Terry walked into the bedroom Jason was in and saw the other man asleep, lying on his stomach with his hands curled around a pillow.
Terry stood in the doorway for a while; staring and thinking about what his life would have been like if he had decided to go with Dick. Dick would have never gotten Jason from wherever he was from, but judging from his screaming words to Bruce that was nowhere and he had no one.
He turned to walk down the hallway when Jason opened his eyes. They stared at each other silently, Jason's eyes filling with tears. Terry opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when Jason said plainly, "You have it so good, you know."
"What?"
"They both love you, I can tell. Dick talks about you like you're this perfect superhero and that I'm just this replacement and Bruce…when I told him that he was using you, his face looked like he knew that, but it hurts him so much that he pretends not to. He, "Jason laughed, wincing, "You've slept with him, yeah?"
Terry blushed, looking down at his shoes.
"I guess that means yes. Dick won't even touch me, except for kissing. He likes to kiss me with his eyes closed."
Terry looked up, frowning. "He's really mad at Bruce, though. When I let him in his eyes were all red and I think he'd been crying. I think he…"
Jason closed his eyes and Terry saw tears falling down his cheeks. "He might care, but it's not what you have. I'll never…it'll never be that. Not for me."
"Jason, what's your last name?"
Jason looked at him. "Does it matter?"
Terry shrugged, walking into the room and sitting in am armchair by the bed. "No. I just…it feels weird just thinking of you as Jason."
"Tolne. It's the name my mother used when she was alive. I don't use it anymore."
"Oh," Terry said, looking back at the doorway, "I still think Dick cares about you more than you think."
"Why?"
"Because before he left with Bruce he stood in the hall and listened to you yell at Bruce, leaning his head on the wall."
Jason stared at the door, then at Terry. "He did?"
Terry looked at him. "Yeah. For a while, he just listened to you talk. Like…"
"I was making sure you were real."
Jason's head whipped around so quick he winced, but there stood Dick Grayson, looking worn out in every way. "Dick."
"Terry, can you leave us?"
Terry nodded, grabbed Jason's hand and squeezed a second before leaving.
Dick entered and sat down in the chair he'd left behind and just stared at the young man in front of him. He reached out and touched Jason's face, making Jason close his eyes and sigh, leaning in to him.
"I'm so sorry."
Jason opened his eyes. "What?"
"I'm so sorry I did this to you. You could've been paralyzed. You could've died. You…"
Jason grabbed his hand and held on. "But I'm not. It just hurts a lot but…"
Dick took his hand away and shook his head. "That's not good enough. Your back was nearly broken. They beat you with a pipe, Jason! That, that can't happen again."
Jason's eyes filled with tears again and he sat up, wincing. "Please, Dick. Don't throw me away, I…I'll get better! I will! I'll train harder and I'll make sure that I don't get caught again I…"
Dick shook his head, tears in his eyes. "Jason, this is ridiculous. You can't do this and you know it."
Jason hit him in the face, surprising him. "YES. I can. I want this and you can't take it away!"
Dick rubbed his jaw, wincing. "Shit, that hurt."
Jason glared at him, sniffling. "I don't care."
Dick smiled, rubbing his jaw still. "Yes, you do."
Jason didn't smile back at him and he took the younger man's hand. "I'm sorry, all right?"
Jason let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I can…?"
Dick nodded. "As soon as you're healthy again."
Jason grinned and grabbed Dick's chin, pulling him into deep kiss that the older man deepened, standing and sitting on the bed, leaning the two of them back slowly so as not to hurt Jason again.
When they pulled apart both of them were panting and Dick kissed him again softly.
"Don't scare me like that again, kid."
Jason ran his hand through Dick's silvery black hair, smiling. "Okay. As long as you promise not to scare me like that either, cuz that was really bad. I didn't like it."
Dick nodded, kissing his neck and making Jason sigh.
"Never again."
Someone coughed and another someone cleared their throat. Jason and Dick turned to look at the door.
Terry and Bruce stood in the doorway. Terry was grinning and Bruce stood stoic beside him. "Yes?" Dick asked.
"You are more than welcome to stay for the remainder of Jason's convalescence," Bruce informed them.
Dick smiled. "I was going to anyway, but thank you for the invitation."
Bruce smiled. "I told Terry as such, but he was so insistent that I invite you myself that we had to interrupt you. My apologies."
"It's okay," Jason said, kissing Dick's cheek, "If we were gonna have sex, it wouldn't be here and it wouldn't be now. Dick left all the ropes at home, and it's boring without them."
Bruce's eyes widened at the comment and Terry blushed. Dick burst out laughing and his head fell onto Jason's chest.
Bruce nodded. "We'll leave you to yourselves then," he turned to leave when he stopped and added, "Though you're more than welcome to use ours."
With that, Terry practically ran away and Jason's eyes widened. He looked at Dick. "He wasn't serious, right?"
Dick looked up and smiled. "With him, you can never tell."
"That's pretty schway. He's probably got way more than you do."
Dick kissed him soundly, laughing, and held him tight. This time he didn't plan on letting go.
FIN
Sequel? Look for it soon.