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Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader | Redhood x Reader
Tags: Slowburn, Slice of life, female reader, Strangers to friends to lovers, Eventual smut
Dividers: chrisssiren
Ao3 / Masterlist
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Chapter 25: Stupid Shitty Building
The next morning you woke up feeling like you’d slept for maybe twenty minutes instead of several hours.
There was a stubborn ache in your mid back that refused to leave.
You scrolled on your phone for a while, just enjoying your day off.
The apartment was still quiet, besides the usual background noises of the city and neighbours.
You shuffled into the kitchen in your pyjama shorts and one of your old university shirts, already making a beeline for the kettle.
You needed caffeine before you could even begin processing your life.
And oh boy was there a lot to process.
You pressed the heels of your hands against your eyes.
The sound of a door opening echoed down the hall, and you dropped your hands from your face.
Jason walked into the kitchen looking equally exhausted.
His hair was messy, the white the streak was more pronounced as it curled upwards and there were circles beneath his eyes. He wore a black shirt and grey sweats, one hand rubbing over the back of his neck as he headed to the fridge.
“You look like hell,” he said.
"Wooow," you gawked at him in mild offense. “You should see yourself.”
Jason snorted, “that bad?”
“That bad.”
The kettle clicked and you turned to make your coffee.
Jason shuffled around in his cupboard, before closing it with a grumble.
“Want coffee?” you asked, reaching for his mug.
“That be nice.”
You made it for him and handed it to him.
You leaned back against the counter and took a sip of your coffee.
He watched you and tilted his head.
“How’re you feeling?” he asked.
You chewed the inside of your cheek.
“I’m okay, I think.”
Jason nodded slowly, you could practically feel his blue eyes analysing you.
“You sure?”
He had probably heard about the hospital situation too, it seemed like everyone had at this point.
“Maybe,” you said, looking down into your mug. “I think I just need some time to digest everything, you know.”
He moved to stand beside you.
“Yeah, I get you.”
Jason held your gaze as you looked up at him.
“Did you get home late?” you asked.
“Mm,” his shoulders shifted and he broke eye contact first. “Around four.”
You nearly choked on your coffee.
“Four?” you repeated. “Doing what?”
Jason glanced at you for one very brief second before turning back to the fridge.
“Just work.”
You watched him pull leftovers from the shelf. There was a fairly large scrape on his elbow today.
You frowned slightly, “Is your elbow okay?”
Jason glanced down at it like he forgot it was there.
“Yeah,” he replied while sliding the plate of leftovers into the microwave.
“What happened?”
“Occupational hazard.”
You blinked, “that explains absolutely nothing.”
Jason shrugged pressing the buttons on the microwave.
"You get hurt a lot on late shifts?" you asked.
For half a second, he paused.
"Pretty much."
“Jay.”
“Hm?”
“You are one of the most suspicious people I’ve ever met.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“No, it's not.”
“Maybe I’m secretly a criminal.”
You narrowed your eyes.
“Jason.”
The microwave beeped.
“Relax,” he said, pulling his plate out of the microwave. “I told you I’m in security.”
“There you go,” you pointed at him. “That was almost a normal answer.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
He moved around you to get to the lounge. Your shoulder brushed his as he passed and the warmth from the contact lingered on your skin.
You sipped on your coffee to distract yourself from those feelings. That attempt only brought up thoughts of Redhood and flashes of last night.
Good lord.
You glanced over at Jason who was slouched on the couch with his food while scrolling on his phone.
You needed more coffee and maybe some alcohol.
You were sprawled across the couch scrolling through Gotham Watch catching up on everything you’d missed after avoiding your phone for the last 20 hours.
Apparently, a lot.
Armed Men Storm Gotham General
You grimaced and swiped past the first headline.
Yeah.
You definitely did not need a recap on that one.
Nightwing and Red Hood Spotted in Burnley During Late Night Drug Bust
Your thumb slowed.
There were several grainy photos once you clicked on the headline. They looked like someone had leaned out a window and snapped them in a hurry, which meant most were blurry.
One photo caught your attention though.
It was Red mid-fall from a building with some sort of cable attached to one of his ankles.
You zoomed in.
“Oh my god,” you mumbled to yourself.
You probably shouldn't have laughed, but you did.
Luckily, he looked like he was mostly fine in later pictures.
After another minute or two inspecting them, you continued scrolling.
Baby Face Gang Pull Off Diamond District Toy Store Heist
You blinked at the headline.
"Not these idiots again."
Apparently, they had escape prison, you hadn't even heard about it.
You snorted and kept scrolling.
Investigation into Bombings Continues
The amusement faded almost instantly.
Most of it repeated information everybody already knew. Recapping the first midtown incident and then Castle land. Casualties. Witness reports.
But near the bottom a statement from GCPD had been highlighted in bold.
Citizens are advised to avoid densely populated public gatherings until further notice while the investigation remains ongoing.
Public gatherings?
Couldn’t they have been at least a bit less vague.
You reread the warning twice before locking your phone and pressing it to your stomach. The lounge didn't feel quite as comfortable anymore.
Your mind drifted back to the last incident.
The teenage boy asking if he could call his parents.
They probably think I'm dead.
You swallowed and closed your eyes.
You really hoped the GCPD would figure this out before anything happened again.
Then your phone buzzed in your hand.
It was a text from Marie.
“Nononononononononono.”
You yanked the pan off the hot stove plate as smoke filled the kitchen, glancing up at the fire detector while turning the oven off.
“Please don’t,” you coughed, already waving a dish towel over the pan.
The smoke didn’t stop.
BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEP
The sound was horrific.
“It’s fine!” you announced. “Nobody panic.”
The alarm continued screeching.
Jason appeared in your peripheral.
“Are you trying to gas us out?” he asked, walking past to open the windows.
“Shut up,” you huffed. “I got distracted.”
“I can see that.”
"I just want to remind you," you glared playfully at him, “That I cook successfully all the time.”
Jason grabbed another dish cloth from the counter and started helping wave smoke away from the detector.
“Whatever you say, Sweetheart.” he teased.
You faltered mid-wave, heat rushing to your cheeks.
Jason seemed to be very intent on trying to clear the air with his towel.
The alarm continued to rattle your skull.
“It’s true,” you mumbled.
You dropped your arms and glared up at the detector.
“I think we need to silence it ourselves,” you said.
“Right,” Jason tossed the dishcloth on the counter.
“Alright,” you stepped aside. “Reach the thing, giant.”
He rolled his eyes and reached to feel up the alarm for the button.
You tried very hard to focus on the task at hand instead of the fact Jason apparently slept shirtless.
Jason found the button and pressed it.
The alarm didn’t let up.
“Huh,” you said.
“Stupid shitty building,” he grumbled while wiggling the detector and pulling from the ceiling.
He fiddled with the alarm that was still blaring in his hands.
You closed your ears with your fingers as you watched him.
Jason managed to get the cover off, but the batteries refused to come out.
He slowly looked up at you with the most done expression you had ever seen from him.
The laugh that erupted from you made you put both hands on your knees.
“Yeah, laugh it up,” he held up the detector. “We still have to deal with this.”
Still mid laugh you grabbed your phone to pull up the trusty Wikihow, it had saved both of your ass's last time.
This felt slightly like Deja vu.
Jason marched into the bathroom.
“Uh uh,” the blaring made it hard to think.
Jason emerged with the alarm wrapped in his towel, the sound slightly muffled.
“Okay, right,” you said, glancing at the towel bundle. “That's good, it says to uh put it under the couch or in the freezer.”
He didn’t hesitate, swinging open the freezer door, throwing the alarm inside and slamming the door.
It was like heaven.
The sound was still faint through the door, but more manageable.
Both of you relaxed.
Jason moved to eye the ruined pan still cooling down on the stove top.
He glanced at you, “you’re banned temporarily.”
“You can’t ban me from my own kitchen.”
“Watch me.
You crossed your arms but smiled despite yourself.
Jason moved the pan to the sink to soak.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“A little.”
“I’ll make something edible.”
You watched him move around the kitchen.
Jason grabbed cheese, butter, bread and a few other spices.
You'd seen Jason shirtless once before, but it had been briefly then.
You hadn't noticed the scars.
Faint pale lines were scattered across his torso and arms, not an overwhelming amount but more than the average person.
One curved across his ribs.
Another disappeared beneath the waistband of his sweats.
They reminded you of scars various thugs had that you had treated in the ER.
“You gonna keep staring,” Jason asked casually, his back turned to you as he buttered bread. "Or tell me what's going on in that head of yours?
Busted.
Your quickly shifted your gaze to the clock above the sink.
22:57
“I wasn’t,” you defended yourself, even if it was weak.
“You were.”
“I was thinking.”
“Oh really?”
You rolled your eyes, “shut up and cook.”
“Yes ma’am.”
You moved to scrub the burnt pan, trying to salvage it.
After a while Jason plated the grilled cheese sandwiches.
You dried your hands and glared down at the pan. The charred black had barely budged no matter how much you scrubbed.
You added more soap and hot water before deciding it was a future problem.
Jason slid a plate toward you across the counter.
“Careful,” he said. “It’s hot.”
You looked up at him.
His hair was still slightly messy and the scrape on his elbow looked worse in the warm kitchen lightening. It made your fingers itch with the urge to disinfect it properly.
"Thank you."
You couldn't help the questions that popped into your mind.
How dangerous was “security” supposed to be? It was Gotham but still.
Your eyes drifted back to the scars crossing his ribs.
It didn't look old.
Jason seemed to notice. His expression didn't change, but something in him seemed to close off slightly.
You moved to the lounge before you could feel weirder about staring at him like a complete creep.
Behind you, Jason turned back to his plate, cutting into his grilled cheese as though had nothing happened. But the easy vibe from earlier never really settled back into place.
The TV played quietly while you picked at your food, occasionally scrolling on your phone just to have something to do with your hands.
Jason stayed in the kitchen cleaning up. Eventually he dried his hands on a towel and picked up his plate moving into the hallway.
He paused briefly near the hallway entrance.
"Night," he said.
You looked up from your phone.
"Goodnight, Jay."
He gave you a small nod before disappearing into his room.
You face palmed.
He definitely thought you were some perv staring at him shirtless.
Next Chapter
Taglist: @loserinadress ☆ @jasontood3904000
