Work Text:
"Stop doing that," Jason snaps at him suddenly, sighing, "Your face is gonna freeze with those dumb, confused lines on your forehead and no one’s ever gonna take you seriously again."
Despite it being exactly what Jason's telling him to stop doing, Kon frowns at him.
Instantly Jason's grumbling and running hand hands over his face, like Kon is a damn tragedy and he can't stand it. "You're mooning over him and it's so terrible. I literally want to slap you, kid."
"I'm not mooning," is all Kon can process to defend himself.
"You're a mess," Jason informs him, straight faced and still sighing.
But then again, Jason is as pale as a sheet, eyes shrunken and gaunt. The hospital gown he's still wearing is still strewn with leads and two separate IVs. He hasn't been able to keep solid food down yet so there's a tray next to his bed with semi-solid baby-food crap, as he'd called it earlier and sports drinks.
Dick had only left the day before, when Jason had been awake and lucid for over a week now. Damian and Cass had gone back to Gotham after the first day. Steph had left for a while to check in, but had return the previous day, before Dick had left. Tim, unsurprisingly, had mostly been in the room with Jason for the last week. Constantly monitoring the older man, asking him random things to check his memory, make sure he wasn't too messed up.
Jason assured them, he remembered everything. And then he'd opened his vein again because, as he told Tim, Kon and Dick, he never wanted to get that far gone again, not until it was his time to kick the can. Dick had looked unsettled by the admission, but said nothing.
And now he was lecturing Kon on life choices.
Only Jason Todd.
"It physically hurts me," Jason adds, just to prove his point. "I mean, shouldn't you be mad at him? He dumped you to go kamikaze in the fiery pit of Gotham's literal darkest hour- ‘Cause if she has an hour darker none of us are coming out of that alive." He pauses, seeming to think on it. "Yeah, I'd be mad about that."
"I was," Kon confirms, "But he lived. He's back."
A bemused grin slowly slips over Jason's face and Kon wants to run away.
"But he didn't come back to you," Jason says and Kon feels himself frown.
"That wasn't the point," Kon says, but he feels the meaning behind Jason's word sinking in. Jason just continues to grin.
"Kid," Jason says slowly again, "Those parts of him that you’re waiting for, they never left Gotham." His face settles a little bit. "And honestly I don't think they ever will."
Kon thinks Jason isn't being completely literal, but he understands the meaning.
"I remember when he was with the Titan before," Jason continues, "And he wouldn't step foot in Gotham for months at a time. The tower was his home, the Titans were his family. But, we've been back in the word for how long, four months? How many times has he gone back? He says 'going home' too, doesn't he?" Jason's smiling and Kon can feel himself frowning more. "He didn't come back, Superboy. He made that choice before the wall came down. He's here, sure, playing house to keep the nightmares away. His apartment smelled like burnt rubber before last month, so it was probably also for a place to sleep. Though, he always has the manor."
"He never liked sleeping at the manor," Kon hears himself say.
"It was the safest place in Gotham for a bit over a year, and he's been sleeping there whenever he goes back," Jason answers easily.
"How do you know that," Kon snaps, not really wanting to hear anything else.
Jason tells him anyway, "Because it's his home."
"That's enough, Jason," Tim is suddenly commanding from the doorway. Jason just grins, already having known that he was there, Kon guesses, not completely thrown himself.
Kon doesn't think, just pushes out of the room passed where Tim is standing frozen.
But even as he walks away, Kon listens.
"What the hell, Jason," Tim demands, but he sounds more defeated than angry.
"He needed to hear it," Jason insists, "Really, I mean, I don't know how baby sprite dealt with those look."
"Because he's got more fucking tact that you obviously," Tim grumbles.
"Nah," Jason laughs, "Just knows you'd be pissed if he made the poor kid cry."
