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Chapter Text

Prompt 1: “Vampires”

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The night wasn’t especially cold; however, Tim couldn’t shake off the feeling of cold in his skin. The leather jacket over his shoulders felt wet and heavy, his boots were sounding too loud and his hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

Nevertheless, it was a calm night. The type of night in which demon hunters like Tim weren’t needed; yet, his body acted as if he had been in a fight… Or as if he had aged ten years in a night.

(Which wasn’t exactly true, but it wasn’t a lie either).

Tired, he opened the door of his house and closed it without caring for lighting the candles. After all, dark was the perfect place for monsters, and perhaps Tim was a monster himself. Just a different kind.  

“Well, hello, babybird.” Murmured a low voice across the room, echoing in the walls of the house as if it were mere wind. Then, the voice sighed.

Oh, and the demon hunter knew exactly who the voice was.

Tim raised his head before taking off his jacket and throwing it away as he walked towards the corridor until he was in the living room. There, a man was standing in front of the fireplace, the flames illuminating his figure barely enough.

A tall and muscular body, black hair, green eyes, a scar in the cheek.

Jason looked the same as he did ten years ago.

“Jason, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Tim asked as he took a seat behind him, a smirk crossing his lips when the other man turned around, letting his face being seen without problem.

“Does something need to happen so that I can visit my old friend?”

Tim chuckled, “I don’t know, did something happen?”

Jason closed his eyes, thinking.

“Besides Roy dying? Not much.”

The demon hunter blinked, his blue eyes shimmering with confusion.

“Roy… Roy died? But how?”

A heavy breath came out of Jason’s nose, his face in a grin, nose wrinkled, hands closed in fists.  

“A ghoul got lucky. I avenged him, of course.”

“Of course,” repeated Tim, “but how long has it been since…?”

“Three weeks ago.”

“I see.” And Tim crossed his arms, suddenly feeling even colder even though he was so close to the fire. “Is that what brings you here?”

Jason shrugged.

“I thought it would be nice to see one of the friends I have left.”

“How kind of you.”

“You look…”

“Old?”

“Sick.”

“Ah!” said Tim with a small smile, passing a hand through his long hair, admiring for a moment how his skin was paler and rougher. “It’s the age, I’m not as young as before.”

“I can see that.”

“Auch.”

Jason hid his hands in the pockets of his coat, lips tensed and eyes avoiding Tim.

“I heard about Conner. Sorry about that.”

This time, it was Tim who shrugged.

“It was matter of time, he… Well, he wanted a family, a life far away from killing demons and exorcising people. I couldn’t give him that, and neither did I wish to.”

“So, you and Cassandra…?”

“We are good. Or as good as we can be, in any case. She is a great woman, and I loved her.”

“But not like that.”

“No, not like that.”

Silence reigned between them for some minutes.

“How have you been, Jason?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“Yes, why not?”

“I am miserable.” He stated with an emotionless voice, eyes still avoiding Tim’s.

“If Roy died just three weeks ago…”

“It’s not only about Roy… I mean, yes, I’m fucking angry at him and I would yell at his soul if I could, but it’s not only about him… It’s about everything.”

“Everything?” Tim asked as he raised an eyebrow, rubbing his hands against his chest.

Jason tilted his head.

“Don’t make me say it.”

“But I don’t know what everything means.”

“Puffft, everything? Literally all the things that have been going on for the last fifty years. I’m done.”

Tim rolled his eyes.

“Didn’t we have this conversation ten years ago? I remember you spending hours complaining and then, the next night, you were as if nothing had happened and just left the village.”

Jason took out his hands to cross his arms in his chest.

“Sorry about that. You know, leaving without telling you.”

“It’s okay, it has been ages.”

“Hey…”

“Yes?”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Define now.”

“I mean, what are you going to do now that Conner and Cassie left the demon hunter life? And Bart…”

“Bart died years ago; I know. I prepared his funeral.”

Tim stopped rubbing his chest and let his hands rest over his knees.

“I was thinking in going back to Gotham, the city needs someone to deal with the monsters…”

“Tim, how old are you?”

The demon hunter smiled.

“Forty-five, why do you ask?”

Jason looked at him, green against blue.

“You look older.”

“God, you know how to flatter me…”

“And you are sick.”

“Yes.”

“You will die. Soon.”

Tim chuckled.

“We always knew that. My body… Well, let’s say that it’s a miracle I managed to be this old.”

“You can’t…! You can’t seriously think like that!”

“Please, elaborate.”

Jason got closer to him, lowering his face until he was just inches away from Tim’s. His hands went down, holding the back of the couch were Tim was sitting.

Cornering him.

“This is Bruce’s fault.”

“And I agree with you, so what?”

“Are you okay with that? With dying because of his mistake?”

“Jason, I was fifteen when that happened. I forgave him a long time ago.”

“Did you?”

Tim raised his chin.

“Yes. After all, Bruce died shortly after that, at least I got all these years.”

“Years that you spent hunting monsters.”

“Just like you.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Because you are an immortal?”

Jason’s eyes shimmered menacingly.

“You think I like to be like this?”

“No, but I think you are forgetting that I’m capable of taking care of myself. Which is amusing, since we hadn’t seen each other in a decade.”

“I had to leave.”

“I know, Jason.”

“Do you… Do you imagine how painful this is? I keep seeing everybody die sooner or later, I keep losing them and…” Jason cut himself, closing his eyes and letting his forehead fall against Tim’s.

“Jason?” murmured the blue-eyed as he cupped Jason’s face in his cold hands. Funnily enough, the face of the immortal was even colder.

“I don’t want to lose you too.”

“I’m right here.”

“For how long? You are dying, your body will not endure another year, especially if you keep this life.”

Tim pressed their noses together.

“You sound like Ra’s.”

“Did you have to bring him up?”

Tim laughed softly.

“Well, I’m getting the impression that you are offering the very same thing he did. And my answer is still no, I don’t want to be a vampire, not even if it’s you who converts me.”

Jason opened his eyes and opened his mouth, two white and sharp fangs suddenly showing.

“I’m not offering anything. This isn’t about your desires.”

Before Tim could react and draw his blessed dagger, Jason took him by the neck and bit him.

Just like that. Two fangs sinking in his neck, sucking his blood, making his body hurt like it never had. The simplicity of the situation was almost beautiful.  

But just when the demon hunter thought he was going to die (finally, oh, finally), the vampire stopped, taking his fangs out of Tim’s neck and making a weird sound, as if he were cutting his own skin.

Then, Jason caressed Tim’s cheek with a cold hand, forcing him to raise his face again. With a soft smile, he pressed their lips together, the taste of blood flooding Tim’s mouth.

Oh, it was Jason’s blood, wasn’t it? It was a kiss that would take away his humanity. 

And when Jason let him go, everything went black.      

Chapter Text

Prompt 2: “Zombies”

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“I was attacked,” said Jason to Bruce when he arrived to the motel. Nose bleeding a little and his shirt stained with dirt.

Bruce raised the eyebrow over his dead eye and closed the door a little, but not enough to hide the figure of a slim, short black-haired woman whose green eyes blinked with curiosity.

(If Jason had raised his head a little, he would have seen her generous breasts barely covered by the blankets, he would have seen her inhuman hands with claws and she would have smiled with her cat-like fangs.

But Jason didn’t raise his head, he was a gentleman. And therefore, Selina didn’t smile.)

“Did you see their faces?” asked Bruce with crossed arms, with that tone of fake worry he had been doing since offering Jason a job just a day ago.

“It was a little kid? Well, not a kid, but pretty young guy. Blonde hair, red suit, golden mask,” Todd took a deep breath, the dried blood under his nose starting to itch, “He said that you are forgotten, obsolete, unnecessary.”

Bruce laughs and its all teeth and cruelty.

“That spoiled brat, thinks he can mess with me…”

“Do you know him? ‘Cuz his guys hit me rather hard.”

The older man nodded, “Yeah, Anarchy has been bothering me for many years. Don’t worry, he will not be bothering us again.”

Jason bit his lip, forcing himself to not ask for more details. The more he knew about Bruce’s business the more he would be involved and the more probabilities of getting back to prison he would have.

“Where did you go after Anarchy let you go, though? Your shirt is full of dirt,” mentioned Bruce as he took a package of cigarettes out of his robe.

“I went to see Tim,” Jason answered as he closed his fists a little.

There is no way of softening this. Your husband is dead, echoes the voice of Amanda Waller in his head. He was found in an ally, his throat cut.

“You didn’t give him flowers, did you? It’s the most cliché thing to gift to a dead person.”

Your husband was clearly raped, Todd. They raped him and then cut his throat and left him there to be found. It was a message for you, there is no doubt.

“No, I… I gave him the golden coin that I took from Constantine.”

Bruce grins.

“Why?”

“It seemed appropriate. Tim liked golden jewelry,” Jason shrugs, suddenly feeling cold in his chest, “And I met him because of a coin, next to a soda machine.”

Bruce chuckles.

“How romantic, now Jason, go and shower. Your husband may appear in some hours.”

Jason blinked in confusion before spitting in the floor.

“Fuck you,” he said to his boss with genuine anger.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, kid.”

*

*

Jason ordered a pizza that was delivered to his room and then ate it as he watched the cartoon’s channel with the company of a cold beer.

He hadn’t attended Tim’s funeral; he hadn’t been able to. Janet Drake had buried her son as soon as the body was returned to her, not caring for Jason’s arrival. Maybe that had been good, Jason wasn’t sure if he would like to see what they had done to his husband’s body.

When had he seen Tim for the last time? Questioned Jason to himself as he throwed the pizza box in the trash can to start taking his shirt off; he needed a shower.

Oh, it had been in his birthday. Jason’s birthday.

Blackgate didn’t allow weekly visits like other prisons, and in five years, Jason could count the times they had allowed him to see Tim with his fingers.

Ah, yes, in his birthday. Two months ago. Tim had been beautiful, white shirt and red lips, smelling like their bed, their home.

Jason had been let out of prison three days before his date because his husband was killed.

“I need to shower,” he said to himself out loud, reminding himself of doing it. And he did it, he entered the bathroom and took off his clothes and got into the shower, letting the hot water clean his skin and relax his muscles.

It was the first time he showered out of prison, and it felt wrong.

He licked his lips, remembering the cherry taste that Tim always had in his own mouth. The softness of his lips, how they were so shy when they had first met, how they would tremble whenever Jason whispered indecorous words in Tim’s ear.

Jason got out of the shower, feeling like he should cry as he covered himself with a towel in the waist and then putting a white robe over it. He looked at his reflection, his nose was a little bit purple and his skin was red in the cheeks, but he had been worse. But he had to shave, he would buy a kit the next morning.

With a sigh, he opened the bathroom door and went back to the room, thinking only in letting himself fall over the bed and sleep.

However, there, in the cheap motel bed, a man was sitting smugly in the corner.

Long legs crossed, small and skinny hands over his knee. He wore and elegant black suit with a red shirt, no tie. A beautiful face covered in long black hair; he had high cheekbones, full red lips, thick eyelashes and upturned nose.

Two blue eyes that shimmered like sapphires.

“Hi, puppy.”

Jason swallowed.

“Timothy.”

And Tim smiled with his white teeth.

*

*

“You were dead,” whispered Jason as he caressed Tim’s face and neck with his wet, warm hands. Tim’s skin was inhumanly cold, and he didn’t seem to feel Jason’s touch at all, yet, he was still smiling.

“I know, puppy. It was awful.”

“How… Am I going crazy?” he asked in a murmur.

“No, Jason. I’m here, just… Alive isn’t the word I would use,” and Tim took Jason’s hand, guiding it to the first bottom of his shirt. And he undid it.

There, under the cold, pale skin, a golden coin shimmered.

“God,” expressed Jason, his heart bumping with anxiety.

Tim nodded.

“Yes, that was what I said as well. Where did you get this coin, puppy?”

Jason raised his eyes, meeting the ones of his dead husband. It was funny that, even after the autopsy, Tim’s eyes looked so natural and alive. If you ignored the coldness of his skin, Tim was exactly the same as he was before dying.

“I won a bet.”

“What kind of bet?”

“I flighted with Constantine. I won. He gave me this coin… It was pretty, so I left in in your grave,” explains Jason vaguely, still looking at the way in which the shimmer pierces the skin.

Tim blinked, slowly, and Jason wondered if it was a conscious movement.

“What did you get yourself into?”

“I don’t know, I’m working for this guy, Bruce…”

Your husband may appear in some hours.

Jason opened his eyes with realization, “Bruce knew you were coming, he said it. But it doesn’t make sense, it was just a coin…”

Tim tilted his head.

“Jason, do you know where we are?”

“In a motel?”

And the undead let out a “Hmmm” as he played with his fingers for some seconds.

“It may be because I died and came back, you know, but when I came here I could see… Auras? Yes, let’s use that word.”

“Auras? And what about them?”

Tim closed his eyes and took Jason’s hand between his.

“Everyone here has a green aura, except you. You have a red aura.”

“And that means…?”

“Well, I saw the guard of the cemetery and he had a red aura as well. I’m guessing humans have red auras… Jason?”

Jason let himself fall over the blankets, covering his eyes with his arm.

“I knew Bruce was into some strange stuff when we crossed ways with Constantine, but I never thought about the possibility of him not being human.”

“Maybe they are human, I don’t know what the green actually means. I’m guessing it has to do with magic? After all, this coin brought me back, seems like I can’t be an atheist anymore,” and Tim put his head over Jason’s chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“I will… I will talk with Bruce tomorrow, is that okay, Tim?”

Blue eyes shimmered.

“Okay.”

Silence.

“Do you want to talk about…?” About your death.

Tim growled.

“Not really. It was… Horrible. Painful,” he raised his hand, moving his fingers slowly,  making the bones crack, “You don’t know why people always say that stuff about 'Don't fear death, fear your way of death’ until you are actually dying.”

Jason nodded.

“I was angry at you for dying, and I was angry at myself for not being able to save you.”

“You were in prison.”

“And they killed you because they knew I was getting out, and they knew I had cooperated.”

“Jason… Puppy, come here.”

Tim took Jason’s head and made him lay it in his lap, caressing his hair as if he were a child.

“Sleep for now, puppy. We will have our revenge later.”

*

*

The next morning, Bruce just gave a quick look to Tim before rolling his eyes.

“We will have to stop in New Orleans, Jason. Hope you and this princess stay together after that.”

Jason opened his mouth and then closed it, shaking his head. Tim patted his back.

“How much time do we have, Bruce?” inquired Tim with an unusual informality.

“Until you start to rot, I guess.”

And Jason almost choked.

“Wait, wait! Rot? What are you talking about?”

Bruce crossed his arms.

“The coin that Constantine gave you had the protection of the Sun, it would have given you good luck and protection against evil spirits. Since you left it over this guy’s grave, his soul came back attached to his body, but we need to heal him before his body starts to follow nature’s path.”

Jason’s right eye started to tremble and Tim laughed.

“I’m lucky to have a husband that would renounce to such artifact for me.”

“Should I say that I didn’t know any of that? I thought it was a pretty coin, that’s it.”

“Yeah, whatever. Luckily for you, undead eyes, I have a friend that can fix you with a simple spell. We will have to pay her, of course,” and here Bruce got closer to Jason, putting a hand over his shoulder, “That will be reduced from your salary. That being said, let’s go.”

Bruce turned around and started walking towards the car, meanwhile, Jason stood there, eyes perplex and Tim smiling.

“What’s on your mind?” asked Tim, his hand cold against Jason’s cheek. Lips looking a little bit closer to blue with every second and a little smell of dirt that Jason hadn’t noticed until now.

Jason had no idea how the whole half-resurrection of Tim worked or why his undead husband seemed so calm about it, but it was the least important thing right now. After all, Tim was there. Not alive, but he was there.

“Nothing, just that you are the cutest zombie ever.”

He made a mental note of planning their revenge after visiting New Orleans and then lowered his face to give Tim a short kiss.

It tasted like naphthalene.

Chapter Text

Prompt 3: “Werewolves”

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“What the hell happened?” asked Jason as he got up of the ground, making sure his helmet and belt were still in place. Then, he checked his guns, one in his hands and the other in the ground, inches away from his feet.

And there was Tim, casually laying in the floor with a grin.

“I have no idea. The last thing I remember is that we got here, agreed to divide territory and everything went black,” explained Red Robin without caring for standing up, his hands touching the domino mask and then the belt.

They were at one of Two-Face’s bases, it seemed like there was nobody else there. And all the boxes that had been there when they arrived were now gone.

“Well, that’s it for our case, babybird,” said Red Hood before taking off his helmet to breath fresh air, “Are you going to get up?”

Tim sighed.

“I worked in this case for weeks, and now it’s… gone. Literally. Give me a minute to process, will you?”

“We both worked in this case for weeks… Come on, get up or I will carry you to the apartment.”

A cocky smile.

“Maybe I want you to carry me, Red Hood,” he purred.

Jason raised an eyebrow, slightly amused.

“Last time I tried to carry you said, and I quote ‘Red Robin has a reputation to keep, put me down or I will castrate you’ so get up.”

Tim made a “Hmmm” sound and then finally stood up, and perhaps he stood up with unneeded sensualism, but Jason wasn’t going to complain.

“What intrigues me, is that none of use was hurt. How long were we unconscious?” asked Tim to his partner as the left the base.

Jason took out his phone, “Two hours. And yes, it is strange that they just left us there, but maybe they didn’t have time to capture us.”

“I really need to know if they did something to us; why did we both pass out, anyway? It couldn’t be gas; your helmet has a filter.”

The older man shrugged as he put on his helmet again and took out his rope.

“A good hit in the neck? Let’s just go home and we check ourselves there, okay?”

Tim suddenly looked pretty awkward, yet, he nodded.

*

*

“Well, I don’t have any injure or hit,” said Jason as he walked through the kitchen shirtless and with a donut in his hand, “What about you, babybird?”

Tim, who was cleaning his belt, rolled his eyes.

“Still hate the nickname. And I am not injured either, which makes even weirder both of us passing out.”

“Maybe it was gas and my helmet didn’t filter it? Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I upgraded your helmet a month ago, there are few things that would affect you, and I doubt Two-Face having access to them… But for now, it’s our only explanation.”

He sighed, “I’m going to sleep, Jason. I’m too tired.”

Jason blinked, “You, blood of caffeine, are going to sleep after arriving from patrol? Who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend?”

Tim tilted his head and then rubbed his neck, eyes half closing, “I’m telling you, I’m really tired. Can you send the report to B for me?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Best boyfriend ever,” purred Tim before blowing him a kiss and smiling, just to later leave the room and fall into the bed with a heavy sound that echoes in Jason’s ears.

Tim was unusually calm… And unusually expressive. Jason didn’t remember the last time Tim had asked him to do the report so that he could sleep, and he didn’t remember the last time that patrol hadn’t put Tim on a bitter mood (mood that was easy to change with some activities, but still…)

Jason bit his donut, maybe the gas was still in Tim’s system? He was too thin, after all.

*

*

Jason awakened to the sound of Tim’s scream.

“Tim?” he yelled with his eyes still opening and his feet walking in automatic, hand taking the knife they hid under their bed just to sleep better.

“Jason!” called Tim with an anxious voice, his head showing from the bathroom’s door barely enough. The older man let out a relieved exhale.

“God, babybird, you scared me…” he murmured while he got closer, rubbing his eyes and then…

“Oh,” so that was why Tim was screaming.

A pair of gray ears were over his hair, cute fangs showing between his pink lips and… And a tail had broken his way outside of the pants.

“God, you too…” whispered Tim as he covered his face with his hands, it was cute and it made Jason growl and… Fuck.

“Wait, what?” said Jason before entering the bathroom and seeing himself in the mirror, which proved Tim’s saying correct.

Two gray ears over his head, two big pointy fangs in his mouth, and a tail in his back. Why hadn’t he felt any of that when waking up?

“Well, this is troublesome” he voiced with a hand putting the knife in the sink to start inspecting his face, “Should we call B or Zatanna?”

“How would I know? None of us remembers what happened. As long as we know, we could have been injected something or being cursed.”

“This looks more like magic, to be honest.”

“This looks bizarre, we have four ears now. Four ears, Jason.”

“That kinda explains why I’m hearing you so fucking high, though.”

Tim hissed, “You smell a lot, did you know that’”

Jason sniffed the air and smirked, “You smell too. Rather sweet.”

The two of them sighed.

“We need to call Batman.”

*

*

“The blood tests didn’t show any change in your human condition, Zatanna will arrive as soon as she can,” declared Bruce as he avoided looking at his two ex-Robins who were now a bizarre mixture between human and animal.

“You know, you look like a girl taken out from those cartoons,” murmured Dick, who was looking at Tim’s ears with honest curiosity.

“Thank you?” said Tim as he blinked awkwardly.

Jason growled, and perhaps he did it too loud because both Tim and Dick turned around to see him.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just… You sounded very real, I guess,” explained Dick before smiling and pointing at the computer feet away from them, where Damian was typing quickly and without giving them any attention, “I will go to check him, is it okay if I leave you alone?”

“We will manage,” answered Tim, moving his hand in the air, rushing Dick to leave.

Once they were alone (or alone as they could be in the cave), both men rolled their eyes.

“I think you scared Dick.”

“He deserves it, he was staring at you.”

“Maybe he was staring at me because I have wolf ears?”

“Well, he wasn’t staring at me.”

“His loss, your ears are cute.”

Jason blushed, then he smiled a little.

“Your ears are cute, too. Hey, do you think Zatanna will actually be able to undo the spell?” asked the older man as he got closer to his boyfriend to inspect the ears from a closer view.

“I think so, she is Zatanna, after all… W-Wait!” and Tim suddenly moaned. Jason had taken one of Tim's wolf ears between his finger and pressed.

“Hmmm… Sensitive.”

Jason looked at Tim, whose eyes were shimmering.

“May I?”

Tim gasped, putting his hands over Jason’s shoulders and hiding his face in Jason’s neck, allowing the man to see how the tail of the younger moved slowly.

“They are going to see us… And worse, hear us.”

“A pity, since I’m very interested in how sensitive you are in your…”

“Ehem?”

The couple jumped when Bruce appeared from behind, cowl gone, his eyebrows frowned.

“Either you leave or go you go to your own room. But not here.”

The ex-Robins interchanged a look and, with coordinated steps, left the cave.

*

*

“Good news, it’s a temporary spell,” said Zatanna with a smile inspecting their eyes and hands.

(Really, none of them understood magic, but they trusted Zatanna, which was more than enough).

“And the bad news?” inquired Jason with doubt.

Zatanna changed her smile for a smirk, giggling.

“Bad news, is that the spell disappears by itself. It cannot be broken.”

“How is that a bad new?” murmured Tim, mostly to himself, getting an amused look of the woman.

“It’s an old spell that was used to increase fertility in couples, it gives you temporal wolf characteristics and it disappears after the heat period.”

Both men blinked.

“None of us can’t conceive a child, how are we going to experiment a heat?”

Zatanna chuckles.

“The spell is meant to get both of you in heat and fertile, it doesn’t matter your sex or if the couple can conceive. And the spell will follow its path.”

Tim groaned, “When?”

“During the full moon. Just until sunrise. Then the spell will go away and so will your ears.”

Jason rubbed his nose, “I guess the spell will make us, mmm, wish to commit profane acts?”

Zatanna nods.

“I mean, it could be worse,” admitted Tim with crossed arms.

Jason glanced at him.

Just hours ago, they had discovered that their ears were, in fact, pretty sensitive. And their tails were even more delicate…

“How many days till full moon?” asked Jason as Zatanna fixed her coat to leave.

“Six days… I suggest you enjoy them.”

And with a wink, the woman disappeared.

“We still need to discover who did this and why,” whispered Jason before taking Tim by the hips.

The younger man tilted his head, smug smile in his lips.

“Or we could leave that to Bruce and discover how much the heat affects our orgasms.”

“I fucking love you, babybird.”

The kiss would have been better without their fangs, but they still had time to work that out.

Chapter Text

Prompt 4: “Ghosts”

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The first time it happens, Tim thinks he is hallucinating.

“…Jason?” he murmurs with confusion, blood in his mouth from patrol and body at the border of passing out.

And Jason actually turns around, eyes as shimmering as always and mouth in worried grin.

“Fuck, babybird. You need stitches.”

He gets closer to Tim, who just lays in the floor, back in the wall and head tilted slightly. Tired eyes unable to focus anything besides Jason’s figure.

“I’m fine.”

“Like hell you are.”

A hand caresses Tim’s cheek, taking off his Red Robin cowl and playing a little with his hair.

“Come one, let’s get you to the bathroom to stop the bleeding.”

The hand is warm, a little rough. Jason smells like powder gun and cigarettes and gasoline and leather…

“I think I’m going to faint,” says Tim in a whisper, eyes lost in Jason’s features.

Everything goes black after that.

*

*

The second time happens weeks after, during patrol.

Red Robin is patrolling Red Hood’s area, knives in his hands and with no communicator.

“Whoa, babybird. That was a nice hit.”

Jason’s voice… No, Red Hood’s.

He is there, standing with his helmet off and face covered by a domino mask. Gun in his hand and an arrogant smile.

Red Robin swallows.

“Jason,” he states out loud, trying to convince himself.

Is he hallucinating (again)? Maybe his body needs a rest, maybe he should stop consuming those small needles…

“No names in the field, replacement. Wanna race?” and Jason, faster than never, puts on his helmet and jumps from the roof.

When Tim moves, Jason is completely gone. He jumps between buildings for hours, but never finds him.

That night Tim doubles his dose of morphine.

*

*

The third time is too vivid to be an hallucination, but Tim isn’t that sure, after all, he is high with cocaine and adrenaline from jumping between roofs at midnight.

“Timmy…” and this time Jason looks sad.

He is wearing his red suit; the one Tim had gifted him so long ago even if Jason rarely had time to wear it.

Jason had used it during their first anniversary dinner…

“Jason,” says Tim with need, repeating the name in his mind again and again, heart racing with every single letter in his tongue.

“God, Tim, what are you doing to yourself?”

Red Robin stays still, then he notices the gun in his hand and the missing cowl.

“I… I don’t know,” Tim answers honestly, blinking.

He doesn’t know where he is, and why is Jason…?

Jason gets closer and takes Tim’s face between his big, warm hands.

“You need to stop.”

“I think I’m going crazy,” admits Tim with half closed eyes, feeling the tears forming.

“No, babybird. But you really need to stop, please. You are killing yourself.”

Jason presses a soft kiss in his forehead.

It feels real.

“Jason… Jason, stay.”

But Tim’s plea gets lost in the wind when a shadow hits Tim from the back.

*

*

“You are ill, detective,” says Ra’s calmly and just inches away from Tim’s body in the cold floor.

Tim is sweating, crying and he is in pain.

“Ra’s…”

“This is for your own good, Timothy,” and funnily enough, it seems as if Ra’s were actually sorry for putting Tim through this.

“Ra’s, please…” he cries with need.

Everything hurts, and the world feels… Wrong.

“The toxins will disappear from your body, Timothy. But it will take time, I’m afraid,” and here Ra’s avoids his eyes, almost ashamed, “that the Pit can’t heal this. You have to do it alone.”

Tim feels a terrible, painful shiver.

“Let me go.”

“And let you die in an overdose? I don’t think so, detective.”

The blue-eyed cries louder.

“I’m going to cut your throat for this, Ra’s.”

The assassin sighs.

“I don’t doubt it, Timothy… But this isn’t what Jason Todd would have wished for you.”

Tim wants to answers, but he passes out, burning in fever.

*

*

“You are here,” whispers Tim when Jason holds his hand, both of them in the hospital bed.

Jason smiles.

“Of course I am. You are going through a lot.”

“I miss you.”

“I know, babybird.”

“I want to be with you.”

Jason stops smiling and he presses Tim’s knuckles against his lips.

Warm, real, soft.

“Don’t say that, Timmy. You have to get through this, you can leave it behind.”

“But it hurts.”

“Timmy…”

“It hurts all the time, I…” Tim starts crying, shoulders trembling and lips unable to move, “I just want the pain to stop.”

Jason smiles again.

“It will stop, Tim. But you have to let me go, okay?”

Before Tim says that no, that he doesn’t want to let go, two ninjas enter the room, one of them holding a straitjacket and the other a needle.

And with a chaste, short kiss to Tim's lips, Jason disappears.

*

*

“I really want you to leave,” Tim says to Ra’s while both of them stand in front of certain grave in the middle of the night, covered by the shadows that welcome them in their cold arms.

“Last time I did that, you tried to escape, Timothy.”

“That happens when you kidnap someone, you know?” he says with spice, burning Ra’s with his eyes.

The assassin merely exhales.

It has been three months, and yet…

“Five minutes, detective. Then I will come back for you.”

Ra’s leaves (his ninjas don’t, but Tim doesn’t really consider them people. If anything, they are obstacles in his way of freedom.

But not today).

Tim kneels before the grave.

“Jason…”

He doesn’t know what he is waiting for, perhaps he wants Jason to appear again. To feel his lips against his skin and to have his smell so close that he could get impregnated by it. To see Jason’s eyes and smile again.

The wind blows and Tim feels a sudden shiver of coldness in his body. Even under Ra’s’ care, he is still skinny and pale and obsessed.

“God, Jason…” and Tim falls into his hands, tears forming again in his eyes, traveling through his cheeks all the way to his neck. Face red and lips blue, throat hurting.

If Tim had arrived earlier…

“I’m gonna kill him,” he murmurs with hate.

‘I’m gonna kill him’, but how?

*

*

He is dying.

It’s not a supposition, it’s a fact. And it was his decision.

Tim feels the blood running in his wrists, his mind going dizzy, his body tired.

Will Ra’s put him in the Pit? Or will he accept that the detective he once fought is gone? Tim hopes it will be the second, he is tired, he wants to sleep.

He feels lighter than ever, even more than when he got to sleep with needles and pills. This is… Natural.

“Tim.”

Jason sits in the border of the bathtub, looking at the water turning red with Tim’s blood.

Ah, how was this called? Those hallucinations before dying? It has a name, but Tim can’t remember it, his mind slower every second.

“Jason,” he says, no, thinks. But the man answers anyway.

“You killed the Joker.”

“Yes.”

“Why, Tim?”

It’s a tricky question.

“Because he took you from me.”

Jason smiles a little, and his hand goes to pock Tim’s nose in a childish gesture that the smaller man doesn’t feel.

“You… You are the most stubborn thing I have ever seen.”

“Are you angry?”

“No, not really. But I’m a little disappointed, you could have gotten better ending than this.”

“You sound like him.”

“Ra’s?”

“Bruce.”

Jason shrugs.

“Does it matter? Look what you did… You are a mess.”

For a moment, Tim feels nothing at all. His mind stops.

He dies.

Then he feels everything again. His fingers, his feet, his skin.

He is… Warm.

But there is no breathing, there is no heart race. Tim tries to blink and discovers that he can’t.

“Jason?”

The man offers him his hand, as one would ask for a dance.

“Welcome to the limbo, babybird.”  

They are together again. 

Chapter Text

Prompt 5: “Fairies”

.

.

In strict theory, Jason knew fairies existed.

That didn’t mean he was ready to meet one, specially given his current situation where he, the Red Hood, great monster hunter and feared warrior, was bleeding himself to death in the middle of a forest.

Maybe he shouldn’t have persecuted the Lamia alone.

But the thing is, that there is a fairy looking at him, almost curious about how Jason is slowly dying.

“Are you gonna stare at me till I die?” he asks in a whisper, finding difficult to breath.

The fairy (Jason thinks it’s a male) shrugs.

The creature is considerable smaller than Jason, pale like snow and with two big, blue, inhumanly shimmering eyes. Long black hair and white dress over his skin.

Beautiful red rose wings in his back, delicate and glimmering, thin and with the curves of a butterfly.

It’s a beautiful, ethereal fairy.

“The lamia attacked you,” states the fairy without getting any closer, still flying above Jason and looking at him as one would look at a newly discovered animal. His voice is soft like silk, an accent that Jason can’t describe, as if he were not supposed to talk human tongue.

“Really? Didn’t notice it,” murmurs Jason as he starts to close his eyes, the shimmering figure of the fairy looking even brighter, which is ridiculous, until…

Oh, fairies existed in both worlds, didn’t they? Jason is definitely dying.

A deep sigh arrives to his ears.

“Mom is going to be so mad…” purrs the fairy.

Jason passes out.

*

*

When he opens his eyes, he sees white.

“What the…?” Jason gets up, discovering two main things:

First, he is no longer bleeding or injured at all. In fact, he feels better than he has felt in years.

Second, he is naked. Very naked.

“Oh, you are awake.” Suddenly, the fairy is flying just inches away from his face, holding a small cup in his hands.

“And you are flying,” answers Jason, avoiding to look into those blue eyes. They said that fairies (both male and female) could hypnotize you if you looked at them for long enough.  

(They said that fairies would curse humans who dared to see them, they would force them to serve and live with them till their death, cast them out of human kind, never allowed to run away).

The fairy laughs before offering him the cup, which holds an almost transparent liquid with some pink petals on it.

“Drink it. It’s Aelaborie tea, it will help you to heal.”

Jason looks at the fairy and then at the cup.

“How do I know it will not kill me?”

The fairy blinks, “What would I gain by killing you, human man?”

“I don’t know, what would you gain?”

A small, skinny hand shakes in the air.

“I don’t wish to harm you, I wish you to recover your energy and kill the lamia, then you may leave.”

Jason tilts his head.

“Why me?”

“Because the lamia has killed enough of my kind. You are a hunter, aren’t you? You shall kill it.”

He gives a deep sip to the tea. It tastes delicious.

“I was paid to kill the lamia by some villagers, but I didn’t think the creatures of the forest would want the monster gone as well.”

The fairy sighs.

“It wasn’t a monster… It was a woman, long long ago. But now it’s a mindless creature that only lives to kill. It’s for the greater good.”

Jason nods.

“How did you heal me, anyway? I should have a hole right here,” he says as he points at his stomach.

A giggle.

“It’s a secret.”

“I see.”

Jason finishes the drink and hands the cup to the fairy, letting his eyes travel around the room.

He is laying in what seems to be a bed made merely of leaves and petals; soft, but not as soft as his own bed. The walls are white and clean, the only furniture that Jason can see is a giant mirror with golden framework and a shelving with old books. He also sees a window with a silver bell at the top and an empty space which, he guesses, it’s where the door should be.

“Do you live here?”

“This is the guest room, if that's what you wished to know. And yes, I live here, in my home, in the forest,” explains the fairy as he takes the cup back, smiling a little with his red lips and white teeth.

“I thought fairies lived inside those giant flowers?”

“Ublizia, flowers, yes. But we do not live in them, we just sleep inside of their petals when nights are too cold for our wings. Humans just tend to see us during those exact times.”

“Interesting… Ehem, my clothes?”

The fairy blushes a little and turns his back to Jason.

“They were covered in blood, I washed them and they are laying in my living room, near to the fire.”

“Thank you. Can I go to…?”

“Let me bring them to you,” and fast as a hummingbird, the fairy disappears and later gets back, holding Jason’s clothing in his arms.

“Here,” he says as he gives them to the hunter.

Jason smiles and nods in gratitude.

“Could I know your name?”

“My name is not meant to be pronounced by human lips; you would have to cut your tongue to say it right.”

Perhaps he goes pale, because the fairy smiles with nervousness.

“But call me Timothy, that was the name given to me by the last human that visited me.”

“You had seen humans before?”

“Of course, I had. How did you think I could talk your language?”

“Touché. Was it another hunter?” he asks as he starts to dress himself, seeing how Timothy’s cheeks take a lovely light pink shade.

“No, he was a kid. Children are, by nature, curious. And he wouldn’t stop coming to see me even if we could not understand each other. Eventually I learned his language and he gave me a proper human name he could pronounce,” tells Timothy with a nostalgic smile, “I guess you can say that I learned from him.”

Jason starts to check his belt, making sure everything is in place before moving to the boots.

“And what happened to him?”

“What happens to all humans, he aged.”

“Did he die?”

“No… Well, not during our friendship. He grew up and became a man, and he met a human woman. They married and he never visited again. That was…” Timothy hits his own hand palm, eyebrows in a frown, “Around sixty years ago.”

Jason chokes.

“…That’s a long time.”

“Not for fairies. But let’s talk about current events, do you think you will be able to kill the lamia this time?”

“I’m sure I hurt it last time, unless fairies like to help monsters, it should still be injured. Easier to catch.”

Timothy nods.

“I will allow you to use my sword, only because the lamia killed some newborn fairies and it must be stopped.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, the monster has killed human babies as well. You must return the sword to me once you kill it, understood?” Jason nods.

The fairy draws a long vertical line in the air with his fingers, immediately, a thin, silver sword appears in his hand.  

“Was that – is that a magic sword?” he inquires as receives it.

It’s impossibly light and cold.

“It’s a fairy’s sword, just like that.”

“Okay?”

Timothy stops flying, putting his feet in the floor.

God, he is small. His head under Jason’s shoulders.

Cute.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Your name, human man.”

And the hunter winks at the fairy.

“Jason Todd, monster hunter and exorcist, at your service.”

*

*

Nine hours later, in the middle of the night, Jason is back where he met Timothy, the ashes of the lamia carefully placed in a golden vessel and one hand holding the sword.

Just one hit was what it had taken. Shocked, he had allowed himself to explore what the sword could do, discovering many, many things.

He wanted to keep it, the sword would make his job way easier and safer. The only question was how to convince the fairy of letting him keep it.

Without any sound, Timothy appears in front of him, flying some inches above the ground and smiling.

“I see you finished your task,” he says with a smile.

Jason lets out a ‘tsk’ before handing him the vessel, “You said you needed the ashes.”

“Yes, I will use them to make a barrier and prevent other monsters from getting to close to the fairies land. I know the villagers paid you before coming here, but if I could reward you in some way…”

And Jason’s mind yells a ‘Yes!’ that he almost lets out.

“Well, your sword has been very helpful, perhaps…?”

Tim stops smiling and, in a quick movement, takes the sword out of Jason’s hand, now flying meters above his head.

“I’m afraid that is out of the question,” he says firmly, voice a little bit deeper and lower.

Jason rubs his neck.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he admits before sitting on the ground, raising his head to look better at the winged creature.

“Do you wish something, Jason? I do not want to be in debt with you.”

“You saved me, you don’t have to reward me or pay me or anything.”

“I saved you because I needed someone to kill the lamia, there was no service or mercy in that, and we, fairies, do not like to be in debt.”

Jason swallows.

“If you put it that way… Hey, what about a kiss?”

The fairy almost drops the golden vessel, losing his balance for some seconds and falling half of the height he had put between him and the ground.

“A kiss?” he repeats in confusion.

Jason shrugs, “Yes, a kiss. Unless the whole rumor about fairies hypnotizing humans to serve them is true.”

“No fairy has ever hypnotized a human, if anything, humans have made the mistake of falling in love with a fairy,” says Timothy as he stops flying, putting himself in the ground for a second time and walking towards Jason.

“Why a kiss, hunter?”

“You are pretty, and I don’t see things as pretty as you often. Besides, you said I couldn’t have the sword.”

Two big eyes roll in annoyance.

“Fine then, come here,” and Jason obeys, getting up and closing the distance between him and the fairy, lowering his face until their eyes are seeing each other.

“Just one kiss,” warns Timothy, cheeks a little bit pink.

Jason feels his lips tremble, the winged creature is way more beautiful from close. He doesn’t look like any human Jason has seen and his hand shake with a sudden need of touching the porcelain skin.

“Just one, promise,” says Jason before crashing their lips.

It’s an awkward position, Tim has his hands occupied with the vessel and sword while Jason has to lower himself more than he would prefer.

Yet, it’s the best kiss he has ever had. Chaste, sweet, warm.

Tim tastes like honey and sugar and flowers.

“Wow,” expresses Jason when Tim puts distance between their mouths.

“Agreed,” whispers Tim with a smile, stepping behind a little.

“I… I really would like to see you again.”

“I have heard that before.”

“Can I see you again?”

Tim seems to think about it for a moment.

“You may search for me in the forest, but do not expect me to run into your arms, human man,” and with that, Tim flies away, until Jason is nothing but a black point in the ground.

“Ah, he reminds me of you, Damian,” Tim murmurs to himself when he finally reaches his home, leaving the vessel in the ground and looking at the sword.

Who would have said he would commit the same mistake of kissing a human twice?

After all, fairies had the bad habit of falling in love with humans.

But the next day, when he sees Jason climbing the tree in which his house is, Tim allows himself to smile.

Perhaps this time will be a little bit different.