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Jason stared at where Danny had been, as he heard one of his brothers, probably Dick climb in through the window.
“Jason! Are you okay?” Dick came over and started looking over the places he’d been hit, hands fluttering over Jason like he wanted to perform a physical examination.
“I’m fine, Dick. The kid got me out” he heard someone shuffle off to the side, but avoided looking in that direction. He pushed himself to a seating position, his torso only protesting slightly. Guess his wounds weren’t one-hundred percent healed.
“The kid?” Dick looked around. “Where is he? And who were those agents?”
“Those agents are called the GIW, or ghost investigation ward.” Jason said he avoided looking at where he thought the kid was. If he could prove Nightwing could be trusted with the knowledge that Jason was part ghost, then the kid would be more comfortable showing himself. He just hoped Dick responded right.
“Ghosts?” Dick said a bit skeptical, but not outright denying the possibility. They had seen some pretty strange stuff because of their vigilante careers.
Jason nodded. “According to them, I’m part ghost.”
“But,” Dick said, looking a bit sad now, “you’re alive.”
Jason nodded and shoved down all his worry and intrusive thoughts. This was for the kid. “I am, but science I died, I’m still dead adjacent, and that’s enough for the GIW to hunt down. But they also,"Jason said to make sure he was perfectly clear, “hunt down full ghosts, which are actually real.”
Dick paused. “The kid told you this?” He didn’t say it skeptically, but with genuine curiosity.
“Yeah, and I believe him.”
Dick nodded. “Okay. Ghosts aren't that far fetched considering aliens and demons are also a thing. Where is the kid?”
Jason tilts his head and waits, Dick looks confused for a moment but then Danny, still with glowy hair and eyes, appears beside the couch. He’s fidgeting and biting his lip while avoiding eye contact. But Jason counts it as a win that Danny showed himself.
Dick, for his part, only startles a little bit, but then he smiles. “Hello kid, I’m Nightwing.”
Danny glances at Jason before turning back to Dick, “I’m Danny.”
“Nice to meet you.Thank you for saving my brother, he tends to get into a lot of trouble.”
“Hey!”
Danny smirked, “I can see that.”
Fine. Jason would be willing to withstand some teasing if it made Danny smile.
“And are you okay?” dick continued. “These GIW agents didn’t shoot you?”
Danny shook his head, “Nah, but I should probably head out. That’s what I was doing when I saw they’d found Jason.”
Dick tried to hide his concern, but Jason knew him well enough to see it. “Where are you heading off to? You got a place to stay?”
Danny fidgeted. “Not really. But you don’t need to worry. I can take care of myself. I’ll be fine.”
Jason felt his emotions go out to the kid. No kid should be on their own, it shouldn’t be their responsibility to take care of themselves. He’d protect this kid, make sure to keep him safe, no matter what.
Danny gave him a strange look and Jason felt exposed. He shifted on the couch and cleared his throat. “You can stay here, Danny. We can have people watch for any more agents and lock up any who try to get into Gotham.”
“You don’t–”
“Nope. I may not need to, but I want to. Consider it, thanks for saving me.” Jason said, staring at Danny and trying to convey his honesty.
“Great,” Dick said, moving towards the kitchen. “I’ll get you some tea, Jason. Do you want some Danny?”
“No thanks.”
“You better not burn my apartment down.” Jason called after him.
“I know how to use a microwave.”
“That’s debatable.” Jason muttered.
He noticed Danny staring at him, and turned toward the kid.
“Do you really trust him?”
Jason pushed down the Pit, whispering to him that Dick never cared, and answered the question with the answer that he believed on good days “Yes, I do.”
Danny stared at him for a moment, and then turned to stare off toward the kitchen.
Jason could swear his eyes glowed brighter. It reminded him of the Pit, and he had to push down those thoughts and remember that Danny had explained that the Pit was probably just contaminated ectoplasm.
Then Danny nodded, and a ring appeared around his waist, before splitting and traveling up and down him. After the light show had faded, Jason was left staring at the version of Danny he had met.
“Wow, you’ve got your own magic girl transformation scene.”
Danny blushed, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck. “I guess.”
Dick chose that moment to come in. He froze for a second staring at Danny as the kid fidgeted, before Dick smiled and handed Jason the tea he had made. Jason took a sip, it was drinkable.
“So, Jason, I guess you're the one who ended up inheriting the adoption gene?”
Jason nearly spit out the tea he had just taken a drink of. He glanced over at Danny. The kid looked confused but also slightly amused.
When Jason could finally breathe again, he ignored his brother and turned toward Danny.
“Since you’ll at least be staying the night, which you are, you probably want to take a shower. Dick can get you some clothes you can borrow, while I work on making us some food.”
Danny glanced at the window once more before nodding.
“Great. Dick if you’ll show him the bathroom, I’ll get started on some stew.”
Jason carefully made his way to the kitchen, being careful of his still aching torso. He didn’t know how deep Danny’s healing had gone, and wanted to make sure he didn’t aggravate any internal bruising.
Jason herald the shower turn on, and a moment later Dick stepped into teh kitchen.
They were silent for a moment before Dick spoke up.
“Does he know you’re identity?”
“Just my first name.”
Another moment of silence. “So,he’s also a ghost adjacent?”
“Yeah, but you’ll have to ask him for specifics.” Jason said as he started pulling out ingredients.
“Of course.” Dick leaned against the counter as Jason began tossing ingredients in the pot.
Dick shifted and Jason glanced over. “I know,” Dick started, speaking softly, “you may be more comfortable in your apartment, but the manor will be easier to protect, especially with those agents after you both.”
Jason tenses and fights down the immediate instinct to argue. What Dick is saying is true. They don’t really know who these GIW agents are, and if they’re also targeting Jason then it would be best to have more people around to help protect the kid.
He sighed, “We’ll stay here for tonight, and I’ll talk with him in the morning.”
“That’s all I ask, Jaybird.” Dick said and ruffled Jason’s hair.
The only reason Jason didn't shove him off was because he was in the middle of stirring his stew and didn’t want the ingredients to stick to the pan, or at least that's what he told himself.