I'm not jumping from one teet to another. I can handle this. Been doing it since I could walk.
[Paying for parental drug habits had never been easy, but by now Jason is an expert.]
I'm good at this. I'm not gonna be a cop or a sunday school teacher. You're talking to the kid who never finished high school. There aren't options for me, Grayson. This is what I have to do.
[And he chugs down the rest of his brand new beer, wiping his chin when he's finished.]
I'm leaving. And either you open that door or I'm going by window.
[ when Jason finishes wiping off his chin, he'll see Dick's brows, raised, unimpressed. there's a hard look in his eyes, like he's steeling himself up for something, but all that it results in is a sigh, shrug of one shoulder. ]
I can't stop you, Jason.
[ a shake of his head, then dark eyes lifting to look at Jason, as he steps toward the door behind Jason and opens it. the fingerprint scanner beeps, and the whole system unlocks. ]
Just know that I'm here, alright? You can come here if you ever need to. I won't ask any questions.
Right. Okay Counselor Grayson I'll make an appointment.
[And then he disappears into the rain.
For a while at least. Until he's been shot twice, once through the shoulder and the other through his side. Gang fight gone wrong. He supposes this is what he gets for trying to make territory in the middle of the Maroni's. As he slips along Dick's front door, Jason tries to consider himself lucky for not being hit with acid.
But he's fading. A lot faster than he ever anticipated.
Jason raises his fist and gives Dick's door a single knock before he passes out.]
[ for a few days, all that occupies his mind is Jason. he looks out for him in the streets of Gotham and searches for all the clues that could indicate what Jason's up to. but as he promised, he doesn't actively dig. Jason clearly wants his space, and Dick is going to keep to his word and stay away from the questioning.
but days later, when his security system alerts him of a presence at his door, he starts to regret it.
he sees the crumpled form in front of his door and rushes to get it immediately. alarm shoots through his system as he pulls Jason inside, flipping him over only to find so much blood pooled on the floor. ]
Jason? Jason!
[ but there's no response, and Jason is going to bleed out on his floor. Dick scrambles across to kitchen to grab the first aid kit and makes fast work of Jason's clothes, pulling away a zipper, a jacket, to find the wounds. bullet wounds. fuck. there's no time to call an ambulance, and they'll do exactly what he's about to do anyway.
the blood makes everything so slick as he rips open packets of cellulose powder to pour onto the wounds, a substance that will stop the bleeding. he shreds Jason's hoodie between his hands and teeth, the pressure he applies by tying the fabric seeming to do absolutely nothing at first. it makes him feel so desperate as he sits there on his knees, Jason's blood soaking into his pants as he presses hard to the wounds.
but eventually, fabric becomes gauze, and the deep wounds stop oozing, and Dick manages to manoeuvre Jason onto the kitchen island so he can start to extract the bullets. ]
[Jason is barely conscious when Dick finds him, pulls him off his stoop and starts to work on him. He's been bleeding his entire journey to the apartment so when Dick cuts away at the fabric, it's saturated with Jason's blood. His eyes flicker half-open when he's muscled onto the kitchen island and groans,] Dick.
[He's not sure he can feel anything but an overwhelming, burning pain in his chest, but he's not in any condition to do anything about it.]
Dick. [He tries again, louder, but he can't find Dick through the haze in his vision.]
[ Jason makes a sound that may have passed for his name, but it's so quiet, so gurgly that Dick barely hears it over the sound of his own heart pounding in his ear. one bullet gets pulled out and dropped into the kitchen sink, his hands bloody and slipping on the forceps.
but Jason says it again and Dick looks up, breathing a sigh of relief as he finds Jason's hand with his and squeezes, leans his face in close to look at Jason. ]
I got you, Jason. [ he breathes, urgency in his voice as he presses a compress to the open wound, quietly counting the seconds in his head. ]
You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay. I’m here. [ he’s here, because he wasn’t here for Jason in the past, because he’s only going to miss those slipping hands once. now, he needs to save Jason. ]
Gonna get this other bullet, okay? It’s gonna hurt.
[Jason hasn't been this afraid since he was dropped off the side of a building. He remembers Dick's arm closed around his, how it slipped through, how Jason fell fifteen stories. There's more blood in his mouth as he tries to focus on Dick.]
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
[He tries to slow his breathing, to hear Dick's words and believe them.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
I'm not jumping from one teet to another. I can handle this. Been doing it since I could walk.
[Paying for parental drug habits had never been easy, but by now Jason is an expert.]
I'm good at this. I'm not gonna be a cop or a sunday school teacher. You're talking to the kid who never finished high school. There aren't options for me, Grayson. This is what I have to do.
[And he chugs down the rest of his brand new beer, wiping his chin when he's finished.]
I'm leaving. And either you open that door or I'm going by window.
no subject
I can't stop you, Jason.
[ a shake of his head, then dark eyes lifting to look at Jason, as he steps toward the door behind Jason and opens it. the fingerprint scanner beeps, and the whole system unlocks. ]
Just know that I'm here, alright? You can come here if you ever need to. I won't ask any questions.
no subject
Right. Okay Counselor Grayson I'll make an appointment.
[And then he disappears into the rain.
For a while at least. Until he's been shot twice, once through the shoulder and the other through his side. Gang fight gone wrong. He supposes this is what he gets for trying to make territory in the middle of the Maroni's. As he slips along Dick's front door, Jason tries to consider himself lucky for not being hit with acid.
But he's fading. A lot faster than he ever anticipated.
Jason raises his fist and gives Dick's door a single knock before he passes out.]
no subject
but days later, when his security system alerts him of a presence at his door, he starts to regret it.
he sees the crumpled form in front of his door and rushes to get it immediately. alarm shoots through his system as he pulls Jason inside, flipping him over only to find so much blood pooled on the floor. ]
Jason? Jason!
[ but there's no response, and Jason is going to bleed out on his floor. Dick scrambles across to kitchen to grab the first aid kit and makes fast work of Jason's clothes, pulling away a zipper, a jacket, to find the wounds. bullet wounds. fuck. there's no time to call an ambulance, and they'll do exactly what he's about to do anyway.
the blood makes everything so slick as he rips open packets of cellulose powder to pour onto the wounds, a substance that will stop the bleeding. he shreds Jason's hoodie between his hands and teeth, the pressure he applies by tying the fabric seeming to do absolutely nothing at first. it makes him feel so desperate as he sits there on his knees, Jason's blood soaking into his pants as he presses hard to the wounds.
but eventually, fabric becomes gauze, and the deep wounds stop oozing, and Dick manages to manoeuvre Jason onto the kitchen island so he can start to extract the bullets. ]
no subject
[He's not sure he can feel anything but an overwhelming, burning pain in his chest, but he's not in any condition to do anything about it.]
Dick. [He tries again, louder, but he can't find Dick through the haze in his vision.]
no subject
but Jason says it again and Dick looks up, breathing a sigh of relief as he finds Jason's hand with his and squeezes, leans his face in close to look at Jason. ]
I'm right here.
no subject
Fuck. [Jason forces himself to focus his wandering gaze on Dick's face. That face that he hates more often than not.] Dick. Help me.
[He knows he stepped too close to the fire.]
I somehow lost this!!!
You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay. I’m here. [ he’s here, because he wasn’t here for Jason in the past, because he’s only going to miss those slipping hands once. now, he needs to save Jason. ]
Gonna get this other bullet, okay? It’s gonna hurt.
all good!
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
[He tries to slow his breathing, to hear Dick's words and believe them.]