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“You let him live.”
Bruce straightens, part of him expected this conversation, but a smaller part of him hoped it would never happen. An even smaller part of him wants things to go back to the way they were before Jason died, they weren’t perfect, but they were happy.
“You let him live,” Jason repeats, his voice is steady, “he took me from you and he gets to walk away.”
Slowly Bruce turns. Jason’s stance is rigid, there’s no uncertainty. He’s glad Jason seems to be finding his footing again. Bruce also knows he’s made his mind up about something.
“We don’t kill,” Bruce replies automatically.
Jason’s jaw tightens, “he tortured me, Bruce. Tortured. He shot Babs, she’ll never walk again. Joker has killed hundreds of people. The system won’t fix him.”
“The system has to be give-”
“It doesn’t work!” Jason roars, “not for guys like Joker or like Willis. When will you see letting guys like them live only leads to more pain?”
“We don’t have the right!” Bruce struggles to keep his own anger down.
“They don’t either!”
Bruce clenches his jaw, it’s the first time that he’s realized Jason adopted that tell from him.
“Jay-”
Jason’s posture snaps into aggression, “don’t Jay me! You promised you wouldn’t- you promised you would keep me safe. I died Bruce and you did nothing. It’s like you didn’t care.”
He stands and crosses the space between them in two long strides, his voice is raspy with the effort to keep ahold of his emotions, “I mourned you, I blamed myself for your death for years. I still blame myself.”
Bruce inhales sharply, “you are my son. Your death nearly destroyed me, if it wasn’t for everyone I would have. I love you. Don’t say I don’t care.”
“You didn’t care enough,” Jason’s voice is sharp with anger, and then he drops his voice to practically a whisper, “remember when I asked you if it would be me or Joker?”
“I know the answer.” Jason spins on his heel.
Bruce has a momentary surge of fear that if he lets Jason leave he won’t see him again. For the first time since the tire incident, Bruce touches Jason without his implied or clear consent. Predictably Jason reacts violently, Bruce can’t dodge the fist and he gets knocked to the ground from the force of it.
There’s a brief second where Jason’s eyes appear glazed over, but they clear. Jason’s jaw is tight once more, “gonna force me to stay?”
“No, Jay I would never force you to do anything,” Bruce clears his throat, “you’ll always have a home here.”
Jason glances away, and it looks like he’s physically restraining himself, “not anymore. I can’t be here. You- Thanks. For everything.”
“Wait.”
“No, Bruce, you picked my killer over me. I don’t know that I can ever accept that.”
Bruce glances around quickly, “I wanted to. God, I wanted to. You honestly think I would have – if it would have saved you – I – Jay please.”
Jason chuckles bitterly, “you can’t even say it.”
“They – we just got you back,” Bruce pleads one more time.
“I told you why I’m leaving,” Jason replies, his entire body sags, “I was happy here, you all – this place is too painful.”
This time when Jason turns Bruce doesn’t reach for him, instead, he picks himself up from the ground, “I hope you won’t regret whatever you have planned.”
“Goodbye, Bruce.”