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Tim shifted from foot to foot, clutching the package of oreos tighter in his grip. He bit his lip and stared at Jason’s closed door. He let out a sigh and raised a hand, ready to knock when the door was pulled open.

He blinked and stared up at Jason who was looking at him expectantly, eyebrow raised. Tim’s eyes drifted down and found Jason without a shirt. He sucked in a breath at the scars littering Jason’s chest, something twisting uncomfortably in his chest.

“Oh, sorry,” Jason mumbled, taking notice of his change in demeanor. “I guess I should’ve expected you’d forget about the scars.” He stepped back into his room and pulled open his dresser, throwing a shirt over his head. Even when the fabric came down to cover his skin, Tim couldn’t pull his eyes away, imagining how much pain or how many fights Jason had gotten into to get so many scars.

As far as Tim knew, Jason was a skilled fighter who’d been ready to knock him on his ass down in the Cave. He couldn’t imagine how Jason could ever lose a fight even though he said Tim was able to win against him when he remembered how to fight.

“Hey,” Jason said, softly. “Hey, Tim? Are you okay?” He reached out and touched Tim’s arm lightly and he jerked, eyes snapping up to Jason’s face.

“Sorry, I-sorry,” he said, shoving the package of oreos against Jason’s chest before he turned on his heel and hurried down the hallway.

“Hey, Tim,” Jason said, following after him.

Tim wrapped his arms around himself, pushing into his room.

“Tim, what’s wrong?” Jason asked behind him.

He didn’t respond, gaze fixed on the floor as he tried to make sense of what he’d seen.

“Come on, Timmy,” Jason said, voice soft. “You can talk to me. What’s wrong?” His hand was gentle as it came to rest on Tim’s arm. He turned him around, but he didn’t look up.

“You…your scars…” Tim whispered. “You have so many scars.”

“It’s part of being a vigilante. We don’t win every fight.” He let out a breath. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed and I’m not sure if I should tell you, but you have scars marking your body, too.”

Tim hunched his shoulders. “I haven’t looked yet. But you’re such a strong fighter. You’re so strong. How…how did you get so many scars?”

“Believe it or not, Tim, there are fighters better than me in the world. Bruce is one of them and he’s gotten just as many scars as the rest of us.”

Tim stepped forward, closing the distance between them. He rested his head against Jason’s chest and shut his eyes. Jason’s arm wrapped around him and pulled him close, hand running up and down Tim’s spine.

“Are you gonna be okay?” he murmured.

“I guess…” Tim said. “It was a bit of a shock.”

Jason patted his back. “Did you need something before you ran off at the sight of my…because of that?”

Tim’s face heated. “I wanted to apologize. For getting you in trouble with Bruce.”

Jason’s body shook underneath him as he laughed. “You didn’t get me in trouble. He’s a bit of a hard ass, but that’s not being in trouble, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, how do you know I wasn’t just using your amnesia to get his spandex in a twist?”

Tim’s stomach turned. “Were you?” he asked.

“No,” Jason sighed. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, do you want to do something? I’ve got a whole package of oreos I can’t eat on my own. I could sure use some help.”

Tim laughed and stepped back out of Jason’s hold. He looked up and gave him a smile. “Sure, what were you thinking?”

“Let’s see…we have endless movies and T.V. options or the latest gaming consoles. We have a fully stocked library and probably a hundred rooms in this place that could be explored.”

“Games?” Tim asked.

“Oh, you’re going to love this,” Jason said, grinning pulling at his lips. “Let me just go grab the oreos,” he said, rushing back down to his room.

Tim stepped into the hallway and Jason didn’t even bother slowing down as he hurried back. He grabbed Tim’s hand and pulled him down the hallway. Tim grinned, laughing as they hurried down the stairs and into the entertainment room they’d been in the other night while watching movies.

“Go ahead and take a seat,” Jason said, shoving the oreos into his hands. “I’ll get things set up.

Tim sat cross-legged on the couch and pulled open the oreos, biting one in half as he watched Jason fiddle with cases and disks. He carried two white remotes over to the couch and handed one to Tim.

“What are we playing?” Tim asked.

Jason grinned. “Mario Kart.”

The screen lit up with the start menu and Jason quickly flicked through the settings, queuing their game before Tim could even read the words on the screen.

“Go ahead and pick your character. You’re the blue box,” Jason explained.

Tim nodded and scrolled through the characters until he settled on a green dragon looking thing.

“Yoshi, nice,” Jason commented.

The screen changed and Jason flicked through different pictures of race tracks before clicking one.

“So, you’re going to hold the remote sideways, like that,” Jason said, showing Tim his own hands. “You press the ‘2′ button to go and tilt the remote back and forth to change direction, got it?”

“I think so,” Tim said, uncertainly.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Jason said, popping an oreo into his mouth as the stoplight on the screen started to count down. Tim bit his lip as the race started and he belatedly pressed the button to make his character move, leaving him in last place.

Jason leaned forward, eyes intent on the screen. He’d easily pulled ahead of all the other characters. Tim fumbled the first turn, jerking his remote too far to the left. He struggled to get back on course and kept going, intent on making it through the course without letting it get the best of him.

Tim fought to keep his eyes on his own character, wanting to watch Jason expertly drive around the course and use the shining mystery blocks to throw weapons and attacks at the other drivers who tried to pass him or make him fumble. Tim ran over more than one banana peel because of it.

The other characters were halfway done with their third lap when Tim was starting his. He hit a mystery block and blinked when a blue shell started spinning around him. He frowned and released it.

“No, Tim, no, no, no!” Jason said as he watched what happened.

“What?” Tim asked. “What did I do?”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Jason cursed. “Come on, come on…”

Tim watched as the blue shell he’d fired showed up behind Jason and hit him, causing him to stop dead a few feet from the finish. A few players streaked passed and claimed the first few places while Jason fought to get his character moving again.

Tim laughed, sinking back into the couch cushions. Jason glared at him when he crossed the finish line and Tim couldn’t care less that the game ended before he could get to the end.

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Jason asked.

Tim grinned.

“If that’s how it’s going to be, let’s see how well you handle Rainbow Road,” he muttered, flicking through the race tracks.

Tim chuckled, not caring if he was going to end up coming in last place again because he was having a great time watching Jason give this game his entire focus.

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