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April 18th.
Not a date that you’d think would change very much in a household. It wasn’t an anniversary or anyone’s birthday. Not a holiday. Not even a weekend. Just a random Thursday in April. It hadn’t rained or been especially sunny, it was just as forgettable as most days were.
For almost everyone, anyway.
Not that it mattered since it was the 19th.
Jason scuffed the toe of his shoe as he headed out from his last class to grab his things from his locker. He was in no hurry to head back to the manor, not after last night. He’d been so sure that they would… He shook his head pushing back the tears that wanted to come, this wasn’t the place he wanted someone to think he was crying. Halfheartedly putting his books into his bag he checked that he had what he needed for the weekend.
“Jason.”
His history teacher slowed to give him a smile and handed him a paper. “You did a fantastic job last night. Oh and you forgot this in class earlier. Well done.”
He scanned the graded paper and nodded. “Thanks, sorry about the paper.”
She smiled but didn’t do the cheesy thing where adults patted your shoulder like they were your friend. “You should be proud of your grades and the play was very well done. Your hard work showed, I’m sure your family is equally as proud.”
“Yeah, thanks.” He shrugged a shoulder but didn’t comment further, he just wanted to go home and forget about the stupid play. “I gotta go, Alfred and Dick are probably waiting for me.”
He finished grabbing his stuff and shut his locker, heading out front but was surprised to see… or rather not Dickie climbing over everything while Alfred patiently waiting for Jason to join them. He looked further up and down the line in case he’d missed them but no hyper-active kid and no car.
He leaned back against the building figuring that Dick just hadn’t gotten out yet and maybe Alfred was just a little late, after all this was Gotham and traffic sucked no matter what time of day it was.
He pulled out a book from his bag, thumbing through it to read a little while he waiting but got sucked into the story. It wasn’t until some touched him that he even looked up, startled and looking around.”
“Dude you seriously need a life and go home, school is way over and its Friday man. Time to cut loose.”
Jason gave a half shrug, “Yeah just waiting for my..” He frowned as he registered how much time had passed and checked his phone just to be sure. He’d gotten out of class at 2:35 and while he hadn’t been racing out of the building he knew it hadn’t taken him more then 10 or 15 minutes to be outside while cars and buses loaded up the kids going home. But now it was after 4:45 and there was no one around in any vehicle for anyone. “Yeah, guess I lost track of time. See you later.”
He headed away from the school still frowning at his phone. More accurately at the fact that there were no messages or missed calls on it for him. Dickie should have come out and pestered him or said something if he’d been too into his book, or Alfred would have… “Shit.” Alfred was gone for a few more days, Jason shook his head. He was thumbing open his phone to call when he spotted new alerts on the Instagram app that Steph had insisted that he absolutely needed to have, even though he never posted on it.
Curious as to what Steph was up to he opened it up, the half grin slid off his face as he opened up to a phone of Steph. More importantly of a photo of Steph with Dick, Damian, Bruce and even Tim were all at the big diner she loved with waffles and milkshakes. His hands went cold as he stared at the smiles and checked the timestamp. 3:10pm April 19th. His eyes flicked up to the time on his phone again, 5:02pm. He felt sick as he continued to stare at the photo until he shut off his phone and used his sleeve to get rid of the tears that threatened worse now.
Had they really forgotten him or was this what happened anytime he was busy doing all the school stuff Bruce insisted was super important for him to enjoy? Stuff like the stupid play he’d worked so hard on that no one had bothered to go to. He’d checked every chance he got to look out at the audience and while it was good sized seating area it wasn’t the Knights Stadium. He’d looked until after curtain call when he felt the pit in his stomach clench, no one had come. And now they’d forgotten him at school, left him there alone. It had been his biggest secret fear ever since Dick had arrived four months before.
He'd felt for the kid once he’d heard and done what little he knew to try to make sure Dickie knew they wanted him there and were there anytime he needed them. But the more Dick had needed the less time Jason seemed to get. At first he’d tried to ignore it and brush it off but the more time passed… and now it was staring him in the face. Maybe they were all happier without Jason around. After all he’d been the one to have all those fights in school with the rich assholes he was stuck being around. Bruce rarely took him any of the galas, preferring to have him stay at home. Not that he wanted to go but maybe it might have been nice to be invited.
Tim was so rarely around but even he showed up a little more, at first to show Jason around and play video games with him but now it was board games and movie nights. Jason had even reached a new level on the game Tim had taught him to play on his computer but he hadn’t had any time for Jason to show him everything he’d figured out.
Damian didn’t come over and ask him about his classes or how he’d done with debate even though he’d been there to coach Jason until he’d made the team. Bruce didn’t ask him about the books he was reading or…
“Fuck em.” He muttered and stuffed his phone in his bag. Fine, so they’d traded up to a better kid who didn’t have so many issues or didn’t come from the gutters. So what, he’d always known that it wasn’t going to last forever. He turned away from where the buses would have taken him closer to Bristol and headed the other way instead. He had some cash and some food, he’d dump his uniform and be fine in his hoodie. It wasn’t winter and he wouldn’t freeze before he found a squat. He’d done fine on the streets before and he’d do fine now. Angrily he scrubbed at his face again.
“Fuck em.”
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Damian had been checking the clock every so often most of the evening but as it got darker out he’d been checking more regularly. Jason still hadn’t made an appearance anywhere in the manor. He knew the teen had been more withdrawn but he hadn’t seemed distressed or angry when Damian had seen him the day before. No one had mentioned a fight or problems while they had let Stephanie persuade them to have a treat before dinner. He frowned to himself, had it been the day before he’d seen Jason? Disturbed when he had no answer, he went upstairs to where he was sure Jason would be either reading or maybe playing his game.
“Jason?” He knocked but heard nothing. Knocking again he waited then pushed open the door, “I’m coming in.” The room was dark as a quick scan showed that he probably hadn’t been back in his room since morning.
His instincts rarely failed him and right now they were telling him something was wrong. Quickly he went to check the library, both of them, and then the smaller sitting room where Jason would sometimes curl up when the size of the manor was too much for him. No teenaged boy in any of the rooms. Typically he might have checked with Pennyworth as the man always knew where everyone was no matter when they’d arrived him but Damian knew that he was away on holiday.
Instead he turned to find his father in his study. “Father, have you seen Jason?”
Bruce looked up from some papers he’d been going over, refocusing on his eldest before frowning. “I had an early meeting today, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Is something wrong?”
Damian started to shake his head then paused, “I do not know, he is not in his room. I am going to check with the others. He may be with one of them.”
Turning abruptly he continued his search, questing the others in the house but no one reported having seen him since school. Even Dick who was usually a constant shadow shrugged.
“Not since school this morning. We carpooled with the Parks today since Alfred is gone.”
“They were to collect you after school today?”
“Yeah but Steph was there and said everyone was going to be at the diner.”
Jason hadn’t been at the diner though, Damian knew that much. “Jason wasn’t there when Steph picked you up?”
Dick shrugged, “He’s been getting rides later after school because of the play.”
“Play?”
Dick nodded, “Yeah he was gonna be in this play at school doing something with weird words so he’s been staying after this week and last week too.” He pouted, shoulders drooping. “He hasn’t had any time to play with me.”
“I am certain he will again little brother, once he has finished.” He ruffled Dick’s hair but headed to the kitchen where the family calendar was. He passed Drake and checked the month.
“You look like your planning to disembowel someone.” Tim commented idly, watching Damian’s face sour further.
“When, exactly, was the last time you saw Jason?”
Tim huffed but thought back, “I saw him on Sunday for a little bit but I wasn’t here long.”
Pained, Damian closed his eyes as he reached up to squeeze the bridge of his nose. “I have a bad feeling.” He looked up at the boy that he’d treated as a rival for too long, “I need you to check the feeds for the manor for Jason.”
“What, need to track him down and interrupt his quiet so you can-“
“Drake. Please.”
Tim raised both eyebrows, Damian never said please. Or rather it was so rare that he always noticed. “Fine, but then you are going to explain what the hell is wrong with you this time.”
Damian checked the list but by the time Tim came back the pit inside him had clenched worse. He already knew what Drake was going to day before he opend his mouth but… “Tell me you know where he is?”
“Who are you looking for?” Bruce appeared from around the corner.
Damian stared hard at them both, “Jason hasn’t been home since he was taken to school this morning with Dick by the Parks. They didn’t pick him up today because a family friend was getting them. I know because I just got off the phone with them but Steph says she didn’t see Jason and hasn’t seen him in more than a week. He isn’t in his room, no one has seen him and Drake is about to inform us that the cameras around the manor haven’t picked up on him at all since leaving this morning. Am I correct?” He turned to look at Drake who wore his own pensive frown.
“Nothing on any of the cameras so I checked Gotham Academy.” He reached back to rub his shoulder uncomfortably. “I guess he was in a play-“
“Yes.” Bruce cut in, “He has been staying late for practices and they are doing two or three performances next week.”
Damian closed his eyes already knowing what Drake was about to say, like a premonition of ill fortune.”
“That’s the thing Bruce, according to the school records the last performance was last night and the camera’s loose sight of Jason around 5pm.” Time opened up his tablet and tapped in a few commands before turning it around to show the other two the time stamps on the cameras as they watched Dick bound out and Steph meet them. Wave off at the Parks and then leave, 5 minutes later Jason walked around and looked around a few times before pulling out a book. Tim sped through the time until he got to where Jason had been interrupted reading and they watched silently as Jason realized he’d been forgotten and walked away from the school. “I have him on cameras heading to the buses coming up this way but then he stopped again and headed the other way.
“Father, please tell me that you or anyone in this house went to see Jason at his school play?” Damian prayed, knowing it was a false hope.
Bruce shook his head, looking a little stunned. “It… I swear I have it in my calendar with alerts and reminders.” He checked but rather then see the relief of an upcoming reminder he only saw overdue ones that had been silenced two days before. Clenching his jaw he allowed himself three heartbeats of despair before nodding to himself.
“Tim, pull up his gps on his phone.”
“It’s off and he isn’t carrying anything that has a tracer.”
Bruce narrowed his eyes, “Then we’ll find him without them. Get suited up, both of you. And call Barbara to begin searching everywhere.”
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Jason shivered where he was tucked away under an awning while it continued to drizzle. Not even proper rain, just enough to make you wet and miserable. He sniffed and tried to ignore his stomach growling. He’d gotten soft away from the streets for the last year, before he’d gone days before feeling the gnawing ache of hunger making him hurt. He wished he’d had time to go to the manor to get his stash but he hadn’t wanted to hear it confirmed that they didn’t want him around anymore.
The street lights had come on and been on for a while and Jason knew he couldn’t just stay out in plain sight, that was just inviting trouble. He couldn’t go back to his old neighborhood, not the way he was still sort of dressed. He pulled his hoodie closer and glanced around again before heading further down an alley. Maybe he couldn’t stay in the old building he’d lived in but he knew the hookers and people around here and he could lay low till he figured out what he was going to do.
Carefully he slid in through a mostly boarded up window and listened, waiting to hear anyone else around. He stayed that way for almost 30 minutes, long enough for any other squatters to make themselves known. He picked out a corner away from the windows and found a couple of old cushions that didn’t look too disgusting. He pulled them over to give him a little something to curl up on and beside and tried hard to not miss his- Jason shook his head sharply. They weren’t his anything, not his family clearly since no one had noticed or cared about him not being around. Maybe Alfred would think of him fondly and maybe miss him a little bit but probably only because he had been trying to be helpful in the kitchen.
The pain in his chest hurt worse then his stomach and for the first time since he’d realized no one was coming on any night to see his stupid play, he let the tears come and buried his face in his arms. He missed his family.
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Oracle reported in as she mobilized her birds and continued scans of all the cameras in Gotham but swore as she lost Jason again. He knew all of the blind spots around the city but it didn’t appear that he was trying to use them, just wandered around but then disappeared near a bodega on 38th.
“Keep looking, one of us will find something.” Batman’s voice came over the comms as all the capes searched for one gangly teenaged boy.
Bruce kept himself focused, knowing if he allowed it he would feel the weight of his failure with his younger son. It was still so new with Jason and with the upheaval of getting Dick settled and making sure he felt he had somewhere to be anchored he’d lost Jason and not even noticed how out of place Jason may have been feeling.
“No sign of him around Park Row, I’m going to try further south.” Shrike reported in.
Sonar was covering the Narrows while Batgirl checked two possible paths from Gotham Academy to the city center. Oracle, he knew, was still coming cameras and directing her birds where she had any possible leads.
His comm crackled to life, “I think he may not be too far from where I am now.”
“What did you see?”
Bruce could almost hear the shrug, “Nothing I saw but the girls on the street won’t talk to me and Candy clammed up when I showed Jason’s photo.”
“Oracle.”
“I’m already on it but there aren’t many working cameras in that area. S, can you give me any kind of direction?”
“Sorry O, I’m trying but if Jason came around here they aren’t giving him up to a cape.”
“Keep trying.” Batman growled and continued his search.
Damian found himself wishing he could go back just a few days and return home sooner. His work hadn’t been so important that he needed to be with the Titans. HE could have been at the manor. HE could have taken Dick and Jason to school and learned of the play. HE could have made sure that father had the correct day marked where no one would forget. HE could have been there so his younger brother hadn’t felt so forgotten. Damian knew how painful it could be to feel as if you were invisible in the same home as everyone else, replaced and shelved when you were no longer needed. He’d worked through all of that but it was hard to forget some days.
He stood, shaking himself. Mauldin thoughts would not aid him in finding Jason and find him he would, even if he had to search every building every night. Jason would be found and he would be returned home where he belonged. Damian would make sure of that.
He heard shouting and swore under his breath, he didn’t want to distract his search for Jason for a mugging or probably a drunken brawl but years of answering the call for justice had him grappling over until he found the source of the sound. What he found had him seeing red. He didn’t recall pushing his beacon or drawing his sword. All his senses registered was the red hoodie that was doing a poor job of protecting the teen that had been apparently dragged out of the building he was on and the group of men around him while a few used bats, their fists and feet on the teen. On Jason. Jason who was curled up defensively on his side after being at the mercy of these men for who knew how long.
He didn’t bother with the grapple, not with the fire escape. The others could come to him and if he left any for them they could extract justice with what was left. With a snarl he leapt down using the building sides to push off and land taking out three of their number and land protectively over his too small brother.
If they said anything he didn’t register it, or anything. Even when Batman and the others arrived. Only when Sonar caught the swing of his sword and shouted his name did he realize that the entire group had been dealt with. “Leave a few pieces for the police D.”
“Its enough for tonight, lets go home.” Batman turned, holding an unconscious Jason in his arms.
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“Fractured ribs, broken nose, broken wrist, a few of his fingers are dislocated and he will need to be watched that he doesn’t get a fever or anything worse while he recovers.” Leslie recited everything and finished her notes. “He’s going to have an impressive black eye from his nose probably and there is the possibility of a mild concussion from the lump on the back of his head.
“Thank you Leslie.”
Damian heard, rather then saw, as someone else continued to speak with Leslie. He watched the monitor and waited with his father for Jason to wake up. Steph had volunteered to stay with Dick to keep him company with Duke and Tim. Once Leslie had given her permission they’d moved Jason up into his own room and bed to make sure he stayed warm and would feel safe once he woke up.
If he had been reflective of it, Damian may have pondered how the passing of time had ceased to be something he could track several times that same day. Not even a full 24 hours, less than 12 hours where he’d simply existed with the feeling of something being very wrong. Now the feeling was gone but he still had no awareness of how much time was passing, simply that he had failed his brother yet again.
When Jason began to stir the sun was up again. Damian leaned over and watched Jason blink and wince at the light before he blearily looked around. “Wha..”
“You’re home Jason.” Damian sat on the bed and finally, finally felt the bands around his chest release. “I must apologize to you Jason. I have not been the brother that I had once promised you to be. I deeply regret that I was not here for you or to see you preform. I can only apologize and hope you will one day forgive me my failure.”
Jason snorted then winced at the stab of pain in his nose, even set it hurt like a bitch. “S’okay. Yer busy an’ Dickie’s better than me anyway.” He mumbled.
Damian’s green eyes narrowed and he reached out, mindful of the brace on the small arm. He sat there silently, weighing out the words before letting himself speak. “I resented Drake… Tim when he first came here. I hated that father seemed to spend more time with him. That they always seemed to be together. How father seemed to drop everything to spend time with Tim even without being asked. I felt threatened and sadly I took it out on Tim who I felt was replacing me. But Tim was never a replacement for me and Richard is not a replacement for you. You are part of this family Jason, you are my brother and if you are hurting in your soul because you believe you are being replaced or thrown out in favor of Richard then you are very mistaken.” He squeezed as hard as he dared, finally catching Jason’s eyes and holding them. “Nothing will ever take you out of this family and that we let you feel that way for a moment is our failing, never yours Habibi.”
Reaching out he wiped the tears from Jason’s face carefully. “Father will be full of his own apologies and Pennyworth will have our heads for neglecting you. He will have expected a full report and film of your play and we failed you both. If you would allow me I would like to request another chance to prove myself as a worthy brother.”
Jason finally nodded jerkily, “Me too Dami, me too.”
Later the others would be by to check on him and have their own time with Jason but that would be later. Right now all Jason wanted was to enjoy this moment even if he was a little hurt. He’d thought he’d lost it all but maybe a real family didn’t get broken so easy.
Maybe… just maybe this would be okay too.