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It was supposed to be a normal patrol, but Jason just had to go and lose his footing on the uneven cobbles on the back street. Batman didn’t even notice Jason collapse, running ahead of him in pursuit of the purse-snatcher they were trying to catch.
“Robin, with me,” Batman ordered, his voice ringing through Jason’s head. “Keep up.”
No matter what happened, Jason had to keep up. He always had, thus far. If he ever fell behind - made Bruce think he wasn’t worth keeping around - he’d lose everything. Bruce could go on and on about how Jason had a place at the manor until his face went blue, but at the end of the day, Jason knew he was expendable. Another pawn in Bruce’s war against crime.
“I’m coming!” Jason called back, trying to steady himself. As he put weight on his leg, a jolt of pain ran up from his ankle to his knee. It was probably sprained. Pretty badly too, going by how painful it was to put any weight on it.
“Robin?”
That didn’t matter now. All that mattered was catching up with Batman.
Jason had been playing catch-up his whole fucking life, and he was sick of it.
“Robin!”
Breaking into a sprint, Jason ran over to where Batman was waiting for him, at the dead-end of an alley. There was a wire fence, which was probably how the purse snatcher escaped them. He’d climbed over the fence, which was too delicate for Batman to climb without risking injuring himself.
“Robin, what happened?” Bruce could really make his voice terrifying when he wanted to. Jason had to grit his teeth to not wince.
“I fell.”
“You fell,” Batman repeated. “Is that a reasonable excuse for failing to keep up with me during a pursuit?”
“Well, I–”
Batman held up a hand. “I’m not done.”
Jason promptly shut up.
“If you had been performing adequately, you would have been able to climb that fence, and we would have caught that thief. Due to your failure, an innocent person has lost their wallet and other valuable belongings. Is that acceptable?”
“No…”
“Precisely. Do better next time, Robin.”
“Can we go back to the cave?” Jason asked after a few moments had passed. “Please?”
“I don’t see why we should. The night is still young. You still have an opportunity to prove yourself to me. Do you wish to squander that opportunity?”
Jason hesitated. His ankle was screaming at him, but he really didn’t want to let Bruce down.
Hell, Bruce probably knew about his sprained ankle. He was crazy perceptive sometimes. Probably thought Jason deserved it for being a useless fuck up.
“Sorry,” Jason mumbled. “We can stay on patrol.”
“Good. Don’t let me down again.”
Jason sure as hell wasn’t planning on it.
When they returned to the Batcave, Jason asked if he could have help getting up the stairs to his bedroom. Bruce furrowed his brows, staring at him with a look of clear confusion.
“Why do you require assistance?”
Jason looked at him like he was an idiot. “Because of my sprained ankle.”
The silence within the cave was deafening.
“What are you talking about?”
“My ankle? I sprained it during patrol.”
Bruce could have sworn he felt his heartbeat reach a crescendo in his chest. “Show me.”
Sure enough, Jason’s ankle was sprained, the skin around it swollen and red. He was lucky he hadn’t cut off his own circulation. He must have been in an unimaginable amount of pain.
Bruce had been so caught up in his own frustration that he didn’t see the pain his son was in.
“I’m so sorry, Jaylad. I should have noticed,” Bruce said, knowing full well that his pleas meant nothing.
How could he have made such a horrible mistake?