Blair tossed Jason a wooden staff, both of them standing on opposite ends of the training mat. It had been two weeks since Blair's emotional breakdown and things had been quiet, for the most part. Every so often, Jason would make a sarcastic comment about something that would make Blair roll her eyes and sigh loudly or snort, but other than that, things were good.
"I don't see why I have to use the stick thingy. You taught me how to use knives and swords, why can't I use one of those?" Jason whined, twirling the staff in his hands.
"Because we don't want to kill the other side?" Blair rolled her eyes. She should've started with the staff part of his training first, that's what Dick did with her when she had started. It was too late for that now.
"Then why the fuck do you carry knives and why do we have sharp throwing thingies?" He pointed out.
Blair narrowed her eyes, "For immobilization, Jason!"
"Sounds like bullshit to me." Jason scoffed. Blair smiled innocently, hitting Jason on the head with her staff. He jumped back, running his head, "Ow! Unnecessary roughness!"
"I thought it was just bullshit." She smirked.
"I'll show you bullshit in a minute." Jason muttered, jabbing his staff in Blair's side.
Blair jumped back, holding her side. At least he didn't hit her ribs, "JASON! OW, WHAT THE FUCK?"
"HURTS DOESN'T IT?!?" Jason exclaimed, an amused grin on his face.
Blair dropped to the ground, using her staff to knock Jason off his feet, jumping up and placing her foot on his chest in triumph. Jason groaned, grabbing his staff as Blair turned around.
"Now, if you can stop messing around, we can actually work— OW!" Blair felt Jason's staff hit her hard in the ankle.
She turned around seeing him crouched down, an evil grin on his face. She glared at him, jabbing her staff in his chest, causing him to fall on his back.
"Maybe we stop training for today Miss Blair." Alfred tried, seeing where it was headed.
Blair ignored Alfred, swinging her staff at the boy on the ground. Instead of using his staff to block her swing, Jason grabbed the staff, pulling it toward him. Blair went flying forward, landing on Jason on the ground.
She lifted herself off Jason's chest, shaking her head, "You're such an ass!"
"I don't control how you fall! This is on you!" He exclaimed, not at all expecting her to fall on him. To be honest, he didn't know what exactly he was expecting when he grabbed a hold of her staff.
Blair rolled off of Jason, sitting on the ground while she fixed her hair and her shirt. Jason sat up, looking over at her before bursting out in laughter. He couldn't help it, the entire situation was hilarious to him.
That was, until Blair hit him in the forehead, "Hey, this was supposed to be a no hands lesson!"
"That was before you drug me down here with you. You wanna play dirty, fine! All rules no longer apply!" Blair smirked, kicking Jason in the chest.
Jason laughed, "Rules no longer apply, huh?"
"Whatever you're thinking, no!" Jason tackled Blair, tickling her sides. Blair shrieked with uncontrollable laughter, trying to squirm out of his grip, only being able to make it as far as her staff. "Take this, dickwad!"
"OW!" Jason yelped, momentarily letting go of Blair. "No headshots!"
"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NO HEAD SHOTS IN LIFE!" Blair declared, shoving Jason to the ground.
At that moment, Bruce walked down the stairs to the Cave, shaking his head both in amusement and disbelief as he stood next to Alfred. Blair and Jason had completely forgotten their training staffs, wrestling like children on the floor.
"Alfred, what is going on?" Bruce questioned, surprised when he heard Jason start laughing.
"I tried to stop them sir, but then Master Jason started to play dirty and all bets were off. My money is on Miss Blair, of course." Alfred explained, watching the two teens with an amused expression on his face.
Jason tried to put Blair in a headlock, resulting in Blair elbowing him hard in the stomach. Once Jason was down, Blair started to stand up until he attacked her from behind, jumping on her back, "Quit. Being. A. Moron!"
"When you quit being so uptight!" Jason shot back. "How are you holding me up?"
Blair pried Jason off of her, hearing him fall roughly on the ground, "I'm trained."
"Jesus Christ, you two!" Bruce interrupted, startling the pair. "Blair, you were supposed to train Jason with the staff!"
"Yeah, Blair! Come on!" Jason teased, mocking Bruce's stern stance.
Blair shook her head, "I was, then Jason decided to be stupid, I had no choice."
Bruce hid a smile, "Right, well, I'll let you two get back to training."
Jason bent down to pick up his staff to start training again when Blair jumped on his back, holding onto him like a koala as he slowly stood up as to not drop her, "Oh, but when I do it, I'm a moron?"
"When I do it, it's funnier and cuter because I'm smaller! You could kill me when you do it!" Blair retorted, still on Jason's back.
"Oh, because I can't kill you now?"
"No! Do not drop me!"
"Wouldn't dream of it." Jason grinned, spinning around in a circle, Blair holding on tightly to not fall, yelling in delight.
Bruce and Alfred watched the exchange in amusement. Bruce was watching, satisfied that Blair was finally bonding with the boy, while Alfred was watching to see who would fall first.
Alfred's question was answered when Jason misstepped. The boy was about to fall backwards due to the weight he was carrying, but quickly turned as he fell, landing face down, Blair safely on top of him, "You good?"
Blair nodded, slowly getting up, "Yeah, I'm good."
********
Blair was sitting on the couch in the living room watching Will & Grace on the TV, when all of a sudden she was watching Daryl Dixon shoot a zombie in the head with a crossbow, "What the fuck?"
She heard snickers behind her and quickly turned around to see Jason walking in with the remote and a bowl of popcorn, "You know, you watch some violent shit on here. The Walking Dead, that one gangster show Peaky whatever, American Horror Story... you're pretty dark, B."
Blair raised an eyebrow at the new nickname, "B? And why are you on my Netflix account? Didn't Bruce make you your own? I was watching Will & Grace shithead!"
"And now you're watching the episode of The Walking Dead you left off. You're welcome." Jason smirked, sitting down with his bowl of popcorn next to her.
Blair looked at the bowl in his hands and back to him, seeing him focus his attention on the screen. An idea sparked in her mind as she reached for the bowl, "Hey, give me some of that."
"Yeah, here." Jason absentmindedly handed her the bowl, eyes trained on the hoard of Walkers.
The minute the bowl was in her hands, she lifted it over Jason's head before emptying its contents all over the boy's head. She hid a laugh as he jumped up, shaking the popcorn out of his hair, "Ohhh, Alfred is going to be so mad at you!"
"That's what you think." Blair smirked. "ALFRED, JASON SPILLED POPCORN EVERYWHERE!"
Jason's jaw dropped, "YOU ARE SO DEAD WILDE!"
Blair shot up off the couch, bolting up the stairs as Jason chased after her, always just a few steps behind. He just barely made it to the hallway as Blair slammed her door shut, her stereo blasting a Pat Benatar song.
"BLAIR! OPEN THE DOOR!" Jason banged on the huge door. "YOU AREN'T PLAYING FAIR!!!"
The song just grew louder, until he could barely hear her shout back, "SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
Jason hit the door one more time before getting an idea. He ran into his room, digging into his old backpack and pulling out a mostly used notebook, ripping out a piece of paper.
Blair sat on the floor with her back against the door, shaking with laughter that Jason couldn't hear. It was the first time that she had laughed, really laughed, since Dick had left two months ago. She almost forgot what it felt like to miss him.
She took a small breath, letting out another laugh when a piece of paper appeared right next to her. She picked it up, seeing that Jason had written in all caps:
YOUR A BITCH!
Blair shook her head, grabbing a pen off her nightstand before writing back:
*you're*
Jason hit his head on the door, "BLAIR!"
Blair burst out into more laughter, trying to get a better grip on herself before opening her door. When she opened the door, she almost started laughing again.
Jason was standing on the other side, head hung as he propped himself up with one arm. He looked up at her, giving her a small smile when he saw her failing to hide a smile, "Hey, you're—"
"JASON TODD, YOU GET IN THIS LIVING ROOM AND CLEAN UP THIS MESS THIS INSTANT!" Alfred shouted from downstairs, causing Blair to let out a snort at Jason's look of fear.
"Don't make me go down there, hide me under your bed or in your closet!" Jason begged, causing Blair to roll her eyes in amusement.
She was about to respond when her phone rang, shaking her out of the moment, "Hold on."
Blair pulled her phone out of her pocket, seeing Dick's picture smiling up at her as it rang, bringing all her original feelings about everything back. She almost forgot about him leaving and practically replaced him with Jason in that moment, "Uh, go clean up the living room, I've got to take this."
He stared at Blair's face, seeing her mood completely change from the fun, happy-go-lucky girl to serious and sad, "Are you okay?"
"Just do what I said, Todd." Blair snapped, waving him off.
Jason nodded in disappointment, "We're back to that now, huh? I really thought we were actually getting somewhere."
********
Blair watched Jason walk away, closing her door behind him before answering her phone. Trying to keep the surprising disappointment out of her voice, she sat down on her bed, "Heyyy Dickie, how are things?"
"Good as they could be, how are things on your end kiddo? You sound a little upset." Blair mentally hit herself for thinking that Dick wouldn't notice that she was hiding something. He did know her better than anyone else she knew.
She took in a deep breath before putting on a smile, even though he couldn't see it. It was easier to pretend she was okay if she acted the part completely, "No, I'm okay. I'm talking to you on the phone for the first time in like, two weeks, so that's great. I'm just bored. Living at Wayne manor when the Wayne is constantly at work is kinda boring."
"What happened to that Johnny guy? Or Jules?" Dick laughed, making Blair's smile more genuine.
"Johnny is a 25 year old Arkham guard and Jules is in Metropolis for the weekend. It's just me here." Jules Myers was the only friend that Blair had in Gotham and was considered to be one of the Gotham Elite, meaning she had money. She ran around in the same crowds as the Wayne's and Wilde's did when they were around.
"How is it that you don't have any friends your own age?" Dick asked in amusement.
"Jules is my age."
"She's out of town."
"So are the rest of my friends, Richard." Blair snapped, shocking herself. She had never been one to snap at Dick before, especially when he hadn't done anything wrong.
Apparently, Blair wasn't the only one in shock by the outburst, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing, just all my friends are older than me or gone." Blair tried to explain, once again hiding how she really felt as she started to walk around her room. "I mean, I'm just better with people older than me. Like Donna, Donna gets me."
"Donna gets you because her best friend is also someone in a book."
"Nuh uh, my best friend is not in a book."
"What do you call Celaena Sardothien then?" Dick said in a way that Blair knew he was smiling on the other end of the line.
For her sixteenth birthday, Dick had gotten her a collection of books about an assassin from a fantasy world that fought better than any man could and fought to save her world from evil as the series went on. Blair had fallen in love with the books and each time a new one was released, whether in the series or by the author, Dick made sure to get it for her.
"I call her an inspiration, Dick. My best friend is in Detroit as a detective when he used to be Robin." She reminded him, trying and failing to keep the sadness out of her voice. She couldn't help it, she missed him.
"Blair—"
"I know, I'm not mad, just teasing."
Blair turned around, hearing her door open. She expected to see Bruce home early or Alfred coming in to see if she had laundry, but instead Jason walked in, immediately diving onto her bed.
Giving Jason a dirty look, she pointed to her phone as to tell him to get lost. Instead of taking the hint, Jason shrugged, "What? I'm bored."
"Go be bored somewhere else shithead!" She hissed, trying to get him out of her room. It was hard to talk to Dick and act like everything was fine and normal when his replacement was sitting on her bed, waiting for her to finish her conversation.
"What?" Dick exclaimed, confused.
Blair winced, realizing she hadn't covered the speaker, "Not you, Dick."
"You're on the phone with Dick? Really?" Jason raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should tell him about how bitchy you get when he calls."
Blair glared at the dark haired boy, "Shut up."
"Is this a bad time?" Dick asked.
"God, no! No! It isn't. It's just some annoying twerp from across the street." Blair crossed her arms, glaring at Jason as he rolled his eyes.
"I thought you were at the manor."
Shit. "Okay, maybe it's a bad time."
"Blair, what's going on?" Dick asked, concern seeping into his voice. "Is everything okay?"
"Nothing, nothing's going on, everything's fine!" She exclaimed quickly. "I have to go, I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah, sure." Dick agreed, still suspicious. "Love you kiddo."
"I love you too, Dickie." Blair responded, hanging up the phone.
Jason sat awkwardly on her bed through the exchange, flipping through a copy of Bob Dylan's autobiography that was on Blair's nightstand. He knew he should've just left, but it was nice to not be alone in the big house for a change. On top of that, he got to hear some of what Blair and Dick were like. It was like she was talking to her older brother, it was different.
Blair walked over to Jason, taking the book out of his hands before putting it back on the nightstand, "Why? Why did you have to come in here?"
"He doesn't know that Bruce asked me to be the new Robin does he?" Jason asked, already knowing the answer to the question.
"Why would he know that?!?" Blair exclaimed.
"Because I figured you'd tell him? You tend to tell him everything else in your life, I thought you'd tell him the actual important shit!"
"I'm definitely not telling him that Bruce, his adoptive father, went out and found some kid off the streets like a stray dog and brought him home to replace him! Are you kidding me?!?" The entire idea seemed absurd to her. The less Dick knew about Jason, the better. He was just barely getting a stable life away from all of this chaos, she didn't want to bring all that up.
"No, are you kidding me? Not even twenty minutes ago, you were laughing at some stupid thing I did, now I'm just a stray dog?" Jason stood up angrily. "What the hell, Blair?"
"You just interrupted a very important phone call of mine because you wanted attention, kind of like a stray puppy!" She had to admit, the stray dog thing was a little mean and maybe too far, but she couldn't help it. Everything was just falling out of her mouth like she would hurt less if she hurt him.
"You know what, fuck this! Every time I think 'Hey, this isn't too bad, maybe we can actually be friends' you always pull this shit!" Jason started walking to her now open door, wondering where the hell the Blair from twenty minutes ago went.
"I didn't do anything! I haven't been able to talk to Dick in weeks Jason! Weeks!" She argued, knowing it wasn't going to change the outcome of their argument.
"I wasn't stopping you!"
"YES, YOU WERE!"
"HOW THE FUCK WAS I STOPPING YOU?!?" Jason yelled angrily, really regretting ever stepping foot in the girl's room.
"YOU WERE JUST THERE!"
"That makes no sense, you maniac!"
"Look, I can't explain it, okay?" Blair said quietly, looking down at her feet. It was true. The minute Jason came into the room, it was like she had to hang up on Dick. If she hadn't, she probably would've said things she would've regretted. Now here she was, doing it anyway, but with Jason. Only she couldn't stop this.
"Don't bother, I'm out." Jason snapped, storming out of Blair's room, slamming the door behind him.
Blair slowly sank to her floor, holding in tears, throwing her phone angrily across the room. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Everything around her just seemed to shatter into millions of pieces with no way of ever coming back together and she was always the cause of it. Maybe it was better that she was alone.