Part Of The Deal. It Was Part Of The Deal, Bruce Had Told Him. Jason Didn't Have To Like, But He'd Just

Part of the deal. It was part of the deal, Bruce had told him. Jason didn't have to like, but he'd just have to go through it, pass, or whatever people did, and he could go out there. Finally, be someone. Be Robin... Jason knocked on the door, grateful, that the hallway was empty. - @jp-todd-rp

Technically, this was off-book.

Not that running a session with Bruce Wayne's ward was a particularly unusual thing to happen. Frankly, Leslie was happy to do it; Keen, really. But there would be no record of what they would discuss, not where any of her peers could access at least. Discretion was of the utmost importance when dealing with vigilantes with secret identities after all. With young Jason Todd living with Batman himself, Leslie was sure it would come up at some point.

Opening the door to her warm, comfortably decorated office, Leslie smiled at the boy, stepping back to allow him entrance as she spoke.

"Jason is it? Hello. I'm Leslie Thompkins, it's nice to meet you."

jp-todd-rp​:

“Nothing helps,” Jason gritted out. He was already pushing himself up, eager for his bed, where he could wallow in peace. And quiet, hopefully. “I’ve tried – nothing helps. Not even Talia knows what to do about this, doc, so lemme just… Lemme just ride it out. Okay? I’ll – a few days. It’s all I need.”

Jason’s knees nearly buckled out from under him when he rose up, and he clutched the table sudden enough to topple over the glass of water Leslie had put down for him. “Fuck!”

Leslie sprung up from her chair, hand hovering just over Jason’s side in an attempt to catch him. Thankfully, he seemed steady enough before she made contact. She was sure he wouldn’t thank him for it if she had. 

“I’ll get it.” She said hurriedly, moving the glass so that it was back to it’s upright position before it could roll off the table. It was only water, thankfully. Easily cleaned up. A job that could wait a moment.

He could hardly stand, never mind anything else. Leslie’s mind raced through options, possibilities. Ways she could help. But first thing first.

She turned, offering out her arm to Jason with a half-hearted grumble. "You’re far too stubborn for your own good. Lean on me, it’s alright. We’ll get you back into bed.” 

jp-todd-rp​:

No wrong answers.

Right.

Jason fought down the urge to scoff, and he briefly hid his face by taking a sip from his water bottle. But the subject of becoming Robin? Yeah, that was something Jason could latch on to. If she reported this back to Bruce, he’d see that he was willing. And ready.

“Of course, I’m excited. Robin’s awesome!” he replied, eyes gleaming. “Batman and Robin save lives. They defeat the bad guys, and actually do something to make the city better. Why wouldn’t I be excited?”

Leslie let out a huff of a laugh at the enthusiastic tone as Jason spoke. The way his eyes lit up, he was talking about joining his heroes, as if there couldn’t be a better thing in the world than that. The kind of excitement a boy his age should have, but about this?

It was a very romanticised view of what would be a dangerous job if he were to actually be Robin. 

“Oh, I don’t know.” She shrugged casually, choosing to take his rhetorical question literally. “You’ve seen Bruce after defeating some of those bad guys, right? He gets hurt sometimes. Some people might find that a little frightening. I certainly would if it were me, though I can understand the idea behind it; One of the reasons I became a doctor was to do my part for the city - in a different way, of course.”

She wondered if Jason had considered the danger he might be putting himself in as she continued, letting her hesitancy show a little. “I know you’ve been training hard, but these are adults, with weapons and - well, plenty of them won’t go down without a fight.”

jp-todd-rp​:

“Exactly! Doc, Gotham is – it’s dangerous enough on its own.” And why would no one listen to him, understand him when he told them, warned them…

“But the people who have me on their hit list, both me and the Hood… Leslie, you couldn’t even fucking imagine. I don’t wanna expose her to that. I can’t…”

I can’t risk losing her to that.

It was already too late for that, Jason knew that, but the incident with the traffickers had torn off the sheer naivety of his infatuation, and exposed the perils that lay around.

A shudder travelled up Jason’s spine, and his body tensed up when the pain followed soon after. “Doc…”

“She’s already exposed to it Jason. You’re missing the point.” Leslie quipped. “Right now, she has no idea, but if you’d just-”

His wince of pain had her cutting off mid-sentence. Right. Maybe now wasn’t the best time for this either. There was no doubt in her mind that she had more to say on the subject, but for now, perhaps it could wait.

With a soft sigh, Leslie leaned forward slightly into the space. There were a few things she could suggest, but as Jason had said himself, he had been dealing with this for some time. She would defer to him this time. “What do you need? Let me help.”

jp-todd-rp​:

Not a conversation he was looking forwards too, but Jason appreciated the warning. If Leslie asked… she was neutral ground. More than Alfred was. Alfred’s grief for him would be unbearable to watch, and Leslie?

She’d already seen the absolute worst of what this city had done to him. Hadn’t shied away when she first saw his scars. And hadn’t flinched when he had lashed out to her.

Grace’s name, was enough to lift Jason’s gaze towards Leslie.

He’d pushed her away, made vague promises of contact, he’d been cruel, he’d lied, and still –

“Is she alright? What she say?” And Gods, the sheer hope in his voice had Jason internally wincing. Give it a fucking rest. You’ve played your hand, you fucked up, she’s gone, she doesn’t want – you.

“Her shoulder is much better - thanks to you. Looking after her like you did forced her to rest it. I doubt she would have otherwise...” Leslie began, softening at the hopeful tone Jason’s voice had taken. 

Still, honesty was the best way to go. Leslie tried to put it to him gently. “She’s a little hurt. Confused mostly. Which I can’t say I blame her for. Without any context, you have to admit, upping and leaving mid argument doesn’t look good. She’s sent you messages while you’ve been out of it, by the way. Not to mention she’s noticed she hasn't seen Hood since the ordeal at the docks... She’s presuming Hood is just busy for now, but it’s clear she misses him as well.”

Leslie huffed a disbelieving laugh as she recalled their earlier conversation. “Funnily enough, one of her theories isn’t far off the mark. She was wondering if you have PTSD and she accidentally triggered something. Her worry was enough to make me track you down, lets put it that way. A good thing too really.” 

“I listened to her for the best part of an hour this morning, twisting herself into knots to give you the benefit of the doubt. She wants to believe that you wouldn’t just walk out on her without a good reason. Which you didn’t.” And wasn’t that the most frustrating thing of all? All the pinning the pair of them were doing and for what?

Leslie pressed her lips together, unable to restrain herself from asking the question. “When are you going to tell her?”

jp-todd-rp​:

And –

Oh.

Jason licked his lips, looking away. It wasn’t a secret. Hell, Bruce had found him on the streets, for fuck’s sake. He knew his dad died in jail, and knew his mom died because she’d been sick, well before Batman, and he, had crossed paths.

He wouldn’t take Robin away from him over this.

Right?

Jason shrugged, his tone quieting, and he kept his eyes averted. “Mom was sick, you know? Willis was in and out of jail, so someone had to take care of us. I managed just fine.”

Until I didn’t.

Until she died.

Ah. 

It matched with what little Bruce had told her. An orphan, living on the streets when Bruce had found him. But there had been a whole life before the moment Jason had decided to steal the wheels of the Batmobile.

“I’m sure you did.” Leslie agreed honestly. “It sounds like it was a difficult situation to have to deal with.”

Everything about his posture screamed at how uncomfortable he was talking about it. But sometimes feeling uncomfortable brought about good things, and Leslie wasn’t one to shy away from it. 

“What was she like?”