POST: 1/? for TODAY!
EVENT: First Day of Training/ Charlie problems.
JASON: Fourteen Years Old.
Jason shows up at the library exactly four seconds before Five. He's bleary eyed and yawning, but at least he shows up.
Bruce is already there waiting for him.
The former bat leads him down into the cave with a sigh and Jason follows without a word.
"Let's set some rules Jason." Bruce says suddenly.
"Sure."
"You're not to use anything I teach you unless you're in a life or death situation. You don't tell anyone about this. Not Clark, Not your parents, not your friends. Alright?"
Jason nods with a small smile.
"Got it. Anything else?"
"If I find out you're doing drugs, alcohol, or anything else of the sort I will personally deal with you. If your grades drop, your training stops. If I get word that you're causing trouble for my son, you're training either stops or worsens. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Welcome to training Jason. First matter of business. You've got to gain weight."
Jason stares at his grandfather with a frown.
"What?"
"You're too skinny. You're a freshman in high school Jason; you've got to start bulking up. Especially if you want to keep up in training. So here's what you have to do. Every three hours, you'll have to eat something with meat. No junk food though, you want to gain weight not fat. Saturday morning, you'll come here and I'll give you a week's worth of protein mix. You'll drink a serving every morning."
"Okay."
"Once you reach the right weight, we'll start on gaining muscle. For now, you have to be able to fight."
"I can fight." Jason scoffs and crosses his arms.
He suddenly drops to his butt though when Bruce pushes him roughly with one hand.
"I don't believe it." Bruce rolls his eyes.
"I wasn't ready!" Jason says as he stands.
Bruce doesn't pay him any mind and keeps walking.
They reach a small area with padding and Jason walks over with a sigh.
"Alright…train me!" Jason says with a smile.
"There's a lot of work to be done." Bruce mumbles before holding up his fists. "Follow me."
Jason obeys and Bruce start demonstrating how to deliver an effective punch.
By the time they walk back upstairs, they're both sweaty and tired.
"Go shower. Be downstairs for breakfast soon." Bruce mumbles before moving towards his own room.
Once there, Bruce sighs in relief when he finds that Clark is gone.
He finds a note stating that his husband's gone to have a talk with Conner.
… … … … … … … … … … … .. .. .. .. .. ..
When Jason gets home, he doesn't stick around to talk to his father.
He instead tells Dick he's off to Charlie's leaves as soon as he can.
When he gets there, he doesn't get to knock on the door.
He stops his fist half way and listens.
Screams are loud enough to hear from where he's standing and he's surprised that none of the neighbors have said anything.
He can hear Charlie's normally calm and soft voice above anything else but he's speaking too quickly and with such a thick accent that Jason can only understand every other word…at best! When he hears Lily's screaming he moves to knock but doesn't get the chance to.
Suddenly the door swings open and Charlie's father bursts out of the apartment.
Charlie is still screaming after him and Mr. Anderson yells back, his face totally red with anger.
Lily's still crying and Jason rushes inside to help.
Charlie's in the kitchen trying to fix up a bottle and Jason rushes over into the living room towards the toddler.
He plucks her into his arms and she calms down almost immediately.
Jason was used to this by now.
Ever since Charlie's mother dropped Lily at Mr. Anderson's door, the family's been falling apart.
Charlie's been arguing with his father a lot lately and he's stuck to take care to his sister more often than not.
"Here, hand her over." Charlie's voice is back to its soft tone and Jason complies with a sigh.
Lily's calm by now and she drinks her bottle with a pout.
"What happened?" Jason asks as he stands to stand behind Charlie. He reaches over his shoulder to run a single finger over the small girl's cheek.
"He's threatening to send me over to my mother. Thinks that it still works." Charlie sighs and leans back into his Best friend.
Jason allows it, and rests his chin on the smaller boy's head.
This position had become so normal for them, that the awkwardness of it was long gone.
Once Lily falls asleep, they place her in her crib and head into Charlie's room next door.
"So what brings you over?" Charlie asks as they sit on his bed.
"Needed to get out of the house. Pop and Dad are all mad because…I don't know." Jason lies with a sigh.
"Your brother's been gone for a while. Why?" Charlie asks.
A long time ago, when Jason was around seven, Dick and Conner had explained that Conner was special. He had a 'disease' that made him look insanely young so Jason had to tell everyone Conner was his brother or they'd think he and Dick were weird and wrong.
At such a young age, Jason thought nothing of it, and agreed. Especially since he was still allowed to call him Dad.
Since he hadn't seen his Dad in so long, Jason had to reason to change the way he'd grown up with. Although it still didn't make much sense, Jason had a feeling that his 'Disease' had something to do with being a superhero.
"His job and his school are getting in the way." Jason eventually answers.
"Hm." Charlie nods and sighs.
"Charlie?" Jason mumbles and lays back against the pillows.
"Yeah?" Charlie lies back as well and yawns.
"when we go to college. Promise me we'll stay close." Jason mumbles, on the brink of sleep and staying awake.
"Promise." Charlie mumbles.