Hello :D

You met Jason Todd on an online book review forum. You thought he was much more well informed than you at first, a lot of his critiques were scathing.

While some were valid, you came to find out that Jason was also just very, very angry at the world. He’d tried to make people hear him in both of the lives he lived. It was never as rewarding as he hoped it would be.

So… he instead took to snarking vaguely on the people who wronged him in these book reviews. It was no wonder they were so reverent.

You sent emails back and forth for a couple weeks. It was awkward with an air of, “Surely this meager online friendship won’t go anywhere. That wouldn’t be safe.”

Wrong, and actually very ironic. On a whim, after saying he was going to be passing through Tricorner, you met in the park at eight o’ clock at night. Looking back, you couldn’t believe how desperate for a friend you were at the time, that was practically a death sentence in this city.

You were meeker than Jason expected. He was bigger than you ever could have predicted. Despite him looking like, for lack of a better word, a thug, you didn’t become part of a statistic.

It was a nice night. You walked around the city with no destination in mind, and you just talked. You both had your guard up, but there was something magnetic behind those walls that drew you together regardless.

Seeing each other once most weekends turned into two or three days out of the week, always preplanned and cordial. That formality began to fall after a few months, and you started seeing each other every free night you had. It was just a given that if you didn’t need to be anywhere else, you wanted to spend that time together.

After a miserable night driving home from out of state, you turned on the lights in your apartment to find Jason sitting on your living room floor, folding the now clean pile of laundry that had started to build up because of just how much he was in and out of your place.

If that wasn’t “a sign” you didn’t know what was.

You remember asking him if he’d been here while you were gone, not at all accusingly. You also remember the look on his face despite that, Jason was so embarrassed.

Getting to know him better, it made sense. Jason didn’t like people very much, and the way you shared your spaces, it served a unique purpose. Regardless of whether or not he was home, going to Jason’s place felt like him, and sometimes that was more than enough.

* * *

You haven’t been living together. You didn’t think you were ready, but for nearly a week now you’ve been staying with him.

Jason pushed himself harder than any person should. It came in peaks and valleys, he’d make himself sick, and even then he would keep going because there was almost no one who could reason with him.

You would consider yourself a non-confrontational person. You weren’t very strong willed, much unlike Jason, you didn’t like to push. You almost couldn’t. He continued to absently acknowledge your suggestions to take care of himself, you escalated to telling him you were worried, nothing changed.

You were so frustrated, but it couldn’t even entirely be with Jason. It was with the situation, and that you weren’t being heard. It didn’t take long for him to notice how dejected you were when you came to see him, you weren’t answering the phone either.

He quietly adjusted his behavior, begrudgingly allowing himself to rest. For your sake, he tried to hide the begrudging part.

You didn’t want to be ignorant in any way, you understood the importance of what he did, and where he did it. It wasn’t wrong for him to take a break, especially when he was burning out like this, and that had to mean it wasn’t wrong of you to press him on it.

The shame weighed heavy on you, and you were starting to have a hard time rationalizing it. The impoverished families in Crime Alley needed Jason, and shouldn’t suffer just because you’re worried. Jason shouldn’t suffer either, though—

“You’re quieter than usual.” He prompted.

You were sitting on the ottoman at the foot of his bed. You came in with something to say, but couldn’t remember what anymore.

“I think I just spaced out. Sorry.” Your vision refocused.

“No, uh… it’s fine.” Neither of you were any good at this. You knew that he probably knew how in your head you were getting. The problem: where do you start with that?

Jason quietly sighed and placed the book he’d been struggling to pay attention to on the nightstand. “C’mere, sit with me.”

You did. When you didn’t have the words to say, naturally, actions came next. You propped up a pillow to support your back and leaned against the headboard, nestling into his side. He pulled you closer with a delicate hand, cheek falling to rest atop your head.

Jason could be so tentative about touch. A delicate hand was something that he’d spent years and years having no use for. He was afraid he might be a little unpracticed, and didn’t want to scare you, not when you were already so skittish.

But you liked that better anyway, and you both regularly reaped the benefits of the fact that you had been and continued to take your time.

He cleared his throat. “What’s on your mind?” That was easy enough.

“Just anxious.” You were telling the truth. That was the big picture.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Jason wasn’t letting you get away with it. While what he said was funny, that was a little too true.

You gave him a look. He grinned and squeezed you against him, jostling you about. An awkward smile twitched on your features.

“Omigod, stawp…” You slurred under your breath. He loosened his grip.

“If you don’t want to tell me, I’m not gonna make you. But, uh… whatever you’re thinking, let it go. I’m sure you came up with some very imaginative what-if scenarios, but none of that is real.”

You frantically nodded along. Jason bit back a smile. Little too much all at once.

“I… didn’t know how to say it before, I’m bad at this. I had to think about it. It’s… it’s special that you kept showing up for me, even if it was hard for you. I knew you were nervous, and I should have said something earlier, I was just… exhausted and not really thinking.” He filled your silence with an awkward cough.

“Wow… fanks.” You said it with a certain cadence, feigning bashfulness. Making a stupid joke felt like the only right answer in that moment. Admittedly, you wanted to stick to your guns. You’d spent long enough being sad.

Jason’s expression was primarily wry as he side eyed you, but there was a twinkle of fondness in those eyes. “You’re welcome, I guess.”

Your posture straightened, your closed mouth smile now self assured.

“You look so proud of yourself.” He said with a chuckle in his voice.

“Shouldn’t I be? I, like… domesticated you.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I— Domesticated me??” Jason sounded genuinely caught off guard.

“Like that corny, ‘I’m only soft for you’ bullshit?”

Your silence was telling.

“Well I— I dunno, it’s like that one saying: ‘if the shoe fits…’” You knew you were pushing your luck right now, but every time he’d tried to play-wrestle you in the past, you just laid there. That kind of defeats the purpose, therefore defeating Jason. He would get so worked up about it, it was great.

You failed to consider that he had any other options, and made a garbled yipping noise when he started to poke at you at random. Naturally, you went to poke back, and nearly jumped out of your skin at the sound Jason made, the way he jolted.

You weren’t sure if he was being serious. “…You gonna let me win?” You asked with a small smile.

Jason scoffed, sliding his jacket down his arms and tossing it to the side. He had better mobility in his t-shirt. This was getting serious. You reached out to tweak his side before he could ready himself, and couldn’t believe what you were seeing. He choked out another little squeak, collapsing onto that side.

You were able to draw your hand back before he squished it beneath him. You didn’t waste any time. You couldn’t see yourself scoring an opportunity like this again any time soon. Both your hands jumped around his upper body, you scuttled your fingers across whatever surface you could reach.

With the thought that he was being tickled put into Jason’s head, everything was making him laugh. You weren’t the most experienced play fighter, but felt like you were going through this on easy mode.

“Noho!” He whined, shaking his head about when your fingers found his neck. His hair got all puffy as it created static on the blankets.

“Is this real? Why are you so ticklish?” It was a genuine question.

Jason momentarily lifted his face from the covers to give you an incredulous look. “I don’t know??”

“Aw… why not?” The touch trickled down his shoulders, to his arms, until they eventually reached his hands. You weaved your fingers together, playfully dancing Jason’s hands about with yours while he caught his breath.

You chose to be merciful, he looked so sweet like that. Occasionally something you’d said would catch him by surprise just enough to hear him laugh like that, but it wasn’t often. He always tried to stop himself, like he thought he was being obnoxious.

Objectively, he wasn’t. It was a cute and dainty sounding laugh, especially when compared to Jason being so imposing. Even if it were to be noisy, you still thought the world should get to hear it more. At the very least, you wanted to hear it.

Your swooning was swiftly interrupted. You should have known better, he could be so competitive. He wasn’t going to manhandle you the same way he would with family or a friend, but you weren’t exempt. Jason was still himself.

“…Ah.” Your right hand was pressed beneath his knee, the left held captive over your head on a pillow. He’d settled his weight over your hips. In layman’s terms, your life was over.

“Yeah. Ah.” Jason let out an amused huff.

“Okay, um… you can let me go now.” You put on a polite smile, attempting to sit up. Your lower back didn’t even lift from the bed.

It was worth a try.

“Jason.” You muttered, the closest you could get to scolding him. You were at a bit of a loss, you’d gotten used to him not being able to bring himself to retaliate against you. You didn’t provoke him often to begin with.

Jason smiled down at you. “What?” His pointer finger began to trace a path, starting at your right wrist and moving up. The feeling left goosebumps in its wake, and the corners of your lips twitched.

All the fizzling breaker box in your brain managed to put out was a panicked “buh” sound.

The squint in Jason’s eyes told you he found that funny. “I see.”

His journey continued as it reached your shoulder. Down your side, across your lower tummy, up the other side, then coming to a stop under your arm. He didn’t lift his finger, he just left it there.

You writhed and twisted uncomfortably as anticipation began to pulse throughout your body.

“Wh… Why are you literally strategizing this?? Are you insane?” You breathed out.

“I definitely used to be. Criminally.” Jason tapped his finger twice. You winced, but were mostly snickering at his commentary.

When he decided to stop psychologically torturing you, he took to the tapping again, slowly moving up and making goofy sounds like he was dialing a phone or something. Your face went right into your shoulder, your eyes squeezing shut. It wasn’t at all enough to keep you from laughing, but you could live with that.

Your knees battered against Jason’s back, you scooted up and down on the mattress, trying to dislodge his grip on your wrist. It wasn’t working. You may just die here.

“I can’t, I cahan’t—“ You wheezed through your giggles. You let out a mirthful cry and slammed your face back into your shoulder when he finally cut to the chase, fluttering his fingers against your very much trapped armpit.

It ended as soon as it began, Jason pulling back with a grin.

“You’re an actual supervillain! Just tickle me like a normal person!” You said that with more passion than you thought you would.

Jason sat back with a huff. “Fine.” He scanned you. His eyes landed on where your shirt had ridden up.

“D’aww~ your little belly’s quivering…” He cooed.

Your head jerked down. It was? You properly short circuited, burning in the face. You didn’t, couldn’t, think to defend yourself when he let go of your wrist. Both of his hands slid up your shirt, repeating that same unbearable fluttery motion.

You were starting to think you could lose your voice if this went on too long. You didn’t laugh like this, or at least you didn’t think you did. It must have been in there somewhere, all things considered.

Your hands went to grab at Jason’s wrists. A squeak strained past your lips when he leveraged that to lift your arms again. Just when you didn’t think he could be any worse, his head lowered.

“You—!“

You weren’t sure what you were going to say to him, but your voice cracked and it broke off into a loud whine when he placed a flurry of kisses against your stomach.

Your knees shot up, once again colliding with Jason’s back. You were running out of ideas, which meant it was time to pull out what always worked from your toolbox: playing dead. You were getting tired, it was easy enough to give into him even with your mind all in a tizzy, pushing you to squirm.

Jason was being a pain, but you were safe here.

“I give uhuhup… no more, pretty plehease…” You giggled out.

Jason lifted his head. “Well… since you asked so nicely.” If you’d known it was as simple as a “pretty please,” you would have tried that earlier, but nothing was ever that simple with him.

You clumsily rolled over onto your front once he was off of you, face pressed against the blankets. Somehow, you could sense Jason grinning.

“Am I picking on you? I’m sorry.” He crooned, not meaning a word of it. But his hand came up to card through your hair, you’d accept that as a peace offering.

“You’re too good at that…” You rolled over onto your back to look at him, still a bit winded. Jason tilted his head.

“Do you tickle your siblings a lot or something? I know you have so many of them.”

Jason scoffed. “You think I’m that nice to them?”

The truth was that he was victimized to much more tickling than he could keep up with doling out, but he was going to hide that from you for as long as he could. He had the time between now and until you met Dick, if he had to guess.

“Look, I’m not one of those people that, like… hates being tickled.” You didn’t want Jason to think he did something wrong.

“But that wasn’t nice.” You pressed, your face as stern as it could get.

“You…” He exhaled. “You don’t know how they are. I think the only person you could put me in a room with who I wouldn’t start a fight with is my sister.” She would beat my ass either way.

You took that in. “Oh…”

“It’s better than it used to be.” Jason quietly followed up. “I made some friends and picked you up off the street.”

You smiled when he squished up your face between his hand. He snorted at how silly that made you look.

“Well… yay.” You weren’t the best at being exuberant.

“Yay.” Jason echoed teasingly.

“You’re such a bully today.” You mumbled, aimlessly tugging his arm around in retaliation.

“I am, aren’t I? I normally treat you like a little princess.”

You grimaced at him, and he caved, his voice wobbly with mirth. “Poor baby.”

Your blood pressure began to lower as Jason pulled you against him. The side of your face landed against his chest, a large hand cradling your head. You exhaled and melted into the embrace. You could only handle teasing for so long before you started to overthink it.

Words are from Young Justice (1998) #32 (which I realized after I made this edit is actually before Slobo, so this is a Lobo quote, but Slobo’s literally a clone of him so like. Shut up it works. I’m declaring it still works.)

And I’ve searched forever but I can’t find where the drawing is from—somewhere in Young Justice, for sure, but even with multiple reverse image searches I haven’t been able to find which issue. Lemme know if you know!