Taking a critical look at Jason, Terry began his internal assessment. Jason looked a little greasy, but that was probably due to not having a proper shower. Or forgetting to take one. It happens sometimes, so Terry let it slide. The dark bags look only a tad lighter. But it showed that he actually got more sleep than expected. He was wearing another pair of clothes that Dick had bought him, but was still wearing the same pair of shoes from the other day.

"If you're all rested up," he finally spoke, "we can start with our warm ups and work on stances again."

Jason sighed, muttering under his breath.

"What was that?" Terry asked, genuinely curious.

"Nothing," he groaned. "Let's just do this okay?"

Terry momentarily frowned, but relented. Walking in front of the younger teen, he had Jason mirror him.

Soon enough they were done and ready for the lesson. Except… the more Terry went on, the more he noticed that Jason… wasn't exactly entirely there.

Even going slow he was a bit sloppier, compared to the last time they practiced, and his eyes weren't that focused.

Concern grew within him and he knew that Dick had caught on. So he stopped.

Jason blinked. "… are we going to continue?"

Terry hummed. "Maybe if you tell me what's up."

He wasn't surprised to see Jason tense up.

"Nothing's up. Let's just continue this thing okay?" He asked, a bit irritated.

'His' lips twitched downwards to a frown. Then, he pursued them, an idea in his mind.

"Nope." Terry popped the 'p', and flopped down. Butt hitting grass, Terry watched as Jason gaped at him.

"Wha-What do you think you're doing?" Jason nearly yelled, confusion clear as day.

"Well, you're obviously distracted by something. And we're not going to get any progress until you sort whatever funk you're in." He said. Patting the ground next to him, he invited the younger boy to sit down.

A look of frustration adorned Jason's face. He clearly didn't like the turn of events. Too bad. Terry was going to try to help him out.

"Maybe I don't wanna talk about it." Jason retorted.

Grinning, Terry spoke, "so you admit that there is something."

The look of 'god damn it' crossed Jason's face before the kid sighed. "You know what? I'm going to sit down, but I'm not talkin'."

Terry hummed.

And so Jason sat down.

It was quiet. No one spoke. Terry knew that with enough time, Jason would say something. But until then they listened to the birds sing and children play in the distance. Once again, the day was surprisingly bright, but cool enough in the shade that Terry didn't feel like he was melting.

'I wonder what's up.' Dick thought to him.

'Not sure. Anything could happen from when he left the other day to today.' Terry thought back. 'Whatever it is, it's enough for him to be like this.'

'Yeah… you don't think he's hurt do you?'

Internally, Terry hummed. He didn't think so, but it wasn't a bad thing to take another look. Glancing over to the younger teen, he went for a deeper observation.

No new bruises, scratches, or even cuts were visible. Any prior injuries were currently healing. Jason didn't show the usual tell of any sprains. There could've been a concussion, but outside of the practice, he was alert.

It was then that he realized that Jason didn't bring the water bottle with him. Part of him wondered if he gave it away. Another wondered if he just forgot it.

Although if he thought about it, he forgot Dick's water bottle as well as some healthy snacks. Too wrapped up on getting to Jason, he didn't even go to the kitchen. Instead he went straight to the motorcycle.

Maybe, if Jason was up to it, they would go out for breakfast.

'Jason doesn't look… physically hurt.' He finally replied.

Dick noticed his wording. 'But emotionally?' He then asked.

'Not too sure. He needs to actually talk to us you know?'

Terry then could've sworn he heard Dick whine.

Or it could've been Jason as he let his head fall into his hands. He rubbed his face and he groaned. Jason looked like he lost an internal fight.

"Okay you know what? Fuck it." Jason muttered to himself. Turning to Terry, Jason gave him a good hard glare.

Fully turning to Jason, Terry spoke. "What?"

"I'll finally tell you what," Jason said, slightly curling in on himself, "that I think it's utter bullshit what I told your brother."

An eyebrow rose. "What… you told my brother?" He asked.

'Is he talking about… the other day?' Dick provided.

Blood rushed up to the younger boy's face. He was either embarrassed or was quickly getting frustrated.

Hands flying up in outrage, he hissed, "about my life! It's utter bullshit that I told him that! I shouldn't have!" His voice rose towards the end until he covered his face, giving a muffled shout of "FUCK!"

Terry frowned. Right. Jason breaking down about his home life. And how Dick and Terry were helping him.

He needed to tread lightly.

But how could he do that when he wasn't quite sure how?

Inhale. Exhale.

"Jason…" Terry started, watching as Jason didn't react. "It's okay to tell people about these things, so then you don't have to bear the weight of it all. Yeah, it sucks to tell it to someone you don't know well-"

"I only knew him for a fucking day!" Jason snapped at him, teeth bared. "Hell, I knew you longer! By barely a fucking week! And then I tried to stop fucking thinking about it, and it worked! But for only two fucking days! Some fucking reason my mind just won't leave it alone!"

Terry nodded. "I can't argue with that."

Jason snorted.

"But," he continued, "I like to think this means how much you trust us. As for being there for you? Jason, I guess it was the right place and right time to help you. And sometimes, when we try to bottle things up, push them away, it just gets worse."

Here, Terry began to hesitate. "I… I would do anything in my power to help you, and all of the kids out there who are hurting. If I could, I would find safe places for you all to stay, where no one could get hurt. But it's not that easy."

Tears were welling up in Jason's eyes. Some even fell already from his black eye. Jason turned away.

"Jason, we want to help you. Whether or not you told Rob about your life. Whether or not you think you don't deserve it. Just as much as those kids deserve to be cared about, so do you. You're still a kid yourself."

A hand reached out, but he hesitated. Gathering courage, hoping that Jason wouldn't turn away, Terry gently touched Jason's shoulder.

Jason tensed up, if only for a moment.

"Maybe you needed to tell someone, maybe not. And from now on, we don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to. You can always try to find healthy ways to vent out." He paused for a second. "Okay?"

It was soft. It was muffled. It was the word 'okay' being repeated.

And so they continued to sit there. Terry, with a hand on Jason's shoulder. Jason, letting Terry in his space.

The world around them was still bright, but somehow, it seemed quieter.

"Do…" Jason mumbled. "Do you think we can try blocking again?"

With a smile, Terry said, "of course."

This time around, Jason was more focused, and blocked all of Terry's moves.

Grinning, Terry informed him that after they did their finishing stretches, they were celebrating with brunch.

"But we always go out to eat." Jason pointed out, face completely deadpanned.

"Yep." Terry popped the 'p'. "Gotta help the local economy after all."

Jason only rolled his eyes, but he couldn't fool Terry. He saw the tiny smile on his face.

Jason got to choose the place. Some sort of Waffle House.

The adrenaline was kicking in. Flip. Aim. Shoot. Zip.

Batman was getting better with the grappling hook.

When he gets back home, he thinks he should have an emergency hook just in case. Now that he's getting the hang of it, he rather likes it.

It was kind of nice. The rhythm of shooting and pulling. It was a different type of flying than the one he was used to.

Normally he wouldn't even do flips in midair, while he was flying through the air, but that was part of the Robin brand. And Batman had to admit it. He thinks he likes the flips too.

Of course he kept an eye on the ground. He was on patrol. He was Batman. He had a duty.

And as he flipped away, he made sure to keep an eye out for any child that needed a hero.

'So. Think they'll be able to fix it up in a timely manner?' Robin asked.

Just before dinner the day before, Dick had checked the email he had used for their little project. Kimberly had responded that they would take the job and would do it as soon as possible by the request of the client. (Which was them.) Dick had written back that he was excited to see the results.

(It was more than just that if truth were to be told. And Dick had pretended to be much more serious and business like he had during the first contact.)

'Not sure. It's quite the fixer upper. It could use a whole village, it feels like, in order to get it up to code.' Batman responded.

Personally he didn't like the fact that they were told the time to fix it all up would roughly take two to three months. Batman didn't plan on staying that long. (Hopefully he would have found Matt before that even gets finished. He was sure that Robin would be able to finish things up. Who knows, maybe he'll be able to convince the old man to take Jason in if push comes to shove.) However, he knows that these things take time. After all, there was no way they would be able to get such a building back into a proper living space in the span of, say, a week.

'I wouldn't be surprised if they did get a village if I'm being one hundred percent honest with you.' Robin admitted. 'But their team looks like a decent enough size for it.'

Aloud, Batman grunted.

Huh, he guess he was turning into the old man. Maybe it had something to do with being in such close proximity with a Robin.

They went silent after that. It was probably a good ten more minutes before Robin spoke again.

'Do you think,' he slowly started to say, 'you'll be able to patrol with B soon?'

Batman stopped short of firing the grappling hook again. The cape felt heavy as it settled down around him. (A cape wasn't part of his usual uniform. He wasn't used to that sort of weight on his shoulders, settling down on his back.)

Him? Work with the original Batman? While pretending to be his partner who he knows like the back of his hand when it comes to being the dynamic duo?

Not a chance.

They were lucky enough not to get noticed while outside the mask. But inside? Nope. If they were committed to not have the old man notice anything, they would have to keep this up. Whatever 'this' was.

And even if he didn't want to admit it, Terry was scared. Of what, he wasn't quite sure himself. Perhaps it was the idea that… that Bruce wouldn't, couldn't, recognize him. After all, Terry didn't exist in the world yet, if at all.

Terry was a stranger.

Minutely, Batman shook 'his' head. He was going to address Robin's question when he heard a scream.

'We'll talk about it later.' Batman said back, his voice, even in thought form, rough. 'But for now, we got some business to take care of.'

So yeah. Turns out I'm a bit impatient when it comes to waiting to put out the next chapter. July 12th is still under works, and as I'm writing, I'm debating on if I want to actually write July 13th and 14th. I might end up either combining those chapters or make any scenes I do make into flashbacks for later chapters. Who knows. But I'm telling you guys so you wouldn't get surprised if I end up doing those things.