#but Jay was taught by THEE alfred himself so ofc he'd find a way to make the things she asked

[oookaline]

Nightwing wasn't expecting a big reaction to him breaking into Red Hood's current safehouse. Maybe a fight, the probability of him being thrown out of the window were pretty high. Maybe Hood would just take a look at him sitting in his kitchen counter and just turn around and bail.

He was prepared to deal with any of the seventeen scenarios he came up with in his head, but none of those even got close to encapsulating what actually happened.

He was ready for fists, guns, a slipper being thrown at him. He was not ready for how Hood entered his apartment and just froze when seeing him. A reaction so foreign to them that in turn Nightwing froze as well, both men just starring at each other. He knew something had happened when Hood was still semi out the door and made no move to enter and close or leave and close.

"wing?"

"How long have you been here?"

"A couple of hours maybe? I finished patrol early and-"

"Shit" Hood then bolted inside towards one of the rooms, startling Nightwing into following him inside after running to the door and closing it.

They entered a small seemingly barren room, with nothing but a small unmade single bed, a bedside table and a wall closet. Hood looked around and checked the covers for something, then going to the window and checking them too.

"If it helps, I got in via the living room window."

"Shut up Dickhead." Hood snapped at him- no, that wasn't Hood anymore, it was his little brother now, looking desperate. Jason in his stupor had taken off his face mask and domino, his glaring green eyes made him shut up on the spot. "Tell me right now exactly how long have you been here."

"Two hours and thirty-three minutes before you opened the door."

Jason cursed under his breath again, running a hand through his hair, Nightwing could see how tired and scared Jason was and it confused him a bit, was he housing someone here? Did they escape?

His brother turned his head towards the wall closet door, and his face crumbled. Nightwing almost reached out in a moment of panic but Jason was faster and got to his knees in front of the door, tapping it carefully three times. "Hey amor, you in there? Its me."

A few agonizing second passed and Nightwing's questions only grew. A minute passed and Jason's hand that tapped had turned into a trembling fist, then his whole body relaxed when a small shuffling sound came from inside the closet, and three fast taps were heard in return.

Jason snapped his head back to him and lowly said "wait for me in the kitchen. now." Nightwing didn't think twice before turning around and leaving the small room, not making the effort to try and listen in to an obviously private moment.

By the time Jason sat next to him, Dick had foregone his own domino and was nervously picking on his gloved hand.

He side eyed Jason, a deep frown on his brothers face kept him quiet for a while, and Dick didn't dare try to brake the silence.

"Someone..." Jason started, taking in a large breath of air, apprehension turned into exhasperation, "Someone wants to meet you." Their eyes met, "Nightwing."

A faint lightbulb started flickering in Dick's head, he just nodded and softly gestured his head to his mask, a silent question of which Jason nodded so Dick tried to quickly reattach the mask on. After a sigh Jason turned his head towards the hallway and softly said "Min, someone wants to meet you too."

A few seconds passed and a small head poked out of the room they were in before, a black haired girl shily walked out and shuffled foward until she was stood where the hallway began, looking up at Dick expectanly.

A smile made its way through Dick's face, getting out of his seat and couching down to be head level with the kid, far away enough to let her be the one to come to him. "Hey there, nice to meet you," He looks at Jason, somehow surprised to see the fond look painted over his face "this guy told me you were very cool you know."

"...said?" The girl looked up at Jason, a wobbly smile and shining green eyes "Really?" both words were said with a very strong accent.

"Yeah amor. Go on, he was very excited" He hasn't heard his brother be this soft with someone since... Since his day's in the mantle, talking with scared kids on the street. It made something tug and scrach at his heart.

"What's your name?" Dick tried to make himself seem as inviting as possible.

"...Minnie." The girl answered, and took a tentative step forward, "Nightwing?" She took another step forward, then hurried towards Jason, putting her hands up.

Jason scooped her up on his arms, the girl immediately tucking her head on his shoulder and looking at Nightwing with twinkling eyes. Jason chuckled softly and laid his own head on top of hers "She's a little bit shy, but her favourite Gotham hero is Nightwing." He said that last bit with gritted teeth, grinning when the girl gasped at that.

"I like Red Hood!" She complained to him, bunching her cheeks in indignation.

"I said 'hero' Min, I'm not a hero."

"Yes you are!" She started hitting him on the shoulder, "Yes you are, you are you are!" Clearly the girl was getting frustrated, and Jason grimaced at the girl's reaction.

"Okay, okay min, you're gonna hurt yourself, stop that."

"Say it." She put her small hands on Jason's cheek, "Say you're a hero."

Jason just looked at her, and Dick's heart strained painfully at the scene in front of him for various reasons.

"I'm a hero." Jason said softly, a small smile gracing his lips, "Good?"

"Good" Min answered back, then she turned her head to Nightwing "You're a hero too, you and dad."

That made Dick blink at her, then he slowly looked over at Jason who had the worst 'say anything and you're getting the defenestration treatment' look Dick has gotten in a good while, so he just smiled brightly at her "You're right! And your dad is awesome too! I'm glad im good enough to be second to him!"

The resulting smile he got from her was so bright it made his own smile bigger, "Yeah! See if Nightwing says it it means it's true! Nightwing doesn't lie, you said so!"

Dick raised an eyebrow at this and laughed, nodding in agreement as Jason scowled at him.

The girl yawned in Jason's hold, tucking her head back on his shoulder. Jason's arm tightened around her "Sleepy?" She nodded, making him hum and stand up, "To bed we go then."

"Nightwing?" She called out from Jason's arm, "Is he going to go away?" It was a soft question laced with sad doubt.

Jason stopped in his tracks to turn to Dick, who was stood now, "Yes, but you're going to be able to see him some other day. Right Nightwing?"

"Of course," Dick didn't even need to think to answer, "If your dad is okay I can come over sometime too."

"hmm" she only hummed happily in response, and Jason gave him a small approving nod in response before taking the girl back to the room.

For a second time, Jason sat down next to him after a while, Dick again having foregone his mask.

"She's not mine, but I love her." was the first thing he said, something dangerous laced in his voice as if daring Dick to say something against the little girl.

"I wasn't going to question it." He tried reassuring Jason, but he knew it would take more than just empty words, "Where..." Dick grimaced trying to think of the right questions "Can you tell me about her?"

His brother ducked his head, a hand running down his face, "Remember that human trafficking ring we busted last year? The one that was taking immigrant women from the streets? Her mom was one of the fugitives that came to us with the intel." Dick hummed at that, trying to remember the very few women who had come to them desperate trying to get to safety, "Brazilian lady, barely spoke English, I gave all three of them an address to go to when they felt like they were in danger, and after the bust she came to me with a small girl, asking me to look over her for the day." Jason was silent for a bit, then sighed "She was found dead at the end of the day. Gang kill."

"Her name's Minnie, after Minnie Mouse I think?" A small smile graced his lips "She told me that, said it was her mom's favourite character and that she loved her so much she named her that. " Jason then looked at him, pain in his eyes "I know I have to put her in the system Dick, I do, you don't need to tell me that. It's just-" He closed his eyes, "Her mom trusted me with her, and I know how the system is, it's shit and I'm not going to make her go through with that. So she's staying here until I find a family I trust enough."

Dick silently nodded, not saying anything even though Jason wasn't seeing him, but he knew right now nothing relating to that would be good to talk about, so he tried shifting the conversation a bit. "She seems like a very cool kid."

"She is." Jason genuinely smiled at that, "I came home one night with a cut on my face, she was still awake and saw me bleeding and got a hello kitty band-aid and put it over my cut. She said she would officially be my nurse from now on." He shook his hand fondly, "She's also hella smart, I take her to the library once per week and she's already reading on her own. She's only six, but I'm so so proud of her."

Dick smiled at how his brother talked about his kid, "Sounds like she takes after her dad in the reading department, am I to expect Shakespeare by the time she's ten?" He tried for a quip, bumping his arm with his brother's, then froze because he didn't know if they were back at that point in their relationship and oh god he should know better than to just do things out of habit-

But Jason just laughed at that, the stress in his shoulder loosening significantly and Dick realised Jason was stressed because he didn't know how Dick would react to Min. His face crumbled slightly, but recovered before Jason could realise. "She's definitely way smarter than me." Then his face closed again, his eyes steeling on Dick and not letting any emotion show, "I'll only ask you this once Dick, don't tell Bruce." Dick thinned his lips, "I don't want him to come and take her away from me and I'm not above showing him just how far I can go to protect her."

"Jason..." Dick sighed, "I don't... Bruce wouldn't do that."

"Bullshit Dick, and you know." Jason snapped. "He's so straight in his fucked up ways that he'd see a kid in my house and think I kidnapped her or something and take her away." He set his jaw, turning his face away.

Dick was silent for a bit, trying to think of something to placate him, and when he thought of something he smiled and leaned over to try and find Jason's eyes, "You know, Alfie would be really happy to have a granddaughter, you should... invite him over, to meet her." He smiled when Jason met his eyes.

The small smile that he was able to pull out of Jason was worth it, and that was one less thorn in Dick's heart. "Alfie would spoil her so much."

Dick nodded, then stood to start heading out. He grabbed his mask but then stopped, handing over his mask to Jason "Give his to her, as a small present and a promise that I'll be back." Jason took the mask in his hand, thumbing over the rigid material, "Bye Jay, see you some other time."

Jason didn't say anything, nor did he move so Dick just let himself out, stopping a bit before fully closing the door and looking at his brother who was now a pseudo dad to a kid, and how better he looked now.

Wait, holy shit- DICK'S AN UNCLE!