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When Jason gets home from school, Harvey's in the backyard, laid out on the grass and smoking a bowl.
"Don't tell Bruce," Jason says, throwing his backpack down, "but I'm quitting school."
Harvey tilts his head up at him, hooks his leg around Jason's ankle. "After one day? I'm impressed, man."
"It was awful," Jason says. He curls on top of Harvey's chest and breathes in sweat and weed. "I was late for three of my classes. I didn't understand anything that happened in one of them. Some fucking biker almost ran me over."
"Hm," Harvey says. He runs his hand through Jason's hair. "Well, I missed my first three days of law school because I was busy waiting for my dad to die in the hospital. So, y'know."
"Shit," Jason says. He moves to straddle Harvey and reaches for his pipe. Harvey tries to hold it away from him.
"Is this responsible college behavior?" Harvey teases.
"Hey, fuck you," Jason says. "I missed out on the college experience. You know, except when Roy and I would crash keggers and shit." Harvey lets him take a hit, and Jason lays back down on his chest.
"What did you do today?" Jason asks.
"Absolutely nothing," Harvey says. "Caught up on Homeland. Finished that book you gave me. Painted one of the rooms upstairs bright green."
"Seriously?" Jason asks.
"Mm," Harvey says. "Bruce is gonna kill us."
"Us?"
"Yeah," Harvey says. Jason can hear the grin in his voice. "I'm gonna tell him it was your idea."
"Asshole," Jason says. Harvey slides his hand under his shirt. "You just gotta find something that feels right, man."
"Yeah," Harvey says. He takes a hit, says, "I was thinking about out here."
"Huh?" Jason asks.
"You know," Harvey says. He sets his pipe down and rolls Jason onto the grass. "We could have a garden. You know, like with herbs and veggies and shit."
"Herbs, huh?" Jason says, and Harvey pinches his ass. "What about flowers?"
"For you, kiddo?" Harvey asks. "A whole fucking rose garden."
Jason laughs, and Harvey tips his head down to kiss him. His stubble scratches Jason's chin and the grass tickles Jason's neck when Harvey presses in closer. Just as Harvey's reaching for his belt, Prince comes bounding up to both of them from somewhere inside the house, licking Jason's face and pawing at Harvey.
"You'll have to fence some shit off," Jason says later, after a marathon round of fetch with the dog.
"Sure," Harvey says. "And figure out how not to kill everything I touch."
Jason looks up at him. Sometimes when the sun hits his face just the right way Harvey looks older, even more tired than he usually does. But he breathes evenly, his heartbeat steady under Jason's hand. "You've got this, man," Jason says.
When the sun starts to set, Jason drags Harvey back inside to help him with dinner. Harvey rifles through Jason's backpack while Jason cuts up vegetables. "Lot of homework for your first day," Harvey says.
"Yeah, I know," Jason says. "I told you, I'm totally quitting."
"Uh-huh," Harvey says. He moves around the counter to stand behind Jason and kisses his neck, scrapes his teeth against the hoop in his ear. "There's no room in my sad hobo camp for anyone else. Not even cute little twinks," he says, grabbing Jason's ass. Jason presses back against him and lets out a shaky breath.
"Jesus," Harvey says. "You really are worried, huh?" he asks, and Jason nods.
"What if I can't do it, Harvey? I don't. I'm not. I'm just some punk kid from the streets."
Harvey snorts, turns him around to look at him. "You're an idiot if you think that," Harvey says. "Jesus, kid, look how much you've changed Bruce. Me. Fuck, Damian."
"He's just angry," Jason says. "I -"
"You're an idiot," Harvey says again. He cups Jason's cheek, slips his tongue into his mouth and pulls back. "And if I can make shit grow, you can definitely kick ass at school."
"Yeah," Jason says. He rests his head against Harvey's shoulder, just for a minute, just long enough to make his head stop spinning. "Hey," he says. "You think Bruce will mind if we do takeout instead? I'm fucking beat."
Harvey laughs, kisses the top of Jason's head. "I'll order a pizza," he says.
By the time Harvey gets done on the phone, Jason's crashed out on the couch with one of his school books in his lap, Prince sleeping at his feet. Harvey nudges Prince out of the way so he can sit next to Jason. Damian comes storming in a few minutes later yelling about hockey practice and then Jason's back up to make sure Damian does his homework. By the time Bruce gets home from work, everyone's somewhat settled at the kitchen table shoveling pizza in their faces.
"How was your first day?" Bruce asks Jason and he stops mid-bite, looks up at Bruce and forgets to breathe for a second. They argued for days about how Jason was going to pay for school, how Jason was going to pay him back. It still weighs on him, but the look Bruce gives him is -
"It was good," Jason says. "I'm exhausted."
"Hm," Bruce says. He runs his hand down Jason's back. "Do you need a backrub?" he asks, and the sound that comes out of Jason's mouth makes Damian scowl and say, "Ugh, not at the dinner table."
"Oops," Jason says, but when Bruce sits down next to him, Jason crawls into his lap and eats the rest of his pizza there.
"It's not too much, is it?" Bruce asks him a little while later. Harvey and Damian are cleaning up in the kitchen, and Jason has his head on Bruce's shoulder, his eyes mostly closed. "Taking care of all of us on top of school and work?"
Jason worried it might be. He didn't want to give up working full-time at the store, or baking nine thousand things for Damian's hockey team. But Bruce holds on tight to him, his stupid business suit scratching against Jason's cheek, and Damian's arguing with Harvey in the kitchen about the right way to do the dishes and Jason already has eighty pages to read for one of his classes but it's - he can do this.
"No," Jason says. He slides up and kisses Bruce, sucks his tongue into his mouth. "But I'm ready for that back rub now."