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“Good to see you back in one piece.” I smiled at the silhouette in the doorway.
“You know me, always-” Jason choked as he stumbled forward, catching himself with a hand on the wall.
A hand covered in blood. I cursed and scrambled to put myself under his free arm.
“Shit, Todd.” Grimacing as I held some of his weight. “What do they feed you.” He turned and gave me a lazy smile that quickly turned into a grimace.
“Alright, come on.” I braced and quickly lead him to the dining room table, ordering him to take off his jacket and armor.
“Geez, Doc. At least take me to dinner first.” Jason gave a dry chuckle.
“Were you followed?”
“Followed?” His tone was laced with faux hurt. “Who do you think I am?”
I rolled my eyes and quickly glanced up and down the hall before bolting the door shut and turning around. My retort died in my throat as I looked at his torso, at the long gash running from his hip up around his back. I took a breath before giving the man a glare.
“What?” Then he looked down, “Oh, this? It’s not as bad as it looks.” I shook my head at his antics and grabbed my first aid kit and a damp washcloth.
"You always say that."
"Yeah, and it's always true." He quipped, "You don't need to do that, I'm not a kid."
Ignoring him, I reached out towards the cut only to be stopped as his hand enclosed my wrist in a tight grip. I snapped my head up to meet his gaze only to find him staring at the floor. “I can do this on my own.”
“Like hell you can,” I scoffed reaching out once again, “I don’t even know how you made it up here, just let me-”
I barely grazed his skin before he jumped up, “Don’t fucking touch me.” His voice dropped an octave, sending chills down my spine.
For a second, I did not recognize the man in front of me. All playful antics flew out the window as a thick silence fell between us. I watched as he let out a ragged breath and slumped back on the table, shoulders rigid, looking anywhere but where I was. The look in his eyes was one I was very familiar with. Often seeing it as an EMT on the faces of victims; fear overcome their ability to rationalize, many were too focused on what was going to hurt them next to comprehend that the first responders trying to help them, and they often lashed out. A small scar on the top of my left hand was proof of that, a remnant of helping a young teen after an assault.
I knew the basics of Jason’s past; his work as The Robin, then becoming the Red Hood after coming back from the dead... What the Joker did to him, and the pit? I couldn't imagine. I began to walk back towards the table, not missing how his fingers twitched at the sound of my movement. Setting the washcloth down, I leaned against the back of the couch, right in front of him.
“Jason.” after a few beats of silence he looked up. “You need to stop the bleeding.” He blinked at me in response, eyes unfocused.
“Everything you need is in the pack,” I gestured to the open kit on the table. “If you do not want my help, that is okay. But you need to take care of that.”
Jason silently reached for the washcloth and began to wipe down the surrounding skin, tugging at the cut. He clenched his jaw at each graze, eyebrows knit together as his breath rattled. I watched him struggle for a few moments before his arm dropped, he was unable to twist his body to reach his back. Pushing off from my place against the couch, I slowly walked toward him.
“Jason…”
I began and gently laid my hand atop of his. His gaze was fixated on a seemingly interesting spot on my wood floor and he did not meet my gaze. My hand traveled to cup the side of his cheek, the scruff on his face scraping my palm as I guided his gaze to meet mine.
I caressed his cheek with my thumb as I spoke. “I know it's not easy, but I need you to trust me.” He studied my face, likely looking for an answer to the questions racing through his head.
“Let me help you.” Jason froze at that, his eyes snapping to mine for a moment.
“Okay.” He whispered.
“Okay.”
I picked up the washcloth again and began to gently wipe away the blood and grime from his body. Once his side was clean I moved to his back, vaguely noticing him tense as I did so. Other than muttering soft apologies along the way and the soft drone of cars outside, it was quiet. The tension from before began to disappear along with the tension in Jason's body, leaving a lot of questions and a lot of unresolved trauma.
But that was a job for another day.
After applying what I could to the gash, I gently wrapped it. “This is the best I can do tonight, but you need to go to an actual hospital eventually, Jason.”
“I know. I’ll go and see Alfred tomorrow,” he confessed, pulling on an extra shirt of his I had brought out.
Alfred was no hospital, but that man had the skill to work in one, so I wasn’t complaining. I hummed and walked to the kitchen to clean off my hands, also grabbing some medicine from the cabinet along with a cup. The water did help to soothe some of the anxiety in my chest as I heard Jason gently slide off the table and walk after me.
He settled against the counter next to me, politely observing. Turning off the faucet, I handed him a few pills and a cup of water.
“Take these.”
“Yes ma’am” he murmured before popping the small capsules in his mouth and draining the glass. I gently took the cup from his grasp and set it on the counter, turning back to meet his gaze.
“I’m sorry,” Jason whispered, reaching out to grasp my hand. “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that, I know you were trying to help.”
My gaze softened and I squeezed his hand slightly, “I know. I’m not angry at you.” He released my hand to brace his hands on the counter and sighed.
“You should be.” I cocked my head. “I woke you up at the ass crack of dawn, tracked mud and blood into your house, yelled at you for trying to help, and then made you patch me up anyways”
“Well, when you put it that way-” Jason chuckled.
My heart skipped a beat as he held my gaze, a frown etched into his features.
“You look like a kicked puppy,” Shaking my head slightly, I walked out of the kitchen. "Come on."
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not letting you walk around Gotham like this so let's watch a movie until those pills kick in.”
“Do I need to be worried about what you gave me, Rhea?” Jason teased
Deciding to ignore that, I put in a random movie and settled into the opposite side of the couch, making sure to give him the room he needed to be comfortable as Jason lowered himself into the cushions. We got about 20 minutes into Princess Bride until he spoke up again.
“Seriously, did you roofie me?”
I chucked a pillow at his face, “Shut it, Todd”