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Man, he really hated the cold.
It was going to be below freezing tonight and more than likely it would snow. Jason looked up at the heavy gray clouds and pulled his threadbare jacket closer to his body; it did little to keep the wind’s bite from getting to him, but at least he had a jacket. That was more than a lot of the other kids in this neighborhood. He sped up as he saw a man glare at him from the entrance of the alley. Something was happening, but Jason knew that it was better to look the other way. As much as he wished that he could step in and stop it.
Especially when the screams started. The man moved towards him and Jason bolted down the street. He passed his apartment complex, before looping around the back way and squeezing through a hole in the fence. His jacket caught on one of the links and a small hole grew larger. Jason bemoaned the tear, but there was little he could do to fix it.
Maybe Mrs. Santiago would let him borrow a thread and needle?
He jumped over the bottom step which had broken the rest of the way after the last snowfall and up the steps. The landlord’s dog woofed softly at him as he walked by. Jason stopped to scratch the old mastiff behind his ear before continuing inside. He wished that the dog was allowed inside, or more shelter than the garden shed.
Again, there was nothing he could do about it. Jason climbed the staircase softly, not wanting to disturb any of his neighbors, most of them had nasty tempers, and more than a few of them wouldn’t think twice about throwing a beer bottle at a kid. He shivered and rerouted himself to Mrs. Santiago’s apartment.
She was a kind lady, mostly out of middle-age but still too young to be called a senior. All three of her sons had grown up in this apartment, and two of them had even made it to college, the last one had been killed as a teenager in a drive-by. She let Jason stay over when Willis was drunk and angry or when his mom was too high to notice they hadn’t eaten dinner. If they even had food for dinner.
Jason knocked on Mrs. Santiago’s door.
“Coming, coming,” she hollered from somewhere deep in the apartment.
He was always surprised about how careless she was about opening the door, she never checked who it was.
“Jason! It’s good to see you,” she smiled, “home from school?”
"Yeah! We learned the 7s table in multiplication, today!” Jason smiled back cautiously.
“Is that so?” Mrs. Santiago said happily.
“I learned it the fastest, my teacher was impressed!” Jason grinned, he loved school.
It was where he could forget about how bad home was.
“Really now?” Mrs. Santiago nodded, “why don’t you come in, I have just the thing to celebrate!”
Jason’s eyes widened, no one had ever wanted to celebrate him before. He remembered why he even came over in the first place.
“Also do you have a thread and needle I could borrow? I tore my jacket,” He tugged at the hole.
Mrs. Santiago looked at the tear and clicked her tongue, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Jason nodded, he’d just have to deal with the tear then. It would be annoying but he was sure that it was better than nothing.
Mrs. Santiago led him further into her apartment, there was a yellowish cake on her dining table. It smelled like lemons, Jason tilted his head in curiosity.
“Lemon pound cake, I baked it this morning,” she explained, “the lemons would go bad otherwise.”
“I’ve never had pound cake before,” Jason replied.
She nodded, “sit at the table, and I’ll get us some plates and milk.”
“Yes please!” Jason chirped and moved to sit at the table.
Mrs. Santiago laughed and moved into the kitchen. Jason could hear clanging around. He swung his legs and slowly he felt his fingers start to warm up. This was one of the few apartments that had heating in this building.
Mrs. Santiago returned a few minutes later with two glasses of milk and mismatched plates. Jason eagerly took the milk and waited until Mrs. Santiago took her own slice of cake before digging into his own. It melted into his mouth, but it was a little too sweet for him.
“It’s good!”
“I’m glad you like it,” Mrs. Santiago replied.
They ate in silence. Jason draining the milk well before he finished the cake.
Mrs. Santiago spoke suddenly, “you know, I might have a jacket that fits you.”
Jason perked up, and he was torn between rejecting the offer and accepting it. This winter was already rough, and they were barely two weeks in, and his jacket wouldn’t last the next three months, but his mother had always warned him from accepting favors from people. They always expected something in return.
“I couldn’t-”
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Santiago cleared the dishes from the table, “wait right here.”
Jason cursed as they breached the surface, the cold was reminding him of winter nights on the street and while he normally wouldn’t complain about remembering happier times, right now it was a distraction he didn’t need. Red Robin was alarmingly limp in his arms, thankfully he could tell that the other was still breathing, but it was shallow and quick. They were about a mile away from Arkham, which put them about halfway between the asylum and Gotham.
“Hood?”
“Yeah, I got you,” Jason replied, “think you can swim?”
Red Robin’s teeth started chattering.
“Gonna take that as a no,” Jason muttered.
Tim made a keening sort of sound. Jason bit his lip, going back to Arkham was a bad idea, although most of his gear was back on the shore. He had shed it, and some of his outer layers, when he saw Red Robin topple into the water. Either way, he needed to make a choice, the cold was already getting to him, Red Robin’s suit was mostly insolated which gave them a little more time, but Jason had a shirt, cargo pants, and his helmet on. He wouldn’t last half as long.
“Okay, Red, I’m gonna need you to hold on to my back while I get us to land,” Jason started maneuvering the smaller boy.
“I can swim,” Red Robin muttered.
Jason snorted, “in general, sure, but concussed? I’m gonna put money on you not making it five strokes before you get pulled under.”
The lack of protest was alarming. Not that Jason was going to let anyone know. He, as quickly as he could, put Red Robin on his back and started a breaststroke towards the dock. Red Robin was holding on, weakly but secure enough that he wouldn’t slip off and drown.
Halfway to the dock, Jason was starting to feel the exhaustion seep in. The cold was sapping his strength, and while Red Robin’s weight was usually negligible but tonight it was almost as bad as having lead weights strapped to his ankle. If he stopped, they both would die.
With any luck Bats or Wing would be waiting for them at the dock.
Jason nearly cried when he saw the dock, and Nightwing peering out from the end.
He struggled with his mostly numb fingers to rip off his helmet, his voice wouldn’t carry with it on. Jason dropped it into the water.
“Nightwing, over here!”
"B, I have visual on Red Robin and Red Hood!” It was faint, but enough to urge Jason forward.
There was a splash as Nightwing dove into the water and somehow reemerged right next to him.
“Take Red Robin,” Jason ordered, “I can make the rest of it by myself.”
“Are you sure?” Nightwing’s brows furrowed.
“Yes,” Jason growled, “we can’t stay in this water much longer, move.”
He helped to readjust Red Robin on Nightwing’s back, ignoring how slowly his limbs were moving. It was only 50 meters away. Jason knew he could do this, he’s swum further when his body was failing him, but that was during his weeks of training with the League, the water was warm.
Nightwing started swimming, his stroke even and strong and he put several meters between them in only a few seconds. Jason took a deep breath before he started swimming again. His shoulders ached, and his lungs burned with the effort. But eventually, his fingers brushed the wood of the dock ladder, he gripped it and then frowned. He didn’t have the strength to climb by himself.
Nightwing was already fussing over Red Robin, which meant Jason was on his own until a black glove appeared in his vision. He looked up to see Bruce hanging on the top rungs of the ladder. Jason released a quiet huff of relief and reached up to his arm.
It was awkward maneuvering and part of him wanted to just drop the arm and fall back into the water, but several minutes later he heaved himself onto the surface of the dock. He splayed out bonelessly and coughed. Water must have gotten into his lungs. Nightwing glanced at him, the white lenses of his domino mask wide, but Batman kneeled over him and shined a light into his eyes. Jason scowled and batted at it weakly.
“Red Robin is the one with the concussion.”
“We have to check,” Batman growled.
“I’m uninjured, just tired,” Jason replied, “can someone get me a towel?”
Batman grumbled someone, “they’re back at the cave.”
“Does the Batmobile have heating?”
"Yes,” Batman replied automatically, “wait-”
Jason narrowed his eyes in warning. He could feel Nightwing vibrating in excitement several feet away, and Red Robin complained as a result. They didn’t need to make a big deal out of this. It was winter in Gotham, and he was wet, and he really hated being cold.