Shakespearean - JayTim - Camp NaNoWriMo - July 2017

Chapter 26 - Broken

A/N - The video above is the song I was listening to when I wrote this chapter. It conveys the mood perfectly, in my opinion, and the tone of the song is just somber enough for the beginning of the chapter and just hopeful enough for the end. Enjoy.

Jason was reading a book Dick had brought him when the door to his hospital room opened. It was a few hours after Babs (it was weird to call her that now) had left, and Dick had fallen asleep in the chair next to the bed. He had expected the person who just entered to be the nurse who came to check in on him every couple hours, so he looked up with a smile. But when he saw that it was not actually the nurse but Tim who had come into his room, the smile slowly faded away.

He had wondered if he would come. It was already afternoon and he'd been in the hospital for almost 24 hours by then. The fact that his boyfriend was only then coming to see him didn't seem to bode well for Jason, or for his relationship.

Instead of being the first to speak, Jason remained silent, staring at Tim. He had come to see Jason, so let him be the one to talk first. As he stared, Jason realized that Tim looked like shit. Dark bags under bloodshot eyes, wrinkled clothes hanging from his frame, a messenger bag hanging from his shoulder, and his hair a rat's nest - it looked as though Tim hadn't slept at all since he woke up the day before.

Tim swallowed and smiled shyly. "Hi," he said, and it was so quiet that it was almost a whisper.

"Hi back," Jason returned. They waited in another silence, Jason wanting Tim to talk and Tim afraid to do so.

"How are you feeling?"

Jason snorted. "Probably about how you look. Didn't sleep?"

Tim shook his head. "Couldn't."

Jason nodded, though he really didn't understand. "Surprising. You couldn't sleep, but you were the last member of your family to show up to see your own boyfriend in the hospital." Even Damian had come, dragged in by Bruce, and Cassandra had stopped by to say hi, though Jason had a really hard time signing anything to her with the cast on his arm.

Tim said nothing, but Jason swore he could see his lips quivering. Jason closed his eyes, trying to block out the image of Tim on the verge of tears. "Why?" he whispered. He needed to know why Tim hadn't come. He needed some reason to blame for it, or else he'd start to blame himself.

It took Tim a moment to answer, and when he did Jason opened his eyes in surprise. "I was working on this." Tim hesitantly stepped closer to the bed and held out the messenger bag to Jason, who took the bag with the arm that wasn't broken. He laid it on the bed and opened it, pulling out a brand new, very expensive looking laptop.

He looked up at Tim with confusion. "What's this?"

Tim cleared his throat. "It took a while, but I managed to save most of the files off your hard drive. All your essays and documents for journalism are on there. Clark helped me know what to look for to find the important stuff. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to save most of your cache of anime. Sorry about that," he said, a tight-lipped smile on his face that didn't show in his eyes.

Jason internally smiled at the memory of Tim saving his poor laptop from all those viruses. Externally, he didn't make any expression at all, unsure of how he was really feeling in that moment. "And where did this laptop come from?"

"I got it for you. Your old one was totaled, and I figured it was the least I could do." Tim shrugged and refused to make eye contact.

"Because you're breaking up with me." It wasn't a question. Jason had known from the moment Tim had walked in with that sad look in his eyes. Jason had known when Tim walked into the room and didn't immediately pull him into a fierce hug.