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English
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Part 2 of Tiger Jason
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Published:
2021-07-23
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1,841
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1/1
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I forgive you

Summary:

Jason had thought his and Tim's relationship was better after his attack on titans tower, but being stuck in the manor showed him how wrong he was.

or

Tim gets de-aged to a ten-year-old and Jason has to babysit him

Notes:

I wasn't happy with how this turned out, but after three different tries that all ended up being scrapped I gave up and decided this one is good enough, so I hope it lives up to your expectations Pixie and I'm sorry didn't get to include much of Jason tiger side or any cuddling/grooming

(very briefly proofread, I apologize for any errors in advance, just point them out in the comments please)

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

Work Text:

Jason is not sulking, no matter what Dick would say, he is not, it’s just that being stuck with his leg in on crutches made him nervous and flighty.

Being stuck had always been a bad thing in his life, first the streets, Robin, Talia (she had been brutal when training that into him), and now Red Hood.

In some ways, he didn’t mind. When the bullet had pierced his skin his pack had come running to help him, quicker than he thought they ever would.

The crowding and coddling was unexpected, but not unwanted, sometimes. He had attacked Tim, the baby of their family, killed, and thrown his death over and over again at Bruce’s face until he realized staying at the manor surrounded by memories and triggers was a fast lane trip to start a pit-induced fit of rage, but still, they considered him pack and allowed him into the manor.

Bruce was still infuriating, probably even more than usual. He refused to leave Jason’s side, constantly hovering, especially when Jason and Tim were left ‘alone’ in a room together.

Jason could admit Bruce had a reason to be worried. He had brutally mauled the kid the last time they were alone for a long period of time, but they had kind of made up, at least he thought they had.

The night that Jason had made both of them hot cocoa and cuddled on the couch with the kid watching a stupid cartoon seemed like a good apology and or ice breaker. Tim had seemed warmed up to him, more so as Robin them as Tim, but the kid seemed equally awkward and nervous around most people as Tim, so he had just brushed it off as that, and Dick telling him Tim used to be completely obsessed with him only gave him more reason to ignore it and call their relationship fixed.

But the three days Jason had spent cooped up in the manor showed him he was wrong. After day two Tim had nicely told them he would be fleeing back to his own empty home where his would-be-murderer is not.

He had tried to hunt down the kid right before he went out on patrol, but Tim was very good at dodging him, so Jason had admitted defeat, and curled up on a drying patch of sun in the library.

The painkillers must have been stronger than he thought because what felt like an eternity later he woke with Dick’s face hovering over his. He shot forward, brain not yet at full function to realize it wasn’t a stranger but a packmate, with his teeth bared and a deep rumble fell from his mouth in a warning.

Dick pulled back quickly, bringing something heavy-looking, by the way it made his body tip back unnaturally, back into his side, Jason hadn’t realized he was holding something.

“Just me, Jay,” Dick reassured, rocking on his heels, eye trained to Jason’s claw-like hands. Jason was hasty to fold back into himself, trying to set his tiger features back to human so Dick would know he is calm again.

“I know,” Jason agreed, voice gravely from sleep and the change his body made from human to tiger, and back to human.

“How are you feeling? Better right?” Dick sounded almost sheepish which made Jason zone his eyes into the blob on Dicks side. He blinked until his pupils were small slits holding the barely-there moonlight so he could see.

He nodded.

“Great because I need you to watch Tim,” the blob was hastily dropped onto Jason’s lap, he wrapped his arms around the blo—Tim on instinct, “while I finish hunting down the wizard who did this,” Dick motioned at the much younger Tim in Jason’s arms, “with Bruce.”

Before Jason could get another word out Dick had spun around and practically sprinted out of the library.

Jason looked down at Tim. Tim looked back at him. Neither said a word.

Even with the limited amount of light Jason could tell the kid looked different. For one, he was much smaller and easily fit in Jason’s lap. His cheeks were full of the baby fat he had just lost and Hhs eyes widened comically wide as he stared into Jason’s face.

“Robin,” he breathed. Jason opened his mouth to correct the kid, he hadn’t been Robin for a long time but remembering what Dick had said about the kid’s hero-worship he looked away and agreed with a nod. He couldn’t break a ten-year-olds heart, that would just be cruel.

“Yeah, I’m… Robin.”

“That's so cool. I—I can’t believe I’m getting to meet you. Its—this is just—”

“So cool,” Jason finished for him. Dick had not been lying about the worship bit, Jason didn’t think anyone had told him that meeting him was ‘so cool’ usually they just yelled fuck or scatter.

Tim frantically bobbed his head up and down in agreement making his hair stick up at odd angles, and Jason threaded his fingers through it without thinking.

He quickly pulled his hand away. He was not going to groom Tim. grooming was a pack behavior and Tim had made it very clear they were not pack. And he was right to do so. Jason deserved it, even if it hurt his tiger heart to see his—a pup pull away from him.

Tim leaned forward with a whine, eyes following Jason's hand as he tucked it back into his side.

They sat in silence again. Jason could feel Tim wriggle awkwardly in his lap probably trying to think of a way to counter the quiet.

Tim’s stomach groaned, making both Jason and Tim glance down on instinct,

Dick had said he was babysitting the kid and you feed kids you are watching, right? He’s never actually watched a kid before. But he doubts letting a kid starve under your watch is something must babysitters do.

“You hungry, kid?”

Tim shrugged. Ever so helpful he is.

“I think there are leftovers in the fridge.” Jason knows there's a tupperware container full of what would have been Tim’s dinner if Jason hadn’t scared him off. “You wants some?”

 

Tim slid off his lap, his legs seemed almost one step behind his brain and Jason shot his body forward to steady the kid. Tim didn’t jerk away from him like he always did, it made some primal part of Jason happy, knowing that his cub felt safe near him.

“If it's not too much trouble.”

“I offered, didn't I,” Jason said in place of the comforting reassures he always saw Dick give the kid when he tried to back out of something by calling himself a bother.

He bit his lip when he saw the kid wince at the harsh manner of his words. He should not be the one babysitting Tim. he had already managed to fuck up once, who’s to say he won’t again.

“Sorry, I just meant that it’s no problem,” he corrected himself hoping that would calm the kid.

Stepping around Tim he started to limping toward the kitchen. He slowed his pace when he remembered the kid didn’t actually know the way to the kitchen area.

“How much do you want?” Jason asked, scooping spoonfuls of spaghetti onto a plate.

“That's good, thank you.”

Tim was standing in front of the microwave so he handed him his plate and asked for him to heat it up.

“I—uhh don’t,” his hand hovered over the many buttons of the weirdly fancy microwave, and Jason yet again scolded himself for forgetting that he knew nothing about the manor.

Jason reached over and pressed down on Tim’s finger as it passed by the thirty seconds timer.

“Thank you,” Tim said shyly, hunching into his body.

“S’no problem, kid.”

Jason grabbed a fork and knife and put the spaghetti back into the fridge.

“Night—Dick said it’s different now, that I’m older, that we’re all older, and that you’re not Robin anymore. If you don’t mind me asking, why?”

Jason stilled. Why? Such a simple question for such a complicated situation.

“I—it's complicated.”

Tim nodded again and grabbed his plate as beeping filled the air. Jason slid over the silverware.

“Did Dick tell you your Robin now?”

Tim's head jerked up, face lighting up as he smiled, food still in his mouth.

“He did! I can’t believe it. I—I never thought I’d be Robin, it—I’m not good like you are, I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as you, I mean, I don’t know what I’m like as Robin, but I can’t imagine being Robin when you’re still here because you were so good at it. I don’t—you’re compassionate, and you can go from kicking someone’s ass to comforting a crying kid. It’s—you use Robin like Dick never did, like Batman never could, you know, you are the people, you know what it’s like and you do right by that, and—and I just can’t even imagine trying to live up to that.”

Jason couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, he—Tim, god, he thought so much of Jason. He talked like Jason hung the moon and stars.

He didn’t know how to explain how the kid’s whole speech made him, all Jason could do was inch closer to him and slowly wrap his arms around Tim.

He wanted to thank the kid. Tell him how good he is at Robin. He—

He wanted to go back and punch Past Jason in the face for attacking the kid who admired him so much. Who thought him better than Dick. Who saw him as anything but the violent Robin he had been told he was for most of his life.

“You make a pretty good Robin,” Jason mumbled, pulling the kid closer to him.

Tim looked up at him, eyes wide. He leaned into Jason’s embrace, face red and plate empty.

“I do?”

“Yeah, you’re smart, you can think on your feet, and even under pressure you don’t crack. You can look at a crime scene or casework and put something together that I never would have, and I know one day, soon, Bruce will be coming to you asking for help.”

Tim let out a startled sob and shoved his head into Jason's stomach while he wrapped his arms around Jason.

His phone buzzed with a text. It was from Dick, he had found the wizard and Tim should be turning back to regular in a few seconds.

“Tim I—I did something horrible, and I'll never forgive myself, but I never actually said sorry to you, so I’m sorry. I don’t want me being here to push you away. You don’t have to accept, you never have to and I won’t be mad if you don’t, it’s what I deserve.”

Jason could feel Tim changing against him, no longer was Jason holding a ten-year-old Robin worshiping kid, instead, he held a tired-looking sixteen-year-old with watery eyes in his arms.

“I forgive you.”

Notes:

as always, if anyone wants a story written for them all they have to do is comment with the details and I will try to make it happen

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