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“Cass wasn’t kidding about sore day,” Jason heard a familiar chuckle from the entrance of the kitchen. “I didn’t believe you guys went up to a hundred when she told me about your arm flex-off but she really was serious.”
It was evident that the blonde tried to hide her giggle at her wording and all Jason could do was roll his eyes at arm flex-off. He would have openly found it amusing if he wasn’t one of the victims of the said competition.
“She didn’t really say that did she?”
“Nope,” she chirped. “But it’s much funnier worded that way.”
Jason’s currently sitting at one of the counters in the manor’s kitchen, holding an ice pack on his left bicep. He and his brothers had a dumb competition for arm day. Whoever finishes the first one hundred pushes on a handstand (with just one arm) wins. Even if he did win, it wouldn’t have been worth it. From what he knows, Dick (who naturally won first place) is still complaining about it to Babs.
Jason didn’t expect Stephanie to come over the manor tonight, but seeing her raid the fridge gave him the idea that she’s most likely just in for a quick snack stop.
Jason let out a pfft and let out, “You try competing against Dick and Damian.”
Stephanie took a grape flavored energy drink from the fridge and a few Twinkies. Walking beside him, she opened her drink to take a sip and leaned against the counter smirking.
“So you’re third place then,” she stated as she teared down the wrapper and took a bite of her Twinkie. “Not bad considering you came after one of the most naturally flexible guys around and a kid with a stamina that puts majority of the average adults to shame.”
“That’s a quick guess.”
“You didn’t mention Tim,” the blonde shrugged. “So I figured.”
They haven’t talked much after that. The two just came down to silence, with Steph munching down her food and Jason still icing his arm. After a couple of minutes, Jason took off the ice pack and tested his arm. He rose it a bit to quickly that he let out a hiss at the sudden twinge of pain.
Stephanie puts down her snacks and quickly went in front of him.
“Alright, open your legs.” She instructed with an even tone that Jason just couldn’t help it.
“Blondie,” he let out slowly making sure she’s listening. “I appreciate the offer, but I won’t be able to reciprocate anything. I’m pretty sore right now.”
The blonde’s eyes widen for a fraction and a blush easily crept in on her cheeks, painfully and visibly flustered. “Oh my god, Jason-”
He let out a loud laugh, “Kidding, kidding. But your wording gave out a feel that goes ‘flirty but stern’ type of way.”
Steph took in a breath. Cause Jason, Jason of all people, is actually teasing her… he doesn’t tease.
She’s pretty sure with the amount of times she has seen him interact with the rest of the family after the declaration that he’s in good enough terms to join them on patrols, she would have noticed if it was in his nature to tease. It’s not.
And the way he stated it out too. I won’t be able to reciprocate anything. Stephanie’s sure she’s gotten three more shades darker than she already is.
So he’s that type of guy. The blonde internally mused.
She must’ve been quiet for a while cause Jason cleared her throat. “You’ve gotten tomato mode on me, you good?”
Stephanie noted that he looked a bit sheepish himself now and she’s not sure if she should be thankful she’s not the only one or be beyond embarrassed if by some reason he accurately guessed what she just thought of.
“Yeah, you dork,” she responded. Trying to regain a casual mood.
“I’m just offering as a human arm rest.” She says as she went back to the fridge to take a second ice pack and went back to his side.
It suddenly clicks on him and it shows at the little ‘o’ his mouth went on.
“With your arm placed down like that, it’s a bit dragged down. Icing it while elevating it on an even level could help.”
Jason nodded in understanding at her explanation. He didn’t bother to move to sit at the edge of the counter since he’s already comfortable where he is and with the fact Stephanie offered. He opened his legs and she stood between them.
She asked him how long he has been icing the arm before he came in. He thinks it’s been 10 to 15 minutes or so.
Gently, her hands helped lift his left arm to rest on her right shoulder. His arm was facing downward and Steph adjusted her posture a bit so that her height is enough to make the elevation comfortable for him.
He still iced the bicep he was attending to earlier. Steph is gingerly holding on to his elbow with her right hand just in case, so he won’t slip. She then placed the ice pack she got on the area between his wrist and his elbow.
“Huh,” he breathed out and admitted. “Didn’t realized that part was hurting too.”
The way she tilted her head to the side with a small smile on her face made him feel a bit shy. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve assumed she was being coy – but seeing the understanding and mild amusement in her eyes are enough of an explanation. If anything, it seemed as if she finds it endearing.
“Jay,” she used the same tone he did when he called her blondie earlier. “You used your entire arm. The entire arm is bound to hurt, not just your bicep.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled and looked away.
His eyes went down and he noticed her half-eaten Twinkie. “You wanna finish that?”
Stephanie followed his line of sight, “Oh yeah.”
He didn’t even hesitate, with his free arm, Jason picked up the Twinkie and fed it to her so that she wouldn’t have to move either of her hands.
He helped feed her the Twinkie. It was nice how casual they both are about the situation. Jason feeding her. Stephanie being a human arm rest and helping ice his sore arm. After a few bites, she finished the snack, and he crumpled the wrapper and threw it at the trash bin by the corner.
“So, give me updates on what’s happened on patrol. Wasn’t assigned tonight.”
“Had a long project meeting with my classmates,” Steph stated. “So I only got to catch up at the last hours of patrol.”
Jason let out an ‘ah’ in understanding.
“But from what I got in the comms, Dick is still roughing it.” Steph snickered.
Jason grinned. “Still kept complaining to Babs huh.”
“Oh yeah, and you should’ve seen Damian. He was really trying to stay strong.”
She paused to mimic Damian’s serious look and spoke in a faux pompous manner he does. “He goes: Tt, a sore shoulder isn’t enough to slow me down.”
Jason chuckled. Right after the arm day competition, he and his brothers along with Cass ate lunch together. They can barely lift their arms. Tim even resorted to using his feet to hold the utensils just so he can eat. He remembers Damian across the table. Slouching on his seat, just staring at his food. Not uttering a single word paired with an eternally annoyed look considering how hungry he is but unable to lift his hand to feed himself.
He shared it to Steph. “The kid really didn’t even try to voice it out, not even a single time. I think it would’ve broken his pride if he did considering how he easily got roped in on the competition too.”
They laughed at the truth of his statement.
“So that lunch, Dick just whined the whole time. Damian just stared at his food while Tim tried to go ‘my feet are now my hands’ method,” Stephanie recapped. “So what did you do?”
“I did what any eating champ did.” He stated, trying to look proud to hide the fact that he barely got to eat anything too.
Stephanie let out a confused half-breathy and half-laugh what at him.
He groaned and rubbed his back of his neck with his free arm.
“I tried letting the food fall on the plate by getting my chin to tilt it and go straight to my mouth but that barely worked,” he confessed in such a rush that Steph had to purse her lips to contain her giggle. “It barely worked that I just gave up and slapped my face on the plate.”
She couldn’t help it. Especially not with the frown he had on that was borderline pouting. She laughed at the mental image for a good two minutes.
“Oh you poor baby.” She let out in a tone that legitimately made him feel like one.
Jason clicked his tongue, “Yeah well, that imparted a valuable lesson to me.”
Stephanie hummed. “That you should listen to Cass when she points out that something is a bad idea?”
“No. That next time we shouldn’t do a hundred. We’ll race to the first fifty instead. I’m pretty sure I can beat the kid to it and even reach second place.”
Stephanie laughed again. And Jason can’t stop smiling knowing he’s the reason behind it.
“You bat boys and your competitive streak.” She shook her head fondly.
He doesn’t have a response to that, just basking in at her happy expression. They end up being quiet again. It wasn’t awkward or tense, not after their conversation. It was a pretty nice kind of quiet, comfortable and easy to be in. His eyes drifted to the table across from him. To the spot where her stuff are laid out.
There’s a purple shoulder bag, her laptop, and some books.
There are a few pins on the bag that provides a giveaway of who she is. There’s one with a Batman logo, a simple one with a cartoonish drawing of the sun, two pride pins (one with the rainbow and another representing the bi-flag, those both check out her personality to him – shamelessly colorful and big bi energy), and another one with a band’s logo (it’s Twenty-One Pilots and honestly, he can get on with that).
Her laptop is a pretty lavender-grey color. Most likely a custom spray paint if he’s guessing. Or maybe Babs or Tim got it custom made for her cause he’s pretty sure that color isn’t common on the market. There are a few stickers on it. Spoiler Alert! is one of them, and he internally found it cute that she’s digging her own brand. There’s also a Go Gotham U school pride sticker (kudos to her for being in on the school spirit). The last sticker is a semi-realistic print on a robin (it makes him a teensy bit curious if it was meant for her or for Tim).
Onwards to the books. With all the plastic cover and a small code at the front, he can guess they’re all from the library. The three books are stacked neatly on top of each other. The one on top is a biology book, and he’s mentally scratching his brain. Aside from Duke, he just realized that Duke and Steph are the only two in the family perusing college.
Dick, Babs, and Tim already got jobs of their own. Cass, admittedly he’s not so sure, most likely helping around with vigilante work and doing her ballet performances in local theaters. Damian is in school, but he’s not confident with his guess on what grade he’s in. With how smart Damian is, he’s pretty sure the kid is bound to skip a grade or two with the advanced stuff he knows.
He frowned, not being able to recall what Duke’s course is. Or Stephanie’s. Realizing how out of touch he is with the newcomers.
Trying to remember her file. He remembers the portion about her mom’s occupation and hopes his guess is right.
“Nursing huh.”
Stephanie let out a soft and questioning hmm.
“Your course?”
“Good guess,” she smirked. “And on your first try too.”
He grinned at the compliment. “Following in mom’s footsteps?”
She titled her head in thought. “In a way… I mostly got more interested in the medical field when I got to help Leslie at my time in Africa.”
He recognizes the name, knows the woman. He remembered being surprised when he saw the name in Steph’s file. Dr. Leslie Thompkins.
Stephanie went on about some major life experiences. How her mom struggled with addiction and her work. The Black Mask incident. Leslie bringing her back and taking her to Africa. Making it a way for Bruce to learn his lesson (he didn’t, but at least he’s trying to be better). And even if it was the initial purpose, she was grateful for the experience and newfound passion.
She kept going on and he listened. He didn’t speak much but he acknowledges her with nodding and a few comments here and there. Taking in every information he can. It makes him wonder why they barely interacted before. On paper, he knows they got a couple of things in common already. Bad dad, mom that struggled with drug addiction, being a Narrows kid, being a former Robin, death experience and coming back.
He didn’t realize how lonely and out of place he felt until now, listening to Stephanie, listening to a person that has a similar upbringing that he does. Someone that he can relate to. He has some semblance of a connection with others, but it was different with her. He’s still not fond of the sore arm, but in a way, he’s glad he got to be with her tonight because of it.
It was refreshing to say the least. For someone in the family to be as open as her. God knows they need a little bit more of that in all of them. And that’s saying something cause he’s including himself in that list. And he’s grateful that she happily kept chatting, filling up the once there silence with her voice. He’s not the type to just sit and listen, that’s pretty evident around Bruce and Dick on a lot of occasions, but he realizes that for the first time in a while – he doesn’t mind.
He likes listening to her talk, how expressive she is, and her voice is really nice too and-
“Oh,” she suddenly said a bit too loud that it snapped him out of his internal musings. “I think it’s been around 30 minutes already.”
30 minutes? What’s so important about that?
“Best to stop now,” Stephanie laid down the ice pack she’s holding and gently put his arm off of her shoulder. “Let your arm rest. Maybe ice it again before you sleep.”
“Oh, but don’t overdo it. It’s best to just ice it 3 to 4 times a day, 15 minutes is the most recommended icing time limit, for 2 to 3 days straight.”
He knows that, but he likes how she got nurse mode as if she’s practicing on him. “Gotcha.”
“Ibuprofen or acetaminophen might help out,” she added. “But only if you really need to, considering patrols and all. Just in case.”
“Sure thing.” He let out a soft smile. She took the ice packs they used and started walking to the fridge.
He figured one last joke couldn’t hurt. “So do you sit between other patients’ legs or is it just me?”
Stephanie gasped loudly as turned back to him so quickly that he’s surprised she didn’t get a whiplash.
“Jason!” she exclaimed as she lightly slapped his right arm. The two of them laughed. “That is a terrible joke.”
“Blondie don’t lie to me,” Jason retorted, feeling smug. “Got you all tomato mode again.”
She shook her head, but it was evident that she was entertained too. “No you dork, I’m still on the starting year,” she explained. “So, I haven’t had any ‘official' patients yet.”
It’s a bit weird how Jason didn’t mind that he was Steph’s guinea pig of a patient for the night. Even if it was just for a sore arm. Oh well, he internally thought, I’ve been to weirder situations before.
He slid off the counter and leaned against it, and Steph returned the ice packs to the fridge’s freezer. She took one last Twinkie and stuffed it inside her bag.
“Well, I’m off,” she told him as she started to pick up her things. “Got an essay due tomorrow. Hope the arm gets better.”
“Thanks.” He said as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his pants. “And uh,” he cleared his throat, “thanks for the help.”
Stephanie smiled and waved him off, telling him it was no problem. As she walks out of the kitchen, he feels he needs to say something. Just to hint that he would like to spend time with her again. Outside of icing his sore arm.
“Hey.” He called out, loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough to be considered as demanding.
“Yeah?”
“You’re good company, blondie.” He said sincerely.
She let out an aww and Jason is kind of regretting admitting it.
“Good night to you too,” she said with a fond smile. “Chat with you next time.” Stephanie ended in a sing-song tone and a wave.
Jason smiled, a soft and fond look on his face. Okay, regret is definitely gone now.