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English
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Part 6 of Whumptober 2022
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Whumptober 2022
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Published:
2022-10-10
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1,642
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1/1
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patching hearts

Summary:

“The villain has been locked up. He was misinformed about who was responsible for locking him away.” Batman’s gaze was presumably fixed on Jason’s scarred and half-taped arms, though the cowl made it hard to tell. “Why are you not using bandages?”

Jason frowned. “This is the third time this month that I’ve been attacked. You need to deal with whoever planted the misinformation –”

“Jason.”

Or: Amnesiac college student Jason is used to getting regularly attacked by villains and being subsequently visited by Batman. Yes, this is his normal.

Whumptober day 11: self-done first aid

Notes:

Hello and welcome to whumptober day 11: self-done first aid. I'm excited to be writing for this fandom again because it was my first one and I missed it dearly. Hope you enjoy!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“Ow, ow – ow!” Jason yelped. Wild vines had exploded across the valley, their torns digging into his cheap leather jacket in the tight space.  He ducked under a large creeper plant, wincing in pain as it torn a long scar on his arm. His hatred for Ivy was growing with each passing second. Looking over his shoulder, he yelled, “Could you stop trying to kill me? I don't have time for this!”

The masked metahuman that had been stalking him for the past hour hung suspended in the air over the vines. Jason had never seen him before, but the man was nonetheless happy to use the Arkham breakout chaos to make Jason's night miserable. 

“You ruined my life!” the metahuman yelled.

“I don’t even know who you are!” Jason shouted incredulously. 

Another bout of purple flames shot out at him. One nicked the vine an inch from his head. The college student shuddered and continued pushing through the wild growth. Batman would be too busy to intervene and Jason had a medical exam to study for. This stupid chase was stealing away from his precious study time.

Ugh. Time to lose a murderous stalker. Again.

–*–

“That is not a good idea.”

Jason looked up from the taped-on tissues across his arm to see a tall, dark figure standing in front of his window. He blinked.

“You can’t keep doing that,” he said, raising a brow. “I’m going to have a heart attack one day and sue you for damages.”

Batman didn’t snort because he was Batman, but he did let out a soft breath that was close enough. Jason grinned as the vigilante crossed the room. The man stood at the end of Jason’s worn couch, looking hilariously out-of-place in his dark kevlar suit amidst the meager student apartment.

“So, the new villain that tried to kill me today,” Jason said casually. “What was up with that?”

Under the cowl he saw the man's lips twisted into a frown. No doubt he was already annoyed with not catching up in time to deal with the stalking incident, though Jason felt pretty proud for tricking the villain into jamming himself between vines.  

“The metahuman has been locked up. He was misinformed about who was responsible for locking him away.” Batman’s gaze was presumably fixed on Jason’s scarred and half-taped arms, though the cowl made it hard to tell. “Why are you not using bandages?”

Jason frowned. “This is the third time this month that I’ve been attacked. You need to deal with whoever planted the misinformation –”

“Jason.”

“ – I mean, I’m a college student. In pre-med school. When am I going to have time to lock someone up –”

“Jason.”

“– Like, you would assume whoever’s targeting me would be smart enough not to pick someone like me. But if you haven’t been able to catch him yet, I guess he’s smart enough –”

“Jason, your arms,” Batman growled. In a quick motion, the man was kneeling before the student while carefully holding onto the pale, scarred arm. “Why are you not using bandages?”

The twenty-one year old huffed, face involuntarily burning as he looked down at his handiwork. Most of the red scarring was covered up by scrunched up kleenex and green painter’s tape. It didn’t look that bad anymore. Batman was overreacting.

The man made some disapproving grunts as he examined Jason’s other arm, also layered with tape and tissue. He was starting to feel offended. For a low-budget medical student, he’d done a decent job.

Gosh, this is what my life has become, Jason realized with a mix of distant horror and hysteria. Batman breaks into my house and worries over me.

The surreality of the situation had died the first time Batman broke in his house to inform Jason that someone was targeting him, and the vigilante would be very sure to keep him safe until the threat was dealt with. After the second, third, fourth and fifth time though – it was starting to come back.

Batman was fretting over him. And Jason was letting him.

Jason had to have the weirdest college student life ever if this was his normal.

“Shouldn’t you be beating up criminals and terrifying civilians right now?” Jason asked faintly. “Don’t you have more important things to do right now?”

“Bandages,” Batman growled again. “Where are they?”

“Oh my goodness. Fine. I don’t have bandages.”

“You don’t own a first aid kit?”

“This is my first aid kit,” Jason said pointedly, gesturing to the assortment of tissues, tape and scissors messily laid out on his coffee table.

Batman stared. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m a broke college student. I can barely afford rent right now. Do you know how expensive first aid kits even are?”

“But you have a scholarship,” Batman said. If Jason didn’t know better, he would think the man sounded lost.

“How do you even – nevermind. Of course you’d know about that,” he huffed. Was it worth starting a conversation about healthy boundaries with the top-ranked most terrifying vigilante in the world? Maybe not. “The Wayne scholarship stuff only covers tuition. I still have to pay rent, groceries and a bunch of other things too, y’know.”

If he had family out there, maybe they could have helped out. But it didn’t matter because Jason couldn’t remember them. He may never, if the doctors were to be believed. Retrograde amnesia at maybe eighteen years old. What a life.

“I see,” Batman said after a long pause. He stood abruptly and stalked to the other side of the room, flicking the apartment lights on. Jason winced at the sudden brightness, absently wondering how the man knew where the light switch was.

“What are you doing?” he asked when the vigilante took his arm again, crouched before him on the ground. With surprising gentleness, the man started to peel the makeshift bandages off. They still stung. “Ow! What the – why are you doing that?”

“I am going to re-bandage your arm,” Batman said.

“What?” Jason said incredulously. “Ow – why?”

There was another long pause where the vigilante didn’t respond, instead annoyingly (but carefully) peeling the tape off Jason’s arm. The student let out a long sigh and conceded to this being one of the many things he wouldn’t get an answer for.

Batman had been like this since their first meeting. Although Jason had assumed he was a robber and tried to attack the man with a wooden vase when they first met (yes, it was embarrassing; no, he did not succeed), Batman had always been careful with Jason. Tentative and gentle, checking in on him after every ambush regardless of if he was on time to step in. It was like Batman thought Jason would shatter like glass if he was too rough.

The strangeness of the situation was not lost on him. Batman was ruthlessly efficient as a nighttime vigilante. The criminals he encountered would shake in fear at his name, the metahumans he fought would know they were against a terrifying challenge.

Batman was not known for being kind or caring or warm.

Yet Jason saw all those parts of him and more.

An hour later, Jason was covered up in a mix of bandages and gauze on both arms. He slouched on his couch, exhausted despite not having moved an inch. Outside his window, the moon had started to dip, gentle orange light spilling into the sky. It would be morning soon, and he hadn’t studied for his exam a bit. Ugh.

Batman frowned, the motion barely visible under his cowl as he stood up. “You should rest. It’s been a long night for you.”

“But I have to study,” Jason half-whined. His face burned and he coughed into his arm. “I mean, prepare for exams and stuff.”

“You will not perform well in your exams if you are not well-rested,” Batman said. Jason absently wondered if he was a parent. He had the reprimanding-scolding part down. “Your body and mind need time to recover from the incident.”

“Really? I didn’t know, Dad,” he huffed sarcastically. He stretched on the couch, forcing down a yawn. “I’ll just study a bit and then sleep, relax.”

The room temperature plummeted. Heavy silence blanketed the apartment like snow on a brittle winter night. Jason stiffened and looked up.

Batman was standing eerily still, as though he were frozen. His cowl was fixed on Jason, breathes coming slightly shuddered. Jason sat up, alarmed. Was he having a panic attack –

“I hope you do, Jay,” the vigilante said hoarsely. “I hope you do.”

Jason hesitated. “Are you… are you okay–”

“Here are some bandages.” The man pulled out a small, white box from his utility belt and placed it on the table. He wasn’t looking at Jason anymore. “Clean and change them regularly. I’ll drop a first aid kit tomorrow night.”

Something was wrong. What had happened? Did Batman remember something? Did Jason say something wrong?

Jason stood from the couch, forcing his feet awake. “Batman –”

A flash of darkness. An open window. An empty room.

Batman was gone.

With an irritated sigh, Jason lowered himself back to the couch, mind racing. He hoped he didn’t say something wrong. Whatever he had with Batman was weird – but he liked it. It was the closest thing Jason had to feeling some sort of… belonging, since his memory began. He didn’t want to lose it because of something he didn’t even know about.

But then again, Batman’s disappearing act wasn’t new. He went out with a blink of an eye every time they spoke. He’d probably be back when Jason got attacked again too.

Jason stared at the little white box on his table and wondered. There had to be something he could do to get Batman to stop being so annoyingly mysterious. He just had to find out what.

Notes:

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos always appreciated :)

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