12 Days of Jaytim
Alone

It was strange, really. The one thing Tim and Jason could say that they both had in common during the holidays was being alone. At least during earlier times.

Jason always had it rough with his mother. He used to really enjoy Christmas with his mother because she used to be so lively and passionate about her son. That all changed as the years passed, and Jason was always left alone. Whether she went outside to get something (most likely more drugs), or if some pimps came by and took her away from him for the night, or if she was getting high off of a substance, or even a depressive episode.

It didn't matter if she was gone or still in the house. Jason was always left alone for the holidays. He and his mom used to make a dinner for just the two of them. It was never anything big because they could never afford much, but his mom used to make Amish white bread, and it was always so sweet and warm. It wasn't much of a dinner, but Jason always looked forward to it because he got to spend it with his mother. And once it all changed, Jason began to hate the holiday altogether. Not because of the lack of the homemade bread or being alone, but because he lost his mother.

Tim's got it all though, rich parents, a manor, servants waiting on his every word, clothes, food, everything. He has everything a person could want, but he was always alone. Same as Jason. He was loved, just like Jason had been, but they showed it in a different way. It was very hurried, sometimes even strained, and there were moments when Tim thought that their love for him slowly began to diminish the longer they were away. Then he wondered if it wasn't that, but they were just slowly starting to forget he was there. It would make sense because they could be gone for months at a time, and Tim would just be stuck at the manor.

Dinners were the worst. He never liked them to begin with since they were always formal, and Tim was never allowed to speak unless spoken to. And at first, yeah, his parents would talk to him, act like he existed. But as the years continued, he would only be spoken too if his posture wasn't perfect while sitting, or he added too much salt to the food, only if his etiquette was wrong. So Tim started to request his meals be taken up to his room. It would be much more peaceful than listening to his parents fight about everything and have him as their scapegoat. It was better to be alone. Not to mention, he was alone during the majority of the year, so why should a holiday be any different?

Jason and Tim never talked about their past lives very much. Tim greatly respected Jason and never talked about anything that dealt with past holidays before his death. He knew that time of year was always rough on him. And Jason returned the favor by never bringing the topic up much because Tim was still going through rough patches that remind him of his family, so he respects that. This is the first year they'll spend Christmas together, and they're not exactly sure on how to go about that. Tim usually busied himself by improving tech and organizing files and reports whereas Jason scavenged the streets and beat scumbags to a bloody pulp if they tried anything. Then they were usually forced into festivities at the manor, but there were days in between that they didn't know what to do. They weren't exactly the definition of a perfect couple.

But they both knew that they didn't want to be alone this year, and why should they?

Tim was currently curled up on the sofa, holding a mug of coffee in his hands. He was using Jason's shoulder as a pillow as the man read The Great Gatsby for the fifth time. It was warm, and the two of them were comfortable in the silence of their apartment. Though Tim felt that they should do something.

"Hey," he said softly, enough to grab Jason's attention. "I'm no five star chef, but is there anything you'd like for dinner?" They tried to eat together on most nights, but sometimes they couldn't, and that was okay. They didn't need anything extravagant. But Tim would really like one family dinner that could go well, and he could tell Jason felt the same.

"Do we have anything to make bread with?" he asked after a while, and he could feel Tim's smile against his shoulder.

"I think so."

It was nothing out of the storybooks are cliché movies, but it was home to them, and it was enough.