Avoidance, thy name is Bat. With the exception of one Richard Grayson, the entire clan was terrible at the whole 'emotions' thing. Bruce because he was Bruce, Tim because he'd spent his entire life with the housekeepers, and Jason because all emotions ever did was get him in trouble. His dad would beat him for them, Bruce would lecture him if he let his emotions override the 'right' thing to do. Talia wasn't much better, though she'd tried a little harder than she probably wanted to.

He watched Tim steel himself, watched those bright blue eyes harden...and he frowned. "Bandage? What are you talking about, Timbers? Why would I be mad at you for helping me with a bandage?" Confusion was thick in his voice...but then he was thinking back to how lost Tim had looked as he'd ran to hide in the bathroom and suddenly things made a little more sense.

Well, shit.

Sighing, the older man scrubbed at his pink face with his hands, coaxing just a little more sharp ache out of the heated skin before he let his arms drop.

"I'm not mad at you and I do like you, so just wipe that stupidity right out of your head. I just...I tried to kill you, Tim. A lot. Got pretty damned close to it, too. I figured you wouldn't want me that close to you without a muzzle."