#now edited

At least he thinks that’s the worst wound he’s collected that night. He’s pretty sure there are scratches and bruises in places he didn’t know there could be. His hand is hurting too, but he doesn’t yet know the cause of that, it just twinges in pain anytime he clenches his fist. It’s also kinda hard to breathe, that’s either because of some potential cracked ribs he could have or because of the exhaustion, probably both.

Jason doesn’t know how long he spends leaning against the wall, having lost track of time, but he somehow finds the will power to push away from the hard surface and starts to trudge through his apartment towards his bedroom. Once there he’ll patch himself up and then pass out and deal with everything else later on. 

As if being exhausted and injured wasn’t enough to be dealing with, when he’s no more than several steps away from the wall his phone begins to ring. Jason groans as he feels the vibrations of the device against his leg. Who the fuck was calling him at this time in the morning? And why were they calling him?

Fumbling around, Jason grabs the device from his pants and answers it. “What?”

“You’re needed,” Oracles voice tells him, “I’m sending you coordinates now, so get there as soon as you can.”

Jason’s mind takes a moment to catch up with what was being said, when it does he frowns into the emptiness of his apartment. “No. Get someone else to do it.” He’s whining, he’s aware of that, he sounds like a child but he doesn’t care. He’s too tired to be dealing with any more shit that night.

“Not an option. It’s an all hands on deck situation.”

“Well I’m busy.” Jason argues childishly.

“Batman’s orders, Red Hood.” Oracle snaps at him in that ‘no room for arguments’ tone of voice she has.

Jason sighs and silently curses everyone and everything. “Fine, whatever! You owe me.” He hangs up before she could reply.

He takes a deep breath and tries to mentally prepare himself for going back out in the field in his condition. He doesn’t know how much help he’ll be in a fight but if he shows his face then that’s something right?

Jason’s phone pings a moment later, a glance at the screen shows it’s the coordinates Oracle had been on about. He makes a note of the place and wills himself to turn around and head back out of the apartment he had only recently returned to.

His injuries will have to be looked at later on.

------

Even from a distance he could see the reason why it was a all hands on deck situation. There was a massive gang war happening right across the docks and Gotham Bay. He pulls up on his motorbike and stashes it in some alleyway out of sight and approaches the fighting from the ground.

Upon approaching, he spots Nightwing jumping in between scuffles of men. Red Robin was running around knocking men unconscious with his staff. Robin was violently tearing into thugs like there’s no tomorrow. Batman was fighting against Bane (how the hell did Bane get here?). Spoiler was grappling with Cheetah (again what the hell?) the two women slashing at each other to get the upper hand. Signal was ducking and dodging Poison Ivy’s giant weeds, trying to get his way closer so he could knock her out without being touched.

Jason watches for a moment, working out where he’s needed most. A few others in the family have other areas covered, different colour suits and gear letting him know who’s where, but he can’t work out where he should go.

How was he not aware of this battle happening, only having to hear it from Oracle minutes before? Why where there such a weird combo of villains together? Something bigger was obviously happening but what was it?

He doesn’t get the chance to try and work it out because a high pitched, accented voice was calling him out from behind. Jason turns around just in time to avoid being swept to the side by Harley’s mallet.

“Lookie here! Who finally decided to show up! Isn’t it my favourite Hoddie!”

Jason bounces backwards to avoid another swing of her mallet. Right of course Harley would be here, Ivy was here so course she would be.

He ducks and rolls to avoid getting hit a third time. Coming out of the roll, his side flares up in pain making him loose concentration and causing him to be unsteady for a moment, this provided Harley the perfect opportunity to actually hit him this time.

Jason grunts as the weapon collides with his side and knocks down to the ground, as his back hits the ground hard the air gets pushed out of his lungs. He's disoriented for a moment but when he comes back Harley is there above him raising her mallet to strike against his head. Thankfully his instincts kick in because he’s able to chuck her off him. The two of them quickly engage in hand to hand combat.

As time goes by Jason could feel himself starting to lag. His earlier injuries and exhaustion was catching up to him. One reaction too late, has him knocked to the floor and this time he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to get up again. His whole body feels tired and worn down, everything becoming too heavy too move.

Thankfully someone comes to his rescue. He doesn’t work out who though he does see Harley turn around shocked and as she unceremoniously collapses to the ground. That’s the last thing he remembers before sudden darkness washes over his vision.

------

When he wakes up, it’s to bright lights, a strong smell of antiseptic and a frowning Dick Grayson above him.

Jason groans and closes his eyes again, trying to shake the grogginess off from the drugs and work out what happened. After several moments he opens them again to the same sight as before.

“What happened?” He asks, his voice sounding rough and croaky.

Dick sighs and moves away from sight, only to come back again with a glass of water in hands. Before giving Jason the drink, Dick helps him to sit up against the headboard of the bed. Jason takes small sips of the refreshing water as Dick impatiently explains what had happened. The unusual impatience of his older brother tells Jason that there was something else he wanted to get off his chest, something more than just what happened at the fight.

Once he was done story telling Dick crosses his arms across his chest and glowers at Jason. “The injuries you received weren’t from the battle. They don’t match what Harley could have made, meaning you got them earlier in the night as you weren’t at the battle long enough to sustain those injuries.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “I got them earlier in the night yeah.” There was no point in denying it, it’s pretty obvious after all.

“Why didn’t you say anything! Why did you come to the battle knowing you weren’t fit to fight?” Dick shouts at him. Jason doesn’t take offence to it, he could see that the older man was worried. 

“I did tell Oracle I was busy, but she didn’t listen.” Jason says factually.

“You didn’t tell her you were injured Jason. She wouldn’t have demanded you to join us of she knew that! What were you thinking, ignoring wounds like that? How can you be so stupid?”

Jason huffs, having heard all of this before just in a different time. “Exactly same reason any of us do Dickhead. There were more important things to take care of. Doesn’t matter now does it? It’s all been sorted, I’m assuming Alfred patched me up, and I’ll be back to normal in a few days.”

Dick sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. When he looks at Jason again it’s with an expression of worry and concern. “I understand, I do. I just worry. When you fell unconscious and then we found that blood on you with no explanation if didn’t look good.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “But anyway how are you feeling? Everyone else is okay by the way, no injuries surprisingly besides your own. All the villains are locked back up and everything’s been sorted out.”

Jason shrugs, “Fine I guess. Achy, tried the usual. As I said, I’ll be back to normal in no time.”

Dick gives him an uneasy smile. “Right, of course. Sorry. I’ll go let Alfred know you’re awake and grab you some food while I’m at it, just please get some rest before you start trying to do anything else.”

“No promises.” Jason grins easily. Dick sends him a mock glare before turning around to leave the medical bay. Jason watches him go and once he's out of sight he slumps against the pillows. He was still sore and tired but better than that he previously remembers.

He had a feeling today might be a moving day. Mom was strolling around the house nodding to herself. Every once in a while she’d poke at the walls and leave a brilliantly glowing mark that faded from view when she moved on. Robbie followed along behind her, trying to work out what he wanted to say. 

“You’re talking to yourself again kiddo,” Mom said. Robbie huffed a breath in frustration. He knew that. This was important and he had to say it right.

“It’s Halloween,” he said, only somewhat cautiously. Mom didn’t really react, just patted under the hall table and nodded to herself. Robbie gave her a moment before continuing, “we missed it last year, remember? And you promised that this year we wouldn’t move on Halloween?” Mom sort of hummed. Robbie hoped she was actually listening. “Mom?”

She looked up, a small frown creasing her forehead. “I hear you kiddo, I do.” Her frown deepened slightly. “I really did promise that, huh?” 

Robbie nodded solemnly. “I know you have to work tonight, but maybe we could leave tomorrow?”

Mom’s gaze sharpened at that. “Did Glanni tell you we were leaving?”

“Ugh, Mom, I’m not a baby. You always go around the house when it’s time to leave. I didn’t tell anyone,” he added proudly. “I’m not stupid either.”

“Fair enough,” she conceded. She knelt in front of him and smiled. “Look, there’s no way to get around it: I need to work tonight. No details,” she added sternly, and Robbie nodded in understanding. Details were dangerous. “But, it should be safe enough for you and your brother to stay until late. Mm, nine o’clock, I think. Would that give you enough time?”

Robbie bounced happily. “Yes! I made a costume already, but I need help getting the head on.”

Mom smiled again, and this time it was just a little bit fake. “All right, just make sure your brother knows the plan too, ok? I promised him no more surprises last week,” she mumbled the last part with a slightly guilty expression before sliding back into whatever character she was preparing to play.

Robbie nodded, a wide grin plastered across his face, and quickly rushed in to hug her around her middle. Then he turned and bounded towards the stairs, throwing a “Thanks!” back over his shoulder.

Glanni’s room was, as always, spotless, but that was just because Glanni never spent any time there. This time around he’d claimed the hallway between his room and the upstairs bathroom, probably because of the mirror that filled half the wall and resembled some sort of baroque nightmare summoning circle. Glanni had dragged his bed out of his room, directly in front of the monstrosity, and covered it entirely in junk. Robbie wondered how he slept in the mess.

Convincing his brother to do anything usually took a lot of wheedling and at least two bribes, especially if it involved any kind of effort on Glanni’s part. After a moment of contemplation, Robbie decided that he could afford to part with a couple of his older inventions, but only if Glanni pushed the issue. Besides, it looked like he didn’t have any more room for anything on his bed and their mom refused to let him make a mess of the hallway, so Robbie wasn’t too worried.

Glanni didn’t look up until Robbie made it right up to the foot of the bed, at which point he rolled over (displacing a small pile of paper fans and what Robbie desperately hoped was a fake stuffed parrot) and snapped “What do you want?”

Robbie leaned on the footboard and immediately regretted it when his hand came in contact with something that was either food or makeup. He gathered himself as quickly as possible and plastered a big smile on his face. “Hello Glanni! Do you know what today is?” Plowing on, he answered his own question before Glanni could interrupt: “It’s Halloween! The only night of the year when we can get candy for free and wear costumes for fun!”

“That’s not entirely true,” said Glanni dryly. “Didn’t I give you some of that cake from last week? From the fancy bakery?”

“It’s not the same. This is an entire holiday for candy and costumes.” He frowned sternly. “Finding cake is not the same as getting free candy.” For some reason Glanni found that very funny.

When he stopped laughing, Glanni flopped back on the bed to the sound of a handful of magazines sliding to the floor. “Mom isn’t going to want us going out tonight,” he pointed out. He shifted a bit, making several of the taller piles on the bed wobble alarmingly.

Robbie took a hasty step backward but managed not to drop his grin again. “I already asked her and she said we can stay until nine o’clock,” he announced. He thought about adding that he just needed Glanni to walk around with him, or that he’d be willing to give up some of his inventions in return, but stopped himself. Mom’s permission was his best bargaining chip.

A long moment passed in which Glanni muttered something about following his baby brother around (Robbie bristled a bit at that- he wasn’t little anymore!), but finally he sat up and pointed a finger at Robbie. “You’ll do exactly as I say, right?”

“Right,” Robbie said patiently.

“If I say it’s time to leave...”

“We’ll leave.”

Glanni shrugged. “All right, I’ll take you out for candy.”

Robbie hooted with delight and raced for his room. “Help me put my head on!”

Robbie glared at the contents of the plastic shopping bag Mom had supplied, and then looked up at Glanni with a grim expression. “How long have we been out for?“ 

Glanni shrugged. Robbie was pretty sure he’d seen him snagging candy from other kids earlier in the evening, but since then Glanni had settled into an angry sulk. “Long enough that we probably shouldn‘t go back to the house,“ he muttered. An adult at the end of a gaggle of small children gave them a curious look, and Glanni quickly pasted a smile on his face until they had passed. “Can we be done now, or do you really want to circle the neighborhood again?“

“I guess not,” Robbie said. He felt his lip wobbling a bit as he looked again at his bag of candy. He’d really, really wanted to go trick-or-treating and now it wasn’t turning out how he’d expected at all. His robot costume was too heavy and it turned out that he’s put the eyeholes in the wrong places so he could see out of one or the other, but not both. The houses in town were very far apart, and when they started getting closer together they turned into stores that didn’t hand out candy at all (not to mention that apparently you weren’t supposed to go to the same house twice). At least Glanni hadn’t complained at all yet, but it looked like his limited patience was starting to run out.

It took about twenty minutes to walk to the train station, which was about twenty more minutes than Robbie wanted to walk. After about a block he sat down on the curb, bag of candy clutched to his side. It took Glanni a moment to realize he was walking alone, and when he finally noticed he didn’t even walk back, just leaned against a convenient fence and started examining his fingernails.

Robbie pulled a piece of candy out of the bag, unwrapped it, and lifted up his costume head to pop it into his mouth. He thought for a moment, then angrily unwrapped a few more candies. Before long he had a mouthful of sugary goop, and there was significantly less candy in the bag. 

It wasn’t fair. He wanted Halloween, real Halloween, not just Mom leaving to wherever it was she went when she was working and Glanni giving him a handful of old candy if he felt like it. Robbie sniffled loudly and climbed to his feet. 

Maybe he’d been going about it the wrong way. After all, most kids didn’t have to rush to leave town every few months. They were all probably really familiar with how Halloween was supposed to work. That must be it! All the kids who lived in the neighborhood had the whole year to plan ahead, and Robbie spent most of that time in places that were not where he would be for Halloween. It was so obvious! But what to do about it?

“Hey Glanni,“ he said thoughtfully. Glanni hummed but didn’t look over. “Where did you get that cake last time?”

Glanni grinned.

The part of town that included the bakery was very fancy, and at this time of night, very closed. That, Glanni explained on the way over, was how you knew it was fancy. Not-fancy places stayed open past eight o’clock for not-fancy people, but apparently fancy meant that you could afford to go home early. Robbie didn’t understand exactly what his brother was talking about, but since he’d only had to mention cake to get him to go along with the new plan he wasn’t going to say anything about it. 

Closer to the bakery Glanni turned serious. “I‘ll get us inside, all right? Don’t try to do anything on your own this time,” he said sternly, and actually waited for Robbie to nod before wrapping them both up in shadows and depositing them inside the shop. From Robbie’s perspective it felt like standing on a blanket being pulled across a smooth floor, and only Glanni’s warning kept him from jumping away in surprise. He did, however, fall backwards once they were inside.

The glass display case was locked up, but Robbie had stuffed his pockets with all of his smaller devices before leaving the house. It took only a moment of scuffling and squinting in the dark to get it open, and then it was only a matter of grabbing anything that didn’t look like it would fall apart while traveling and stuffing it into his bag. Glanni went into the back for a moment and came out with a handful of icing tubes and a smirk, and began spreading icing onto every flat surface he could reach. After about a minute of this the store was a mess and Robbie’s bag was stuffed with confectionary treats.

When Glanni hissed “Time!“ Robbie grabbed a cupcake, shoved it in his mouth, and braced himself while Glanni’s magic pulled them back outside. Robbie bounced nervously in place for a moment while Glanni glanced up and down the street, and then they were walking again.

After a few blocks Robbie started to grin. This was more like it! This was what he’d hoped for for Halloween! 

The train whistled loudly as it pulled away from the station, and for once Robbie didn’t even jump at the noise. His oversized costume head hadn’t made it onto the train, but he felt that the bag full of sweets more than made up for it. Glanni had wedged him into the window seat, so he was well out of view of most of the other passengers, and was now talking politely to the elderly couple across the row. Every once in a while Robbie tuned in enough to hear that apparently his name was now Phillip and he and Glanni (Sylvester to his new acquaintances) were visiting their aunt for her birthday, and yes, it was a bit of a disappointment that they had to travel on Halloween, but at least Phillip had gotten to go trick-or-treating first, yes that was very nice, and there was this really lovely bakery in town too, they should visit the next time they were in town....

Robbie stopped listening again and focused on more important things. He really hoped that Mom wasn’t late this time picking them up, and that he’d remembered all of his inventions, and that Glanni didn’t try to come up with different stories about them for every person he decided to talk to, but the bakery treats were a decent distraction. 

Later on,sitting on the floor of Blue’s hanger, Lance found himself wishing that theCastle could stay on Earth forever.

After almosthalf a decade stuck in space they’d finally had the option to go home. Visit.Stay, even. Build lives for themselves.

Shiro haddeclined, saying that there was still work to be done in the universe, andKeith had said there wasn’t anything for him back on Earth. Lance hadn’t beenexpecting any different from them.

Hunk’sdecision to stay on with Voltron had surprised him, but not much. Hunk missedhome, but he felt like the rest of the universe really needed him and he had todo what he could to help.

Then Pidge hadconfessed that she was staying on too, terrified of waking up screaming aboutmemories in the closet if she returned home for good. She was worried thatnormal life might make the nightmares worse.

Lance hadwanted to stay on too, but the moment he saw his mother again he knew he had togo home. He’d put her through enough already. His family needed him, and by Godhe needed them too. Not a single day had gone by when he hadn’t thought ofthem.

And then thebitter irony was that not a single day went by when he didn’t think of hisfamily up in space.

He hadn’trealised how lonely it was to be alone in his head until the Castle had leftthe solar system and the bonds had faded into distant pinpricks of starlight.The shocking intrusion when they’d roared back to life that morning had madehim feel whole.

But they wereonly going to be here for a week, and then he was going to be alone again.

“Didn’t thinkI’d find you moping on the first night of our visit.”

Lance jumpedin surprise, spinning around to find Pidge leaning against the wall near thedoor, arms crossed over her chest. Her hair fell to just below her shoulders,and she was wearing an off-the-shoulder emerald-green top, three-quarter blackpants and a rueful smile.

He couldn’tstop his eyes from roving over her, taking her in. Had she always been thisbeautiful? Probably, but she’d definitely gotten even prettier while they’dbeen gone. Or while he’d been gone.

Who was itthat left who?

“Uh,Castle-Ship to Lance? You in there man?”

Lance started,then shook his head. “Yeah, sorry. I just…” He gestured absently at the spacearound him. “…Yeah.”

She smiled,then wandered over to sit beside him. “Blue missed you, you know. Allura wouldalways complain about it.”

“Both of themhave been telling me all about it,” he replied, laughing.

Pidge smiledagain, and they fell into an easy silence, gazing up at the Blue Lion. Therewas just enough distance between them that they weren’t touching, but Lancesuddenly felt far too hot anyway. Had it always been like this? He couldn’tremember.

“I missed youtoo,” Pidge said quietly, bumping his shoulder with hers. He turned to faceher, his hand moving automatically to tuck a stray strand of her hair behindher ear. She smiled warmly as he rubbed his thumb along her cheekbone,marvelling at the softness of her skin, and then she was leaning towards himand resting her head on his shoulder and the world felt a little more rightthan it did before.

 A moment later, Pidge spoke again.

“So… Iremember something about you taking me salsa dancing one day?”

Lance pulledback to look down at her with wide eyes. “Are you serious?”

Pidge grinnedup at him. “Well, neither of us can sleep, and we’re in Cuba, and you have acar, so…” She shrugged, feigning innocence. “Why not?”

Lance threwhis head back with a laugh, then met her gaze with a smirk.

“Do you have adress?”

 —

 Two hourslater and they were giggling together on a crowded dance floor in Matanzas,faces flushed with exertion. They came together, stepped away, around, andback, and maybe it was just the atmosphere in the club but Lance feltelectrified.

He sent herinto a twirl and caught her against his chest on the return, and when shegrinned up at him Lance felt his breath catch in his throat. Then she pushedaway from his torso, straightening up and declaring a need for water beforedragging him through the throng of customers towards the bar.

They’d playedat this before. Stolen kisses, tentative touches, even furtive nights spentpressed together as they worked off the adrenaline from whatever near-deathexperience they’d had that day. He’d liked her and she’d liked him - of that hewas sure - but they’d never really talked about it, and Pidge had avoided mostof his efforts to do so. Lance had never figured out what she was so afraid of,but he hadn’t seen the point in pressing the issue at the time.

Now he foundhimself wishing that he had. His mom would’ve understood better if there was agirlfriend he was staying for.

Pidge tappedhis arm, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Hey! You have to pay the guy!”

Lance groanedas he dug his wallet out of his pocket. “I thought you asked meout?”

“Yeah, but Idon’t have any money,” Pidge shrugs apologetically as she hands him a coldbottle of water. “Besides, I thought you said guys always pay on first dates?”

Lance lookedat her sharply, hope blossoming in his chest. “Is this a date?”

“I’m wearing adress and heels, Lance. It had better be a date.”

“Well then,”he said, taking a swig of water and offering her a smile, “Looks like this isdefinitely a date.”

 —

 Another fewhours saw them sitting on the hood of his car, watching the sun begin to riseover the Caribbean at Varadero.

After the clubthey’d wandered the streets, soaking in some of the old town at night, and thenLance had decided he should show her his favourite place on Earth and drovethem over to the resort town.

It was past 3a.m. when they arrived and everything was long shut, but that hadn’t felt likea problem. Just being there together felt like more than enough.

And aftertwelve months apart, there was plenty to talk about.

She’d laughedand complained that she still couldn’t drive, he’d asked about her family (Mattwas heading back up with Voltron this time, but her dad was staying on Earthwith her mom), she’d asked about his (everyone was doing fine and he had a newniece). She’d told him more about the year they’d been apart - more about thelittle daily things that she knew he missed the most, rather than the meetingsand battles that the others had filled him in on earlier - and he’d talkedabout his new life on Earth, how he was still trying to figure out what he wasgoing to do with his life now that he was 22 with no qualifications.

They’d goneover options - he had a decent amount of money from royalties and Pidge hadinsisted on splitting her trust fund with the whole group, so the choicesranged from ‘Go back to the Garrison’ to ‘Buy a yacht and sail around the worldselling ice cream’ - and now the conversation had petered out, leaving them tiredbut happy as they watched the sun slowly peek over the horizon.

Lance knew thesight was breathtaking but instead he was watching Pidge, smiling at the wayher face lit up and her mouth dropped open in a small ‘oh’. She was entranced,and he found it entrancing.

“I thought amillion sunrises just ‘happen’ all over the galaxy,” he teased, poking her inthe side with a finger.

She squirmedand turned to face him, laughing. “Yeah, but this one’s different. It’s your sunrise.”A blush bloomed across her cheeks as she spoke, painting them a charming pinkthat made his heart beat faster.

Lance grinned,poking her again for emphasis. “Who knew Katie Holt could be romantic?”

Pidge battedat his hand, laughing, then fell silent as he caught her hand in his and heldit firmly.

“Pidge…” Hestarted, heart pounding.

“Lance…” Shereplied, eyes fixed on their joined hands. Then she swung her gaze up to his,determined and fierce, and Lance was suddenly reminded of why he fell in lovewith her in the first place.

“We’re goingto leave in a week. We probably won’t see you again for another year, orlonger.”

Lance closedhis eyes, his heart already aching at the thought. “I know.”

“Can I asksomething selfish?”

He nodded,surprised.

“This time,when we leave…” She paused, glancing down and taking a deep breath beforemeeting his gaze again. “Choose me. Please.”

Lance let goof her hand and cupped her face, trailing his fingers around to the back of herneck to tug her slowly towards him as he leaned down. A brief meeting of lips -their first kiss in over a year, he reminded himself - and then herested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and revelling in how closeshe was.

He wanted tostay with her.

He loved hisfamily, but they had their own busy, adult lives. The only adult life he knewwas the one he’d shared with Pidge.

He shouldprobably think about it more, but he already knew the answer. He’d known itsince the moment the Castle left twelve months ago.