JASON'S P.O.V.
White. Boring, plain, old white. White as the color of the principal's office wall. Who's the douchebag that chose white for the color of the wall anyway? If I was the principal of this hellhole I would rather choose red as the wall color. What is taking Bruce so long? I hope he never comes.
I sigh. I'm not making any sense anymore. Not that my life makes much sense to begin with. Born in the streets, then adopted by the richest guy in the city, whose kink is to dress up as a giant bat in the middle of the night to break the baddies' noses, and then I find out my kink is to dress like a fucking traffic light in the middle of the night to join my guardian in breaking the baddies' noses. I'm a mess.
Once I hear Bruce's deep voice outside in the hallway I feel like I ate lead for breakfast- cold lead, by the way. He's gonna be so pissed. At least now he'll finally throw me out the streets where I belong and this Cinderella-like shit will end.
"Mr. Wayne." The principal old bitch shook hands with him and Bruce sat down beside me
"So, what did my ward do? I couldn't properly understand it over the phone." Bruce said putting his hand on my shoulder and I catch a glimpse of him through the corner of my eye. Well, he doesn't seem angry. Yet
"Well, why doesn't Mister Todd tell you?" Y-YOU OLD BITCH! Keep your mouth shut!
"Jason." Bruce warned me before I could say what I wanted to say to her. Seriously, can this guy read minds or mine's just the one he happened to be able to read? "What happened?" he squeezed my shoulder and I somehow calmed down
"I don't know." I said quietly
"Come on, at least try." Wow, I didn't know Bruce could be so patient. If he was in Batman mode he would have broken my arm by now if I was a thug. But he's not in Batman mode and I'm not a thug, right? Or can I be considered one of Batman's thugs? "Jason." Yup, as I thought, Bruce's not so patient after all
"T-There were these bastards, and they were talking shit and I got mad and sucker punched them." I finally said after a while
"They got sent to the hospital, Mister Todd." The bitch cut in
"Lady, do I look like I give a fuck?" I barked back at her
"Jason! Watch your language!" Bruce scolded me
"I held back! They're at the hospital because they wanted to!" Fuck, what is up with this whiney voice, Jason Todd? Man up!
"You broke Mister Jenkins' nose!"
"So? My nose got broken tons of times before and I didn't go to any hospital!"
"You are different, Mister Todd." That's it! I'm going to kill this old witch!
"HOW AM I DIFFERENT?! JUST BECAUSE I WASN'T BORN A RICH PUSSY LIKE YOU FUCKS WERE?! TELL THAT STRAIGHT TO MY FACE, BITCH! THAT I'M STREET TRASH!" I'm sort of glad that Bruce's holding me, or I would really hit this whore
"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE, MISTER TODD!" she didn't have to tell me twice. I shrugged off of Bruce's hold and went to wait by the car
Bruce came after a few minutes. One look at his face told me he was outright pissed
BRUCE'S P.O.V.
When I woke up this morning I wasn't expecting my day to go down this fast. Jason just got himself expelled of school, and there's a chance that the parents of the boy he fought with will want to sue my kid. I made a mental note to phone Lucius when I get back home so that he tries to prevent it. Pinching the bridge of my nose won't help with the headache that's already there.
I unlocked the car and ordered Jason to get inside.
"Ja-." I was going to lecture him, but I didn't expect him to start crying quietly "Look chum, when we get back home, why don't you go to your room. We will talk after I give a call." He cried harder and nodded
Something's definitely wrong with him, and I hope to find out what.
When we got back home, Jason wordlessly went into his room, and I walked to my study so I could call Lucius
"Bruce." his voice sounded on the phone receiver "How did things go at Jason's school?"
"Not good, Lucius. Jason got into a fight and the parents of the kids he hit might want to sue him, so I want you to see what you can do about it."
"Okay, I'll do something about it, but it will probably cost you a few zeros on your bank account."
"Thank you Lucius. Don't mind about the money, just do whatever it takes."
"I will. Is there anything else you want me to do?"
"You can leave the rest to me, just focus on this."
"Fine, I will call you tomorrow to tell you how it went."
"Thank you." I said ending the call
Lucius will manage to do it. Now all I have to do is to find out what's wrong with Jason, and unfortunately the only one who can tell me is Jason himself. I sigh before pushing myself from my chair. No use trying to postpone this. I knocked at the door of his room, but to no answer. I knocked again, this time with a bit more force, but still no answer
"Jason, I'm coming in." I said before twisting the doorknob to find an empty room. Jason's bag isn't in his room either, and some of his clothes are missing. I rush downstairs to the cave and quickly change into the batsuit before roaming on the streets on the batmobile searching for my lost ward
JASON'S P.O.V.
He wants to get rid of me. Bruce didn't say anything the whole way back. And when he was going to say something, I start crying like the pussy I am. I wonder what my old man would do if he saw me crying like that. He would probably beat me up until I manned up and stopped being such a sissy.
When we got back to the manor, I went to my room just like Bruce said. When I think about it, maybe this was one of the first times I actually obeyed him. As I sat in my bed, I couldn't help wonder how Bruce will go over this. Will he be all quiet and try to make it sound like it's not his fault? (Which, honestly, it's not, I know, but I also know me enough to know that I'm the kind of trash that would try to make it look like it is his fault.) Maybe he will start yelling at me to get out of his house, and make me give back all these nice clothes that he bought me. Whichever way he does it, the two of us are not going to like it the slightest, so I guess the best way to do this is for me to just get out of here without Bruce having to waste his energy on getting me.
Having made up my mind, I start to stuff my school bag with all the clothes I brought with me to the manor, and I also stuff a coat they bought me, even if it hadn't been that cold lately (which was sort of a miracle really, considering we are talking about Gotham). It's best to be prepared, and I might even sell it if I get really hungry before it starts to get cold. I wonder if I go out with the clothes I'm wearing it would count as cheating. Maybe not. Bruce's so rich anyway, he won't even notice one or two missing clothes.
I think it's good that Alfred's not here, or he would try to make Bruce change his mind about this, and he would lose his chance to finally get rid of me.
I managed to sneak past Bruce to the outside of the manor. I snorted at my own thinking. Yeah right, as if any human being would be able to sneak past the Batman. I guess that just goes to show how much he wants me out of his hair. It's even better this way, really. He can just call the GCPD and tell them that his kid went missing, and he will even look like the victim. Besides, we both know from our nightly hobby that I can outrun the GCPD with my eyes closed. Oh, yeah, what about Robin? I don't think he'll let me keep on doing this now, will he? Whatever. I'm sure he'll find another orphan soon enough to be his partner. I really hope he'll find one that won't be a complete disgrace like me. Bruce deserves better.
It's weird really, now that I look at the manor from a distance, I realize how funny it might have sounded to anyone's ears when they heard a street rat was living here. Maybe that's what Bruce wanted when he brought me in, he was looking for a laugh. No, stop it, Jason. Bruce's not like that. He's a pretty decent guy. The most decent guy I know, he and Alfred too. I only lived here for like two months but I actually quite liked it, it was the closest of a home I'll ever know.
Fuck, what is it with all this crying today?
BRUCE'S P.O.V.
I've been looking for Jason for a couple hours now. I taught that boy well.
"Batman!" I hear my other ward's voice in the comm. piece on my ear
"Nightwing." I grunt out "What is it?"
"What do you mean by what is it?! Alfred just told me that Robin's been missing! I'll help you look for him."
"Start searching through Upper Gotham, I'll look at the Narrows."
"Roger that, boss man."
Come on, Jason, where are you?
As I was beating the intel out of the tenth thug that I found on my way, an epiphany hit me. I left the thug there to wet his pants by himself as I grappled over to my next location
Just as I thought, I found him in Crime Alley, at the same place we first met two months ago. I jumped from the building I was standing on, and Jason jumped a little when I landed
"Jason."
"B? What are you doing here?" He looked as though he didn't expect me to find him at all
"I was looking for you."
"Oh." Then his expression turned from one of surprise to complete confusion "Why?" he asked cocking his head to the side
"You are a nine year old who ran away from home. Did you expect me to just leave it like that?" I need to calm down. No good will come out if I start yelling at him in the middle of the street
"Is your head full of shit?! This way was the best for the two of us, you know?! You could just pass as the victim and I could be the bad guy! If you told the police that I ran away they wouldn't even bother looking for me and you would be free from me! Just go back!" he shouted at me, but even with the poor illumination of the street, I could see the tears gathering at the corner of his eyes
"Let's discuss this at home."
"I don't have to listen to you anymore, we're not related!" If we keep this up we'll take the whole night. Time for a more aggressive approach. I called the batmobile to our current location and crouched down so I was at eye level with Jason
"I said we'll discuss this at home. You have until the batmobile gets here for you to stand up and gather your things." The kid's glare didn't falter in front of my own. He's either too brave or too stupid. A little of both
"So that you enter the batmobile and we never see each other again?"
"Jason, don't test me."
The batmobile arrived and Jason still hadn't moved an inch. I lifted three fingers
"Ooh, are you reduced to counting now?" he taunted. I lowered one finger
"Just so you know, even if you count down I'm not moving." I lowered another finger
"Just go back home, B." he sighed. I lowered the last finger
I stood up, and for a moment he looked relieved, until I lifted him on my shoulder
"Hey! Let me go! B!" he pounded his fists on my back, but he might as well had done nothing, given my Kevlar armored suit. When I reached the batmobile, I threw Jason on the passenger side and rushed to the driver side before he could escape "This is kidnapping, you know! I'm gonna tell everyone that the great Batman is now onto kidnapping little boys!" I had to suppress a chuckle at that
"Go ahead if you want to, and I might just release that picture of you sleeping cuddling with your Nightwing doll."
"It's not a doll, it's an action figure! And where did you keep that photo anyway? I thought I burned it!"
"You keep forgetting who your opponent is, Jason." I said with a smirk and he slumped on his seat while pouting
"How deep in shit am I anyway?"
"Language."
"You didn't answer."
"If you meant to ask in how much trouble you are, I can only tell you that you are in enough trouble as it is, so you better stop testing my patience."
"Your thinner than Alfred's mustache patience?" He tried to joke it off, but I guess even Jason knows when to stop in front of my glare "Sorry, just, you know…"
"You try to make yourself on top of things when you get nervous?"
He nodded "Yeah, I guess I do that, you know, when you live on the streets, being on top is always good."
"You don't live on the streets anymore, Jason."
"For now." He mumbled, but of course I heard it
"Forever, Jason." I said with a tone that gave no opening for discussion
"You don't know me, B. I just hope you don't take too long to open up your eyes. That way will be easier to the both of us."
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, and the two of us were silent for the rest of the trip back.
JASON'S P.O.V.
When we reached the cave, Alfred came rushing to the batmobile.
"Sir! I still haven't had any infor-" He started to say, but I guess he finally noticed me "Master Jason! Thank heavens you are alright!" he started prodding me all over trying to find any injuries. Wow, I must have really worried Alfred for him to not even ask for my permission like he always does
"I'm fine Alfred." I said shrugging off of him. He straightened up and nodded
"I will inform Master Dick." WHAT?!
"Wait, what?! You guys called even Dick on this?! You shouldn't have bothered him!" No, wait, does that mean I actually lost a chance to ride on that sick bike of his?! "Wait, actually, you should've let him find me!" Bruce had the guts to actually laugh in my face "What're you laughing at?" I growled
"Nothing." His face got straight again. Honestly, how does this guy does that? "Alfred, do me a favor and ask Dick to do the patrol in my place today?" Alfred nodded and then Bruce turned to me "Jason, go take a bath and wait for me in your room."
I guess today's the day I've been the most obedient ever, I mean, usually I love taking baths in here (there's real warm clean water, not that freezing disgusting stuff back in my old apartment), but I have to protect my pride, you know, I can't have Bruce thinking I'm some kid he can order around as he likes. But yeah, today I'm too tired to argue about it, so I'm just going to go take a bath and forget today even happened.
So I took my bath in that huge bathtub in my bathroom, and then I put on my pajamas and waited for Bruce to come. I waited. Waited. Maybe Bruce's thinking of some way to kill me? Nah, if he wanted me dead he just had to leave me out there in the streets and Gotham would do the job. Then he's taking a dump? Throwing away the trash? Feeding the bats down at the cave? Why's he taking so long?
I must be some fucking esper, 'cause just as I was starting to freak out someone knocked on my door. It took me all of my courage to tell him to come in, and Bruce stepped through the doorway and then sat beside me on my bed. We both didn't say a thing for a while, just the uncomfortable silence and each other for company.
"So…" I started when the silence became too uncomfortable to bear with it
"You tell me."
"You know, Bruce, if you don't want me to start making my jokes, now's the time you start yelling at me." I said pulling at an invisible string from my pajama pants
"I didn't come here to yell at you."
"You didn't?" I searched his face for some sign he was lying, but I didn't find any
"No. I want to understand what's going through that head of yours, Jason."
"Well, good luck with that. Even I myself don't know what I'm thinking most of the time."
"I want to help you, Jason. But for me to be able to do that, you have to let me." There was a bit of silence as I took in what he just said.
"What's gonna happen to them?" It took Bruce a few seconds to understand who I was talking about
"They are going to be fine. One of them got his nose broken, the others a few bruised ribs and some black eyes, but otherwise they will be fine. It's you I'm worried about."
"Why? They barely got any punches on me."
"What you did was not right, Jason. I don't know about the reasons, and honestly, the judge won't even care about them-"
"Wait, judge?" I asked turning to face him
"Yes, the parents of those boys might want to sue you for that."
"B-But, I barely scratched them. You said so!"
"What I said was that you didn't hurt those boys too badly. You still hurt them."
"They were the wrong ones!"
"I know, son. You don't have to worry too much about it anyway, I have already asked Lucius to solve things for us." Oh. Then I guess it's okay to leave it to Lucius. He's a nice guy, he gave me candy when Bruce took me to the office with him
"Soo, when this is over, I guess I better find some other place to live, huh." Bruce's face got those eyes he gets when he's dealing with the thugs at night, and they say something he doesn't want to hear "Or, I have to leave now?" Gah! I swear I don't get Bruce sometimes, why did he give himself the trouble to go looking for me all evening when he was going to throw me out. Is he that much of a control freak?!
"Jason…" Not good. When he calls your name slowly, you can expect shit to hit the fan "are you unhappy here?" Wait. What?
"What are you talking about?" I must be making that stupid fish-like face right now, but screw it! What did you expect after getting this out of the blue question?!
"You are always making up some excuse for me to throw you out, and even now you won't look me in the eyes. I know I'm not the most emotive person in the world" . " and that might make you feel unwanted, but that's not true. I want you to live here, but if you are not happy here, I want you to tell me and I will make the right arrangements for you to be adopted by a good family." I get it now. As expected of Bruce, he thought up a way that will make both of us look like the good guys. All I have to do is say I'm not happy and this will end. For both parties. Come on, Jason, only three words and you'll set Bruce free. Do it for Bruce. Do it for Bruce. Do it for- "Jason?" Bruce called me. When did I start crying? Fuck. I've cried today more than I've ever did my whole life
"I-I'm sorry Bruce! I c-can't say it! I love here! Y-You give me food, e-eight times a day! A-And there's Alf-f-fred's cookies! And a warm bed! And a s-shower! And t-the clothes don't stink! A-And you tuck me in at night! And you'v-ve never beat me up! I can't d-do this! I can't say I hate here!" I was sobbing so hard I could barely breathe, and Bruce took me in his arms like I was some baby. If it was any other dude any other time I would break his nose right then, but this was Bruce and this wasn't any other time, so I cried harder on his chest, getting tears and snot all over his rich guy shirt
"Shh, it's okay, Jay. Calm down. Breathe with me. Come on, in and out. In and out. That's it, calm down." Bruce kept rubbing my back and whispering nonsense on my ear until I wasn't about to pass out from oxygen lack. Honestly, how can a man this huge be so calming? Is that what other kids feel when they're with their da-
Nonono, I can't think like that, specially with what's gonna happen soon.
"You alright there, chum?" I nodded, without taking my face out of his chest "So, you like living here." It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway "And yet, you ran away." Please don't ask- "Why?" I shook my head, but he nudged me in the shoulder "Answer me, please." Wow, I've never heard Bruce saying 'please' to anyone before
"I-It would be easier that way."
"Jason, do you take me for a fool?" I shook my head "Do you expect me to think a kid from the streets would give up warm bed and food out of fear of a scolding?" I hate it when Bruce makes me think! Why can't we just keep on cuddling like this? Not that I like cuddling either, it's just… better than thinking
"I don't belong here."
"Who said that? The news reporters? The paparazzi?" He got angry at first, but then I guess he realized it "Was it one of those boys you fought?" I nodded, and these freaking tears came to life again. I swear tomorrow the first thing I'm going to do is to glue shut these bitches
"He said you took me in so you could do-" I can't say it "things to me. And when you got tired of me you would throw me back on the streets and get another whore to yourself. I can block them out when they talk only about me, but then they started talking about you and Dick, and then I lost it! I only got back to myself when I heard his nose breaking." Bruce hugged me tighter
"It's not like you to listen to what other people say. Heck, you don't even listen to half the things I say!" I chuckled then "I won't ever say it enough times, but your place is here, with us. Alfred and Dick would be really sad if you were gone. Me too, of course, but I would track you down and drag you back if necessary, just like today. Which reminds me…" he turned me around and hit my butt five times. OWWW!
"OW! B!" It didn't hurt too much, but still, the guy beat me!
"You run away again, and there will be more from where that came from." He said as though I'm the one in the wrong
"You hit me!"
"Spanked you. There's a difference."
"Just 'cause you hit my ass and used a different word doesn't change the fact that you hit me!"
"That one's just to leave an impression on you. Besides, your bum isn't even hurting." He's right, it's not
"Why my butt, though? Usually when people want to leave an impression they hit the face, not the ass."
"I've just told you there is a difference."
"Okay, Mister butt fetish." he lifted a brow and I knew I was pushing my luck "Sorry. I'll stop joking."
"When you first came to live here, I know I didn't give you any rules to follow, and I apologize for that. But it's going to change from now on. Tomorrow morning we will discuss them, so for now I want you to go to sleep." He started to stand up, but I grabbed his arm
"Uhm, could you- could you stay with me 'till I fall asleep?" I hate that I'm being such a kid but I kind of don't want him to go
"Sure." He smiled and tightened his hold on me and rubbed my back until I fell in a deep, blackout sleep
BRUCE'S P.O.V
As I held Jason, I realized how young he truly is. Scared, lost, hurt. He hides himself under layers of sarcasm and mistrust, but in truth he wants to be able to rely on someone. I'll be that person. As long as I live this boy is not going to be alone. As soon as I made sure Jason was deeply asleep, I tucked him in his bed and made my way to the batcave.
I was finishing up a pendent report for the Justice League when I heard the sound of Dick's motorcycle.
"Gee, how much of a workaholic are you? You left patrol to me so you could stuff yourself with paperwork?!"
"This needed to get looked at." I said without looking up from the screen
"How's he?" he said plopping himself down at the chair beside mine
"Asleep. You should do the same." He snorted
"That's the pot calling the kettle black."
"So… you didn't kill him, did you?" he looked at me with accusing eyes
"No. Why would you think that?"
" 'Cause I remember when I ran away you killed my butt and I could barely sit the next day!"
"Do you mean that time you sneaked out for a concert two states over?" I lifted a brow at him and Dick at least had the decency to look away
"T-That's not the matter at hand here! Did you find out why he was acting weird?"
"… he felt he didn't belong here."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." He said with a frown
"Well, it's what he hears all the time at school, so it got to him." I sighed running my hands on my face and Dick smiled dangerously
"Well then I guess it's a good thing I still haven't changed out of my suit I guess Nightwing will teach those kids to be nice to other people" he said putting on his mask and heading for his bike
"Don't. You get any close to those kids and I swear it's the last time people will hear of Nightwing for the next two months."
"Then you're saying it's fine if it's Dick Grayson? Okay then." He changed course to the changing room
"Richard…" I warn him
"Bruuuce! You said it yourself! Those kids hurt my little brother! I can't leave it like that!" Dick whined like a five year old. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if there wasn't a mistake when this boy was born and he is ten instead of seventeen
"We'll solve it at the courthouse." I said lifting some papers so he could read them
"Harold Jenkins: His yearly expenses don't match with his income. Wow, how can a difference this big go unnoticed?!"
"You'd be surprised with what people can achieve with money. I'll have his secret bank accounts uncovered by the morning."
"Susan Baker: Suspect of multiple bribing; Jessica Gomez: Involved in an affair; Ryan Crooke: Political campaigns financed by traffic money. Wow, you found all of this in just one night of work?" he smiled at me
"I would have found more if I looked deeper, but this is enough for now."
"With this those kids will finally leave Jason alone."
"That doesn't matter anymore. Jason got expelled from Silver Blade School."
"Wow, lots of things happening today." He looked stunned "Why don't you enroll him at my school?" he asked cheerily
"I don't know…"
"Oh, come on, Bruce! Jason's smart enough to keep his grades at least on a level he won't drop out, and I can keep an eye out for him, and the kids there look nice enough, and-" Dick looked as though he could babble all night long if I let him
"Okay, okay, I get it. We'll give it a try, but if Jason looks like he's not enjoying himself we'll try another school."
"Yay!" he threw his arms around me. Honestly, is this kid five or what?
"Now go to sleep!"
" 'Kay. Good night, dad."
"Good night son."