Jason's morning had gone terribly.

He had woken and, in his tired stupor, noticed a towering figure stood at the end of his bed in the darkness. The sight had startled him so much he had ended up smacking the back of his head off the headboard. He recoiled, gripping his head as he attempted to get out of the bed.

"Jason?" the figure asked. Jason's beating heart slowed at the familiar voice. Cas. Goddammit.
"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Cas," he sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm fine. You just scared me, s'all."

"My apologies, I just wanted to check in on you. Dean told me about what happened."

"Ah," Jason tutted. He loved Dean to pieces but god... did he worry sometimes. There was a moment of silence and Jason glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It had stopped at forty-something past five. "Cas, you wouldn't happen to know what time it is, would you?"

Cas looked down at his wristwatch. "Four-twenty-three."

Jason sighed, getting out of bed and flicking on the lamp beside him. "I'm probably not going back to sleep anytime soon. Do you want any food?"

There was no response.

"You're injured," Cas observed, staring at him. Jason remembered the bandages and the fact that his shirt kept riding up his back during the night so he had thrown it across the room in annoyance before going back to sleep.

"Yeah..." he said, looking around for his shirt on the floor. It was about a foot away from where Cas was standing. Goddammit.

"Let me heal you," Cas said, beginning to walk towards him. Jason immediately clambered out of the other side of the bed.

"No!" He yelled. Cas stopped, slightly confused. Jason calmed down and waved his hand at Cas placatingly. "I just don't want to have to explain why my nose is suddenly unbroken."

Cas nodded in understanding. "Then at least let me heal your ribs."

"Sure," Jason replied. climbing back over the bed. He perched on the edge of the bed and begun to unwrap the bandages, throwing them onto the bedside cabinet with a flourish. "Have at it."

He winced when Cas's cold hands grazed over the stitches but was ultimately very relieved when the aching in his sides stopped. "Thanks," he said, smiling, getting up and patting Cas's shoulder. "I'm going to go get some food. You can stay if you want, I don't think anyone's awake yet."

Cas nodded. "I'd like that."

Jason waltzed into the kitchen, sliding across the floor in his socks. Cas shuffled in behind him. "Do you want anything?" Jason called over his shoulder.

"Uh, no," Cas replied, looking around the kitchen obviously completely stunned at the sheer size of it.

Jason shrugged, walking over to the counter. "Your loss."

He hummed quite happily along to a song that Dean would play in the car from time to time as he dug through the cupboards. Cas had, at some point, wandered over and was watching Jason cook.

After around thirty minutes, Jason walked over to the counter with a large plate in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. He perched on it and began eating. "So," he began through a mouthful of bacon. "How's everything been since I left?"

"Quieter," Cas said, coming over. Jason shifted over to allow Cas to sit beside him. "Dean and Sam took some cases after you left. They were in Texas when you called - demons I think it was."

Jason hummed in response - he would have said something but he was currently halfway through a piece of toast. The realisation that it had been almost two months since he had seen any of his family had also kicked in and he was currently having a slight crisis.

"Jason?" Cas said, looking over at him. "Jason?"

He waved a hand in front of Jason's face and the glazed look in his eyes disappeared. Jason's head snapped up and he shook his head. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm still a little tired."

"I understand. It must be difficult having to deal with all-"

There was the sound of a plate smashing by where the door was. Jason looked up and very nearly dropped his own plate. Bruce was stood in the doorway, in full batsuit, eyes fixed on Cas, who was nervously glancing between Jason and Bruce.

Before Jason could even say anything, Bruce was already storming across the room towards Cas and there was this little glint in his eye that had come to know all too well since he arrived here. He lurched forward and managed to drag Bruce to the floor. And they struggled for a while, but, Jason, having both two inches on Bruce and the advantage of not having broken ribs, managed to pin Bruce to the kitchen tiles.

Until Bruce managed to headbutt Jason. In the face, right in his nose, which was broken…

Ouch.

Jason fell back, stunned, and Bruce lunged at Cas, who was still staring at them in bemusement. The seconds before they made contact seemed to happen in slow motion, and Jason looked up just in time to watch Bruce just kinda bounce off Cas.

This had honestly completely destroyed whatever tension had been in the room, and Jason had immediately burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of the dark knight crumpling at Cas's feet. It almost distracted him from the agonising pain from his nose. He could also hear the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor. Apparently, at least from what Jason could see, the full contents of the cupboards had somehow been knocked onto the floor and Jason, himself, was laying in half a bag of flour and at least a dozen cracked eggs.

After a moment or two, Bruce had slowly risen to his feet and attempted to lunge at Cas again, luckily for Bruce, Dick and Barbara had sped into the kitchen and were already grabbing onto either of Bruce's arms and pulling him away. Tim offered his hand to Jason who stared at it for a moment before taking it. It honestly hadn't helped much because Jason very nearly pulled Tim over, but the gesture was still appreciated nonetheless.

Alfred was stood in the doorway, staring hopelessly at the complete and utter mess in his kitchen. Damian was behind Alfred, clinging onto his coat-tail with one hand and rubbing his eyes with other. He had clearly been woken up by the commotion as he was still in his pyjamas, unlike the others, who were all fully clothed. Damian was also glaring at Jason, but Jason was almost certain at this point that this was a permanent expression.

Tim helped Jason over to the dining table before hurrying over to the fridge and retrieving an ice pack. Dick and Barbara were trying to placate Bruce, who was still struggling and yelling (which was honestly giving Jason a headache).

Alfred slowly managed to regain his composure and wandered over to Tim, who was trying to make sense of what was happening and Jason, who had his face buried in a bag of frozen peas. He jumped slightly when the butler sat down beside him and glanced up at Alfred. "I'm gonna have to tell them all, aren't I?" he muttered quietly. Alfred nodded sadly at him and he slammed his face back into the peas with a groan (partially because slamming his face down really hurt his nose).

Bruce's screaming finally died down and Dick and Barbara cautiously removed their hands. Cas had vanished from the room the second that Dick and Barbara entered the room, and Jason really couldn't blame him for leaving. If anything, it would make explaining everything at least a little easier – since Bruce wouldn't be at Cas's throat. He may be a Jason's throat (again) but he wasn't going to think about that right now.

Dick came over to Jason and tapped his shoulder. "Explain."

Jason sighed. "Okay." He stood up and cleared his throat. "Everybody gather 'round. Listen up, there's something I need to get off my chest."

And he did.

But god, did he want the earth to just swallow him whole.