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Jason’s phone buzzed, and he put down his sandwich to pull it out of his pocket.
Just as he powered it on, it was snatched out of his hand. The impact jarred his still healing hand, making him hiss in pain.
“No phones! Didn’t I make that clear!?” the teacher was almost yelling, leaning way too far into Jason’s personal space.
“But its Dad’s check in! it’s on my file Teach!” Jason snapped back, pushing himself up from his wheelchair as much as he dared to grab at the phone.
The teacher rolled her eyes “Oh right-“ she made air quotes with one hand as other held Jason’s phone out of reach “-your ‘file’ that says you’re a Wayne, not a street kid.” She snarled at him “I know an alley accent when I hear one. You probably just stole this from one of my decent students.”
“But Teach! My family has check-ins every four hours for a reason!” Jason was getting uncomfortably worked up, his still healing lungs protesting at the rapid breaths he was taking.
She shook her finger at him sternly, still scowling. “I’m not going to go easy on you because you’re a in a wheelchair. You probably don’t even need it, your just using it to try and get pity points!”
Jason felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes, and he looked around desperately, to see if any of his classmates would back him up. A few gave him pitying looks, but no-one was willing to break it up, or grab another teacher.
Jason grabbed the wheels of his chair and pushed away from the desk.
“Where do you think your going?!” she grabbed the handles of his chair, jerking him to a halt and nearly dumping him on the ground.
“The washroom.” He forced out, struggling to keep his tone level.
“Oh no. Your not going anywhere.” She hissed into his face, then stood up, dragging his chair backwards behind her, not caring that she was bumping into other desks and chairs and running over students bags. She slammed his chair into the side of her desk and Jason gasped in pain.
“You are staying right there where I can keep an eye on you.”
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Jason’s head snapped up from where he had been forced to awkwardly balance his work on his lap, because the teacher wouldn’t let him use a desk.
“Jason? JASON!?”
He sucked in a breath through his teeth. He recognized the sound of “Dad on the warpath” all too well.
The door to the room slammed open and Bruce stormed through, trailing fear and fury. His dad’s wild gaze darted all over the room until he saw Jason, and practically melted in relief. He stumbled over to Jason, and knelt in front of his wheelchair, frantically scanning him for new injuries.
“I’m fine, Dad. The teacher took my phone before I could reply to your check-in.” Jason realized that was the wrong thing to say. Bruce’s face shuttered from scared/relived to white hot anger as a growl started deep in his throat.
“Dad?” Jason asked, as Bruce stood and turned toward the teacher, who had realized her mistake and was white as a sheet.
“Mr. W-wayne?” the teacher stuttered out as she took a step back, her pen dropping from her fingers and clattering to the floor, loud as a gunshot in the now-quiet room. “I-I swear, If I had known that-that Jason is your-“ She went silent out of fear as Bruce’s growl crept up from sub-vocal to disconcertingly loud, the hair raising sound seeming to echo from everywhere at once.
The students looked between the teacher and Bruce, weighing their fear. Some of them started to slowly reach for their bags and mentally calculate escape routes.
“On the Lady!” Jason mentally swore, eyes going wide as he watched his father stalk his teacher into the corner, “Dad is going to kill her if I don’t do something!”
Jason grabbed the edge of the teacher’s desk and start to pull himself closer. “Dad, It’s okay. I’m okay, I promise- no new injuries.” He felt the sour burn of a lie as he thought of his new bruises from the teacher’s rough handling. “everything’s fine, don’t hurt her.” He bit his tongue to stop the reassuring coos and look-at-me peeps he wanted to make.
The teachers back hit the wall, and she sank to the ground, her eyes wide, shaking in fear.
It was now or never.
Jason pushed himself up, out of his wheelchair and threw himself at his dad, betting that Dad instincts would be stronger than anger.
“This is gonna hurt!” he had a moment to think, as he fell toward the floor, wincing in anticipation of the impact.
His Dad caught him before he hit the floor. Jason was scooped up into the “baby bat” hold, held tight against his Dad’s chest. Jason hid his peep as a noise of surprise and was met with a rumble. Dad was dropping into the bat mindset and fast- Jason had to get him out of here.
He buried his face in his dad’s shoulder and sniffled. “I wanna go home…” he whined, deliberately leaning into a pained tone. It wasn’t that much of a stretch- with how the teacher had acted over his phone, Jason hadn’t dared take his pain pills at lunch. He felt his dad nod and start to head toward the exit. His Dad’s heart was racing- it was a good thing that Uncle Clark was off world, if he heard Bruce’s heart beating this fast he’d be here in an instant, secret identities be dammed. Jason quickly darted out his hand as they passed the desk and grabbed his phone. They left his backpack and wheelchair behind, but that was fine. He could ask Alfred to get it later.
“It’s ok.” Jason whispered to his dad, as he was carried toward the exit. The release of tension from Bruce showing up and the teacher being ok was making his eyes droop, his injuries still draining all his engery. “I’m fine.”
“Everything’s ok.” Jason muttered, covering a yawn as Dad opened a door with his back, not caring about the alarm he set off. Jason felt the ground transition from concrete to grass. “we- yawn-re gonna be fine. Ok?”
His Dad rumbled, as he unlocked the door to his expensive car that he had driven right onto the grass in his franticness to reach Jason. He placed Jason into his seat in the back and buckled him in.
Jason was asleep before the engine started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jason woke from a light sleep at the sound of a knock on the door.
“Master Bruce? Are you there?” Alfred’s voice came from the other side of door, pitched low in case Bruce was having a “little moment” (a meltdown).
Jason was laying in his Dad’s bed. Dad curled around him defensively, A blanket covering Jason like one of his Dad’s wings. Jason struggled to pull the blankets off of himself with the casts and splints.
Alfred opened the door carefully and sucked in a sharp hiss, seeing Bruce nesting during the day was never a good sign.
Jason finally managed to get the blanket off himself, and Alfred couldn’t help his smile at the sight of Jason’s hair sticking up in all directions as he sleepily blinked at Alfred.
Alfred closed the door behind himself gently, and padded around the bed to the side where Jason was sitting.
Alfred sat down on the edge of the bed carefully, and Bruce made a questioning noise in his sleep. Alfred gently petted his hair, humming soothingly and within seconds Bruce was deep in the embrace of sleep again.
“Master Jason, you are supposed to be at school.” Alfed whispered, not an admonishment, just a question.
“The teacher took my phone before I could respond to my check in.” Jason sighed, as he ran his un-splinted hand through his hair, feeling the patches of fuzz where it had been shaved for stiches. “then… dragged me across the room… and slammed me around a bit.”
Alfred’s jaw set in a sharp line; a cold fury alit in his eyes. Jason saw his gaze momentarily flick in the direction of one of his weapon stashes. Jason put his hand over Alfred’s and whistle-clicked an “all clear, no injures”. Alfred took a breath, visibly resetting himself.
“Dad showed up on the war-path. He burst in and…” Jason looked at his Dad, sleeping peacefully for once, brow not furrowed with nightmares. When he spoke again, it was so quiet Alfred could barely hear him. “I thought he was going to kill her.”
“I managed to get him out before he could hurt her, or out our identities, but it was close.”
Alfred placed his hands in his lap and closed his eyes, breathing carefully for a moment, before he re-opened them. “Should I inform the school that they are not to hire that substitute again, on pain of having their funding withdrawn?”
Jason nodded, shoulders dropping as fear of facing her again melted away. “her name’s Jessica Marigold. Dad… also kinda left my stuff behind at the school.”
“Would you like me to retrieve it for you?” Alfred asked gently.
Jason nodded again, then winced. His pain meds had worn off hours ago and his body was loudly reminding him of that fact.
“Alfred, do you think you could get me my pain meds? I didn’t get my lunch dose.”
Alfred smiled at him. It had taken quite a while for Jason to become comfortable with the fact that all his needs would be met, even longer to learn to ask for help.
“Of course, master Jason. I will prepare you a snack as well.” Alfred slid off the bed and stood up, planting a kiss on Jason’s brow.
Jason yawned, and lay down again, cuddling up against his Dad. “Love you, Alfred.”
Alfred smiled fondly and nodded, before closing the door.