Chapter Text
Bruce hesitated. It wasn’t possible. He was imagining it. Or maybe it was Dick. The boy was an emotional person and he wanted his brother back, so maybe...?
But Bruce shouldn’t be able to hear him from where he was standing. And the noise clearly came from behind that door.
Maybe Dick was in there because...
No. No, it wasn’t Dick. He could hear it. Dick sounded differently.
Slowly, Bruce moved his hand from the door to the handle. Should he knock? Should he even go in there at all?
Not giving himself time to further question himself, Bruce opened the door, slowly and quietly, not wanting to alarm... whoever was inside.
There was a person on the bed, curled up into a small ball, their back facing him; their whole body was shaking, but they didn’t move otherwise. They just tried to quiet down their sobbing for a moment, but with no success. They whimpered and started to cry again.
Bruce didn’t know what to do. The boy, there was no doubt about who It was, didn’t try to get up and run and he was sure that was a good sign. Would he allow Bruce to come closer? Should he say something? Ask him? Wondering how he got into the house without anyone noticing?
Bruce didn’t care about the latter. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that...
Jason was home.
He hesitated another second, before quietly approaching the bed. Jason still didn’t move, so he sat down on the edge of the bed. Bruce wanted to say something, but his tongue failed him. So, he extended his hand, let it hover above Jason’s shoulder and almost drew it back again.
Then, he gently touched his shoulder and for a second, Jason stopped shaking before subtly pressing himself against the hand and his body was trembling again.
Bruce has never felt so helpless before. He wasn’t any good with feelings, neither with his own and certainly not others. Should he get closer to Jason? Pull him into a hug? Or just nothing at all?
After making sure that Jason wasn’t about to shake him of, was accepting and maybe even craving the contact, he carefully started to stroke his back.
“It’s alright,” was the first thing to finally come across his lips. His voice was shaking.
Jason flinched at the sudden sound.
Bruce bit his lip, but decided to continue talking. He needed to let Jason know that he was safe. That he was home. That he was glad to have him back.
“It’s alright,” he repeated. “You are safe now. I am here.”
Bruce wasn’t sure whether Jason’s small whimper meant the he was saying the right thing or whether he should stop talking. He was quiet for a second, before pulling his knees on the bed and sliding a bit closer to Jason.
“I know you are scared. You don’t have to be. You are safe. You are... home. I won’t let anyone harm you, alright?”
He wasn’t expecting an answer, but he was almost sure there was a small nod.
“I won’t let it happen,” he said again.
Afterwards, Bruce wouldn’t be able to tell how long he just sat there, stroking Jason’s back and trying to calm him. At some point, it worked. Jason stopped shaking. Then he stopped crying. Eventually, there was just a quiet sob every so often.
When Jason finally said something, Bruce almost missed it.
“Stay,” he breathed.
His hand stopped moving. He almost forgot how to breathe.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, of course. I will stay. I will not leave you alone, alright?”
Finally, Jason turned around and looked at him. Even in the darkness of the room, Bruce could see how miserable the boy looked. Red, swollen eyes, dark circles around them. He also noticed a dirty and sloppy bandage around his right hand. Jason was pressing the hand against his chest, like he was scared that someone – Bruce? – would hurt him even more.
But the desperate look in his eyes was the worst. It hurt him to see the boy like that.
Bruce took his hand off Jason’s shoulder to get into a proper position on the bed.
Jason was staring at him with big eyes, like he was scared that Bruce would leave him despite his words.
He could never leave his son like that and he had to make sure that Jason knew it.
He carefully slid one hand beneath Jason’s head, carefully lifted it an put it in his lap. The boy didn’t only accept this, he changed his position to be more comfortable and moved closer to Bruce.
Bruce gently slid his finger through Jason’s hair.
“Sleep, Jason. I’ll stay, I promise. I will not leave you, alright? But you need to sleep.”
This time Jason did indeed give him a small nod.
Jason grabbed Bruce’s pants and closed his eyes, new tears in the corners of his eyes. Another sob shook his body, but the tears didn’t fall.
Bruce put his free hand over Jason’s. His grip on his pants loosened a bit, but he didn’t let go of them.
He took a moment to just look at his boy, before starting to talk again. He talked and talked until he didn’t know how else he could assure Jason that he was safe. Then he talked about the pizza they had eaten together and the video game he had played with Dick and he told him about how relieved his brother and Alfred would be when they found out that he was here and he didn’t stop talking until he was sure that Jason had fallen asleep.
Bruce, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. He was scared that Jason would just be gone when he woke up. He wouldn’t be able to stand losing his son a third time, having to wonder about his whereabouts.
Jason didn’t sleep for long before he started to scream.
Bruce flinched. Before he was able to wake Jason from his nightmare, he jerked his eyes open and struggled to free himself from Bruce’s embrace. Bruce just let him, didn’t want to scare him even more.
Jason moved away from him and just stared at him with big and fearful eyes before his body visibly relaxed and a look of recognition filled his eyes.
“Bruce?” he whispered quietly.
Bruce raised his hands, tried not to look like a threat.
“Yes, Jason. It’s me. You are safe. No one will harm you,” he promised calmly. He didn’t stop talking while Jason laid down again, his head in Bruce’s lap, one hand grapping his pants, the other, the hurt one, taking hold of Bruce’s wrist. He pressed his head against Bruce’s other hand, which was back in his hair again.
It wasn’t much later when Jason startled awake because of a bird chirping outside. Bruce calmed him, told him that it had just been an animal.
Then he woke up and before Bruce realised that he was awake, he quietly asked whether someone had followed him. If someone was here who would try and hurt him. Bruce assured him that no one else knew that he was here.
Then he woke up and said that he was cold. Bruce grabbed the blanket and put it over the boy’s body.
And then, more asleep than awake, he asked Bruce whether he would send him away.
Bruce swore that no, he would never do that. He told him that he was happy to have him back.
And again he continued talking until Jason was fully asleep and then the boy didn’t wake again until the sun was already far above the horizon.
Bruce didn’t know whether there had ever been a more exhausting night for him.
Bruce knew fore sure there had never been a more happy one, because his son was finally home.