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Jason seriously doesn’t know how he drew the short straw and ended up with Bruce tonight, but after barely ten minutes with the man, he’s ready to find whoever’s responsible and throw them over the nearest bridge. They’re supposed to be disabling canisters filled with fear toxin, but if they don’t finish soon, Jason’s fuse is going to blow long before the canisters’.
“I know what I’m doing,” Jason finally snaps, not able to take any more of Bruce’s so-called reminders.
There’s a long pause before Bruce says, “I never said you didn’t.”
Jason mumbles under his breath and gets back to work, in silence this time. The canister is taken care of in a few more seconds, and then they’re on to the next one. This time, Jason plays lookout and Bruce takes care of the canister. After this, one more to go and they could go their separate ways. Well, until the next crisis, anyway.
“Damn it,” he hears Bruce mutter just before he hears the hiss.
Jason turns around to see a green cloud already surrounding Bruce, and he’s coughing like crazy. Jason’s helmet has a filter in it, so he’ll be fine, but Bruce is fumbling for his rebreather, unsuccessful.
Jason runs into the cloud, grabbing the rebreather and shoving it in Bruce’s mouth, then pulls him out.
“Oracle, I need backup. And a medical evac. Batman got hit with a full canister of fear toxin and we’re both out of antidote.” It’s been a long night with a lot of civilians who needed antidote more than either of them.
“Sending Nightwing to your location,” Barbara replies.
The green cloud has dissipated, and it’s just him with an unconscious Batman on a roof, waiting for help. It reminds him of his Robin days, but not really the good part. There had been a good part, hadn’t there? It’s hard to remember, the before. It’s blurred, hazy. But when he thinks of Robin, he thinks of happiness and belonging, and finally having a sense of control, security even. Weird feelings, concerning what Robin was for.
“Jason, no.” Bruce is awake, and by the sounds of things, the sound of his voice, sucked into a fear toxin reality.
“Batman, you were hit with fear toxin. You’re going to be okay. What you’re seeing isn’t real.” It’s like reading from a script.
Bruce is sitting up; he makes a grab at Jason, and Jason flinches. Bruce keeps going, pulling him tight against his chest and Jason stiffens, staying very still when he realizes that Bruce is crying.
“I shouldn’t have left you, I’m so sorry,” he’s saying, nearly gasping. “Please come back. Son, please, just say something.”
Bruce is rocking him back and forth, and Jason knows this must be what happened when Bruce found his corpse all those years ago. He wonders if it’s a common memory for the fear toxin to take hold of.
“I’m here, Bruce,” Jason says, and brings an arm up to grasp the one across his chest. “I’m okay.”