Hey Everyone! Hope you are all doing well! Happy October! This is Whumptober prompt 2, this one happens to tie into my previous chapter, but they won't all be like that. Hope you all enjoy this, and definitely leave comments on any prompts you're excited for! Lots of Love - Lorna:)

Trust Issues...

Coming back from Arkham had been hard. Not for Damian, who luckily had slept through the entire ordeal, but the rest of them. Tim, despite the fact that all he could remember was hazy wisps, was too clever and obsessive for his own good, qualities that Bruce both admired and dreaded as a parent. He could still remember how it felt when his fingers had fit into the divots, couldn't stop thinking about the why and the how and all the other things a teenager shouldn't think about.

Dick was just worried. Not because Arkham had hurt him, or because he feared the place, but because it was hurting his brothers. Jason especially. Jason had taken this the worst, and Bruce could blame nobody but himself for this reaction. So after a couple of uncomfortable nights, comforting each of his children as they struggled, Jason was the only one who had outrightly denied any sort of comfort or help, opting instead just to suffer in silence. Bruce had been willing, albeit very unhappy, to let Jason try to sort through this on his own, to take his time and either seek out help on his own or recover, but Jason had done neither of those things and Bruce could no longer stand to watch his kid wither in front of him. The final straw had been the look in Jason's eyes after he snapped awake from what was probably the first twenty minutes he had slept since the sedative wore off.

"Jason." Bruce stood in the doorway of Jason's room.

"B. I don't want to talk about this." Jay snapped, his patience worn thin through lack of sleep. Jason covered fear and discomfort with anger, because anger could be productive, and was less uncomfortable for him. It was survival of the streets, of the league, and now it was how he pushed himself to survive himself. A wall of thorns to guard a heart that was soft enough to tear. "I know you didn't send me to Arkham. I'm fine. I don't want to talk about it."

Bruce nodded before turning around and starting to walk away. "Alright, then we're training. We're going to spar. Let's go."

Jason's eyes widen in surprise, and then challenge. "Fine. Ready to get you a* kicked, old man?"

Bruce shrugged. Jason had taken the bait, and Bruce felt a little guilty about how this was going to go.

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Bruce put Jason into a hard lock. Jason could have easily broken it, He had gotten out of more complicated holds as a young robin. He had broken free from more difficult and often bloody locks from even less forgiving teachers. Now though, having Bruce's arm wrapped around his neck, putting pressure on his airway, making it harder to breathe, sent his mind into overdrive. Several brutal blows to Bruce's less than adequate protective gear yielded nothing.

"Jay." Bruce grunted as Jason kicked his knee inward. "You know what to do."

Jason twisted to break the grasp, but it was too slow and ungraceful. Bruce shifted his hold so that he could regain his grasp. They toppled to the floor and Bruce took the brunt of the fall. Jason vaguely knew that it was to protect him, but his mind didn't truly care.

"Jay." Bruce's tone was soft and placating, his hold firm, but not truly painful. "Remember your training. You know what to do."

Jason hissed, his fingers digging into Bruce's arms. It was ineffective, and they both knew it.

"Jason…"

"Shut…up." He snapped. He twisted again, response still slow but it was a better attempt. Bruce just shifted again, one hand coming to grab his wrist in a tight vice. Jason didn't realize there was more to it than simply holding him back.

Bruce put his fingers deliberately over Jason's pulse, feeling how fast it was.

"Jason-"

"Stop…"

"Jason." Bruce's voice went hard, demanding to be listened to. Jason didn't stop struggling, but he did stop talking. Bruce forced his voice to go more gentle again. "We're on the mats, not in the league, not on the streets, and definitely not in Arkham."

Jason's eyes flashed with realization. Clarity struck him. There were three sharp taps on Bruce's forearm, and within that same breath, Bruce had let him go and put a safe distance between them. Jason just let himself collapse to the floor, gasping despite the fact his airway had never been blocked more than a slight pressure. Once Jason had taken a moment to get himself together again, anger flooded his system.

"What the h*ll was that Bruce? Were you just going to hold me captive until I tapped or are you just proving that you can get me to tap out., because we all sh*tting know that!"

Bruce was still a solid distance away from him, and Jason knew somewhere in him that Bruce would stay away until Jason gave him the all clear. Bruce shook his head.

"No, Jason. That's not it."

"Then what?!"

"You needed the reminder that you can tap out."

Jason took a shaky breath. "I- the real world doesn't just let you tap out, Bruce."

"No, but the people around you do."

Maybe it was the sentiment, maybe it was the lack of sleep, it honestly could have been a hundred other little things too, but the anger left Jason with a single breath. In its place, Jason found a deep-seated sense of exhaustion and bleeding pain.

"B, I'm tired." He whispered it like a secret he didn't want to share.

Bruce nodded, eyes sad. "I know."

Jasons body just crumpled inward until he was sitting in the middle of the training mats. Jason made the motion that Bruce was able to move again. Within a couple long strides, Bruce was sitting beside him, blue eyes looking at him with a mixture of worry and love. D*mn, Jason hated that it made him feel anything at all.

Jason made a noise in the back of his throat, it was weak and honestly pathetic, but he just couldn't bring himself to care. "I know you didn't put me back there, but I couldn't help thinking that you might. If I ever broke your rules again, if I ever pushed you just a little to far. I can't spend the rest of my life worried that you're going to toss me into that h*llhole every time I p*ss you off. One part of me wants to say that you wouldn't, no matter how angry I made you, but the other part just can't stop saying that you already did."

Bruce just sat beside him, his presence not quite touching but just there, listening. Jason curled even tighter in on himself.

"May I?" Bruce asked quietly.

Jason nodded. He was gently pulled closer to Bruce, his head resting against Bruce's shoulder. Careful fingers rubbed small circles on his shoulder, getting larger in ripples that spiraled outward.

"Jason, I will never send you back there. Never. I shouldn't have sent you there to begin with, and for that, I am sorry. I thought they could help you in a way I couldn't. You wouldn't listen to me at the time, and I didn't know any other place to get you the attention you needed. I should have known better, and for that, I'm sorry."

Jason made the same whining noise.

"If I ever even suggest it, I give you full authority to shoot me." Bruce whispered. "Because I would have to be mind controlled or worse before I ever even allow that thought to enter my mind."

"Nah, you don't get to get out of it like that." Jason joked weakly. "I'd have a lot more fun shooting you in your a* and screaming liar liar."

Bruce smiled, even if it was strained with concern. "I love you, Jason. I've always loved you. I loved you when you were Robin, I loved you when you were gone, I loved you when all the League told you was that I didn't. I loved you when you were a criminal, even if I don't condone it. I loved you when you struggled to come back from the madness, and I love you now, Jaybird. Sometimes I make the wrong decisions, but I do it because I care, not because I didn't."

Jason made a horrible, pained noise as he turned into Bruce's shoulder to hide the coming tears.

"I want to trust you again." Jason whispered.

"I'll spend however long it takes to earn that back, Jay," Bruce replied, carefully running his hand up and down Jason's spine. Jason relaxed into his grip, head resting in the crook of Bruce's neck. Slowly his breathing evened out, and Bruce could feel the moment Jason fell well and truly asleep. He carefully got up, keeping Jason close as he got one hand under his kid's knees so he could move him to his bed. Jason didn't even shift as Bruce walked up several flights of stairs, only pausing when he met Dick as he was about to open Jason's door."

"You finally get him to sleep or did you knock him out?" He mouthed.

Bruce rolled his eyes, but he smiled anyway. "Asleep, Chum."

Dick gave him a thumbs up, helped open the door, and walked away to let Bruce get Jason in bed.