#grumpy jason

“You’re sick.” The voice from earlier pipes up again.   

“Yes, thank you detective. Where would I be without your amazing skills of deduction.” Jason grumbles into his arms. Letting out a breath he feels how his nose has blocked up again and lifts his head to blow it. He pulls a face as the tissue is no good to use anymore and looks around to where he could put it, finding the bin in the corner of the room too far away he places it on the table next to him instead to be dealt with later. “How does one person produce this much crap? Seriously it’s disgusting.”   

“You’re disgusting.”   

Huffing Jason turns to the person sitting beside him. “No one asked you, brat.”   

Over the top of his coffee mug, Tim scowls at him. “I was here first asshole. And stay away from me, I don’t want your germs.”   

“Shouldn't have lost ya spleen then should ya.”   

Tim throws up his free hand. “Like that was my choice!”   

Now feeling his head starting to pound Jason groans and rests his head back on his arms. “I hate everything.”   

“How long have you been sick?” Tim asks. Jason hears his chair move and then some cupboards opening and closing but he pays him no attention.   

“I woke up with it. Went to bed fine, maybe a bit sniffly, then woke up to a completely blocked, yet somehow runny nose and a head feeling like an atlas stone.” He groans again. “I hate this.”   

“So you’ve said.” Tim comments, his voice sounding closer, “here.”   

Jason manages to lift his head and finds a glass of water, pain killers, and some new tissues on the table in front of him. His brother sits back down in his chair but noticeably shuffles further away from Jason.   

Muttering his thanks, Jason takes the medicine and drinks half of the water before dropping his head down again. He really should go to bed, it’d be much more comfortable than the kitchen table, but it’s just so much effort to move.   

Just as he’s starting to relax another person enters the kitchen.   

“Good morning!” Dick’s energetic voice calls out.

As Tim mumbles his greeting Jason feels Dick step up to him. A gentle hand lands on his shoulder. “You okay Jaybird?”   

“He’s sick.” Tim immediately tattles on him, not that Jason would be able to hide how he’s feeling but still.   

Dick’s hand rubs his back soothingly. “Aw man, that sucks. I can see you’ve taken some medicine, hopefully that’ll kick in soon. Oh, hey Alfred! Jason’s sick, is there anything you can make him that may help him feel better?”   

As Dick was speaking Alfred had entered the kitchen.  

“Oh dear. Master Jason how are you feeling? Do you have any nausea?”  

Jason lifts his head so he can look at the older man. “I feel like shit Alfie. And no, no nausea at the moment, although I’m not feeling particularly hungry.”  

The man nods understandingly. “We’ll keep an eye on it. Perhaps I can make some soup, and you can have it as an early lunch in a few hours then?”   

Sighing Jason nods and drops his head back down. “Sounds good Alf, like usual you’re amazing.”   

"Why don’t you go back to bed Jaybird? You may as well rest.”  

Jason groans, not moving. “That’s too far. I can’t be bothered to move.”  

Those in the kitchen fall silent as they go about their tasks and Jason breathes heavily. His stupid blocked nose is making it impossible to breathe properly. Funny how you don’t appreciate normal breathing habits until you don't have them anymore. Hands landing on his shoulders startle him, however he doesn't have the energy to react to whoever it is. His head is still killing him and it’s making his body ache like he’s worked out for over six hours solid.  

“C’mon Jaybird, I'll help you up.”  

As he speaks Dick’s hands disappear from his shoulders only to reappear under his arms forcing him to sit up properly. While Jason doesn’t have the energy to fight him off, he also doesn’t have the energy to help make the job easier. Dick somehow manages to get Jason to his feet and throws one of his arms around his neck.  

“Timmy, can you help please?” Dick asks looking at their younger brother who hasn't moved an inch from his seat this whole time.  

Tim raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, no. You can deal with that on your own, I don't want to get sick. Speaking of which, I’m gonna go crash with Kon for the next few days to get away from mister disgusting there.”  

“So helpful Timmy,” Dick mutters as he maneuverers them out of the kitchen. It’s slow progress but eventually they get up the stairs and to the bedrooms after having to stop several times so Jason could sneeze and blow his nose.  

When they get to Jason’s bedroom door he puts a stop to Dick’s advancements. “That’s enough goldie, I can handle it from here.”  

Dick sends him a concerned glance. “Are you sure? You can barely stand up right.”  

“Yes, I’m fucking sure,” Jason snaps, he leans on his bedroom door and grabs the handle, “thanks for the help I’ll see you later.” Without further conversation he opens the door and lets himself inside and slams it shut. He winces as the bang vibrates through his skull causing the pounding to increase.  

For a moment he stands in his room staring at the bed but not actually seeing anything. His headache is still there as is his nose is blocked and overall he feels like shit. As well as the crappy feeling, there’s something else that doesn’t feel right. His bed looks oh so inviting but yet there’s something that doesn’t feel right about it. Jason hasn’t got a clue what it is.  

At some point his mind must have made a decision because the next thing Jason knows is that a blanket from his bed is wrapped around his shoulders and he’s stood outside of Bruce’s study. He blinks in disbelief and wonders if it’s too late to turn around. As he stands there nothing happens so he figures during his short amnesia moment he hadn’t knocked yet.  

Why the fuck has he chosen to come here of all places? He’s a grown ass man, he doesn’t need to go seeking out comfort from his adoptive father like a child. Not even Damian would do that. This is ridiculous!  

Maybe there’s something more wrong with him than just a cold? Because as he stands there, wrapped in his blanket, he can’t help but think of the couch he knows Bruce has in the study and the thought of lying on it while Bruce works really appeals to him. What was wrong with him?  

As he stares at the door, it suddenly opens and reveals Bruce on the other side. Jason blinks confused, he didn’t open it or knock so how did Bruce know he was there?  

“Jason. Is everything okay?” The man asks looking at him with a frown.  

No. Yes. Maybe. Jason has no idea what he’s doing. Before he could come up with an answer Bruce steps forward and presses a hand to his forehead. “You don’t look well, son. Are you sick? You don’t feel warm to touch.”  

A sneeze erupts from Jason before he could say anything. A second follows in quick concession. “I have a cold that’s all.” He tells the man, his voice coming out nasally as he sniffs through a blocked nose.  

Bruce pulls a face. “I can see that.”  

There’s a pregnant pause between them as they stare at one another. Bruce is clearly waiting for Jason for tell him what’s up but Jason’s mind is a grey fog. Nothing to see or make out, not a clear thought within reaching distance.  

 “Come here Jaylad.” Bruce says after a while, the silence between having long grown awkward.  

Jason shuffles into Bruce’s study and lets himself be guided to the couch he had earlier thought about. Without any prompting he lies down, tucks a cushion under his head and clings onto his blanket. When he tries to breathe through his nose, he’s quickly forced to breathe out through his mouth instead and he groans.  

“I hate this,” he grumbles, using the blanket to wipe his nose.  

Bruce chuckles and crouches in front of him and runs his fingers through his hair. “You’ve never coped well when you’ve had a cold. It’s always the end of the world with you. Run on a broken leg, insisting you go on missions after being badly wounded, but give you a cold then that’s it.”  

“Story of my life. I’m tired.”  

“Get some sleep then. I’ll wake you up in a few hours to take some more medicine. Alfred’s already informed me of your condition and how he’ll make you some soup for lunch.”  

A drop of rain lands on his thumb. Dismissing it immediately Tim scowls as he cruses the weather. It wasn’t supposed to rain that night, stupid Gotham weather, it’s July, it’s not supposed to be raining this time of year. Another raindrop lands in the same place, this time this one seeming bigger than the last and unlike the last one it carries a smell Tim is all too familiar with.

Upon further inspection he finds that it’s not rain: it’s blood. A couple drops of blood had fallen onto him.

Becoming alert Tim tells O he’s got something and climbs off his bike in order to go and find where the blood is coming from. Looking above where he’s parked there’s a fire escape attached to the side of the building. As he looks up he watches as another drop falls from the sky and onto his bike where his hand had previously been. There’s no visible body on the fire escape so the blood could be from anything, it doesn’t matter though, Tim needs to go and investigate.

Jumping up onto the fire escape he begins searching around until he finds a small pool of blood on the first platform. The blood is on the edge and trickles down the side and off the metal to drop down below. It’s fresh and the iron smell is even stronger here than it had been at his bike. Glancing around further Tim spots a trail of blood leading up the stairs of the fire escape, the blood can be seen on both the stairs and the railing, whatever is bleeding it’s obviously been severely wounded. Tim follows the trail. He’s surprised yet not when he eventually finds himself up on the roof of the building.

At first there’s nothing to see on the roof. It looks as deserted as it normally would be, however the blood still continues along the roof towards the air conditioning unit installed there. This is where Tim sees the trail bend around the unit and out of sight, whatever is bleeding may be behind the unit.

Unknowing what he’s about to approach Tim extends his bo staff and carefully approaches the unit being sure to keep his steps as light as possible. As he gets closer he spots what looks like legs sticking out followed by a body and a very familiar uniform…

“Hood?” Tim breathes out unsure on what he’s seeing.

Jason is the one wounded and bleeding all over the place?

Tim drops his defensive stance and puts his weapon away and walks around the unit so he could see the man fully. The red helmet follows his movements.

“Ugh, replacement, what do you want? How’d you find me?”

Tim blinks, feeling completely caught off guard at the whole situation. “You uh,” he stammers for a moment before finding his words, “you bled on me. I followed the blood trail up here.”

In response Jason snorts although Tim figures it’s either in disbelief or because he’s in pain and can’t think up a retort. Speaking of which, Tim eyes him more closely and only then does he realise the man is holding a hand to his side, there’s blood seeping past his fingers coating his clothes and dripping onto the floor creating a small puddle underneath him.

Without thinking about it Tim grabs his medical kit out of his utility belt and approaches Jason, crouching down at his side. “What happened?”

“Oh you know-“ the man hisses when he shifts, the pain tugging sharply at his side, “the usual. Stray bullet here, stray bullet there, dodge and duck knives left, right and centre.”

Tim pulls Jason’s hand away from the wound to get a closer look at it. Jason is still rambling.

“Lucky bastard got me in the side with a stupid shot. I certainly got him back but I’d rather not gain any new holes in me thanks.”

While he examines the wound, Tim refrains from commenting about his rambling, a sure result of blood loss no doubt, and realises there’s a big issue.

“Hood I may need to do a field bullet extraction as I can’t see an exit point. There’s also the issue of how much blood you’ve already lost.”

When he gets no response Tim glances up but is only met face to face with the expressionless helmet. After doing a quick scan of the area and deeming it clear Tim moves away from the wound in order to remove Jason’s helmet. When he finally sees the man’s face Tim finds Jason looking pale, his eyes spacing out, bruising dotted over cheeks and jaw. Tim shakes his shoulder and it elicits a reaction from the man.

Jason grunts. “What? What’d you say?”

Tim sighs, nonetheless he repeats his words. “I need to do a field extraction of the bullet because I think it’s still in you.”

Jason blinks at him, frowns, and then lightens up grinning weakly. “Oh! No need, I’ve done it already…” then the man proceeds to drop a bullet into Tim’s hand with his blood covered fingers.

Tim eyes widen. “You - you’ve… of course you did, why am I not surprised. Okay with that sorted I’ll patch you up for now until we get you somewhere where we can do scans and properly take care of the wound.”

After placing the bloody bullet into his utility belt – for further examination later on – Tim patches up Jason’s wound. It’s a messy job, one which has Jason occasionally flinching and hissing, but Tim does it as quickly as possible. The bandages will need to be redone but it’ll do for now.

Tim looks at Jason and finds the man’s eyes drooping and his body slumping. Tim knows this next part isn’t going to be easy. Reaching out he shakes Hood’s shoulder, gaining his unfocused attention.

“Where’s your nearest safehouse?”

“What?”

Tim bites his tongue to stop his frustration seeping through. The fact Jason is even conscious right now is surprising.

“Your safehouse. Where are we going? I would take you to the cave but we both know how well that’s going to go down.”

“Yeah fuck that,” Jason grunts with a frown of disapproval. The man pauses and just as Tim’s about to prompt him again he speaks up with an answer. “Uh, there’s a place, ‘bout four blocks from here.”

Tim bites down another sigh. He has no idea how the fuck he's going to get Jason to his safe house, the man is twice his size in both weight and height, Tim is strong but dragging Jason’s limp ass – cause he ain’t going to be any help in his current state – is pushing even his limits. That’s not including going over roof tops and across fire escapes.

Just as Tim starts putting a plan in place he hears a loud thump come from behind him. Acting on instinct, in one move Tim shoves Jason down to the floor so his face is hidden and in the next he’s on his feet with his bo staff extended towards the threat. He falters when he sees Nightwing cautiously approaching him.

Tim straightens up and watches as the man approaches then as he takes in the scene of Jason pushing himself up right and cursing Tim with every insult under the sun.

“Hey Wing, how’s it going?” Tim asks lightly despite the situation.

Dick glances at Tim, before looking at Jason and back again. He takes a moment to answer. “Just fine thanks. What on earth…”

“Hood decided to spice up what had been an extremely boring night so far.” Tim says cheerfully, grinning when he catches the glare Jason is sending his way.

“Fuck off replacement, I didn’t ask you to be here.”

Dick turns to Tim. “It has been rather quiet hasn’t it. I’m more on edge during these types of nights instead of the chaotic ones. It’s been a while since Gotham’s been this quiet.”

Just as Tim’s about to respond a loud groan gets his attention and he looks over to find Jason keeling over from where he's leaning against the air conditioning unit. Tim looks back at Dick and jabs a thumb in Jason’s direction.

“Are you busy? Can you help me with him?”

Dick nods and together they move towards Jason. “That’s why I’m here. O picked up on what’s happening and called me over knowing to keep it under wraps from B.”

With Dick here it means they can support Jason between them, it’s still not easy considering Jason is taller than Dick but having Dick to lean on certainly helps Tim out.

Ignoring Jason’s swearing as they get him to stand up, Dick glances at Tim. “Where we going?”

Placing Jason’s helmet back on his head, and muffling his grumbling, Tim tells him, “four blocks from here. My bike is below, so if we can get him down to the ground I can ride him there.”

Together the three of them start a slow shuffle towards the edge of the roof.

“Fuck you guys.”

Tim rolls his eyes. “Y’know you can try and be more appreciative Hood. You could always say ‘thank you for helping me,’ or ‘thanks for not letting me bleed to death on a random rooftop.’ Manners go a long way y’know.”

“I’m gonna shoot you replacement.”

Tim snorts. “Sure, I should probably be more concerned but considering you can’t even stand on your own, I think I’m good for now.”

“You’re a ray of sunshine Jay.” Dick comments as they finally reach the fire escape at the edge of the rooftop.

“I’ma shoot you too goldie.”

Dick laughs, unbothered by the threat like Tim had been.

“Sure sure. When you’re better.”

The three of them work their way down the fire escape in silence. Tim would have thought Jason finally passed out but the occasional muffled swear tells him otherwise. When they eventually make it to the ground Dick helps Tim place Jason on his bike and helps to secure him so he can ride without Jason falling off.

“I’ll meet you at the safehouse and I’ll help you get him inside.” His brother tells him as Tim reeves the engine.

“Sounds good,” Tim acknowledges, “see you in a bit.”

With that Dick climbs back up the fire escape and Tim prepares to drive off. Before he moves he hears Jason mumble behind him.

“Why you helping me?”

The question makes Tim pause. For the first time that night Jason sounds anything other than annoyed. There's exhaustion in his tone but it’s mixed with what Tim would class as apprehension.

“Because, despite you denying it, you would do the same for me. Despite us being at odds most of the time we look out for each other.” Before the man could respond Tim changes topic. “Now hold on, it’ll only be a minute or two until we reach your safehouse.”

Surprised at who the voice belongs too, Jason snaps his head up so he could see them and immediately regrets the action. His vision swims and the world tilts, he feels that pressure on the front of his head increase making it impossible to ignore. With a groan he buries his face back into the top of his knees and closes his eyes tightly willing the pain to stop.

“Well that’s certainly not a greeting I’m used to receiving. I know I’m getting older but surely I’m not that unpleasant to see just yet.”

Keeping the gun held limply in one hand and wrapping his other arm around his head Jason lets out another groan, “what do you want Selina? I’m busy right now.”

He couldn’t see her disbelieving look but he could certainly hear it in her voice as she speaks. “Busy, sure… I would ask what’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this, but I think I can work it out on my own.”

Despite being like twice his age, Selina never stops flirting with him. It’s a thing she does with most of Bruce’s brood, there’s nothing serious behind it, just a bit of banter and is probably done to ruffle Bruce’s feathers more than anything else.

Lifting his head up, slower this time, Jason looks up at Selina who’s kitted out in her Cat Woman gear, clearly working tonight for whatever reason. It’s difficult to focus on the woman because of the pounding going on inside his forehead, followed by the way his vision is still blurry and the shitty feeling he’s got overall. Thankfully it’s night-time meaning it’s dark but that apparently doesn’t exclude the moon that’s shining brightly up in the sky.

“What do you want?” He asks again, he really doesn’t have the energy to be dealing with the thief right now. “Don’t you have a museum to rob or something?”

“I’m finished tonight actually, just on my way back home when I spotted a little birdie far from his nest. Thought I’d come and see what's going on.”

Jason pulls a face and because he’s not wearing his helmet he lets her see his full expression in what he thinks about that. “I’m not a bird.”

“I know several people who would disagree with you,” she points out quickly, “what happened Jason? Why are you on a random roof top, curled up in a ball, next to a pile of sick looking like you’ve just crawled out of your grave again.”

Knowing it’s no use in arguing against Selina Jason plops his head back down on his knees and sums up his night for her. “I was fighting Killer Croc down in the sewers and because I was already having a bad night I got my ass handed to me. After grabbing my leg he smacked me into the wall and unfortunately my head took most of the impact, if I hadn’t had my helmet on I surely would be dead or something. Instead I end up with a concussion and Croc got away. I manged to climb up here until it got too bad for me to go any further and been here since.”

“Well that certainly is a rough night.” She says after a beat. Her tone of voice has changed but Jason didn’t have enough energy to work out the meaning behind it. “Now come on, you’re no good here.”

Jason scowls into the fabric covering his knees. “I know that Selina, why do you think I’m hidden away on a rooftop. I can’t go anywhere like this.”

An exasperated sigh meets his ears and he jumps when he feels hands grip his arms trying to pull him up.

“I know kitten, that’s why you’re coming back to mine where I can keep an eye on you until this passes. You’ve probably got a moderate concussion so it’s best you stay with someone until the symptoms reside.”

She pulls his arms and manages to get him to uncurl. Jason looks at her through narrow eyes, feeling suspicion creeping in. “Why are you helping me? Did Bruce set you up for this? Or Dick?”

The woman has the audacity to laugh. “Believe it not no. I’m helping because I want to.”

“What’s the catch?”

Despite Jason not putting a single ounce of effort in to make the task easy for her, Selina still manages to haul his six foot frame up off the ground and gets one of his arms around her shoulders so she could support him. Once he’s up right the headache he’s been feeling increases tenfold and he feels his insides stir unpleasantly.

“Again nothing. Not everything in this world is out to get you Jason.”

Feeling sour Jason grumbles in displeasure. He keeps quiet however as they slowly make their way to the roof’s edge where there’s a small jump down to the next one. Jason grimaces, already knowing how this is going to go, but Selina doesn’t seem bothered by it. She drags him over there, manoeuvring them both until she’s the first one down and is able to support him in getting down too.

Despite it going surprisingly smoothly, it doesn’t stop what Jason knew was going to happen in the first place. Once he’s back on his two feet that unpleasant feeling inside of him only grows and he feels it travel up through his chest and into his throat. The only thing he could do to spare Selina is push her away and collapse on the floor on all fours as his stomach empties itself.

By the time he’s done he’s left convulsing and heaving as he tries to get himself together. Thankfully Selina had given him his space and left him to it, although Jason still couldn’t help at feeling embarrassed for the fact she’s witnessing him in this state.

His head is pounding, his entire body hurts and he genuinely just wants to cry. He feels like shit.

This time when he feels hands grab him, he doesn’t jump, he lets them pull him up into an upright position. Once again he and Selina continue onwards with her supporting him without a comment on his condition. While Jason still feels like there’s something more to it than Selina simply wanting to help him, he appreciates it nonetheless.