thegoshdarn | (no subject)

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It starts with a stupid mistake in gym class. She's tired, and she's not paying as much attention as she should, and it ends in a softball to the face that gives her a nasty black eye. She's had worse, obviously. It's not a big deal, it's just very visible once the skin blossoms into a bruise. There's a paper trail for it for once, so she doesn't have to worry about hiding it from her dad, which should be a relief but somehow snowballs into fuck-up number two: dinner.

Jack's having one of his I should be a good dad moments, so he insists on eating dinner with her. Which is - it's fine. They order out, and he's drinking wine that apparently pairs very well with sushi or so he informs her, and for thirty minutes he's been chatting about recent archeology news and how well the business is doing and she thinks he's looked at her properly about three times the whole dinner and not once has he given any sign that he's noticed his daughter's left eye is practically swollen shut. And she doesn't know why, but something in her snaps, and the next thing she knows, she's picked up the bottle of wine that pairs so well with sushi and dropped it on the ground so that it smashes open and there's glass and wine splashing over her shoes.

After the yelling, she's locked in her room, her phone and all her electronics taken away. She's grounded, of course, and if she had an ounce of sense, she'd wait it out, but the same impulse that made her provoke her dad has her climbing out the bedroom window. There's no convenient tree branch she can climb down, so it's not a safe exit by any means, but she's Robin and even before she was Robin, she spent years sneaking around Gotham at night taking pictures of the Bats. It's practically nostalgic.

She really ought to be going to Wayne Manor, but somehow she finds herself getting out at a stop near Red Hood's territory and going for a walk. It's not the safest place to be having a near dissociative episode, but Jason is pretty good at making it clear minors are off-limits in his space so she supposes whatever part of her brain is currently in charge could have made a worse decision.

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Jason was on his motorcycle and doing his rounds when he spots a teenager walking by herself. Concerned that someone so young was by herself this late at night, he slows down and then realizes he knows her. Then he spots the black eye.

"Hey, what happened?" Jason asks, worried.

She's not supposed to be on patrol tonight. Was there an accident or something else?

She should have realized that being in Red Hood's territory meant risking the possibility of running into Red Hood, and yet.

She blinks at him. She ought to have iced her eye better, and there's dried wine on the bottom of her jeans because she hadn't thought to change. But it's hard to think about what she looks like from the outside, what Jason's seeing. She ends up staring at him blankly. "Hood."

The dark stain on her jeans also doesn't go unnoticed. Between that, the black eye, what Jason knows about Tim's parents, it's hard not to guess something grim happened. Did Jack do this to her? For a moment, Jason's temper flares.

"Hey," he then croaks as he forces himself to focus on more pressing matters. He gets out of his motorcycle, zips open the trunk bag, and offers a spare motorcycle helmet to Tim.

"Come on."

She's been trained to read body language, and even though it's Jason, she tenses for a moment at the visible flare of anger before he's offering her a ride. She doesn't really know what she's doing here walking, so there's no reason not to accept it. She takes the helmet and settles it on her head. "Okay."

As Jason zips up the trunk bag, he frowns under his helmet. Tim seems...dazed? Or in shock over whatever happened earlier tonight. It doesn't ease his anxiety.

"It'll be short ride," He says as he sits back on his motorcycle. "Hold on tight."

He then starts his bike.

It's much easier to follow along with what Jason wants than it is to make decisions, which she's only been half-doing to get to this point, so she nods and climbs onto the bike and wraps her arms around him, letting her brain go even fuzzier with the sound of the engine taking her away.

The roar of the engine and him needing to focus on the road means neither of them talk during the ride. His anxiety over his little sister is still there too. There's so much he wants to say and do to make sure she's okay.

About ten minutes later, he parks his motorcycle in the garage of what looks like a neglected two-story condo building. Inside though, it's one of his more secure safehouses.

He shuts off the engine and gets out of his motorcycle.

"Tim?"

Now that they weren't out in public, Jason feels more comfortable saying her name and revealing how concerned he is over her.

"Hm."

They all have their own safehouses. Jason's are the most removed from everyone else's, and most of the ones Tim has access to are really Batman's safehouses, but she's gotten used to stepping into a new building and seeing a different set-up but the same principles. Necessities, heavy security.

Vaguely, she wonders if her dad's noticed she's missing yet. It's not like he can call her to find out where she is. She gets off the bike and takes the helmet off, absently running a hand over her hair where it got ruffled by the ride.

Jason takes off his own helmet, tucks it under his arm and goes to unlock the door to the staircase.

"How're you feeling?" He asks as he pulls open the door. He has some idea what the answer is but would rather hear it from her first.

It's kind of nice to be able to see his face and not the helmet, not that she says anything like that out loud. Feels more like she's with a person. Or Jason, at least, instead of Red Hood.

"Fine," she says on automatic, because of course she does.

Right. Of course she would say that despite the very visible black eye on her. It doesn't at all ease Jason's concerns.

He starts to head upstairs to his living space.

"You wanna shower or eat first? I still got some spare clothes for you and I went grocery shopping earlier today."

They're small questions compared to what he really wants to ask but Jason knows she's not going to be so forward yet.

Although she really only barely ate dinner, she's not hungry. But the mention of a shower and new clothes causes her to remember that what she's wearing isn't exactly clean, and she glances down at the stain on her jeans.

"I'd like a shower."

Jason takes off his domino mask once they reach the top of the stairs and into his living room. Evidently, he had converted the interior of the condo building to have more open space. It's nowhere close to being as luxurious as Wayne Manor and all the furniture appears to have been bought secondhand but it's comfortable enough for Jason.

Jason walks over to a closet, pulls out some clean sweat clothes, and offers them to Tim.

"Just leave your other clothes in the hamper. I'll wash them later."

It's nice, at least. Homey, inasmuch as a safehouse can be a home. It's second nature to start building a map of the space, make a note of where she can most likely expect certain things knowing Jason, places to hide.

"Thanks."

It's worrying for Jason to know how little Tim has said so far. She's not the most chatty but it's an uncomfortable type of quietness in the air. Jason gestures to a door down the hall.

"First door on your right is the bathroom. Anything else you need?"

"I have enough."

She has a change of clothes and she knows where to find it. That's fine, and probably for the best, because the sooner she gets in the shower, the sooner she has a moment of actual quiet in a house where there's not an angry Jack stomping around somewhere. (There is an angry Jack somewhere, and sooner or later he's going to realize that she's gone but that's a problem for later and he took her phone away so he can't contact her when he realizes anyway.)

The shower is - nice. It's somehow easier to think and breathe normally, and something about the feeling of hot water on her skin makes her feel a little less outside of herself. More present. She spends longer than she means to in the shower as a result, but she has to and does come out eventually, not really sure what her next step is.

While Tim showering, Jason's in the kitchen brewing a pot of chamomile tea. He knows Tim didn't request it but he wants to have something soothing ready just in case. Jason's also aware that it's perhaps for his own benefit too.

He keeps furrowing his brow as he speculates what happened. He knows Tim's black eye and dirty clothes didn't come from Robin duty tonight and Jack is home for once. Tim would have to be home whenever he's around.

As he waits for the water to boil, Jason's grip at the edge of his kitchen counter tightens. He's well aware that his already low-opinion of Jack Drake could be coloring his ruminating but he doesn't see how Tim's father isn't connected to her current state.

It doesn't take someone who's been trained by the world's greatest detective(tm) in reading body language to guess that Jason's not having a great moment right now, and she casually gives him a bubble of space between them as she sits down at his kitchen table. Not because she's really concerned about what he might do, but it's more comfortable.

Jason walks over to her while carrying a tray with a pot of chamomile tea and tea cups. It's not until everything's on the table and he sits down that he talks.

"Feeling better?"

"Mm-hmm."

She raises an eyebrow at the tea. "Borrowing Alfred's technique?"

"I don't see why not. Learn from the best, right?" Jason smiles. "It's chamomile."

He pours her a cup before pours the other cup for himself.

"It seems pretty late for caffeine."

"Since when have we ever cared about how late it is for caffeine?"

Okay, maybe they have on occasion. Tim doesn't, typically.

"Are you going to ask?"

Jason takes a small sip of tea before calmly responding.

"I want to but I can't force you to talk about it if you don't want to."

As upset as he is, he knows flying off the handle on her isn't going to be much use.

Well, it's going to happen sooner or later. And she supposes she should talk about it at some point, if only because maybe Jason can help her figure out what to do from here. "I had a fight with my dad."

Jason's stomach turns upon hearing that. This is something he doesn't want to be right about.

"How badly did he hurt you?"

The black eye is obvious but he's worried about what else happened. The stains on her pants from before further reinforces Jason's suspicions.