Sorry for the extra wait. You get an extra long chapter for your trouble!

Chapter 11 Things Go Boom

Jason's ears were ringing and he tasted blood. He noticed his visor was broken, the jagged edge looking like teeth. The screen on the inside was flashing and blinking sadly, unable to operate anymore.

Jason's head cleared a little and he found himself on the ground. He tried to shake off the haze from being hit with Harley's hammer and started to stand up. But before he could manage to really get his feet under him, the hammer slammed into his ribs and he fell back to the ground. He curled in on himself and tried desperately to clear his head. He heard Phantom scream in pain.

Jason forced himself to roll over. He saw Phantom on his back in the road, smoke curling off him, what had Harley hit him with?

"Well what'd ya know?" she cooed. "This new toy really does beat ghosts. This is for Mista J!" she cackled and fired a strange gun. A green beam of light hit Phantom and he screamed and writhed on the ground.

"No!" Jason ground out. He forced himself up onto his knees and yanked a gun out of it's holster. He tried to aim it at Harley, but his hands shook. Harley noticed him and gave him a shit eating grin.

"Get em boys," she ordered as she hefted her hammer over her shoulder. Joker goons stepped out of the shadows, and Jason tried to force his body to move.

He got himself to his feet as the goons came even with him. Jason punched one square in the nose, sending him stumbling back, but Harley took his place in a heartbeat. Jason threw up his arms to protect his head as her hammer connected. He screamed as the bones in his left arm broke. He stumbled back, right into the grip of another Joker goon. Hands clamped down on his upper arms as the goons closed in. Jason yelled out in defiance and stomped on the foot of the one holding him, but was stopped from further fighting back as they all started whaling on him. Fists connected with his shoulders and gut, and he gasped for air. A boot connected with his shin and Jason's leg gave out. The goon holding him let him drop.

Jason felt hands trying to remove his helmet and he fought back, but more hands grabbed his arms and legs and held him down. His head hurt, he couldn't focus, he couldn't fight back properly. The broken glass inside the helmet cut Jason as the whole thing was yanked off his head. He blinked stars and blood out of his eyes and saw Harley standing over him, still grinning like a maniac.

"I'll kill you for killing my puddin!" she declared and swung her hammer down, right into Jason's chest. Jason screamed in agony as his ribs cracked. He thrashed, coughing up blood, and tried to get out of the hold that the Joker goons had on his arms and legs, but there were too many of them. The hammer swung again and no noise came out of Jason's open mouth as his ribs broke.

"Get off him!" Phantom yelled. Jason managed to tilt his head to look at the meta who was standing on shaky feet.

"Oh, you want more ghosty?" Harley asked and raised her gun again. This time, the green beam fizzled out as it met Phantom's shield. Harley looked confused and shook the gun, like that would fix the problem. The Joker goons let go of Jason to face the bigger threat.

"Hood, cover your ears!" Phantom yelled. Jason did as he was told, clamping his hands down tight over his ears and curling into as much of a ball as his broken ribs would allow, despite the burning agony this provoked.

Phantom took a deep breath, then opened his mouth. A noise unlike anything Jason had experienced filled the air. Even with his ears covered, Jason flinched away from the sound. It was more than a sound, it was a force. The Joker goons were literally blown away, and Harley dropped to her knees, also having covered her ears when Phantom had warned Jason.

Jason expected the noise to keep going, but it was cut off suddenly by a horrible gurgle. Phantom had dropped to his hands and knees, and Jason was horrified to see the blue ring appear around his middle, but before he could transform back to human, the ring disappeared, as if Phantom had held it off. But blood was pouring out of Phantom's mouth, blood and that green slime; ectoplasm Jason remembered numbly.

"Well, that wasn't as impressive as I expected," Harley laughed, getting back to her feet. "Looks like the little ghosty got a booboo. Let's see you block this now." She raised that strange gun again, and Jason could see the fear in Phantom's expression as he choked on his own blood.

"No," Jason groaned, before a boot pressed into the side of his head, holding him down, one of the Joker goons.

Harley fired, and Phantom ended up on his back. She fired again, and a horrible gurgling was all the noise Phantom made as his back arched up off the ground. Jason swore and cursed them all. How could this have happened? How'd Harley get the drop on them? And where the hell had she gotten a gun that could do that to Phatom? It looked exactly like his own plasma beams. Jason used his good arm to try to tug the boot off his head, but he didn't have the strength. Harley walked over to Phantom, and looked about to smash his head in with her hammer, when the sound of an approaching engine filled the night.

"Damn," Harley swore, looking toward the sound. "Let's scram boys!" she called to the Joker goons, and the boot lifted from Jason's head. He ignored the approaching vehicle, and tried to crawl over to Phantom. His left arm was broken, and so were most of his ribs. His face was covered in bleeding scratches, but he somehow managed to drag himself over to Phantom and get the meta to roll onto his side, where he spat out the blood and ectoplasm he was choking on.

"Not again," Jason groaned. "Don't do this to me again," he begged.

"Hood!" a familiar voice called. Nightwing was at Jason's side, a hand pressed to his shoulder, pulling him away and into a sitting position. Nightwing looked him up and down. Jason's vision swam as he swayed.

"Shit," Nightwing swore. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, holding up what looked like four.

"Four," Jason slurred.

"Shit," Nightwing repeated.

"Phantom's choking on his own blood," a female voice said, and Jason had to rack his brain to come up with the name Batgirl, when had she gotten here?

"We need to get them to the cave," Nightwing ordered. Jason swayed some more, despite the fact that he was sitting, and closed his eyes. Nigthwing shook him.

"Don't you fall asleep on me Hood," he ordered. "You have a serious concussion."

"You can't tell me what to do," Jason slurred. "You need to help Phantom," he added.

"We need something more than a couple of bikes to move them," Batgirl said and Jason turned his head to look at her. She was holding Phantom up where he was crouched on his hands and knees, coughing up blood and glowing slime into the street. He was panting desperately trying to get enough air past the blood. "Phantom is losing too much blood," she added.

Jason didn't know what happened after that. Despite Nightwing's warning, he let the darkness overtake him and slipped into unconsciousness.

…

Jason recognized the ceiling, and he wasn't happy about it. It was the beautiful wood paneled ceiling of his room, his old room, at the manor.

"Fuck," he swore, his voice coming out dry and strained.

"You're awake?" a voice to his right asked. Jason forced his sore neck to turn and found Tim looking at him from his wheelchair, a computer perched on his lap. Behind him, in a second medical bed lay Danny. Tubs were coming out of his throat, and Jason cringed.

"Is he?" Jason tried, his voice breaking on the question. Thankfully, Tim understood.

"Danny's fine," he said, easing the tension in Jason's heart. "You two have only been here for twenty four hours. We don't understand exactly what happened, but he tore some old scar tissue in his throat. Dr. Thompkins was able to stop the bleeding and his body has already started the healing process," Tim finished.

"He heals fast," Jason confirmed.

"How are you feeling?" Tim asked pointedly.

"Like crap," Jason admitted. Tim nodded sagely.

"I'd expect so. You broke both your left ulna and radius in several places. And just about every one of your ribs were either broken or cracked. What happened?" Tim asked, real concern in his voice.

"Harley," Jason said by way of explanation. Tim looked surprised.

"That's what Oracle said, but how'd she get the jump on you?" Tim asked.

"That's what I want to know," Jason admitted. "She used this energy gun on Phantom. Looked a lot like his plasma blasts. I want to know where she got it."

"Do you think it has the same energy signature as Phantom's?" Tim asked.

"Did you get my helmet?" Jason asked back.

"Yeah, but it's smashed up pretty good," Tim said, shaking his head sadly. "Why?"

"Go get it," Jason said. "It might have still been able to pick up the energy signature of the gun."

"That'd be helpful," Tim agreed, and pulled out his phone. He shot off a text. A moment later, his phone chimed, whoever he'd messaged texting him back.

"Damian is on his way with it," Tim said. "And I was supposed to message Dr. Thompkins when you woke up."

"You were also supposed to summon me Master Tim," Alfred said in the doorway.

"Hey Alfi," Jason greeted warmly.

"Good evening Master Jason," Alfred smiled at him.

"Hey, Drake, I brought the," Damian stopped short when he saw Alfred and tried to hide the shattered helmet behind his back. Alfred noticed it anyway and gave the boy a disapproving look.

"Master Damian, Master Tim," he addressed the teens, "Master Jason needs to rest and is not fit for work. I suggest you take this project elsewhere." They didn't try to argue. Damian dumped the helmet in Tim's lap and wheeled him out, much to the older teen's annoyance. Once they were gone, Alfred turned back to Jason.

"They won't be able to do anything with that helmet without me you know," Jason commented.

"I am aware," Alfred confirmed. He started to fiddle with Jason's IV.

"Alfred," Jason warned.

"I'm sorry Master Jason, but you need rest." He plunged a syringe into the IV port and Jason immediately felt sleepy.

"You don't play fair," Jason whined.

"Good night Master Jason," Alfred said as Jason slipped back into unconsciousness.

...

When he woke again, it was to voices arguing out in the hall.

"I don't care if you think you're his father," Danny yelled, his voice muffled through the door. Jason looked over to Danny's bed and found it empty. No one besides himself was in the room. "He doesn't want you standing over him while he sleeps," Danny continued.

"I am his father," Bruce argued back, voice low.

"You're a really shitty one," Danny scoffed. "Besides, whether or not you are his father doesn't change the fact that it would piss Jason off having you near when he's hurt. He didn't want you around when I was in the hospital, he wouldn't want you around now."

"It's my house," Bruce tried to argue, but Danny cut him off.

"It's a goddamn mansion, it's big enough that you don't need to be around right now!" he argued back.

Jason didn't hear the rest of the conversation, and instead slipped back into sleep.

…

When Jason woke again, his head was clearer. It was night, and all the lights were off. He first turned to see if Danny was there, and sighed deeply when he saw the messy head of black hair sticking out from under the blanket. Something settled in his chest at the sight. Then he scanned the room and froze when he saw Bruce sitting in a chair on his other side.

"Jason," Bruce greeted, and Jason hissed as he tried to sit up. He wasn't going to face his 'father' lying down. "You shouldn't," Bruce said, getting up and walking to him. He placed a hand on Jason's shoulder to keep him down.

"Get the fuck off me," Jason growled queitly, trying not to wake Danny. Bruce pulled his hand away and watched with a frown as Jason forced himself to sit up. His ribs groaned and burned with the motion, and he had to keep off his broken arm, but somehow, he managed. "What do you want?" he growled at Bruce.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Bruce said. "I saw the footage of what happened. Tim was able to hack into your helmet," he explained.

"That stupid little genius," Jason groaned with an eye roll.

"You should have seen the attack coming," Bruce continued. "You were distracted," he looked over at Danny as if to explain what this 'distraction' had been. Jason followed his gaze. Danny's breathing rose and fell with sleep. He didn't look like he was hooked up to anymore tubes or IVs, so he must be healing very fast this time around. Not that he healed slowly before, but the speed that he healed seemed to vary. Probably a side effect of what the GIW had done to him.

"You stay away from him," Jason growled at Bruce, drawing his attention away from Danny.

"He didn't want to let me see you," Bruce accused.

"Good," Jason said firmly. "He knows I don't like you." Bruce narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'm your father," Bruce tried.

"Just because you were my father, doesn't mean you have a right to butt into my life!" Jason hissed at him, his voice rising. "A real father would want to get to know his son's boyfriend, not try to undermine him at every goddamn opportunity."

"All records of his history have been erased," Bruce said, ignoring Jason.

"Of course you've tried to look him up," Jason sighed.

"I had to," Bruce said, a growl finally entering his voice. "You wouldn't have."

"Of course I have!" Jason's voice rose louder again. "I'm not a complete moron. Of course I tried to figure out where he came from. I wasn't going to let a complete unknown into my life!"

"Hey," Danny said, and they both froze. Jason looked at him, worried he'd heard what he said, but Danny was glaring at Bruce, who was holding the stare. "Are you okay Jason?" he asked without breaking eye contact with Bruce.

"Yeah," Jason breathed, letting all the tension flow out of him.

"I thought I told you to leave Jason alone," Danny said, getting up out of the bed and going over next to Jason standing with his arms crossed.

"I have every right to be here," Bruce growled, still not breaking eye contact with Danny .

"Not if Jason doesn't want you here," Danny said. "Do you?" he asked, looking at Jason finally.

"No," Jason said, and Bruce looked at him, hurt in his eyes, but Jason didn't care. Bruce stood there for a minute more than abruptly left, closing the door a little too hard behind him.

…

"Get me out of here," Jason begged Danny a few days later. He was sick of all the mother henning. All three of his brothers, along with Stephanie and Cass, had been around to see him and he had not had a second of peace. He needed his alone time dammit! He wasn't a social butterfly like Dick was. The only person he could even stand to be around for long periods of time was Danny.

He was even more sick of Bruce's continued attempts to talk about Danny's 'untrustworthiness'. According to Bruce, Danny's protectiveness of Jason was his attempt to get him and his brothers to distrust Batman, not like Batman wasn't doing a perfectly good job of that on his own. It annoyed Jason that Batman was allowed to bring new people into the family, but the one person he tried it with needed to be treated with suspicion and cast out. It made Jason sick.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked. "Alfred knows more than I do about taking care of your injuries."

"Yes, I'm sure," Jason said, from where he sat in a wheelchair at the small table in the kitchen. He hadn't been cleared to walk yet, despite the fact his legs were perfectly fine.

"Alfred?" Danny asked, looking to the butler as he made breakfast.

"I would advise against it," Alfred said.

"Alfie, I love you," Jason began. "But if I don't get out of this house I am going to kill someone," he said firmly. Alfred looked him up and down.

"Very well," Alfred finally agreed.

Jason smiled triumphantly at his win. So ready to leave this place and get back to his and Danny's apartment.

…

The next few days passed in relative peace. Jason had to admit, Phantom was doing a good job of keeping the Narrows and Crime alley under control. They'd spread a rumor that Red Hood had joined Red Robin on a mission out of town to cover up both of their injuries, but Phantom was more than enough to keep it under control. He was, however, going out earlier and staying out late because one vigilante didn't hold nearly as much power over the criminals of Gotham as two did. But the work was getting done, and Phantom did it well.

Jason did his best to keep busy while he was stuck at home. He cooked, as much as he could with one arm, and he scanned the deep web for any signs of criminal activity in his city. It was the kind of work he normally hated, but he was so bored he had to do something.

...

One night, after Danny had come home, they were sitting on the couch eating Jason's poor attempt at soup, the potato chunks were all uneven, and watching a movie, when Jason noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see the roof of the neighboring building through his window, and the person standing there. Harley grinned at him, and pressed a button on the remote in her hand. Without waiting to think, Jason wrapped his arms around Danny, and hauled him off the couch and into a run, ignoring the pain in his still healing arm. Danny didn't question it, even though he hadn't seen Harley. Together, Jason threw them through the window in a rain of glass. Danny twisted in Jason's arms and grabbed onto his belt. A flash of blue light blinded Jason as Danny transformed just in time to slow their fall into the alley.

They still hit the ground hard, and Jason grunted in pain as something sharp stabbed his leg. The boom that followed a second later was deafening. The heat and noise shocked Jason's senses and left his ears ringing.

When the initial explosion died down enough for Jason to take in his surroundings, he found Phantom standing over him, a green shield raised. Phantom looked down at where Jason lay awkwardly in the alley and raised an eyebrow.

"You good?" Phantom asked.

"Yeah," Jason lied. His leg hurt, and he wasn't eager to find out what had happened to it. "Go check for survivors!" he ordered. They looked at what remained of the building. The top two stories had been targeted and were completely gone, but the rest of the building wasn't much better. Fires were quickly spreading to the lower floors, and parts of the walls and floors had fallen in. If the rest of their neighbors were home, their chances weren't good.

"Get out of here then," Phantom dropped his shield and a few small pieces of debris fell to the ground. He ran to the building and phased through the wall to hunt out survivors.

Jason used a dumpster to pull himself to his feet, his right leg didn't want to support his weight. He looked down and found huge chunks of glass sticking out of this calf, he'd landed on a broken bottle.

"Shit," he swore, and tried to use the wall of the unmolested building to walk out of the alley; he was starting to regret not having Phantom carry him.

Sirens wailed in the distance and a woman ran past the alley before turning back and looking at him.

"Jason?" Dr. Thompkins asked, surprised.

"Hey doc," he groaned. She rushed into the alley, past small fires and piles of debris. Dr. Thompkins caught his good arm and slung it over her shoulder.

"Where's Danny?" she hissed in his ear as she hauled his sorry ass out of the dangerous place.

"Helping," Jason hissed back, but not from a desire to be quiet. Dr. Thompkins dragged him out of the alley and into a crowd of onlookers. A fire truck and an ambulance pulled up. The police appeared and drove the crowd back. Phantom walked out of the building with their elderly neighbor from the first floor apartment slung over his shoulder. He handed the unconscious man off to the EMTs.

"There isn't anyone else in the building," Phantom told the police as he coughed up smoke.

"Good, go get some oxygen," the officer ordered him pointing to the fire truck. Phantom nodded and made his way over, trying to stay out of the way of the men getting the hoses ready to douse the building. One man saw him covered in soot and coughing, and led him to the back of the truck to give him some oxygen and check his lungs.

Dr. Thompkins, rather than take Jason over to the ambulance where the EMTs were working on the old man, led him to her car a little ways away.

"In the back," she ordered. "Lay on your stomach."

Jason didn't argue. He didn't really want to deal with a hospital today either, and as long as the glass stayed in he wasn't going to bleed out immediately. The drive to the clinic was short, Jason didn't live that far from it. Thompkins helped him out of the car and supported him into the building and into the surgery room.

"On the table," she ordered. "I'm going to have to cut your pants off."

"But I like these pants," he tried to joke, but she just scowled at him.

"Someone just blew up your apartment," she deadpanned. "Now is not the time for jokes."

"It was Harley Quinn," Jason said as he scrambled up onto the surgery table, careful of his still healing ribs.

"She's still after you huh," Dr. Thompkins said; it wasn't a question.

"Yup," Jason answered anyway as he settled himself. Dr. Thompkins washed her hands and put on gloves, then she came over to Jason and cut the leg of his pants off. She gave him no warning as she stuck him repeatedly, injecting a pain killer around the glass. Jason hissed at the pain.

"Don't be a baby," she scolded.

"Sorry, but that fucking hurt," Jason hissed.

"Can you feel this?" Dr. Thompkins asked as she presumably poked Jason's wound.

"No," he confirmed.

"Good," she said as she got to work.

…

Dr. Thompkins removed the glass and stitched him up. He'd been lucky that the glass hadn't hit anything vital. As she was cleaning the sealed wound one last time, Phantom burst through the door, out of breath.

"I… found you," he panted, hunched over with his hands on his knees.

"Sorry, couldn't call you," Jason said as Thompkins wrapped up the wound.

"Yeah, my phone blew up too," Phantom admitted as he transformed back into Danny straightening back up.

Danny sank into a chair against the wall, and sighed.

"Stay off that leg, Jason," Thompkins ordered as she helped him off the table and handed him a crutch. Just one crutch, he wouldn't be able to use the second one with his busted left arm. Good thing he'd gotten glass in his right leg.

"Where do we go now?" Danny asked quietly. Jason thought about it for a second, before deciding.

"I've got a house in the suburbs we can use," he said. "It's only a few minutes from the Narrows.

"You've got a house?" Danny looked at him, incredulously.

"Yeah, so?" Jason asked, feeling a little defensive.

"Like, with a yard and everything?" Danny asked, a crazy looking grin creeping over his face

"Yes, and?" Jason asked, not understanding where this was going. Danny burst out in uncontrollable laughter. He kicked his feet and between pants for breath said, "I just c..can't image the Red Hood, in a house! With a yard!" Jason crossed his arms.

"Why do you think I lived in an apartment?" he asked, annoyed.

Danny finally got his laughter under control wiping away at a tear. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "It's been a weird day."

Jason snorted. "That's an understatement."

They both laughed a little at the absurdity of it all. When they were done with their fit they just stared at each other, drinking in the fact that they were both, mostly, alright.

…

"When's the last time you've been here?" Danny moaned, standing in the living room of the two bedroom house. Jason leaned on his crutch, and eyed the dust on everything. He bought this house ages ago to use as a sort of getaway from work, but hadn't ended up using it. So it'd been standing empty, gathering dust. He'd started to decorate it, and there were a few pieces of furniture. A leather couch and recliner stood under plastic sheets in the living room facing an empty TV stand. The 'dining room' had instead begun the conversion into a workout room and a lone weight bench stood on the hardwood floor. The kitchen was halfway through a renovation he'd started. Half the cabinets were on the floor in pieces where he'd been stripping off the ugly yellow paint and staining them a warm walnut color.

Upstairs, one bedroom was mostly finished, a large bed was pushed into the corner, the pillows and blankets covered in another plastic sheet. A dresser stood against one wall and a TV was mounted on another, cords dangling uselessly. The other bedroom was in the middle of being painted. An old paint roller was permanently stuck in a pan of dried paint, and plastic covered the carpet. The full bathroom upstairs was thankfully intact, Jason had remodeled that first and it was brand new, if a little dusty.

"Well, there's a lot of work to do," Danny said, looking into the unfinished bedroom, Jason standing behind him.

"Yeah, it'll be a bitch," Jason groaned.

"Dick and Damian would probably help," Danny mused, mostly to himself. Jason was going to complain that he didn't want or need their help, but he looked down at himself. With his fucked up leg, broken arm, and busted ribs, he wasn't going to be much use.

"Yeah," he sighed. "We should probably call them."

"Yeah but not now. I'm beat. Let's go to bed" Danny said this with a yawn. He yanked the plastic off the bed in the mostly finished bedroom and sniffed the blankets checking for mold. Once he seemed satisfied it was clean, he flopped onto the bed with a sigh, kicking off his shoes in the process. Jason awkwardly climbed in next to him and removed his shoes more carefully then Danny did. He leaned his crutch against the wall where he'd be able to reach it easily from the bed. Then, he settled himself down and Danny curled up against his chest, wrapping the blankets around them. Together, they drifted off to sleep.

…

The next few days were chaos, and Jason hated it. Dick, Damian, and Danny worked to get the house livable, while Jason sat around giving instructions and Tim sat at the small table in the kitchen and ignored them all in favor of his laptop.

"No, not like that!" he yelled at Dick. "You're going to break the cabinets like that! Danny, that TV mount is crooked. Damian! You better not be spilling paint on my carpet!"

"Jason, why don't you take Tim and go shopping for house stuff," Dick suggested.

"House stuff?" Jason cocked his head at his brother.

"Yeah, like, towels, and pots and pans, and curtains, that stuff," Dick tried.

"You want to send the kid in the wheelchair, and the guy with half his bones broken on a shopping trip?" Jason glared at him.

"Yes?" Dick squeaked.

"Jay, you're just driving yourself up the wall staying here," Danny said, coming into the kitchen. Jason's heart stutterd as he saw him, with light gray paint smeared on his face. It looked like Damian had thrown a paintbrush at him.

"I'm good here," Jason grumbled.

"Please," Danny tried.

"Oh fine," Jason mumbled, unable to resist the puppy eyes Danny gave him. He hauled himself up on his crutch and pulled Tim away from the table. Tim yelped as he was wheeled away from his laptop.

"I did not agree to a shopping trip!" he whined as Jason awkwardly wheeled him outside to his car.

Jason was worried about getting the kid into the car, but it turned out to be a non issue. Tim was almost out of the wheel chair anyway and could haul himself into the passenger seat just fine. Jason awkwardly folded his wheelchair and tossed it in the back seat before getting in himself. He was glad he drove an automatic, no way he'd be able to work the gear shift and the wheel with one arm.

…

"So," Tim said slowly, drawing out the sound. "How are you and Danny doing? You know, besides losing your apartments," Tim asked awkwardly as Jason looked at towels, trying to decide what color Danny would like.

"We're good," Jason said absently. He wondered if Danny would prefer black or white towels.

"You caved to his puppy eyes pretty quickly," Tim noted with a mischievous smile. "You've never been vulnerable to Dick's before."

"Dick isn't adorable," Jason said, deciding on black and throwing a bunch into his cart, the good big kind. He started to move onto kitchen stuff, pushing the cart awkwardly while trying to control his crutch, and Tim wheeled himself behind.

"You think Danny is adorable?" Tim asked, a teasing note in his voice. Jason looked back at him and noted the smile creeping onto his face.

"Yes, I do," Jason said firmly. "He's my goddamn boyfriend, of course I think he's cute." Tim put his hands up in surrender, a decidedly Danny gesture that he must be picking up. He put his hands down after just a second though to keep wheeling himself along.

"Hey, I've never had a boyfriend. I don't know how this works," Tim said, placatingly.

"You've dated girls before. It's the same thing," Jason grumbled, stopping in front of a rack of pans and trying to remember what his favorite ones had been, the ones that were now in the heap of rubble that had been his apartment.

"Yeah, I guess," Tim conceded. They lapsed into silence after that. It was eventually broken when Tim asked, "So you guys are officially living together?" Jason had to pause at that. He hadn't actually thought about it. They'd never really moved in together in the apartments, Danny still went back to his place a lot. But now… Now they were really living together and he hadn't actually brought it up with Danny. He decided he didn't really need to. If it bothered Danny, he would have brought it up.

"Yeah, I guess we are," Jason answered Tim's question. He found a few pots and pans he liked and added them to the already overflowing cart. "How are you doing anyway?" he asked Tim.

"Fine," Tim shrugged. "I'll be out of the chair in a week, and then I get to start physical therapy," he shuddered. Jason nodded sadly. Physical therapy sucked.

"Good luck with that," Jason offered.

"Thanks," Tim said. "Are we almost done?" Jason laughed, though he had to admit, shopping for this stuff wasn't exactly thrilling. But, he was enjoying spending time with his brother.

…

"Were back!" Jason announced as he opened the door. He was surprised to see most of the work had been finished. The living room was clean, the TV had been mounted perfectly level on the wall. The workout room had a few more pieces of equipment, including a treadmill, that looked brand new. The cabinets were all up on the walls, and nothing was broken.

"Guys?" Jason called up the stairs. He turned to Tim who just shrugged, he couldn't go check. Jason sighed and struggled up the stairs. Last time he'd had Danny to help him up. He checked the unfinished bedroom first and was surprised to see that not only had the walls been painted, but someone had added a bed and a dresser, setting it up as a guest bedroom as they discussed a few days ago.

Last, Jason checked his and Danny's bedroom, where he found the three of them, all passed out on the bed. Dick had Damian pulled to his chest like a teddy bear, and Danny was laying on his back sprawled at the foot of the bed, his feet and legs hanging off the side. The credits to some movie where rolling quietly across the TV on the wall.

Jason pulled out his phone and snapped a picture before knocking loudly on the door. All three of them bolted upright and Damian violently extracted himself from his brother's snuggles.

"What?" Dick mumbled sleepily.

"Jay!" Danny grinned at him. "How was shopping?" he asked.

"Good," Jason smiled back at him. "Why don't you three get off your butts and get the stuff out of the car?" They all groaned, but dragged themselves to their feet to help.

…

That night, the five of them sat in Jason and Danny's new living room and ate delivery pizza and ice cream to celebrate making the house livable. Some Disney movie that Dick had insisted on watching was playing on the TV. Jason had his good arm wrapped around his boyfriend who was already asleep, drooling on Jason's shoulder. Despite the disaster that Harley had rained down on them a few days ago, this was nice. Jason was happy, happier than he thought he would ever be. He was on good terms with all of his brothers, and he had an amazing, adorable boyfriend. Despite the shit they'd been through, they'd pulled together and come out stronger. Nothing could possibly ruin the joy Jason felt in his heart. Nothing could break this.

Thanks so much for your continued support! Please review and let me know what you think.