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Fic: The Bargain (Kings Among Runaways)
More from me, on this series, and also one from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kirax2 , who is now MY partner in crime...
Series Title: Kings Among Runaways
Story Title: The Bargain
Summary: The AU where Tim ran away from home at the tender age of mumbledyteen, and Jason got let off with a warning, the night he met Batman.
Warnings: Sexual content including minors, both disturbing and hopefully not.
Note: The series is indexed here.
They’ve been fed three times now, not counting the cookies, and Pennyworth wants to be called Alfred, and Batman wants to be called Bruce, and nobody’s talking about the Grayson kid, or the cops, or social services.
Jason would have sworn he hadn’t slept , but by the time Tim woke up, there had been clothes on the dresser – new ones, not hand-me-downs. Jason had torn their bags apart, and found everything still there and apparently undisturbed, except for the nine he’d snatched two weeks ago from under a dealer’s pillow.
Tim had dressed in the new clothes – a polo and some gray slacks that somehow fit the way he walked. Jason didn’t change – just followed him down to the dining room in the same grungy jeans he’d been nabbed in, pink shit still all over the back of his shirt. He hopes they got the message.
They’re back in the room, now, and Tim’s sleeping easy as Jason’s ever seen. Jason’s been staring at the door for at least two hours, and sleep is pulling at the backs of his eyeballs, and Wayne hasn’t made a move, and Jason’s going a little insane.
Tim mumbles and lets go of him to roll over. Before he can settle his back against Jason’s, though, Jason is sliding carefully off the bed, across the floor, and out the door.
There’s a light on at the end of the hall, and it turns out to be Wayne, reading something that he sets aside before Jason even makes a sound. The room is full of bookshelves, and things, and Jason’s not sure what the difference is between a library and a study, but that doesn’t really matter when Wayne is sitting there staring at him, his thick, scarred legs and his huge fucking chest not hidden at all by a flimsy silk robe.
Jason swallows, and then he just stands there getting stared at until he wants to scream.
Wayne finally uncrosses his legs and sits up straight. God, he’s fucking huge. “Do you need something, Jason?”
“Yeah,” Jason says, and then, stronger, “yeah,” because he’s not afraid of Batman. “I need you to leave Tim the fuck alone.”
Wayne blinks once, and then says, “I have no intention of—“
“No,” Jason says, “shut up. If you touch him, I’ll kill you. If you – if you ever give him a reason to be afraid, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you are the fucking Batman. I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill your goddamned butler, and I’ll burn this house to the fucking ground.”
Wayne doesn’t blink this time. He just watches Jason, his face blank as stone, and says, “I’ve spent my entire life training under the world’s masters of combat.”
“I don’t care,” Jason says, and it’s not bravado, it’s the truth. Wayne could snap him like a twig where he stands, and Jason doesn’t care. “I’ll do it anyway.”
Wayne smiles. It’s really kind of a scary smile, all narrow eyes and sharply twisted lips. “You love him a great deal.”
“He’s just a kid,” Jason growls. “He’s the smartest kid in the whole damned world, but he doesn’t know shit about people, about what they’re like inside. He’s good. He’s not like the rest of us.”
“Us,” Wayne says.
It’s not a question, but Jason pulls his fists tight and says, “yeah.”
“Hm.”
Jason wants to punch him. He digs his nails into his palms instead and says, “I’ll pay his price. Whatever you want from him, you take it from me.” Wayne doesn’t blink, and Jason starts to sweat. “He’s warm, he’s fed, he’s happy, and as near as I can tell, he’s safe from everything but you. I-“ Jason looks away for the first time, examining the carpet under his feet. “I know I can’t keep him safe forever out there. He won’t let me.”
“Hm,” Wayne says again. “The burglaries were his idea.”
Jason doesn’t know how he knows, so he just shrugs.
“There are a limited number of ways for boys your age to support yourselves on the street. All three are illegal. All three leave victims. One of them leaves no victims but the self.”
Jason doesn’t ask. He’s pretty sure he knows, anyway. There's drugs, sex, and hurting people. He’s always made his choices very carefully.
“Tim found a way to limit casualties to what he felt was acceptable.”
Jason doesn’t look up again for a long time, until the silence makes his skin itch. Wayne’s eyes are soft, now, and Jason realizes they’re blue, like Tim’s. It makes them harder to meet, but he does it anyway.
“I’m heterosexual,” Wayne says. “Mostly. The last time I felt sexual desire for a minor, I was sixteen years old.” He pauses. “If you take more care with your own safety, there’s no reason you can’t continue to see to your friend’s happiness yourself."
*
Jason slips back into bed and presses his face into the pillow. He’s not sure why he feels so humiliated – why somehow this is worse than if Wayne had bent him over or beat him down. It’s not like he’d wanted it, or anything, but the rejection leaves him feeling useless and hollow.
He doesn’t have anything Wayne wants, he realizes. There’s nothing left to bargain.
“You’re shaking,” Tim says, and Jason should have known he’d be awake. “Jesus. What did he do?”
Jason doesn’t roll over, even when Tim tugs. “Nothing,” he mumbles into the pillow.
There’s a pause and then - “I’ll kill him,” Tim swears, and rips the covers back to get his feet onto the floor.
Jason has to roll over and grab him around the waist, roll them back to the middle of the huge bed just to hold him there and laugh against the warmth of his belly. “I’m okay,” he mumbles, and kisses Tim once just above his navel, where his shirt has ridden up.
“If he hurt you—“
“Tim,” he murmurs, and Tim’s hands find their way into his hair to pet and tangle and curl it around his fingertips.
“Jason,” Tim says back, barely more than a sigh. His belly jerks under Jason’s breath. Jason smiles and rubs his face against it.
“Go back to sleep, kiddo,” he says. “We’re okay.”
END
kirax2 , who is now MY partner in crime...Series Title: Kings Among Runaways
Story Title: The Bargain
Summary: The AU where Tim ran away from home at the tender age of mumbledyteen, and Jason got let off with a warning, the night he met Batman.
Warnings: Sexual content including minors, both disturbing and hopefully not.
Note: The series is indexed here.
They’ve been fed three times now, not counting the cookies, and Pennyworth wants to be called Alfred, and Batman wants to be called Bruce, and nobody’s talking about the Grayson kid, or the cops, or social services.
Jason would have sworn he hadn’t slept , but by the time Tim woke up, there had been clothes on the dresser – new ones, not hand-me-downs. Jason had torn their bags apart, and found everything still there and apparently undisturbed, except for the nine he’d snatched two weeks ago from under a dealer’s pillow.
Tim had dressed in the new clothes – a polo and some gray slacks that somehow fit the way he walked. Jason didn’t change – just followed him down to the dining room in the same grungy jeans he’d been nabbed in, pink shit still all over the back of his shirt. He hopes they got the message.
They’re back in the room, now, and Tim’s sleeping easy as Jason’s ever seen. Jason’s been staring at the door for at least two hours, and sleep is pulling at the backs of his eyeballs, and Wayne hasn’t made a move, and Jason’s going a little insane.
Tim mumbles and lets go of him to roll over. Before he can settle his back against Jason’s, though, Jason is sliding carefully off the bed, across the floor, and out the door.
There’s a light on at the end of the hall, and it turns out to be Wayne, reading something that he sets aside before Jason even makes a sound. The room is full of bookshelves, and things, and Jason’s not sure what the difference is between a library and a study, but that doesn’t really matter when Wayne is sitting there staring at him, his thick, scarred legs and his huge fucking chest not hidden at all by a flimsy silk robe.
Jason swallows, and then he just stands there getting stared at until he wants to scream.
Wayne finally uncrosses his legs and sits up straight. God, he’s fucking huge. “Do you need something, Jason?”
“Yeah,” Jason says, and then, stronger, “yeah,” because he’s not afraid of Batman. “I need you to leave Tim the fuck alone.”
Wayne blinks once, and then says, “I have no intention of—“
“No,” Jason says, “shut up. If you touch him, I’ll kill you. If you – if you ever give him a reason to be afraid, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you are the fucking Batman. I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill your goddamned butler, and I’ll burn this house to the fucking ground.”
Wayne doesn’t blink this time. He just watches Jason, his face blank as stone, and says, “I’ve spent my entire life training under the world’s masters of combat.”
“I don’t care,” Jason says, and it’s not bravado, it’s the truth. Wayne could snap him like a twig where he stands, and Jason doesn’t care. “I’ll do it anyway.”
Wayne smiles. It’s really kind of a scary smile, all narrow eyes and sharply twisted lips. “You love him a great deal.”
“He’s just a kid,” Jason growls. “He’s the smartest kid in the whole damned world, but he doesn’t know shit about people, about what they’re like inside. He’s good. He’s not like the rest of us.”
“Us,” Wayne says.
It’s not a question, but Jason pulls his fists tight and says, “yeah.”
“Hm.”
Jason wants to punch him. He digs his nails into his palms instead and says, “I’ll pay his price. Whatever you want from him, you take it from me.” Wayne doesn’t blink, and Jason starts to sweat. “He’s warm, he’s fed, he’s happy, and as near as I can tell, he’s safe from everything but you. I-“ Jason looks away for the first time, examining the carpet under his feet. “I know I can’t keep him safe forever out there. He won’t let me.”
“Hm,” Wayne says again. “The burglaries were his idea.”
Jason doesn’t know how he knows, so he just shrugs.
“There are a limited number of ways for boys your age to support yourselves on the street. All three are illegal. All three leave victims. One of them leaves no victims but the self.”
Jason doesn’t ask. He’s pretty sure he knows, anyway. There's drugs, sex, and hurting people. He’s always made his choices very carefully.
“Tim found a way to limit casualties to what he felt was acceptable.”
Jason doesn’t look up again for a long time, until the silence makes his skin itch. Wayne’s eyes are soft, now, and Jason realizes they’re blue, like Tim’s. It makes them harder to meet, but he does it anyway.
“I’m heterosexual,” Wayne says. “Mostly. The last time I felt sexual desire for a minor, I was sixteen years old.” He pauses. “If you take more care with your own safety, there’s no reason you can’t continue to see to your friend’s happiness yourself."
*
Jason slips back into bed and presses his face into the pillow. He’s not sure why he feels so humiliated – why somehow this is worse than if Wayne had bent him over or beat him down. It’s not like he’d wanted it, or anything, but the rejection leaves him feeling useless and hollow.
He doesn’t have anything Wayne wants, he realizes. There’s nothing left to bargain.
“You’re shaking,” Tim says, and Jason should have known he’d be awake. “Jesus. What did he do?”
Jason doesn’t roll over, even when Tim tugs. “Nothing,” he mumbles into the pillow.
There’s a pause and then - “I’ll kill him,” Tim swears, and rips the covers back to get his feet onto the floor.
Jason has to roll over and grab him around the waist, roll them back to the middle of the huge bed just to hold him there and laugh against the warmth of his belly. “I’m okay,” he mumbles, and kisses Tim once just above his navel, where his shirt has ridden up.
“If he hurt you—“
“Tim,” he murmurs, and Tim’s hands find their way into his hair to pet and tangle and curl it around his fingertips.
“Jason,” Tim says back, barely more than a sigh. His belly jerks under Jason’s breath. Jason smiles and rubs his face against it.
“Go back to sleep, kiddo,” he says. “We’re okay.”
END
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But <3 anyway.
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Glad you like him. ^_^
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Love him. <3
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“I’ll pay his price. Whatever you want from him, you take it from me.”
*wibbles* Jason! (I still love this!)
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This series is just so sweet. I love it because they're young and not douche-y and Tim's a little
evilgenius and Jason's so adorably protective it kind hurts my inner morally conscious saint.Great stuff.
And could I friend you, perchance?
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I'm glad you like the story. ^_^ I have a thing for Wee Tim, and I've been enjoying writing from Jason's point of view. He's really kind of fun!
Is that Rorschach in your icon? I'm disturbed. Rorschach is not supposed to be attractive.
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Regardless, he had some great arms in that movie. Really great arms.
It's also really amusing how many people have this reaction.
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Loved this so much! Jason's feelings there at the end, and Timmy wanting to defend him made such a great part, excellent work! Can't wait to see more :D
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Yeah, in all instances save where Clark's involved. *sniggers*
All this pedophile stuff does rather unfairly malign Bruce. He can't help it that the first kid he adopted grew up to look like sex on legs and the kids he happened to pick up afterward looked a good deal like him. XD
I hadn't thought before that Bruce would actually cut a pretty intimidating figure even out of the Batsuit. Poor Jay. So, protective of Tim, even when Tim is 10 times more physically and emotionally able to look after himself than Jay is. *cuddles him*
I love that Bruce is taking care of them now, freeing them up for lots of hot boy-sexxing.
Speaking on which, where is it? Git in the kitchen and make me some Robin porn, wench! =D
My only coplaint about this is that it's too short. Only one story left! Whatever shall I do? =(
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Yeah, in all instances save where Clark's involved. *sniggers*
See, now, I was thinking boarding school shenanagins with Harvey, but that works, too. ^_^
I hadn't thought before that Bruce would actually cut a pretty intimidating figure even out of the Batsuit.
I've seen him drawn this way in the comics, though I couldn't tell you which artists off the top of my head. I'm picturing Alfred breezing into his room and throwing his curtains wide. It's pretty canon that Bruce runs around mostly naked in the house at strange hours, and the robe he's usually in is really kind of tiny.
I think he'd be MORE intimidating to Jay like this - particularly this Jay. After all, this Jay isn't afraid of Batman. Bruce is another story, though.
Only one story left! Whatever shall I do? =(
You will wait patiently until I finish my tiny-dirty-mattress, Robin-Dream porn.
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Mmm. I totally ship those two from the Nolanverse movies. Seeing Bruce stare mesmerised into Harvey's eyes during that dinner scene will never not crack my shit up.
It's pretty canon that Bruce runs around mostly naked in the house at strange hours, and the robe he's usually in is really kind of tiny.
As a woman who prefers her men kinda cuddlesome and medium-sized, this is rather off-putting. O_o
You will wait patiently until I finish my tiny-dirty-mattress, Robin-Dream porn.
*drools*
Yes, mistress. As you say, misstress. *bows*
...Okay, that was creepy. *g*
I going to friend you now. It is all your fault for dangling Robin-dream porn at me. XD
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MMmmmmmmmmm BeefPatty, gotta love a large and in charge man. Actually I see Bruce as a combination gymnast body and Martial Artist Body. Both well musceled but not muscle bound. Bulk that moves with preditory grace.....
Okay enough of that, get the to the porn young lady!!!!
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Yes. Jason would see Tim exactly that way.
“There are a limited number of ways for boys your age to support yourselves on the street. All three are illegal. All three leave victims. One of them leaves no victims but the self.”
“Tim found a way to limit casualties to what he felt was acceptable.”
Wonderful. Because Bruce is watching Jay threaten him and reading the gesture for all it's worth in terms of emotional information on the boys. And because Tim is just as protective of Jay as Jay ever was of him, and Tim has scarily effective way of working his will.
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I just think, in light of Bruce's three things, and Jason's hatred of dealers and others that prey on children, and his hatred of those who prey on the weak... You know the Batmobile wasn't exactly the easiest target he could find.
Anyway, that's the argument in my head that Jason was probably in the sex trade - and hating it for the reasons he hates it in Mouths To Feed, and also probably a smaller scale version of this, beating up dealers without gang affiliations and stealing their cash.
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OMG!
Love it.loveitloveitloveit.
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Glad I'm making you happy!
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Bahahaha! That's a hell of a caveat. It's probably good that I try to only read Fanfic at home, because I laugh at inappropriate times, probably. Like that quote. And how you put Bruce in a tiny silk robe, heh.
N'awe. Poor Jason. I hope he gets tested soon. I'm worried about him. :(
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