The Boy king and The Dark Knights

XXI

JASON TODD had met a lot of superheroes and vigilantes in his time.

Young ones, old ones, living ones, not-quite living ones, the whole shebang.

Jason also knew that there were some other ghost vigilantes. At least one. He had never interacted with the dude but he knew he was dead which had interested him at the time and Jason formed a sense of one-sided kinship with the ghost. Of course that was back when Jason thought ghosts were a one time thing.

Now he had a kid who used to have a ghost portal in his basement, partial ownership of a ghost dog, and a new ghost vigilante who apparently lived in crime alley now.

Duke had looked so very pained at the kids abrupt introduction before rushing off, and he had ranted to Jason for a solid hour about all the ghostly bullshit he had experienced in Amity Park.

(Jason hadn’t even noticed he was gone. To be fair, he had been in the process of adopting a snarky little flight risk. Maybe he should pay more attention to the rest of his family.)

Now Jason was crawling back in through his window, yawning as he grabbed a banana from his counter and quickly peeled it.

(Jason had a fucking fruit bowl now. Was this what domestic life did to a person?)

Jason took two bites of the banana before he heard a creaking noise from behind him, and he quickly turned, vigilante instincts on alert.

He relaxed slightly when he realized it was only his son, who was tiredly staring at him and rubbing his eyes.

“You’re awake?” Danny tiredly slurred, his sentence interrupted by a yawn.

”Just got back from work. What are you doing up?” Jason asked, walking over to his son.

“Dumbass nightmares.” Danny said pulling on Jason’s sleeve. Jason was thankful no lights were turned on, leaving Danny unable to see the blood spatter on the sleeve of his Red Hood Jacket. When Jason leaned down Danny climbed into his arms, and Jason stood back up holding his son against his chest.

“Want to talk about them?” Jason asked, not really sure what proper nightmare procedure was. When Jason had nightmares as a kid he had always ignored them, not wanting to cause anyone any problems.

Looking back, that definitely was not healthy.

“Nah. It’s stupid.” Jason made a small noise of protest at that but didn’t interrupt. “I’m stronger now, strong enough to fight anyone. I punched Batman for ancients sake. I would punch god too if given the chance. Actually, I think I did fight god once. Does the lord of time count as god? I mean I didn’t win but I definitely fought him.”