Chapter Text
Jason has spent the last few days getting more used to this small town.
He had met Michael and Joseph, a couple who lived two streets away from his home, they both were owners of the one market in the whole town.
They were very friendly, even inviting him over for dinner. Jason was still not used to people, especially strangers, being so kind and welcoming, but he accepted the invite.
Things were going great, it was peaceful.
Danny was being an adorable little angel, he wouldn't make a fuss about anything at all, it may be because he was de-aged that he didn't behave 100% like a normal baby would.
So Jason had it easy, bathing Danny was full of giggles of joy, feeding milk formula was met with a satisfied burp, changing his diapers and clothes? Danny would just wiggle his arms while squealing happily.
So yeah, he had things way too easy, Jason would have loved Danny anyway if he was a normal baby who cries every five minutes though.
He was thinking about what Death–Rio told him, he has a little brother, one that wanted to meet him…it's been a few days since he saw his mother, he thinks he is ready to meet her family.
“Lady Rio?” Suzan said, surprised when he asked the exact location of her home. “Ohhh are you the other son she keeps proudly talking about?!”
Death has talked about him? His cheeks flush slightly, and proudly?
Suzan seemed amused by his expression. “Well, I can take you there, it's a she said, two streets from this one, you can't miss it, her house is exaggeratedly big” She chuckles good naturedly.
“But say, are you perhaps free tonight?” The witch asks with her big eyes sparkling.
“I think so?” He responds. “I'll pay them a visit, but I'm not sure I'll stay until late, for now at least” He eyes curiously. “Why?”
“Rachel is coming to visit us tonight!” Suzan says excitedly.
“We would love to introduce you two, you could be good friends” Helena says softly from the door, she has been quiet so far, busy cleaning the house as if her life depended on it.
“I'll show up tonight then” He smiles slightly.
A friend? He hasn't had friends since the Outlaws, and they left him, be it to be with their own family or do their own thing, he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at them, he couldn't just hold them back.
Still, it hurt they never got in contact with him again …
But he was feeling hopeful, maybe he could be friends with their daughter, if she wants of course.
“Oh that's great!” The shorter woman claps her hands. “I'll leave a seat for you, then!!” She then goes to the exit door. “Now, let's get you to your momma!”
He definitely blushes at that.
The house was as Suzan said, the biggest from the neighborhood, she had left to prepare things for tonight, meanwhile Jason stared at the door hesitantly.
What if Billy doesn't like him? He has already met Agatha, they didn't have much time to get to know each other, but he hopes she doesn't hate him…
Suddenly the door opens, and Jason's breath gets caught in his throat.
A teen greets him, he looks to be around 15 or 16 years old, he has curly brown hair and brown eyes.
“Hello? You have been staring at our door for like, 5 minutes” The boy says, not cheekily or even afraid, but more curious than anything.
“Sorry, I'm just…nervous” The man explains, then gives the boy a soft look. “I'm Jason, mom said I could visit”
The boy's eyes widened as he gasped. “Woah, you are so tall! And you are my big brother!? That's awesome!” The teen smiles brightly as he makes space for him to enter.
“Come in! Mom and mother are in the living room!” Billy grabs his hand and drags him inside the house.
Jason looked around, this place was amazing. Suzan's place had a few plants here and there, but Death’s house had trees in the walls and even more plants.
“Oh can I hold him? Wait, is it a him, right?” Billy said pointing to Danny who was looking around in absolute wonder.
The man smiled. “He is, and sure thing, he is your nephew after all”
The teen’s eyes sparkled at that. “I’m going to be the best uncle, I promise!” He made grabby hands towards him.
Danny squealed happily as Jason passed him to his younger brother.
Billy held his nephew with stars on his eyes as he slowly walked in front, leading the way.
Jason noticed there were a lot of family pictures in the walls as well, most of them of Agatha and Rio, then a couple of them with Billy when he was younger, then, at his current age, his eyes stopped on a particular frame, it wasn’t a photo, it was a painting…of him.
It was little Jason Peter Todd, smiling as if nothing was wrong in the world.
He didn’t realize he had stopped in the middle of the corridor until Billy nudged him. “Cool right? Mom didn’t have you around to take pics, so she painted these”
These? As in more than one?
He looks further into the corridor, finding even more paintings of him, some of him as a kid, some from when he came back to life, still blue eyed, then more recent ones where his eyes were green as the lazarus pit.
She made all of them? She…wow, this was…he doesn’t know what to say.
He caressed the first painting, it had so much detail, so much love poured into it.
She never stopped loving him.
Billy was patiently waiting for him to go through his emotions, he was just happy to finally meet his big brother and nephew, he can understand how the man could be feeling overwhelmed right now, mom had told him that Jason has gone through a lot.
Jason eventually turned his gaze back to his little brother, who smiled kindly at him.
“Ready?” The boy asked.
He nodded, wiping off a tear that escaped.
“Yeah”
When they arrive at the living room, Jason was met with another beautiful sight, in the middle of the room there was an even bigger tree that went through the ceiling, uh so that’s why he saw that outside, sitting on the roots as if they were the most comfortable thing to sit on in the world, was his mom, Agatha was lying down, her head on Rio’s lap as Death played with her hair.
Vidal looked up, knowing her sons were watching. “Jason, you came” She smiled softly.
Harkness sat up immediately at that, looking at the man with mirth in her eyes. “The boy wonder!” She exclaims. “How have you and the little one been doing?”
Jason smiled. “We have been good, the neighbors are nice and….thank you for bringing us here”
The witch waved her hand dismissively. “No need to thank me, boy, we have been wanting to meet you it’s been a while, but Rio didn’t want to get in the way of you living your life”
Rio glared at her wife, slapping the top of her head.
“Ouch! What? It’s true! You were too busy being moody thinking he wouldn’t want you in his life again and—”
Another slap.
“Shutting up” Agatha mutters with a pout.
Death rolled her eyes affectionately, then looked at Billy, especially at Danny who was still in his arms. “Let me hold my grandson, won’t you?”
Billy nodded, approaching his mom and handing the child to her.
Jason watched in fascination as his mom and Danny stared at each other, both tilting their heads to the side as if having a whole conversation. Then his son let out an excited squeal that earned a fond smile from Rio.
“Why do only our children make you smile like that?” Harkness commented feeling offended.
Rio without looking away from her grandson replied: “Our children are not insufferable like you”
The other woman gasps in mock hurt.
Jason watched them amusedly, it was weird that the witch who he had encouraged before already considered him her son as well, no hesitation, no concern he may hurt Billy.
While the witch was trying his mom’s patience, JAson sat on the couch a little far away from the roots, Billy sat at his side quietly, not knowing if he should start talking first or not.
“Are you…adopted? Or did they have a witchy kind of way to have you?” Jason asks genuinely curious.
“Oh no” Billy chuckles. “Mom and mother adopted me after…well, after my birth mother went crazy, she wasn’t a good person from what I have heard, I never met her, sooo” He shrugs. “I wouldn’t want to go to her even if she got better”
“Uh, seems like birth mothers aren’t shit lately” Jason blurts out sympathetically.
Agatha let out a startled laugh at that “Oh I like him!” She pats her wife on the back strongly.
They spent a couple of hours getting to know each other, Billy was a sweet kid, he has powers as well, and went as ‘Wiccan’ in his home universe for a little bit before they moved into his universe. The teen was really happy to have him as a brother, apparently Death wouldn’t shut up about him.
The teen had said he had a brother once, that he tried to bring with them, but the boy stayed in their home universe, saying he wanted to meet their mother, they fought and drifted away, Jason hopes that one day, Tommy comes back to reunite with Billy.
It was getting late, and he needed to leave as much as he wanted to stay; he had promised to attend the dinner at Suzan’s home.
They all were very understanding about it, Agatha quipped saying it’s not like they are a town away anyways, they will visit him soon now that he feels ready to receive and talk with them.
“Jason!” Suzan greets him with a big smile. “Come in! Rachel is in the living room, I’m almost done with the food”
“Do you need help” He offers at seeing the mess that the kitchen has become.
“Oh no, no, no! You’re a guest! Don’t worry your pretty little head about it”
“Alright, alright” He chuckles. “Though I may need to feed Danny soon, do you still have the formula I left here yesterday?”
Helena entered the room, already nodding. “We do, let me feed him while you and Rachel meet, I’ll bring him to the living room shortly”
Danny has warmed up to the witch rather quickly since the last time, so he didn’t make a fuss when Jason handed him to the taller witch.
“Thank you” He says with a warm heart. “I’ll be going to meet your daughter then”
He laughed as Suzan pushed him out of the kitchen, shooing him off.
“..Jason?”
He blinked slowly, recognizing the voice. “Raven?” He turned, finding the woman sitting on the couch, one book on the side that looked like she dropped.
She stood up quickly, floating towards him, analyzing his face in shock.
“Well, of all the Rachels out there I did not expect you to be their daughter” He says awkwardly.
"It’s you” She whispers. “It's really you” Raven looks so…happy? As happy as she expresses herself. “How long? Does Dick know?”
He blinks slowly at that. “...they…didn't tell you?” At her confused look, he explained hesitantly. “I have been back for the last six years…”
She frowns as if trying to understand what he just told her, then she looks absolutely enraged. “That stupid!!–how could he–I'm going to have a talk with him!”
“Uh, please don't?” He practically pleads.
She eyes him closely, seeing something in his posture that had her tense. “You're hiding”
“Yeah, I…” He sighs. “I wasn’t the same kid who died, I killed people, I hurt them, and in return they weren't treating me as family, I was going to…you know, put an end to things”
Her eyes widen in shock, then she approaches him, her hand hesitantly reaching for him. He nods, giving her permission, she puts her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
“...then someone gave me a reason to keep living and brought me here…I don't want them to know, please, I just want to be happy” He says the last part tiredly
“Alright” She easily agrees.
“You…you won't tell them?”
“You clearly need this, Jason, I'm not surprised that they could have hurt you so badly that they pushed you away, Dick wasn't a spectacular brother when you were a kid, I should have said something about it at the time, but I wasn't…I was not the best person back then either” She sighs shaking her head. “And about you killing, I do not care about that, I assumed the people you put an end to…deserve it?”
He nods firmly. “They did”
“Good”
“Are you two alright?” Helena asks as she and Suzan enter the living room.
Raven's eyes immediately stop on the baby in her mother's arms, her eyes soften.
“Is he the reason?” She asks softly.
Jason's expression says everything but he verbally answers anyways.
“Yes”