Non Issue
A Word: Prompt for Jason and Jack Drake. I really do shit on Jack's character in this story, please understand that it's just one route that Jack could have taken and I did rather like his character in the comics. Most of the time.
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Jack Drake is almost a non-entity in Tim's life. Jason has to remind himself that the man actually exists every now and then. That Tim doesn't actually just rent out the top floor of some paraplegics' home and takes care of it from the stairs up. A mutually beneficial relationship where the two only occasionally meet. It's almost a shock when Jason stops and reminds himself that the drunk man wheeling himself around down stairs while Tim sleeps off a long night against Jason's shoulder is the baby snitch's Dad.
Tim doesn't talk about it, and it doesn't seem to bother him too much. Sometimes, when the old man catches him and demands they talk, Tim'll get a pinched look that sticks around a while. He'll mope a bit and spend more time downstairs. Emptying bottles and trying to encourage Jack to use the physical therapy gear that's been gathering dust for a while. It doesn't work and Tim doesn't persist in trying very long before they slide back into that distant relationship again. Two strangers living in the same house.
Jason doesn't fully understand it, and he doesn't even try. Jack Drake doesn't play much of a role in Jason's plans. He's a convenient home base for his little stalker and nothing more. The man's so wrapped up in his own tragedy and grief he can't see anything past the bottle he's drinking from, and Jason can't help thinking that's for the best.
He's seen too many men where Jack is. Seen them turn all that outward in the form of abuse. Words and fists and whatever else might be at hand. Jack Drake didn't chose that road thankfully, and Jason doesn't have to contend with wanting to kill the man.
Sure, it's a hell of a case of neglect, and Jason knows damn well that can be just as bad if not worse than the back of a hand. But from the way Tim acts, the way he is, Jason thinks that boat's sailed the world twice over and gone down burning. Tim is Tim, and part of Tim being who he is lays in his childhood. An event that doesn't seem to involve anyone named Mom or Dad very much.
Jack Drake is a non-entity in Tim's life. Which makes him nothing in Jason's. It suits them all just fine that way, so Jason doesn't give much thought to the distant looking man in a wheelchair he occasionally sees going to meet Tim.
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