( the central city apartment was meant to be more of a safehouse, after the tower in new york had been - shared with others following stark's disappearance. and it is, still. to an extent. but jason's also started to realize he's treating it more like a home than a safehouse; the kitchen is full of cooking supplies, the couches have stupid fancy pillows on them, he has bookshelves full of his favorites and half-read books on the coffee table. the gaming console he'd gotten after kyle started bitching about his lack of hobbies is set up to a massive tv against one wall.
it's lived in, which both means jason needs to keep it even more safe, but at the same time - he's less cautious about letting people he considers close know where it is.
accelerator just happens to be among those numbers.
so the kid gets an invite right to jason's own four bedroom apartment that he shares with dick junior and kyle for his 'bomb lessons' they'd been discussing. jason's got wires, c4, and various other bits and baubles thrown around the coffee table, the television's running through some documentary on koala bears in the background, and jason's calling out a "security's off, let yourself in" soon as he knows accelerator's close enough to the door to count.
there's cameras in the hallway. movement sensors. various other batbullshit to keep people from sneaking up on him because fuck that. which also means he knows accelerator's coming before the kid's close enough to knock. )
[There's a slow, uncertain dread that's growing in Accelerator as he approaches the address, especially when he realizes it's an apartment and not just a warehouse or abandoned and derelict building. He's doing his best to ignore it, but it's one of those things that, when it creeps into your head, doesn't go away.
Logically, he knows it's because this is all kind of.... normal. Not the making bombs part, but going over to someone else's apartment like it's some casual social thing, the fact that Jason already mentioned his younger brother being present which means socializing with someone his own age, the part where he willingly agreed this wasn't a completely terrible idea, for some stupid reason. It is a terrible idea, he doesn't do normal shit like this. When Leo and Donnie come over to his apartment it's because they're imposing on him and he just rolls with it. This is different. This was partly his idea, and he feels sick to his stomach for not cancelling.
Well. It's an inevitability that he's going to fuck things up socially, he's resigned himself to that reality and that's why he's currently sipping from a can of coffee (Death Wish Unsweetened Cold Brew). At least he'll probably pick up on some useful information on explosives?
He notes the cameras in the hallway as he comes in, and after switching his choker to esper mode for a few seconds out of curiosity, he isn't really surprised at the abnormal vectors bouncing around. This is the same guy who checked over his apartment for bugs, after all, of course he'd go overboard in his own home with security. Kicking his shoes off Accelerator heads into the living room, where he sees the bookshelf, and the documentary on the tv, and the video game console, and the only thing going through his head is how fucking normal all of this looks. The only things that don't fit are the explosive equipment on the coffee table and himself, one skinny esper who looks like a light breeze could snap him in half.
Leaning more heavily against his crutch and with an expression that screams he's already fed up with everything, he takes another sip of his coffee.]
[ Dick isn't the sort of person to get nervous meeting new people. He likes people, generally, even if they're the sort who don't want to be liked. Jason had tried to push him away, and Dick just strolled right into his life anyway. Spending his formative years as a performer taught him how to talk to people, and his experience among the Gotham elite has taught him how to read between the lines.
"Ace is lonely," Jason had said. Lonely like we were went unsaid.
He has mixed feelings about Jason taking someone else under his wing. It's great and everything, but it dredges up old insecurities. Jason said nothing would change but...
In any case, everything rattling around in his head isn't Ace or Jason's problem. He's got this.
Dick hears Jason call out and knows their guest has arrived, so he walks down the hall just as Accelerator enters. ]
You must be Ace.
[ Dick is smiling, but he's also assessing Accelerator. He looks frail, but Jason had said he was beating up gangsters. So he knows for a fact that looks are deceiving in this case. And he definitely doesn't miss the 'oh god I have to socialize?' expression.
He looks fun already. Dick enjoys a challenge.
Dick, for his part, looks like a normal teenager in his jeans and t-shirt. He doesn't look like the sort of person who messes with C4 or has a brother who moonlights as a vigilante. ]
( his fingers have grease on them from fucking around with the igniter. jason doesn't bother looking up when he hears dick wandering around, because he recognizes the sound of his footsteps well enough. knows accelerator by the pattern his cane makes against the ground when he walks, and he's already seen him on the security feed (neural implants can be useful, even if jason still hates it).
so he doesn't look up. just keeps fussing with what's in hand, even as he opens his mouth and keeps talking. )
Accelerator. Ace just fits better. ( he'd ask dick if his bruce also has a shepherd named ace, but bringing up the dog who shares the nickname he's given accelerator in front of him is probably ill-advised, so jason'll leave that for later. he does raise his head after a moment, looks over to accelerator before nodding off towards dick. ) Dickie. An' don't let him play you. Told you he could kick my ass, an' I meant it.
[Accelerator just stares a little. Coming from a city of millions of mostly average-looking kids with supernatural powers, it isn't that unusual to see that Jason's brother looks similar. Definitely not as weird as coming across Leo for the first time.
Of course, this being Accelerator, he's staring him down, sort of like a predator sizing up prey. Not intentionally, mind you, it's a natural consequence of his years at the very top of Academy City's totem pole.
Then he clicks his tongue disdainfully, though that's directed towards Jason.]
Accelerator is what I go by. [Because it's one thing to tolerate people he likes giving him dumb nicknames, it's something else entirely to let some stranger be that disrespectful.] Certain bastards who don't care about keeping their tongues in their heads just think that's too long to say.
[This is the part where, if he had a free hand, he'd be flipping Jason off. But he doesn't so he settles for a glare as he moves over to one end of the coffee table, putting his coffee down before taking his crutch off his arm and using it as leverage to carefully sit down.]
[ A small part of him is gratified by Jason's praise. He's been sparring and getting better, but he's pretty sure Jason could still knock him flat if he really tried.
He just raises an eyebrow as Accelerator sizes him up. Dick is used to it, though most people are more subtle about it. Idly, he wonders what his assessment reveals, but Dick doesn't bother asking. Instead he tries to stifle an amused smile at Accelerator chastising Jason. ]
( jason had told kyle to be back home by five, because he was making a lavish dinner. home, to the stupidly nice apartment, with it's stupidly nice kitchen that jason does start cooking in. starts, because he gets about halfway through prepping vegetables before he realizes exactly where he's at and what he's doing. living with people--that isn't new. jason'd lived in the manor for a few years, he's shared safehouses with a few people on and off for a few years. hell, he, donna, and kyle'd been around the block together. he'd shared with loki a significant period, but. it hadn't been stable, any of it. they'd moved around, gone from building to building, referred to where they were at as safehouses, not homes. or jason'd taken off for a while, or it'd lasted a few months before he did something to fuck it all up. pissed off the wrong person, almost killed roy, gotten people sucked into black holes leading to fucked elseworlds. destroyed relationships intentionally, because leaving things be always spelled trouble.
it'd never been this. living with someone he's verbally told others he's dated, even if it'd been as a test. having his fourteen year old older brother taking up a room. purposefully fitting it full of shit he liked, outfitting the place like he was intending to stay long-term. standing around in a kitchen full of perishables with plans on actually using them.
he's been consistently inconsistent, because settling in one place has never turned out well for him. getting attached hasn't, and--hell, letting a fucking teenager live in the same space as him is just asking for shit to go so wrong jason regrets ever opening his mouth and telling dick jack shit.
the shift is sudden. from idly cutting down carrots with a nakiri, to jason's shoulders tensing, jaw clenching tight, mind running a mile a minute through all the worst-case scenarios. he's been plotting to fuck over junior, which he realizes is stupid in of itself, but that's because jason's an idiot. the kind of idiot who's been fucking around with the gangs here since he showed up, who intentionally got the attention of every robin in his vicinity in one of the worst ways possible, just to see how they'd react. who'd do it again. who shouldn't be here, surrounded by shit he's inevitably going to fuck up and ruin.
fingers tighten on the knife, before he's slamming it down into the cutting board hard enough it sticks into the wood. this was stupid. all of it. he feels that itch at the back of his neck, the one that screams danger, will robinson like it's expecting aliens to come flying through the window at any moment intent on murder. it doesn't usually stop but he let it, and now it just--feels wrong. all of it.
which is a perfectly reasonable reason to lean down to where he'd stashed a go bag beneath the kitchen island, swing the bag over his shoulder, turn off the stove, and go for the fire escape outside the balcony window. )
not because he is afraid. power corrupts, of course, which is why he's kept it at a distance, but ion in itself is not just power. it was the heart of the star. jenny's heart which she had entrusted back to him after she perished. it was the edge of grief that kept ion away. power in itself means nothing to kyle. he's powerful. he could tear worlds apart. he has torn worlds apart. other people may come to fear or respect it, but it means so little to him. not as much as other things. not as much as being kyle rayner.
his senses go off when he enters. the smell of food permeates, but there's nothing else. there's no one else here. for a moment, kyle feels a blinding moment of panic, of fear. from the corner of his eyes, the fridge is there. swallowing, he forces it down. jason is fine. he's not dead.
but he's not here.
oh. he's not here.
kyle nearly barks a laugh at that, pushing some of his hair from his face. so that's how it is, huh? fine. fine. he'll get his bearings. he'll manage. he'll figure out his next steps. he's not giving up.
but ion is there and he feels the inky blackness slowly crawl up his arms and face. it was comforting. he just needs to be . . . numb for a little bit.
( it's roughly a week and a half after jason had promised kyle a date night and ran off, and a few days after he'd blown up the backbreakers' safehouses. not red hoods, not his kids' shit, but specifically the backbreakers' territory. it'd been intentional, but even after fighting with junior, it hadn't--fixed anything, hadn't made anything better.
his apartment is still empty, jason feels like garbage, which--really, he should be. he knows he should feel like that, knows he deserves this. but he'd told dick also that he. . . was learning how to ask for help, that he'd try, and hell if he knows how to fix any of this. not--even necessarily what he did, but the why he did it, because it's that which keeps causing jason's panic responses.
it's the early hours of the morning, when a man in a dark hoodie stops outside of dick's apartment building. aviators cover his eyes despite how dark it is already, and jason--slumps up against a tree in a place he knows will be visible from inside the balcony. knows, too, that dick probably has some shit set up to see who's lurking around his place. doesn't know where it is, doesn't particularly care at the moment, because if he spends hours waiting outside or has to come back and lurk around another day--well, maybe he shouldn't have been an asshole in the first place. )
[And they are there. Maybe not as advanced as they would have been back home, but still better than what most people here and now would have.]
[Which is why Dick pulls his bike up behind Jason, making certain the other man knows he's coming. Because it's only right to give him enough warning. He puts down the kickstand and turns off the engine before taking off his helmet and looking to Jason.]
( he's disappeared for longer before. is likely to again; jason isn't known for his ability to stay still, but he--gets what dick is getting at, too. jason pushes away from the surface he's leaning against, turns in towards dick. )
[Because, as Jason had reminded him not long ago, Dick hasn't always been there for the middle brother. The second son who had so much dropped on him because Bruce had only learned how to father one kind of kid and hadn't recalibrated in time.]
[Dick glances up at the window to his apartment and waves. Because Tim has access to the cameras as well. Then looks back to Jason.]
He'll be okay on his own for a bit, yeah. Past the worst of it, now. Well, physically.
[Were any of them past trauma mentally? Not really, but they ignored that as much as possible.]
( dick waves, and jason's lips press together tight as he looks up towards the windows. doesn't say a word, because he knows if tim can see, then he can read what jason's saying from the way his mouth moves, too.
so instead, he turns in towards dick. away from the building, and gestures towards the bike. )
Got room for an extra rider? Figure we might wanna take a step away from. . . here.
[Better that Jason know they could be watched than not realize it. Though Dick's fairly certain he assumed it to begin with.]
[At the gesture, Dick gets off the bike, setting his helmet on the seat. He goes to the storage box on the back, taking a moment to concentrate before opening it and taking out another helmet, which he tosses to Jason.]
( at one point, jason'd been driving his bike by dick's school after he got out most days. it's not as if he has a real person job, he catnaps when dick's at school, clearly picking him up was a good use of his spare time. for the past couple weeks, jason--hasn't been around. hasn't answered the phone because he left it behind, didn't bother trying for the apartment since everyone was gone.
but he shows up to school today, bike helmet hanging off one handle while the compartment his spare's in is open. jason's got aviators on over his eyes, because clearly any sun is too much sun. he waits. figures, dick can walk the other way and avoid jason entirely if he really wants to, jason's not going to stop him. but he's here, he's got dick's helmet out and visible, the invitation is there, whether or not he decides to take it. )
[ Dick spots Jason's bike immediately. He stands a few paces away, one hand clutching his backpack strap. He looks Jason over, his expression cool but not cold.
Without preamble, he grabs his helmet and climbs on. ]
( jason looks back. his left shoulder still fucked to hell and back, obvious by how he's holding it stiff while the the rest of him slumps over. he's tired, less physically and more--mentally, and he's not making any effort to hide it. dick and tim both have great poker faces, but jason's always been worse at hiding his emotions. trying to in front of dick grayson himself just seems like a fucking stupid idea, especially when he doesn't have much he wants to hide.
the kid climbs onto the bike without a word, and jason--reaches to take off his aviators, head facing forward, and shoves the helmet on in their place. the comms in the helmets are meant more for when they're driving, but they come in handy here, when he murmurs soft enough it'd be too muffled to pick up the words through polycarbonate plastic. )
[ Dick sees all of it-- how couldn't he? Jason doesn't bother hiding it, which is smart. He's been getting into fights to, what? Punish himself, burn off some aggression?
Although Dick is still stinging a little from Jason's abrupt departure, he does understand a little. Plus he got a warning, which is more than Kyle got. ]
( he hadn't had a destination in mind, originally. with food given as a good place to start, jason takes them down the road to one of the closer fast food joints - one he knows has decent burgers. jason parks the bike so they can make their way inside and order, mostly because drive thrus and motorcycles tend to not mix very well. )
We'll pick up whatever, an'--go find a place to talk after.
( though he is sucking in a breath, and without prompting, just - )
( he gives it a couple days or so when jason finally comes back around — lets kyle and dickie have a first go at him, what with how upset they'd both been with his sudden disappearance. it had disappointed bruce, if only because of his being fully aware that jason knows better, what with the way he'd given him shit for disappearing himself.
still. he's here outside the apartment, bear on his leash and wearing his leather jacket there at bruce's side. he figures jason already knows he's here but still goes about giving a rap of knuckles against the door, pup's tail wagging eagerly what with knowing whose place this is and not having seen a certain someone in here for some time.
while bear has the leather jacket, bruce has the long black coat to go with the black turtleneck and slacks he has, shades on because of course. he's batman bruce wayne. )
( jason came back, because he always comes back. hell, he'd keeled over and died and it still hadn't been enough to keep him from making his way back around to gotham to get in everyone's face. he went to kyle and dickie first, had conversations with them about his disappearance act. the whys, even if they're stupid. moved himself back into his apartment, bruised and bloodied still from his couple weeks of making poor decisions.
he knows it's bruce outside before he opens the door, security cameras having caught sight of him and bear approaching. which is why when he does knock, it's barely a moment after that jason's swinging the door open. he's wearing a loose wifebeater, sides cut down, leaving the bandages over his left shoulder visible along with the extensive bruising over his sides and his face. which, really - is just another tuesday for jason todd. and really: the bruises on the outside are a good sign; means he's wearing less on the inside. he doesn't bother to leave bruce in the doorway, just takes a step back and nods his head into the apartment, given his fucked arm is the one he would've used to gesture bruce on in. )
If you're gonna lecture me, put Bear over in Dickie's room. He doesn't need to see what'll happen.
( he looks him over — takes note of the bruises — and steps inside with an eager pup who gives a couple happy jumps in an attempt to see jason there, tail wagging away.
a few steps in, he bends at the knee, takes bear off his leash, and the pup hurries over to jason, bruce winding the leash around his wrist as he slowly comes to stand, watching the way the pup happily paws at jason. as for bruce, he stands there, hands sliding into his coat pockets. quiet. staring at jason. )
( the silence is worse. because he knows that bruce is--observing him. trying to map out what the fuck happened without bothering to ask. and jason's shit at hiding his emotions. he's obviously in shit shape, having spent a significant amount of time intentionally starting fights just for something to burn. bruce is a detective, even if he's still young. he'll see right through jason.
so jason, being himself, bends down to the ground when bear makes his way on over and scoops a hand up under his chest. he's getting big; jason's fairly certain he won't be able to carry him so easily much longer. not that it'll stop him. a forty pound dog is nothing considering all the times he's lugged dick and tim around. )
Fine. Get it over with then.
( since bruce is still standing there. clearly it's time for scolding. )
( for a long moment, there's just the silence hanging there between them around the soft noises bear makes here and there in jason's arms. he's braced himself for whatever he thinks he's about to get from this younger version of a father figure here and bruce rolls that over in his head for a few more seconds before he's reaching up with a hand to take his sunglasses off.
gently, they're tucked into an inside pocket in his coat — tip of a finger giving a single pat — before he's making his way over to jason and the pup. slow. steady steps. ones that are similar to the way in which batman walks yet lacks the heavy weight of the boots against the flooring.
standing there in front of him and the pup then, blue eyes hold jason's gaze for a moment or two, bear giving a look between the two, tail still wagging, before he brings a hand up... and reaches for the back of jason's neck. firm yet careful. pulling him in for an embrace, mindful of bear there between them as he does. )
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accelerator + dick jr | bomb lessons
it's lived in, which both means jason needs to keep it even more safe, but at the same time - he's less cautious about letting people he considers close know where it is.
accelerator just happens to be among those numbers.
so the kid gets an invite right to jason's own four bedroom apartment that he shares with dick junior and kyle for his 'bomb lessons' they'd been discussing. jason's got wires, c4, and various other bits and baubles thrown around the coffee table, the television's running through some documentary on koala bears in the background, and jason's calling out a "security's off, let yourself in" soon as he knows accelerator's close enough to the door to count.
there's cameras in the hallway. movement sensors. various other batbullshit to keep people from sneaking up on him because fuck that. which also means he knows accelerator's coming before the kid's close enough to knock. )
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Logically, he knows it's because this is all kind of.... normal. Not the making bombs part, but going over to someone else's apartment like it's some casual social thing, the fact that Jason already mentioned his younger brother being present which means socializing with someone his own age, the part where he willingly agreed this wasn't a completely terrible idea, for some stupid reason. It is a terrible idea, he doesn't do normal shit like this. When Leo and Donnie come over to his apartment it's because they're imposing on him and he just rolls with it. This is different. This was partly his idea, and he feels sick to his stomach for not cancelling.
Well. It's an inevitability that he's going to fuck things up socially, he's resigned himself to that reality and that's why he's currently sipping from a can of coffee (Death Wish Unsweetened Cold Brew). At least he'll probably pick up on some useful information on explosives?
He notes the cameras in the hallway as he comes in, and after switching his choker to esper mode for a few seconds out of curiosity, he isn't really surprised at the abnormal vectors bouncing around. This is the same guy who checked over his apartment for bugs, after all, of course he'd go overboard in his own home with security. Kicking his shoes off Accelerator heads into the living room, where he sees the bookshelf, and the documentary on the tv, and the video game console, and the only thing going through his head is how fucking normal all of this looks. The only things that don't fit are the explosive equipment on the coffee table and himself, one skinny esper who looks like a light breeze could snap him in half.
Leaning more heavily against his crutch and with an expression that screams he's already fed up with everything, he takes another sip of his coffee.]
Yo.
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"Ace is lonely," Jason had said. Lonely like we were went unsaid.
He has mixed feelings about Jason taking someone else under his wing. It's great and everything, but it dredges up old insecurities. Jason said nothing would change but...
In any case, everything rattling around in his head isn't Ace or Jason's problem. He's got this.
Dick hears Jason call out and knows their guest has arrived, so he walks down the hall just as Accelerator enters. ]
You must be Ace.
[ Dick is smiling, but he's also assessing Accelerator. He looks frail, but Jason had said he was beating up gangsters. So he knows for a fact that looks are deceiving in this case. And he definitely doesn't miss the 'oh god I have to socialize?' expression.
He looks fun already. Dick enjoys a challenge.
Dick, for his part, looks like a normal teenager in his jeans and t-shirt. He doesn't look like the sort of person who messes with C4 or has a brother who moonlights as a vigilante. ]
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so he doesn't look up. just keeps fussing with what's in hand, even as he opens his mouth and keeps talking. )
Accelerator. Ace just fits better. ( he'd ask dick if his bruce also has a shepherd named ace, but bringing up the dog who shares the nickname he's given accelerator in front of him is probably ill-advised, so jason'll leave that for later. he does raise his head after a moment, looks over to accelerator before nodding off towards dick. ) Dickie. An' don't let him play you. Told you he could kick my ass, an' I meant it.
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Of course, this being Accelerator, he's staring him down, sort of like a predator sizing up prey. Not intentionally, mind you, it's a natural consequence of his years at the very top of Academy City's totem pole.
Then he clicks his tongue disdainfully, though that's directed towards Jason.]
Accelerator is what I go by. [Because it's one thing to tolerate people he likes giving him dumb nicknames, it's something else entirely to let some stranger be that disrespectful.] Certain bastards who don't care about keeping their tongues in their heads just think that's too long to say.
[This is the part where, if he had a free hand, he'd be flipping Jason off. But he doesn't so he settles for a glare as he moves over to one end of the coffee table, putting his coffee down before taking his crutch off his arm and using it as leverage to carefully sit down.]
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He just raises an eyebrow as Accelerator sizes him up. Dick is used to it, though most people are more subtle about it. Idly, he wonders what his assessment reveals, but Dick doesn't bother asking. Instead he tries to stifle an amused smile at Accelerator chastising Jason. ]
Accelerator it is.
[ Dick casually plops himself on the couch. ]
So what're we learning today, oh great sensei?
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kyle | give my regards to oblivion
it'd never been this. living with someone he's verbally told others he's dated, even if it'd been as a test. having his fourteen year old older brother taking up a room. purposefully fitting it full of shit he liked, outfitting the place like he was intending to stay long-term. standing around in a kitchen full of perishables with plans on actually using them.
he's been consistently inconsistent, because settling in one place has never turned out well for him. getting attached hasn't, and--hell, letting a fucking teenager live in the same space as him is just asking for shit to go so wrong jason regrets ever opening his mouth and telling dick jack shit.
the shift is sudden. from idly cutting down carrots with a nakiri, to jason's shoulders tensing, jaw clenching tight, mind running a mile a minute through all the worst-case scenarios. he's been plotting to fuck over junior, which he realizes is stupid in of itself, but that's because jason's an idiot. the kind of idiot who's been fucking around with the gangs here since he showed up, who intentionally got the attention of every robin in his vicinity in one of the worst ways possible, just to see how they'd react. who'd do it again. who shouldn't be here, surrounded by shit he's inevitably going to fuck up and ruin.
fingers tighten on the knife, before he's slamming it down into the cutting board hard enough it sticks into the wood. this was stupid. all of it. he feels that itch at the back of his neck, the one that screams danger, will robinson like it's expecting aliens to come flying through the window at any moment intent on murder. it doesn't usually stop but he let it, and now it just--feels wrong. all of it.
which is a perfectly reasonable reason to lean down to where he'd stashed a go bag beneath the kitchen island, swing the bag over his shoulder, turn off the stove, and go for the fire escape outside the balcony window. )
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not because he is afraid. power corrupts, of course, which is why he's kept it at a distance, but ion in itself is not just power. it was the heart of the star. jenny's heart which she had entrusted back to him after she perished. it was the edge of grief that kept ion away. power in itself means nothing to kyle. he's powerful. he could tear worlds apart. he has torn worlds apart. other people may come to fear or respect it, but it means so little to him. not as much as other things. not as much as being kyle rayner.
his senses go off when he enters. the smell of food permeates, but there's nothing else. there's no one else here. for a moment, kyle feels a blinding moment of panic, of fear. from the corner of his eyes, the fridge is there. swallowing, he forces it down. jason is fine. he's not dead.
but he's not here.
oh. he's not here.
kyle nearly barks a laugh at that, pushing some of his hair from his face. so that's how it is, huh? fine. fine. he'll get his bearings. he'll manage. he'll figure out his next steps. he's not giving up.
but ion is there and he feels the inky blackness slowly crawl up his arms and face. it was comforting. he just needs to be . . . numb for a little bit.
just for a bit. ]
dick sr | how the tables have turned.
his apartment is still empty, jason feels like garbage, which--really, he should be. he knows he should feel like that, knows he deserves this. but he'd told dick also that he. . . was learning how to ask for help, that he'd try, and hell if he knows how to fix any of this. not--even necessarily what he did, but the why he did it, because it's that which keeps causing jason's panic responses.
it's the early hours of the morning, when a man in a dark hoodie stops outside of dick's apartment building. aviators cover his eyes despite how dark it is already, and jason--slumps up against a tree in a place he knows will be visible from inside the balcony. knows, too, that dick probably has some shit set up to see who's lurking around his place. doesn't know where it is, doesn't particularly care at the moment, because if he spends hours waiting outside or has to come back and lurk around another day--well, maybe he shouldn't have been an asshole in the first place. )
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[Which is why Dick pulls his bike up behind Jason, making certain the other man knows he's coming. Because it's only right to give him enough warning. He puts down the kickstand and turns off the engine before taking off his helmet and looking to Jason.]
I was about a day from texting you. Welcome back.
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( he's disappeared for longer before. is likely to again; jason isn't known for his ability to stay still, but he--gets what dick is getting at, too. jason pushes away from the surface he's leaning against, turns in towards dick. )
Tiny Tim alright by himself for a bit?
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[Because, as Jason had reminded him not long ago, Dick hasn't always been there for the middle brother. The second son who had so much dropped on him because Bruce had only learned how to father one kind of kid and hadn't recalibrated in time.]
[Dick glances up at the window to his apartment and waves. Because Tim has access to the cameras as well. Then looks back to Jason.]
He'll be okay on his own for a bit, yeah. Past the worst of it, now. Well, physically.
[Were any of them past trauma mentally? Not really, but they ignored that as much as possible.]
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so instead, he turns in towards dick. away from the building, and gestures towards the bike. )
Got room for an extra rider? Figure we might wanna take a step away from. . . here.
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[At the gesture, Dick gets off the bike, setting his helmet on the seat. He goes to the storage box on the back, taking a moment to concentrate before opening it and taking out another helmet, which he tosses to Jason.]
Anywhere in particular you wanna go?
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dick jr | trouble comes our way.
but he shows up to school today, bike helmet hanging off one handle while the compartment his spare's in is open. jason's got aviators on over his eyes, because clearly any sun is too much sun. he waits. figures, dick can walk the other way and avoid jason entirely if he really wants to, jason's not going to stop him. but he's here, he's got dick's helmet out and visible, the invitation is there, whether or not he decides to take it. )
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Without preamble, he grabs his helmet and climbs on. ]
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the kid climbs onto the bike without a word, and jason--reaches to take off his aviators, head facing forward, and shoves the helmet on in their place. the comms in the helmets are meant more for when they're driving, but they come in handy here, when he murmurs soft enough it'd be too muffled to pick up the words through polycarbonate plastic. )
Hungry?
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[ Dick sees all of it-- how couldn't he? Jason doesn't bother hiding it, which is smart. He's been getting into fights to, what? Punish himself, burn off some aggression?
Although Dick is still stinging a little from Jason's abrupt departure, he does understand a little. Plus he got a warning, which is more than Kyle got. ]
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We'll pick up whatever, an'--go find a place to talk after.
( though he is sucking in a breath, and without prompting, just - )
Sorry.
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[ Not an okay, I understand or an it's okay because both would be disingenuous. ]
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apartment.
still. he's here outside the apartment, bear on his leash and wearing his leather jacket there at bruce's side. he figures jason already knows he's here but still goes about giving a rap of knuckles against the door, pup's tail wagging eagerly what with knowing whose place this is and not having seen a certain someone in here for some time.
while bear has the leather jacket, bruce has the long black coat to go with the black turtleneck and slacks he has, shades on because of course. he's
batmanbruce wayne. )no subject
he knows it's bruce outside before he opens the door, security cameras having caught sight of him and bear approaching. which is why when he does knock, it's barely a moment after that jason's swinging the door open. he's wearing a loose wifebeater, sides cut down, leaving the bandages over his left shoulder visible along with the extensive bruising over his sides and his face. which, really - is just another tuesday for jason todd. and really: the bruises on the outside are a good sign; means he's wearing less on the inside. he doesn't bother to leave bruce in the doorway, just takes a step back and nods his head into the apartment, given his fucked arm is the one he would've used to gesture bruce on in. )
If you're gonna lecture me, put Bear over in Dickie's room. He doesn't need to see what'll happen.
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a few steps in, he bends at the knee, takes bear off his leash, and the pup hurries over to jason, bruce winding the leash around his wrist as he slowly comes to stand, watching the way the pup happily paws at jason. as for bruce, he stands there, hands sliding into his coat pockets. quiet. staring at jason. )
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so jason, being himself, bends down to the ground when bear makes his way on over and scoops a hand up under his chest. he's getting big; jason's fairly certain he won't be able to carry him so easily much longer. not that it'll stop him. a forty pound dog is nothing considering all the times he's lugged dick and tim around. )
Fine. Get it over with then.
( since bruce is still standing there. clearly it's time for scolding. )
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gently, they're tucked into an inside pocket in his coat — tip of a finger giving a single pat — before he's making his way over to jason and the pup. slow. steady steps. ones that are similar to the way in which batman walks yet lacks the heavy weight of the boots against the flooring.
standing there in front of him and the pup then, blue eyes hold jason's gaze for a moment or two, bear giving a look between the two, tail still wagging, before he brings a hand up... and reaches for the back of jason's neck. firm yet careful. pulling him in for an embrace, mindful of bear there between them as he does. )
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