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You had thought that things would eventually work out somehow. By the time passes, you'd get over it, be alright and not really care about it.
And all you got was a painful, bitter pain in your chest.
No one had told you that Jason was back from dead and in fact was the ruthless crime lord Red Hood. Learning it only after he got toe to toe with Bruce, made your blood boil for so many reasons. You were mad at Bruce for hiding this fact and literally slicing his throat. You were mad at Dick for acting like he didn't know shit and keeping you from patrolling. Most of all, you were so mad at Jason.
He had intentions to come back and fight with his father figure but not even let you know that he was no longer six feet under. As if you didn't mean shit to him, he didn't even bother to sabotage your patrols unlike he did to Dick. You had mourned him! You brought flowers to him, read to his tombstone when everyone else was too busy to blame themselves. For what, not even being remembered in a revenge plan?
It sounded stupid, you kept thinking to yourself. Petty, bitter... But only the loud cry you had let out after mistakingly watched Bruce's cowl footage of their last brawl could give out the best explanation about your grief. Your first love was back and he wasn't even angry at you. So you did what any sane caped person would you, you tracked him down for confrontation.
You sneaked through the ajar window in the said warehouse. It was abandoned, old and smelt like rust and humidity. Your comms were left abandoned, location turned off. You were either going to get answers or leave battered. You had no idea which one was worse.
The room you landed in was dark and quiet. There was only a worn out mattres thrown on the floor with a thin blanket. Too thin for this season. There was a sound of rustling coming from inside. As quiet as a cat, you walked towards the hallway; where a dim light came from. Then you saw him.
Hunched over at the kitchen, a gun next to him on the counter. With a clumsy piece of mirror placed on the cupboard handles, he was trying to rub something on his neck. He was treating his stitches, the ones Bruce gave him. At least he was alive.
"So, you're fucking alive now?" You blurted out, killing the silence.
Jason was quick to abandon the used cotton piece and grab the gun instead, in a blink he was facing you. With the muzzle pointed towards your face. The panic in his eyes changed as quick as he was to draw the gun. From anger to shock to panic to anger again. Truly fascinating, you should've been the angry one.
"You aren't supposed to be here."
"That's my line, the boy who's six feet under in the records." You snapped. Fuck, you thought, that was a bit petty.
And he felt the same too. He gritted his teeth and lowered the gun but never dropped it. His green eyes were glowing under the dim light. Since when his eyes were that green?
"Did Bruce send you? Are you doing charity work for him now?"
"I came here because unlike all of you stupid Wayne men, I fucking care!"
"Well, sweetheart, you're a bit late for that! Maybe you should've been there when he let that son of a bitch to live again and wanted to kill me instead!"
He turned his back to you, to finish patching over his stitches. The sight just made you angrier.
"No one, not even you yourself, told me that you were alive!" You screamed, weeks of frustration finally catching up in you.
"I kept on visiting your grave by myself every week! Until I saw Bruce's cowl footage!" A hand slammed against the counter, yours but you were too mad to acknowledge it.
"None of you cared about how I would feel, how eased I would be if I had learned that my first love was back!"
"I cared!" Jason's voice echoed in the warehouse. The gun was no longer in his hand and the look on his face was... No longer angry. It was pained, struggling.
"I cared! Ever since I crawled out of that fucking pit, I wanted nothing but to run back to your arms and hide there!"
"...The pit?"
He gave you a genuinely baffled look.
"He really didn't tell you anything, did he? Asshole, I-I thought- I thought you knew."
You shook your head furiously.
"Fuck... I thought you didn't want to see me."
"You're the dumbest motherfucker I've ever seen, Jason Todd." You muttered, your anger turning into a burning sadness. Years of mourning bubbling up in your heart.
"Why didn't you come looking for me? Why didn't you show me you were alive? I- Years, Jason. I've been mourning over you for years."
He leaned his back on the counter, his face curled in an agonized expression. His eyes were locked on the dirty floor tiles.
"I'm no longer the boy you loved. I've changed, a lot. In a blink of an eye, I wasn't a dead broken boy anymore. Suddenly I was in this huge body and was raging with vengeance. Even I couldn't recognize me. You love Jay, sweets. Not Red Hood."
"Because you didn't give me a chance to get to know him." Your voice wobbled, which made him shot his head up.
"Don't- No, please-"
"I don't care, Jason. All I want is you in flesh, not your tombstone. I've been alone for so long, you have no idea. I kept everything you gave me, even the stupid notes you used to pass to me in class. I... I missed you so much, Jason. I don't want Jay or Red Hood. I want my Jason Todd back."
And he sobbed. Gut wrenchingly sobbed. You were quick to wrap your arms around him as you let your tears out yourself. He clung to you like a lifeline, his hands fisting on your cape.
"I missed you too... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I didn't want- I didn't want you to hate me."
"You're so dumb."
He nuzzled his nose against your neck as you refused to let him go. It all felt like a dream, one that you were too scared to wake up from.
"I'm still so mad at you."
"I know."
"You have to make it up to me."
"I know."
You pulled back to look at him through your teary eyes. He indeed, had changed a lot. Yet his eyes still held the same glistening adoration when met with yours.
"Now, you will sit and I will dress those stitches properly or you will get them infected. And you will tell me everything I had missed."
He leaned to rub his nose against yours with a wet chuckle.
"As you wish..."