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[Jason nods with a grin and heads toward the elevator.]

Promise I'll be right back.

[And then he disappears through it. Finding chinese food takes about ten minutes before he's inputting the code and calling out for Bruce on the main floor.]

Bruce, I got the food!

( He'd made sure to pack everything away — to shut the terminal down to low power and make his way back upstairs in the time Jason had been out. He hadn't bothered to fix anything — had decided to lay himself down in the hopes his nightmares would bring him splinters of happiness in seeing those who are gone from his life, but. He hears Jason then before he can fully slip into sleep and he slowly gets himself up from the bed and sits there. Head pounding. Before he pushes himself off the bed and slowly makes his way out to meet the other.

Eyes squinting some, his steps are slow as he starts to come down the stairs. )

They actually had some then.

( He's a little surprised, really. )

Yeah, surprised me too. [Now the quality is in question, but Jason doesn't mind. He carries the bag of generic chinese food and sets it on the counter.] They had beef chop suey, chicken chow mein, and shrimp lo mein.

[It's not a great selection but Jason isn't picky. He sets out the three separate cartons and two pairs of chopsticks that come in the bag. The paper sheath on the chopsticks says 'Have a happy day.']

( Slowly, he makes his way over to the counter there and stares at the various boxes laid out. He notices how none of the selections are vegetarian, but. It's not like it matters anymore. The chicken chow mein is what he chooses and slowly opens the box of that up. He stares down to the contents and plucks a pair of chopsticks for himself. )

How's the nose feeling? Still numb? Or did that fade away?

Still numb right now. [Jason scoops up the beef chop suey and a pair of chopsticks for himself.] Kinda coming back but not really.

[He pulls out a piece of beef and starts chewing but stops when he realizes it hurts his nose. Well shit. He starts chewing again, but much, much slower.]

Should take a few weeks to heal up, three at the earliest and if you're lucky.

( Poking the chopsticks around in the carton he has, not yet eating, he looks over to Jason. )

Didn't seem to be that bad. I don't think you'll have to worry too much.

( Or, in other words, he's seen and done worse. )

[Jason considers as he chews on his food.]

Last time I got messed up like this was when I got kidnapped.

[He’s slowly opening up to Bruce again. The chest piece is a huge step in the right direction.]

( Stirring around the food with the chopsticks, his gaze lifts from the food and falls back onto Jason again. Quiet for only a moment. )

The time you told me about?

( With where the majority of his nightmares stem from. )

Yeah. Deathstroke kidnapped me. I totally took down Dr. Light but Deathstroke got me.

[He takes a deep breath.]

And yeah, he dropped me off a building.

( A glance around, he looks back to Jason. )

Is it difficult? ( A beat. ) Being up here.

( In the penthouse, he means. )

[Jason wonders if it’s obvious that he’s been avoiding the windows. Or if Bruce will change hisind about him if he’s still messed up.]

I’m trying to stay away from the windows. I kinda. I see the fall when I look at them.

( Hum on his lips, his gaze drops to the untouched food he has there in front of him before he throws it around the kitchen. )

I'll see about getting you a grapple gun. I can leave the drapes shut over the windows if that's easier.

( He's used to the dark. It doesn't bother him. )

Is that okay?

[Jason takes a bite of his chinese food, chewing.]

You don’t have to do that. No one else did.

The grapple gun or the drapes?

( But, no. Neither are a problem to him. )

Either. [Jason busies himself with his food at rhe admission. His Bruce never cared about giving him a grappling gun after hearing about the near-fatal fall and Dick never seemed to notice Jason’s issues around heights, though he supposes he knows why.]

I think Dick assumed there weren’t any issues.

( He wonders idly if the other Dick that had been a year ago is the one Jason knows. He, like Jason here and even like himself, had felt... out of place amongst the others. The Bat Belfry as Jason refers to them as. In that, there had been a sort of comradery between them. Or at least an understanding. )

Assumptions often lead to misunderstandings. Especially when lacking the evidence to see the bigger picture.

I… [Jason seems uncomfortable, but he remembers how quickly it was all swept aside.

How he stood on the edge of the building and look down, down, down. How tired he was if being an outsider to a team he was supposed to lead.]

I mean that. He probably thought I was comfortable after I was on the roof. After I… after I planned to jump.

( Even if he were about to eat, his appetite would be gone the moment Jason goes and says what he does. Bruce stands there. Quiet. Knows exactly what it is Jason is referring to and his heart just… aches for him. Chopsticks are placed down - his attention more fixed on him and he turns enough to fully be there for him, arms at his sides, blue eyes soft in their gaze.

He doesn’t say anything, if only because he leaves it up to Jason with what more he wants or doesn’t want to say, but. What he does do, is reach out with a hand and gently place it there on Jason’s arm. Gentle and quiet support. Meant to drop away the moment he wants it to be. )

[Jason stops chewing as well, his appetite also thoroughly soured. He looks up at Bruce when the hand touches his arm, but doesn’t pull away. Looking back down to his food,]

I was so tired of everyone blaming me. Everything was always my fault. Most of it wasn’t even my fault in the first place. And I…

[He swallows down the memories as they rise up, how he began to lean into open air before Dick stopped him.]

It was the only thing that made sense.

( As before, he lets Jason talk - gives him the time he needs to find the words, string them together, and decide whether or not he wants to even say them to him. Fingers offer a supportive squeeze to the arm they rest on, blue eyes still remaining soft in the way their gaze continues to linger on the other, and it’s only when Jason continues that said gaze drops down in thought for a moment before he’s lifting it back up to the other and he’s finding his own words to offer. )

Things are different here. I know they don’t always feel like it… but they're different because I’m here and I’ve got you. Always.

[Jason looks up at Bruce again, his gaze still unsure despite it all. There’s a huge part of him that wants to believe this Bruce, to believe he won’t run away when Jason needs him most.]

Yeah?

Yeah.

( The word is soft but sincere in every sense it can be. Fingers there still on Jason's arm, they move up then to gently but supportively grasp the other's shoulder, holding to him with a slow nod. )

As long as you need me. I'm here.

You sure? You might be the only one.

[It’s almost as a warning, one against the belfry and against him as well. Only those who hate themselves would align themselves with him.]

You have a place here. With me. If you want it.

( Because he realizes Jason prefers to be on his own — to take off when he feels like it and he can... relate. So incredibly much to that and with having spent over a year here in Etraya now and around... well, another as opposed to others, he can see that and it's why he lets him be the one to decide rather than be told what to do. )

Yeah. [Jason nods, still feeling a touch too vulnerable after his confession.]

I think I do.

[He might not stay all the time, but he’ll be a presence in the Tower.]

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