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His head was hurting, his chest was hurting, his leg was killing him. But he couldn’t stop now. He needed to speak to Bruce. He needed to fix things.
There were screams and an explosion. But it wasn’t his fault, he was drugged, controlled by anger toxin. The toxin had made him want to kill, to destroy everything, to revenge. He didn’t do it on purpose. He needed to tell them that he didn’t want to do it . What if Bruce thought he wanted to hurt them, to kill them?
He was struggling to walk, why was it so hard to walk? His legs were shaking. Actually, his whole body was shaking.
When he finally reached the Batcave, black dots were filling his vision and he wasn’t even sure he was walking straight. He heard voices, footsteps, but he was only focusing on the man in front of him.
“... Bruce…” he whispered. His throat was dry, he was struggling to talk, to breathe, but he needed to clear things out, he needed to make things work .
“Hey, hey Jason. You’re okay. Breathe.”
“It wasn’t me. I… I know it’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t me. It was toxin, anger toxin. B… Bruce… dad... I swear it wasn’t me .”
Bruce wasn’t listening to him, he was sprinting towards his son, who was dangerously titling.
“Jason, you’re bleeding. What happened to your leg? What happened to you ?”
“Just… just take a blood sample. I swear I probably still have a bit of toxin in my blood. You… You need to believe me.”
Jason took a knife he had on him and ran it down his wrist. “T-Take… take a blood sample. Please , dad.”
“Jason.” Bruce’s voice was firm, his body was strong against his, supporting him. “Jason, I don’t need a blood sample, I trust you, Jay.”
“P-Please, just… just take it.” The world was fading, he needed to be sure that they took a blood sample, he needed to be sure that they’ll know.
Tim came with a small flask and held it under Jason’s wrist.
“I’ll take a sample, Jason. But Bruce is right, you need to breathe.”
“Don’t… Don’t give me orders, Timbers.” Jason rasped.
His legs gave up under him, and without Bruce, he would have fallen. “Jason, I don’t need a sample, I trust you lad,” repeated Bruce like a mantra. “Jay, you need to stay awake for me, can you do that? Where are you coming from? Did you drive in that state?”
“Nuh… No… I… I walked from my safe house.”
“You walked the whole way from there?”
But Jason couldn’t answer. His eyes were closed already, and a few seconds later, he was unconscious.
When he regained consciousness the first time, he was floating, or flying he couldn’t tell. The only thing he knew was that his feet weren’t on the ground, but he was moving.
He tried to stay quiet, but couldn’t help but whine when he felt pain in his leg.
Someone shushed him quietly and he heard voices around him: “Should I take him to his old room?”
“No, he doesn’t like it anymore, bad memories he said, you should take him to my room, it’s bigger. And stay with him.”
His conscience left him once again.
He opened his eyes and the first thing he realized was that he didn’t feel any pain. He was against something warm, wrapped around him. He turned his head slowly and saw Dick hugging him tightly. They were both in Bruce’s bed, and the latter was reading a book in a chair next to them.
“Bruce?” groaned Jason. He couldn’t remember what happened nor why he was in Wayne Manor of all places.
“I’m glad to see you awake, son. You gave us quite a scare.”
“Why? I… I can’t remember.”
“You were under the influence of anger toxin. You walked the whole way from your safe house to here to prove to us that you didn’t do it on purpose. But your left leg was pretty damaged from an explosion. Thankfully Alfred was able to fix it easily. He just prescribed you bed rest and homemade food for at least a week.”
Jason groaned. He hated bed rest, but he wasn’t suicidal enough to dare to disobey Alfred.
He felt arms tighten around him and Dick kissed his cheek before he could move away.
“Go away, Dickhead.”
“Alfred also prescribed you cuddles, he just didn’t say it out loud, but he was thinking it, and I heard it in my mind.”
“Are you drunk?”
Dick chuckled and kissed his brother’s head once again: “I’m just glad to see you awake and safe Little Wing.”
“Tim and Alfred analyzed your blood, Jay. But I want you to know that the only reason why I allowed them is to find an antidote if something like that happens again. I already said it, but I will tell you again: I trust you, Jason. I do.”
Jason’s eyes were filled with tears, but he didn’t let them run down his cheeks. He would have never believed that these simple words “I trust you” meant so fucking much for him.
“Thanks, dad.” He whispered, and Bruce smiled blindly at him.
“You should go back to sleep. I don’t think Dick is ready to let you move anyway.”
“Not a chance.” Approved the eldest, running a hand through Jason’s hair.
Jason groaned, acting as if he cared, but ended curled up against his brother, deep asleep.
Jason couldn’t tell if he was awake or not. He felt as if he was awake, but why was Damian sleeping next to him? This had to be a dream or more like a nightmare.
He closed his eyes again but had to open them when he heard chuckles.
Tim and Dick were taking pictures.
Definitely a nightmare.
“What the hell--”
“Not so loudly Jason, you’re going to wake him up.”
“And trust me, you don’t want him to wake up.”
“What is he even doing here? And what are you even doing here?”
Dick and Tim smiled at the same time, and Jason realized he had no chance against them.
“Taking care of you, Little Wing.”
“It seems like you’re not able to take care of yourself,” added Tim.
“Dami wanted to yell at you, but you were asleep, so he decided to wait here and fell asleep… er… in the bed.”
“Truth is he was very worried about you. But, well, you know the kid.”
Jason nodded, and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to claim him.
“Master Jason? I brought you dinner.” the soft voice of Alfred slowly woke him up.
Jason hummed softly before asking “How long have I been asleep for ?”
“Almost twenty-four hours. You needed sleep, my boy.”
Jason noticed that Damian was not there anymore. Instead, Cass was smiling at him, curled up in a chair next to the window. “Eat… good food,” she said and showed him the plate Alfred had given her.
After making sure he ate all of his plate, Bruce announced that they will start their movie night.
He helped Jason up and almost carried him in the living room, pretending he couldn’t hear him complaining.
Jason sat between Bruce and Dick, trying not to groan as his brother wrapped an arm around him.
“I’m fine Dickhead, you don’t need to baby me anymore.”
Dick ignored him and started the movie. It was The Lord of the Rings, even though they had already seen it at least five times. Jason didn’t even try to watch it and closed his eyes. He had slept for almost a day but he was still so tired. Alfred had told him that it was probably due to the toxin leaving his body.
Jason didn’t fall asleep at first, he was just dozing off, feeling Bruce’s hand on his hair. It was a comforting feeling. It reminded him of that time he was sick and Bruce decided to miss patrol to watch a movie with him. He also couldn’t forget the way Bruce told him that he trusts him. He couldn’t forget the look in his father's eyes as he was comforting him.
He finally fell asleep, his head resting on his father’s shoulder. He kind of woke up when Bruce was carrying him in his bedroom, but he was too sleepy to be embarrassed: he closed his eyes and fell back asleep, knowing that he will wake up safe and warm and trusted. And that’s all he needed at the moment.