Ahhh maybe ✈ with Huldrekall!Jason AU??!
Love love love your AUs ahhhh😍😍😍😍
A bit of a combo because y'all asked for the same one, but here's some huldrekall baby Jason getting love featuring Uncle Clark.
Jason whimpered into the blanket, flexing his claws into the cloth. The room was dark around him and it should be peaceful but he could only see how wrong it was.
The furniture was wrong. The sheet colour was wrong. It was all wrong.
He whined, memories of talons and a screeching rooster echoing through his head. A bird that hissed like a demon. A crowd surrounding him and laughing, laughing, laughing as pain tore apart Jason’s body. Hunger that ate him from the inside. Hatred from others that wanted to rip him into pieces.
Fear that one day they might come back and succeed.
Fear that one day Bruce may be gone just like Mama was gone and Jason would be all alone.
He cried, a long thin sound, He wanted someone there.
And someone came, but not anyone that Jason expected.
“Hey, Jason,” said Uncle Clark as he carefully opened the door. The man was big, almost the same size as Bruce, but he always seemed to hunch down like he wasn’t quite sure of his size. “I heard you... crying?”
Jason blinked, confusion filling his head before he remembered. He was in the Palace, not Bruce’s castle, the Palace palace. The Palace that housed the Aequitas throne and the royal family.
That’s right, he remembered with a jolt.
They were visiting Uncle Clark so Bruce could consult with him on trade routes. Well, Bruce said it was because of consulting. Bruce and Uncle Clark had done lots of laughing and cursing over board games for “consulting”.
“Hi bud,” Uncle Clark whispered, caring but so obviously completely out of his depth. Uncle Clark didn’t have much experience with children and didn’t have any of his own. He tried with Dick and Jason, but sometimes it was so obvious that he had absolutely no idea what to do.
Jason liked Uncle Clark. He liked how he made Bruce lighter and how he held Jason on one arm and whispered absolutely terrible jokes into his ear. And he gave amazing hugs, which is just what Jason needed right now.
With tears still dripping from his cheeks, Jason lifted his arms in the universal ‘up’ expression.
Uncle Clark blinked, not looking at all like a king, before slowly coming forward. Too slowly.
Jason chirped impatiently, his tail twitching and his ears flickering back. Uncle Clark sped his pace a bit and gently brought his arms around Jason to pick him up.
“Is this what you want?” he asked and Jason nodded into the crook of his neck. His cheeks were wet and he knew he was getting Uncle Clark’s expensive sleeping clothes damp but he didn’t seem to mind.
The man hummed, gingerly touching his back though being careful to avoid his huldrekall hole. Jason wouldn’t mind if Uncle Clark touched it though, he was safe and the man had never scowled at his Creature traits. He had always been so incredibly gentle with Jason, and Jason trusted him to keep being kind.
Jason’s chest shuddered with a light sob and he sniffled into the man. The voices of townspeople all telling him that he deserved to die were fading in his head.
“Should I take you to your father? Or your brother? Tell me what to do.”
Jason nuzzled into Uncle Clark’s jaw, his ears lightly flickering against his face. He brought his tail up to lightly wrap around Uncle Clark’s wrist.
“This is good,” he said, completely pliant as he was cradled against Uncle Clark’s chest.
The man sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. He still felt tense and like he wanted to squirm as he held Jason.
“Isn’t it funny… I know how to run a kingdom, but have absolutely no idea how to comfort a kid?”
Jason chuckled, lightly nipping at Uncle Clark’s collarbone. “You’re not as bad as you think.”
“Thanks,” the king said, relaxing slightly under Jason.
They were quiet and Jason was content with that, but he didn’t mind when Uncle Clark spoke again.
“Do… do you want to talk about it?”
The huldrekall paused, Uncle Clark’s heartbeat was even in his ear.
“I… I was just remembering. Before Bruce,” he said, hating how broken his voice sounded. The curl of his tail tightened around Uncle Clark’s wrist.
“Mama,” Jason said quickly, his mother’s face instantly popping into his head. Her blonde hair, cream-colored fur, her tender claws that stroked the wood inside of Jason’s back and made him melt. She had been his everything until things fell apart.
“But then she died, and I was on my own.”
Uncle Clark made a soft noise, clutching Jason a little bit tighter. “I’m sorry she died and I’m sure that was very hard.”
“It was. I missed her a lot,” Jason replied with a heavy sniffle. “I was starving without her and the village kept hunting me. She couldn’t protect me anymore and the humans that lived nearby wanted me dead.”
Clark froze, his body going tense. Jason couldn’t see his face, but he could feel the way he protectively held him closer.
“They… they were hunting you?”
“Yeah,” he said. He didn’t think it was that strange. Huldrekall and Huldra were far from the most tolerated species from the Wilds. Most people would agree that they were better dead than alive. “They wanted to kill me and almost did one time, but then I escaped. They learned though, and set traps near my nest because they knew I couldn’t hide forever.”
Jason twisted so he could stretch out his right leg. The animalistic leg flexed and his clawed toes all fanning out. The pale gnarl of a scar that wrapped around his ankle gleamed in the dim light.
“All they had to do was wait until I was hungry enough to venture out again.”
Uncle Clark shifted Jason’s weight on his lap, so he could reach out and hesitantly touch the scar.
“It was a wolf trap?” he asked, a tiny bit of fury flickering into his eyes. “They put open wolf traps around a child’s home? That’s… that’s horrific. Those traps are made for wolves and bears. They could have killed you, or paralyzed you, or ripped your legs apart.”
Jason shrugged, trying to keep down the memories.
He could recall the pain, how it felt like his entire bottom half had been dipped into fire, and his desperate struggle to try to get out of it. He remembered the bell, ringing every time he writhed and drawing the hunters closer.
“It’s alright. Bruce saved me and he said I’m never going to be trapped again.”
“No,” Uncle Clark agreed. “No, you won’t.”
Jason heard the truth in the words, just like when Bruce said them. It was a shield and a sword. A promise that Jason would never be hunted down and killed like an animal.
He wished he could bury himself in the protectiveness of those words.
“Can we go to the library?” he asked his uncle, drawing his leg back in so he could be a portable little ball. “I like sleeping near fireplaces.”
“Sure. I can do that,” Uncle Clark said, rising off the bed and carrying Jason out the door. The huldrekall was limp in his arms, swaying with the rock of his gait and relishing the easy way the man carried him like he weighed nothing at all.
When he got to the library, he put Jason on one of his huge couches and went to light the fireplace. Just like Bruce, the human knew magic and could draw fire from the air with a simple twist of his hand. Within moments, the fire was crackling and Jason settled into the sounds, smell, and warmth of it.
When Uncle Clark stood, Jason watched him, silently hoping that the man would stay.
He walked to the other side of the room, and gathered some paper, books, and a pair of glasses, but then returned to the couch. He set everything on the table next to the couch and sat near Jason.
He didn’t move and only smiled when Jason scooted closer, settling his head into his uncle’s lap.
“I’m just going to do some work, but you sleep okay? I’ll be right here if another nightmare walks you up.”
Jason nodded, yawned and curled up against the king’s side. He felt a bit like a cat, especially when Uncle Clark reached down to pet the velvet soft fur of Jason’s ears.
But he didn’t mind and when he fell asleep no more nightmares haunted his head.
(Later, Bruce flips the fuck when he goes to get his son for breakfast and he's gone.)
