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[torchbearer]

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[torchbearer]

what personality

[reneger]

don't get all shy on me now
you've already confessed

[torchbearer]

you're really desperate to believe that.

[reneger]

don't need to be when you admitted it to me ♡

[torchbearer]

don't make me change my mind about the couch.

[reneger]

i'll be by in the morning

( for a sandwich and a nap. )

[torchbearer]

noted.

[reneger]

( he said morning, but what he meant was as the sun starts coming up and the bats all go in for bed. jason's already come in through the window before, so he knows where to come in this time, too. the lock slides open, before jason's slipping gloved fingers under the opening to yank it all the way up. lets himself on through before he's replacing the screen back where it's supposed to be, because. he can be considerate when breaking and entering. sometimes. )

[torchbearer]

[ kyle doesn't sleep easily. he's a light sleeper now, due to his work and his other job. he doesn't start though because he knows already that jason is sneaking in and merely turns in his bed, trying to reclaim the last vestiges of sleep. ]

[reneger]

( he's expecting kyle, suited up, coming from wherever the fuck he was to make sure it's jason and not jason with a handful of weapons or someone else coming through the window because clearly this is a completely normal thing to do--who doesn't invade apartments through their windows? only idiots use doors.

but he doesn't. and he's not sure if it's kyle's just sleeping deep enough to have not noticed, or if it's kyle did hear him, and trusts jason enough to not give a shit (which, bad move on his part really), or if he's just waiting. lurking around a wall to fuck up jason's night just for the hell of it. he would do that, if it was kyle coming into his place--so clearly it's a perfectly valid way to greet someone.

except none of that happens, and jason's left standing inside the window with his stupidly fancy gear compacting back into bracelets so he doesn't have to bother with stripping down to what counts as civvies. he gives it another few moments, before giving up on kyle's presence entirely and making his way across the living area into the kitchen.

makes himself a sandwich. eats the sandwich. washes off the knife he'd used to spread condiments onto the bread. puts the bread away. cleans off the counter. nothing. is it ego? kyle's whole jason can't do shit to me because i'm so powerful, he won't even be able to touch me if i don't want him to?

the right thing to do here would be to just do what good pals do and shut up, lay down, get a little sleep in, then fuck off and leave like originally intended. the shitty thing to do would be to quietly make his way into kyle's room, raise a fist up and break his stupid nose because he's been aiming for that since he got here and it'd be very satisfying. the problem with doing that is he plans to be in central city for a few more days, he doesn't want dick to draw on his face again, tim lives with kon, and he doesn't trust himself worth shit. is it a dick move to punch someone after he'd just admitted to at least being able to tolerate jason well enough he likely won't get tired of him? probably. but he's pulled worse on better people.

the moral dilemma leaves jason standing around for a good few minutes, weighing the pros and cons: getting to break his face, finally, but potentially losing what he'd generally consider a safer safehouse because kyle's stupidly powerful and if some asshole decided to break in who wasn't jason, they'd be fine--or just going to sleep and pretend he never thought about it to begin with.

he has been having a relatively terrible last several weeks. having a friend around is nice. getting to punch kyle rayner in his stupid face would also be nice. therapeutic, even. but delaying it until he's been around a few nights might up his chances of actually doing some damage. kyle might be expecting it. he might let his guard down if jason waits longer.

so he does nothing. walks over to the couch instead and sprawls across it, legs hanging off the edge of an arm with his shoes still on, because you never know when you're going to need to make a run for it. jason doesn't sleep easily either--it takes him a bit to go from resting with his eyes closed to actually asleep, but he does get there eventually. )

[torchbearer]

[ eventually, kyle wakes up with a yawn. ambles to his kitchen to grab some coffee. it'll never be radu's and he feels a pang of loss. there was nothing quite like living above a coffee shop. sometimes, he recalls the smells that permeated in the morning, the romanian tunes radu would play when he was setting up shop.

but it feels so distant. like it all happened to another person. and maybe it did.

to jason, without thinking: ]

You want coffee?

[reneger]

( there's noise, kyle walking, breathing--normal human noises that people make when they're up and jason's awake. he doesn't move yet, but there's the subtle tell of his breathing changing, shoulders tensing just a little before he's relaxing into the couch again.

until kyle opens his mouth and asks a perfectly reasonable question, and jason just, )

I wanna shove a knife into your eye socket.

[torchbearer]

Okay.

[ kyle moves on, like nothing weird has been said. ]

So no to coffee?

[reneger]

( eyes open, and he pulls himself up into a sitting position so he isn't taking up the whole couch. jason raises his hands up, shoving palms against his face before dragging them down it. )

Coffee.

[torchbearer]

[ he nods, making another mug. he walks over to hand it to jason without comment. ]

[reneger]

( right. coffee. kyle holds out the mug, and jason takes it in one hand. uses the other to shove the curls back off of forehead before tipping the mug back to drink it down. is it hot? yes. he doesn't care. )

Morning.

( or morning enough. )

[torchbearer]

Morning. I didn't think you'd stick around this long.

[ not that kyle minds or cares. he pulls up a chair, gently breathing in the smell of coffee before taking a sip. ]

[reneger]

I'm not Tim. I need more than twenty minutes of beauty sleep at a time to function.

( and it's been--what, a few hours? good enough for him. )

Better than catnapping on rooftops. Y'know how many crazies I run into up there? Dozens.

[torchbearer]

[ he can relate, but from a different perspective. ]

You mean, besides the crazies you know? Shocker.

[reneger]

I'm more worried about the crazies I do know than the ones I don't.

( the smarmy grin grows for just a moment, before it's--fading back. )

Joker might still be lurking around. Did you see the shit he pulled with Tim?

[torchbearer]

No, I wasn't around. I did catch him when he was trying to mess with baby Jay.

Then I let him shoot at me for a bit so he wouldn't get shot at, chasing the Joker.

[reneger]

He thought it'd be fun to take Tim for a spin like he'd done to me when I was still Robin.

( jason watched it. broke a wall after. kicked some shit over. beat up a few lackeys to vent it out. and then talked to tim about it which only made him more pissed off. )

Except Tim heals when he's knocked out, so he'd just knock him out and keep going.

[torchbearer]

[ ah. kyle absorbs that thoughtfully. he doesn't have anything to add. instead he asks. ]

So you think he's still here? It's been very quiet.

[reneger]

Dunno. Could be. Clown likes to be extra dramatic, he might just be waiting for a good time to come back out.

( it's also just--extremely close to the anniversary of his death, so he's getting extra paranoid. )

[torchbearer]

Could be. But if you go running about, he'll definitely take advantage of that. If you want to scour the city, we can do that.

Or get someone else on your back. I know you're not a fan but don't take chances with the Joker.