Wow would you look at the time? Or rather the extremely extended absence?
Due to the (many) bugging messages I received, the next thing to be put up is from the Rubble!verse. In about a month I have holidays so expect more then -- until that time I'll try to be more consistent.
Anygays, Rubble!verse, next chapter (it might help to re-look over the series before reading this -- last chapter found here)
Jaytim with a touch of Damicol. And Jason being all broskies with Dami because I like some brotherly sorta-bonding in my writing.
He felt guilty until the demon jumped up spitting Arabic, accidentally breaking a lamp and forcing the three of them to run from the church and hide from honest to god nuns while his friend struggled out of sleep groggily just in time to see them volt out a window.
“When you say you’re gonna come home at a certain time,” Jason seethed as they caught their breath around the corner, “be home at that time. Little assh-”
“Jay.”
Damian jutted out his chin and glared up at Jason, somehow attempting (and relatively succeeding to be honest) to look dignified and superior standing in a tank top, underwear and socks in the middle of a dark alley way.
“I don’t respond to you.”
“Yeah? Who cares. You gotta respond to someone before falling off the radar. Dick thought you were dead, or at least kidnapped. He has half the hero community looking for you.”
There was a flicker of guilt behind Damian’s bravado, his voice becoming stilted and hard.
“I did not mean to panic anyone.”
“Too bad, you did anyway. I mean, I get you needing to spend time with your ‘friend’ kid, but come on. One phone call – it’s not that hard. How’d you feel if Colin said he’d be over in ten and never showed?”
Tim shot Jason a sideways glance. Was he… comforting? Tim was stuck by the heavy fact that he knew so much about Jason – he knew how he breathed, how he spoke, the way his heart beat when he was unsure, the intimate feel of his lips and the slanted curve of his back under delicate fingers. And, despite all of this, he knew very little. Jason kept surprising him, taking the safety off the gun and throwing assumptions to the wind. Tim tried to focus on the conversation; Jason’s tone had slipped from angry to scolding, but Damian hadn’t noticed, his face falling immediately into an odd mix of determined and panicked.
“I’d find him.”
“Of course you would, you’d tear the damn city apart. So why’d you think Dick would do any less?”
The guilt crashed back onto Damian’s face, slightly more noticeable than before.
“I’ll apologise.”
“Damn straight. Now move your ass, the car is around the corner and you’re awful inconspicuous in your current state of dress. Not that Colin would have minded, I imagine.”
A faint pink pool across Damian’s cheeks but he adjusted the bundle of his uniform that was sticking awkwardly under his arm and strode forward without biting at the comment. With an arm settled around Tim’s shoulders Jason followed, pulling the younger man with him.
“That was…”
“Awesome, I know. I’m just that good.”
“Jay… you went full mentor on his ass. And he accepted it.”
“He’s just a kid Tim. I mean, he may not be ten years old anymore but he’s still just a kid. He’s angry, and he’s violent and he wants to do whatever the hell he wants and chances are he’ll do it anyway and—“
“He reminds you of yourself.”
“He does not.”
“Angry. Violent. Unyielding. Sounds like you.”
“I am not-“
“No you’re not. But you were. When you were his age, you were. You can relate. That’s why he responds to you, but he’s always butting heads with Dick. And you, Mr. Tough Guy, you kinda like it.”
“… Shut up.”
Tim’s smug grin was flashed in Jason’s direction.
“Thought so.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dick and Damian’s screaming match lasted an hour and ended with Alfred making cookies and using security code to keep them locked in rooms at opposite ends of the house.
Jason ate nearly all the cookies and called it vengeance and Tim pretended not to notice when he left a perfectly even number remaining.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something Jason had said stuck.
“What, you thought I just killed drug dealers and bugged on the bat? I got commitments Lil’ Bird and I’ve been slackin’ on them,”
He was right. Jason had commitments – it might not seem like it, at least when compared to Tim’s list of commitments (and he had a list; it was two pages in really small font), but Jason had them and he’d been all but ignoring them without complaint, putting Tim first.
Logically, Tim knew the comment hadn’t been meant as a bitter swipe, but it was enough to spur him into action.
Spur may have been the wrong word, since they were lazing in bed hours later when he thought of it, listening to the rain pound against the windows. He was lying on his stomach, his face buried in the pillows with one arm looped lazily over Jason’s chest. It was too dark to see the older man, unless you counted the occasional flashes of lightening that lit the room blindingly for split second intervals, but Tim could feel him breathing, hear and feel his heart beating softly, reassuring him of his presence.
Tim knew Jason was awake. Jason’s fingers were dancing lightly across the skin of his back, too light to wake him if he’d been sleeping but heavy enough for him to notice if he was simply dozing.
“Hey Jason?”
“Mmm?”
“I think we should start training again. Get back out there.”
Jason shifted beside him.
“Really?”
“Yeah. We’ve been out of the game long enough. People are bound to notice that we’re missing, take advantage of that.”
Tim could practically hear Jason thinking, mulling it over.
“I want to…”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming.”
“Smart ass. I want to but… can we really risk this? People do notice Tim. They’re gonna notice if we come back and work together, and they’re gonna notice that we need contact, and they’re definitely gonna take advantage of that.”
Tim sat up a little.
“I’m not saying it would be easy – we’d probably need to totally re-invent ourselves, no more Red Hood or Red Robin, not to mention we’d have to learn whole new fighting styles, and we’re probably going to have to actually work a little harder at gaining distance. But we both know you’re going stir crazy and… we do have commitments. We can’t keep slacking.”
“I know that…”
“And since when does a little fear keep us grounded? We’ve never let it before.”
He felt Jason’s sigh brush against his shoulder as the other boy shifted again, dragging them closer together.
“If we do this we’re going light. Nothing serious until we’re… we’re used to it, and we can handle it, okay? No showing off or attracting attention.”
“I never thought I’d hear the day when Jason Peter Todd wanted to take it easy.”
“Tim…”
“I know, I know.”
He wouldn’t make Jason say all the things lingering on his mind, it’sdangerousIdon’twannaloseyoudon’tsendmeintothedarkwe’regonnagetcaughtandIdon’tknowifIcanhandleitdon’tmakemelearnwhatitfeelslikepleasedon’tsendmetohell, because they were sitting on his mind too.
Because apparently Jay and Tim have been avoiding going home for days IRL but in the Rubble!Verse it's been like... an hour.
-----------------------------
The manor appeared to be empty when they stepped through the doors.
They'd been gone for nearly 24 hours, hiding in Jason's apartment. Dick had called and Tim had lied. They had turned the phone off and rolled on the bed, cuddling close, whispering into skin and lying with closed eyes and comforting warmth.
They were in their own little world, so very, very private.
Now they were back in the manor, so very far from private and probably about to receive the dressing down of their lives.
“Okay. We’re adults.”
“Yup.”
“They can’t actually tell us what to do.”
“Nope.”
“And we can always move into your apartment.”
“It’s a shithole.”
“We’ll get a new apartment.”
“We can start looking in the morning.”
“We could start looking right now?”
“Tim…”
“I know, I know.” The younger boy shrunk into Jason’s side a little more and let out a long breath.
“HEY!”
Both of them jumped in an undignified manner, whirling around to see Dick storming up.
“Uh oh.”
“Where the hell have you been?!”
“Uh. Well,”
“I had to see a teacher,”
“Yeah, he had to do school shit so I had to come,”
“Cuz you know, we’re sorta stuck and--”
“Look I don’t really care – have you been looking for him?”
“Him? Who?”
Dick’s expression crossed from upset to livid.
“DIDN’T YOU CHECK YOUR VOICEMAILS?!”
“N-no?”
“DAMIAN IS MISSING!”
“Da… what? How long has he been missing?”
“Since yesterday! He didn’t come home from patrol! Com’ed in to say he’d be home at ten. Ten came – nothing. Didn’t hear from him all night.”
“So all the phone calls and everything today… you were trying to get us home to help find Damian?”
“What did you think I was calling for?!”
Tim and Jason exchange a quick look.
“Nothing.”
“Not a single thing.”
Dick looked at them for a moment before exploding with a giant “gah!” and storming off.
“GET OUT AND LOOK FOR DAMIAN! AND DON’T COME HOME UNTIL YOU’VE FOUND SOMETHING!”
They two stood in the hallways for a long moment.
“So. Think he’s been too distracted to know?
“I’m thinking yes.”
“We should go and find Damian now.”
“I bet you ten dollars Damian fell asleep with Colin.”
“Wait,” Tim froze, looking up at Jason, “you know about Colin?”
“Kid’s an orphan, spends time on the streets. I consider him to be under my personal protection, like all the street kids. At least I did until Damian came along and you know… this happened. But Damian swept the little chicklet up didn’t he, so Colin hasn’t needed help.”
“Yo… you know all the street kids. By name.”
“When they tell me them.”
Tim ogled Jason for a long moment.
“Seriously?!”
“Seriously,” Jason smirked down at Tim, “what, you thought I just killed drug dealers and bugged on the bat? I got commitments Lil’ Bird and I’ve been slackin’ on them.”
“So. To… Colin’s?”
“Got a demon to pick up. Think Dick will still be bitchy if we find his hatchling?”
I'm just making little drapples for this verse, there is no real story line for it I don't think, not at the moment anyway. Feel free to request things from this verse, and the baby!verse, etc.
Anyway, Jay/Tim, Rubble!Verse, Shower.
-----------------------
They’d been avoiding it. Tim knew it. Jason knew it. The whole damn household knew it.
Changing was hard enough. (“Are you looking?” “I’m not looking kid.” “…. No, seriously are you--” “for fucks sake Tim I’m not looking, would you hurry up and take off your pants?!” “… That sounds like you’re looking.” “OH COME ON!”)
Tim didn’t even want to get started on going to the bathroom. (“Dude, you’ve been twitching for the past half hour. What is wrong with you? Louder babybird, just cuz you’re close doesn’t mean I can hear you.” “… I need to pee.” “Why didn’t you say you needed to pee, come on, to the bathroom.” “No, it’s okay.” “Oh my god Tim, this is about the me looking thing isn’t it?” “YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN’T LOOK AND YOU DID.” “You’re hot and you’re getting undressed in front of me, I can’t be held responsible for my- OW!”)
But they couldn’t do this any longer.
Because they were starting to smell.
Jason wasn’t going to say anything. Tim knew that, because even when he wrinkled his nose at their particular scent he would just grin wickedly and raise an eyebrow at the younger boy. He wanted Tim to be the one to say they had to get naked and soapy together.
And Tim was holding out. He kept telling himself that he could smell it because they were always so close together. It wasn’t until Damian commented that he knew it had gone too far.
“Todd. Drake.”
“What do you want demon spawn?” Tim tried not to snicker at Jason’s lazy response, tilting his head around the curve of Jason’s shoulder to see Damian better.
“I would like to apologize for underestimating your strength.”
Even Jason was caught off guard by that.
“Uhh… thank you?”
“Clearly you have greater strength than I realized.” Damian nodded and turned to leave.
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Damian frowned at them.
“Your scent. It must take great strength to put up with it so constantly.”
“You little-“
And Tim has to hold Jason back while Damian laughs and makes his escape.
“That’s it. We need to shower.”
Jason’s expression melted from one of anger at Damian to his usual smirk that appeared whenever a piece of their clothing had to be removed – this time it was larger, with an added bragging measure. Because he’d won.
That awkward moment when Ava can guilt you into just about anything.
";u; Even if it’s just a little snippet like this."
I actually felt guilty. The woman has skills.
Anyway, Jason and Tim undergo some Therapy regarding their condition. I don't know why but Dick always just seems to be there.
From the rubble!verse which can be found here
Another 500 words
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“You ready?”
“Nope.”
“…”
“How bout now?”
“Nope.”
“…”
“How bou-”
“Shut up and give me a minute will you?”
“Fine, fine,” Tim let out a longsuffering sigh and waited, throwing Dick a short look.
Therapy.
More like torture.
They were sitting on the bed, Jason at the head while Tim rested at the base. They were still hand in hand, the grip meeting over the middle of the bed.
Grip was an over exaggeration. The pad of Jason’s middle finger was pressed against Tim’s. It was the only physical contact they had. Jason’s vision was already starting to darken and Tim’s breathing was spiking.
Dick was standing by, stop watch at the ready.
The exercise was simple enough. Remove grip. Time how long it takes one of them to snap and spring back at the other. Rinse and repeat.
Tim just wanted it over. His chest was already hurting from the shortness of breath. The sooner they played experiments, the sooner he could breathe. Even if it meant breathing while cuddle against Jason’s side.
“Okay. Okay I’m ready.”
“On the count of three,” Dick called from his corner.
“One.”
Jason was giving Tim a look that said he really didn’t want to do this.
“Two.”
Tim gave a look that agreed. They both had horrible nightmares on therapy days.
“Three.”
They pulled back.
Tim’s breath caught, choking in his throat.
Jason’s vision closed off and the world pressed in on him.
They both quivered like tightly strung violins.
A minute.
Two.
Maybe three even.
Then they snapped, almost simultaneously. They smashed together over the soft mattress, curling into each other. Tim was too busy trying to catch his breath to speak so Jason asked the question hanging in the air.
“How long was that?”
“Fifteen seconds.” Tim whimpered into Jason’s chest.
“What?!”
“How long did it feel like?”
“A few minutes…”
“Minutes? That felt like minutes?”
“I thought we were holding out.”
“You didn’t even look like you tried.” Jason pulled Tim a little closer, glaring at the older man and turning from him slightly.
“We were fucking trying okay, this isn’t easy!”
“Maybe if you weren’t gripping him so tightly…”
“Fuck you. Get out.”
“Jason, I’m trying to help you.”
“Leave.”
Dick jumped a little.
That was Tim.
“Tim?”
“Leave. Please.”
Dick watched them for another long moment before leaving without a word.
“Sure, he listens to you,” Jason mumbled into Tim’s hair.
“That’s cuz I’m not telling him just out of spite.”
“Then why are you telling him to leave?” Tim pushed his forehead into Jason’s shoulder.
“We only lasted fifteen seconds Jay.”
“I know Tim, I was there.”
“I couldn’t breathe.”
“I couldn’t see. The walls closed in on me.”
“I felt like I was dying.”
“Same here kid.”
Tim chuckled.
“We’re really fucked up, aren’t we?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear baby bird.”
