Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2019-08-24
Completed:
2021-04-01
Words:
5,031
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
111
Kudos:
973
Bookmarks:
143
Hits:
9,547

Probably For The Best

Summary:

After Dick cheats on him, Jason looks to Tim for support.

He doesn't know why he expected anything different than what he gets.

 

(I don't actually think Dick would cheat on a partner. But a tumblr ask is an ask and I do love me some angst)

Notes:

I don’t remember how I ended up with so many asks about Dick cheating (there are... at least two others waiting for me) especially since I don’t see Dick doing that. Dick is the type to love love and I don’t see him ever intentionally doing something he knows can or will hurt his partner.

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Tim stares at his mug; at the steam rising off the dark, umber liquid, and chews on his lip. It’s better if he doesn’t say anything. Certainly better to not ask what he’s thinking.

“At least he didn’t try to deny it,” Jason is saying, poking his fork at his untouched eggs. “I… just between you and me, Timbo, I probably would have believed him if he had. I trusted him enough that I could have easily convinced myself I was just imagining things. Isn’t that messed up?”

He looks wrecked. Like he hasn’t been sleeping well, if at all. His hair is all untamed curls, sticking up all over the place and he has dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. Maybe even lost a few pounds.

Tim watches him tip forward, resting his elbows on the table, dropping his head into his palms and digging his fingers into his hair. A deep, shuddering sigh wracks through his body. Like he’s trying to stop himself from getting choked up.

It’s been three days since Dick and Jason had a huge, blow up, fight and split. Maybe for good this time if what Jason is saying is true.

Except Tim has a feeling there’s more to it than Jason is telling him.

“Timmy?”

Tim shifts in his seat as he focuses on the heartbroken man across from him. He loves Jason, he does, but… he loves Dick too. He wants to be supportive and understanding but he can’t lie to Jason either. And he can’t really throw one of them under the bus for the other right?

There has to be a delicate way to say what he needs to say. To gently guide Jason to see it for himself.

“That sucks, Jay. Really. I’m sorry this is all happening. What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened? I just told you. Dick fucking cheated on me.”

“So there were no… signs or anything?”

“Other than the used condom I found when I took out the trash no, Tim, there weren’t any damn signs.”

Tim swallows and chews on his lip again, letting the pause linger, trying to decide how best to continue.

“It’s just… that doesn’t really sound like Dick, you know? He’s not really the type to cheat for no reason.”

Even as the words leave his mouth he knows he’s made a mistake.

The way Jason stills, lips forming a thin line, nostrils flaring slightly, confirms his fear.

“What the hell does ‘for no reason’ mean?” He asks, voice a lot softer than Tim would have expected. “Is there an acceptable reason to cheat that I don’t know about?”

“I just mean that, sometimes, when a relationship is… complicated or on the rocks, it’s not uncommon for one or both partners to try to find what they’ve lost with someone else.”

If Tim didn’t know any better, he’d say Jason’s eyes are starting to look a bit glassy and wet. Even so, Jason manages to glare at him silently for moment.

“That’s not a reason to cheat. If you’re together, there’s an implicit agreement to talk about shit, work your problems out like adults. And then, if you can’t, you end it. You don’t… you don’t tell someone you love them and then jump into bed with someone else the moment they leave the apartment.”

“Well,” Tim starts, smiling, trying to hide his next point in a joke, “You’re not the easiest guy to talk to, Jay.”

However Tim was expecting him to react it wasn’t like this.

Jason’s jaw drops a fraction and all the muscles in his face relax, falling into something young and vulnerable.

Then his whole body deflates and he sinks back into his chair.

“This… this is my fault.”

Tim cocks his head and narrows his eyes. Can it really be that easy to show Jason that Dick’s not the bad guy? Or, at least, not the only bad guy.

“I mean, whatever happened, Dick probably played a part in it, so I’m sure there’s enough blame to go around. But, hey maybe this is for the best, you know? You guys fought all the time, you can’t have been happy. This is a chance to start over. You can find someone more your speed and Dick can find someone—”

“Better?”

Jason is watching him so closely, face impassive, sea green eyes locked onto even muscle twitch.

It’s hard to tamp down on the instinctive, reactionary side of his brain that answers Jason’s question with a resounding ‘yes’. After all, Dick is kind and funny and bright and just generally kind of perfect. Everyone who meets him loves him and he could literally have anyone he wanted.

Jason, on the other hand, is… abrasive at best. Kind of a loner. The hermit to Dick’s social butterfly. They really were the weirdest couple.

“That’s not what I was going to say, Jason,” Tim scolds, hoping he sounds stern but withering a little under the way Jason’s intense gaze doesn’t budge, keeping him pinned.

“Nah. You’d never say it. None of you would. ‘cept maybe B. But that’s what you were thinking, isn’t it?”

He could deny it. Wants to, just for Jason’s sake. He doesn’t want to hurt him. But it’s too late for that. It’d be perfunctory. Jason can see the truth written on him. So Tim just shuts his mouth. Best to just let Jason say his piece.

“This is what’s my fault,” he says, waving his hand between them, “Not Dickhead cheating on me. I loved him and he… he fucked someone else. In our bed. I was gone for a single day. He didn’t even wait for my side to get cold.”

Sighing a big, shaky exhale, Jason stands, tosses way too much cash on the table and grabs his jacket from the seat-back.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. Why I thought this would be different. How could I have been so stupid? Of course this was my fault too. Probably more my fault that any of those dumb little fights, huh? Dick’s too sweet—too nice—to be a dick. Jason must’ve driven him into the arms of another. It couldn’t just be for completely selfish reasons, huh?”

Tim opens his mouth to… say something, anything. Defend himself and the others. Jason isn’t exactly wrong, they do usually side with Dick but it’s… it’s because… it’s not like that. They aren’t automatically choosing one over the other. It’s just that Jason is… always wrong?

Even thinking it doesn’t feel right.

Fortunately, Jason doesn’t seem interested in what Tim has to say. He just jerks his arms through his jacket, shoves his hands in the pockets and faces Tim once more.

His expression is a façade of strength. But Tim can see the defeat etched into every heart-broken line.

“I hope you think Slade fucking Wilson is an acceptable improvement for your golden boy.”

Chapter 2

Notes:

I promised more and I've delivered finally. I couldn't decide on who I wanted Jason's new squeeze to be so I ran a poll on twitter and went with the winner. I doubt anyone will be surprised but I'd like to leave it a little bit of one. If there are pairings you don't like, jump to the end note for the spoiler.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It’s been over nine months since their breakfast conversion; the one Jason stormed away from after dropping a very unwelcome bomb on the family. Tim hasn’t heard from him since. No one in the family has been able to get in touch with the prodigal son.

Or at least, that’s what Tim had thought. Until Jason walks into the cave for the all-hands-on-deck briefing and, even though he tries sticking to the edge of the room, clinging to the shadows, Cass finds him immediately and starts chatting with him without missing a beat. Tim may not be able to read body language like Cass, but he can at least tell that they’re familiar in a way they weren’t before Jason went AWOL.

Steph joins them when she arrives, which isn’t surprising since she and Cass have been joined at the hip since they started dating. What is surprising is that Steph, like Cass, seems more comfortable with Jason now than before his disappearing act.

Tim glances at the person standing just to his right. Dick is very deliberately trying to look anywhere but Jason’s direction. And very much failing as his eyes keep skipping over to the younger man every few seconds.

It’s obvious they’re standing as far away from each other as possible. But it’s obvious Dick wants to change that.

Things have been… tense, since their break up. Since Dick apparently cheated on Jason with Slade Wilson and Jason made sure the family knew.

Well… Jason only told Tim. But it’s not like Tim could just keep that to himself. Jason would have known Tim would have to tell Bruce at least, and that the rest of the family would eventually find out through their own means.

Still, Tim has been conflicted ever since his ill-advised conversation with Jason ended in that reveal. Not to mention the seeds of doubt the entire meeting had instilled in Tim about Jason’s own hand in his and Dick’s failed relationship.

Dick’s own insistence that the fault was entirely his own only further complicated matters.

Because it’s hard to know what’s true when one person thinks everyone is out to get them and the other has a long history of misplaced guilt.

Tim snorts. One martyr complex plus one messiah complex doesn’t equal a healthy relationship. Go figure.

When he glances up, Dick is squinting at him.

Fortunately, Tim is saved from having to explain with Bruce’s harried entrance.

The next six minutes and twenty-three seconds are the fastest, most efficient brief Bruce can manage with Gotham on fire and the assortment of villains lighting matches.

Everyone looks pretty horrified by the time he’s finished. Tim understands the sentiment. This is..

“This is too big for us,” Dick says, still staring at the screen, eyes a little wider than usual. “We need help. This is… Bruce, this is when you call in the Justice League.”

Tim agrees. It’s not just their rogues out there. They’ve teamed up with metas from other cities. Frankly, it’s unprecedented.

“The League is busy. Most are offworld. The few who are still here are handling their own issues.”

Dick frowns. “I’ll call in—”

“Deathstroke is not an option.”

Somehow, the tension in the cave ratchets up. It feels like the temperature drops five degrees as the most uncomfortable three seconds of Tim’s life seem to stretch into an eternity.

Chancing a quick glance at Jason, Tim finds him standing stiff as a board, Cassandra’s hand squeezing his elbow. Tim is pretty sure that Jason knows Dick has cut things off with Wilson. Certainly Steph does and she wouldn’t have been able to not tell Jason. Tim is even relatively sure that Jason knows Dick has been trying to get in touch with him, that Dick wants to make amends and see if they can’t salvage their relationship. Tim has tried to temper his eldest brother’s expectations. Jason isn’t exactly the forgiving type.

But Bruce either never got the memo or he thinks the dire situation would make Dick suggest the mercenary out of desperation.

Either way, mentioning it in front of Jason isn’t going to help Dick’s plan to woo him back.

Dick glares at Bruce and purposely doesn’t even flicker his eyes towards Jason. “The Titans,” he growls, almost as deep and mean as Bruce can sound. “I’ll call in the Titans.”

“Wally is the only one who can get here fast enough,” Tim cuts in quickly, before Bruce can make things worse. “I’ll call Kon, Bart, and Cassie.”

Bruce’s face twists comically but he doesn’t object, a sign of just how fucked they are right now. He just grunts, the signal to get going.

Everyone moves to their respective vehicles.

“Jason?” Bruce calls out before anyone can leave.

Jason pauses in the middle of putting his helmet on and looks up. So does everyone else.

“Call your new friends too.”

They have just enough time to see Jason’s cheeks flush pink and Dick’s eyes narrow before Bruce is ordering them all to get to it.

Tim has a feeling the supervillain trouble is going to be the easiest part of the night.

The night is a chaotic fucking mess but fortunately the extra muscle helps keep things from dipping into apocalyptic numbers.

With all the non-family heroes in Gotham now, Bruce doesn’t want to debrief at the cave. By the time they all start to head to the chosen rooftop, cleanup efforts are well underway and the sun is just beginning to sink below the horizon again.

It took all night and all day to get the city under control.

Tim and Dick stuck together through most of it but got separated toward the end, pulling victims from rubble and Tim met with his friends before heading to the rooftop to tell them they could sneak off and miss the debrief if they wanted.

So Tim is alone when he arrives on the designated building. Almost everyone is there already. Jason, Cass, and Dick the only ones missing. Wally stands awkwardly by himself, looking very much like he wishes he’d skipped out on this part. But there is no one Tim doesn’t know.

He eyes Black Canary for a moment, only briefly entertaining the possibility that she could be one of Jason’s “new friends” before remembering she is still with Oliver and was probably recruited to help by Barbara.

Curiosity is starting to burn at Tim’s nerves. He can’t decide if he wants Jason to send his companions on their way before Tim can meet them or not.

One option might sate his curiosity but it also makes things exponentially more awkward.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), he doesn't’ have to wait long to find out.

Jason swoops onto the rooftop with all the graceful acrobatics everyone forgets he’s capable of. Not as flashy as Dick, but just as skilled.

And hot on his heels are two people—one flying and carrying the other in his arms—Tim has never met.

But he knows one of them from Dick’s mission reports.

Oh, this is not going to be good.

To his credit, Jason looks extremely uneasy, eyes darting quickly over every face present before his shoulders untense so minutely that anyone other than the people standing on this roof wouldn’t have noticed.

The two men standing just behind Jason are huge. Even the shorter of the two is several inches taller than Bruce and nearly half a foot taller than Jason. And the taller of the two has to be at least 7 feet with shoulder length white hair and built like Superman.

Not to mention he’s actually glowing.

The one who isn’t glowing, the shorter one dressed in black Kevlar and leather, coat instead of cape, cowl lacking only the tall pointed ears of a bat, is giving Bruce a toothy smirk. Tim can practically hear Bruce’s teeth grinding from where he stands, fifteen feet away.

“Can we get started?” Jason snaps, clearly uncomfortable with the sudden weight of the attention on him.

Silently, Tim agrees. He’s definitely on side get-this-over-with-before-Dick-shows-up now.

But Bruce either doesn’t catch on or, more likely, is putting the mission over the personal. As usual.

“No,” he says, just as curt. “We’ll wait until all are present so we don’t have to retread any territory.”

Jason practically wilts. It’s weirdly… vulnerable.

Tim doesn’t like it.

And he really doesn’t like it when the giant glowing man puts a big glowing hand on Jason’s shoulder.

And he really, really doesn’t like the way it seems to settle something in Jason.

It means they’re all very comfortable with each other. It means they're all emotionally open with each other. It’s too intimate. Especially when Dick will show up at any moment and see.

He’s going to be devastated.

Tim has to try to protect him from that.

He opens his mouth to agree with Jason, to tell Bruce they should start.

But before he has the chance to say anything, Dick flips onto the rooftop with a flourish and a bright grin.

Which instantly fades, the moment his eyes find Jason and his… friends.

Jason turns red. The knob of his throat bobs with a gulp and he looks away, refusing to meet Dick’s incredulous stare.

So Dick turns it onto the man in black—the one he knows—and incredulous slips smoothly into anger. And something else, something that looks more than a little like betrayal.

“Midnighter,” Dick says, voice low, almost hissing. “What the fuck?”

The man in question just shrugs. “Can’t throw away your toys then get mad when someone else finds them and plays with them.”

Jason scowls and throws an elbow back into Midnighter’s gut. The man just chuckles and catches Jason’s wrist. Tim sees their fingers start to thread together before Midnighter hides their hands behind Jason’s back.

Dick looks particularly furious. He doesn’t even seem to notice that Wally has moved to his side in silent support, or when Cassandra finally joins them on the roof.

“I didn’t—”

“Enough,” Bruce interrupts. “Deal with your personal issues on your own time. Everyone is here. Robin, report.”

When Damian is finished with his account of Gotham’s latest fiasco, Bruce moves on, one by one, through the others. When they’ve all finished, Bruce turns his attention to Midnighter and the glowing man. Whose name is, appropriately, Apollo.

“This is a one-time deal,” Bruce says with the kind of authority that keeps the Justice League in line. “Your help is appreciated but after today, you’re not welcome in my city.”

Jason’s body language coils for a fight, the way it always does when Bruce refers to Gotham as his city. But Midnighter just grins. His tone is light and mocking when he says, “Why ever not?”

Bruce’s frown deepens but he humors the man. “Even if you weren’t murderers, no metas.”

Midnighter very obviously turns toward Duke who shifts his weight under the attention.

“Oh really?”

No one outside the family knows that Duke is a meta and Jason is no more likely to share family secrets than Bruce or any of the rest of them. Tim knows about Midnighter’s enhancements thanks to Dick’s reports, but to peg Duke as a meta with minimal interaction? That’s impressive.

“Besides,” Apollo says kindly, without the mocking edge so apparent in his partner’s tone, “We’re not exactly metas.” He grins, smile blindingly beautiful. “And it’s not like you can actually stop us coming to town if we really want to.”

Midnighter snorts but the rest of the roof goes deathly silent. Tim chances a glance at Jason. He’s still not looking at anyone, gaze firmly on the gravel under his feet, but his lips are twitching upwards slightly.

It doesn’t look like Bruce is even breathing.

“I’ve fought gods before,” Bruce growls, staring straight at Apollo.

“How many who wouldn’t have a problem snapping your neck?” Midnighter grins.

Bruce growls and takes a step forward. Midnighter’s grin goes wide, flashing too many teeth as he does the same.

Morbidly, Tim thinks, just for a moment, that that would be a fight worth seeing.

Luckily, if Jason thinks the same, he doesn’t let it show. He takes two quick steps and places himself between them.

“Can we save the dick measuring for another day, please? We’re all fucking exhausted. We want to go home, shower. Do that thing that people do, what’s it called? Oh right, sleep.”

The tension deflates like a popped balloon. Bruce grunts and shuffles Damian off toward the batplane without another word. Everyone else starts to disperse.

Wally rushes off, so Tim stays close to Dick in case he needs an ear or a shoulder.

“I’d win that contest, right?”

Dick freezes mid stride, making Tim’s hope that he somehow didn’t overhear Midnighter’s question.

The three of them, M, Apollo, and Jason are moving slowly, perpendicular to Tim’s and Dick’s line, to the edge of the roof. They’re not paying any attention to their eavesdroppers. They’re trying to keep their conversation private at least. They’re not trying to rub it in.

“Yeah,” Jason says, barely more than a whisper. “You would.”

There’s a brief pause and Tim is pretty sure that Dick is going to explode. He tries to take his brother’s arm and get them moving again so that he doesn’t torture himself, but the man won’t be budged.

“You know for a fact?” Mid asks, amusement ringing through his tone.

Jason swallows audibly. Then, so quietly Tim almost doesn’t hear it, “The cave showers are communal.”

Midnighter laughs, loud and clear.

“Like the shower at your place,” he says.

“Mine isn’t— oh…” The edge of Jason’s face that Tim can see turns pink.

Apollo’s hand reaches up to cup Jason’s cheek. “We still have some energy left to burn, if you’re up for it.”

The touch is so… gentle. The way they both look at Jason is so… enamored. It’s… it’s sweet. Initially, Tim thought this was just Jason trying to get back at Dick with someone Dick knows (and may or may not have had a thing for). But this looks… genuine.

He turns to convince Dick to leave them to it, only to find the man stomping across the roof to confront the trio.

“Shit,” Tim mutters to himself and follows in a vain attempt to turn Dick around.

“Can we talk?” Dick says, or rather, snaps at Jason.

Apollo and Midnighter look up at him. The former looks sympathetic but his stance is still protective of Jason. The latter looks like he’s about three seconds away from laughing at Dick.

Jason doesn’t turn immediately. It looks like he has to brace himself for a moment before he faces them.

His eyes dart to Tim quickly before returning to Dick. When he nods, it’s more at his companions than Dick.

Midnighter squeezes Jason’s shoulder. Apollo takes Jason’s chin and tilts his face up so he can kiss him.

If it had happened ten minutes ago, Tim would have thought the kiss was for show, just to annoy Dick. But it looks chaste. Loving. Comforting. Like Apollo is just letting Jason know they’re there for him.

Dick sneers at them anyway.

Tim throws him and Jason a final worried look. Neither look happy. No way this conversation goes well.

He heads back to the other side of the roof with Jason’s new… partners.

“So,” he says when the silence becomes unbearable. After maybe a minute. “You and Jason. It’s not just to piss off Dick, is it?”

They exchange a glance before looking at Tim like he’s grown a second head.

“No. Why would you think that?” Apollo asks, brows furrowed.

Tim throws a look to Dick and Jason. Things are already heated. He can’t hear them from here but their hands are flailing around in frustration.

“It’s just… kinda something Jason would do.”

Midnighter cocks his head. “Is it? That doesn’t sound like him to me.”

Apollo shakes his head in agreement.

“No offence,” Tim says, hackles raising just a little, “but I’ve known him a lot longer than you have.”

They share another look and Tim knows that’s going to get old really fast.

“No offence, but knowing him longer isn’t the same as knowing him better,” Apollo says gently, patiently.

That strikes like a slap to the face. “In this case, it is,” he snaps.

“You’re Tim, right?” Midnighter asks. Significantly less patient than Apollo.

“Yeah.”

“You’re the one who tried to convince him it was his fault, right? Dickie cheating on him?”

It’s Tim’s turn to scowl. “Dick wouldn’t just cheat on someone. There must have been—”

“A reason?” Apollo finishes, brows raised. “Yeah. There usually are. Never a good one though.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Yes it is,” Midnighter says simply.

Tim digs his heels in. “You guys only have one side of the story. Of course you’re going to side with Jason. He’s the one you’re sleeping with.”

They both grin like teenagers. But it’s Midnighter who speaks up.

“Listen kid. Dick is a good guy. No one is saying that fucking up makes him evil or anything. But we are saying he fucked up. It happens. Even the people we think are infallible, make big mistakes. And because Dick is a good guy, I’m guessing he’s not actually trying to pretend he’s innocent. I’m guessing that’s coming more from the rest of you. Because Dick is the one you’ve looked up to your whole life. You can’t imagine him hurting someone he cares about like that. You literally can’t believe that he is capable of being selfish.”

Stiffening, Tim grinds his teeth together. “They fought all the time—”

“Then they should have talked about it—”

“They fought when they tried to talk—”

“Then they should have talked about that. If talking doesn’t work, you leave. It’s hard and it hurts but it hurts less than betrayal.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Tim snaps. “Nothing with Jason is ever that easy.”

Midnighter sighs and motions between Apollo and Tim as if to say ‘Your turn’.

Apollo rolls his eyes at his husband and smiles kindly at Tim.

“You’re right.”

Tim blinks at him in surprise. Then narrows his eyes. “I am?”

“You are,” Apollo agrees. Then, he too, sighs. It’s less dramatic and exasperated than Mid’s. But it’s sadder. “But… not the way you think you are. How much do you really know about either of them? In terms of how they act in a relationship.”

“We hear you’re kind of a snoop,” Midnighter adds with a grin. “You spy on them in their home?”

“Of course not,” Tim growls. He gets this kinda shit a lot. Mostly jokes from the family but it gets really fucking old.

“Then you don’t really know anything pertinent,” Apollo says. “You assume. It may be an educated assumption, based on what you know about each of them. But can you really say you’re not even a little biased, one way or the other?”

He wants to argue. Tim loves Jason. He was the first to really accept him back into the fold, even after everything that had happened between them. Because Tim was able to empathize in a way everyone else in the family tried their hardest to avoid. And he has issues with Dick too. Just because he understands now why Dick made Damian Robin to his Batman, it doesn’t change the hurt it caused.

So Tim likes to think he’s pretty measured and unbiased.

But… maybe he isn’t. Not as much as he thought he was. He thinks back to his conversation with Jason, that twinge of guilt for just the reactionary thought that Jason was always wrong, that Dick was usually in the right, especially when the disagreement was with Jason. That everyone was.

Tim bites his lip in response.

“Admittedly we haven’t been seeing Jason as long as he was with Dick,” Apollo continues, “and we’re aware that relationships change over time. But, in our limited experience, Jason is much more likely to… uh, air on the side of caution.”

“What does that mean?”

They share another look and it’s all Tim can do to not snap at them to stop.

“Just that—”

“He thinks we’re too good for him,” Midnighter cuts in bluntly. “It’s taken three months to get him to stop walking on fucking eggshells but even now, he ignores his own comfort and concerns in order to keep us happy. He still thinks eventually we’ll realize that he’s worthless or too much effort and ditch him. And that’s us. Imagine how he felt with Dick, a man he’s been head-over-heels for since he was a kid. A man so inherently good, it’s practically a multiversal constant. And then there’s Jason, who’s been told over and over again how much of a fuck up he is. Jason already thinks that everything that went wrong in their relationship was his fault. We’ve been the ones trying to show him how that’s all bullshit. No one makes anyone cheat. And even the best man in the universe is still just a man.”

Again, Tim wishes he could argue. But something Jason said at their breakfast comes back to him. That if Dick had lied to him about cheating, Jason would have believed him, even if he knew deep down it wasn’t true.

Maybe Dick isn’t the only one with a messiah complex. And maybe Jason’s martyr complex isn’t entirely unfounded.

They all have a tendency to internalize when things go wrong, when they can’t save someone, find a way to take the blame even if there is none.

And the rest of them do tend to be dismissive of Jason.

The abrupt arrival of Dick saves him, again, from having to come up with a response.

“Come on,” Dick demands, sounding like he’s barely holding his shit together. “Let’s go.”

He doesn’t even look at Midnighter or Apollo, just grabs Tim’s elbow and starts to drag him off.

“Is everything ok?” Tim asks when they’re far enough away. He can’t help but toss a look at Jason, scanning his body language and expression for any clues about what they discussed. Any clues to how he’s feeling.

Jason looks a little shaken but mostly just tired. Midnighter and Apollo approach him and he seems to sag into their arms.

“Yeah,” Dick says, still the same curt, annoyed tone. Tim knows it’s not directed at him but it’s still hard to not apologize for whatever has made Dick feel so hurt. Even if there’s nothing for Tim to apologize for. Distantly, he wonders if that’s just a side effect of being a vigilante; if everyone who wears a mask feels that need to carry guilt that isn’t theirs. He suspects the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

“If he wants to ruin his life, that’s on him,” Dick adds. “I’m not his fucking babysitter anymore.”

Tim takes one last look back, over his shoulder before they leap off the edge of the roof. Jason looks more relaxed, more confident around others, than he has… maybe ever.

He doesn’t argue with Dick.

But he thinks the last thing Jason ever needed from a partner—from Dick—was a babysitter.

Notes:

Jason has entered a loving relationship with Midnighter and Apollo.

Comments and kudos are loved and appreciated ❤
My Tumblr