i was born to hold my hands up (open)

[reneger]

Who: jason todd reneger & whoever
What: downfall event prompts ; post-event happenings
When: late july - august
Where: excelsior, central city, nyc
Content Warnings: body horror, child death, child abuse, general violence, drug overdose, suicidal idealization, etcetc



prompts in the comments because.... i can.

Comments

[batsymbol]

( with the pup there on the bed now, he sniffs around a bit — tail wagging away as he does, and bruce just sits there, staring still at the way the batsuit peeks out at him from the shadows of the duffel bag. fitting, he thinks.

as jason speaks — as he lingers there close to the bed, he doesn't look to him, but he hears him. he does. it shows in the way his eyes soften some, the way his brow gently furrows a bit, as if trying to imagine being in the shoes of the bruce wayne that jason and the others know and have. he can't imagine breaking jason's arm — can't imagine hurting someone like dick jr. or tim jr. his mind tries to piece together why. if he'd become so far wrapped up in being vengeance, that it's all he knows now. all he can understand. all he can relate to.

there's a moment, fleeting as it is, where he wonders if that's where he's headed as well.

then jason goes and says he's better than that and that has bruce slowly look over to him and there's a heaviness there in his eyes that goes beyond exhaustion. it's a man just barely hanging on, part of him wanting to let go.

a glance to the pup there who's flopped themselves down on the bed, he looks back to the duffel bag. )

Alfred's in the hospital because of me. ( the words are soft. heavy. ) The Riddler wanted to kill me. To kill Bruce Wayne. But Alfred was the one to suffer. I don't know if he's going to pull through or not. Because I'm here and I don't know what to do with being here.

( so he does what he does with the guilt he carries for his parent's deaths. goes out looking for a fight. a distraction from that pain and anger. and wears scars and bruises as a sort of reminder of that guilt. of that failure. )

[reneger]

Alfred's tough, moreso than anyone else we've got. He'll pull through. An' even on the off-chance he somehow doesn't, he wouldn't want you moping around being a dick to everyone just 'cause he got put in the hospital.

( alfred would want bruce to figure his shit out and keep going. wouldn't want him falling into grief again over losing yet another parental figure. or jason assumes, because he doesn't know this bruce's alfred, but he knows his own well enough to count. jason knows it's--complicated, that it hurts because he can't even imagine how bad the pain would be if he were to lose alfred.

jason turns around on his heels, slowly makes his way back to the door. he's gotten enough out of this. )

Don't know what the hell I'm doing here either, y'know. Everything's a mess, there's so much crap going on and 's all out of my league. If one more thing falls apart I'm gonna lose my shit and start setting everything on fire.

[batsymbol]

( as jason moves to head to the door, the pup gets himself up and walks over on the bed. tail wagging, mouth hanging open. wondering where the person who'd spoiled him with pets is going, probably.

bruce, on the other hand, just keeps staring to the duffel bag. )

Jason.

[reneger]

( he stops. just inside the door still, not quite going out of it but ready to turn the corner the moment he feels the need to run. but he doesn't. just tilts his head to the side so his chin's almost even with his shoulder, so he can look at bruce behind him.

raises a hand to press his palm against the door frame. )

Bruce.

[batsymbol]

( jason speaks and the pup gives a happy little bark, tail wagging away, small paws touching down the side of the bed as if wanting to jump down but not.

like jason, bruce tilts his head just enough to barely look back to him over his own shoulder. )

No matter what happens, I got your six.

[reneger]

( he doesn't move for the longest time. stays right where he is, hand still on the doorframe. breathes deep enough it causes his shoulders to raise along with the movement, lets it out slow. )

Next time, check in. I'll make sure you're added to the group chat.

( or he'll make a new one for conversations they don't mind bruce seeing, either way. jason doesn't wait for an answer, and instead just lets himself right on out. he'll take his bike back out of excelsior, ask strange for a lift back to the east coast. )