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When Jason heard the sound of glass breaking, he didn't even think.
He took the spare respirator from his belt and slapped it over Robin's mouth, tucking the kid back against his chest and ducking them both down under the table in the warehouse. His helmet had a respirator built in, and even if it was broken, it would still protect him somewhat.
"Get down!" He barked, and he could see Dick and Tim diving under various things as the skylights shattered above them, avoiding the falling glass.
"Hood," Robin grunted from behind the respirator. He reached up and took it in his own hands, adjusting it so it was more comfortable. "Your helmet."
"'M fine," Jason insisted, but as soon as the words left his mouth and he saw the noxious, green fog rolling in, he knew what Damian was worried about.
When Jason was scared, he could get angry. And when he was angry, he could start losing control of himself.
"Go, I'll be fine," Jason said, keeping himself tucked out of the way. He had to stay out of the way or he'd be a liability.
"I'll be back," Robin promised, and Jason nodded as his vision started to swim.
The last thing he saw was Damian sprinting away.
Green. Everything was green. And it burned as he rose out of the smoke.
It started to clear, and he was just able to make out the building he was on top of. It was the Wayne enterprises building, and Damian was standing on the edge. No costume, no grapple, just a t-shirt and jeans.
"Damian," Jason said, watching the teen look down over the edge. "Come over here."
When Damian did turn around, his grin was overwhelming his face. And he started laughing, a maniacal, evil sound bubbling from his throat.
"Sorry, Todd," Damian squealed with fake glee. "You're too late."
Jason's stomach dropped as he heard footsteps behind him, and when he turned, it was like he was looking at the devil himself. Dread and fury filled his gut as he took in the face that murdered him so long ago.
The person that was hurting Damian now.
He couldn't stop himself as he reached out and grabbed the clown, throwing him as hard as he could and sending him over the side of the building, laughing all the way. Damian giggled as he watched the Joker fall to his death.
"Damian-"
"That wasn't very nice, was it?" Damian asked, still laughing.
"Damian, honey, whatever he did, we can fix it," Jason said, holding his arms out. "Just come with me."
"I don't think so," Damian shook his head. "You can't fix evil. Though, I suppose we could try."
And with that, Damian flung himself over the side as well. Jason ran towards him, but he was helpless to do anything but watch Damian plummet to his own death, next to the mangled remains of the Joker.
Jason cried out for someone, anyone to grab him, but no one came. No one was coming to save his baby, just like no one came to save him.
"Fuck he's stong," Dick said as he tried to hold Jason down on the bed. He was sitting on Jason's chest, and Roy was behind him on Jason's legs. Damian was struggling with his right arm while Stephanie struggled with the left.
"He's angry," Damian grit out, narrowly avoiding being hit in the face. "It's the pit madness, it makes him stronger."
"Can't we do anything to calm him down?" Roy asked as Jason's knee tried to throw him off. "Talk to him, anything?"
"I can try," Damian said through clenched teeth. "Harper, take his arm. Richard, get his legs."
"He's going to throw you off," Dick warned, but still the three of them cycled until Roy was holding down Jason's arm as it tried to swing, and Dick was managing to keep his legs from kicking.
Damian climbed onto Jason's chest, sitting with as much weight as he could, and tried to get Jason to look at him or at least point his head in the right direction and stop thrashing.
"Akhi, look at me," Damian said, trying not to hurt Jason as he tried to move his head. "We're all here. You're safe, you're in the cave. I need you to look at me, you have to calm down."
Jason's eyes cracked open slightly, but he didn't focus them as he shouted-
"Someone help him!"
"Akhi, it's okay," Damian insisted as Jason thrashed under him. He almost lost his balance, but Roy grabbed him so he didn't fall. "Akhi please, it's me, we're okay."
"Is this working?" Stephanie asked as she was nearly hit in the side of the head.
"No, he can't hear me," Damian shook his head. "If he can't hear me, I can't calm him down."
"How we doing on the antidote there, guys?" Dick asked, dodging a knee.
"Almost done!" Tim called back, and Bruce grunted in agreement.
"He can't hear us at all?" Roy asked.
"You could try talking dirty to him," Stephanie suggested, and Damian swatted at her.
"Gross," he said. "No, he's too far gone."
"Is he always this strong?" Dick asked, pointing his question at Roy. "He could throw you around like a ragdoll."
"Could we please stop talking about that?" Damian asked, struggling to keep Jason's head still so he didn't give himself whiplash. His request went ignored.
"I've never been around him when he was this strong and in a good mood," Roy said, taking an elbow to the ribs. "Fuck, Jaybird." He huffed.
"Okay, got it!" Tim shouted as he ran over, Bruce hurrying behind him.
"Then hurry up," Stephanie said, and Bruce didn't hesitate to plunge the syringe into his skin.
It took a moment, but soon, Jason stopped thrashing.
"Jay?" Roy asked once he was able to let go. Jason's arm dangled at his side, and his eyes started to open further.
Still green.
"Ahki," Damian said, not letting go. "We're fine. We're in the cave."
"Are you hurt?" Jason asked, but it sounded like a growl.
"No, I'm uninjured," Damian insisted, keeping Jason's eyes on him. "You breathed in too much fear toxin. None of it was real."
"You jumped off-"
"No I didn't," Damian said, and he let go with one hand so Jason could turn his head to look at Roy. "I'm safe. So are you. And everyone else."
"Who is sitting on me?" Jason asked, his eyes starting to fade back to blue.
"Sorry, we needed the bigger people to hold you down," Dick said, climbing off of Jason's legs.
Stephanie let go of his other arm, and Damian started to move to get down, but Jason grabbed him.
"Ahki, we need to make sure you're not hurt," Damian said, and Roy helped him get down.
"I've got him, Jay," Roy said, trying to reassure Jason. The man nodded and turned his attention to Alfred as he came waltzing over.
"Hey, Dames," Roy said, nudging Damian where he sat on the couch in the living room. "It's late, you should head up to bed. You've got school tomorrow."
"I am fine," Damian insisted. "You can go home, we will see you tomorrow."
"I'm not going to leave you, kiddo," Roy said, walking around the couch to sit down beside him. "Not by yourself."
"I'm 16 Harper," Damian scoffed. "I can be alone."
"I know you can, I just figured you'd want to talk."
"About what?"
"About Jason," Roy shrugged a shoulder. "It's been a while since I heard you that scared."
"I was not scared," Damian argued, though it was a lie. He was terrified when he called Roy on their way to the cave, asking for help.
"It's okay if you were though," Roy said, staying calm in the face of Damian's attitude. "I mean, I would be."
Damian didn't say anything, so Roy continued.
"It can be terrifying watching someone you love be in so much distress and not be able to do anything about it," Roy said. "But you did really good, keeping him still."
"I couldn't calm him down," Damian whispered, finally turning to look at Roy. "Since Ahki was put in the lazarus pit, I've always been able to calm him down when he got too angry. I don't know how I could have gotten through to him."
"Honey, there was nothing you could do," Roy shook his head. "Fuck, the tranquilizers didn't even work. It's not your fault."
"But he needed me."
"Hey, sweetheart," Roy sighed, wrapping an arm around Damian and pulling him closer. "Listen. I know you and Jay have a special relationship. You're there for each other. But sometimes, you need more than that. You still calmed him down when he woke up. And you took charge of the situation and knew what to do."
Damian nodded.
"How would Jay make you feel better?" Roy asked, and Damian furrowed his brows, tilting his head up to look at him. "Humor me."
Damian thought for a moment before adjusting them both, pushing Roy to lean against the arm of the couch and curling up against his chest despite being 16 and much larger than he used to be.
Roy didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around Damian, and he took the opportunity to trace Roy's tattoos with his finger.
Any time he was upset, Jason didn't hesitate to offer a hug.
"When I was small, Akhi was the only one who would hug me like this," Damian explained. "Grandfather used to get upset with him for coddling me. But Akhi didn't care."
"He wanted to let you be a kid," Roy nodded. "Still does. What else?"
"He used to read to me," Damian admitted. "When I had a rough day with training, he'd draw me a bath and read to me while I played with the bubbles."
"Do you want me to do that?" Roy asked with a chuckle, and Damian swatted his chest with his own laugh. "Ow."
"Did he hit you hard?" Damian asked, conscious of where he was leaning.
"It'll be a bruise," Roy shrugged. "Nothing major."
"Why aren't you in bed?"
Damian turned and saw Jason standing in the doorway, arms crossed. He looked relatively uninjured, which was a relief.
"I was waiting up for you," Damian admitted.
"We were just snuggling," Roy grinned.
"Without me?" Jason asked with a matching grin. "Sorry I scared you guys."
Damian didn't say anything, just untangled himself from Roy and got up to walk around the couch and throw his arms around Jason.
"Hi baby," Jason said, tucking Damian's head against his shoulder. "I'm okay now. Go ahead and get ready for bed, I'll be up in a little while to say goodnight."
Damian nodded before letting Jason go and leaning over the back of the couch to give Roy a hug.
"Goodnight, Dames," he said before letting the boy go.
Once Damian was out of earshot, Jason let himself sink onto the couch and take Damian's previous spot curled against Roy's chest.
"What's up babe?" Roy asked, adjusting them both to get more comfortable.
"He jumped off of Wayne enterprises," Jason whispered. "And there was no one to stop him, I had to watch him kill himself."
"Oh, Jay," Roy cooed, running a hand through Jason's hair.
"I don't really want to talk about it," he said, hugging Roy a bit tighter, which elicited a hiss of pain out of the redhead. "What's wrong?"
"Just a bruise, it's fine," Roy tried to wave it off, but Jason sat up and lifted Roy's shirt enough to see the red, darkening skin on his ribs where he'd been hit.
"What happened?"
Roy blinked at him.
"You got me pretty good while we were holding you down," he finally said. "It'll bruise, but Alfred checked and said I didn't have a broken rib or anything."
"I'm so sorry, Roy, I-"
"Hey, none of that," Roy shook his head, carding a hand through Jason's hair. "You couldn't help it. I'm just glad you didn't hurt yourself."
Jason stared at him for a moment before ducking his head to kiss the red mark on Roy's abdomen a few times.
"Is Lian at home?" He asked between kisses.
"No, I took her to Barbara's place when Damian called me," Roy said, letting his head fall back as Jason placed kisses up his chest to his neck.
"Stay with me?" Jason asked, and Roy gave him a kiss on the lips that left both of them dizzy and breathless.
"You go check on the kid, I'll meet you in your room," Roy said, and Jason gave him another kiss before they both got up and headed for the stairs.
Jason went towards Damian's room at the manor while Roy went for Jason's childhood bedroom. He always liked staying there, seeing this part of Jason that he didn't like to show to others. It was like a secret that he was a kid with stacks of worn paperbacks in his room and posters of bands and plays up on his walls.
When he opened the door and turned the light on, however, he saw Damian in the center of the bed, fast asleep.
He smiled at the kid, curled on his side, like he'd been staring at the door and just fell asleep.
"Damian isn't in his-"
Roy turned when Jason approached, freezing when he saw Damian in the bed as well.
"I think he was waiting for you," Roy said, and Jason sighed with an apologetic smile on his face.
"Think I should carry him to bed?" He asked, raising a brow at Roy.
"Nah," Roy shook his head. "I think we won't get too many more of these nights, we should take advantage of it."
"Agreed," Jason nodded, and the two of them got ready and crawled into bed on either side of Damian. The teen didn't stir, and Jason thanked whatever higher power there was that his kid still wanted to be around him.