Jp-todd-rp:

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...”

jp-todd-rp​:

“And expect what, exactly?” Jason retorted. “For the rest of the family to suddenly care about what happened to me, and what it did to me? None of them ever even bothered asking how I came back to begin with, so why the hell would they want to know this?”

He shook his head, bitterness lacing his tone. “It’ll help nothing. And it certainly won’t help me. I’m dealing with it. I’ve dealt with it.”

“I won’t make excuses for them...” Leslie knew better than to defend them. It was a complicated thing, the relationship Jason had with the rest of his family. One that Leslie had hope for still, but wading in and getting involved wouldn’t fix it. 

She hummed thoughtfully before admitting her own guilt on the topic. “It’s something I’ve wanted to speak to you about for a while actually, just never seemed a good time... Now probably isn’t the best either while you’re in this state. But later - if you’ll indulge me.” The last thing she wanted was for him to feel pinned down, unable to leave what would quite probably be an uncomfortable conversation for him, 

Brushing the idea away she changed track, challenging Jason with an obvious tone. She had spent too long on the side-lines watching to not point it out. “But who says you have to ‘deal with it’ alone? Even if you didn’t want to tell them, or Alfred and I. You have other people who care about you. People who want to help. Grace. She is quite worried about you, you know.”

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.”

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​:

Act normal.

Act polite.

Jason managed a smile as the therapist - doctor, Bruce said she was an actual doctor - let him in her office. She looked friendly enough, not as old as Jason thought she was going to be. Dark hair, an easy smile, despite the sterner set of her brow. She fit her office, Jason noted.

Warm colors, modern, but not skimped on comfort.

Functional. To the point.

No other exit.

No way out.

Jason shook her hand, fairly certain that his quick glance around could be taken for mere interest. “Good morning, doc,” he replied, hiding the fact that his stomach was in knots. “Nice to meet you too, hope all is well.”

“I’m very well, thank you.” Polite. Well spoken. All in all, a good first impression.

Spotting the curious look around the room, Leslie gestured to the soft, comfortable looking armchair towards the back of the room, facing the door. “Would you like to take a seat?”

Most people were nervous for a first session. Outwardly, the boy didn’t seem all that fussed but Leslie busied herself anyway, opening a drawer on the side so he could make the decision whether to sit or not without her directly watching. “I’ve always got a mixture of drinks and snacks in here, is there anything you’d like?”

jp-todd-rp​:

Jason wanted to leave.

He didn’t want to talk about his mother.

Didn’t want to share how he had witnessed the slow descent from over the counter painkillers into heroin and morphine.

He resisted the urge to get up and leave. And he pushed down his desire to look for another feasible way out. She’d report back to Bruce, and he couldn’t risk Bruce taking away what he had worked so hard for.

So, instead, he found himself shrugging again.

“Dunno,” Jason muttered, still fiddling with the water bottle. “She was in pain a lot. And – normal painkillers didn’t cut it eventually, y'know. She needed stronger stuff to keep going. And that…” Jason trailed off, knowing that she’d pick up on it. Everyone knew what that meant, especially down in the Alley. The streets were riddled with addicts and sob stories like his. And no one cared.

She had hoped it had been something else. Not that there were any pleasant alternatives considering that the woman had died long before she ought to have. 

Leslie didn’t want to delve any deeper, not for a first session, it wouldn’t be fair.

Tightening her face into a grim kind of understanding, she nodded, not wanting to segue without acknowledging  what he had said. “It sounds like you did your best to look after the both of you during a really difficult time.”

Letting the weight of the moment settle slightly, Leslie made another mental note to circle back to this - his parents. It would take some time before he was ready for that, she was sure.  

“Is reading still something you enjoy?”