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Not a conversation he was looking forwards too, but Jason appreciated the warning. If Leslie asked… she was neutral ground. More than Alfred was. Alfred’s grief for him would be unbearable to watch, and Leslie?

She’d already seen the absolute worst of what this city had done to him. Hadn’t shied away when she first saw his scars. And hadn’t flinched when he had lashed out to her.

Grace’s name, was enough to lift Jason’s gaze towards Leslie.

He’d pushed her away, made vague promises of contact, he’d been cruel, he’d lied, and still –

“Is she alright? What she say?” And Gods, the sheer hope in his voice had Jason internally wincing. Give it a fucking rest. You’ve played your hand, you fucked up, she’s gone, she doesn’t want – you.

“Her shoulder is much better - thanks to you. Looking after her like you did forced her to rest it. I doubt she would have otherwise...” Leslie began, softening at the hopeful tone Jason’s voice had taken. 

Still, honesty was the best way to go. Leslie tried to put it to him gently. “She’s a little hurt. Confused mostly. Which I can’t say I blame her for. Without any context, you have to admit, upping and leaving mid argument doesn’t look good. She’s sent you messages while you’ve been out of it, by the way. Not to mention she’s noticed she hasn't seen Hood since the ordeal at the docks... She’s presuming Hood is just busy for now, but it’s clear she misses him as well.”

Leslie huffed a disbelieving laugh as she recalled their earlier conversation. “Funnily enough, one of her theories isn’t far off the mark. She was wondering if you have PTSD and she accidentally triggered something. Her worry was enough to make me track you down, lets put it that way. A good thing too really.” 

“I listened to her for the best part of an hour this morning, twisting herself into knots to give you the benefit of the doubt. She wants to believe that you wouldn’t just walk out on her without a good reason. Which you didn’t.” And wasn’t that the most frustrating thing of all? All the pinning the pair of them were doing and for what?

Leslie pressed her lips together, unable to restrain herself from asking the question. “When are you going to tell her?”

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“Nothing helps,” Jason gritted out. He was already pushing himself up, eager for his bed, where he could wallow in peace. And quiet, hopefully. “I’ve tried – nothing helps. Not even Talia knows what to do about this, doc, so lemme just… Lemme just ride it out. Okay? I’ll – a few days. It’s all I need.”

Jason’s knees nearly buckled out from under him when he rose up, and he clutched the table sudden enough to topple over the glass of water Leslie had put down for him. “Fuck!”

Leslie sprung up from her chair, hand hovering just over Jason’s side in an attempt to catch him. Thankfully, he seemed steady enough before she made contact. She was sure he wouldn’t thank him for it if she had. 

“I’ll get it.” She said hurriedly, moving the glass so that it was back to it’s upright position before it could roll off the table. It was only water, thankfully. Easily cleaned up. A job that could wait a moment.

He could hardly stand, never mind anything else. Leslie’s mind raced through options, possibilities. Ways she could help. But first thing first.

She turned, offering out her arm to Jason with a half-hearted grumble. "You’re far too stubborn for your own good. Lean on me, it’s alright. We’ll get you back into bed.” 

nerdybirdboy​:

“Likewise, Dr Thompkins,” Tim replied, a pleasant smile on his lips. Ok, Timmy, you can do this. Give her enough to be happy, but not enough to let her know any of your true thoughts and feelings, then it risks going straight back to Bruce and then he’ll definitely not let you be Robin anymore.

Sitting down, he was very conscious about keeping a fairly open body language, hiding the fact that he didn’t want to be there at all. “How does this work?” Tim’s voice was calm and steady, all of it through iron will. Which was also the only reason he wasn’t fidgeting. “If you want me to talk about the accident, I’ll do that, but it really was an accident. I wanted to sleep and in my sleep deprived state I took a couple of pills too much. That’s it, there’s nothing more to tell.”

What had happened was that Tim having not been able to sleep more than a couple of hours for quite some time and when Bruce and Alfred were going to be gone for the weekend, Tim had seen it as his chance to get some good sleep. He hadn’t really thought about what he was doing and had just taken some of the pills, which had been more than a person his size should take. Not dangerously much, but not good either. Okay, maybe a little dangerous, but the risk of him dying had been very low. Thankfully, Alfred had felt something was wrong and Bruce knew to never doubt Alfred’s senses and they had turned back. Instead of going away, they had spent the weekend monitoring Tim. Once he was awake and conscious enough to speak and drink, Bruce had been very very angry. Just as angry as when he’d run off to handle those thugs that first time before he became Robin. Alfred believed Tim when he said it had been an accident, Bruce hadn’t been sure.

It was true though. It had really been an accident, however, accident or not, Tim shouldn’t have had sleeping pills or benzo, but he had (not anymore though). Black market medicine, so he hadn’t stolen them from Alfred or anything. Tim didn’t think he’d done anything wrong besides worrying Bruce and Alfred.

Oh he was going straight into it? Okay, she could meet him there. But Leslie really ought to slow him down first. Get him comfortable. Or more comfortable at least. 

Closing the door, Leslie went about rummaging through the mini-fridge she had built into the cabinet against the wall. “Sure, we can talk about what happened if you want to Tim - do you want a drink? Snacks? I’ve got a stash of them here, you’re welcome to them anytime.”

Tim had clearly rationalised what had happened down to its finest points. Frankly, Leslie was fairly certain he was telling the truth, but even so, it was a symptom of what she feared was a much larger problem.

“So, you wanted to sleep? Okay, can I ask why you were sleep deprived in the first place? It sounds like you had a hard time getting sleep despite that - I presume that’s why you took the pills, but feel free to correct me.”

jp-todd-rp​:

And if Jason had felt any better, he would have pushed her away. But now, Jason could only be grateful for the support. Her steady hands and gait, led him back to his bedroom, and a trickle of shame curled up in his gut at her seeing the mess he had holed himself up in.

He curled up on his bed, burying his face in the sweat soaked pillow.

He looked a pitiful sight. It made Leslie’s chest ache with a need for action. To do something to make it better. She doubted however, that she could do all that much.

Resisting the urge to push his bangs off his face, Leslie resolved herself to try, knowing despite his closed eyes, he could hear her perfectly. “Okay, so here’s the thing. You need fluids, and if I’ve got anything to do with it, you’re getting them. Dehydration on top of everything else is going to make it worse. So you’ve got a choice. Either you take some small sips of something, or I’ve got an IV with me.” She wasn’t prepared to let him refuse that one outright.

Glancing around his bedroom, Leslie had some other ideas of what she could do to make it a little easier. But that was best left unsaid and should wait until he was asleep. 

Thinking on, she continued, already imagining his protests. “I’ve also brought painkillers with me. The top shelf stuff. I know you hate them, but if it might take the edge off...”

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And –

Oh.

Jason licked his lips, looking away. It wasn’t a secret. Hell, Bruce had found him on the streets, for fuck’s sake. He knew his dad died in jail, and knew his mom died because she’d been sick, well before Batman, and he, had crossed paths.

He wouldn’t take Robin away from him over this.

Right?

Jason shrugged, his tone quieting, and he kept his eyes averted. “Mom was sick, you know? Willis was in and out of jail, so someone had to take care of us. I managed just fine.”

Until I didn’t.

Until she died.

Ah. 

It matched with what little Bruce had told her. An orphan, living on the streets when Bruce had found him. But there had been a whole life before the moment Jason had decided to steal the wheels of the Batmobile.

“I’m sure you did.” Leslie agreed honestly. “It sounds like it was a difficult situation to have to deal with.”

Everything about his posture screamed at how uncomfortable he was talking about it. But sometimes feeling uncomfortable brought about good things, and Leslie wasn’t one to shy away from it. 

“What was she like?”

jp-todd-rp​:

No wrong answers.

Right.

Jason fought down the urge to scoff, and he briefly hid his face by taking a sip from his water bottle. But the subject of becoming Robin? Yeah, that was something Jason could latch on to. If she reported this back to Bruce, he’d see that he was willing. And ready.

“Of course, I’m excited. Robin’s awesome!” he replied, eyes gleaming. “Batman and Robin save lives. They defeat the bad guys, and actually do something to make the city better. Why wouldn’t I be excited?”

Leslie let out a huff of a laugh at the enthusiastic tone as Jason spoke. The way his eyes lit up, he was talking about joining his heroes, as if there couldn’t be a better thing in the world than that. The kind of excitement a boy his age should have, but about this?

It was a very romanticised view of what would be a dangerous job if he were to actually be Robin. 

“Oh, I don’t know.” She shrugged casually, choosing to take his rhetorical question literally. “You’ve seen Bruce after defeating some of those bad guys, right? He gets hurt sometimes. Some people might find that a little frightening. I certainly would if it were me, though I can understand the idea behind it; One of the reasons I became a doctor was to do my part for the city - in a different way, of course.”

She wondered if Jason had considered the danger he might be putting himself in as she continued, letting her hesitancy show a little. “I know you’ve been training hard, but these are adults, with weapons and - well, plenty of them won’t go down without a fight.”