by. I have to get back home to my little brother.” He grabbed the stack of the tires and pushed past Batman before running off.
Bruce stared at the kid as he walked away but didn’t stop him. He got in the batmobile that now couldn’t be driven away. “Alfred, I need a ride.”
“I heard, sir. I’m surprised you’re letting him get away.”
“He needed it. Don’t know how much he’ll make without a full set of tires though. I need to call Selina, see if she knows anything. I think I heard him mention Catwoman.”
“Master Bruce, no offense but you didn’t get his name or anything. It might be hard to ask Selina anything about him.”
“I doubt she knows very many alley kids.”
“Ms. Kyle did grow up in the alley, sir.”
“I’m aware.”
“Sir, you’re showing more patience than usual. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks, Alfred. How long will you be?”
“I take back what I said.”
Jason got back to the apartment with about five hundred in cash. It wasn’t enough for both power and the rent but it would at least keep a roof over their heads. If worse came to worse, he could always ask Selina for help with the electric. Electricity wasn’t nearly the ask of rent. He slipped inside and went to his shared room. Dick was playing with an old Lego set of his, it was supposed to be a Hogwarts castle set but at the moment it looked more like the leaning tower of Pisa.
“Hi, Dickie. I see you didn’t go to sleep.”
Dick stuck his tongue out at him.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
He nodded.
“Fuck, I hate that. Do you want to use that book I got from the library? We could practice sign language.”
He gave him a thumbs up.
“Okay, we’ll work on that and then we’ll both sleep.”
Dick grabbed the notebook that Jason had given. “Where were you?” He wrote.
“I was getting money for rent. I took care of us, Dickie.” He grinned. “And I got a cool story out of it.”
Dick tilted his head.
“You don’t know how fucking cool it is, but I stole three of Batman’s tires.”
Dick shrugged nonchalantly the name didn’t mean much to him.
“You’re the only person in the world who doesn’t understand how damn cool that is.”
Dick looked unimpressed.
“Aren’t you a critic? Fine, whatever, let's work on your sign.” He grabbed the book out of his backpack.
After going through the embarrassment of getting picked up by the Batplane and having a tow truck take away the Batmobile itself. Bruce was back in the cave. Bruce couldn’t get the boy who confronted him out of his head. He didn’t have a name to look up or anything except the vague clue that the kid knew Selina. No one had ever called Batman out on the richness of his toys; they had all been too intimidated except Catwoman. Selina would call Bruce out on his shit and maybe that was why he liked the kid. After he showered and changed out of the suit and cowl, he called her.
“Selina.”
“Bruce.”
“Look, I need to talk to you.”
“Are you hung up on me or is it about a case?”
“Neither actually. Something wild happened tonight.”
“By Gotham standards or Joker?”
“Gotham. This kid stole my tires, I caught him red handed. I walked up just as he was taking off the fourth.”
“I mean, you’re Batman. But where were you parked? I gotta say, Bruce, this is kind of a let down.”
“He went off about how I’m rich and my morals only work in a perfect world. He said I cosplay as a Bat. I, Batman, offered to get him a meal and he rejected me.”
“Brucie, not everyone is going to like you. I’m sorry you just learned that. But I’m not seeing the correlation between some kid and me.”
“Whenever I offered him food; he said just like Catwoman.”
“Oh, so the kid knows me. It was one of my strays. Makes sense.”
“So you have any idea who it is?”
“Why does it matter Bruce? You said you found him before he took all your tires.”
“Actually he still took three out of four.”
“I love this kid!”
“Not funny, Selina. Listen, he said he really could use the money and I’m worried what else he might do to get it. He was tiny, a kid like that doing stuff to get money by any means necessary is dangerous.”
“I’ll try to find out who it is and help them. I probably can’t get your tires back though. Those puppies are long gone.”
“Can you tell me who the kid is?”
“I don’t get why you care so much, B.”
“Look, Sel. I let Grayson slip through my fingers. I wanted to adopt him but I didn’t fight hard enough, I convinced myself I was too young and now he’s been missing for years. Maybe I could help this kid and his brother. He’s ballsy, I like that.”
She sighed. “I get it but adopting a couple kids isn’t going to be penance for a kid you lost. Maybe do what other rich guys do and just pay off your guilt to charity. Help a boys’ home or something.”
“Sel, I’m already doing that for Gotham. It’s not enough.”
“Maybe see about helping his parents first? Instead of taking away the kids? Taking away kids from a poor family and putting them with one that’s better off instead is what CPS does.”
He sighed. “Just keep me updated, Selina.”