metalogs | ( closed ) twisted steel beneath my knees

( bruce does something to something in his pocket and jason doesn't need to guess what it is. he knows, because he knows bruce wayne. and thinks it's hilarious that bruce assumes hiding something in his pocket while he sleeps is enough to keep jason from getting his fingers on it and fucking it over. when jason's been picking pockets since before he knew how to pronounce pockets correctly. he waits a good thirty minutes - when he's fairly certain that bruce is properly out, before jason's gently digging into bruce's pocket to pull out the timer and - turns it off.

drops it down when he's done with it and leans back against the wall right next to bruce, his shoulder resting against the other's own. there's nothing to keep him busy, so he finds things to pass the time. counts idly in his head to one hundred, then counts back down. idly goes through the contents in his fridge to build a grocery list he's not going to be able to get to for a while but it's something to keep his mind busy.

and waits.

lets bruce sleep as long as he needs because nothing's coming at them currently, jason's not in a good state to move much anyway, and bruce needs it regardless.

it's not until he hears a loud croak several hours later that he reaches out for bruce, side of his fist pounding gently at the bat on his chest. jason's pulling himself up using the wall before even verifying bruce is awake, eyeing the opening of the cave. )

( bruce often deals with nightmares when he falls asleep. seems that no matter how well he is at mastering his fear in the waking world, within the world of dreams, it's still touch and go at times. fortunately, while he "naps" there in the cave, the nightmares are more flickers than vivid and given the fact that the shadow joker clubbing jason upside the head seems to be one of the more prominent flickers, he'll take it over how they usually are.

it's not the ringing from his timer, nor the cruel sights within his dream that wakes him, but the tapping at his symbol there in the center of his chest. it's with a bit of a start — bruce taking a second to assess where he is and he looks over to jason. )

What is it?

( bruce opens his mouth and jason raises a hand to his mouth, presses his index finger against his mouth. he leans away from the wall, using a palm against the floor to keep himself from - falling over. his balance is still off, but he's managing to compensate for it. once he's gotten the mask off the floor where bruce had left it earlier, he presses fabric to his face, and waits for it to bond properly. tips his head out towards the cave entrance, to where whatever it is lets out a growl.

does a one-handed sign for big, before his lips purse, trying to think of the right way to. . . word it. signs no heat: there's no heat signature coming off of it. jason reaches for his bag, drags it over so he can throw it over a shoulder. starts towards the cave's opening but stops before he gets too close to the entrance. keeps himself turned towards the entrance, but signs behind him, letter for letter, w o l f. )

( a little more awake now, he reads the words jason signs to him and his jaw tightens. movements are slow — careful — in the way he makes his way over to the other side of the cave away from the entrance. back pressed against it, he reaches around his back and slowly removes the concealed baton from his suit. it's been his go-to in here and he hasn't really used it as much as he has in the past since coming here, but. seems like it was a good idea to equip it to the suit to begin with. there's only so many sticky bombs and reloads on his wrist gauntlet that he can afford when being stuck in a place like this. not to mention losing his batarang isn't anything he wants to deal with, so. baton it is.

letting his vision adjust to the darkness again, he eyes the cave entrance — flicks a gaze over to jason and controls his breathing and heart rate to a point of making it come across as being invisible. or, you know, dead. )

( eyes don't leave the cave wall, where jason's doing his best to watch for movements just beyond it. his lenses are advanced but the mask was also done when stark was running on a budget, so they're not - his best work. still good enough for this though. his breathing slows down, gets quieter to avoid gaining the attention of the massive beast of a wolf outside.

stays quiet for several minutes longer while it sniffs around, growling and making low sounds in the back of its throat. it looks like it's more shadow than wolf, the edges of it bleeding into the ground beneath it as if it might sink into it. jason's not sure if it's looking for them specifically or just looking around because it can, and he doesn't want to find out.

luckily, he doesn't have to. the wolf starts moving away from the cave, and jason gives it another few minutes before he lets out a sigh and sinks back onto the ground.

keeps eyes out for it just in case, but he does start talking to bruce out loud while he does, )

You were down for about five hours. Feeling any better?

( The Look bruce shoots him when he reveals the actual length of time he'd been out. )

I told you an hour.

( it's said with annoyance, bruce moving away from the cave wall for his cape left on the floor which he picks up. shakes it a few times to rid it of the dust. baton secured to the back of his suit, he begins to fasten his cape to the suit. )

An' I've got a head injury.

( hand moving up to press against it idly for a moment. )

One of us needs to be close to one hundred percent, and it's not going to be me.

( he's - mostly fine. but from the way jason's carefully pulling himself up to his feet, hand braced against the wall with his mouth twisting into an unpleasant scowl, it's clear he's not entirely better just yet.

and that's not even touching on how getting his skull bashed in again by the joker is weighing on him. )

( cape fastened, he looks over to jason. he's not wrong. one of them needs to be about as close to one hundred percent as they can be here, but. he still doesn't like it. doesn't like the thought of having left jason on his own to keep watch when he's not doing well. even if he needed the rest. )

You froze.

( it's not accusatory. it's more... fact. a soft and somber fact. )

Don't.

( he doesn't want to hear it.

doesn't want to hear how stupid he was to freeze on the spot. doesn't want to go over exactly what jason did wrong, what he could have done to prevent it. doesn't want to hear pity either, because he's fine, thanks. he fucked up. he could have prevented this, but he didn't and that's on him. it's his mistake he'll live with. )

( he knows. but he still feels like he needs to say something. )

I froze, too. ( a beat. ) When I saw my parents those few months ago.

( the twisted versions of them that had tried to kill him. jason was there. jason saw him freeze — saw him become the ten year old scared little boy in crime alley rather than the feared and intimidating dark knight he's becoming now. if jason hadn't been there, he would have been torn to shreds by them. he knows it. he's just lucky that he was here to prevent jason from being killed... again... by that joker. )

You're still new. ( to facing what goes bump in the night. to being batman, to having his every fear thrown back in his face. jason? jason's been at this for years. and even before - he'd spent his entire goddamn childhood fighting. they're different. he should be better.

he's up. reaches out a hand for bruce, so he can shove his palm down against his shoulder. use him for balance. )

( hand there at his shoulder, he brings his own up. lets fingers wrap around jason's wrist. )

I'm human and so are you.

( even if they sometimes forget they are with this gig. )

( this would be where jason argues. where he says he isn't human, he's the monster who climbed out of some stupid kid's grave. realizes as soon as he opens his mouth to snarl it out that he's going to open his mouth and give bruce something to latch onto and jason doesn't have an out here. and he'd - talked to tim about this. he's trying.

so he keeps his mouth shut, even as he's pulling roughly at his hand to get bruce's own off of him. even if throws his balance off. )

I can't open a door 'less I can see where I'm going. ( changing the topic feels safer. ) Got here by not focusing on a place to get out at. Don't know if it'd work both ways.

( jason doesn't want to talk about it and bruce isn't about to force him to, but they will discuss it at some point. especially when they'd been doing that exposure therapy at his request.

for the moment, he scoops his cowl up off the ground — dusts it off and looks over to jason there when he tosses him that idea. )

It's a theory. I wasn't exactly looking to come here.

Figured, when you disappeared.

( if bruce wanted to make a dramatic exit, he would have done it in a way that wouldn't leave jason standing around wondering if he was still alive or not. )

We've got time to figure it out. Rations should last a weekish between the two of us, longer if we're careful.

( a week. they'll need to find some other means of nourishment in this place... if that's even possible, never mind the fact that neither of them have any idea what could be considered edible or even safe to eat here to begin with. seems there might be some trial and error involved here. maybe. )

I'd rather it not be longer. The sooner we get out of here, the better.

( closed ) twisted steel beneath my knees

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject