First Light » Titans [2]

11|| Blackout

Sophie sat on the padded training room floor, panting as beads of sweat rolled down the length of her spine. Her body was buzzing like a thousand bees were swarming just beneath her skin, and her palms were red and raw from the wooden training swords.

It was just her and Jason sitting in the suddenly quiet room. The sound of her racing heart and their shallow breaths replaced the rapid thunk of the wooden swords meeting or the crack of dirty blows.

Rachel and Tyler both surrendered around the second round, but Jason didn't. He never backed down from a challenge and she needed to let off some steam. Besides Dick, he was probably the only person in the tower that could keep up with her for so long.

Bruce practically beat endurance into them.

Sophie let out a long breath and pushed back the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. She rose to her feet and walked over to Jason, holding out a hand for him.

He was sprawled across the floor, his black shirt was drenched in sweat and his usually messy hair was unruly. He smirked up at her and swung his hand up to meet hers, allowing her to help him to her feet.

"Thanks." He said as he tried to rein in his breathing.

She smiled softly before she turned to gather the broken wooden swords and splinters off of the mats. "You're improving, but that leg shot was dirty."

Jason scoffed. "You shouldn't have left yourself open."

Sophie chuckled as she tossed the wood into the trash can.

""What's got you so worked up anyway?" He asked.

"Nothing." She shrugged. She really didn't care about how obvious the lie was, for the first time all week she didn't feel like shit, she wasn't about to ruin that by talking about her issues.

"Yeah right." He scoffed.

Sophie rolled her eyes and turned around to face him. He was already gulping down what was left in his water bottle and had a sweat towel draped over his shoulder.

"What about you?" She crossed her arms and raised a brow.

Jason glanced over at her before he mimicked her shrug. "Nothing."

She laughed under her breath and cocked her head to the side. "Come on Jay, humour me."

He stared at her for a moment before rolling his eyes and walking past her to the door. "Take a guess." he grumbled.

Her eyebrows drew together as she fell into step beside him. It didn't take a genius to guess what was getting under his skin.

"Dick?"

He chuckled humorlessly as he turned down the hall leading to the bedrooms. "I'm tired of him treating me like I'm some kid. Like Bruce didn't train me too. It's bullshit!"

"He used to bench me too," she sighed, "every time someone with powers showed up I was stuck watching the monitors."

"That's different." He huffed.

Sophie couldn't help but scoff. "Why cause I'm a girl?"

Jason glanced over at her with raised eyebrows, like she had just said the stupidest thing he had heard all week. "Fuck no. It's because he's into you."

It wasn't a secret that Dick and her had something going on --if there even was something going on-- but hearing Jason say it so bluntly threw her off. She quickly looked away and dragged a hand through her hair to momentarily hide the blush rising to her cheeks.