Chapter Text
Slade hears the soft sigh, signifying the kid’s awakening, and his gaze instantly snaps up. The peacefulness sleep has gently applied on that sweet, youthful face cracks a bit under a deepening frown. A small whine follows, and when these blue eyes locate him, Slade moves his chair forward, his hand almost automatically drawn to cup the side of the boy’s face.
He’d promised himself he’d hold back from any gesture of this kind. Didn’t want to encourage even more all these feelings between them. Yet the way Jason looks at him, so damn grateful for his presence, so innocently relieved and content, has such warmth immediately spreading to his core (especially as the boy sighs happily, nuzzling his face into his palm, lightly rubbing his chin against the scent gland on his wrist) that it somehow breaks through all his defenses, against his better judgement.
It’s frankly outrageous how it just keeps happening with this damn kid. How Slade just doesn’t seem to have enough self-control around him.
“I’m here,” he murmurs, carding fingers through soft, wavy black hair. “It went well. Everything’s fine.”
Jason takes in a tiny breath, eyes briefly closing. “Can I… some water?” he stammers.
Slade nods and turns to get the glass from the bedside table. There’s a straw there too, and he helps Jason drink from it. Just like he did while on that island, during those four days when the kid was too weak to do pretty much anything on his own. Then he helps, settling him back into a comfortable position.
It takes a few minutes for the dazed look to leave the boy’s face, for the mist to leave his eyes.
“Are you in pain?” he asks, and after Jason shakes his head, adds, “If at some point you are, we’ll get a nurse. Get you a painkiller.”
Jason just looks up at him with big, expressive eyes. Slade sighs, hand returning to the boy’s hair as he sits himself back down.
Jason takes a small breath. “Did I— Did this happen because… because I—”
“It couldn’t have been caused by anything you did -or didn’t do,” Slade firmly states, because, even though he’s already heard it from the doctor, the kid needs to fully, truly know this. “When you get better and you get the chance to look into it yourself, you’ll see. It’s not uncommon. And when it happens… it's not possible to save the pregnancy.”
The boy slowly nods, after a couple of moments. His eyes seem to be a bit moist, but for the time being, there’s no evidence of tears. “When I left, I—”
“It’s not the time—”
“I didn’t think that you’d hurt me… like you said before,” Jason states, ignoring his interruption. “I just—” A pause. A brief shut of eyelids, and a shaky breath. “I couldn’t tell you. Or Bruce. After everything he’s done for me, I’d just cause him more problems. Huge problems. And I… I knew what you’d both say I should do.”
“And you didn’t want to hear it?”
Jason averts his gaze. “I know it would be the sensible thing,” he says, voice a bit hoarse. “But I…”
Kid stops again, unable to speak the words, and Slade huffs. “There are no easy choices in such cases,” he says, “but the one thing I can assure you of is that your father would never consider you a problem.”
Jason lifts his eyes. “What happens now?” he asks.
Slade grits his teeth for a moment. “Now,” he says quietly, brushing a stray strand off the boy’s forehead, “you’ll get some rest while you’re waiting for your dad. He’s on his way.”
Jason’s eyes widen at that. “Bruce—”
“I had to call him, kid. Your place is with him. Always has been.”
Jason shifts uneasily, fists clenching. “Is he angry?”
“Worried out of his mind is what he is.”
He watches as Jason fists at the sheets, taking in small, quiet breath. “What will I tell him?” he shakily whispers.
“Nothing. I’ll tell him. The truth.”
Jason gasps. “No, Slade. No. He’ll kill you. I’ll just tell him that… that it was someone random, someone from school…”
“You won’t do such a thing.” Slade sits up a little, straightening his back. “That’s my responsibility to take.” Kid’s been through more than enough by this point. The least he can do, the bare minimum here, is to step in and take this burden off the boy’s shoulders.
“If you tell him, he’ll think that… that you—” Jason wets his lips in the small moment of silence following. “You know what he’ll think. And I don’t want him to think that. It’s not true.”
The gravity of the unspoken words is more than enough to raise the tension yet another scale, but this thing between them has reached to a point where there’s no space for anyone to feel uncomfortable anymore. They’re way, way past that stage.
“The truth -the only truth- is that you are sixteen years old, and at that time, you were going through your first mature heat. And I’m a full-grown Alpha that should have handled this in a completely different way.”
“You went into a rut,” is the instantaneous response to that.
Slade shakes his head. “Stop excusing me in your head, kid. There are no excuses. There are other ways for an Alpha to deal with this. I did this because I wanted it.”
There’s a dry swallow, a shade of light pink coming up those pale cheeks. “But I wanted you too.” Quiet. Desperate. And too damn sweet. “I did. It’s true. You didn’t make me.”
Slade’s teeth set together. Someone would assume that, in all those long hours he spent waiting for the kid to get out of surgery, and then to wake up, he would have gathered his thoughts enough to be prepared to respond with all appropriate firmness.
But it’s hard to be firm and distant when all his instincts scream for the opposite.
“You’re far from the first or the last kid your age getting a crush on someone much older,” he points out. “You didn’t have a clear mind. You were not able to give explicit consent, and I was in a position of power over you. This shouldn’t have happened. You understand?”
“But I don’t feel that way,” Jason quietly retorts. “Not now, and not back then either. And I don’t blame you for anything.”
“One day, once you’re older, you’ll see that you should have.”
The kid lowers his eyes, saying nothing. It’s quite clear that he disagrees. Slade won’t try any further; he means what he said. One day, sooner or later, Jason’s going to look back into this mess with a different eye. And he’s going to hate him for it. As he should.
“What if I ask you not to tell him?” the kid stubbornly insists. “What if I want to keep this for myself and—”
“Keeping the truth from him will be eating you out from the inside and tearing you apart for the rest of your life, until everything’s inevitably revealed one day with the loudest bang you can ever imagine, and it will strain your relationship with him permanently. Is this what you want?”
He might be going a little too extreme at this point, but he feels it’s necessary. He needs to persuade the kid – for his own good. And from the slightly upset expression on his face, Slade can tell he’s succeeding.
“I’m not afraid of him,” he clarifies. “And I’m long past shying away from my responsibilities. Ain’t happening, kid.”
Jason takes a breath, and his stare is heartbreakingly upset. “And after that? What’s going to happen?”
Their gazes cross, and Slade sees it in the kid’s expression that yes, he can tell. He absolutely can.
“I’ll never see you again.”
Not a question: a conclusion. A right one, too.
“It’s for the best,” Slade dryly replies.
It’ hard to believe the look on the kid’s eyes is actually kind pained. And that’s exactly the problem here. It would be so, so damn easier for both of them if Jason just hated him.
But it doesn’t matter. He’ll fix this. This time, he’ll do what’s actually right and fair for the kid.
No matter the consequences.