It was when Jason heard that desperate weak knocking on the door he sensed that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
He didn't know why he of one should care though. But he staggered to his feet and slowly went for the door.
A bruised soul was waiting outside.
"Jason," it whispered.. "please.." before it fell towards him.
He had caught him when he couldn't stand on his own feet anymore and immediately called for that pathetic sad excuse who called himself Batman nowadays, seeing as taking care of his family shouldn't be Jason's problem.
A frustrated panicky voice had answered him: "Thank god, I've been trying to reach him for days now and…" that was when Jason stopped listening and glanced over at the little bird lying on his bed. He seemed to still be unconscious, but he was sure he'd heard a whimper and a slight movement.
"-you bring him here now?" Jason slowly focused back on Dick's words.
"Uh.."
"Then I'll come by." Click, conversation over. Well wasn't his big brother charming? Jason sighed and figured he might as well get something to drink. But before walking into the so called kitchen he noticed what was wrong. There was blood covering the sheets around Drake. Lots.
"Shit," he mumbled and kneeled down next to him and trying to locate the wound. Tim was beginning to stir and Jason roughly pulled up the sleeve when finally deciding upon that was from where the blood was coming from. The younger one forcefully pulled back from Jason and looked at him through scared eyes.
"- the hell Drake, I'm trying to fix you up." Jason tried to get a closer look at Tim's wounds but he was obviously determined not to let Jason.
"You know, if you won't let me help you, you're probably gonna pass out from blood loss. For the second time now, right? But that's okay with me I can just sit here and wait for that to happen, or you can be a good little boy and-"
"No, I'm fine, I'll go now." Drake made a pathetic attempt to stand up, and in another situation Jason might have even laughed at him but instead he asked:
"Then why on earth did you come here? Hmm, I guess it has nothing to do with my cooking skills?" Jason snorted. Tim looked defeated for a second and sunk back down into the bed. The longer Jason looked at him, the more fragile he looked. He seemed as if he might break down any second and cry.
And there was no time for such nonsense, so Jason reached out again for the wounded bird and grabbed him by his arm, very ungently so, and there was slight struggle that Jason quickly won.
It was then that he looked. And he could feel Tim's shame lingering in the air, unspoken, but he knew.
Cuts. Deep cuts. In lines, done recently and bleeding like hell.
They sat silent for a while. Until Tim spoke with a weak voice:
"I.. didn't.. couldn't go to Dick.. I knew how disappointed he'd be.. I don't know.. and I just sort of ended up…"
"Here," Jason finished for him. Jason stood up, left and a few seconds later came back with a band aids and disinfection. Tim wouldn't face him or look at him, his shame was so obvious that it disturbed Jason. He looked in the complete opposite direction as he let Jason clean his wounds and bandage him up. He wasn't gentle, and on second thought almost regretted not being. But he just shrugged it off. The boy was seventeen, he could manage.
"He's coming here isn't he?" Jason was caught by surprise as he heard a sob. Silent tears were falling down Tim's cheeks. He had never seen the boy cry before, but then again how often did he see the boy at all?
"Yeah." Jason didn't know what more to say. And he felt that consoling a self destructive teenager really wasn't part of his job, so he remained silent examining the boy before him.
Something seemed to be growing inside of Drake, his chest heaved heavily his breathing was erratic and slowly he tried to stand up again. This time he succeeded. Jason watched him with interest.
The path he was taking was obvious and clear and Jason stood in his way to stop him.
"Oh, no! You're not going anywhere till your big brother gets here." Tim tried to push him out of the way, but even he didn't seem to have any hope getting past Jason. But he was stubborn after all and he tried. His attempts were weak Jason had to admit. He was truly in no shape at all for any fighting of the sort and for a moment Jason was grateful the kid had ended up in his apartment not lying bleeding to death on the streets.
Jason finally had enough of teenage angst and grabbed the boy by his arms knocking him down on the bed. Tim's shirt slightly went up in the fall and left Jason to yet another revelation.
Scars, covering his stomach. Now you would have thought that perhaps they'd be caused by something else, considering what was in the nature of practically anyone living in Wayne Manor. But these too, were in lines.
"Dammit." Jason sighed. Dick was really not going to be happy. Truth was, he wasn't either. Especially not as he noticed how little the boy must weigh. He just saw bones and scars. Practically.
He watched the crying teenager just lie there for a while and in his silent mind wondered why the hell Dick was taking so long until a sob that signaled such hopelessness and pain Jason couldn't help but be moved.
"Hey, you alright?" Stupid question he figured. And he only got sobs as an answer.
Unwillingly he moved closer to the boy and sat down on the bed beside him as the sobs only got louder and louder.
"I'm not too good with the whole comforting thing. But I'll try." Jason hesitantly began to pet Tim's hair and put a warm comforting hand on the teenager's stomach.
He wasn't sure if it had worked, but the sobs seemed to eventually take off and he just cried silent tears instead.
Jesus, Jason thought… This whole thing was a little too much for him to handle. Dick was the one good with kids, not him. And as if on cue there was a loud knock on the door and without waiting for any response he heard the door creak open. He felt Tim tense underneath his hand. "It's alright, he won't kill you," Jason muttered and tried to sound comforting. Yes, he actually somewhat tried. But it didn't work as Tim didn't relax.
But Dick was already watching the scene before him. Jason only heard a gasp coming from him and he was instantly at Tim's side. Bending down over him on the bed speaking comforting words with a soft gentle voice, kissing Tim's hair, hugging him, caressing him. Like the perfect brother he was. And Jason suddenly felt like he was an absurd detail in the background of a family portrait. Maybe he was jealous even, perhaps.
Without any effort, it seemed, Dick scooped the teenager up in his arms and turned to Jason.
"Thank you," he said sincerely and looked into Jason's eyes and then headed for the door. Jason just nodded and watched them leave.
He was alone again.