Jason and Roy watched as Lian and Danny played with Raven.
It was a warm summer day, so Jason made sweet tea to cool them down. It had been three days since Roy had found Jason, and he couldn't help but want to hang out with the kid. It helped that they both had a child that could play with each other.
Besides, Danny needed to interact with people his age.
"So, what's with the red hair?"
"Had to make sure the bats had a hard time finding me, so I dyed my hair."
"Okay, but why red? It doesn't suit you."
Jason rolled his eyes, "You think I care what does or doesn't look good on me? Besides, I bought the first box I got my hands on."
"I think you should've gone light brown or blond," Roy said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
"I love how you went for the full ginger look and gave yourself green contact lenses."
"They aren't contact lenses."
"What," Roy asked, confused.
"They aren't contact lenses. They're a side effect of coming back from the dead."
An awkward silence settled between them. They watched as Raven levitated both children, but Raven was eying both men on the porch. Danny was staring at Roy with a piercing gaze while Lian was oblivious.
"Sorry," Roy said after a while.
"It's okay. You didn't know."
"Still, I was trying to lighten things up and made shit worse, huh?"
Jason sighed and put down the glass of iced tea. He turned toward Roy.
"You don't have to make things 'less awkward.' You're here, giving me a chance even after all the shit I've pulled. You haven't run to the Bats and told them where I am and that I have a kid now. Trust me; not many would do that."
"I would never do that, Jay. Your death almost destroyed me. I was reckless, I was drinking, and I wanted to kill myself via Killer Croc. He sponsored me, y'know, after he figured out my game plan. Besides, I know how it feels like to fear someone will come in and take your kid because you're a fuck up."
The laughter of the two children echoed in the forests as both men watched them. Both men felt a lightness as their children played.
"Dick was rarely there when I was younger. I wish I had the brother the other little birds got," Jason said suddenly. "I have this jealousy eating me up inside, and instead of fighting it so I could have my family again, I fucked up. I'll never be allowed in their circle again."
Roy said nothing. He knew Jason had to take this off his chest.
"I was so angry that Bruce had not only replaced me but hadn't learned his lesson and put another kid in those damned colors. I don't know if the pit was an excuse I used to do the horrible things or if I was always capable of everything I did, but I regret it."
Roy saw tears on Jason's cheeks but didn't comment.
"Now, Danny will be raised without aunts and uncles, without a grandfather, without cousins. And it's all my fault."
Roy put his hand on Jason's shoulder.
"I don't know what Dick or the rest of the bats are thinking, but I consider you my little brother, Jason. Lian will be Danny's cousin, and in the same way, you will be Lian's uncle, I will be Danny's. That is, if you are okay with it," Roy finished, a bit hesitant.
"Yeah," Raven came up to them as the two children played rock, paper, scissors, "and I will be the cool aunt."
Jason gave the two Titans a watery smile and hugged them both. Soon both children ran up to their small family and made a dogpile.
Jason had lost a family, but he was rebuilding a new one.
