Where could I go?

Jason was seriously starting to hate this guy.

Not because he was doing terrible shit. But because he wasn’t. 

He was just acting like a regular dude and it was seriously starting to piss him off. 

When Dick called him to say Pranks identity had been found, he was mostly excited to beat the shit out of one of Joker’s goons. But when he fled, a device had fallen off the guys neck. Jason had thankfully scooped up without the others noticing before continuing the battle. A small sleek disc sat inconspicuously on the ground, if he hadn’t seen if fall off the guy he would’ve mistaken it for a quarter someone dropped.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t working now and god forbid he ask Tim for help on something like this. They were on good terms but not that good.

Jason fidgets with the device now as he sits crouched on a rooftop, his line of sight giving him a good view of Pranks apartment. The guy was making ramen for the fifth time this week.

It was honestly kinda sad.

Apparently this ‘Peter’ guy had only shown up in the Gotham city database a couple days ago, showing all of his paperwork as brand new. This guy just appeared out of thin air after mocking the bats by being so fucking slippery, and mocking him by working for that piece of shit clown. 

So when he showed up on the database and his apartment was in his territory? Jason was overjoyed, mostly because he was excited to beat his ass.

It’s like he wants to get beat up, and Jason is all too happy to oblige.

He was instructed by B to at least do some reconnaissance first. Gather evidence to make sure he’d get put away for life and all that. At first he was pissed, who the fuck was he to tell Jason what to do? After the initial wave of anger came another one because, god damn it, he was right.

As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, B was right, reconnaissance was the smartest move. 

Things were…fine with Bruce. Jason would come over for family dinner, mostly because it made his siblings happy. Bruce was trying harder to be a better dad to all of them in his weird stalker-y way. When he gave you a granola bar after a patrol, that was his way of announcing his undying love for his family to the world.

That’s exactly what Jason needs, he doesn't need someone who makes him talk about his stupid feelings or try to hug him when he’s pissed. He stays at arms length, keeping Jason alone. They don’t talk about the past, probably because it would rile them both up. Jason doesn’t kill, and Bruce stays out of his territory. 

And that’s fine.

“Hey Hood, I’m gonna grab pizza. Want me to bring you some?” The comm in his ear breaks him out of his brooding as Dick’s voice rings out.

“Sure,”

Jason continues to sit on the rooftop watching this dude be normal, waiting for him to slip up. He has to at some point right? You don’t just work for the Joker then immediately go clean, being normal after working for him? If anything, it makes you more suspicious in Jason’s book. A tinge of green hits him unexpectedly, he needs to stop making assumptions now. If he keeps letting his mind wander he’ll just get more pissed and then he’ll do something he regrets. He’s come a long way since his vision was filled with green, he doesn’t need to backslide right now.

 When Dick arrives he’s humming a tune and plopping down next to him, a box of pizza set between the two.

“Still watching that guy?”

Jason grunts in response, settling on the ledge from his crouched position and grabbing a slice of pizza. Motherfucker got olives on it. Ew. Jason still eats it anyways, even if Dickhead’s food choices are genuinely concerning.

“He’s being too damn normal and it’s pissing me off,”

“Green piss or normal piss?”

“Stop referring to it like that,” Jason elbows Dick, punctuating his sentence.

They eat in silence, with a few spare comments from Dick about patrol that usually just answered with a grunt. Dick knows he’s annoyed right now, no need to make him angrier. 

It’s nice. When he started to get a hold on his emotions again, Jason reached out to Dick first. He’s been helping, in his stupid older brother who barges in and ruins your day way, ever since. Dick regrets…a lot about how he first treated Jason. Jason knows he does, that’s why he actually tries with him. The others can barge into his apartment and ruin his day by stealing his food, but Dick is the only one he won’t actively get pissed at. At least dick has the decency to help with chores. The others just mooch.

As abysmal as his current friend group is, which basically consists of his siblings and some of the outlaws, Jason wouldn’t have it any other way. The way things are right now is the best it’s gonna get. Strained family tension that’s improving at a snail's pace.

It’s all fine.

“Soooo, are you gonna keep watching this guy or are you gonna move onto something else? From what you’ve communicated it seems like he’s fine,”

“He’s not clean, I’m just waiting for him to slip up,”

“Ever the optimist, Hood,” Dick stands up, cracking his back. “Welp, I’m going to keep patrolling. Also, remember that theory Red has, that he wasn’t super complacent in it all? I don’t know how to feel about it, but if he’s staying clean now then Red might be right,”

Dick leaves him with that, swinging off into the night and leaving Hood to clean up the rest of the pizza.

If he wanted to leave, he would’ve.

He’s had enough of watching this guy pretend to be clean, it’s like he’s rubbing it in his face. Why can’t he just be regular evil?

 He just needs one day where he acts suspicious, one tiny mistake and he’s on him.

—

After three weeks of stalking, Jason decides he’s had enough. If this fucker won’t slip up, he’ll just have to demand answers himself. He’s watching the poor bastard make boxed mac n cheese for the third time this week. How does this man live like that? 

He’s almost found himself internally celebrating when he brings back takeout. Would one nutritious meal kill him? Jesus.

With an annoyed grunt, Red hood grapples to the entrance of the dingy apartment complex.

—

The Red Hood is currently searching Peter’s apartment, a gun trained on him the entire time. His multitasking skills were honestly kind of impressive. 

He definitely should've been ready for this. It was stupid of him to think the bats would just leave him alone after all he’s done, and it’s getting awkward now because neither of them are talking and one of them is rifling through his stuff-

“So, do you want some mac n cheese?” He blurts out the question before he can even register it, at least he has the brains to chastise himself internally.

Wow, Peter. Ever the amazing host.

Red hood turns to look at him, Peter can practically see the confused look on his face behind that insanely cool red helmet. Peter would give anything to see how that thing works.

“No. I don’t want your sad box mac n cheese,”

“Ok, rude. Just trying to be a good host,” Peter purses his lips, shifting from one foot to another. He gets it, this guy is a vigilante who probably has it out for him. But his aunt didn't raise a bad host.

Red hood finishes looking around his apartment and makes himself at home, leaning against a wall. 

“Prank, when did you-”

“Don’t call me that…please,”

The words leave Peter's mouth before he can register it, all he heard was that damn name. He never wants to be called that again, especially by people who are supposed to help the city. 

“...Alright, when did you last have contact with the Joker?”

Alright, so this was an interrogation, of course it would be. Peter tries to consider his words before he speaks, if he tells the full truth everything might turn into a shitshow. But also lying is bad, but not telling the whole truth isn’t the worst thing ever right? He can’t just tell this guy who has a gun trained on him his life story. It would make it that much more obvious how much of a coward he was the whole time, that he didn’t fight hard enough to leave.

That’s enough to make any hero hate him.

“I…last saw him when I left a few weeks ago. Batman had him pinned and I…ran away,” Peter finishes lamely, that will surely paint him in a good light.

“So you deserted your boss, not very loyal of you,”

“I didn’t-” Peter sighs tiredly, dragging a hand across his face. “I was…already looking to leave, then an opportunity presented itself,”

“Why leave if you had already been so willing to work for him in the first place, are you just biding your time till he gets out of arkham? Waiting until he’s free again so you can come crawling back?” Red hood steps forward with every sentence, a dangerous tone entering his words. Peter can feel his back pressing into the wall as the figure approaches.

Oh my god dude, stop being so tall and huge.

Anger boils in his stomach. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Peter didn’t want any of this; he wants to go home! Peter wants to leave everything in the past and he doesn’t want to see the Jokers stupid fucking face ever again.

“I didn’t have a choice! I had to work for him, he had this fucking thing that-” Peter clamps his mouth shut. He would’ve started explaining everything, outing himself as a coward. His eyes dart to the ground, focusing on the large combat boots keeping him close to the wall.

“Was it this thing?” The vigilante holds up his other hand with a small circular disc glinting in the dim apartment lighting.

Peter bristles, his back pushing further into the wall.

“Get that thing away from me right now,” Peter’s neck is buzzing wildly at the sight of the device. He would do anything to get that thing as far away from him as possible. If Peter could see himself right now he’d probably look like the caged animal, pressed up against the wall with a snarl on his face.

Red Hood steps back at that, glancing around the apartment again and tucking the disc into a pocket on the vigilantes belt (thank god). Peter’s enhanced hearing picks up a muttered ‘dammit’ that doesn’t quite make it to the voice modulator.

“Fine,”

??

“...Fine?”

“I’m leaving, if you ever for a moment make me think you’re going to run back to that fucking clown. I will gut you,” He punctuates his sentence by jabbing a finger into Peter’s sternum.

Jesus this guy lays it on thick.

With a final huff, Red Hood leaves his apartment. 

Peter is left with silence, that could’ve gone better. But it definitely could’ve gone much worse. 

He takes it as a win. 

—

When Peter wakes up the next day he’s immediately off to his construction job, there was a villain attack nearby and the city was hiring anyone to help with removing rubble. If Peter isn’t absolutely exhausted by the end of the day he can probably get some takeout.

Contrary to Peter's hopes, he was utterly exhausted. Doing the same thing for nine hours would definitely ruin your daily momentum. Trudging back to his apartment wasn’t fun either, he just wanted to lay down. 

When he enters his apartment Peter opens the mini fridge first. Maybe past Peter put away some leftovers he could reheat?

Ok, that definitely wasn’t me.

Sitting in the middle of the fridge, in a clear plastic takeout box was chicken alfredo. In a brown bag next to it was some garlic bread and oh my god it smelled heavenly.

On top of the container was a note, written in blocky writing.

Stop eating that boxed shit.