#danny finds and adopts a catatonic jason

[call-me-strega]

Dc x Dp Prompt #23: The Custody Battle Turned Romance

A freshly resurrected Jason is found by Single Dad Danny raising a de-aged Dan and Dani who goes "surely one more kid can't hurt?" and takes him in. Danny helps him deal with his catatonia, trauma amnesia, and other side effects of being undead without the need for a Lazarus Pit.

He takes the kid to a therapist Jazz recommended and supports him thoughout his recovery. They did some bloodwork and found out pretty early on he was The Jason Todd-Wayne but then he decided not to reach out and let Jason decided what he wanted once he was recovered.

Danny, Ellie and Jordan love and treat him like family in a way he's never quite had before even with Bruce. They’re just so open and honest about their feelings and never make him feel out of place. So when Danny ask if he’d like to reconnect with the Waynes or stay with the them, Jason chooses to stay with them.

The world has moved on around them, and so has the Batfam. Jason knows about Tim (and talked through his feelings in therapy). He knows about the foundation Bruce created in his memory and the way he very publicly grieved. He witnessed the news over Nightwing nearly beating the Joker to death. He knows enough to decided it’s better to let the dead remain dead. Instead, he becomes Jason Nightingale, eldest adopted son of a mechanic in the Narrows. The family welcomes him with open arms officially accepting him as a brother and son.

Danny supports Jason to finish his high school and college education and Jason decides to be a doctor as an homage to Thomas Wayne and aspires open a free clinic like Leslie Thompkins. They get his death certificate revoked under circumstances of resurrection (which is a thing that actually exists in public documents due to the resurrections that tend to happen in the DC universe) and legally adopt him so that he can go back to school. However, Batman monitors public records to a degree and this gets flagged in the system bc it’s Jason’s death certificate.

Suspicious, but optimistic Bruce informs the rest of the family what he has found out and ask them to come as back up for when he goes to find Jason. He’s investigated and is sure that the family who helped rehabilitate Jason is clean and nice people but he wants his son back. They others also wanna see Jason but are worried if this is a good idea since Jason hasn’t reach out himself and there is paperwork for an adoption in the system. But Bruce decides to track them down anyway.

Bruce shows up as the Nightingale’s door and asks to see Jason. Danny, sympathetic, agrees on the condition Jason wants to see him. Jason is hesitant, but decided it would be good way for both of them to get closure and agrees. Bruce and Jason have a tearful reunion and a long heartfelt conversation at the end of which Bruce says “Let’s go home son”. To which Jason has to awkwardly break it to him, but he has no intention of leaving the Nightingale’s and returning to the Manor. He lets him know that he’s open to meeting the rest of the family at least once more but that Danny is his dad now and Ellie and Jordan are his little siblings.

Bruce is devastated.

He lets the rest of the family know and they all make their visits while Bruce wallows in despair. Normally he wouldn let it go, but he just can’t stand to lose Jason another time. So he decides to take Danny to court in the hopes of getting visitation rights if not split custody.

It’s one of the weirdest cases to hit the Gotham courts: two dads who were never together in any capacity but aren’t antagonistic of each other, are trying to come to a custody agreement over their adopted resurrected child in family court.

Over the course of the court case Bruce sees what a good dad Danny is and bonds with his two “bio” kids. Meanwhile Danny gets to meet Dick, Tim, and Cass (Bruce’s legal kids as of rn) and gets to talk to them about their experiences with Bruce and how much they want to form/reform relationships with Jason. They do form a healthy respect for each other, and accept each other’s places in Jason’s life.

Court case ends up working out in favor of Danny. It’s split custody but he gets custody of Jason majority of the time (as per Jason’s own wishes) and Bruce and the Wayne's still have partial custody and open contact with the Nightingales.

Over the years kids all start to see each other as siblings and both Bruce and Danny as their dads. By the time Damian shows up Bruce and Danny have been functionally co-parenting each others kids for years. They provide support to each other’s kids that the other parent may not be well equipped to, but helping each other improve.

When Damian does arrive his superiority complex is quickly curbed and Bruce puts him into counseling on Danny and Jason’s recommendation. It takes a while, but Damien slowly finally opens up and gets to act like a real kid. Ellie and Jordan, who are around the same age (maybe a bit younger?), love having him over to roughhouse and play princesses/knights/dragons (but with politics and consequences). Sometimes they’ll go out and trick people into thinking they’re triplets.

It’s actually Damien who first suggests parent-trapping Bruce and Danny so that they can be one big family. He obviously gets Dan and Ellie to agree first. Then the three of them bag Tim and Cass. The five of them approach Dick next. Jason is actually the hardest to convince but the manage to get his approval. Thus, these guys try to set up the Oblivious Danny and the Emotionally Constipated Bruce.

And for Flavor, just when it looks like they’re about to get together, one of their past love interests comes into the mix, re-entering their parents’ live just to stir the pot. (Which ex is up to your imagination: Sam, Talia, Val, Selina, Tucker, Wes, Minhkhoa, Harvey)

[methoughtsphantom]

halfas are the found family trope foster child

they all adopt each other. it’s the reason Vlad wanted so badly to have Danny as his son and the reason Danny immediately went with sure you’re my cousin now with Dani. it’s a survival mechanism from being so very few of their species. Sooo, halfa!Jason except he sorta isn’t yet cause Jason’s core is extremely ruptured from the lack of ectoplasm involved in his forceful resurrection. So when Danny finds Jason in his catatonic state he can’t quite tell the dude’s been dead and remains some, just that the guy for some reason seems very friend-shaped. Danny doesn’t mind his friend is braindead, and is also a john doe, he gives familiar vibes and that’s apparently enough for Danny to constantly find himself in the hospital doing his engineering homework on the room with the guy, and talking for hours about the updates on the absolute clusterfuck of the city and how he was from a freaking ghost town and he can almost even draw comparisons. he blabbers about how he’s not homesick enough times to even corner himself to talk about a ghost lore many times and how he’s just finding himself a little more prone to violence and in constant pain since none of the people he has adopted as his family are here with him and he can’t consider a place a lair if there’s isn’t someone of his in it.

But Danny could never drag someone with him just because of some it, after all it was Danny’s choice to come to Gotham to collage and not stay where at least his parents (good parents Jack and Maddie) were in Amity.

Ironically, Danny essentially can’t feel that his core has been spoon feeding ectoplasm to Jason. As months go on, the little ball of energy builds in anticipation practically vibrating in the waiting pulse of something (Danny doesn’t know but more often than not has he found himself laughing in happy confusion. it weirds him out in a good way) It’s really that he’s feeling the slow healing process of his friend (brother brother brother) ‘s core.Imagine it’s just about to properly, correctly heal when canon strikes back and Jason gets snatched by League assassins. Danny is left feeling like his core got torned out. His core had spend months helping another’s only to feel the other’s imprint and to not be able to protect it in return is— forget it being an obsession; thats like having your newborn baby being ripped out of your arms. An all assuaging feeling of helplessness that is devastating. Danny just beginning to feel like home lair when out of nowhere the rug is swept under him. Danny suddenly struggling to not flunk all his classes and beat every single liminal that he can feel crossing paths with him to the ground. Danny suddenly having his chronic pain (that hadn’t been so bad lately) dialed up to the point that there are just bearable and bad days.

The worse thing is he doesn’t know why.

Jason had only been a guy.

…

It’s only a three weeks before Jazz tells him she accepted a job offer in Gotham.

(and the guilt only makes him feel worse when he can feel himself feel better because of it)

…

now

whimsical time skip ✨

Danny is now on his feet again and friends with a Wayne of your choice (or maybe they were friends a little before Jay dissapeared and it was badTM cause Waynes? liminal 🥲) Danny definitely didn’t enjoy snapping off to his friend like that. anyways it’s been a year since that and he and his friend are having a grand time playing civvies, uhh let’s say dick because I want them to meet while ice skating, Also Dick because he definitely turns a blind eye when Danny goes airborne for a second there yep. He’s just having too much fun.

anyways as alwaysTM Danny doesn’t clock celebrities and like why would he, Dick is just the random guy who’s was fast to turn Danny’s slow day in the ice ring into a competition one day and brighten when Danny matched up his puns. So he totally doesn’t get why the guy’s so gloomy one day, anyways as you can figure, it’s Jason’s deathday and Dick is a deprecating bean, Danny tries to cheer him up by having him remember his brother instead and Dick attempts to, but even skipping through some photos in his phone make his eyes burn.

It is because of that that he doesn’t notice Danny absolutely freeze up at the photo of his friend Jay (Jay because he’s a John Doe, but that’s just too impersonal and so the first letter is J *wink wink*)

Danny absolutely doesn’t know what to do with this information, barely catches himself from asking Dick how did his brother die. Most importantly when because Danny just saw Jay—Jason less than a year ago, and this somehow doesn’t feel too recent.

Annd that how we find Danny digging into the Wayne second son tragedy. Staring at the date of death while the knowledge that they met almost six months after burns his forefront of his mind. Danny spends a day going over all the questions running through his mind over how the fuck he couldn’t sense Jay was a ghost—err was… in past tense?? what the fuck?? Danny would really like a refund on his ghost sense.

Anyways Danny goes check out the grave (now that he knows there is one) and boom although intangible he somehow triggers those shitty ass sensors/alarms that somehow didn’t go off when jason was literally digging himself out.

Obviously the bats get in the case immediately. And boy are they absolutely enraged that someone would steal Jason’s body.

[ficcerspam]

DCxDP MULTIS [AO3]

Super Strength Shenanigans - 12.10.23* [AO3]

DCxDP - When Danny gets an internship in Gotham, concerned for his and his identity's safety they figure out he has super strength he can't control for human-standard fights. Shenanigans ensue.

Horror Movie Child!Danny AU - 12.18.23* [AO3]

DCxDP - Danny is adopted into the batfam having a coming of age movie, whilst the Batfam are going through Summer Horror Special.

Puppy!Danny AU - 12.28.23* [AO3]

DCxDP - Danny is Ace the Bathound AU! With Bonus Dan as Titus, Dani as Haley/Bitewing, and Jazz as Sparky and Dog. There have been multiple tags for this, so please be warned you WILL cry at part 3. Now with meme post. Any additional non-story posts will be under "phantom pups" tag on my main blog!

Preschool Teacher Danny AU - 02.18.24* [AO3}

JLxDP - Clark comes across a meta-teacher with a class of seemingly meta toddlers. He asks if there's any room for Jon. Not sure if I will continue on Tumblr or continue on AO3, or both. Will update when I decide--this will probably be mostly ongoing as Naynay gives me more stories of her gremlins!

Sunshine and Stardust - 02.16.24* [AO3]

YJxDP - Danny is a clone of Superman AU, but he's a failure, a test dummy. Amidst the days of pain and experimentation, he hears another clone is being made.

WITH AMAZING FANART by brainman1987

Villain!Jazz AU - 04.07.23* [AO3]

**Disclaimer, NOT Jazz centered and heavily DP leaning** After lots of thought this AU will be exclusively updated on AO3 from now on! Please subscribe to it on AO3 instead of following it here :)

“Jazz’s Errands, and Gotham’s Curse” - Chapter 10 Snippet and Podfic

Grunkle John AU - 06.24.24* [AO3]

JLxDP - Batman finds out that John Constantine is basically Danny Phantom(high level threat, ghost king)'s weird uncle. I tell you the story of how that came to be.

Why you should date Superboy, a powerpoint presentation by Red Robin (and Danny Phantom), extras brought to you by @ashleyreyland!

Mama Canary AU - 07.13.24* [AO3]

JLxDP - Suddenly de-aged Danny meet Black Canary and accidentally ghost-wails at her...except all it does is push her back a couple feet, and make her think he's the cutest lil' canary in the world. Eventual Dead On Main.

Murderbros AU - 11.07.24* [AO3]

DC - I explore the brotherly relationship between Damian and Jason, tracing all the way back to their days at the LoA. Damian POV, Catatonic?LoA!Jason.

Mechanic!Val AU - 11.19.24 [AO3]

DCxDP - Val’s pretty sure her new boss Jay is actually a crime lord... mostly background Val/Steph, focus on Outsider POV Dead on Main. Val-centric.

Haunted Mansion AU - 11.04.24* [AO3]

DCxYJ - What it says on the tin---Dead tired, with background Dark Ages!

[kaidatheghostdragon]

That trope where danny and jason meet during jason's six months dead? That, but with good fenton parents.

Jason is either the same age or a year or two younger than danny (between danny'and ellie's age). The fentons know danny is a ghost and have already adopted ellie. Team phantom includes the entire fenton family and valerie (and obv sam and tucker), maybe even valerie's dad.

Vlad is either reformed (post agit with teen dan?), blackmailed into submission, ran out of town, or "dealt with." The giw have been run out of town, and may or may not still exist somewhere licking their wounds. Peaceful ghosts are openly welcomed in the town, which is phantom's haunt, the fentons plus red huntress deal with the troublemakers, and the phantom siblings handle the biggest threats. May or may not be an everyone knows au.

Anyways, danny runs into the ghost of robin and is all, holy shit, a teen vigilante died, and immediately drags robin home to get all the overbearing comfort and love the fenton family can provide.

Somehow, that transformed into the fentons adopting the ghost of robin as one of their own. Jason even starts going to caspar high. Everyone knows that jason is a ghost of a kid who died too young and may be considered an honorary phantom, only team phantom knows that he's robin, and may have learned a concerning amount about batman from jason, depending on how open he is.

The joker disappears a month after jason joins the fentons and the fenton parents have solid alibis to prove they werent involved (having access to phantom's ghost allies is a large boon).

After six months of living (excuse the term) with the fentons, its as if jason has always been part of the family. So his sudden disappearance is a shock. Its treated as a ghostnapping, and the fentons are quick to use the boomerang to track him down.

They find a near-catatonic, but very much living, jason either wandering gotham, or just as he's being carted off by talia. If the latter, wrecking the league of assassins probably becomes an entire team phantom affair.

Jason is brought back home, and between the fentons and frostbite, they find a way to treat jason, learning that his living body is developing into a halfa in a similar slow manner that vlad did, but with jason's ghost core already fully developed.

That's four different halfas created in four different ways (five for five if teen dan exists), plus the increasingly liminal population of amity park, and the human members of team phantom so strongly liminal that they all have protocores and will probably become halfas when they die.

At this point, the story can go multiple directions.

If the fentons wrecked the league of assassins, either they discovered damian or talia dropped him off with bruce a few years early, when tim is just starting out as robin. If the fentons have damian, serious discussions about informing bruce of his biokid ensue, and the fact that theyve also adopted his undead son will inevitably come up and whether jason wants to deal with that mess of emotions.

If damian is dropped off with bruce, bruce is gonna hear stories of an orange man that can bust through walls, his teal assassin wife, their fiery daughter, and pair/trio of loyal white haired pit demons (assuming jason's ghost is white haired, and whether or not he's well enough to join), that wrecked ra's shit and sealed away the pits. He *will* investigate. Also, damian and tim will probably have to be kept separated, probably by having tim patrol with dick while bruce wrangles the feral child. This is smack dab in the middle of the worst period of the batfams social dynamics, but otoh, damian being younger will ultimately be better for him as he'll probably be deprogrammed a lot easier.

If the fentons never cross paths with the loa, another avenue is still open with the giw. If they've been run out of amity, but the anti ecto acts still exist, the justice league still have a chance to encounter them. Perhaps after amity ran the giw out, a formal complaint was filed to the justice league (they finally broke through the giw's blackout), but it was labelled a non-emergency (because the complaint described how the town couldnt get the message out until *after* they dealt with the problem) and was never investigated for being labelled a low priority. Baby robin tim found the file while exploring the bat computer and asked bruce about it, kicking off an investigation.

On the flipside, the giw try to convince the justice league that hostile entities have taken control of a small midwestern city, maybe the league is convinced right up until batman comes face to face with jason and is willing to hear him out.

If none of the above, jason could start talking about how he wants to return home to help crime alley, and the fentons support him all the way. You could even have jason still become red hood the crime lord, minus the family drama and joker ultimatum, and the training he would have gotten from the league is covered by ghost hunting, halfa powers, and the fenton parents' ecclectic skillset. Cue gotham being slowly invaded by team phantom as each child in turn goes to gotham U for college to be near and support jason.

Or jason is perfectly happy to stay in amity forever, but jazz goes to gotham U for its psychology program. She tries to keep her head low, but batman at this point runs a background check on every psychology major in gotham U (maybe bruce wayne funded a reform of the program - the reason why its now lauded as one of the best in the nation - to try to prevent more rogues being created.) Jazz pings a few warning criteria because her parents match a handful of mad scientist traits, so batman is now doing a full investigation on her family and finds a picture of jason.

Ignoring all of that, maybe jason keeps tabs on batman and is extremely upset that he's taken on another robin after the last one died. He's emotionally stable enough, and the fentons emotionally competent enough, to get him to talk and work through his emotions, but everyone agrees a wellness check for the new robin is in order. They go to gotham and confront batman, realize he's an emotional mess and that tim forced his way into the role and decide that the bats are all fentons now, no batman, you cannot escape. Assimilation is inevitable. We *will* get you to work through your grief and make you a better vigilante because of it. And tim has been abandoned by his parents and is living alone? That wont do. We're going to assume for your benefit that you were too grief-stricken to notice bruce, but you will not be making any more oversights like that under our watch.

There are probably a dozen other directions this could go, but mostly i just wanted to provide some prompts/ideas with ghost/halfa jason as a fenton. I need more fluffy fenton dynamics and jason fluff.

[siltyriver]

Justice is Swift (Vengeance is Sweet) — Ch.2 Shitposts/Teasers

master post || <- ch.1 memes || ch.2

ch.2 memes without context in honor of the upcoming update of jisvis ;)

Bernard: Yeah we have another boyfriend, he’s the best and we love him very much! :D

Danny, very used to poly trios and the chaos they bring: Well fuck.

Tim and Bernerd, distraught but ready to throw hands: How the fuck is the cute twink homophobic this is such a tragedy

Danny, finally realizing what he said: WAIT NO IM GAY TOO AND MY FRIENDS ARE POLY I LOVE THEM SO MUCH IM JUST INSANELY SINGLE AND LONELY IM NOT AN ASSHOLE I PROMISE LOOK AT THEM THEYRE MY PRIDE AND JOY IM SO SO CHILL WITH YOU HAVING ANOTHER BOYFRIEND AND WHEN CAN I MEET HIM—

Bernard and Tim: Oh he’s just a dumbass that’s fine

—

Danny: Yeah you guys would love my friends! I’ll have to introduce you all when they visit!

Danny, thinking about Tucker and Tim in the same room with unlimited access to Wayne Tech: … Wait.

Danny, realizing that Conner and Sam would find a way to start a campus wide protest over something despite neither being students: ACtually—

Danny, realizing that Bernard and Val would be no help because they are enablers and enjoy seeing their partners cause chaos: Fuck.

Danny: Yeah, I take it back, you guys are never allowed to meet. Ever.

—

Danny: sends selfie with tim drake to tucker lol he’s going to shit himself

Tucker, receiving said message: Oh my God I just shit myself

—

Tim: What the fuck is that?

Danny: My phone?

Tim *grabby hands*: Please I must see

Danny: Oh Tucker is going to be so fucking happy

—

Bruce, seeing a black haired blue eyed child with parental issues and a heroic drive: Alfred get the adoption papers ready please

Jazz, getting ready to start biting: Hands off you bastard I raised that child and I will shove those papers so far up your ass—

—

Sam: Look what you did, Danny.

Sam, gesturing to Tucker catatonic on the ground: You fucked up a perfectly good nerd.

Danny: He was like that when you got him.

—

Tim: If you’re going to crash my interrogation at least stay quiet?

Jason: Can we do it in his apartment?

Tim: Why?

Jason: hiding the takeout container behind his back Uh, less chance of him running?

Tim: … Fine.

Jason, excited to have a reason to be at his crush’s apartment: *fist pumping*

—

Jason: Blatantly flirting with Danny in the middle of Tim’s very important investigation

Tim: No! He was my friend first, back off!

Jason: But he’s cute!

Danny: You think I’m cute? :’D

Tim: Fuck, he’s fallen for the trap already.

[chronicbatfictioner]

Theater of the Soul - Chapter 16

So this is home, he thought to himself. There was a nice bed that smelled like his. Felt like his. He was still a little scared until the bird boy sat on it, patted the bed, and proceeded to sleep on it.

The place was huge, but familiar and strange at the same time. There were images in the back of his mind, blurry images, that led him to know where the bathrooms were at; or where to go when the bird boy said 'dinner time'. But otherwise the place could just be one of the other alleys that he would need to re-orient himself in.

Regardless, the whole place has roofs and walls and heaters. Fine by him. Plus, the bird boy didn't seem to mind his following him around.

There were other people: the red lady who seemed to live there, too. And there was another guy who looked older than he was but kind of looked like a mix between the big guy and the bird guy. He was loud, fast, but strangely felt somewhat safe and non-threatening to him - even if the loud guy had wrapped his arms around him for a good amount of time once he stepped out of the car when they arrived.

There was an old man with kind brown eyes and receding hairline who visibly dabbed away some tears when he arrived. He wondered briefly if the old man was his father, or anybody's father for that matter. He should be someone's father. If the loud guy had appeared a 'little less' threatening, the old guy looked downright safe.

And then there were other people whom the bird boy didn't seem to feel threatened with, and thus he, too, deemed as okay. They did not violate his personal space, he wouldn't do that to them, either.

There were rooms. A lot of rooms. He wanted to peek through the rooms one by one, but alas, the bird boy seemed to know what's in which room and didn't indulge him. They had walked outside the place, and it was massive. But the surrounding area felt just as safe as the insides. Everyone looked... happy?

He wondered if he, too, will ever be happy.

Through the week that followed, Tim-- felt like he was being... well, shadowed would be the understatement of the year. With Jason still following him everywhere Tim went, he was obviously being followed. But Dick Grayson had decided that he should keep an eye, too, on both of them, while Jason got himself reacquainted with the theater. Thus Tim ended up with not one, but two metaphorical stalkers.

In the past few months, the Kane House had decided to merge with the Wayne house - what with them being related by blood, anyway. It was also more economic to merge the two businesses, with Kane House as the subsidiary of Wayne Entertainment Inc. The first results of the merger was that there were a whole load more people in the main Wayne House than ever.

The second result of the merger was that Dick was given higher responsibility as the production manager of the multiple productions that were ongoing. While this freed him from the daily chore of rehearsals, in Tim's less-than-favorable view, this gave him too much time to shadow Tim and Jason as they went around Gotham.

Okay, so they didn't really go around Gotham. Tim was 14, after all, and did not have a license and Jason couldn't really drive in his present condition. But even around the block, Tim could sense Dick's presence.

The surgery on Jason's legs would take place by the next week, by an expert surgeon from Washington called Dr Pieter Cross. The following psychiatric treatment was to be a Dr Kent Nelson, referred by Dr Cross. Tim thought he was more nervous than Jason, who would need to have both legs re-broken. Or maybe Jason was just not realizing it, yet.

On the Western -as in Western Coast - front, they had received a somewhat morbid news. Agent Diana Prince, Dinah's friend who had started the investigation on Jack Napier, has found him. Tim did not even know why Agent Prince was investigating Napier at all, since technically - as far as Tim knew - Napier didn't commit any crime. Any visible crime. Except maybe abandoning Jason, who was technically a minor. Still, since they could not speak to Jason, and thus technically has no case against Napier.

That is, until Tim overheard Barbara telling Dick that Agent Prince had found Napier dead.

Tim was thanking high heavens that he - for once in the past few weeks - had managed to lose Jason (to Alfred's care - he's not that annoyed with Jason, yet!) when he stumbled upon Barbara and Dick.

"...Prince wanted to know if... Jason has bruise marks on his fists." Barbara ended her report just as Tim walked in.

"He'd been on the street at least three months before we found him; Danny said so! If there are bruises, it would be from more recent fights, Babs!" Tim blurted, and then cringed when he realized he was a little too curt. "I can't believe they actually thought that Jason had done this!"

"Tim," Barbara was visibly trying to compose herself. "She'd found a decayed corpse. It is still going through an autopsy, but the FBI has confirmed the identity of the corpse as Jack Napier. They calculated that he would have been dead for at least six months."

"Jason was missing for a year, Babs!"

"Slow down, Timmers... I'm not going to be blaming Jason even if he had bludgeoned Napier. Obviously Napier had prevented him from calling us. But we'll need--" Dick started. Tim cut him off.

"--to protect Jason at all cost! Come on, you guys! Jason is a kid! Napier was an adult! Furthermore, he'd had broken legs - plural! - that were not set properly. He can't even run!" Tim snarled.

"--that was exactly what I have in mind. But I'd like to have all facts laid out before me before laying out my own plan of action." Dick said calmly. "At the moment, we know that Napier had died of blunt force trauma - he has more broken bones than if he'd been tossed into the dryer with rocks. He was presumed killed six months ago. Jason was presumed to be on the streets at least six months - if not more. Jason exhibited PTSD and/or trauma-related catatonia, which could have come from-- please hear me out first, Tim." Dick rose a hand to stop Tim as Tim started to sputter.

Tim huffed, but conceded.

"Okay... As far as I know, Jason has had his days of living on the streets of Gotham before Bruce adopted him. He is no stranger to fighting and stuff. He could have bludgeoned Napier. But, he would have to had a really good reason."

"If Napier had imprisoned him, I'd say that's a good enough reason." Barbara chimed in.

"But really, Babs, if Napier had Jason imprisoned, who's to say he didn't have people guarding Jason while he was there?" Tim finally got a word in. "I have footage from news outlets showing him here at the Harley club. I'll look up his last date of appearance. And the time he'd gone back to LA."

"Okay, great. That's in the to-do list. Now, assuming - we're gonna assume the worst for now and that Jason did bludgeon Napier; why didn't he call us, immediately afterward? That is presuming that Napier did not have guards who were keeping Jason imprisoned." Dick said.

"Scared?" Barbara suggested.

"...of pummeling someone who's been keeping him - effectively kidnapping him? Scared of us?" Dick countered.

"No, Jason would have called someone he knew. Especially if he was still hurting. At least he'd call Dr Thompkins." Tim pointed out.

"Already in shock?"

"I remember him telling me he'd pummeled someone who'd tried to rape a friend of his back then. He was like, ten years old. I didn't sense fear or regret then. And that was not his first punch-outs." Dick said. "He's not... I don't know. I guess it's different when-- you're out there on your own. Fear is subjective. Jason's level of fears are different than ours."

Tim suddenly saw Dick as more than just the perpetually-happy-go-lucky performer from the circus who was adopted by a billionaire actor. If anything, he saw that Dick had cared a lot for Jason, as he does for Tim. Regardless of the three-years of age difference, Dick had tried to assure the street kid that he has a brother. Like he has been trying to convince Tim by calling him up every other day. Or by including him in every 'adult' conversation.

And now, Tim mentally added 'perceptive' into his mental checklist about Dick. Maybe a little savage since Dick have noticed right away that Jason's idea of 'fear' would differ than theirs simply because Jason was more used to violence than any of the three of them would have.

"Okay, so... theories?" Tim asked. "Drugged, maybe? Danny did say he thought Jason had 'snorted some bad drugs' - I'm assuming he was like, high or something."

"Okay, he was drugged, pummeled Napier, ran away..."

"Where'd his people go?" Barbara pointed out. "There are a number of drugs that could render someone unconscious and/or amnesiac. I know there have been cases of drug-induced catatonia as well. But that would not pan out with the theory that Jason had escaped after bludgeoning and/or punching Napier. And then if Napier had guards, I personally doubt Jason could take more than one adult person."

"Okay, so the prosecutor would have more than one hole in this theory. That is... good for us, I suppose." Dick stated cheerily. A little too cheerily.

Tim understood the fake-cheeriness all too well, though. If Jason had not been drugged and willfully bludgeoned Napier, he would have been tried for murder - even if tried in absentia, without his presence and/or presence with full faculties due to his catatonic state.

"Right, I'll find the evidence of Napier's whereabouts in the past six months. You guys?" Tim decided. "Let's not bring this up with Jason present, yeah?"

"I agree." Dick agreed a little too quickly. But Barbara nodded, too.

"I'll keep this between the three of us, too. Diana or Dinah will feed me more info, and I'll share it with you two." Barbara said. "My heart does not believe Jason did this, guys. But I'm not liking where the evidence showed so far."

"Doesn't matter. We protect our own." Dick gritted his teeth.

For a fleeting moment, Tim wondered what would've happened to Napier if he'd been alive, and Dick would find him. Or Bruce.

Or both.