Chapter Text
Jason was a street rat, ain’t no two ways about it. He lied, he stole, he did shady things for shady people, but this sh*t took the cake. He squeezed Timmy’s hand tight, his little brother from another mother grinning wildly at the cave of spooky magic bullsh*t. Big shelves of stone lined the walls with sparkling orbs and innocent-looking necklaces. Jellyfish floated in the air as if they were in water, providing dim blue light in the room. At the centre there was some ancient myth of the Moon and Earth’s creation. Maybe he should learn to read Siren some day, and he could read what it was all about. Apparently this cave belonged to some sea witch, who had a soft side for kids and was thus much less likely to turn them into polyps if he caught them. Here was to hoping.
“It’s all so cool…” Timmy whispered. His eyes bugged out. The kid’s head spun every which way, as if to commit the scene to memory.
“And it’s dangerous as sh*t, too. Come on, we just need to grab the necklace and beat it.” Jason pulled his friend closer. They just had to get some dumb magic artefact and give it to the shady-as-sh*t witch bitch at the bodega. What was it they wanted?
“Jayjay, over there!” Tim directed Jason’s eyes to a large golden bracelet fit with a huge-ass ruby in the centre, which matched the description their employer gave them, but so did about twenty others.
“What makes you think that’s the one?”
“It’s got moon markings on, but they’re smaller and in the background. So it’s not showing the Moon as a character in the myth, but more as part of the setting. The rest have the Moon in focus.”
“Right.” Jason nodded dumbly. It amazed him sometimes how f*cking clever Tim was. That was why he even agreed to this dumbass plot. With that kinda money, he could get an apartment with sh*tty wifi and a lock, a dozen books and a laptop and still have food to spare and TImmy could finally train that awesome lil brain of his.
They had to actually get to the thing first, which was easier said than done, seeing as it nested comfortably on the top shelf five layers up, and Jason’s head barely reached the second. These shelves were f*cking huge?! Who designed this sh*t?
Jason scanned the room for any step stools or tables to boost them, but the best they got was a tiny little chair that barely got Jason to the fourth shelf up. Jason stood on the wobbly wooden seat on his tippy toes, but the necklace was just out of reach. Dammit.
“Carry me!” Tim called. “I can reach it.”
The squirt didn’t wait for a response before clammering up the stool. Jason made a ‘stop’ motion with his hands. “Hold on, you’re gonna tip us over.”
Timbers pointedly ignored him and grabbed his trouser leg. “Just stand with your feet apart and it’ll be fine.”
Jason jerked to the side and flapped his arms rapidly until regaining balance. Tim seemed completely unbothered and continued climbing Jason’s tattered hoodie like a jungle gym until Jason had enough of being treated like one and lifted the punk up the rest of the way. Timmy stood on Jason’s shoulders while Jason tried not to get dizzy looking at the floor. “You close, Timmy?”
“Can you take a step forward, Jay? I can aaaaalmost reach it.”
Jason slid his feet forward until they were right on the edge.
“Just a bit closer.” Jay started leaning forward at a precarious angle. His breath hitched.
“Got it!” Timmy pumped his hands in the air, which was decidedly the worst possible thing he could do. The tiny shift in momentum tipped Jason right over the edge, from barely balanced to careening over.
Jason loved this kid, but man did he wanna bonk him on the head sometimes. He thrust his arms forward and caught himself on the smooth-cut rock of the shelf. The force made the items jump slightly. To the left a crystal ball jerked out of its holder and rolled to the bottom.
The crystal ball shattered into a million tiny pieces. The crashing sound rang their eyes and bounced off the walls as it echoed. And echoed. And echoed.
“Run?” Timmy whimpered.
Jason nodded. “Run.”
Jason clutched his buddy to his chest and booked the f*ck out of there.
Dick was having a nice day.
He’d finished all his laundry, cleaned his kitchen and had a lovely conversation with a little old lady at the grocery store. Apparently she had a grandson his age, that she “just wished he would be as kind and polite as you, young man.” she gave him a caramel when he helped her carry her groceries to the bus stop.
He settled down on his couch with a half empty pint of rocky road ice cream and flicked on the TV, some kind of deep sea documentary was on and he chuckled slightly before relaxing back to watch. As he settled down he made a mental note to go see his Dad soon, letting the calming sounds of the deep ocean and the voice of the narrator lull him into a state of calm. Dick came back into awareness at the sound of frantic knocking on his fire escape window, almost dropping the empty ice cream tub before he set it on his coffee table.
Passively noting that the documentary had switched to a news report on the rising cult activity, Dick slowly made his way towards the window, snatching an octopus paperweight off the coffee table and brandishing it like a weapon (the paperweight was a gift from Wally and sat as a proud centrepiece of the table).
Approaching the curtains, Dick subtly pulled them back to peer out into the clear night, easily spotting the two small shapes huddled on the fire escape under the light of the crescent moon. All hesitation vanished from his frame as he quickly pulled open the window and vaulted over the frame, landing softly on the fire escape.
“Jay, Timmy? What are you doing here? Are you alright?” Dick crouched down to get a better look at the boys, noticing the bruises covering Jason and the tear tracks cutting lines through the dirt on Tim’s cheeks.
“D-Dick!” Timmy wailed and Dick could only barely hold himself back from immediately folding both boys into a hug and bundling them inside. As it was, Dick simply caught the hand that Tim reached out for him, noticing the concerning silence coming from Jason.
“It’s okay, It’s alright, I’m here, what do you need?” Dick murmured as he pulled Tim’s hand to his chest in a silent request to match his breathing. Dick froze when another hand gripped onto his wrist, glancing up to see Jason staring at him with a steely glare through his bangs.
“You said,” The ten year old cleared his throat, “You said we were always welcome at your place, that still true?” Dick stared wide eyed at the boy, mind warring between elation they came to him and a deep sadness and worry for whatever drove the boys here.
“Yes, of course.” Dick tried to keep his voice calm and level as he ushered both boys inside, using the hand they were both holding to help them stand, the other hand hovering over them but not touching.
Dick watched Jason help Tim over the windowsill before climbing over himself, sending a glare Dick’s way when his other hand got too close to touching.
“Take a seat, I'll get you something to drink.” Dick directed them both to sit at the kitchen table, hands hovering over Jason as he limped towards the nearest chair,the boy once again helping Tim before sitting himself, despite his obvious injuries.
“Do you both like orange juice?” Dick broke the solemn silence with a strained smile towards both boys, waiting to receive a nod and mumbled “sure” before hurrying off to collect two glasses and the first aid kit.
Dick had first met the boys six months ago, when Jason had just turned ten and Tim was still six, he had been visiting a carnival and a failed pickpocket attempt from the older boy had somehow ended in him buying funnel cakes for the both of them. Ever since then Dick has kept an eye out for them, offering his home as a safe place for the, apparently, homeless boys, (although they insisted they were just poor) along with buying them food whenever they meet. Dick thought that the day they finally accepted his offer would be because they finally trusted him to keep them safe not out of desperation but, either way, Dick was glad that they came to him.
Shaking out of his train of thought Dick grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and shut the door with his hip before placing the empty glasses in front of the boys. Spinning on his heel he turned back to the kitchen, grabbing the carton of orange juice (from the fridge he’s not a madman) and pouring each boy a glass.
Jason sat glaring for a few moments but Tim just squeaked out a “Thank you!” and started guzzling the juice down so fast Dick was worried he would choke.
“Soo…” Dick started when Jason finally began to take small sips of his drink “do I get to know what happened or is it a ‘no questions asked’ kind of night?” Jason continued to stare with an unreadable expression before setting his drink down hard, gaining a questioning glance from Tim who had, thankfully, slowed down his drinking.
Letting out a quiet grunt, Jason finally grumbled “Got bummed out of a deal by some asshole magicians, after we went through all the trouble of getting their sh*t for them.” Jason glared at Dick as if daring him to comment.
“...Jason, you know how dangerous magic can be-” “I know that!” the boy yelled, slamming his hands on the table and sending an apologetic glance to Tim when the boy jolted. “I know.. It’s just, this was going to be big for us alright? It’d finally give us the chance to get out of this sh*thole and they just- ugh!” Jason screamed and threw his hands in the air as Dick sat, stunned.
“S’not Jay’s fault.” a quiet voice mumbled into the following silence. “What was that Timmy?” Dick asked gently, turning to the younger boy.
“It’s not Jay’s fault, it’s mine.” Tim repeated to which Jason immediately reached to pull the boy into a hug.
“I’m sure it’s nobody’s fault except those horrible people who cheated you.” Dick stated with finality.
“Now,” he clapped his hands together, smiling apologetically at the boys when they both flinched “I think it’s time for you both to have a nice, warm shower and then a long sleep in a cosy bed.” Dick grinned, mentally crossing his fingers and hoping that they would agree to stay.
Tim looked to Jason for an answer, offering a watery smile when he finally grumbled “yeah okay.” causing Dick’s smile to grow significantly more genuine.
“Yeah, okay.” he whispered breathlessly to himself before springing into action, “you boys finish your juice, I’m going to grab some towels and spare clothes!” Dick immediately whirled away to his bedroom, grabbing two of his smallest sets of pyjamas and towels, depositing them in the bathroom before returning to the boys in the kitchen.
“The bathroom is ready, I've set out towels and a change of clothes for each of you and there's a first-aid kit under the sink if you need it.” Dick whisked away the empty glasses as the boys mumbled thank you’s and wandered towards the bathroom.
Just before he heard the door shut Dick quickly yelled “Take as much time as you need!” then the door shut, the quiet click of the lock quickly following.
Dick had just decided to settle down to wait in the living room when his phone began to ring, an already unusual occurrence at this hour but even more unusual was who the id showed as the caller. Dick quickly answered the phone and brought it up to his ear.
“Bruce?”
Jason pulled off his hoodie in the bathroom. All that f*cking bullsh*t for nothing but a couple extra bruises and a useless necklace that nobody will buy. f*cking cultists. Should’ve known better. At least the cash they’d paid him in advance would’ help, but boom. There went his dreams of travelling the world, and going to school (not in that order necessarily). Beside him, Timmy sniffled into some tissues.
“It’s ok.” Jason held him close.
“It was my fault.” Tim whimpered. Jason couldn’t help but disagree. They did everything those cultist assholes wanted and got scuffed for it.
He rubbed little circles into Tim’s hair, the way his mom used to before the drugs got her. “We’ll find another way.”
Tim trembled. His voice lowered to a teeny whimper. “That was supposed to be the way, but then I-I ruined it. I’m sorry Jay. If you wanna dump me with the police, I wouldn’t blame you.”
Jason cut him off by tugging him even closer. “You stop that bullsh*t talk. We’re a team, you hear me? We’ll be together forever, and that means you don’t get to try and wiggle your way out of it.”
Timmy hitched a sob. “O-ok. I’m sorry for trying to-,”
“And stop apologising, or I’ll sit on you.”
“Ah! Sorry for apo-,”
“Wrong thing to say Timpillow!” Jason tackled Tim to the bathroom mat amidst shrieking laughter. Tim pushed and kicked at Jason, but the tiny child was helpless to stop the fingers wriggling into his sides. The tickle attack drained the strength from his body, and Jason gleefully sat on Tim’s back.
Tim fake wheezed. “Waahh! Stop it!”
“Sorry I can’t hear you over the sound of you being smushed!” The boys chortled together, tears forgotten.
“You guys ok in there?” Dick called through the other side of the door. “I don’t want you to get hurt playing in the bathroom.”
Jason crossed his arms, even though Dick couldn’t see them. “Fine you big boob.”
The boys settled down and finally filed into the shower together, mostly to save on Dick’s water bill. Jason didn’t wanna be indebted to the guy too much, even if he said it was ok. These things always had a cost somehow.
Jason turned on the knob, letting Timmy soak in the warm water first before him. However, nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
Tim shrieked. One moment he was just standing there, a bar of soap and washcloth in hand, then the next moment Timmers was lying on his back on the floor. Jason rubbed his eyes. It happened too quickly to process.
Where once there was pale (too pale) skin, now bright red scales coated every inch of the little boy’s skin. Large fins emerged from his body too, bright yellow like the sun. Timmy’s sclera had become unnervingly wide, with vertical pupils like a cat, and when he blinked, a slimy-looking film slid over his eyeballs, but Jason couldn’t bring himself to get grossed out because he was staring mostly at the f*cking fishtail where his legs were.
What the f*ck…
“T-timmy. A-are you still there?” Was his best friend going to lash out and maul him now? Oh god? Was he gonna chant some death cult chant and eat Jason like what happens in Innsmouth (Or something like that. He never read the book, racist piece o’ sh*t Lovecraft).
Tim opened his mouth, but instead of ‘I’m fine’ or ‘this is so weird’ or ‘oh god I’m a fish freak please help me’ or ‘you look so tasty Jason’, his throat produced a string of panicked chirps. Then the panicked chirps became panicked trills and warbles as the boy clutched his throat.
Jason was beginning to panic in turn What the f*ck. He thought back to the wizard gang. Did those assholes sprinkle a curse on them? But he didn’t see any dumbass jazz hands or hear any magic words. Just them shaking in their damn boots.
Was this why? Was the necklace f*cking cursed and they just dumped it with him and Tim!?
Tim whimpered. Jason shook the thoughts of cold vengeance away. At least his friend was still in there. What would he do now? Was Tim gonna be stuck like this? Was he going to have to live in a bathtub his whole life?! Jason bit down his tongue. It wouldn’t help Tim if he started hyperventilating here or freaking out, but, but…
Tim yelped again. His slimy, scaly face twisted in discomfort. Jason noted how the kid’s new dorsal fin was squished against the hard shower floor. Oof. That couldn’t be comfortable. Jason crouched, but the moment his hands went into the shower stream, there was a blisteringly cold sensation, and scales overtook them too.
Jason’s eyes turned to dinner plates. His legs went slack, bones turning to jelly. The boy tumbled over his friend’s body, and when he opened his eyes, his legs were gone too. “Holy sh*t,” Jason mumbled, but it was all raspy hisses. This was the time for panicking now. Jason tried to get up but his legs were done and this heavy-ass tail could do nothing but flop uselessly. His gills oh god he has gills flapped open and close underneath the stream and it felt so weird, like having a part of your body exposed and vulnerable except that was literally what was happening.
Jason could do nothing but stare in horror at the black and red scales covering every inch of skin. It was no costume; he could feel the water cascading on each tiny little piece, and the alien sensation put him into a terrified shiver. He glanced at the door. If Dick found them like this, would he think they were freaks and kick them to the curb? How could they survive the streets if they couldn’t even walk?
“Jayyy.” Tim crooned. “Jaaay.”
He tugged on the fin coming out of his arm. Jason blinked. Timmy’s fishy, inhuman, but still remarkably Timmy’s eyes narrowed. The kid pointed at the knob of the shower. Jason reached up, his arms just barely long enough to shut the water off.
Timmy wasn’t done. The kid shimmied out from underneath Jason’s body, grabbing the towel Dick had left for them on the rack. The kid rolled around like a worm in the vast white fluffy expanse, and Jason began to catch on too.
Scales receded into pale skin. The fish tail split into two skinny legs, and Tim’s face emerged from the towel completely human again. “Now you! And quick! Before he sees!”
There were footsteps coming from outside.
Dick was having a stressful evening,
Taking a few deep breaths he collected some spare sheets from his linen closet and dumped them onto his couch before returning to his bedroom to quickly change into pyjamas and collect Zitka, his stuffed elephant. Dick quickly made up his couch into a bed and sat down on it, tapping his fingers against his knee.
This is fine, everything is fine he just needs to change the plan around a bit, Dick thought to himself, running his fingers through his hair. He should probably convince the kids to stay a few days, just until everything calms down, especially since they already got in trouble with some magicians.
Oh moons, what if they were-
No. It’s fine, they're fine. They came to him for help, that must mean something right?
Okay, rethink, reevaluate. Let the boys sleep tonight and in the morning try to convince them to stay, let them know about the (possibly) dangerous magic thieves running about and try to keep them safe. DO NOT bring up police or shelters anywhere near them because they will most likely run.
Make sure that-
Dick’s train of thought was interrupted by another clatter from the bathroom just as the shower started up, causing his head to snap in the direction of the door. There was silence for a few more seconds before a chirp, barely audible over the sound of the shower, came from the room. Dick stared gobsmacked for a few minutes in the silence that followed when the sound of multiple thuds against the bathtub could be heard followed by the shower stopping, had one of them fallen?
Dick stood from the couch and started to make his way towards the bathroom, making sure his steps were audible to not startle the boys. He had only just brought his fist down on the door when it suddenly slammed open to a slightly red-faced Jason.
“Ummm, is everything alright?” Dick asked, peeking into the bathroom to see Tim laying on the floor wrapped in a towel gawking up at Dick in the doorway.
“Yeah, we just knocked some sh*t over, why do you have so many f*ckin’ bottles of sh*t here anyways?” Jason scowled up at Dick, shifting slightly to block Dick’s view of Tim.
“Hey!” Dick gasped and pressed a hand to his chest in mock offence “It takes effort to maintain all of this you know?” Dick grinned gesturing to himself, receiving an eye roll in response from Jason.
“Okayyy…” Dick continued, rocking slightly on his feet “The bedroom is all set up when you guys are ready for it and I’ll be sleeping on the couch if you guys need me.” He smiled at them both “otherwise, I’ll leave you both to it.”
“Yeah whatever, thanks dickhe*d” Jason grumbled, before turning away and slamming the bathroom door shut.
Just before the door shut however, something glinted in the light, catching Dick’s eye. As Jason had turned around Dick could’ve sworn he saw-
Dick sat down heavily on the couch, his mind running over the events of the evening under a different perspective;
Fact: Jason and Tim were involved with magicians, they also apparently got some ‘sh*t’ for said magicians who then went back on their deal. There was also that strange chirp that came from the bathroom earlier that sounded too shrill to be fully human and just now, Dick could’ve sworn he saw a small smattering of scales along the back of Jason's neck, just along his hairline.
Laying all of the information out like that paints a pretty interesting picture, with groundbreaking consequences if Dick is correct. He passively noticed the guppies leaving the bathroom and shuffling to bed, absentmindedly returning their “goodnights.”
Dick took a long moment to breathe in the silence of the room, before picking up his phone to make a call.
“Hey Bruce, about those thieves, I think I found them.” Dick started immediately
“Do not engage Dick, where are you?” Bruce’s accented voice responded quickly, with barely hidden worry.
“B I’m fine, they're babies”
“... What?”
“They’re guppies Bruce, tiny little guppies who are sleeping in my bedroom right now.” Dick was met with stunned silence, only broken by the occasional sound of water sloshing in the background.
“... I'm coming over.”
“What? No! Are you insane!? You’d scare the life out of them!” an irritated rumble was barely audible over the line. “I will take them to see you in the morning after I have explained everything to them.”
Another grumble followed by a deep rumbling could be heard “Bruce I swear if I wake up and see you wriggling through a window I will throw a shoe at you.” more silence “You wouldn’t want to leave Damian alone overnight would you?” A deep sigh followed the question.
“Fine, in the morning” Bruce finally acquiesced.
“Alright then I will see you at eight.”
“Seven.”
“Eight and I will bring pastries.”
Another rumble “okay, bye.” Bruce hung up without waiting for an answer.
Dick let out a weary sigh and trudged towards the bathroom to brush his teeth, noticing the slightly fishy smell present in the room as he did so. After quickly washing his face Dick settled down on the couch, setting an alarm for six as he prepared for a sleepless night.
Dick rolled over at the sound of a blaring alarm, yelping when he suddenly found himself impacting the floor with a loud thump. Sitting up blearily, the first thing he noticed was something stuck with tape to his forehead. Pulling the tape off he squinted down at the writing on the note struggling to read the scrawled writing.
‘thx for leeting us sleep hear, were ok now dont luk for us byebye’
Dick’s eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet, dashing to the bedroom and slamming the door open scanning the room and instantly seeing the empty bed.
“sh*t.”
