Chapter Text
Cleaning his gear did not happen that night, not with a teenager curled up against his side trying to leach warmth from him. Jason couldn’t even complain when it took away whatever cold may have tried to remain from his own body. Plus, after the day they’d had, they deserved a little time to just… relax.
Which made it more surprising when he woke up to find that Duke was no longer next to him but rather hearing someone moving around.
“Do I want to know what you’re doing?” Jason called, stretching for a moment and trying to ignore the way that everything cracked. He was too young for this. Dying was supposed to fix bad joints, right? That felt like the bare minimum if he had to put up with pitying looks because he died one fucking time.
“Making breakfast,” came the response from the kitchen.
His brows rose in surprise, twisting one more time to see if he could get his back to pop before heading for the kitchen. “You’re making breakfast in a stranger’s kitchen,” Jason prompted, leaning against the doorway.
Duke was found standing in his fridge, digging out a few things for a simple breakfast. “Yeah. As thanks for last night,” he said quietly, glancing up. “I didn’t think you’d be up yet.”
Huh. Okay then.
Jason nodded after some consideration. “Well, don’t fuck up my pans. I need a shower. Think you can handle this it for that long?” he asked. All Duke did was roll his eyes, which he could take to mean that that was as much reassurance as he was going to get.
Taking a shower it was. Jason may have been able to wipe down a bit before, but being able to properly clean himself off from the fight was even better. If the kitchen went down, there wasn’t really much here that could be destroyed, though he hated the idea of replacing any of his pans. He usually spent ok money on his cooking supplies in the safe houses.
This safe house was probably going to be burned anyways…
Thoughts of relocation and trying to figure out how to take care of the teenager in his kitchen took up his shower. While keeping an ear out for calamity or smoke or something.
Clothed in properly clean sweatpants and an old Wonder Woman shirt, he appeared not long after to find a plate of eggs and some toast laid out for him while Duke ate. Even coffee. “Rescued a mini-Gordon Ramsey last night,” he commented as he snagged his plate and a mug.
“You shouldn’t take your lack of ability to cook out on Gordon Ramsey,” Duke commented quietly.
It took everything Jason had to not choke on his first bite of toast. “Hey! I can cook just fine,” he snapped, even if he was also trying to not be incredibly amused at that. What a shit head. “I made our hot chocolate last night.”
“Out of a packet?”
“No, I’m not a fucking heathen.”
All Duke did was shrug and return to his own plate, sitting in front of the shitty little coffee table that Jason had in the living room. Jason folded himself up on the other side, ignoring the way his knees protested on the way down. They protested everything, so his knees didn’t get a say.
What a little shit. Jason could see how Bruce ended up adopting so many kids. A few bites before he could manage to continue the conversation.
“So what are you plans now?” he prompted.
Duke’s fork hesitated for a moment over his eggs, not looking up. “Why?”
It was such a clear case of avoidance that Jason could have laughed. Poor kid. He knew that feeling intimately. Wanting to avoid attention from any vaguely authority figure shaped person. “Trying to make sure you’re not getting up to anything I wouldn’t approve of if you keep hanging around here. And making sure you’re taken care of,” he pointed out.
“I told you that I can take care of myself,” Duke argued.
That wasn’t quite right. “You told me you were fine. Which, debatable. Not having a place to turn to isn’t fine,” Jason pointed out. “And not having people looking out for you isn’t fine. It means you’re alone, which isn’t a good thing around here.”
Duke just continued to poke at his eggs, somewhere between annoyed stabbing and uncomfortably pushing his food around.
Jason let the silence spread out between them as he finished his breakfast, leaving Duke to eat in peace. To ponder what he had said, he supposed, and to choose his own next words carefully. He wasn’t trying to scare the kid off, but he also didn’t want this conversation to end on that note. To leave the teen floundering for some sense of stability. He knew how awful that could be.
Getting to his feet, he held his hand out for Duke’s empty plate. “Listen, you can stay here as long as you need. Ok? Nothing you need to do as long as you keep the place clean. Sound fair?” he asked.
Those golden eyes snapped up to him, widening. “I can stay here?” he asked.
Jason motioned for him to hand over the plate as he stood there. If Duke was going to cook, he’d clean up the mess. “Yeah. You can stay here. You seem a decent enough kid, and at the very least, we can get you set up somewhere longer term while you figure out what’s going on with whoever is supposed to be watching out for you,” he explained. That’s what it had sounded like before. That someone was supposed to be watching out for him, and that he was- looking for them? Maybe?
Duke blinked, giving him the plate robotically. “Might be a while. Joker kind of… messed with their heads,” he warned quietly, shifting in his spot as he looked away.
Ah. Fuck.
There wasn’t anything he could say to that. He couldn’t apologize or relate in a way that would make sense. Not even with what Joker had done to him. “The door stays open anyways. Not really a safe house when people know about it, after all,” he finally said, turning to go wash the dishes that they had created and leaving Duke to think.
Jason puttered around the kitchen, leaving Duke to think in the other room. The teenager deserved his privacy to process that, especially after sharing something like the Joker fucking up his parents somehow. And, frankly, Jason wasn’t sure what to say. How to make this any better. So he cleaned up what little mess there was. Let the sink run, scrubbed down the pan, poured the last of the coffee into his mug. Those kind of things.
Until he could feel himself being watched again, quiet footsteps have made their way across the floor without him noticing.
“Maybe just for a bit,” Duke said quietly, arms folded across his chest.
A brief, small smile crossed his face before nodded. “Sure, kid. As long as you need,” he promised. He’d need to get a few things. Some extra clothes for him. Stock the fridge. The basics. “Maybe we can help you get a better handle on your abilities in the process. So you only blind people on purpose.”
Duke’s eyebrows knit together for a moment before his mouth fell open. “Oh- I- Shit. I’m sorry about that!” he scrambled, suddenly remembering last night. “You surprised me and- I didn’t mean to, I swear. I was on edge, and I know how people are about the pollen and- It just- I can’t always control it when I’m upset. It was an accident and-“
“It’s fine,” Jason chuckled before he could work himself even further. He hadn’t heard Duke swear yet. “But we should work on that. If you’re going to be here anyways. You can do more good if you can handle yourself.”
“I- right,” he finally breathed, flushing.
Jason nodded, handing him one of the clean dishes. “Here, dry this off. We’ll have to find a few things to make this place livable later,” he said.
It wasn’t long before everything was put away, going through the supplies that Jason already did have. He’d have to figure out a way to also stay here more often, or move Duke to his regular place at some point, but it was a start. Making a list, learning if he had any allergies, the like…
Making a place into a home wasn’t exactly easy. Even a temporary home. He wondered if Bruce had thought the same thing when he took in Dick.
Jason reached for his phone, shooting the first text off before he could stop himself.
Hey, Alf, question.
Master Jason. How can I help you? -A
Jason hesitated for a moment, well aware that if this got back to any of the rest of the family, he’d never hear the end of it. Still, there was a good chance this would come in handy later at the rate things were going so…
He could still lie and just say he wanted a recipe.
Any chance you can share with me the process for shoving emergency foster paperwork through? Ignoring the fact that I’m still technically dead.
Don’t tell B.
He could pay for it if it came down to it. And he wouldn’t do anything that would leave the kid without a choice…
Someone should be looking out for Duke.
Of course, my boy. - A