#i like. robin grabbed me and i almost literally dropped that shit down the hill at the same time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

batbirdies · 5 years

Text

NaNoWriMo 2019 Batfam Fic part 6

Part 6 of my Jason Todd Batfam fic where Jason eventually agrees to dog sit Titus, there are some deep seated issues, unintended animal therapy, snarky text messages between Robins and eventually some reconcilliation between father and son. Takes place in a murky in between time sometime after Damian was resurrected.

Same warnings as other installments: This is a very rough draft that is copied and pasted directly from my working google doc. Expect mistakes. These are also snippets, and there is skipped content between them.

also as for CONTENT; there are some flashbacks to violent things, some violence involving animals, references to dog fighting :(( and things like prostitution and homelessness are mentioned periodically. Also a lot of bad language.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

The dog park, in the end, is nicer than Jason expects. Even though it’s small, it’s got some nice, rolling hills, a couple benches set up at different points, next to small maple trees that look like must have been planted in the last two years, still waiting for them to grow big enough to actually shade the benches. They were naked now, fall being in full swing.

It’s still flipping cold and there’s a light drizzle that’s just uncomfortable, even with the hood of his jacket drawn up. Titus doesn’t seem too happy about it either but he’s got his waterproof coat on and the earmuff-sleeve-thing so he isn’t bothered so much by the cold. He let’s Jason cajole him into playing catch at least and runs freely after the tennis ball he sends flying.

After a bit he seems to get bored with it though and is more interested in the other dogs, so Jason lets him roam without thinking much of it. He looks like a big dumb idiot in the getup he’s got on but it just makes him look more friendly and less intimidating to the other dog owners so Jason counts it as a win when he takes his phone out to snap a picture of Titus sniffing some labradors butt.

“Real polite bud” Jason mumbles under his breath, as he lets his eyes scan over the milling group of people. He doesn’t mean to be doing it, doesn't even realizing he’s looking for threats until he spots one.

There are two men standing stock still next to one of the benches, a large Rottweiler sitting next to them with a spiked collar on a thick, black, leather leash. The guys don’t look tough so much as they look mean and Jason can see them watching the dogs, eyeing each one almost critically, staring at Titus for a little longer than he’d like. He doesn’t even really know what he’s looking at but he doesn’t like it, can feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up like some sort of sixth sense.

“Titus!” He lets out a loud whistle, clapping his hands to draw the dogs attention back to him. He trots back over easily, abandoning the other dog he’d be attempting to greet. Jason grabs his collar when he approaches, latching the leash back on, keeping an eye on the two thug looking guys who are now walking slowly in his direction. Jason tries to get a good look at them without making it obvious.

One is tall and thin, a shaved head and a nose that looks like it had been broken on a few different occasions. His eyes are half lidded, he looks bored, and with a brief direct glance he spots a deep scar on the back of his hand, raised and red skin in a curved line that looks distinctly like an animal bite if Jason had to guess.

The other one is heavy set, broad in the shoulders but of average height, close cropped dark brown hair and a chunk missing out of one of his ears. Sharp eyes that are focused directly on Titus. He’s the one holding the leash.

And the dog is the other thing.

Every other dog in the park just seems happy. Either excited and playing or relaxed. Tails wagging, panting, running around or just lazing about near their owners. There’s one half grown mutt on the other side of the park that’s being trained, learning how to sit and stay.

The Rottweiler walking next to this man does not look happy, or friendly, or excited. It’s big, moves gracefully, doesn’t seem to be in any sort of hurry but is looking at Titus and Jason both with eyes that Jason can only think to describe as….empty. If you can even think something like that about a dog.

They’re only 10 feet away when Jason tugs on Titus leash, ready to get the hell out of there before something nasty happens. And maybe he’s gotten rusty but hes just a little too slow.

Just as they turn around the broad shouldered man stoops down and unhooks the Rottweilers leash, says something sharp to the dog that he can’t catch and suddenly he’s lunging.

Jason has been in more fights than he can count, or remember, ones where his life is on the line, but there is nothing quite like having 140 pounds of solid muscle barreling towards you with a snarl like you’ve never heard, teeth bared and ready for sinking.

Titus immediately pulls hard on the leash, and Jason moves without thinking. It’s reflex more than training that has him throwing an arm out, right in the path of the big black dog. The tall thin guy shouts something just as teeth clamp down on his forearm, sink through his leather jacket to his skin and beyond.

“Shit!” Jason shouts, throws his other hand out, dropping the leash, he grabs at one of the dogs ears and yanks, hard, but the clamp down does not loosen, if anything it tightens and the dog lets out a guttural growl. Jason is swearing up a storm, stumbling and nearly falling on his ass trying to pull his arm out of the vice it’s being crushed in. He’s never been bitten by a dog before, at least not beyond a warning snap, and it fucking hurts.

The short guy is suddenly there, clapping his hands, he shouts at the dog again.

“Drop it!” And Jason’s arm is abruptly free, he actually trips and falls on his ass, feeling light headed and instantly furious.

Skinny guy has a hand around the Rot’s collar, holding him in place even though he’s already sitting down, looking business as usual like nothing even happened when there’s blood dripping out of its fucking mouth. Jason’s blood.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Jason hauls himself to his feet, standing just as tall as the skinny guy and broader in the chest than the heavyset one, who looks wide eyed and nervous, in contrast to the tall one, who just seems mildly surprised.

“Holy shit man, I’m so sorry, he just lunged!” The short guy stutters out, fumbling to get the leash back on the dog.

“You expect me to believe that was the dog? I wasn’t born yesterday asshole.” He steps toward the stocky one but the Rot takes a step to meet him, letting out a low growl of warning.

“Whoa, Crusher no.” He swallows harshly, glances back at the tall one, who’d let go of the collar as soon as he attached the lead.

“Crusher? Are you serious?”

“I’m so sorry man, really, I didn’t exp- he’s never done anything like that before.” Jason doubted it, wanted to spit in the guys face.

“Chris, why don’t you take Crusher to the car? I can take it from here.” Guy has an accent like he’s from the West coast, words clear and almost overly pronounced. He’s got one hand stuffed in the pocket of his coat, the other holding a lit cigarette.

“Sure, yeah. I’ll uh, I’ll get him out of the park, just find me when you’re done.” Chris looks distinctly relieved to be out of the conversation.

Jason is reeling, what the actual fuck just happened? What was this? The short one had clearly given the dog some kind of command.

His instincts told him not to let the guy leave, to stop him in his path and get answers, but the dog was still a threat and Jason wasn’t in costume. He didn’t have any armor on and his identity was not hidden. He needed to be careful. His mind also finally registered the ear splitting sound of frantic barking from a large dog and he suddenly realized he hadn’t seen where Titus went.

He’d let go of the leash when the dog attacked and - He whipped his head around, feeling frantic for a split second before he spotted him just a few feet away, some random bystander holding his leash wrapped around a hand. It was a stocky woman, middle aged, and with a fat bulldog of some kind standing behind her. She looked stricken, face pale. Titus was pulling pretty hard on the leash and barking in a high pitched tone that definitely wasn’t natural for him, a near whine to it, but the woman stood her ground, feet planted hard.

Jason was distracted enough that the guy was already shuffling away, the Rottweiler following at matched pace. He should go after the guy, wanted very badly to go after him but he couldn’t leave some random woman with Titus, who was obviously frantic and upset.

Jason eyes Tall Guy, still standing there and watching him, expectant and bored look on his face, decidedly turns his back on him to handle Titus. The guy isn’t a threat, not to him, even if he has a weapon his posture is slouched, feet planted sloppily, his balance isn’t solid. He’s obviously not trained to fight and Jason could take him in a heartbeat if he felt the need. He needed to get his head back on straight before he talked to him, there was a heat curling in his stomach with a distinctive green tinge Jason needed to get a handle on.

He marched up to the woman with the bulldog, tucking his bleeding arm in close to his side. He was fuming, furious and totally struck dumb like he couldn’t remember being. He almost wondered if they knew who he was, why else would they randomly sick a dog on him?

“Are you alright?” The woman asked when he approached, eyebrows drawing up in the middle.

“Fine.” He tried not to snap at her, since she was literally the only reason Titus probably hadn’t either run away or gotten in a fight with that dog when it bit him, but he was so tightly wound it was hard to keep the edge out of his voice. “Thank you for grabbing his leash.”

She nodded, Titus shoved into him, lifting his front half off the ground repeatedly like he wanted to jump on him, whining, ears down. “I’m fine, buddy, I’m good. Stay down.” He grabbed Titus collar with his good hand and pulled down gently to get him to stay planted in the grass, he didn’t need to get clawed in the arm after that.

“Are you really sure you’re alright? You’re bleeding pretty….pretty bad.” She sounded a little breathless, as she finally relinquished Titus’ leash to him. She grabbed at her ponytail with her now free hand and tugged on it, a nervous habit if he’d ever seen one.

“I’ve had worse.” He was too busy looking over Titus and making sure there were no injuries he’d missed, that he wasn’t too late to keep the Rot away from him that he didn’t see how she reacted to that little confession. The ear muff thing had fallen down and he carefully tugged it back up over his ears, while trying to even out his breathing.

“That was pretty nuts man.” Jason stiffened and turned back, Tall Guy standing there, cigarette in hand, he took a long drag. “Why jump in like that? Your dog looks like he could hold his own in a fight.” And he was staring at Titus when he said it, eyes still bored, as they flicked up to meet Jason’s. Jason felt his shoulders hitching up.

“We should really call the police.” The woman interjected. “That dog is dangerous, need to-“

“No police.” Jason snaps just as Tall Guy says, “I don’t really think that’s necessary.”

“Not Necessary?” Her voice is sharp. “Your dog just attacked this man, he’s bleeding, he could have a broken bone or-“

“Nothing’s broken lady.” She snapped her eyes to him, looking at him like he was nuts.

“Regardless, I’m calling the police.” She reached in his purse, hanging off her shoulder and pulled out a cell phone. This was not good - the last thing Jason needed was to be questioned by the police while Bruce was out of town, even if he was a victim, he didn’t need to be recognizable to anyone, didn’t need Barbara recognizing his fake ID in a police report and drawing this whole incident up.

He also didn’t know why any of this just happened, and if somehow this guy knew who he was….he didn’t want a civilian mixed up in that.

“Look lady.” He snapped at her, feeling guilty for the way she flinched back from him. “I appreciate the concern but I’d rather handle this myself.” He put a hint of threat in his voice, for both her and the asshole’s sake. Jason knew what he looked like, big, broad shouldered, well built and with a massive dog. “I don’t really think you wanna be involved.”

Her eyes darted between Jason and Tall Guy, like maybe she wanted to argue, but was quickly thinking better of it. She clutched her own dog’s leash in a fisted grip, expression morphing to wary suspicion.

“Fine. Guess I’ll find a new dog park.” She snapped before turning on her heel and marching away. Bulldog waddling after her.

Sm͏a͏rt lady, Jason thinks as he watches her go. Finally turning back to the guy who’s just standing there, enjoying his cigarette without a care in the world.

#fanfiction #fanfic #Jason Todd #batfam #nanowrimo

6 notes · View notes