The night was quiet for once in Gotham. No alarms, no gunfire, just the low hum of the city trying to sleep. Jason Todd sat on the rooftop of one of his safehouses, helmet beside him, cigarette burning low between his fingers. He hadn’t expected company—but the cape snapping in the wind gave it away before the voice did.
“Jason.”
Bruce’s tone was heavier than usual, something measured and deliberate. Jason raised an eyebrow, exhaling smoke. “What, you finally here to nag me about the smoking?”
Bruce stepped out of the shadows, his cowl pulled back. He wasn’t here as Batman. He was here as… Bruce. That alone was enough to make Jason’s stomach knot.
“This isn’t… that kind of talk,” Bruce said, his voice low.
Jason flicked his cigarette over the edge of the roof and leaned back on his hands, feigning nonchalance. “Alright then. What kind of talk is it?”
Bruce’s eyes met his, unflinching. “I found something. About you. About your family.”
Jason froze. He hated that word—family. It was jagged, broken glass in his chest. He’d grown up with none of it, clawed his way through alleys and empty apartments, and when he thought he’d found it with Bruce… well, that had ended in blood and a crowbar.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jason asked, voice sharper than he meant.
Bruce didn’t look away. “You have a sibling. A biological one. Here. In Gotham.”
Jason blinked. His first instinct was to laugh it off, to spit out some bitter remark. But his throat tightened, and no words came. A sibling? After all these years? After every night he’d cursed the world for leaving him alone?
“You’re serious,” Jason finally muttered, his voice rough.
“I wouldn’t come to you if I wasn’t,” Bruce said. “I only just confirmed it. They didn’t know about you. You didn’t know about them. But… it’s real.”
Jason ran a hand through his hair, trying to think past the static in his head. “So what? You want me to play big brother all of a sudden? Go knock on their door, tell them, ‘Hey, guess what, I’m the screw-up vigilante who came back from the dead’?”
“No,” Bruce said firmly. “I’m telling you because you deserve to know. What you do with it… is your choice.”
The silence stretched. The city below felt far away, muffled under the weight of Bruce’s words.
Jason chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. “A sibling. After all this time.” His voice cracked in a way he hated. “And here I thought the universe had already played all its cruel jokes on me.”
Bruce stepped closer, his voice softer now. “This doesn’t have to be cruel, Jason. It could be something good.”
Jason stared out at the Gotham skyline, the lights blurring as his mind raced. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t know whether to be angry, hopeful, or terrified.
“Guess I’ll have to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do with that,” he muttered. Then, quieter, almost to himself: “Family. Huh.”