You know what I like? Angst. Lots of angst.

This takes place sometime after Jason showed up, Tim was still Robin, and everyone he cared about was still dead.

I do not own Batman.

There were some things that Jason expected to see while wandering through the back alleys of Gotham. Grime, collapsed drunks, and a lot of rats were on that list, among other things.

Something that was not on that list, however, was a certain teenage boy laying helplessly in a fetal position, his cape wrapped around his body like a blanket and his masked eyes firmly shut as tears ran in streams down his face.

"... Kid?" he hesitantly said as he slowly bent down to see the boy more clearly. Tim, not expecting any noise, much less someone talking directly to him, opened his eyes in a sudden movement, wide and full of terror, his arms flapping out and his cape whipping around him.

Surprised by the movement, Jason almost backed away, but soon was in control of himself and took hold of Tim's shoulders to try to calm him down.

"Kid, it's just me, Jason! I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I just wanted to know what was up!"

Tim's thrashing slowed as recognition overcome his features. However, he was trying to pull away instants later.

"Leave me alone, Jason. I feel horrible enough already."

Jason ignored any unpleasant emotions caused by the harsh words in favor of firmly holding grip and forcing Tim to look at him.

"Tim, what happened? What are you doing here, of all places? You should know this isn't a safe place."

The struggling slowed, and eventually stopped, his head lowering to his chest in defeat.

"What's the point?" Tim muttered, barely audible. Jason, however, could hear, and never did a double-take at the words.

"What do you mean?"

Tim's head snapped up, tear springing from the edges of his mask like fountains.

"What is even the point of me being here? Almost everyone I know is dead, yet everyone still manages to be happy, but I can't, I just can't. Anytime something good happens, I just think about how much Kon would have loved it, or Bart, or Mom and Dad, or Stephanie..." His voice trailed off as he started starring at the concrete. "I-I... I just miss them so much."

Jason was taken aback by the outburst. He had not known just how in bad shape Tim was. Grimacing, he realized that it was unlikely that Dick or even Bruce knew either.

Ignoring that for now, Jason decided that, for one night, his tough guy image could be broken,and pulled the now weeping teenager to his chest, sitting there solemnly as he held his broken younger brother.