The Talk - Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne - One shot
Pairing: None besides father/son dynamic
Genre: Hurt, No Comfort, Angst
Word Count: 1.7k
Summary: All Robins get "the talk," however there's is about surviving torture. Jason is the first one to actual need it.
CW: Torture, Major Character Death, Death of a Child, It's Literally Jason's Death at the Hands of the Joker, Please Read With Cation
read on AO3 here! I'm sorry for this one. It's based on this post by @frownyalfred. When I get the calling to write about Jaybin I can't ignore it. divider by @diviniyae
The cave was quiet that night. It had been a long patrol – one of Jason’s first– and both Bruce and Jason were exhausted. They’d spent the night stopping petty crimes, preventing assaults, and catching an attempted break-in before it even happened. During all of this, nothing was out of place. Jason fought well, but something rattled around in Bruce’s mind every time he watched Jason take a hit. They needed to have the talk.
Bruce took off his cowl, and with an exhale started, “Jason, we need to talk.”
The bright eyed boy jumped, “About what B?”
“You’re going to need to sit down for this.”
“Oh God B, I already had that talk…you don’t need to do that.” An exasperated Jason blurted out.
“It’s not that, Jason.” Bruce sat down at the Batcomputer and ran a hand over his face. He tried to remember how this conversation went with Dick. “You fight well. You’re capable. One day you will fail.”
“What are you talking about B?”
“One day, you will be captured. You will be used as collateral. They will hurt you. You will break. Everyone does.”
Jason’s voice shrank. “....But you wouldn’t break B.”
“Everyone breaks.” Bruce said, unnervingly calm. “Even me. It’s important you know this.”
Jason fidgeted in his seat, suddenly somber. “Then…what’s there to do?”
Bruce froze at the comment because no matter how different Dick and Jason were, they somehow always asked the same questions. “You outlast them. You do everything in your power to last, because ultimately it cannot go on forever.”
The quiet of the cave was oppressive. It weighed down on the pair uncomfortably. Jason had stopped his fidgets, having chosen to stare at the ground. Bruce looked at the boy wonder, he was so young, too young to be hearing about this.
He shook the thought from his head before continuing on. “Your job is to deflect, to get under their skin, to react in every way but the way they intend.” He sighed, “The longer you can keep them away from your breaking point, the better.”
“....Why would I want to drag it out…?” The boy had asked, looking up at Bruce.
“Because then I can find you, and I promise Jason, I will get to you.”
Jason carried that promise with him. It was a comforting presence in his life, a weighted blanket that provided safety. When fights got too rough, Bruce was there to help him out. When he was injured, Bruce played the medic. B was Jason’s grounding base. Jason carried that thought with him all the way to the Joker.
Jason should never have gone. He had been overconfident, and just like Icaras he was bound to fall. The only difference was instead of wax burning his back, it was the fall of a crowbar. Jason was faring okay, afterall, Bruce would be here for him soon.
“What's that supposed to hurt?” Jason had said as the crowbar drove into his ribs.
Sure it did hurt, but he could endure. The streets had made him tough, and Bruce made him strong. He was Robin; he had big shoes to fill. He hadn’t spent much time with Dick, but he figured he could handle this. It hadn’t even been that long. Bruce was sure to find him. Bruce was the best detective ever! He’d be home in a week, and back on patrol in a month tops. Bruce would lecture him on his confidence for sure, but he couldn’t stay mad forever could he?
Then the crowbar hit his ribs again knocking him back into reality.
“Batman? Never heard of him!” Snickered the broken bird with the bloodied face.
It had been a few weeks since Jason was captured. It was hell for him. The only person he’d seen was the goddamned Joker. Jason had started to find everything completely funny, most likely from the sleep deprivation. He hadn’t seen the sun in weeks; what little food and water he received barely kept him going, but he was determined.
Bruce told him –no promised– that he would find him. Bruce had never once broken a promise to Jason, and he wouldn’t start now…however, between the lack of sleep and the beatings, a tiny voice began to creep in. A small but cruel voice. Jason didn’t even know where he was, how would Bruce find him? Normally their missions didn’t take this long, and especially when there was a hostage involved. Jason couldn’t think like that. Bruce must just believe in him and have something important he was working on. Bruce wouldn’t forget about him.
“Oh no the agony!” Uttered the mangled boy wonder.
Months had passed. There had been no sign of Bruce. Hell, even the Joker had started to show up less and less. When he did, he barely even spoke anymore and just laughed. It was driving Jason just a little bit insane. Actually, it had been really getting to him. He had started to hallucinate about five weeks in. It started with hearing footsteps or distant shouts, the sounds of someone finally here to save him.
From there it escalated. He started to hear the shouts of Bruce calling his name. Part of him knew Bruce wouldn’t be risky enough to shout while on a reconnaissance mission, the other part of him was too damaged to care. He’d cried out the first time he heard him thinking it was finally over. He missed the sun, missed the air, missed the smell of anything but rusty iron and blood.
Jason was tired. He could stand the beatings, the exhaustions, the deprivations, but he couldn’t stand being alone. He’d always known that was his breaking point. The second Bruce had told him to know his limit, he knew it would be isolation. Now he was facing it. Joker didn’t have funny quips, didn’t even respond to Jason anymore, didn't even laugh. That’s when Jason had started to see flashes of Bruce. Bruce in the corner, Bruce running into the room, but worst of all Bruce swinging the crowbar down onto him. That was the final straw for Jason.
He finally cracked. “Goddamit say something!!”
The Joker let out a slow maniacal laughter sending chills down Jason's spine. “Oh now the little birdy has lungs! I was just starting to think I had really broken you!”
Jason was for the first time truly terrified. Joker wouldn’t be this happy if things were looking good. He began to panic,“Fuck you!”
“Such a dirty mouth, do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh wait, I forgot!” Joker laughed maniacally, “so little bird, you figured out old batsy’s not coming for you didn’t you?”
Jason tried his best to look menacing, he tried to glare but one of his eyes was swollen shut. All the pain he’d been ignoring for months hit him like a brick. Jason tried to speak but it came out all stuttered and disorganized.
“Don’t even bother birdy, I have news to tell you! Old Batsy has a new bird flying around with him!”
“What.” Jason said before his brain could even process he shouldn’t react.
“You haven’t heard? Oh silly me I doubt you could hear news down here. Batsy’s been spotted with a new little Robin by his side. The new one is supposedly even faster than you were, I’d say smarter too cause he didn’t try to take on a villain by himself! Oh who am I kidding, no one remembers you Jason. They’ve all moved on from you, you’re a thing of the past. The sad thing is I don’t even think the old bat was close to finding you!”
Jason felt tears running down his face despite his attempts to control them. Bruce couldn’t have forgotten him, he just couldn’t have. Bruce promised him he would find him, he couldn’t have replaced him so quickly.
“You’re lying!’ Jason practically yelled out.
“I wish I was my boy, but I am afraid it’s so.” Joker grabbed a box shaped object and set it in front of Jason. “Since I am sooooo kind, I figured I might as well put you out of your misery now”
Jason couldn’t even understand what was happening. He saw the bomb being placed, saw the countdown start, saw it tick from minutes to seconds, but nothing in him could push him to react. He’d been not only replaced, but forgotten. As the final seconds ticked down one sentence echoed in his mind.
“I promise Jason, I will get to you.”
Those same words coursed in Bruce’s mind as he watched the warehouse go up in flames. The ashes rained down on Bruce as he ran into the building. Inside he found the mangled corpse of his child. The same one who he had promised to find, the same child who had believed in him. He picked up the bloodied and limp corpse and walked out of the skeleton of the warehouse, his brain silently echoing his own words back to him. They screamed as he stood at the grave of his second child.
The cave had been quiet, the only sound being the quiet hum of the light illuminating Jason’s suit. Bruce and Tim had returned from a long patrol. It had been normal, small crimes and prevented assaults, but something was going off in Bruce’s head like a semitrucks horn. Tim needed to have the talk.
“Ja-Tim. We need to talk.”
Tim cringed at the slip but moved past it. “What is it B.”
“Sit down.”
“You better not be trying to have that talk. I already know about that.”
“No. It’s not that Tim. It’s about Jason.”
Tim sits down quickly. “Oh.”
Bruce exhaled. “Jason survived for months under torture from Joker. He pushed through and survived until…until the explosion. Do you know how?”
“Because he was strong?”
“Because he knew he would break. Everyone breaks.”
“Everyone but you.” Tim scoffed.
“Wrong, everyone, especially me, will break.” Bruce said sharply, “the only thing you can do is know where your point is, and get them away from it.”
Tim nodded, he could see the pain in Bruce’s eyes when he spoke. He saw the pain he carried with him every time someone mentioned Jason. He knew about the visits to the cemetery.
“Remember, I will try to get you, but I am not promised. Just know that if I am not there, it’ll be over soon enough.”
