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Aug. 13th, 2014 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
He lost him.
Didn't he?
Does anyone ever really lose the goddamn Batman?
Pale and shaky, Jason casts another look over his shoulder. There's no one there, but then, that's what Bruce might want him to think. Perhaps he's slunk back into the shadows, perhaps he's watching, waiting for Jason to show his hand.
Well, here it is. He hasn't fucking got one, left his apartment like an idiot in minimal gear so he could meet Allison, a half dozen weapons and his gauntlets all that he has on him - a handful of nothing all that might stand between Jason and a deeper cut.
Lifting a trembling hand, he palms at the scar on his throat, only to rip his hand away again. If Bruce is watching, Jason doesn't mean to let him see him suffer. Darting down the next corner and then another, Jason doubles back, takes a second and third rooftop, then darts down another alley. His route is spinning, and Jason's spinning with it, eyes half to crossing and his cheeks green when he rounds another corner, barking in surprise when he runs into -
"Allison." Fuck. Bruce can't see her, can't know what she means, but she's here and if he's watching there's no escaping it. Jason tries and fails to school his expression into something less nauseated, croaking her name again. "Allison."
Didn't he?
Does anyone ever really lose the goddamn Batman?
Pale and shaky, Jason casts another look over his shoulder. There's no one there, but then, that's what Bruce might want him to think. Perhaps he's slunk back into the shadows, perhaps he's watching, waiting for Jason to show his hand.
Well, here it is. He hasn't fucking got one, left his apartment like an idiot in minimal gear so he could meet Allison, a half dozen weapons and his gauntlets all that he has on him - a handful of nothing all that might stand between Jason and a deeper cut.
Lifting a trembling hand, he palms at the scar on his throat, only to rip his hand away again. If Bruce is watching, Jason doesn't mean to let him see him suffer. Darting down the next corner and then another, Jason doubles back, takes a second and third rooftop, then darts down another alley. His route is spinning, and Jason's spinning with it, eyes half to crossing and his cheeks green when he rounds another corner, barking in surprise when he runs into -
"Allison." Fuck. Bruce can't see her, can't know what she means, but she's here and if he's watching there's no escaping it. Jason tries and fails to school his expression into something less nauseated, croaking her name again. "Allison."
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Date: 2014-08-21 06:05 pm (UTC)Even as his eyes roll, Jason sees the thing lick its lips, words rasping like a tongue against his skin that makes him shudder. "A shame," it murmurs in a wet, sated voice, "You two would have made for quite a feast."
"Allison," says Jason again, a little stronger now for having detached from the creature holding him, staggering backwards with a hand curled in her sleeve, the other lifting his gun to fire a round. It finds its mark, but all that follows in its wake is a roll of thunderous laughter.
"Fuck," Jason exhales. He's not any more equipped to fight this without his gear than the Batman. "Now can we run?"
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Date: 2014-08-21 06:15 pm (UTC)Fortunately, she'd made it a point to know the area around her office as well as she knew her hunting grounds, not wanting to be taken off guard again. Leading Jason down the alley, she took a couple of rights, a left, another right...
...when they emerged onto the main street again, she dragged Jason into foot traffic, keeping his arm around her shoulders as she slowed her pace. She felt winded, shaky...wrong, and Jason looked as bad as she felt, if not worse.
"Is your bike anywhere around here?" she asked, looking up at him. She wanted to stop and just hold him, reassure herself he was okay, but first they had to get somewhere safe. "Otherwise we're walking or bussing it back to my building, and I don't think either one of us are up for it."
Her apartment was safe. Kenzi was never far, she could call for Aramis or Porthos in a pinch, and Dr. Banner could look at Jason if he was in serious, hospital-level trouble...
She had to make sure Jason was safe.
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Date: 2014-08-21 07:41 pm (UTC)He's quiet as they move, forcing slow, even breaths into his lungs, but it isn't helping the way it should. That creature took something from him, from both of them, and far more than just Jason's pride. He's more than weak, he's diminished, and Jason keeps his head low until they reach the bike.
"We'll go straight to Bramford," he says, activating the bike's auto controls as subtly as he can as he reaches for a helmet. He's not sure he could drive right now otherwise, certainly not with Allison to think of, and Jason turns to look at her, all his many questions and explanations tabled just for now.
"Are you okay?"
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Date: 2014-08-21 08:07 pm (UTC)But Jason was doing the same thing...and it made it strangely easy to find balance. To be hard, to forget how much she cared for him, how scared she was for his safety...until he was looking at her, asking after her.
Then she wasn't the hunter or the vigilante anymore. She was the girl, and it was all she could do not to curl into him and come apart.
The only luxury she allowed herself was curling a hand around the back of his neck and pulling him close enough to kiss: hard and slow, solid and warm and reassuring, as much to him as to her: the warmth of his mouth on hers, the sound of his breath, the feel of his pulse as her hand slid away, lingering briefly at the pulse in his throat before she drew away to meet his gaze.
"As long as you can get us there without crashing." she replied quietly, the firm and even words hiding an entirely different sentiment as she waited for him to get on the bike before settling in behind him.
I'm terrified. I'm worried about you. I care too much to lose you, please be all right.
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Date: 2014-08-21 09:01 pm (UTC)Spying a vendor, Jason quickly dismounts and helps Allison off, then buys them two bottles of orange juice. It's the best thing for having been bled, and Jason certainly feels it, his energy stores shallow and used up.
"It'll help," he says, pressing one into Allison's hand before he takes her other, guiding them both into the shelter of the building. Whatever needs saying, it can't happen in the streets, and it's only when he's got his back to the closed door of her apartment that Jason finally lets himself ask.
"How did you know it was Bruce?"
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Date: 2014-08-21 09:12 pm (UTC)"Comic books." she replied quietly. Setting her juice, her keys, and her purse on the table beside her front door, she wastes no time in finding Jason's arms. He's still leaning back against her front door, but she doesn't care: she slips in close, arms circling his middle, and for a moment, lets her head rest against his chest so she can hear his heart beating.
She feels like her legs may give out any second...but the orange juice was helping a little.
"In my world, there are these comic books." she explained as she listened to that reassuring thump of his heart in her ear. "Batman is the main character...his secret identity is Bruce Wayne, he's got a sidekick named Robin...I think his first name is Dick or something." She paused, tipping her head up to meet his gaze, cheek still resting partly against his chest.
"I don't read comic books, but my friend, Stiles, reads...all of them." She shifted, dragging her head up a little more to rest her chin against his chest as she looked up at him. "There were some movies made about them...I saw one a few years ago. It's based on the comic books, but not to the letter."
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Date: 2014-08-21 10:21 pm (UTC)Bucky was in comic books. He and Steve and their adventures, but their identities were always known to all, and their stories based on reality, real battles they bled for, even died for. Jason died, but it seems it was for nothing more than a good fucking yarn.
"That makes me fiction," he says. "Somebody's story. He's my dad, Allison."
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Date: 2014-08-21 10:35 pm (UTC)But when he said Bruce Wayne was his father, Allison couldn't breathe for a second.
Straightening, the shock and confusion showed in her face. If Bruce Wayne was his father...he wasn't just someone from Gotham City, he was more. Maybe Jason wasn't even his name, maybe he was...could he be Robin? Was he really a comic book character? One of those--
Just thinking it, thinking of Jason as fictional tore a reaction from her she couldn't stop. Taking his face between her hands, her grip was painful as she held him there to look her dead in the eye. Something hot and wild and even angry clawed up out of her chest, something buried in carefree motorcycle rides and his hands on her body by a cool, quiet lake, something wrapped inside of shy smiles and combat knives and the intense way he would stare into her face before he kissed her...
"I don't care if the Tooth Fairy is your mother, Jason Todd, the boy I love is real."
He was real, she was touching him...and she had a very strong feeling that, just now, in that alley, he could have died.
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Date: 2014-08-22 03:10 am (UTC)He covers her hands in his own, letting his knees give and cushioning her descent with the bracket of his own body. "Do you know how many Robins there've been?" he asks, fighting a sudden urge to laugh. "We're so fucking replaceable, it'd blow your mind."
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Date: 2014-08-22 03:30 am (UTC)"I'll put a dagger in your gut instead of my elbow if you tell me that again." She grumbled, glaring at him before laying her head on his shoulder.
So Jason had been Robin. And Batman was his father. God, she couldn't even process this...first the monsters in the alley, then this...
...and she loved him. She was starting to, anyway. She was falling for the Boy Wonder. One who used guns, and she was pretty sure Batman didn't...
Her head was spinning with questions and worry and thoughts racing at the speed of light, and her head felt spinny on top of it all...
Thread the needle, Allison. Jason needs you. There's time to talk, but not if he's seriously hurt.
With a shaky sigh, she lifted her head, peering into his face and running her hands over his arms and shoulders.
"You might need a doctor. God knows what that thing did you you." She paused, taking his face between her hands, more gently this time.
"Jason...we can talk later, okay? Or not talk, I don't care." Her hand smoothed over his cheek, then she leaned in to kids his forehead.
"I need to know you're okay. Please, Jace."
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Date: 2014-08-22 09:39 pm (UTC)He curls his fingers through her own, blinking sore eyes to get a decent look at her up close. "Are you okay?" he asks again, brushing a lock of dark hair from her cheek. She's holding it together, and she's walking, talking, that much is clear, but she'd seen something in that alley, too.
"It was your dad," he says. "That thing I couldn't see."
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Date: 2014-08-22 09:49 pm (UTC)Lowering her gaze for a second, she bites her lip and nods with a shaky sigh.
"I think it was pulling from our memories." she admitted, bringing one of his hands up to kiss his knuckles before she guided their joined hands to rest on her knees, keeping a tight grip on his fingers. "The stuff my dad was saying...we lived in Orange County for a couple months when I was six, and I got lost at the county fair. When I saw him in that alley...he looked exactly the same, he sounded the same."
She paused, not wanting to bring it up again, but needing to if they were going to figure this out. Reflexively, her grip on his hands tightened.
"And the Batman I saw, it was from a movie, like I said." Meeting his gaze, she shifted closer, kissing him quickly, as if she could soften the discomfort of talking about his father with the gesture, with her nearness...will away the pain just by holding on tight enough, or being near enough to wrap him up and never let him go.
"The actor who played him in the movie had a little bit of a lisp...does your dad have one?"
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:08 pm (UTC)"Mine wasn't a straight memory," he admits after. Bruce had asked to help him more than once, but he'd sure as hell never hugged him, however much Jason wanted it. "More like, something I wanted to happen. Something that'd make me stick around so it could keep eating."
He sighs, shamed by his own need when it comes to Bruce, but another thought strikes him. "What's he like?" he asks, curious. "In your movies?"
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:15 pm (UTC)Yes, it was a weird place to snuggle up, but nothing about them was normal. It was just...right.
"In the movies, he's a good man." she admitted. "Damaged...hard-headed, occasionally he's a dick, but it's superficial. He cares a lot about the people he loves, but everyone's sort of at a distance. He makes it that way, he thinks he has to be alone."
She paused, tipping her head back to look up at him for a moment, then tilted her head a little further so she could kiss his jaw. "And he doesn't have a Robin, but the movies are supposed to be a trilogy. So far, only two have been released for me back home, I think maybe we'll see him in the third movie. At least I hope so: I don't think there's ever been an incarnation of Batman that didn't have a Robin. I mean...he's not the Dark Knight without the Boy Wonder."
She paused, a smile touching her face. "So...you were really Robin? Is that where you learned all the weapons stuff?"
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:24 pm (UTC)"For a few years," he answers. The best of his life in so many ways, even if Jason can't look back on them now without pain. "I was a street rat, making it on my own however I had to. The Batman, he drove into Crime Alley, left his car alone for too long. I stole the wheels off the Batmobile."
He smiles, a little proud of it, even now. "I guess he liked my nerve, 'cause he adopted me that week."
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:37 pm (UTC)She trailed off, jaw hanging open and still smiling in amazement. A few hours ago, he'd still been so much of an enigma to her, full of secrets and things he didn't think he could share...scars and shadows and every line of him a knife's edge...
And now she could see so much more of him. Maybe she didn't know everything, but she could imagine with some certainty where those dark parts of him were born.
"...you are the most amazing person I've ever known." she finished, reaching out to run her fingers back through his hair, the scar along his scalp no longer so mysterious. A battle wound, earned on the streets of Gotham...just a kid, Robin was always a little kid...
He was so much braver and stronger and...better than she would ever be, and she loved it. She loved him, she loved him so much right that second she ached with it.
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:57 pm (UTC)"But, um," he says, sobering a little. "If he ever really does come here, don't expect a happy reunion." In case that hadn't been obvious when Jason pulled his gun. "We don't get along anymore."
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Date: 2014-08-22 11:05 pm (UTC)She wouldn't go digging for the skeletons resting in his graveyard.
"And if he ever does come here," she added, remembering how Jason had reacted, "he won't get a welcome reception from me." Shaking her head a little, she held his gaze. "Not after what I saw today...you don't have to tell me why, just...understand that I'm with you. You and I...we're pack. You know what that means to me...stronger together than apart, your enemies are mine, and your beefs with your dad? I'm on your side, no matter what."
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Date: 2014-08-24 02:25 am (UTC)Lux loved him, he knows that, but not this fiercely. Certainly not this generously, and his breath stutters in his chest, an odd little sound that Jason is quick to cover with a smile.
"You're amazing," he says, more extension of his thoughts than intended utterance, but Jason doesn't take them back. "I'm kinda - well not kind of, sort of a lot." Rolling his eyes at his own incompetence, Jason tries again. "I'm sort of a lot in love with you."
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Date: 2014-08-24 05:29 am (UTC)Scott loved her, the bad with the good...but Jason loved both. All the same, all equal, all as beautiful and precious and lovable. She didn't have to protect him from herself, he was in love with the danger.
He was in love with her...even the parts she never let Scott see long enough to hate or fear.
Burrowing her hands in his hair, she drew him closer, pressing her forehead against his, drinking in that look as he said it, memorizing the way it filled his face...giddy, drowning in the way it made her feel, so familiar and so different and so humbling...
"I'm in love with you, too." She whispered with a smile, small at first, then bigger until it was splitting her face nearly in two. She pulled him closer for a kiss, then another, still grinning and repeating it between kisses.
"I love you...I'm in love...with you...I love you, Jace..."