Split
Verse: flashpoint!verse
Pairing: Jason/Tim
Word Count: 570
Summary: Jason and Father Todd need to talk about this.
---
Tim has bruises on his neck.
This is conjecture, actually, but Jason is certain that there are bruises in the shape of rosary beads on his neck. Why else would he wear turtleneck sweaters (black, like his hair) in the recent sunny weather? And the long sleeves are there to hie bruises on his arms. This is not conjecture, because Tim's forehead is stitched near the hairline, his lips are healing but they had been split, and one of his eyes has just stopped swelling, but it still graying-purple.
Jason knows this because he has seen Tim walk to Gotham University everyday since he abandoned himself to the wolves (his flock of wolves. No---Father Todd's flock of wolves). Jason does not know if this is God punishing him for loving Tim or telling him to do something about it.
Father Todd prays for Tim.
Jason simmers in his anger. Jason seeks to protect. (Anger is a sin Jason. One of the Seven. Oh, shut up. I've already slept with a man, you think the sin of anger bothers me?)
During the day, Father Todd maintains the church, Jason turns himself off, wishing that Tim would just burst through the doors. But that is unlikely. Tim's exile is emphasized by his classmates throwing rocks and cans at him. Father Todd hears these things in confession. I injured one of our former church members. Or, I have brought harm to another human.
Father Todd forgives them.
Jason hates them. Hates them, hates them, hates them. (Hatred is a sin too, but Jason thinks they deserve it. Father Todd doesn't condone hatred, but he condones violence even less.)
This particular night's confessions had been particularly rough. Many of the teenaged boys had expressed a certain righteousness about Tim's beatings. It had taken everything Jason had not to grip the by the throat and shake them. (Father Todd would have settled on condemning them to Hell.)
So Jason stares at Father Todd in the mirror in his bathroom. Steam causes water to dribble down Father Todd's face. It is as if he is weeping. (Jason keeps glancing at the place where Tim's toothbrush used to be. Tim had cleared all his things out of the apartment before Jason had gotten home.)
"God still loves us," Father Todd says. "God still loves Tim."
"God has a funny way of showing His love. Especially to Tim. Sadistic love, that."
Father Todd blinks, slowly. "It is a form of penitence, I would think." He sounds unsure, like he is simply repeating a comforting platitude.
Jason sucks in a sharp breath. "Tim doesn't need to be penitent. Tim loves me, sacrificed himself for me, and God sees fit to punish him for loving me?" His throat feels raw, as if he had been crying. "You don't know anything, you self-righteous---"
"How dare you?" Father Todd's rage peeks in. Jason feels it rolling. "I love him too!" His fist comes up on the other side of the mirror and pain slices up Jason's arm as the mirror shatters.
He runs that hand over his face, blood sliding down his face. He needs to stop thinking of himself and Father Todd separately. He needs to be... He needs to.
Let go. Let go of Father Todd. Let go of his church.
Father Todd needs to accept that he is Jason now. Because Tim is worth it.
Worth everything.
Pairing: Jason/Tim
Word Count: 570
Summary: Jason and Father Todd need to talk about this.
---
Tim has bruises on his neck.
This is conjecture, actually, but Jason is certain that there are bruises in the shape of rosary beads on his neck. Why else would he wear turtleneck sweaters (black, like his hair) in the recent sunny weather? And the long sleeves are there to hie bruises on his arms. This is not conjecture, because Tim's forehead is stitched near the hairline, his lips are healing but they had been split, and one of his eyes has just stopped swelling, but it still graying-purple.
Jason knows this because he has seen Tim walk to Gotham University everyday since he abandoned himself to the wolves (his flock of wolves. No---Father Todd's flock of wolves). Jason does not know if this is God punishing him for loving Tim or telling him to do something about it.
Father Todd prays for Tim.
Jason simmers in his anger. Jason seeks to protect. (Anger is a sin Jason. One of the Seven. Oh, shut up. I've already slept with a man, you think the sin of anger bothers me?)
During the day, Father Todd maintains the church, Jason turns himself off, wishing that Tim would just burst through the doors. But that is unlikely. Tim's exile is emphasized by his classmates throwing rocks and cans at him. Father Todd hears these things in confession. I injured one of our former church members. Or, I have brought harm to another human.
Father Todd forgives them.
Jason hates them. Hates them, hates them, hates them. (Hatred is a sin too, but Jason thinks they deserve it. Father Todd doesn't condone hatred, but he condones violence even less.)
This particular night's confessions had been particularly rough. Many of the teenaged boys had expressed a certain righteousness about Tim's beatings. It had taken everything Jason had not to grip the by the throat and shake them. (Father Todd would have settled on condemning them to Hell.)
So Jason stares at Father Todd in the mirror in his bathroom. Steam causes water to dribble down Father Todd's face. It is as if he is weeping. (Jason keeps glancing at the place where Tim's toothbrush used to be. Tim had cleared all his things out of the apartment before Jason had gotten home.)
"God still loves us," Father Todd says. "God still loves Tim."
"God has a funny way of showing His love. Especially to Tim. Sadistic love, that."
Father Todd blinks, slowly. "It is a form of penitence, I would think." He sounds unsure, like he is simply repeating a comforting platitude.
Jason sucks in a sharp breath. "Tim doesn't need to be penitent. Tim loves me, sacrificed himself for me, and God sees fit to punish him for loving me?" His throat feels raw, as if he had been crying. "You don't know anything, you self-righteous---"
"How dare you?" Father Todd's rage peeks in. Jason feels it rolling. "I love him too!" His fist comes up on the other side of the mirror and pain slices up Jason's arm as the mirror shatters.
He runs that hand over his face, blood sliding down his face. He needs to stop thinking of himself and Father Todd separately. He needs to be... He needs to.
Let go. Let go of Father Todd. Let go of his church.
Father Todd needs to accept that he is Jason now. Because Tim is worth it.
Worth everything.