* — TORCH BEARER

“Maybe it’s just for safety. You ever think about that? People get crazy at Ikea.” Jason points out with a roll of his eyes, but he’s not that annoyed. He’s not sure.. why, or how they got here, but for some reason Kyle doesn’t seem to mind - this being around each other, spending time together. Even if it’s purely out of obligation, just to make sure Jason doesn’t bleed out trying to stitch himself up. At least it doesn’t feel tense, they’re not fighting, Jason doesn’t feel like hitting him in the face. Quite.. the opposite, actually. Huh. An eyebrow shoots up at the comment, an amused - maybe interested - sort of grin spreading across his face. “More of a bedroom guy, huh? Particular reason for that one?”

He seriously can’t believe Kyle actually named his dog. After countless discussions and arguing about it, Jason can’t believe he went out of his way to name the dog anyway. More than that - he can’t believe Kyle went out of his way to find a name that the dog responded to that suited Jason’s interests. It’s not.. all that well known that he’s a bit of a musical theatre guy, but he didn’t really think Kyle was paying enough attention for that. “Huh.” He answers simply, tilting his head to the side as he looks down at the dog. “Benjamin’s too much of a mouthful, though.” He mumbles, focusing on his friend instead of the fact that Kyle is now getting an eyeful of Jason’s long list of scars. He doesn’t - care about them, it’s not like they keep him up at night, but he definitely doesn’t go around showing them off, and he didn’t exactly expect Kyle to get a glimpse of them, never mind see them up close and personal like this.

“Benji. how’s that?” He says, more to the dog than to Kyle, and he’s mildly pleased when the dog’s ears perk up, lifting his head off Jason’s knee when he says the name and - okay, perfect. He can live with that. Maybe even.. like it. More than that, it’s a nice distraction while Kyle gets to work. Jason’s both patched himself up and been patched up enough times in his life that he can get through this without blinking an eye, so he hardly reacts when Kyle cleans up the wound. “Seamster? That gonna be your new superhero name? Stitch up your enemies with a giant needle and thread?” Jason quips weakly, his hand pretty much permanently resting on the dog’s - Benji’s - head. “S’fine, just - get it over and done with.”

“ Again, Mr. Defensive, I didn’t say a thing about you bringing guns in there. Some of those instruction guides are criminal. Wouldn’t blame you for wanting to defend yourself. ” Kyle jokes, would follow up with a cheeky nudge if not for the fact he had to be careful jostling Jason around here. Still, it’s a stark difference from the urges he used to get when he was around the other man. Namely, will something to existence that would keep the guy quiet or quit with the attitude for a minute. Now, perhaps Kyle’s changed. Or perhaps Jason had. But it’s a surprisingly good time, hearing Jason go off on one. And apparently Kyle’s changed enough to make a slip. His face heats - smooth one, Rayner - and he’s relieved that Jason isn’t in a position to look at him fully. Still, Kyle might be embarrassed, but he’s the furthest thing from shy. “ Tell you what, you take a wild guess, i’ll tell you if you get it right. ”

At least the dog seems to be doing an admirable job in keeping Jason distracted, just as Kyle had hoped. Even better, seems to have stuck to the small amount of training Kyle had attempted with him. Surely had to be a genius, if he was managing to listen to a couple days of insistent treats and name-calling without an issue. “ Benji is good. I figured Benjamin could be for formal occasions, y’know. Or if he does something bad, whip out the full name. That’s gotta be somewhere in the parenting guides. ” Kyle murmurs, concentrating on trying to make this as painless as possible. But he’s thorough, cleaning the wound out properly to stave off infection. By the looks of things, Jason’s been through enough without including shoddy nursing via lantern to the mix.

“I moved to New York City a while ago actually” Helena replied “I transferred from GCPD to NYPD” Bruce hovered too much and had too many connections in the GCPD so she’d asked for a transfer. She loved Bruce, she did, but it was a little much sometimes. Getting to work with Dick outside their masks was a plus too.

Three choices meme — still accepting!

Fuck: Jason - Kyle’s got a type, okay.

Marry: Conner - Cute, fun, and equally dumb. ✊  

Kill: Pietro - He can’t… tie down a guy that fast into marriage? 🤧

Jason gives a half-hearted snort at the objection, shaking his head weakly. He doesn’t need to ask to know what people think of him - gun-toting manic who just goes around shooting people on a whim. But he doesn’t really feel like going into that tonight. It’s more than enough for Kyle to agree to hang around to begin with, Jason doesn’t exactly wanna give him a reason to not want to be here. “That’s why I said I don’t take guns to Ikea, relax. Too busy looking at their cool kitchen set-ups to take guns.” He says with a short laugh, shaking his head as he settles at the table.

Now that he’s settling down the pain and effect of the blood loss is setting in, Jason can feel it. He can push through - long enough to stitch himself up at least - but Kyle’s clearly not taking no for an answer here. “Who the fuck is - oh my god.” He lets out a half-hearted groan as the dog perks up at the name, shaking his head. “You named my dog? Seriously? He had a name, it was working fine.” Jason grumbles in frustration, shaking his head. “How did you get to Benjamin anyway?” He sits as still as he can, waiting patiently for Kyle to make his way to the wound so he can stitch it up - logically he should take his shirt off, but Jason’s not in the mood for playing twenty questions about the scars today. Which… seems annoyingly irrelevant when Kyle raises the question anyway. “Could just hack at it, s’not like I’m gonna be wearing this shirt again.” Jason points out with a roll of his eyes, but he pulls the shirt off regardless, avoiding Kyle’s eyes once he does. “Go on. Have at it.”

Kyle’s not too sure he follows that line of logic -- which, well, wouldn’t be a first. But he can’t help but relax a little given Jason’s now apparently laughing in the same space as him. Is it the first time that’s happened? Most likely. Kyle can only imagine having heard it before if it was at his expense, back when they were at odds with each other. Huh. “ Hey, you’re the one bringing up no guns in Ikea, I didn’t say anything about it. Plus i’m pretty sure carrying a weapon doesn’t mean you suddenly lose appreciation for decor. You know how many times I appreciated some digs when i’m on the job? ” His eyes roll, but there’s a small smile in place at least. It’s easy, nice even if it helps distract from the situation at hand here. “ You focus on the cool kitchen set-ups in every place of yours? I’m more a bedroom kinda guy, myself. ”

The first-aid kit is well stocked, and Kyle makes sure to keep a clear view of what he’s taking out for any kind of objections. Hell knows he’s not the best nurse out there, but he knows what it’s like to need to know what’s coming. Not that Jason seems to be having that issue right now, distracted with the dog’s immediate response. Nailed it. “ I couldn’t just stay here and call him Dog, that’s way beyond my abilities. ” Kyle insists, readying a cotton pad with disinfectant. “ His full name’s Benjamin Barker, if you really wanna know. Felt right, if he was gonna be related to a Mister Todd. ” So maybe Kyle had watched too many movies here instead of work, but hey. If he’s being offered a place, it’s not like work was urgent. 

It wouldn’t be hard for Jason to turn on his asshole-side and chase Kyle away. they’re not working together anymore, Kyle has no obligation to stick around and help him out. And if Jason can make him think he hasn’t changed, that he’s still the same jerk Kyle was forced to traipse through the multiverse with despite probably being his last choice of teammate, maybe Kyle will leave him to deal with this on his own. Except.. Jason’s not like that anymore. At least, he doesn’t want to be like that anymore. He wants to believe that he’s not like that anymore, that he’s become better than that angry, fucked up asshole. If not.. what the hell is he even doing here? Why is he even wasting Kyle’s time, making him help out a guy who’s really not worth it?

“Didn’t paint anything red on the way, s’not bleeding that badly.” Jason retorts but there’s not quite as much heat behind it as before. Kyle’s not wrong, it’d be a lot easier for someone else to stitch this up, rather than Jason doing it himself. He would manage but - it’d be a hell of a lot more difficult. “You just gotta know how to deal with the crowds. And before you say it - no, I don’t go to Ikea with a gun.” Not true, Jason goes everywhere with at least one concealed weapon. But Kyle - and other shoppers - do not need to know that, and he only does it so he can be prepared for the worst. He considers chasing Kyle away for another moment before he lets out a long, frustrated sigh, pats the dog’s head, and makes his way over to take a seat at the dining table. Without a word he shrugs his jacket off, gritting his teeth in an effort to mask the wince of pain, and sets it on the table to be dealt with later. Without missing a beat the dog follows him and sits right by him, resting his chin on Jason’s knee and looking up at him with big, sad, worried eyes. “Aw, geez - when did you become such a baby, huh? Is this your doing, Rayner?” He directs the last question at Kyle, raising an eyebrow before jerking his head towards the stab wound on his shoulder. “Go on - have at it.”

Any other day, Kyle might find the fight going out of Jason’s voice as somewhat of a relief. Right now, he’s more worried that it’s the blood loss talking. Hell knows the guy must be exhausted, coming back from ... wherever it was with an injury like that. Times like this, he sorely misses having the wider spectrum at his disposal. “ Woah now, I wasn’t the one suggesting an Ikea gun range. And really, that’s not gonna be good for crowd control. C’mon, you’re smarter than that. ” Which probably says something coming from Kyle, not the sharpest tool in the box even on his best days. Never mind while forcibly attempting to get his begrudging friend to let himself be attended to.

@lxnternray

At the chime of the doorbell, Conner grinned and hopped over the back of the couch, socks sliding on the hardwood as he crossed the room. He was looking forward to spending the evening vegging out on the couch with Kyle, giving Krypto belly rubs and complaining about all the middle aged white ladies who’d yelled at him at work. It felt nice. Normal, even. 

Swinging open the heavy door, Conner fixed Kyle with a grin. “Hey, man. Long time no see,” he greeted, opening the door wide enough to let Kyle through. As was expected, Krypto skittered behind him, snuffing excitedly around Kyle’s feet. They were friends, too, after all. “Um. I’ve been procrastinating a couple pretty basic household chores so it’s, like, semi-gross in here, my bad. But I did dishes for you! So you should feel really special.”

So, maybe it’s been a little while since the last time Kyle got to have a proper hang out. Hey, folks were busy, or out getting arrested - he got it. But that leaves Kyle inordinately relieved when Conner’s door opens, with no signs of ‘hey man my goldfish is in a bad way, raincheck?’. Added bonus, a super dog snuffling around his worn shoes. “ Hey, dude. Almost forgot what you looked like for a sec there, we’re like uh.. what’s the saying. Screw it, we’re like Where’s Waldo. ”

Truth be told, Jason doesn’t really expect Kyle to take this much of a stance about this. He’d hoped Kyle would get out of her quickly enough that he wouldn’t even know about the injury to begin with, but the fact that he’s not only stuck around but seems to be insistent on staying and helping is.. weird. Unnecessary. Jason doesn’t need it. He doesn’t want it. He can manage fine on his own, he has for a long time now. The last thing he needs is someone who, by all rights, should probably hate him and want to see him as little as possible hanging around and worrying about him.

Except maybe he does need it. Maybe he could use a little care, a little support. He’s just not ready to accept it yet. Alone is always easier.

“Told you m’fine.” Jason grumbles, shaking his head. If it weren’t for this argument he’d already have the kit out and the needle ready. Instead he has to stand here stubbornly with his jacket on and his dog still whining at him, eyes wide with concern, practically glued to his side. “Easy, bud - I’m alright, don’t look at me like that.” His voice softens a little as he talks to the dog, scratching behind his ear for a moment before his gaze shifts back to Kyle. Why? Why is he going through so much effort for him? They fucking snarked and sasses and basically fought each other through the multiverse for a while. Jason was essentially a giant thorn in Kyle’s side the whole time. A weird catch-up in the park and a few texts to organise some dog-sitting isn’t really going to undo that. “Ikea’s not so bad.” He says shortly, leaning heavily against the counter. The blood loos isn’t dangerous yet, but it’s definitely starting to take a toll on him. “When’d you get so stubborn, Rayner?”

Should’ve figured Jason would be just as stubborn as expected, even while evidently bleeding and in pain. Kyle can’t remember if Jason even got injured on their one team-up together. It figures that he must have, figures even more that he’d also have tried to hide it then, while Kyle was too pissed off to pay attention. If this is a bad habit, it’s one he hopes gets shook out of Jason by somebody, soon, or he’ll start worrying his friend’s turned to a pincushion if he stops paying attention. Understanding the need to be strong, put up a front? Sure, been there, done that, went straight out the window as soon as he was out of the field. It’s just starting to feel like Jason’s not actually back from the field yet.

The last thing Jason wants to deal with is anyone fussing over him. He hasn’t had it for years now, he hasn’t needed it, hasn’t wanted it. God, the closest he got was Artemis reminding him what an idiot he was for not letting his two indestructible teammates take the hit over him. But beyond that, Jason’s learned to deal on his own. He had to. He didn’t have Bruce or Alfred or a small army of sidekicks to help him out, it’s just been…. Jason. For a while now. That’s how he works best. Well, him and Dog but that’s different. You can’t really have an animal stitch you up at the end of a rough mission.

And now there’s… Kyle. In his place, taking care of his dog. Helping him out. A dog who’s now sitting in front of him nudging his hand with his head and whining softly, clearly concerned. Not that Jason needs it, but he’s learned the dog’s gonna do it either way. “Yeah, well that’s a relief. Don’t really wanna go around and clean up after you.” Jason snarks weakly, but his heart’s not really in it. He’s not incapacitated by blood-loss yet but it’s not far away, if he doesn’t do something soon. He can’t help but pull a face under the mask at Kyle’s comment, annoyed he’s supposedly been called out. “I’m fine.” He insists, pushing past Kyle to get to the first aid kit he has stashed in the kitchen. Sanitary? Maybe not. Practical? Hell yeah. He eases the mask off his face, setting it down and rubbing at the spirit glue away from around his eyes with his free hand. “Furniture’s cheap anyway. Stitches didn’t come with the job description, so - don’t worry about it.”

The soft whining coming from below is — well, pretty relatable to Kyle right now. Not that he’s in any way about to nudge his head into Jason’s hand or start sniffing him, that’s not Kyle’s style. But he does wish Jason would realise that hey, two living creatures under this roof are worried over here. When he has a moment to think about that, Kyle might find it even more weird that they’ve— he’s — got to a stage of worrying about this guy. But that’d take more thinking through his thoughts and feelings than Kyle ever does. Heart on the sleeve, he’s rolling with this one. “ If you don’t let me lend a hand here, it’s gonna be you you’re cleaning up after. I don’t think you’re meant to take the cleaning up job literally. ”

Nothing had ever given Pietro the same clarity as running. Even before he had his speed pushing him forward, he’d loved the feeling of the wind whipping through his hair and the world moving beneath his feet. He’d seen a cartoon once in Sokovia a thousand years ago where a man ran so fast he turned the world around on its axis, moved time backwards to undo his mistakes. As a child, he’d longed for this. As an adult… Turning the world back didn’t seem like the worst idea.

Of course, real life was not a cartoon… or it wasn’t meant to be. The giant green stop sign suddenly appearing in his path had Pietro second-guessing the previous certainty he’d had surrounding that fact.

It was more curiosity than anything else that slowed him to a stop. He could have gone around the sign if he’d wanted, could have turned around and ran in the opposite direction, but… He wanted to know the reason for it. “You should have picked a different color for the sign,” he observed. “Green means go.” Lips quirking into a smile, his eyes shot up from the sign to meet the gaze of the man who’d created it. “Quicksilver. You’ve never heard of someone taking a morning jog?”

Huh. Well what do you know, that actually worked. That kind of luck doesn’t come around all too often, though it’s a relief he didn’t get run over with all the force of a freight truck for once. “Trust me, dude, you oughta be glad it’s not red.” Pretty hard to imagine how a red lantern would go about a random guy speeding around. Scratch that, it’s not, probably involved a hell of a lot more violence and spitting than almost expecting this guy to go meep meep. “Besides, goin’ green is sexy. Save the planet, yadda yadda, all the rage.” Does Kyle realise what comes out of his mouth? Not exactly, but he’s pretty sure it’ll catch up to him later.

Okay, so that shit didn’t go the way Jason had planned.

It’s not a major injury - there’s some bleeding, a fair bit of pain, and Jason’s not looking forward to having to stitch himself up, but he doesn’t need surgery. Thank god, because with the way things have been lately he’s not prepared to have to show up at the mansion and ask Alf to patch him up and deal with the fall-out from the other batbrats. He’s got a first aid kit somewhere in his place and he’s conscious enough to be able to stitch himself up at least.

In his - somewhat foggy from blood-loss - mind, it all works out perfectly.

That is, until he managed to swing the door open and finds Kyle’s here. For a second he can’t quite figure out why Kyle’s here until he remembers he asked the guy to dog-sit. Putting two and two together, it makes sense he’d rather hang out with the dog in a place he’s not struggling to pay rent for, rather than risk his lights being turned off or some shit at his own place. Thankfully Jason’s still got his mask on so he can take a second to get his shit together. “He cause you any trouble?” He asks as the dog runs over to him sniffing his hand, clearly concerned from smelling the blood. He’s about 90% sure none of the blood is visible though, hidden beneath his jacket for the most part, some of it on his glove which he intends to take off anyway, so all going well Kyle shouldn’t notice. He doesn’t kneel down to greet him - Jason’s not sure he’d be able to get back if he got that close to the floor - but pats his head with his clean hand, wince of pain hidden beneath the mask for the most part. “Thanks for helping out with him. Don’t wanna keep you too late, I can handle him from here.”

These last couple of days? Pretty weird, even for Kyle’s standards.

Sure, maybe not in the way of a planet of cute little slime creatures starting a rebellion, stars imploding, all of that. But staying in someone else’s space with someone else’s dog? This is about as far off a normal event for Kyle as it could get. Never mind that they both belonged to Jason.

[ text → rayner ]: hah! [ text → rayner ]: i’m framing that text that’s hilarious [ text → rayner ]: just doesn’t feel like a major focus, going to disneyland [ text → rayner ]: that’s a joke right, no one misses this kinda gossip [ text → rayner ]: six, shit. when did that happen?

[ text → rayner ]: why do you need to find a space cowboy? [ text → rayner ]: disneyland? seriously? [ text → rayner ]: ah. look, they’re not bad, and they’d be find if you ever needed to work with them. we just don’t see eye to eye so i avoid them where i can. [ text → rayner ]: aren’t there only like four of you? so that list is kind of irrelevant. [ text → rayner ]: i doubt you’re on any cleaning radars, relax.

[ text → rayner ]: hah! maybe it does. [ text → rayner ]: as much fun as it sounds, not really no. i think once was enough for this lifetime. [ text → rayner ]: hm. if you met the others you might get it. [ text → rayner ]: why would i mop you up? you’re no where near - that list. take it easy.

[ text → rayner ]: aspiring space ranger? space ranger in training? [ text → rayner ]: ouch, give me some credit [ text → rayner ]: let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that. i dunno if i’m up for a multiverse trip again, not really my thing. [ text → rayner ]: which two have you met? me and batman? [ text → rayner ]: that’s true. that’s a pretty cool thought.

[ text → rayner ]: cooler than space cowboy, less cool than space ranger. you gotta work your way up to that. [ text → rayner ]: dude - look, it’s fine. seriously. let’s just say neither of us really had our shit together and leave it at that. [ text → rayner ]: i’d wear it constantly. especially around the bats. [ text → rayner ]: that would mean i’d have to explain what i do in detail :/

[ text → rayner ]: if you’re gonna show off at least pick something cool [ text → rayner ]: it’s fine. i tend to bring that out in people. [ text → rayner ]: assholes can do nice things [ text → rayner ]: it’s a pretty unique kinda cleaning, i don’t think wikihow has really gotten around to it yet