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“Batgirl!” Jason grabbed her without thinking, pulling her into his arms and wrapping himself around her as the explosion rocked the building down to its very foundation. Her cape fluttered around them in the sudden breeze, shielding her from the worst of the flames. Jason had tucked her face into his neck, and he looked up now, his ears ringing as she pulled away.
“Hood,” she said, breathless. “Hood, are you-?”
“I’m fine,” Jason said, ignoring the tremor in his hands. He got to his feet, holding out a gloved hand to pull her up. “Are you?”
“Yes,” she replied, looking around at what remained of the warehouse. Rubble fell from the ceiling down onto them, bouncing off her shoulder and onto the concrete floor with a clatter. There was a haze of dark smoke in the air and the sound of sirens in the distance, but they barely pierced through the ringing in his ears, a high-pitched whine that didn’t seem to stop. Jason looked around, a little dazed, and felt his hands start shaking harder. He took a deep breath to steady himself and almost immediately regretted it, his lungs becoming choked in smoke. Steph was brushing the dust from her suit, looking around when her eyes fell on him, and she reached up to touch his forehead.
“You’re bleeding,” she said, and his fingers brushed the skin above his left eyebrow, coming away red. He wiped them off on his jeans and started walking around the debris, Steph following him slowly.
“We have to get out of here,” Jason said. His fucking ears wouldn’t stop ringing and his head was killing him. He brought a shaking hand up and pressed his palm flat against his head, covering his palm in crimson blood. Steph trailed after him, pressing her hand against his shoulder, looking for some way to support him.
“O,” she said quietly, reaching up to her ear, feeling to see if her communicator had been damaged. “Oracle, come in.”
Jason, who was rarely patched into the Bat-network at the best of times, didn’t have his helmet on, so he had no way of knowing if she replied.
“Oracle, do you read me?” Steph looked up at Jason, who had stopped in the middle of the wreckage, looking around. “She’s not answering. I think the explosion fried my comms.”
“We’re fine without it,” Jason replied, clenching his shaking hands into fists. His mind was racing, his heart pounding. He’d been in too many explosions in his life.
“You’re hurt,” Steph said, brushing the hair off his forehead, and wiping fragments of stone from his hair. “We need to get you to Leslie.”
“I’m fine,” Jason insisted, though he was not feeling fine. He took another two steps forward and then sagged against Steph, his knees almost giving way from underneath him. His head spun, his breathing was becoming shallow, and the ringing in his ears had morphed into a twisted laughter, a sound he knew he could not be hearing. “We have to - they’re going to get away-”
“Stop,” Steph said, shouldering his weight. “Can you get out of here?”
Jason looked down at her and nodded slowly. She wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him up, so he was on his feet properly again. The two of them made their way out to the hole in the wall, where the brisk night air was streaming through, the dim streetlights flickering outside. As they stepped out into the night, a fire truck pulled up, sirens wailing, followed by two police cars, which screeched to a stop on the street outside. Steph pulled Jason off to one side, away from the cops, and dragged him into the alleyway.
Wreaths adorned the flickering streetlights, and above them, a light dusting of snow started to fall. Cops swarmed the building, shouting and barking orders at each other. Jason cringed, wishing he could get away from it, but his breathing was ragged, and he couldn’t think straight. What a way to spend fucking Christmas.
“Batgirl!” One of the cops called out, and Steph turned, Jason still leaning against her. He sunk to his knees and dropped onto the pavement. “Batgirl, is everything alright?”
“Everything’s fine,” Steph called back, letting Jason slide down onto the floor. He cradled his head in his hands and rocked back and forth, his breathing becoming laboured. It’s fine, he kept thinking to himself. It’s fine it’s fine it’s fine it’s-
“Is that - sir, are you okay?” The cop had come over to them. He was wearing a button-down shirt under his GCPD vest and dark slacks. He had a pretty face, and Jason thought idly that he looked somewhat familiar, like they’d met before.
“I’m fine,” Jason ground out, looking up at him.
“I’ll call an ambulance,” the cop said, reaching for his radio. Steph held her hands out, as though to stop him.
“No,” she exclaimed, bringing one hand back to rest on Jason’s shoulder. “He’s fine, Nick. I’m just going to get him back to base for some medical attention.”
Nick, who Jason now recognised as Detective Nicholas Gage, hesitated, and then looked at Jason properly, taking in the holstered guns, the brass knuckles dangling from his belt, the domino mask. Realisation dawned on his face, and he lowered the radio, looking at Steph like he couldn’t quite believe she was with a wanted criminal and known proprietor of hardcore vigilante justice.
“Batgirl,” he said slowly, his gaze dropping onto Jason slowly, “Is this the Red Hood?”
“No,” Jason and Stephanie said together. Steph looked pained. “This is - he’s not even wearing the helmet, Nick. Just. Please let me take him. He’s hurt.”
“I’m fine,” Jason insisted, clenching his hands into fists. Nick looked between the two of them and then stepped back, shaking his head.
“Go,” he said, looking over at where another two police vehicles had pulled up. “Get him out of here, Batgirl. Before someone tries to pin this on him.”
“Thank you, St Nick,” Steph said, visibly relieved as she pulled Jason to his feet. She wrapped an arm around his waist and fired her grappling hook up onto the roof of the next building over, pulling them up with ease. On the rooftop, Jason dropped to the ground again, burying his head in his hands.
“Jason,” Steph said, her voice quiet. She knelt on the rooftop next to him and reached for his face, but he pulled away, unable to look at her. “Jason, I think you’re having a panic attack.”
“It’s nothing,” Jason managed. His head was filled with the sound of laughter, and pain shot through his neck and spine, leaving him helpless. “It was - god, it’s so stupid.”
“It’s not stupid,” Steph’s voice was gentle, and she pulled off her gloves, tucking them into her belt as she started digging around in her many belt pockets for gauze to wipe the blood from his face with. There was gravel in the wound - she’d need a pair of tweezers to pluck it out, but for now she could stem the bleeding, get it off his face. She wiped at it gently, careful not to irritate it or cause it to start pumping blood again.
Jason lowered his hands slowly and looked up at her, reaching up to pull off his mask. It felt too familiar, too much like that night. It was restricting him. He’d died with a mask on and blood in his eyes, and it felt like it was happening all over again.
“Thank you,” Steph said quietly, pressing the gauze against the wound. “You didn’t have to shield me from it.”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” Jason managed. He stared into her blue eyes and swallowed hard. He cared about her. “Babs would kill me.”
“Probably,” Steph said cheerfully, wiping some blood from his eyebrow. His breathing had slowed, a little, now the hot blood wasn’t coursing down his face and he’d taken a moment to stop and breathe. “Let’s get back to base, and I’ll clean this up properly.”
“Okay,” Jason nodded, pressing his lips together.
They were both quiet on the trip back to Stephanie’s personal cave. When they got inside, Stephanie switched on the lights and made her way over to the first aid kit that hung upon the wall, taking it down and popping it open. She pulled free a pair of tweezers, more gauze and a bandage, along with some antiseptic ointment and saline to flush the wound with. Jason collapsed into one of the chairs by the computer and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths of blessedly clear air, trying to steady himself. He’d calmed down a lot, but he still felt shaken, still felt not quite right.
Twinkling above him were multicoloured Christmas lights, draped down either side of the monitor and across the desk. Looking around, he noticed Steph had decorated the cave for the holiday season, with tinsel wound around the columns and sprigs of holly on either side of the door. Jason huffed, his face twitching into an uncertain smile. Of course Steph would try to inject some holiday cheer into her home base.
Steph sat down in front of him, setting the supplies aside as she examined the wound closer. The blood had dried on his forehead, so she got up and grabbed two alcohol wipes from the first aid kit, returning to wipe the wound clear. The stimulation triggered the bleeding again, so she grabbed the gauze and wadded it up against the wound, willing it to stop bleeding. Jason looked up at her with wide eyes, looking a damn sight younger than she knew him to be. He looked almost innocent for a moment, sitting there with blood on his face and fear in his eyes, and her heart pulled. She used the tweezers to pry pieces of gravel and debris from the wound, dropping them onto the tabletop beside her, working quickly, because even though Jason wasn’t wincing or kicking up a fuss, she knew it must sting from the many times she’d had to do the same thing to her own wounds.
“You good?” Steph asked, wiping it off with another alcohol wipe. It looked cleaner now, at least.
“Yeah,” Jason said quietly. Steph looked at him, not sure what to think. She went to ask him if he was sure, before losing her nerve. She returned to the first aid kit, looking for supplies.
“What’s with all the Christmas decorations?” Jason broke the silence.
“I like them,” she replied. She glanced down and saw he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “They just…I don’t get to do Christmas at home, not really. So, if I can make my own traditions here…”
She trailed off, unscrewing the cap off the saline and squirted it into the wound, and that did make Jason wince, more from the sensation than anything else. Once it was clear, she pressed the gaze against it again and pulled out the bandage, wrapping it around his head until it was held in place. She clipped the bandage and stepped back to admire her handiwork.
“So, what’s the prognosis?” Jason asked with a weak smile. “Am I gonna need stitches?”
“No, you’re fine without stitches,” Steph replied. “It’s going to leave you with a scar, though.”
“What’s one more,” Jason said darkly, one hand coming up to touch his chest. Steph had seen the scars hidden under his clothes enough times to know it didn’t really bother him anymore, but she knew it wasn’t something he enjoyed. She was covered in her fair share of scars too, though, had been since the gang war. It was a part of vigilante life.
Steph sat back down again, pulling off her cowl and setting it aside, brushing her blonde hair off her face and resting her hands in her lap. Jason looked at her and thought of how close he’d been to losing her tonight. Closer than he ever wanted to be.
“Steph,” he said quietly, before he lost the nerve, “I like you.”
“I know,” Steph replied, her face breaking out into a grin. “I like you, too.”
“No,” Jason said, looking at her earnestly. “I like you.”
“I know, dingus,” Steph laughed. “That’s what I’m saying. I like you, too.”
“Oh,” Jason said, suddenly floored. He’d never considered that Stephanie might actually like him back. It was almost unthought of. He hesitated, looking up at her, clasping his hands in front of him. “Thank you for cleaning up my head.”
“Any time,” Steph replied. She shot him a cheeky grin. “You want me to kiss it better, too?”
Jason blinked, because yes, actually, he would like that, but no, he wasn’t about to admit that out loud. Yet Stephanie took his silence to mean yes, because after a moment she leaned in and kissed his forehead, feather-soft, just over where the bandage sat. Jason closed his eyes and appreciated the moment for what it was.
After a moment, he opened his eyes, to find Stephanie staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Her brow was furrowed, her mouth in a thin, hard line, and she looked...almost confused by him. He tilted his head to one side and considered her.
“Is everything okay?” Jason asked, lowering his voice.
“Everything’s fine,” Steph replied. “I just can’t believe you were dumb enough to try and shield me from an explosion. I have more armour in my suit than you do, dumbass. I would’ve been fine.”
“I didn’t want to take that chance,” Jason said, and then, emboldened by the forehead kiss, he added, “I didn’t want to lose you.”
Steph’s mouth twitched upward into a smile, and she leaned in, taking his hands in hers. “I don’t want to lose you either, okay? So next time, just tell me to take cover, and protect yourself.”
“Okay,” Jason swallowed, and he leaned in too, until their faces were just inches away from each other. Stephanie’s eyes drifted shut, and Jason closed his, too, moving closer until their lips met. The kiss was slow and gentle, and nothing at all like Jason expected it to be, but he pressed his lips to hers and melted into the moment.
Steph pulled back after a few moments, biting her bottom lip and smiling. She glanced upwards, and said, “Hey Jason?”
“What?” Jason asked, a little dumbstruck from the phenomenal kiss he’d just received. He followed her gaze to find mistletoe hanging above them. He looked back down at her, a grin spreading across his face. “Well, I guess I just have to kiss you again.”
“I guess you do,” Steph smirked, and she closed the gap between them.