Chapter Text
Jason didn't know why there was a wolf prowling around Crime Alley.
It hadn't harmed anyone, yet.
It had shiny black fur with a red shine whenever the light hit it just right. It was huge too. Taller than Jason if it were to stand on its back legs. Even without that, it was up to his chest when on all four legs.
Frankly, Jason didn't want to approach it. Because he'd either get ripped apart or he'd be the guy who shot an animal. Neither felt like a good option.
He had contacted Dick with a vague message asking for backup. Not to be mysterious, but because he wasn't sure Dick would believe him if he told the truth.
Gotham was weird. It was a batshit crazy, insane mess of a city. But having a goddamn wolf strolling around Crime Alley was a stretch even for them. Particularly a giant, strangely calm wolf. If it were a feral, man-eating creature then it would be more plausible.
Anyway, Dick was in Bludhaven, so it would be at least thirty minutes until he got here. Unless he was speeding. Unlikely.
Jason had tried contacting Tim first, but he was apparently offline. Blondie had confirmed that Tim wasn't kidnapped or dead, just resting. Which was unusual, but good for him.
The wolf stopped and sniffed the air, its nose twitching. Jason stifled a laugh. It actually looked kind of cute when it did that, like a puppy.
Then the wolf's head snapped to the side, its sharp blue eyes honing in on Jason from across the alley.
Shit.
The wolf barked softly and started charging towards Jason.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck–" Jason muttered, fumbling for his gun. He flicked the safety off and pointed it at the wolf.
It stumbled to an abrupt halt a few feet away from Jason.
Jason's hands were clammy. He'd done a lot of morally questionable shit, but he'd never shot an animal before. Humans, yes, plenty of the fuckers, he had little regret about that. But animals were innocent. Unless they're Killer Croc.
The wolf stared at him, tilting its head. Which kind of reminded Jason of Tim. The kid tilted his head so much it was a wonder he didn't have balance issues.
"Don't come any closer." Jason said, as if the wolf would understand.
It chuffed at him, staring in what looked like a mixture of confusion and amusement. That's when Jason noticed its tail wagging.
He lowered his gun slightly. Staring at the wolf with new eyes.
It hadn't attacked anyone. Its coat was shiny, healthy and well taken care of and it seemed more inclined to play than fight.
The wolf chuffed again, sounding impatient.
"I'm trying to figure out if you're going to eat me or not." Jason said. The wolf snorted, staring at Jason as if he was a dumbass. "Don't give me that look." Jason grumbled.
The wolf rolled its eyes. Rolled its eyes.
"Wait," Jason breathed. The wolf's ears perked up. "You're a werewolf."
Werewolves were rare in America. They mostly got were-coyotes, cats or foxes. Werewolves were more of a European thing. Though they were pretty common in certain parts of Asia too.
The wolf gave a yip in reply. Jason laughed, both relieved and slightly baffled. How the fuck did a werewolf end up in Gotham of all places? The few weres there are in America usually live in the more nature friendly states.
Jason flicked the safety back on and put his gun away. The wolf took a slow step forward, its eyes darting up as if to check it was okay.
Funny, that a wolf has more respect for boundaries than Bruce did.
"Yeah, we're all good." Jason's voice was soft, even through his modulator.
The wolf barked happily and skipped the last few steps, lightly headbutting Jason's stomach when he didn’t get pets right away.
"Someone sure spoiled you, huh? Impatient little wolf." Jason grinned, patting the wolf's head. The wolf rumbled and headbutted Jason again. "You mind if I call you Wolfie?"
Wolfie shot him a judgemental look– which was fair enough– then chuffed and began nuzzling Jason's hand.
Jason laughed. "Wolfie it is."
His knowledge on werewolves was pretty limited compared to what he knew about other were-creatures. He likely knew more than the average American due to his time with the League, but he was hardly an expert.
Maybe he could ask Alfred? Werewolves are common enough in Britain.
He knew that they transformed once a month, they rarely attacked and they kept enough of their human sensibilities to not pose much of a threat to anyone.
"Someone must be pretty worried about you." Jason remarked. The wolf's ears dropped and they whined. Something about it made Jason's chest clench. "Hey, hey, it's okay."
Wolfie stared at him with wide, glimmering eyes.
It wasn't exactly easy to lose a werewolf larger than most full grown men. Nor was it difficult to find them– though Wolfie was more subtle than most wolves their size would be.
The only explanation could be that no one was looking. No pack, family or friends. Jason didn’t know much about werewolves but he knew that wasn’t good.
“Sorry buddy,” Jason murmured, not knowing what else to say. Wolfie tilted their head at him, looking more like a bird than a wolf. “Are you a girl or a boy?”
Wolfie levelled Jason with a flat look.
“Non-binary?” Jason questioned. Wolfie stared at him, looking way too judgmental for an idiot who thought prowling around Crime Alley at night was a good idea– oh. Wolfie couldn't answer, because they couldn't talk. The back of Jason's neck warmed. “Bark once for a boy, twice for a girl and three times for neither.”
Wolfie rolled their eyes and barked once.
“Nice.” Jason nodded. Wolfie shook his head at Jason and huffed. “You’re a snarky little bastard aren’t you?”
Wolfie ignored him and headbutted his stomach again, demanding more pats. Jason happily obliged, Wolfie’s fur was soft and his little happy rumbles were weirdly soothing.
"Oh thank God," Dick's voice sounded from behind him. "I thought you–” He cut himself off abruptly.
Jason’s stomach sank. Looking at Dick’s pale face and his white knuckle grip around the handle of his escrimas, Jason could guess what he was going to say.
"I only texted you ten minutes ago, how did you get here so fast?" Jason asked, glancing round at Dick, who was staring at Wolfie in bewilderment.
"I had Wally drop me off." He said faintly.
"Oh." Was Jason's eloquent response.
He hadn't expected Dick to rush over to help him. He knew that Dick cared about him to some extent, but he hadn't expected him to care enough to call in the Flash to run him over here.
It left him with a strange, warm feeling he didn't know what to do with. So he ignored it.
Wolfie bolted past Jason and jumped up as he reached Dick. To Dick's credit, he only yelped as Wolfie knocked him to the ground.
Wolfie barked and began headbutting Dick's chest. The traitor.
"Werewolf?" Dick questioned as he cooed and kissed Wolfie's forehead.
"Yeah." Jason said. "How'd you know?"
"I knew a lot of them back in my circus days. This one family used to let me invade their cuddle piles–" Dick cut himself off with a laugh as Wolfie aggressively snuggled into him with a series of yips and barks. "You are so cute."
"He's seven foot three with jaws stronger than a bear trap." Jason said, despite having thought the same thing just a few minutes prior.
Wolfie glanced back at him with a comically insulted look on his face.
"I meant it in a good way." Jason amended.
"Of course he did," Dick kissed Wolfie's forehead, because apparently gigantic man-eating werewolves were the perfect recipients for his endless store of affection. "Fluffy, ferocious warrior." Dick cooed softly.
Wolfie chuffed in agreement, snuggling into Dick’s arms. “Yes, I love you too.”
Jason rolled his eyes at the pair. Out of everything he expected to happen when he saw Wolfie prowling through the alley, this wasn’t what he expected. Though knowing Dick, he should have.
Surprisingly, Dick stuck around after the unexpected cuddle session drew to a close. Both him and Wolfie accompanied Jason through the rest of his patrol.
It was only when the sky began to lighten that Wolfie stopped. He chuffed at them before running off, disappearing into the shadows surprisingly well for a wolf of his size.
-
On the next full moon, Wolfie was in Crime Alley once more.
Jason found him giving puppy eyes to the hot dog vendor. But not in pursuit of hot dogs, no, Wolfie wanted coffee and had no qualms about manipulating his way into getting it.
It took fifteen minutes to lure Wolfie away from the guilty looking vendor, Jason just didn't realise that it would end up with Wolfie following him instead.
It ended up beìng a quiet night. Most of the petty criminals Jason came across quickly saw the error in their ways when faced with a grumpy, disapproving werewolf slapping their guns away with his paws.
Wolfie wandered off at one point to walk a pair of tipsy college students home. Probably because one of them called him a very handsome wolf.
Jason didn’t wander too far, going through nearby alleys and stopping a few muggings while he was at it. He stopped in an empty alleyway to check out the graffiti left by kids who seemed to have collectively agreed that this was the best place for their artwork when he heard the quiet rustle of a cape.
“Hood.” Bruce’s voice cut through the silence.
Jason turned to face him, careful not to tense up. It was difficult when he saw that Bruce had a batarang in his hand. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t come here.”
“Only if you didn’t kill again.” Bruce said coldly.
“Kill in Gotham.” Jason corrected, his eyes narrowing. Bruce could hardly dictate what Jason did when fighting in outer space, hell, he barely had the right to do so now. Jason was only playing nice for the assholes he called siblings. “Which I haven’t.”
Bruce stormed down the alleyway, stopping a few feet away from Jason. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Remember what happened last time you accused me of lying?” Jason didn’t bother hiding the bitterness in his voice. He honestly had no idea why Bruce was here, accusing him of killing someone when Jason had only been firing rubber bullets for over a year now.
Bruce clenched his jaw. “Darren Brown, better known as Jester–”
Jason scoffed. “That Joker wannabe?”
“He was found dead just outside of Crime Alley with his head in a sack.” Bruce said, giving Jason a pointed look.
Jason groaned. “You put a few heads in a duffle bag one time.”
“Hood.” Bruce snapped.
“Batman.” Jason mimicked his tone. There was a time when that would have made Bruce bit back a smile, now he just scowled. “I didn’t do it. Have you even bothered looking into this, or did you just come straight over here to accuse me?”
Bruce bristled. “The cameras were hacked. You were last spotted a few streets away before the estimated time of death–”
“All circumstantial.” Jason pointed out.
“Prove that it wasn’t you.” Bruce ordered. Something about it rubbed Jason the wrong way, making his hands itch with the need to clip Bruce’s jaw.
“Fuck off, I’m not gonna jump through hoops just because you’re jumping to conclusions again.” Jason spat.
Bruce stared at him for a few moments. “How can you expect me to trust you when you won’t earn it?”
“I don’t care if you trust me. So long as you stay the hell away, I’m good.” Jason sneered. “Now get out of here.”
“No.” Bruce said, stepping closer.
A low growling sound came from behind Jason, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Wolfie moved in front of him, snarling at Bruce, his teeth bared and glinting dangerously in the light.
“Werewolf.” Bruce concluded after a few moments.
Wolfie’s eyes flashed and he prowled forward, forcing Bruce to step back, clutching the batarang just a little tighter than before.
“You think you can fight off Wolfie with a batarang?” Jason questioned incredulously. Wolfie rumbled in agreement.
Bruce didn't say anything, just stared at Wolfie who growled at him, a low, warning sound.
“Has it killed anyone?” The question was more of a demand.
Jason glared, something about the way Bruce spoke about Wolfie rubbed him the wrong way.
“You might just be his first kill.” Jason said pointedly.
Not that he would let it get that far. Wolfie may have enough of his human mind leftover to make his own decisions, but, ultimately, it still wouldn’t be fair to let Wolfie fight Jason's battles. Especially not with Bruce.
Wolfie moved forward again, driving Bruce to the end of the alleyway. Finally, Bruce decided to cut his losses and grapple away.
The knot in Jason's chest loosened, letting him take in an easy breath, soothing his frayed nerves. He took off his helmet, thankful that he chose to wear the domino mask under it. The cold air helped ground him.
Wolfie turned to face Jason with his chest puffed out as if saying see, aren't I a great protector?
"Thanks, Wolfie." Jason smiled. Wolfie bounded over towards Jason, his tail wagging as he headbutted Jason's stomach, knocking him to the ground. Jason laughed. "My fearsome warrior." Wolfie crouched, giving a mocking growl.
Jason swallowed thickly, hiding his face in Wolfies fur.
Since he had come back, maybe even before then, he'd taken pride in being the one to stand between the defenceless and the monsters of Gotham. He fired the bullets, took the hits and threw down with anyone who tried to stop him.
But it was different with Batman.
Fighting Batman was fighting dad. Even if Bruce didn't see it that way. Even after the batarang. Jason was never strong enough to fight Willis as a child. Now as an adult, he's not strong enough to defeat Bruce.
He'd had no one to have his back against either, until now.
Wolfie nuzzled his hair, chuffing in concern.
"I'm all good." Jason murmured.
Wolfie growled in a way that would probably translate to bullshit if he could speak.
“Okay, I will be all good soon.” Jason corrected.
Wolfie sniffed primly, but deemed Jason's response acceptable, rewarding him with warm snuggles and a soothing rumble.
-
Next month, Wolfie turned up with a familiar looking utility belt between his jaws. He dropped it at Jason's feet and chuffed proudly.
"How the hell did you manage that?" Jason laughed, leaning against the alley wall to stop himself from falling.
Wolfie had stolen Batman’s tool belt.
God, Jason would have paid good money to see that fight.
Though, from the looks of it, Wolfie seemed to use the snatch and grab technique. The side of the belt, where the material was thinnest, was torn.
The image of Wolfie pouncing on Bruce, ripping off the belt and bolting away made Jason chuckle.
"You're just amazing, aren't you?" Jason leaned down to give Wolfie a quick forehead kiss, earning a happy rumble.
Jason made a note to track Batman’s location on full moons. He didn’t want Wolfie annoying Bruce too much and getting hurt because of it, especially not on his behalf.
Though it was nice to have someone willing to fight for him.