Jp-todd-rp:

jp-todd-rp​:

Trust Grace to put her mark right on the money. Even though she didn’t quite get just how close to the truth she was getting. “She’s too smart for her own good,” he muttered under his breath, but pride laced his tone.

But the faint smile fell, as Leslie continued.

He could see it.

Grace worrying over him, working herself up over him, and what he’d done. Trying to find an explanation. “I – I’ll put her in too much danger if I tell her. That is… if she even wants anything to do with me for lying to her.” Jason shook his head. “I never should have let it get this far between us, I was an idiot.”

“She’s planning on working as a doctor, in Crime Alley, Jason.” Leslie pointed out. “I’ve had this talk with her, when she started - and again after the bombing. She’s not exactly playing it safe as it is.” While a doctor wasn’t the most dangerous profession someone could go for, in a city like Gotham it certainly came with it’s own set of risks. Leslie had the personal experience to attest to it.

“Grace isn’t shying away from the Red Hood either. Even after everything she knows about him - you.” Talking about Jason as if he were two different people was going to give her a headache, but when it came to Grace, the distinction was there. For now, at least. “These are all choices she's making. And after what happened to her the other week, Gotham can be plenty dangerous all on its own. If you hadn’t have given her that alarm...” Her voice trailed slightly, not wanting to think of what might have happened to her if not for Jason.

“She likes you. And judging by how she is around you when the mask is on, she likes more than just whatever civilian front you’ve put up for appearances sake. Don’t even try telling me it’s not the same for you, or you’d never have let it go on for this long. Even the others have noticed." Leslie wasn’t sure if she should mention the curious questions she had received from the others, Bruce especially who was all too keen to know what his son was up to, but it slipped out all the same.

Realising she had long since ventured into lecture territory, Leslie shrugged, pulling back. “I just think she deserves the option of deciding for herself. A real, informed decision. I think your secret would be safe at this point. She only speaks to me about it because she already knows I know The Red Hood.  And who knows? You might be pleasantly surprised at how things turn out.”

Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship

jp-todd-rp​:

Jason’s resisted the initial urge of wanting to refuse. She was a doctor, and one Bruce trusted. She wouldn’t do anything to him. Right?

Jason kept his smile in place as he sat down on the seat she had pointed out to him. “Just some water for me, thank you.” He shifted a little on the armchair, trying to make himself a little more comfortable. “Uhm… so how does this work?” he inquired tentatively, keeping his eyes on her as she got them something to drink.

“Water? Sure thing.” Pulling out an unopened bottle of water, and a soda for herself, Leslie turned back to see Jason getting comfortable in the armchair. She pondered his question for a moment as she passed the drink over to him and took a seat in the armchair opposite.

“This works however we want it to, really. One of the good things about sessions like these... I’m curious though - how did Bruce explain it to you before he dropped you off?” Popping the soda can open and taking a drink would give him time to think, so Leslie did just that, getting comfortable herself. She knew Bruce well enough to know he sometimes struggled with more difficult topics of conversation. It would be a good idea for them both to be on the same page from the beginning. As much as possible at least. 

For Leslie, this first session was about making Jason as comfortable as possible, and getting some idea who Jason Todd actually was. Most fourteen year old boys didn’t find themselves on the brink of being adopted by vigilante billionaires and considering how Bruce found him, Leslie was keen to find out.

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?”

nerdybirdboy​:

“Isn’t that why I’m here?” Why else would he be here? Bruce had never made him go to therapy for anything else and he’d seen and been through plenty of stuff. “No, thanks. I’m good.” He wasn’t here to have a snack, this was business. Or at least that was how he saw it. Just like cops had to see a psychologist after firing their gun, he had to see one after the accident to continue to be Robin.

“You know what we do, me and Bruce, so I have that and school, both take their time and once I’m trying to sleep… How should I describe it? I notice a lot of things, details, patterns and so on. It takes time to process it all and I can’t just shut it off and go to sleep. Sometimes I realizes things when falling asleep and need to deal with it before I can sleep. Sometimes I don’t get any sleep for days and that’s when I need help to shut off. That’s all.” Tim knew he was smart and a little different, what he didn’t know was that most people usually didn’t need to process pretty much every detail they had seen that day. “So, yes, that was why I took the pills. I had waited a little too long and lost my ability to properly judge how much I took.” He really hadn’t tried to kill himself.

Tim didn’t like this at all, but he somehow still manged to keep his body language in control and kept himself from fidgeting. This all felt like an invasion of privacy. Even though he knew he decided what to say, which was why he also didn’t mention that nightmares were part of it too.

“Details and patterns.” Leslie repeated thoughtfully, taking a seat in the plush armchair and pulling her notebook into her lap. She was going to need to keep notes for this. Things to circle back to later. Everything he was saying was important, as well as the things he wasn’t saying.

Days without sleep - that was concerning. Realising he had waited too long to take the pills. Misjudging the dosage... He had taken them before. Self-medicating. His sense of responsibility seemed to be beyond that of most fourteen year olds she had met. Not necessarily all of them, given her history of working with Batman, but it was disconcerting all the same.

Tim was sitting so still, looking a little uncomfortable but not so much that Leslie had any inclination he was going to run out on her. So she pressed onwards.

“Details and patterns of what exactly?”