Jason knew that he wasn’t a child anymore.

But for some fucking reason, when he saw you with Bruce, he wanted to curl up in his mind and go to a place with no pain.

A place where the sting of metal had not yet stained his skin.

Where the blood that had since made its way inside his head was a thought that had never crossed his adolescent mind.

Where he was still your baby.

But the rain on the ground and the clouds above his head would always remind him that he’d grown up. He wasn’t a child. He was an adult now, and he needed to act like it.

So why was he still at your door, waiting for you to let him come home? Waiting for you to welcome him back because he was your baby, for fucks sake- he wanted you to love him, was that so hard?

Jason knew thinking this way was irrational, that you’d love him again in a heartbeat if he just asked.

”Mom, am I still young?”

”Mom, do you still need me?”

Mom, I’m tired.”

And it was true. Jason was so, so tired. He wanted you to hug him.

He wanted to cry.

But he was stuck in the rain, on the outside of a life that should have been his.

That he wasn’t even sure he deserved anymore.