Jason would never, ever tell him this to his face but God had Bruce been right.

Batman had told Robin not to stray too far while they were out on patrol - it had been a quiet night so far, and he’d allowed Jason to go off on his own, just a little bit, to practice his grappling and climbing. But he told Jason, in no uncertain terms, that if he saw something happening he was absolutely not to engage and to immediately tell Batman.

Well.

He did tell Batman when he saw the person in the alley being crowded by a bunch of gangbangers. So that was following orders. But by the time Bruce arrived, the poor civilian would’ve been beaten to a bloody pulp - Jason knew the look of bloodlust when he saw it, recognised the predatory way the men had advanced towards them, jonesing for a fight.

Jason couldn’t even help it. He jumped in, taking most of the guys by surprise with how fast he was, throwing disabling kicks and punches, brutal hits. He managed to get them all down, unconscious or tied up - see Bruce? He was completely capable!

Except- the person he’s saved was looking at him with a slightly horrified expression. Rude much, he’d just saved them, a thank you wouldn’t get lost along the way. But then Jason followed their eye line to his torso, just underneath his ribs and to the left a little and oh. Oh.

There was a teensy little, rapidly bleeding stab wound. Of course one of them had a knife. Assholes.

Jason’s hand went instinctively to the wound, and he hissed as it stung, the pain starting to make itself known through the adrenaline. “A- are you okay?” he asked the person, swallowing down the sudden nausea in his throat. “I’m- I’m fine. This is nothing.”

But then, because god forbid the universe let him seem cool and put together in front of the civilian he just saved, his shaking leg (when had his legs started shaking?) buckled, and he went down.

Yeah. Batman maybe had a point about waiting to engage. Know-it-all.