#author yn

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REPORT OF AUTOPSY

Decedent: [Redacted] Age: [Redacted] Sex: Male Hair color: Black Eye color: Blue/gray Date of autopsy: [Redacted]

Gross examination: Decedent is small for his age, likely due to malnutrition. Multiple second degree burns on head, face, anterior torso and limbs. Chipped central incisor. Missing first and second premolars. Preorbital edema in right eye; left globe is ruptured. Dislocated left glenohumeral joint. Patellar fractures on both lower limbs. The Achilles tendon was severed in the left foot. 

Possible cause of death: cardiac arrest caused by pulmonary embolism

[CONFIDENTIAL]             

[EXPUNGE] [EXPUNGE] [EXPUNGE]

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MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

Name: Jason Peter Todd Sex: Male Age: 15 years

Immediate cause: Destroyed brainstem Antecedent cause: Atlanto-occipital dislocation Underlying cause: High energy trauma from motor vehicle accident

Manner of Death: Natural/(Accident)/Homicide/Pending Investigation How did the injury occur? Vehicular collision

Doctor: Leslie Maurin Thompkins

____________________

Present Day, On a rooftop in Gotham

It was glass-cutting nipples cold tonight. 

Drake had offered him a suit with smart thermo tech, but he’d be damned if he accepted anything from the twit. 

It’s been several months since the failed assassination of his replacement along with his former mentor, but both Tim and Bruce and the rest of the “family” have been annoyingly accommodating. They agreed on a temporary truce and Jason was allowed to stay in Gotham as an ally. Naturally, he was forced to put his revenge on hold. He still couldn’t believe how he let them talk him into it.

“I don’t know why I waited so long to pick this up,” Dickhead said, flipping through his library copy of The Scarlet Knight Book 1: One Unfortunate Day. He wanted to borrow Jason’s, but there was only one other person Jason trusted his books with and that was Alfred. “She’s not too bad.”

Jason snorted. Understatement of the century. When Talia gave him the collector’s edition of One Unfortunate Day, he couldn’t put it down. He surfed through those 578 pages in a single sitting. However, he couldn’t pick up the second novel until he finished training. He devoured books 3 through 18 while he was planning Bruce’s murder. The controversial Book 19 was released around the time he finally confronted shitty dad #2 (and Tim). 

By now, he has reread each of your books at least twice. Reading your paragraphs relaxed him…it was like having a conversation with you again. Your words tuned out all the harsh voices in his head.

“I’m ⅔ in but I still haven’t read anything about that Wren guy.”

Jason sighed and answered, “That’s ‘cause he’s not in that installment.”

“Spoiler alert, dude!”

“You’re the one who asked.”

“I was whining, not asking! Damn, now this is gonna bug me.”

“Good, because you were starting to bug me.”

“You used to be so much sweeter.”

“Say that again and I’ll shoot you.”

Dick paused, then grinned. “Swee-ter.”

Jason felt a vein pop. “Just get back to reading. Why can’t you ever just read?” Dick was a noisy reader. It wasn’t that he read aloud but he liked to provide commentary for every scene. 

“I can’t take it, tell me when Wren appears.”

“Why? So you can whine more? Not a chance.”

“Come on, just tell me and I’ll shut up.”

Jason seriously doubted that. “First of all, why are you so obsessed with Wren?” Wren was well-written, he’ll admit that, but Jason didn’t understand Dickhead’s unrelenting curiosity for that specific character.

“Guess you haven’t heard, but that’s okay, big brother knows how much you like to brood and avoid social media like a heathen—”

“—fuck you—”

“—Apparently, a lot of fans like to do this thing where they ‘cast’,” he said, making obnoxious air quotes, “real life people as actors in a hypothetical live action adaptation and I’m the fan favorite for Wren.”

Bullshit.

“I know that look and no, it’s not bullshit, little wing. Wren is supposed to be tall, dark–handsome. And my personal brand of gorgeous is what the readers think about when they picture him.”

“You do realize that those three adjectives together are the most commonly used description for the ideal guy? And literally every male human that works for Batman fits the criteria. Except Damian.” Give it a couple of more years though and the demon spawn will one hundred percent become another famous bachelor. 

“Stop being such a killjoy.”

“Whatever. Anyway, why are you only starting the series now?” It’s been years since Wren’s first appearance. 

“Well, that’s ‘cause the fandom’s louder than ever thanks to the news. I keep getting tagged so much that my phone just crashed.”

“News?”

Dickhead grinned smugly. 

“What news?”

“You’re supposed to be her biggest fan and yet you’re always behind.” He clicked his tongue like a disappointed mother. 

“Don’t make me choke it out of you.”

He dropped the playfulness and crossed his arms. “You seriously don’t know?”

“Know what? Stop screwing around and tell me.” Normally, when Dick started acting like an adult-sized brat, Jason would’ve disappeared and found himself a different roof, but the topic in hand concerned you so he had the patience to stick around.

“Scarlet Knight’s going to be a movie series.”

“I see.”

“That’s it? No squealing? No exuberant fanboying?”

Jason shrugged and focused on the streets below. Or at least he tried. 

“Talk about boring,” Dick was still talking, “I expected more. Shouldn’t you be proud?”

“I am proud” left his lip instinctively.

“You don’t sound like it. Dare I say, you look disappointed.”

“Forget it.” Jason sighed. “You can go back and report to daddy now. As you can see, I still haven’t broken my promise.” While he had agreed not to kill anyone while in Gotham, trust was delicate. Whether up close or a few gargoyles away, there was always someone monitoring Red Hood every night. Nine times out of ten, it was Nightwing. 

Nightwing, who was about to say something again before Jason motioned for him to shut up.

They both leaned over the rooftop and watched you stop beside a street lamp. 

“What’s wrong, Peter? Does it still hurt?” You knelt down to inspect the pit bull. “Poor baby. I’ll redo your bandages when we get home okay? Come on, I’ll carry you. Hey—stop licking me—I get it, you’re welcome.” You giggled as you carried the dog into your apartment building.

Dickhead elbowed him. “This is your chance to talk to her.” 

Jason shoved him so hard he fell backwards. 

“It’s been months since you’ve come back, just talk to her.”

“And tell her what? ‘Hey, remember me? The dead guy on every dedication page you’ve written? Yeah, I’m not so dead now!’”

“Well…it’s a start.”

“Just shut up, Dick.”

***

“Your tea, Master Bruce.” 

“Thank you.”

“I’m surprised to see you here. Don’t you usually spend the evening out, swinging from building to building?”

“Barbara’s friend is having a bachelorette party and she asked for the night off.”

The mechanical purring of motorbikes disturbed the peace inside the cave. 

Already expecting them, Alfred greeted the visitors. “Just in time. The hot cocoa and pretzels are ready.”

Stephanie, Cass and Tim shot up from their bikes and raced towards the food. Damian rolled his eyes, muttering “children” as he tried to act nonchalant, but his quick strides towards the service trolley betrayed him.

Batman remained seated in front of his computer. It was a slow night and he had convinced the kids to come back for a snack break while the former Robins managed the first shift. 

His receiver rang and Bruce put his cowl back on. “Progress report.”

“I told you to drop that kinda talk. You can ask normally, you know,” Dick said.

Bruce grumbled and Dick grumbled back.

Capitulating, Bruce asked, “How is Re…How is Jason?”

“He’s stable enough. Nothing’s changed with his routine: he follows her around whenever she leaves the house, but once he confirmed that she only ever left twice a day to walk the dog he patrols the rest of the city just as agreed.”

“No…casualties?”

“Nada. He’s been well-behaved, he doesn’t even try to shake me off when he knows I’m tailing him. Seems like he’s content as long as he can watch over her. You were right, B, she’s basically his kryptonite.”

It would be more accurate to compare you to a leash, but Bruce kept the comment to himself. “Anything else?”

“I told him I could break into her place while she was out walking the dog. He punched me, like he actually put his back into it.”

“I told you he wouldn’t like that.”

“Yeah, lesson learned. Anyway, I then offered to follow her so he can go and snoop inside his little author’s apartment.”

“And?”

“He looked at me like I was trash.”

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. “And?”

“That’s it. We’re just patrolling now.” 

“All right. Good job. Batman out.”

Bruce pulled back the cowl and reclined on his chair.

“Was that Nightwing?” Stephanie spoke with a mouth full of pretzels. “Did Red Hoodie finally snap?” 

Tim answered instead: “I doubt it.”

“How can you be so sure? Didn’t he come back to kill you two? How are you so fine with letting that guy run around like this?”

“Call it a hunch,” he muttered, staring down his empty mug. “Jason is dangerous, but he’s manageable. We have him on a leash, at least for now.”

Unsatisfied with having her questions answered with riddles, Stephanie threw a half-eaten pretzel at him and the two bickered. 

Bruce couldn’t help but smile. 

Seems that Tim picked up on it, too. 

When Jason returned to Gotham alive, Bruce didn’t even care about the circumstances, didn’t mind that he was led in a wild good chase, he was just glad to have his son back. But Jason wasn’t happy. He radiated rage, enough to desire blood. He was dead serious on setting fire to Batman and everyone in his way. 

But one word—one name was all it took to disarm him. Jason changed instantly. The anger sloughed off, replaced with uncertainty and longing. 

Bruce oversaw him undergo gruelling training, witnessed him captured and tortured and killed, and yet he never saw Jason look more vulnerable than when he heard your name again. 

In the past, he was worried about you and Jason. He originally believed that you two were just really good friends, but there was something deeper there. Darker. You were too close. It wasn’t a matter of stupid teenage love versus the meddlesome, conservative father—rather, he felt that you two bordered on codependent. 

He recalled a time when Jason fractured his leg from training. Alfred threatened to tie him to the bed but Jason insisted that he was supposed to meet with you at the park. When Bruce told him that you would’ve stayed home because of the heavy rain, Jason grabbed him by the shoulders and said, “I need to go. She’s waiting for me.” He didn’t stop crawling out of his bed until Bruce told him he would go and check on you. 

Bruce drove to the park fully expecting it to be empty. The rain was so extreme, the city was worried about flash flooding. You would’ve been insane to stay, and yet, Jason was right. You were there, sitting on the swing. Waiting. 

He hurried to your side with an umbrella and a spare rain coat. When he called out to you, you greeted him with a smile, like it was just any other day and you weren’t soaked from head to toe. 

“Good afternoon, Mister Wayne.”

He didn’t waste time and walked you to the car. 

Once you were settled in, he asked, “What were you doing out there?”

“I was waiting for Jason.”

“How long have you been waiting?”

“We agreed to meet after lunch so…” You raised your hand and counted on your fingers. “Three hours, I think.”

The rain had been pouring since nine in the morning. “And you stayed? You could've just sent him a text and gone home, couldn't you?”

“No.”

“Why?”

You tilted your head and blinked innocently. “Because we promised.” Like it was common sense. Like it was normal. 

That blind devotion felt like a liability back then, but now Bruce was thankful for it. Now they had the perfect leash. 

Chapter 3: Nonchalant Series Masterlist

author's note: Don't overthink the timeline. I'm hoping to be more chill with this project so I lose less hair writing.

taglist: @nathalieeee @nerrivm

Disclaimer: The image of Red Hood used in this post does not belong to me. It’s by Dexter Soy and was lifted from: https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/h0iavp/cover_from_red_hood_and_the_outlaws_20_by_dexter/

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