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[theknightshift]

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CODE BY TESSISAMESS

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[theknightshift]

[ Bruce is fine with it. Since no one died. ]

It's a cover. They're going to move something much bigger. They were planning the route when you disrupted them. Lew wants you out of the way. I imagine 50k is all he can afford.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

All he can afford? That's sad.

[He takes a moment, another candy. Offers Bruce another one.]

You should donate a cool half million to his cause.

[He is joking but he's also so stoic about it that it's a little hard to tell.]

I bet someone would take the contract then.

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce looks at him, doesn't take the candy. ]

I want you to take this seriously.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

Do you really think that anyone who takes a contract like that could pose a real threat?

[He is taking it seriously! In that this isn't a serious threat.]

Come on, B, no one with a single shred of talent is going to say it was worth the money for less than 500k.

[theknightshift]

All it takes is one ambitious punk to get lucky.

[ He doesn't like it. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He stares for a long moment.

And then stares some more.]

That's my life every night.

[He opens his mouth, and closes his, opens it, and closes it again. Okay. Okay, Bruce.]

B. You're worried.

[theknightshift]

[ Who said that? Bruce didn't say that. ]

I'd rather you deal with it now before it turns into something bigger.

[ Of course he's worried. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He makes a noise like a teenager being asked to clean their room, not like a grown vigilante asked to handle someone having a hit out on him.]

What'll I get?

[God, Bruce, this is your boy. You chose this.]

[theknightshift]

[ One less reason for Bruce to stalk him? No, wait. The satisfaction of knowing he did something Bruce asked without fuss.

Yeah, that's it. ]

What do you want?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He knows his first answer: kill the Joker.

He also knows that Bruce will not agree to it, so he doesn't even bother. Okay. Something else.]

New bike.

[It's not that Jason needs a new bike. It's that he wants one.]

[theknightshift]

Done.

[ He could send what he wanted to Alfred and Bruce would see to it he got it. No questions asked. ]

What happened to your bike?

[ okay, one question asked. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He starts to put his rifle away in it's case.]

I mean. Nothing.

[He shrugs a little.]

Be nice to have a spare, though. You have about a thousand cars.

[theknightshift]

[ As satisfying an answer as he's going to get, he supposes. But instead of being content, he reaches for Jason, drops a kiss on his forehead. Quick and simple and there's space between them again. ]

Send what you want to Alfred. And fix this, Hood. I mean it.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He stares at him for a moment, and then he reaches to grab Bruce's wrists.]

And you have to get rid of the memorial case.

Then I'll handle it right now.

[He didn't really think seriously about this, because he hadn't thought that Bruce was afraid. But now he can see it. It was that kiss.]

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce hadn't realized this was still a point of contention. ]

No.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[Jason's face - what can be seen of it - hardens.]

Oh, looks like my life is going to stay on several lists, then.

Maybe I'll have Deathstroke alerted, he won't usually take such a piddling hit but who knows, maybe I can annoy him a little first.

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce's eyes narrow. No he is not jealous of Deathstroke. He does not want Slade Wilson operating in his town. Even if Jason is just trying to needle him. ]

This isn't a game. You are getting what you asked for.

[ The memorial is off the table. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

This isn't a game.

[He puts his candy away in his back pocket, gets up, ]

The memorial goes, and I'll go get that hit off the books.

[theknightshift]

I said no.

[ He's puzzled over this since Jason asked him to get rid of it the first time. He understands the motive. But he doesn't...get it. Like the reason isn't good enough for him. Not for this deeply personal thing Jason is asking him to do. ]

If you won't do it, then I will.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[The words I thought you gave a shit about me and you almost make me believe you care about me sit unsaid in Jason's mouth.

He reaches for his muzzle, to put it on, so that Bruce can't see the moue of displeasure that's slashing across his face.]

You're so full of crap.

[theknightshift]

You knew the answer when you asked.

[ Bruce won't admit this but it bothers him that Jason's hiding his face. It doesn't show on his chiseled, stoic gaze either. He just isn't ready to let go of it. Not yet. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

You knew if I thought you were invested I would ask.

[His voice distorter is thick with static; it hides the annoyed tone, the emotion in his voice.]

You’re not stupid. You knew too. Don’t pretend.

[He gets up, starts a step, hesitates. Slings his gun up over his shoulder.]

It would be easier if I were dead. At least then you could keep mourning me.

[He says it without malice, and without self pity, like he’s reciting the weather.]

[theknightshift]

Don't. Don't say that.

[ It's a twist of the knife. Jason always knew how to turn it so it hurts the most. So it cuts the deepest. This should be easy. Letting go of the memorial should be simple. It's just a costume in glass. It's just an epitaph on a plaque. But somehow, it is still a raw nerve between them. Even after everything. ]

It means something.

[ Taking it down won't rewrite the years of grief and guilt. Or the venom and fighting that followed when Jason came back. He wants Bruce to let it go. But he can't. It just makes Bruce want to cling to the memory tighter. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He can’t admit he’s hurt. He can’t do it.

But the words still wend their way out of his mouth, soft and reedy and swallowed in crackling static.]

Sure it does. It means more than me.

B.

I’m going to go.

[theknightshift]

[ He wants to say don't go, but the words get snagged. Instead, he reaches for him, tries to grab his arm to keep him from going. ]

Wait.