Shakespearean - JayTim - Camp NaNoWriMo - July 2017

Chapter 24 - Bruce Wayne

A/N Not gunna lie, this was a hard chapter to write...

Jason took a deep breath. After what had happened the last time he was here, he knew that Ra's' mansion was not a safe place for him.

Then again, that's why he was here.

He checked to make sure the phone in his pocket was recording and then walked up to the front door, knocking hard. The door opened to show one of Ra's' many goons. He man glared at him, but he didn't seem to recognize Jason.

Jason wanted to smirk, but he made sure to keep a despondent, desperate expression on his face as he said in a quivering voice, "My name is Jason Todd and I'm here to see Ra's."

At the sound of Jason's name, the goon's eyebrows rose. After a second of hesitation, his eyes narrowed. The goon grabbed Jason's arm and dragged him into the house, slamming the door behind him as he went. The man's grip was strong, and Jason was sure his fingers would leave bruises in his bicep. Jason was also sure those wouldn't be the only bruises he would suffer today.

The goon continued to yank him through the house until they got to the same study that Ra's had been in earlier that day. Instead of sitting at the desk, this time he was staring out the large window, a mug of what was probably tea held comfortably in his hands. "You're back already?"

Jason wanted to slap the smug grin off his face, but he refused to let himself lose his control. He took a deep breath, allowing a small shake to make him seem even more upset. "You were right," he choked out.

Ra's turned around to face him properly and cupped a hand at his ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"You were right!" He forced himself to say it louder, and he sank to the floor for dramatic effect. "My dorm, my job, GCU," he paused, made it sound like he was choking up, and whispered the last word of the sentence, "Tim. You were right."

Ra's gave him a wary look. "What about Tim, exactly?"

Jason made sure to be overly dramatic, with heavy breaths and a cold shiver and everything. "I thought you were bluffing, I- I went to his house, to tell him about my past, about being kidnapped. He-" Jason inhaled deeply through his nose, sniffing snot up his nose. "He wouldn't even... He wouldn't even look at me!" Jason was sat on the floor, his head in his hands, doing his best to make it look like he was crying. "Please, Ra's. Please, fix it. I'll do anything!"

"Fix it?" Jason looked up sharply to see Ra's looking down at him with a sneer. "How could I fix it? Did you tell him about our earlier conversation?"

Jason shook his head emphatically. "No! No, I swear I didn't. I thought if I told him then he wouldn't trust me anymore, but... I suppose it didn't really make a difference."

Ra's laughed. It was a truly cruel laugh, the cackle of someone who really enjoyed the suffering of others. "Oh, Jason. You poor, foolish boy. You should have just listened to me earlier." He set his mug on the desk and squatted down in front of Jason. With a cruel grin, he grabbed a handful of Jason's hair and yanked his head back. "If it was your relationship with the Drake boy that gave you access to the Waynes, and you no longer have a relationship with the Drake boy, then what use could you possibly be to me?" Ra's' cruel grin turned into a glare of rage. "Get him up," he snarled at his men.

Jason decided to resist as much as possible, so it took two of them to actually get him on his feet, and even then, they had to keep holding him by the arms to keep him up. "No! No, please, Ra's, I'll do anything! Maybe I can make him like me again! Maybe-"

"No." It was short, curt, and final. It was quiet, and it cut through the room like shrapnel. Jason's face crumpled. "Do you know how long it took to get to this point?" Jason swallowed. "Do you have any idea how much I invested in you?" Jason shook his head, smart enough not to speak. Ra's took off his suit jacket and lay it on the desk. "It took years to collect my options, pick the best one. It took years to get you that education, to groom you into the right shape so you'd slide perfectly into the lives of the Waynes, so that little Timothy Drake would fawn over you the instant you met." He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and stepped closer to Jason, their faces inches apart. "Years," he snarled, then he swung.