Jason didn't clearly remember what, exactly, did happen. His memory had weird black spots where he seem to be ceasing to exist. Or was possessed by a ghost. Seeing how here he was dragging Bruce back upstairs, there he was falling onto the bed - colliding with the headboard, that he remembers, which maybe would have been more realistic explanation of losing his consciousness, if not for all the whiskey he and Bruce celebrated their little reunion with.
His hand, that was carefully exploring a bump on the back of his head, froze and then changed its position, desperately trying to stifle his groan and close his eyes in a childish "if I can't see the world, it doesn't exist" attempt. It failed, obviously, and Bruce, who was still sleeping just a minute ago, woke up immediately.
He was - hangover, obviously, but also old; obviously, he's freaking thirty five, and spends less time on sleep per day than other people on food, or sex, or normal social interaction. It's no wonder that Bruce had dark bags under eyes, and lines that never were on his face before just three years ago.
Bruce's gaze went from bleary to alert in seconds. He looked pissed and ready to punch someone for all about a moment it took him to get a clear look on Jason. Then, the horror. The disbelief. The hand that almost touched Jason's cheek - a hand attached to a naked arm attached to a naked torso attached to a naked everything else.
Yeah, Jason saw him taking it all in as if in a slow-mo. Disbelief exchanged with horror again, then denial, then disgust and horror and anger and. Here it is.
Jason had good reflexes, so he handed Bruce a waste basket just in time. Bruce took it with him when he locked himself in a bathroom.
Jason got out of the bed, ah, carefully, but not letting himself slow down. Both because he wanted to find his jeans and the mp3 player in it so he could block out the sound of retching, and because stopping meant acknowledging the pain where no red-blooded man coming from a proud line of Crime Alley white trash, still bearing cigarette burns on his arms up till his death and even after his resurrection, was willing to acknowledge.
That's disregarding the whole "waking up in the same bed as your former adoptive father, now enemy" thing.
Shit. That's the thing about pink elephants.
Finally, finally Jason grabbed his pants from the other side of the bed. Not only he put his headphones in, he also opened almost full pack of Marlboro and lit the second cigarette since long before he died.
The first one, he glanced at his disposable phone, was about thirteen hours ago. This must be the reason he wasn't allowed to join the drama club. Obviously, his elders (Alfred) had good judgement in some things and recognized that theatrics are his weakest point and didn't want to encourage it. Obviously, as one of the theatre kids himself - somewhere deep down in his soul; or how they call themselves, thespians. Obviously, he rebelled against authority and followed most flashiest, most dramatic way possible. Get accused of drop-kicking a scum off the roof? Keep silent, because he should have trusted you. See your sus bio mom getting involved in shady dealings with the Joker, ffs, reveal your secret identity and get double crossed by her, leading your both to die. Coming back to life? Why, of course he couldn't just put nine millimeter to Joker's temple and blow his brains out. You only come back to life to get your revenge once (so far), it's too prosaic to be deserving of the opportunity. So he let Joker go, and come back to Gotham, and figured out the whole perfect, total mindfuck of a plan. Which would have even worked! He was sure.
Only, before he started the whole thing, he went to the cemetery, to see his own grave, and he did what he saw other people were doing back in the day where he knew people. He lit a cigarette for the dead, and placed it right before the headstone, and touched the engraving on it, in awe of hypocrisy.
"Jason?" He heard Bruce, maybe two feet away from him. He didn't look back. Couldn't.
In the blink of an eye, Bruce was there, touching him on the shoulder, and calling him again, and instead of throwing his hand off, throwing Bruce over his body and onto the ground, where his body was supposed to rest but, hey, no rest for the wicked...
He turned back, and here Bruce was.
"What?" he said, irritably, taking one headphone out. Damnit, his favorite song was playing.
Bruce freshened up. Jason got a whiff of a menthol toothpaste and a different shower gel than he smelled last night. He looked clean-shaven too, probably still used a hypoallergenic aftershave with no odor. His hair was still wet but he wasn't wearing his pink robe Jason tried to make fun of him once for. Instead, there was a simple gray T-shirt that hugged his muscles nicely and comfy-looking sweatpants that still fit snuggly around his lower waist area. Was Jason pani... Reminiscing for too long? Well, it's not like he wasted the best time to get away. There was no best time for that, based on how Jason felt. Jason felt like throwing the quilt over his head and saying fuck it to the rest of the world until at least the next evening. No. It's not that Jason was too slow. If needed, Bruce could be scary time-efficient. Just look how fast he changed Robins. The longer he spent without one was half a year, the shortest - less than a day.
"Put the cigarette away."
Jason looked at him without blinking. Then looked at the cigarette in his hand - a second one, no, the third, based on the butts on the bedside table. Then back at him.
He put it off onto his own open hand. Bruce, to his credit, flinched.
"You're all done there?" The door to the bathroom was still open. "I need a shower."
He stood up and tried to go past Bruce. Bruce caught his hand, forced to open his palm. Jason pulled it out.
"Forget it, I'll just go to - hey, is my room still here? Or did you give it away to the new guy as well?"
"Give him anything, he took it, yeah, I heard you yesterday. That's what you are telling yourself? How about the dead kid? Well, the other one, that is. Did she wanted it too?"
Jason grimaced when he heard how unsteady his voice was. He didn't have to look at Bruce's face (it won't give anything away anyway) to know that he clocked it.
What should have been a deadly weapon in his hands became something his opponent could take over and use against him. That's a metaphoric lesson about why guns are bad if Jason heard one. But he knows guns. He refused to hand his weapon over.
"Did you fuck them too? Using shock, grief, guilt and shit-tone of alcohol as an excuse? Maybe Crane's gas making you see things? Maybe Poison Ivy's handiwork to blame?"
"Jason." Rough, strong hands hugged Jason's shoulders and let go immediately. It still made him clam up immediately. "I am sorry."
Jason looked at the door. It wouldn't become closer if he doesn't move. Shut up and move, Todd!
"I would ask for which part, Bruce. But I actually don't give a shit."
And he moved. And that's a door. And that's him banging it.
Perfect. Obviously a behavior of someone not giving a shit.
What was just a cherry on top, it's Alfred, bug-eyed, staring at still buck-naked Jason, covered in red spots, blue handprints and suspicious dried fluids.
"Hi, Alf," Jason waved, before going straight to the stairwell. "I got you a collected edition, it's not with me right now, but I will try to courier it to you as soon as I have time. How it's going? You're good? Heard you guys got a dog, nice. What did you name it?"
He ignored the sound of something breaking behind his back. Or what he was talking to air now.
The secret passage to the Cave was just there he remembered.
He took a 1-minute shower, put on some spare, not-branded gear Bruce used for sneaking around (it fit, for the most part, ha!). When he was on his way to the dock where a sleek red moto-cycle was parked, he caught a glimpse of himself in a glass case. Red-green-yellow, and his face above it, like in good old times. Only not. He had obviously grown up. There was stubble on his face now. And he didn't look hyped. He looked fucked out. He shuddered. And then, somehow, the glass was blowing inward, shattered, and he was unwrapping a belt from his fist. There was a mix of years old and fresh blood on the suit. He wanted to set it on fire, but the lighter stayed upstairs.
No, he wowed, he won't change, he will lean into his inner thespian. What other people see as his disadvantages - his flashiness, his drive, his down-to-earth origin (read: his attitude, his anger, his scum begets scum life story) - is his strength.
He just needed to work on his dramatic timing.