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[theknightshift]

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[theknightshift]

I don't always get along with him either.

[copsormasks]

oh

...

i guess we could talk

like in person

i guess?

[theknightshift]

If you want.

[copsormasks]

sure

your place?

[theknightshift]

[ Jason gets a location ping instead of a reply. He's in the safe house, as usual. ]

[copsormasks]

[Jason arrives in a few minutes, dressed in all black as usual, his hood pulled up over most of his head. He knocks on the front door, a little unsure if he's in the right place. His Bruce's safehouses were always somewhere abroad. He never seemed to treat Gotham like a home, but as a burden he hated to carry.]

Hello?

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce is used to his guests letting themselves in through a window, so when one of the noisemakers activates, he takes a moment to peer out to see who it is. When he realizes it's Jason, he comes down the flight(s) of stairs and opens the door for him. ]

Come in. I'm upstairs.

[copsormasks]

[This is weird, Jason decides. This is really weird. Being in a normal ass house with any Bruce is just weird. His Bruce never bothered wearing anything but suits and even up in the mansion seemed to never relax, so being here is weird.

But he still steps in and closes the door behind him.]

Cool. Upstairs. [He can't tell if this is some weird trap or not, but he'll take it one step at a time.] Thanks for inviting me. Uh, I know we didn't exactly part on great terms last time.

[Last time Jason had been out of his mind, so fresh from his murder that he couldn't think straight.]

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce would agree this is strange. But then so is everything about Nova City. A skeleton of a city that feels familiar to an uncanny degree, but strange in every other way. There's no life here and it makes the entire building Bruce leads Jason through feel eerie. A shell of something just waiting to come to life.

But it doesn't.

Instead, Bruce pushes open the door leading to the safehouse proper after rows and rows of empty rooms and apartments. The safehouse itself is nothing grand. Just a two room space with cabinets for storage and tables converted into work spaces. A mattress shoved into one corner where Bruce sleeps for the few hours he manages to get. ]

Are you feeling better now? Sleeping?

[copsormasks]

[Jason follows Bruce through the rows of rooms and apartments and into the safe house. He looks around, gets a better feeling for things since it's definitely a work space and he's used to that with the other Bruce. He pulls down his hood and turns toward Bruce.]

Sleeping better. [The scars on his face have softened but they're likely to stay no matter how much time goes by.] I guess feeling better. Calmer. Sometimes.

[How does one feel better about his own murder?]

[theknightshift]

[ It isn't perfect. But it is better and sometimes that's really all you can ask for. Because nothing is perfect. None of this would be necessary if it was. Jason would be alive, the Joker put away somewhere he could never hurt anyone else. Bruce would be better at this without relying on Alfred to do the emotional labor. It isn't perfect. But it's good enough and that's fine for now. ]

Good. [ Bruce goes back to his workbench and sits down to finish what he's been working on. Offers the empty seat nearby if Jason wants to take it. ] I don't have much food here. Just some granola bars and water, if you're hungry.

[ The real stuff's at the manor and Bruce isn't ready to go there yet. ]

[copsormasks]

[Jason moves toward the seat and plops himself down, looking around the space to really take it all in. It's something he would make for himself if he weren't staying with the younger Bruce.]

I'm good.

[This is also familiar. His Bruce only had prepared foods brought in after Alfred died. And he's still, honestly, used to have nothing but dumpsters back home.]

This about something I did?

[His Bruce taught him to be ready for every conversation was a reason to blame him for something and the Titans sealed that into him. Even if the younger Bruce has done a lot of work, there's still so much more to get out of the grooves of Jason's psyche.]

[theknightshift]

[ There's gear scattered across the table, sorted into neat little piles while Bruce takes inventory of what's available and what needed to be restocked. He takes a moment to consider Jason's asks before he puts the mystery pellets back into their pouch on his belt. ]

No. You haven't done anything.

[ He glances at Jason over his shoulder then gets back to work. ]

Unless there's something you want to tell me?

[copsormasks]

Depends on who you talk to. [Jason doesn't want to throw Damian under the bus any more than he already has, so he keeps it mum. Maybe it's more about what he hasn't done. How he's stuck in his trauma again and again and again.]

Can I ask you something?

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce is already aware of Jason's fight with Damian. The particulars are not entirely clear, but Bruce has already decided they weren't necessary to understand why they'd fought. Just that it happened. ]

Of course.

[ Whether or not he'd answer is another matter entirely. ]

[copsormasks]

Do you get along with your Jason back home? Is he chill like the other Jason here?

[Jason desperately wants to move into that space, to be mentally okay with his murder, to be able to forgive his Bruce back home for leaving Jason when he most needed him.

Recently he's been feeling pretty hopeless about his fate. If he can't figure out how to change his stripes now, then he'll end up doing some terrible things.]

[theknightshift]

We're on good terms now.

[ He'd considered bringing Jason in on his current investigation. Someone to relate to the kids Asema seemed to be targeting and could make it easier to suss out who they would target next. Or at least set them at ease if Bruce decides rounding them up and putting them in one place is the best option. ]

But we weren't always.

[copsormasks]

Can I ask what helped?

[Jason is unsure that he'll ever be partners with this Bruce, or even on the best of terms, but maybe there's some hope.]

If you know. What is it him who changed, or you?

[theknightshift]

[ it's as comforting to hear as it is difficult to answer. Bruce could sense Jason wanting to avoid whatever he thought he knew about Bruce and Jason's relationship. It's admirable. ]

We both did. I had to accept Jason as the person he is now. Not who he used to be.

[ He stops working while he considers what to say next. ]

He had to accept that there are certain lines I will not cross.

[copsormasks]

[That’s an interesting reply. Jason goes quiet as he thinks. He’d have to accept that neither Bruce will kill the Joker for him, or even his Bruce. If he allowed himself that, would the Bruces be able to accept him as he is?

Jason settles on that question,]

Do you think you could accept me? I know I’m fucked up and angry.

‘m not asking to be Robin. I’m not asking to be any kind of sidekick.

I mean me. As I am.

[theknightshift]

[ The question sticks because it was so often the crux of his disagreements with Jason. His inability to accept him, to accept reality. For a moment, he thinks of a suit in glass, blood still smeared across the R on the chest piece. A Good Soldier on the plaque underneath. ]

I already have, Jason.

[copsormasks]

[Jason doesn’t believe Bruce. Not even slightly. Maybe Bruce is talking about his Jason from back home that he’s made up with, but definitely not him. Not the 19-year-old mess that Jason is now.]

Now why do I seriously fucking doubt that.

[The question is rhetorical, but it still is a question.]

[theknightshift]

It's true.

[ He's already done the work. The heavy lifting. Even if the circumstances aren't identical, they're similar enough that he's confident in the person Jason can become once he's through the worst of it. He's seen him.

He turns to look at Jason, puts a hand on his shoulder so he'd know Bruce means what he's about to say. ]

I know you're a good person, Jason. The Joker didn't take that away from you.

[copsormasks]

[Jason flicks his gaze down to the hand on his shoulder before looking up at Bruce. The instinct to reject what Bruce says rises up first. Maybe as Robin he was a good person, someone who could really kick some ass. But as Jason Todd? The kid who spent more time in foster homes and on the street than with his parents?

Jason Todd is nothing.

It would be nice to be able to believe Bruce.]

Yeah, okay.

[He huffs out before shaking his head.]

[theknightshift]

[ He isn't mind reader, but it doesn't take one to see Jason doesn't believe him. Bruce turns back to his belt, back to taking inventory. ]

He said once that Robin gave him magic. But, no. It was always the other way around.