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We have to change to stay the same - Willem de Kooning
Jason was covering the small child he was holding in his arms protecting them both the best from the rain. Damian had been dropped off by his mother a month earlier and Jason had his concerns but it had become clear today.
Gotham had not yet laid her claim.
And an unclaimed child in Gotham would not survive.
Maybe it would be their father's business, maybe it was the lingering magic that surrounded Damian’s mother but Jason was worried for his baby brother. Today, Damian had a tantrum while they were walking to their car. Leaving him out in the sun and open, Jason could basically see Gotham’s shadows slinking away. Bruce had not seen any problem with it. The way the shadows shied away from his youngest son, but how could he? Protected by his butler and hidden away in Bristol, Bruce was a child of Gotham only when he was its knight as Batman. It had been Dick that had felt its claim for the first time, it had taken Jason’s arrival in the manor for it to get an explanation.
Jason had always known Gotham loved him. There were moments on the streets that were left blank. Forgotten, not meant for his mortal mind.
Since becoming Robin he knew the same feeling coming over him. But now, he no longer felt mortal, no longer just a vessel more an entity himself.
He could've lost himself in it. The magic of Gotham, as well as the manor and its protector, saved him from losing himself.
That's why it was instrumental that Damian was also claimed. The baby had a parentage that would follow him for the rest of his life. In Jason’s mind, his baby brother would not survive if he didn’t get shadows to listen to him.
As he ran through the streets he felt Robin fall on him as a second skin. He felt the city pulse and breathe. The children laughing in the privacy of their courtyards, the sad drunk longing for his wife, the mothers working 3 jobs to pay for their children's college. Rain was slowly dripping in the sewers, the streetlights reflecting upon it. Cars were dashing by, its inhabitants too scared to be caught in a moment of time that was Gotham. Robin compared to Jason was quicker, attuned to his surroundings in a way that a human could not. Jason could no longer remember a time that Gotham did not feel like this, maybe when he was as young as Damian back when he did not yet need his sense heightened, not yet when his healing factor was able to take his father's hits, when he could’ve just been human and survived.
Early on when he was alone on the streets the care that came with Gotham had sometimes overwhelmed him. Swallowed him whole until he came back in small moments hidden in his hideout of eating the leftovers from a dumpster. The last time he had been out of it he came back to himself seeing the batmobile parked in an alley.
When he lay in bed at night he wondered if Gotham intended Bruce to find him that night.
When Jason had returned to the streets, as Robin this time, it had been a whole new experience. Dick had told him about his experience, about how he was more flexible, how no one had been sure he’d been a real person those first years or just a figment between darkness and light. That first night, Jason felt Gotham as a mother's embrace, one he so desperately craved. He felt the familiar thugs that helped him survive but this time he was in control, in conversation with the city that surrounded him. She helped him with her gusts of wind, hid him in the shadows, and had his voice echo when it needed. She also led him to those who needed most, to the kids hidden because their foster parent turned abusive, to the working girls who were on the edge of breaking down. Jason learned to trust his city’s judgment and follow its lead. Even when sometimes, something screaming in his mind for revenge, he wanted to follow its lead. That's where he and Batmand differed.
Now, however, he was defying his dad and had taken his baby brother away from the safety of the manor straight into town. They seemed to walk aimisly but Jason allowed his Robin instinct to take over. Damian cried in his arms but he shushed him while he climbed up to a rooftop.
“Gotham!”
He called out to the darkness that he found at the top. On all sides the streets were illuminated by streetlights, they were next to a church and its silhouette gave a dark contrast to the night blue beyond it. Jason remembered that church, some out-of-town nuns had run a food kitchen there for three months. By then one of them had been killed, the others severely traumatized and they soon had left the city again. Gotham didn’t like organized religion, its citizens didn’t trust it either. Why would you when you had your city to protect you?
A gust of wind got his attention and he turned to face a little boy, maybe three to four years younger than him. This kid had a pale complexion and black hair, and his blue eyes had a look in them that seemed like he could see beyond time.
“Robin.”
Jason let himself slip into Robin who cocked his head and chirped as a greeting to its pantheon. Jason as a mortal could not withstand what Gotham was. Robin, born from its light, could.
“You brought me an intruder.”
“I brought you a child.”
“What is it that makes you assume I would want this child? He reeks of magic beyond this place.”
Robin knew better than to beg with Gotham. This city was one of unforgiveness, of deeds that could not be undone. About curses and words holding power. Gotham was a place of darkness, of vengeance. His father had proved that, every night he made sure that Gotham could be a place that survived. But in its darkest times even he fell short.
That was when Robin was born. A light at the end of the tunnel, the promise of the youth, of a better future. Even when Robin felt most comfortable in the shadows like any Gothamite, shadow could not be created without light. Robin might not be as powerful as its pantheon but it was an entity on its own. Jason had never used it intensely, the power that Gotham had given him. But when it came to this, Robin and Jason spoke as one:
“Because I’ve already laid claim on him.”
The little boy didn’t seem to react but Robin saw his eyes flicker to the little bundle he held in his arms. Damian had quieted down, seemingly sleeping. By uttering its words Robin had demanded a law that unbeknownst to him was created by Gotham itself the day they had left him at the Batmobile. When Dick had felt the Robin mantle transcend and grow into something more. How Jason had felt Robin the first time he returned to Gotham. Robin had been given the unique ability to grow and change.
“I see, it appears you don’t give me much choice.”
The little boy came up to Jason and revealed the cloth that was hiding Damian’s face. Jason saw his hand trembling.
“Hello, my son. It appears you have a family that loves you very much.”
The boy’s voice warbled a little at the end sentence. Robin let out a little thrill. He felt the shadows creeping up around them, welcoming them. No longer did they shy away from his brother, instead embracing the boy. Jason felt relief flow through him. Batman might not have been concerned for his son’s connection to the city but Jason definitely was. He also knew, that by laying his own claim that the baby in his arms was now tied to Robin, destined to take over its mantle someday. Jason didn’t mind as much. He’d have enough time to help his baby brother.
He looked back up to the boy. He seemed somewhat familiar. Jason wondered if he had been used like this little boy as well when he needed Gotham the most. The city had taken him as its representative even before she had gifted him Robin.
“Thank you.” He whispered quietly.
“Don’t make me regret it. Be one.”
Damian looked up to his big brother and Jason knew he had made the right choice. He would do anything for his family. He turned away from the entity. Ready to push his panic button and have Batman pick him up. He’d probably be grounded for a week for sneaking off like this but it was worth it.
He looked back at the little boy and how the shadows danced around him. The child looked otherworldly, more demon maybe than child. He also looked tired, and his instinct picked up the loneliness that surrounded the boy. Robin knew outsiders saw him in a similar light. With his voice being warped to sound like birds, his existence between the shadows and light, his instinct and way of being just a little too much, Gotham. But Robin could bear it, he wondered how much longer this child in front of him could.
“How much longer will this vessel survive you?”
“The child will die without me.”
“Neither will he live.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Let me claim him. Let me bring him home.” The pantheon seemed to be taken aback. Surprised by the offer so freely given. Something in the boy stirred, however. His gaze turned into a sort of yearning. Still, in these cases, a body and mind can be separate.
“Do you yearn so badly to give up your mantle for another to replace you?”
“Yes, no, I know Robin is not forever. We are human enough still to have to make choices that bind us.” Remember, Robin was never a person, but an identity that bound itself to those who earned its light. Jason knew in his heart that he would grow beyond it. Why would he, not name his successor here, a child that had not just survived but was loved by Gotham? Who somehow had needed its protection so much to be swallowed by it.
He held his hand out to the boy and decided right here and now that this kid, whoever he was, was family. Robin, no Jason, would protect him until the very end. This kid had to be more than this vessel in front of him and Jason was determined to meet the kid.
The boy sighed. “I can never deny my favorites.” And grabbed his hand.
As soon as they touched a shudder went through the boy and he blinked violently. Robin surged forward to give him support.
“Hey kid, you okay.”
The boy looked about even younger than he already had. “What... Robin?”
“Yep. Now could you tell me your name? I’m curious who’s running around on rooftops like this without any parental supervision.” The wind urged at his side, reminding him to push his panic button, alerting Batman for a pick-up. Damian cooed in his hands.
“I’m Tim Drake.”
“Hiya Timmy. What do you say to come back to the cave with us?”
Maybe it was because there were now three blessed children on the rooftop, or maybe it was just Jason and Tim, both understanding Gotham on a level known to very few but while they waited they felt the love of their surroundings. That night Gotham celebrated.
Years later Tim would lay in bed wondering if Gotham had intended Jason to find him that night.
Similarly, Jason would wonder if Gotham intentionally did not claim the youngest until Robin discovered Tim, making their family whole.
Gotham in turn reveled in her birds, in their ways and secrecy. They could feel her cackle when they would theorize about their place in her pantheon because even when Nightwing, Black Bat, Red Hood, Red Robin, Spoiler, and Robin flew through the skies they did not realize that while Gotham was a dark place, one of justice and vengeance. Darkness could not exist without light. And even in the darkest city, there is a reason to stay. A reason to look back, to defy authority, to do anything, for your family.