Unrequited Love [Jason Todd x Reader]

Chapter 14

His silence was enough to confirm her hypothesis was right.

"Keep the bomb, do whatever you want with the Joker. We won't intervene, if that's what you were worried about"

She hit the nail. All he wanted to know was if she was still the (Y/N) he knew before. He needed to know on whose side she was on. His, or the Joker's. Perhaps the way he approached it wasn't good.

"The Joker always seems to win at the end of all his plans. We're exhausted. We're tired of him. We don't like to work for him. I don't think anyone but Harley does"

Just before she could turn the doorknob, Jason opened his mouth.

"Sounds to me like you've given up"

Given up...

Those words brought back a memory from the past. Alfred once told her:

"Memorize your failures, and figure out how to counter them. Take advantage of the new situations you encounter and improvise with the stuff you already know to counter them"

"Improvising..." she whispered under her breath, realizing the actual reason why the Joker always wins. The reason why she felt tired.

It's been years, and she's lost sight of her goal without knowing it. The real reason the Joker wins is because he improvises when things don't go according to his plan. Just because he's the one smiling at the end, it doesn't mean eveything went perfectly as he had planned. He finds a way for himself to be satisfied in the end. It was like a game of chess, though a little different at the same time.

"On second thought, you're right. I think I did give up. I don't know when, but you know what? Fine, let's work together. This time, I'm the one suggesting the idea, okay?" She turned.

"Jay, I'm going to be straightforward with you. I used to like you. I don't know when it started, but I know when it ended. It ended the moment I realized that I needed to move on. You made me so dependent on you. Which is why I... I hate you"

She shut the door behind her, leaving him in silence and alone with his thoughts. She ignored the slight discomfort she felt in her heart after expressing those words again. Outside her room, Val was still tied up, but this time with tape in his mouth. She gave Lina a glance– being the only person in the room since she sent all the other goons home.

"Yeah I know. I went too far, but I had to. He wouldn't shut up. He never acts like this"

At the moment, Val had such a tired dolorous expression, as he stared at the empty floor. (Y/N) carefully removed the tape in his mouth.

"If you think we can trust him, then fine..." he started with a dry defeated tone. "You know I'll always go with whatever you say"

Then the door opened, Jason walked out with his red helmet on while (Y/N) untied Val from the chair.

"So we are working together?"

"Yes" (Y/N) answered. Val pulled the ropes off of him, thanking her as she grabbed the chair to put it back to their meeting area. However, he offered to do it instead, said she was sick and it's better to conserve her strength.

Under his mask, Jason rolled his eyes with a scoff and gazed away from them.

Lina witnessed it and couldn't believe that the Red Hood seemed to be annoyed by that. You could say she had a good idea as to why. Considering the fact that (Y/N) and him seemed to know each other.