Stitched Up

10. Team ?

When Jason went to the place indicated by Kori, he found his old teammate -flirt?-, Essence. Back when he was trained with the All-Castle and Talia Al Ghul, Ra's's daughter, he had bonded with this girl, the only one who was more or less his age. This soon had blossomed into something more, though they couldn't quite place a word on it. Not like they wanted to, anyway, it was far too engaging and both had kind of..trust issues. Still, they happily sat at each other's side and chatted all night long, just being happy basking in each other's presence.

They eventually had to part when Jason left to go back to Gotham, revenge and hatred a little further from his mind with the training. He still resented Bruce for what he hadn't done though, but the weight of it felt lessened. And when he did come back to Gotham, he wasn't ready to see Roy.

Speaking of, knowing the two of them, Jason thought that right this instant, Roy and Kori must have been having sex. It hurt, to be honest, but he couldn't help but blush while thinking that he was in Kori's place. Or that he was the one doing Roy, for that matter.

He quickly shook off that thought and focused his attention back to Essence. The warm grey haired woman explained briefly to him that the All-Castle had been murdered, his old mentor included. He took a second to contemplate the thought, a bit stunned. It was impossible. She was so..powereful. Heck, she was even the one who taught Jason most of the important things he knew now ! The All-Castle had been created especially to prevent the Untitled from doing more damage.. How could she have died, it didn't make any sense... After regaining his thoughts, he listened to the rest of the story. Essence told him that it was the doing of the Untitled, and that he was the only one who could handle the situation, having been in the All-Castle alongside her.

While Kori and Roy were making 'not love', he snuck out of the island. They wouldn't miss him, anyway. Even though Roy had seemed to really have missed him when they sort of reconnected -and that honestly had stung more than if he just did as if Jason had never came back to life-, Roy was now very occupated with his second favorite activity, so there was no way that he would even notice Jason's dissapearal until the next day at least. Also, Jason, too, had slept with Kori, and even though he would most likely not do it again, he had to admit that Kori was good at it. She just had that kind of warmth that made it so comforting. Maybe that was also part of the whole 'I'm a walking Sun' thing but there was definetly something more to it. Maybe it was also related to Jason's mommy/daddy issues but that wasn't up for debate.

When he arrived at the All-Castle with Essence, he observed with terror that everything Essence had told him was true. He decided to get out of the temple before the memories drowned him. He got back to the Island, and when he went to his room to pack some things for his mission, he saw Roy, lying in bed naked with Kori. Bastard had gotten laid in Jason's bed of all places !

Even though he tried to fight it, the former Robin couldn't help but stay a little more, tracing with invisible fingers every curve of Roy's perfect body. He resisted the urge to just wake him by kissing him everywhere, bite his neck, and-

No. He had to stop right there. He wasn't a fucking teen anymore. Jason had always learnt to grow out of things, so why was he finding it so difficult to get over the cheeky redhead ? He knew, he knew too damn well that he couldn't afford to get attached. That every person he had let into his little caged heart had ended up either dead of leaving him. Jason Todd was cursed like that. Some people were meant for happiness, he wasn't. He was meant for letting rage and sorrow consume him until the day he died again. And he needed to get it right up in that stubborn head of his. Because no one, no one would ever pick up the broken parts of him. He had to do it himself, just like everyhting else. Jason Todd was weak, but Red Hood was all he couldn't be. He needed the Red Hood to remind freacking Jason Todd how he ended up the last time that he ever trusted someone to save him. It ended in an exploding warehouse with his little kid self in it. And that was how it was supposed to end every time. Because in no universe his life was less fucked-up. But that was fine because he got used to it. He always repeated himself how is was fine with this to make it feel true.

Once he finally managed to get his Red Hood persona back, he packed a few things in trained silence, and he fled out of the room. But before he could even land back on the All-Castle, an annoying yet sweet voice rang in his ears, from the back of the ship.

" Hey Jaybird, trynna fly without your wings ? ", Roy barked out a laugh at that, visibly very proud about his joke. Jason didn't even get how this was a joke, but he smiled anyway because that was the redhead's power, making people smile for nothing.

They entered the All Castle together, Jason finally giving up on doing this mission by himself. That didn't mean he had given up on living is life as alone as possible though. He was simply allowing himself to not be stupid and accept the help from fellow fuck-ups. Or so he liked to tell himself.

Inside, they were gretted by the zombies of Jason's mentors, though Kori and Roy ignored it so they killed them without any further feeling. When they were done, Roy noticed the look on Jason's face, and he knew that look too well, especially on Jason. All he could see was grief in his eyes. And he did the most helpful thing, just showing Jason he was there for him, as always. They stayed in silence a few minutes before they decided to move, still having lots of things to discover and solve.

They reached a maze, an infinite arragement of stairs and corridors but that did not stop the bold team. Hell, as if anything could stop them.

Finally, they were stopped by a sort of genius, that didn't look older than twelve years old but they all knew better than to judge by the appearance. He was, unfortunately, the key to essential awnsers for them. Only there was, of course a price. Their most precious memory.

Jason turned to the rest of the team " You know, you don't have to do it. I can handle myself just fine."

Roy laughed " No way, we're doing this together Jaybird. We're a team, alright ?"

Jason gave him the sweetest smile Roy had ever seen. " Heh, Alright. Team."

Omg heyyy. Like Jason I came back from the dead :D. Nah but fr I'm sorry for not posting for so long, my life has honestly been so shitty lately I didn"t feel like writting anymore. But I saw last week that I reached the 1K views, and I'm so so grateful for all the support, that's the least I could do <3 Also, I may post once every two weeks for now, I'll see. Anyway enough chit chat, hope you liked this chapter and that you're ready for the next !!