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Jason was having a great patrol, things were finally going well for him for once. He had stopped a few petty criminals and gotten some new leads on some cases he was working on. He was actually looking forward to heading back to the manor after patrol. A night spending time with his family and enjoying Alfred’s baking almost sounded relaxing to him, not that he’d ever admit it out loud of course. His thoughts of a plate full of Alfred’s award winning cookies were interrupted by a transmission from Oracle.
“Hood, Red Robin needs assistance with an apartment fire. I’m sending you the coordinates now,” Barbara said over the coms.
Jason sighed, “I’ll be there right away,” he said. As much as he wanted to head back to the manor and just relax for once, he knew that if Tim needed help with something it had to be serious. He would just help Tim out with the fire and then he could take the rest of the night off. The fire shouldn’t be too bad with him being there to help, right?
I t was that bad. The apartment complex seemed to be confused by bright flames, the smoke was visible from miles away. As Jason got closer to the building, he could already start to feel the intense heat from the fire. Some of the building's residents were outside watching the blaze, many of them were crying and calling desperately for their loved ones. There were several paramedics tending to the wounded and firefighters trying to put out the blaze, but they seemed to have no effect on the fire.
Jason turned on his com to try to get ahold of Tim, “Red Robin, I’m here. Is everyone out of the building yet?” he asked.
“No, that’s why I asked for backup. There are still some civilians stuck inside, but I can’t get to all of them without help,” Tim said, “I’ll meet you outside in about a minute.”
Less than a minute later Tim emerged from the building, carrying a woman over his shoulder. He handed her to the paramedics but she began to fight them, trying to run back into the building.
“Please! My daughter is still in there, I need to go back for her please!” she pleaded hysterically.
“It's not safe for you to go back into the building, but don’t worry we’ll get her out” Tim reassured her before he made his way over to where Jason was waiting. Tim was covered in ash and he looked exhausted, Jason was sure there were dark circles under his eyes that were just hidden by his domino mask.
“There’s only three civilians left in the building, two on the left side and one on the right. Do you mind getting the civilians on the left?” Tim asked as they made their way into the building.
“Yeah I got it,” Jason said before frowning, “Wait Red, where’s your rebreather?” he asked.
“I gave it to one of the civilians, they needed it more than me,” Tim said. Jason couldn’t help but notice how raspy Tim’s voice was, and he could tell that Tim was trying to hide the fact that he was still coughing from all the smoke.
There was no way Jason was letting Tim spend any more time in that building without a steady supply of oxygen, “Take my helmet, your lungs will thank you,” Jason said.
“What? No-” Tim began to protest before Jason shoved his helmet into Tim’s arms, “You need it more than me!” He said before he ran into the left side of the building.
Jason climbed up the stairs, doing his best to avoid the burning debris. Dark smoke had filled the apartment, it made it hard to breathe and see. Jason ignored the smoke filling his lungs and began calling out to the residents that were still stuck. He eventually heard a muffled yell for help on the floor above him.
Jason ran up the stairs and eventually made his way into one of the rooms to find two residents huddled under some furniture. One of them was unconscious while the other was begging them to wake up. Jason slung them both over his shoulders and raced back down the stairs. The smoke was already starting to burn his lungs as he started coughing.
Once he made it outside, Jason handed the two residents over to the paramedics and attempted to contact Tim, “Red Robin, did you make it out?” he asked.
There was nothing but static over the coms, Jason looked over the crowd in an attempt to find Tim. He noticed some firefighters treating a younger girl who was covered in soot and ash, that must have been the other civilian trapped in the building. Tim must have found a way to get her out of the building, but he was still stuck inside.
Without hesitating Jason ran back into the building, ignoring the searing pain in his lungs.
Jason began to search the other side of the building while calling out for Tim. He eventually heard Tim call back, “I’m here, there's a door that's pinning my foot down!”
His voice sounded faint over the sound of the building falling apart, Jason knew from experience that the entire place could collapse at any moment. Jason could see Tim struggling to move one of the heavy emergency exit doors off of him. Jason helped Tim lift the door and shove it aside before helping Tim up.
“Thanks Hood. I managed to get the other civilian out from one of the smaller windows, but that should be everyone,” Tim said.
Just as he said that Jason heard a metallic creaking noise, a sound he had heard before and was hoping to never hear again.
“Tim, we need to get out of here!” Jason yelled at the exact same time as the building began to collapse around them. A large section of the roof was starting to break off, Jason shoved Tim out of the way just as the roof came down. The last thing Jason was aware of was searing pain through his entire body and his ears ringing before everything went dark.
Tim thought his night couldn’t get any worse, he was wrong. One of his leads on a very important case had ended up being a dead end, and then he got told that there was an out of control fire at an apartment building and there were still civilians trapped inside. One look at the building and he could tell this was a case of arson and not a normal accidental fire. He knew he’d need help to get all the civilians out in time, so he couldn’t have been more relieved when Jason showed up. But now, the entire building had fallen on both of them, trapping them inside.
Tim woke up with a groan, his ears were still ringing from the sound of the building collapsing. His entire body ached but thankfully he wasn’t trapped under any debris. Tim began to take in his surroundings, the space he was trapped in was dark and relatively small, but with enough room for him to move around the space. Jason’s helmet had been cracked badly enough that it was affecting time vision, so he took off the helmet and tried to get a better look at the environment around him. He couldn’t make out much in the dark, so he began to look for his flashlights. Luckily for him the fire seemed to have been put out.
“Hood? Are you still here?” Tim asked, calling out into the darkness. Jason had been with him right before the building fell, but that would mean…. crap. Tim grabbed his flashlight and began searching through the rubble as fast as he could, his ankle must have been sprained or broken because he couldn’t put much pressure on it without sending sharp flares of pain through his foot.
Tim frantically searched through the rubble until he could see part of Jason’s jacket, just barely visible under some debris. With all his strength, he lifted the heavy piece of concrete off of Jason.
Jason was completely still, he was covered in soot and blood and there were still some pieces of debris covering him. There was a pretty deep cut near his hairline, causing blood to pour down his face and into his hair.
Tim began to frantically feel for a pulse, he sighed in relief when he found it. It was a little rapid but it was still there. “Come on Jay, wake up,” Tim said as he began to lightly pat Jason’s face, he brushed Jason’s singed and matted hair away from his face. This gesture seemed to wake Jason as his eyes began to flutter open.
“T’m? Wh’ts g’ing on?” Jason asked, Tim immediately noticed that Jason was slurring his words, and he sounded confused. Tim shone his flashlight into Jason’s eyes, his pupils didn’t seem to react to the bright light at all and remained dilated. Yep, definitely a concussion , Tim thought. Damn it, this wouldn’t have happened if Jason hadn’t given Tim his helmet. Although he was grateful it prevented him from inhaling anymore smoke, he hated that him having it had led to Jason getting a head injury.
Jason groaned and flinched back from the light, “The f’ck Tim?” he grumbled.
“You’re concussed Jason,” Tim responded, “I need to see what other injuries you have.”
Normally Tim would be more cautious about using names in the field, but it wasn’t like anyone could hear them since it was just the two of them trapped in the building. Tim also had a feeling that using Jason’s actual name might be more comforting for him with the state he was in.
Tim went back to trying to catalogue Jason’s injuries, aside from the concussion and the cut near his hairline, Jason didn’t have any other facial injuries. His arms and legs hadn’t been pinned down by any debris, and didn’t seem broken or injured in any way. Tim moved on to see how bad Jason’s chest injuries were, that seemed to be the source of most of the blood covering Jason. Tim gently attempted to move some of the debris on Jason’s chest when he heard Jason cry out in pain.
Tim shone his flashlight on the debris to get a better look and paled at what he saw, there was a piece of rebar going through Jason’s chest. Great, just great Tim thought, “Jason don’t try to move or panic, there's some rebar going through your chest, I can’t move you because I don’t want to risk letting you bleed out,” Tim said, trying his best to sound calm even though that was the complete opposite of what he was feeling.
Jason looked down and groaned, “Ah fuck… my jacket,” Jason’s jacket was already scorched and covered in blood, but now there was a fairly large hole torn through it by the rebar.
Tim couldn’t believe what he was hearing, ‘’Seriously? You’re severely injured and have a literal rod of metal going through you and you’re more concerned about your jacket?”
In response, Jason laughed then stopped when it made him cough up blood, he grimaced in pain and managed to place one of his hands near where the rebar was. Shit this wasn’t a good sign. It was more than likely that Jason was going into shock, Tim wasn’t sure how much longer he could last.
“I’m going to try to contact Oracle,” Tim said as he attempted to turn on his com, “Oracle? This is Red Robin. Red Hood and I are trapped under the apartment building. Hood is severely injured and I don’t know how much longer he can last, he’s showing signs of shock. Please, anyone? If you can hear this we need immediate help,” Tim said, doing his best to keep the panic out of his voice. All he could hear was static on the other end, even if by some chance Oracle had heard them he had no way of knowing that.
“I think something is interfering with the signal, I’m not sure if she heard me or not. It looks like we’ll be stuck in the rubble for a while,”
Jason’s eyes widened as he tried to sit up, “What? We’re trapped underneath the building?” He looked around frantically like he was trying to see where he was. “Nononono. Oh fuck we’re trapped in here. Fuck I can’t do this again, I can’t.” Jason choked out. He sounded like he was about to hyperventilate, his breathing was getting faster and more unsteady.
“Hey it’s going to be okay Jason, just try to breathe for me okay?” Tim said, trying to keep his voice level and calm. He pat Jason’s head gently in an effort to try to calm him down, making sure to avoid making any of his head injuries worse. He knew that Jason secretly loved getting head pats, it was one of the easiest ways to soothe him and calm him down.
“I’m trying!” Jason snapped, “How are you so calm right now?”
“I’m not, but panicking isn’t going to solve anything. I know we’re in a pretty bad situation right now, but if you freak out you’re going to hurt yourself even more. We’ll get out of this, everything is going to be fine I swear,” Tim felt like he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Jason but it seemed to work. Eventually Jason’s breathing seemed to get steadier, but he was still wheezing a lot. His lungs were most likely compromised from all the smoke he inhaled, along with the rebar that had likely pierced his lung.
“Sorry, it’s just… I don’t do well in small cramped spaces,” Jason said quietly. His voice sounded quieter and more vulnerable,Tim didn’t think he’d ever heard Jason sound like that before now. He knew that Jason and him had had a rough first meeting, and they’d not been on the best of terms in the past. But now they’d become closer now that Jason was a part of the family again. He honestly was starting to enjoy hanging out with Jason, whether it was in the field or not. Hearing him sound this vulnerable genuinely scared him, Jason had been through so much already. He couldn’t die again, not like this.
“I get that, but you’re going to be okay I promise. There are lots of people outside who know we’re still trapped in here, I’m sure they’ll call for help,” Tim said reassuringly. Jason only nodded in response.
Tim lost track of time, it must have been at least an hour since the building collapsed. But because it was so dark underneath the building, it was impossible to tell.
Tim was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of metal and concrete shifting above them. they were finally being rescued. The rubble above them shifted some more, and Tim could have sobbed in relief at the sight of the night sky above them.
“Jason, we’re getting out of here!” Tim said excitedly before he paused, “Jason?”
Jason’s eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow, Tim could feel all the excitement draining from him. He began to pat Jason’s face again, noting how pale and clammy it was.
“Come on Jason wake up, don’t do this now, not when we’re so close to being free,” Tim begged. Tim would never forgive himself if Jason ended up dying nearly the exact same way he died the first time, he doubted the rest of the family would forgive him either. It was his fault there was no way to ignore that, he’s the one who called for backup. Jason had not only given him his helmet to prevent him from inhaling anymore smoke, but he shoved Tim out of the way when the building had collapsed and he had gotten severely injured.
Tim had gotten so lost in his thoughts of guilt and self loathing that he hadn’t even noticed when Dick made his way over to where they were trapped.
“It’s going to be okay Red Robin, we’re getting you both out,” Dick said.
Tim wanted to feel relieved, he really did but he just couldn’t. All the anxiety that had risen in him was fading away, leaving him with a sense of uncomfortable numbness. He couldn’t even respond to Dick, all he could do was watch as Bruce and the rest of his family began to cut through the rebar to get Jason out.
The hum of the lights in the batcave and the beeping of the heart monitor droned in the background of Tim’s mind as he worked on his laptop. Ever since he was rescued and taken back to the batcave he felt like he was on autopilot. He’d let Alfred treat his injuries while Jason was getting his injuries treated by Dr. Thompkins. He had a fractured ankle, various cuts and bruises, and he was suffering from smoke inhalation. Even with the pain meds he was on, there was still a dull ache in his ankle and lungs but Tim still felt numb at the same time. As soon as Jason had gotten out of surgery, Tim had gone to wait by his bedside. Jason still hadn’t woken up, he had suffered a mild concussion, three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, smoke inhalation, a fractured wrist, and various cuts, minor burns, and bruises. He had bandages around his head and chest, and an oxygen mask covering most of his face. His face was still deathly pale, but some of his normal colour had returned.
Tim felt like he was zoning out again, getting lost in the research on his laptop and his own thoughts. He could sense someone walking into the room and sitting in a chair beside him but he didn’t even look up from his work.
“Tim, you should be resting,” he heard Dick say, “Why are you still working on cases?”
Tim continued to type on his laptop, “That wasn’t an accidental fire Dick, all the signs point to arson. It seems to be the result of gang activity, but I’m not sure who it is yet. Probably Black Mask or Penguin..” Tim trailed off as he continued to stare at his laptop.
Dick frowned before saying “You need to rest Tim, hand the case to me or someone else. If you push yourself too far you’re going to have a harder time recovering,” his tone was gentle with a hint of concern.
Tim sighed and closed the laptop a little harder than he meant to, “I’m fine Dick, I just need to solve this case. Jason can’t have gotten hurt for nothing.”
“Tim you can’t blame yourself for what happened, none of this is your fault,” Dick said reassuringly.
“Yes it is!” Tim snapped “Jason got hurt because of me, if I hadn’t asked him for help he wouldn’t have had to go through the exact same thing that killed him.”
“There was no way to prevent what happened, Jason is more than capable of making his own decisions. He chose to give you his helmet and to push you out of the way when the building came down. I don’t think he’d think what happened is your fault. He’d probably also be telling you to go to bed,” Dick said.
Tim knew Dick was right, but he still felt bad about what happened. He still couldn’t forget how panicked Jason was when he realized that they were stuck underneath the building. Tears stung his eyes as the memories of what had happened came flooding back.
“I just.. I just hope he’ll be okay,” Tim managed to say as he tugged at the ends of his hair.
“He will. You know, everyone else was also pretty worried, but especially Barbara. Even though your com was broken, she could hear you on the other end. She called me first and asked me to help with trying to get you both out. She sounded like she was on the verge of panicking, and you know Babs she never panics. She stayed online for way longer than she had to, just to make sure you both got out safe,” Dick said.
Tim was surprised at this, he’d always known Barbara to be calm and collected at all times. Things must have been really bad if even she had been noticeably worried.
“Is she still online?” Tim asked.
“No. I told her the same thing I told you, and eventually she listened to me and she's getting some well deserved rest. You should do the same, you look like you’re going to fall over,” Dick said lightheartedly as he reached over to ruffle Tim’s hair before pulling him in for a hug. Tim smiled for the first time that day, maybe things would turn out okay.
They both looked over to where Jason was resting, he seemed peaceful for once. If the circumstances were different Tim might have even thought he looked adorable but Jason would probably try to kill him again if he called him adorable. Tim chuckled a little at the thought before wincing at the way his throat still burned.
Dick seemed to notice this, because he started to pet Tim’s hair again, “It's okay Tim, you can rest now,” he said. Tim felt exhausted again, and this time he let himself be lulled to sleep.
Jason woke up to the annoying sound of clacking of a keyboard. His entire body felt weighed down, the pain he had felt earlier was now a dull ache but it still bothered him. Jason opened his eyes to see that he was in his old room at the manor, Tim was sitting beside his bed and typing on his laptop. Tim looked up and smiled, “Jason, you’re awake!” He said enthusiastically, even though his voice was still a little rough.
Jason attempted to ask him how long he was out, but all he managed to get out was “How long-” before he started coughing, his entire right side lit up in pain and he groaned once the coughing fit was over. Tim handed Jason a glass of water to drink which he gladly accepted, the water felt soothing to his sore throat.
“You’ve been out for a few days, Dick and Bruce were the first ones to arrive and help get us out. We were all worried you were going to bleed out before we reached the cave, but you got through it. Bruce says you have to stay here until you recover, which could take over a month,” Tim said.
Jason groaned again, “Over a month?” he managed to whisper loudly, anything louder than a whisper would have strained his already hoarse voice.
Tim nodded then went to rummage through a bag he had near his side, “Yeah a month of bed rest. But if it makes you feel better, I got you something,” Tim pulled out a new brown leather jacket and handed it to Jason. “You risked your life for me and I kinda owe you one, so I bought you a new jacket. I know you were pretty upset when your other one got destroyed,” Tim said.
Jason rolled his eyes, the worst part about waking up from being severely injured was that everyone remembers all the embarrassing things you said while you were dying. “I was in shock Tim, of course I was upset,” he paused before smiling, “Thank you for the jacket though, it does mean a lot. But you know you don’t owe me anything right? I’m sure you or anyone else would have done the same for me.”
Jason had no idea why he was getting so sappy, probably all the pain meds he was on in addition to being confined to his room for the next few weeks .
“Hey if you want, maybe we could have a make-up post patrol family night? We could play games or watch movies. I’m sure Dick and Babs would be down, and Alfred wouldn’t mind making more cookies, especially when you’re hurt,” Tim said, a small smile on his face.
Jason smiled again, “Yeah that sounds great,” after everything he went through, at least he was still going to have those award winning cookies.