Blair dodged Kate's swing as Jason attacked her from behind, holding her arms behind her back. Kate moved to use Blair's situation to her advantage when Blair used Jason as a wall to brace herself against, landing a powerful kick to Kate's gut. Kate fell to the ground, trying to catch her breath as Blair dropped to the ground, bringing Jason with her. She flipped over him, wrapping her hand around his throat and lifting her fist.
Jason slapped her arm, choking out, "I give! I give!" Blair let go of his throat, jumping off of him. She offered him her hand, pulling him to his feet, immediately checking to see just how badly she had injured him. He swatted her hands away like he was annoyed though he smiled all the same. He couldn't help it, it was just a reflex to him now. "I'm fine, Blair. My head hurts a little and so does my back, but I'll be fine."
Kate laughed, holding onto her side as she made her way over to them, "God, if you keep training like this you're going to be just as good as Bruce, Blair."
"That's the goal." Blair grinned, before shifting her eyes to where Kate was massaging her side. "Are you okay?"
Kate waved her off, standing up straight, "I'm fine, but I do have to go oversee some shit with the bar, so I'm going to leave before you end up breaking me."
"I'm sorry." Blair grimaced. It had been a good while since she had actually unleashed her full potential in training and since she had learned a lot in that time frame, her hits landed harder and her kicks, as Jason had put it a week ago, her kicks were strong enough to send her to the NFL.
Kate looked over her shoulder at Blair "Don't ever say you're sorry for being a tough, ass-kicking woman." She yanked her jacket off the back of Bruce's chair near the computer and started towards the stairs, turning and saluting the both of them, "I'll see you guys later."
Both Blair and Jason waved at her as she disappeared up the stairs. Once they could no longer see the older woman, they left the training mat, taking off their training gloves.
Blair watched as Jason took a long drink of water, twisting her own bottle in her hands. "Hey, I have a few places to go today. I was wondering if you wanted to come with."
"Sure, where are we going?" He answered without hesitation, twisting the cap back on his bottle.
"Just a couple places." She shrugged, looking at the water bottle in her hands before raising her head to meet his eyes. "You'll see when we get there."
"So, I'm just supposed to follow you blindly into wherever?" He joked, flipping the water bottle in the air and catching it in his hands.
Blair narrowed her eyes, "Not blindly, no. You'll be able to figure it out on our way. I'm assuming your eyesight is just fine, JT."
Jason smirked at her as he flipped the water bottle in the air one more time, ready to make a sarcastic comeback when the bottle landed on top of his head. Blair exploded into giggles as he rubbed the top of his head, sighing as he said, "I guess I kinda deserved that."
"Yeah, you did." Blair grinned. "Whenever you're done being a shithead, get changed. We leave in twenty minutes."
********
"We're at Arkham." Jason stated, looking up at the building in front of them as Blair got out of the car, walking to the front door. She turned around, waiting for him to follow suit so she could lock the car, tapping her foot as she played with the straps on her backpack. Scrambling to follow her, he turned his statement into a question, "Why are we at Arkham?"
Blair didn't answer him as she strode into the building, pushing through the doors and waving at the security officers standing by. Jason looked around as he followed her in, noting how different the asylum looked during the day, especially with everyone where they were supposed to be.
He stayed by her side as she walked up to the receptionist's window, smiling so sweetly that he knew she was just doing it to piss the receptionist off. "Hi Melissa, how is everyone?"
Melissa rolled her eyes, "Tyler will be here in a few minutes. You can sit over there."
Blair drummed on the counter as she turned around, pushing Jason towards the bench against the wall. They sit down, Blair throwing her bag over her shoulder and onto her lap while Jason looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "So... why are we here?" He tried again.
Blair opened her mouth to respond when the sight of Johnny Tyler cut her off, "Blair!" He grinned when he saw her. His gaze slid to the boy next to her, causing him to do a double take. "And Jason? You brought Jason. This is different."
"Is it?" She said, nonchalantly. "Let's go."
She stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder again, ready to follow Johnny, pausing only to turn around and raise a challenging eyebrow at Jason, "You coming?"
********
Out of all the places Jason was expecting Blair to take him, Arkham Asylum was not one of them. Not to mention he didn't expect to be leaning against a wall of the cell belonging to Harley Quinn. To make it all stranger, Blair was sitting on Harley's bed with her legs folded underneath her across from the Queen of Gotham herself.
Harley studied him for a moment before turning to Blair with an amused smile on her face, "Well, this is a surprise. You brought Boy Wonder with you."
Jason stiffened at the nickname that was usually reserved for when he was behind a mask, his eyes trailing to where Blair sat, her hands in her lap. Harley noticed his reaction, turning to throw him a knowing smile. He knew that Harley knew about Blair, but had no idea that she knew about him. Judging by her strained expression, Blair didn't know it either.
Harley turned back to Blair with the same knowing smile, "You've never brought anyone with you before."
"Harley, this is Jason." Blair said finally. "He's-"
"The boyfriend." Harley finished, her smile turning into an amused smirk as Blair turned as red as Harley's old harlequin suit. Jason coughed quietly, shifting his gaze to the tiny window in the wall.
"Uh, no." Blair said when she finally regained control of her emotions. "He's just a friend."
"Right. Friend." Harley snorted. "He's just the first 'friend' that you've brought with you. That and he's the only guy you ever-"
"OKAY!" Blair interrupted loudly, giving Harley a warning look before she continued. "How are things with you and Ivy? That relationship still going strong?"
Harley stuck out her bottom lip in a pout before turning her lips up in another smile, "It's going just fine. We're real Orange is the New Blacking it."
"Which one of you is Alex?" Blair asked, relieved that they had finally left the topic of her and Jason.
"Mmm hard to say." Harley said thoughtfully. "It depends on the day. One day it's me and the next day it's her."
"Wait," Jason interrupted, speaking for the first time since they stepped into the room. "So you guys are friends?"
Blair turned her blue-green eyes on him, trying to find the words to explain their weird situation. Finally, she decided on explaining it the best way she could, "Not in the traditional sense of the word, but kind of?"
"You can sit down." Harley pointed to the chair near the bed. "I don't bite. Often."
Jason sat in the chair, sitting unusually straight as he glanced between Blair and Harley. He wasn't exactly sure what to do or say, but they both looked at him like they were waiting for him to start. "What exactly do you guys do here?"
"Talk mostly." Blair answered.
"About?"
"Well, Blair usually tells me what's going on in her life, which usually is just a lot of talk about you." Harley replied, winking suggestively at him.
Jason's jaw dropped, "Me?"
"Harley, stop talking." Blair warned, feeling her face getting dangerously hot again. She didn't know why, seeing as none of the things she had told Harley about Jason were bad, but Harley had been drawing a lot of her own conclusions recently about her and Jason.
Harley faced her innocently, "Oh, so you aren't here to visit me?"
Jason leaned forward in his chair, eager to hear more of what Harley wanted to say. It wasn't every day he heard that Blair talked about him when he wasn't around. "What does she say about me?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Harley beamed, clapping her hands together. Blair hadn't seen her this excited since she brought a huge bag of sweets and trashy romance novels. "See, it changes from day to day, but I know she really didn't like you when she first met you. I mean, she didn't hate you, but she definitely didn't like you."
"Harley!" Blair warned again through clenched teeth.
Harley put a hand to her chest, looking at her with wide, innocent eyes, "He asked!"
"I did." Jason smirked, watching Blair twist a strand of her hair with her finger. It was one of the many habits of hers he had noticed— it usually meant that she was nervous or trying to hide something.
Blair refused to meet Jason's gaze, choosing to focus on the blonde in front of her, "Yeah, well, we aren't here for Jason to hear about himself."
"I'm not going to be hearing about myself, I'll be hearing what you say about myself." He corrected, the words finally managing to turn her head.
She looked at him, the corner of her lips turned up into a half smile, "You're such a dumbass."
"But you love my dumbass."
"She does." Harley interjected, studying her fingernails.
"Harley!" Blair exclaimed, her cheeks turning pink once again. In the past ten minutes, she had blushed more than she had in her entire life. It was the most annoying experience, despite how new it was.
Jason noticed the pink color of her cheeks, biting his lip to keep from laughing. It was undeniably cute how flustered Blair was getting. He wished he could see it more often.
"What?" Harley rolled her eyes. "You also love me, so it's not like it's a big thing. You're the one making it weird."
Blair let out a loud sigh before digging through her backpack. Jason eyes widened in surprise when she pulled out a bag of candy and a book, handing them over to Harley.
Harley opened the bag of candy, setting it by her side while she flipped through the book, reading the title out loud, "A Court of Thorns and Roses?"
"Yeah it's a series, I have the other ones at home, but I figured you should read it." Blair responded, closing her backpack again. "I mean, if you want and all that. The first one is okay, but not as good as the rest, in my opinion."
Harley grinned, poking Blair's cheek, "You're cute, BW. Of course I'll read this thing, I have nothing else to do." Then she turned to Jason, lifting the book to show it to him. "She's trying to phase me out of romance novels. She thinks they're boring."
"They are boring." Blair insisted. This time, Jason did laugh. "It's straightforward. Not much plot outside of the romance. That has romance, war, and magic. So much better."
Harley shook her head in mock annoyance, a ghost of a smile dancing on her lips as she faced Jason again, "Has she made you read anything?"
"The only thing she practically forced me to read was Six of Crows." He answered. She had leant him her personal copy, her favorite quotes highlighted in purple highlighter, doodles, notes, and random song lyrics scrawled in the margins. She had placed it in his hands and smiled, saying "You'll love it. Trust me." And he did. Blair wasn't really a person to force anyone to read anything they wouldn't like, which meant he knew Harley was going to like the book Blair had brought for her.
"And you loved it, you're welcome." Blair reminded him, sticking her tongue out.
Jason returned the gesture before continuing his conversation with Harley, "She said I reminded her of a nicer Kaz Brekker."
Harley burst out laughing at his words, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion, "What?"
"I've never read it, but I know enough about it through her to know that Kaz Brekker is her book crush, right after some prince in Throne of Glass." Harley let out in between giggles. "She compared you to her book crush."
Jason slid his gaze back to Blair in amazement, unable to hide the grin on his face. Blair, however, was more focused on the woman next to her, "HARLEY!"
Before any of them had the time to say anything else, a knock came from the door. They all looked over to see Johnny peek his head in, "It's time."
Jason stood up, waiting for Blair to do the same. Instead of just standing up, she reached over, pulling Harley in for a tight hug. "I'll see you next week."
Harley squeezed her back just as tight, much to Jason's surprise, "Absolutely."
Blair shrugged the backpack onto her shoulder, walking out the door. Jason moved to follow her when Harley grabbed his wrist to stop him, pulling him back towards her. She spoke quietly, with as much force as she could put behind the words, "If you hurt her in any way, I swear I will break out of here and fuck you up so badly you're gonna wish you were dead, then I'm gonna throw you in a vat of acid. Understand me, Bird Boy?"
Jason nodded, unsure of what else to say. He had no idea how close Blair and Harley really were until then. Harley studied his expression before releasing his wrist, nodding in satisfaction, "Good. She's finally smilin' again. I'd hate to see that end." She lifted her hand to wiggle her fingers at him as she pushed him towards the door. "Bye bye now."
********
Blair pulled onto the road, leading to the open fields overlooking the ocean. Jason hadn't said much since they left the asylum, just played with the radio, flipping through the channels until eventually she slapped his hand away and had him connect her phone.
"I think it's pretty cool." He said suddenly, interrupting the quiet Patti Smyth song. Once he started talking, he couldn't stop. "I mean, it's weird and all, but it's cool. You're friends with Harley Quinn. That's... cool." That's cool? Seriously, how many times was he going to say that?
Blair threw him an amused glance, to which he met with a small apologetic smile. She turned down the radio, "Relax, it's not like we plan her escape. You saw us, that's what we do every time I visit."
"How long-"
"How long have I been visiting her?" She finished for him. "Since I saved her life the first time I met her as Knight Wolf. I think she made the connection then, but she didn't tell me anything until a few months ago."
"You saved her life?" He didn't know why he was surprised. Blair would probably try to save a great white shark that was trying to kill her.
"The Joker almost killed her."
"And you saved her." This time it wasn't a question.
"Yeah. I mean, Harley isn't evil." Blair explained, turning down a side road. Jason was too busy paying attention to her to notice the change in scenery. "She's a little too deep in now to change her ways but she doesn't deserve to die. She's like that because she fell in love with the wrong person. She deserves to be loved."
"And you love her?" It came out as a question, but he already knew the answer to it. He saw it when they were at the asylum, visiting Harley wasn't just to keep an eye on things in the criminal underground like he had originally thought. Blair genuinely cared about Harley, and judging by the threatening words Harley had thrown at him before he left, Harley cared about her too.
"I'm only going to say this to you, but yes. She's my family." She admitted. It was weird to say out loud to someone, but it was true. "A very annoying, pain in the ass, beat up every day part of my family."
Blair parked the car, looking out the window behind him. He followed her gaze, surprised when he saw an empty house— more of a mansion, really— looming over them. "Where are we exactly?"
"My parents' house." She answered quietly, her eyes studying every inch of the house's exterior. Jason looked out the window again, paying better attention as he too studied the abandoned house.
For a moment, neither one of them talked or moved to get out of the car. Blair slumped back against her seat, looking up at her family home, chewing nervously on the inside of her lip. Jason looked over at her, nudging her lightly with his arm, "Hey, we don't have to go in if you don't want to."
"No, I want to." Blair shook her head, turning the car off. "I haven't been here in twelve years. I want to see it."
Jason followed her up to the sidewalk, stopping by her side to stare up at the giant house with her. Ivy covered the walls, giant stained glass windows on the second floor depicted scenes from Greek mythology rather than the Bible, and to top it all off, it looked like it was straight out of one of the many books Blair always had her nose in.
"It was so big when I was a kid." Blair spoke softly, her eyes never leaving the giant mansion in front of them.
Jason tilted his head, studying a window that showed Athena rising from Zeus' head. "And now?"
Blair threw him a small smile, "It's still big."
Rolling her shoulders back, Blair marched up to the front door, pushing it open and walking inside, Jason right behind her. She didn't really know what to expect when she finally came back home, but the complete lack of homeliness threw her off guard. She thought she would have felt something walking into her first home, but all she felt was cold and a little intrigued. It was like the house had never been her home to begin with, and if she was being honest, it really wasn't.
Jason walked into the large living room, pulling a sheet off the couch, coughing when the dust rose in the air. Once everything cleared, he looked around, his eyes going to the chandelier above his head, "This place is nice."
"Yeah well, it's been in the family for a long time." She shrugged, walking over to the long winding staircase. Her parents' room was just up those stairs, along with the room of her brief childhood.
"You know," Jason's voice came from next to her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "When you said you wanted to go places, Arkham Asylum and an abandoned mansion were not high on the list of places I thought we'd end up."
Blair turned to face him, leaning against the banister just like she did at home. At Bruce's. "You want to leave?"
"Hell no." He grinned, eyes glinting mischievously. "I did ask about seeing this place, why leave now?"
Blair returned his grin, taking off up the stairs, leaving him to follow her. For a minute, it felt like they were just chasing each other through the hallways of some random house, but that feeling immediately went away when she saw a door with her name on it in her mother's cursive letters.
Walking forward, she saw that it was still partially open from when Jim and Bruce came to pack her things, leaving her in the care of Alfred and Dick after her parents had died. She pushed it open, slowly walking inside, Jason not far behind. All that remained of her old life was her furniture and a pirate hat hanging off her bed post. Blair reached for it, twirling it in her fingers as she remembered how her father promised to get her a new one after the movie they never got to see.
Jason bent down to open a trunk at the foot of the bed, laughing when he pulled out a fake sword, "Why am I not surprised?"
"What?" Blair grinned, tossing the hat on the bed as she knelt down next to him. "I told you about me wanting to be a knight and how I played pirates with my mom as a kid."
Jason nodded, the amused smile never leaving his face as he reached back into the trunk, letting Blair play with the small sword. She didn't have much time to swing it around before Jason looked up at her with his eyebrows raised, holding a little blue police box in his hands, "Seriously? The Tardis?"
"You knew I watched Doctor Who." Blair defended herself, dropping the sword back into the trunk to take the toy from his hands.
"But as an eight year old?" He shook his head in disbelief.
"Actually, I started when I was seven." She corrected him, looking at the little blue box fondly. "My dad left the BBC on in the living room and I ended up watching an episode of it. It was space and time travel. Sue me."
"You're such a nerd." Jason snickered.
"Whatever, we're taking this back with us." She said, slipping her backpack off her shoulders to toss the little Tardis into it.
"It's your shit." Jason shrugged. "You could take it all if you want."
Blair stood up, snapping the slouchy backpack closed and dusting off her jeans, "Come on, I want to keep looking around."
"You don't want to take this pirate ship? Or this 'jar of pixie dust'?" Jason grinned, holding a jar of glitter. He picked the toy sword up again, swinging it around expertly. "Maybe this could hang out with your other sword in the weapons case."
Blair shoved him, causing him to fall to the floor in laughter as she hid a smile, "You are such an ass!"
"It was just a suggestion!"
********
Blair stood alone in what used to be her parents' bedroom. Jason had gotten distracted somewhere in one of the guest rooms, leaving her to wander around the empty house on her own. Now she was just staring at the painted portrait of her parents and her when she was six years old. She barely remembered having to take the picture the painting was based on, all she knew is it was taken by Jim and not even a second after the camera flashed, her father had her thrown upside down over his shoulder.
"That's them?" Jason's voice cut through the silence as he wandered into the room, staring up at the painting with her. "I've gotta say, they don't look all that..."
"Fancy?" Blair supplied for him, seeing him nod out of the corner of her eye. "I asked my dad about it once after I really looked at Bruce's portrait of his parents. He said that that was the real them. Him and my mom never wanted to be anything but authentically them."
"Well, now that we know that's where you get it from then." Jason said quietly, no longer staring up at the painting of her and her parents.
Blair sighed, grabbing his hand and leaning her head on his shoulder, "I just... I want them to be proud of me. To look down at me and know that I've got this, that I'm doing something good."
"I'm sure they know that. I bet— no, I know they are proud." He responded. Blair looked up at him with a small smile, bumping his shoulder before letting go of his hand to walk around the room.
She made it to what used to be her father's side of the bed, her eyes landing on the sole picture frame covered in dust on the nightstand. Picking it up, she blew the dust off of it, smiling when she saw it was a picture of her when she was three, dancing on her mother's feet in the kitchen.
"Good to know you've always danced in the kitchen." Jason said, looking over her shoulder.
Blair nodded. She actually couldn't remember a time she didn't dance in a kitchen. "Yeah, my dad actually installed a stereo in the kitchen just so my mom could dance with me while she cooked."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She smiled, her fingers tracing the picture. "They had two very different tastes in music."
"Let me guess," He snapped his fingers as he thought. "Your dad liked the hardcore shit and your mom didn't?"
"Actually the opposite." She laughed at his astonished face. "My mom was into the hardcore shit. She loved listening to Metallica and The Clash. My dad was more into Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan."
"And you're into everything."
"I got it from them. They listened to each other's music, said it broadened their horizons." Blair remembered what her Uncle Jim had told her about her parents when she would ask about them. "The one thing they had in common when they met each other was The Beatles."
She handed him the picture frame to look at, watching as he let out a small laugh at the sight of her three year old self. "You were so tiny."
"I was three."
"You wanna take this?" He asked, handing the picture back to her.
"Yeah. I do." Blair opened her bag, dropping the picture frame in it next to her toy Tardis before snapping it closed again. Sighing, she sat down on the giant bed, looking around at the old, dust covered room.
Jason sat down next to her, leaning back on his elbows, "This place is amazing, even under all the dust and abandonment. If I knew a place like this existed when I was on the streets, I probably would've camped out here while I looked for work."
Those words sparked something in Blair's mind as she turned to look at him with wide eyes, "What did you say?"
"I wasn't planning on boosting cars forever, you know." Jason shrugged, not understanding what she meant. "Even if I was really good at it."
Any other time, she would have made some sarcastic comment about how if he was so good at it, he wouldn't have been caught, but this time all the gears in her head were working on a plan, "No, no, what you said before that."
"That I would've camped out here?" He said uncertainly, watching as her eyes lit up. He suddenly realized that she was coming up with an idea and wanted so badly to be a part of it. "What? You have an idea don't you?"
Blair bit her lip, "Maybe."
"Are you going to tell me or am I just going to sit here waiting forever to develop mind reading powers?" Jason urged, sitting up straight.
"What if I fixed this place up and opened it up to whoever needed it?" She started, feeling more excited at the idea by the second. "I mean, I'm not using it and I do know a person who knows how to renovate old buildings."
Jason stared at her in surprise, "You want to open your house, your family's house, to a bunch of kids on the street?"
"Kids, women, guys with nothing else, runaways, anyone. You know, help them get on their feet, find them a home or a job or anything they need."
"All because of what I just said." Again, he didn't know why he was so surprised. Hell, she visited criminals at Arkham Asylum and took care of their kids. She gave the cashier at the corner store two hundred dollars just because she looked like she needed it. Blair was as selfless as selfless could be and that's why he loved her.
"Partially." Blair admitted, continuing to explain her idea while Jason stared at her in amazement. "I mean, doing what we do every night, we see a lot of people that are struggling to survive. You were one of them. Bruce can't take in everyone."
What he said next was a question that needed no answer, "But you can?"
"I was thinking maybe we can." Blair responded quietly.
Jason's jaw dropped at that. It took him a second, but he finally wrapped his head around what she was asking, "We?"
"If you want anyway." Blair said quickly, shifting her gaze to her hands. "I mean, you totally don't have to, but you could help out, help run it with me."
"No, no!" He exclaimed, causing her to look up in surprise at his enthusiasm. "I'll help. I want to help. 100%."
"Awesome." Blair said, flashing him an excited smile before she looked around her parents' room again. This was it. This was her thing, her own mark on the world, her own way to make it better as herself, not just as Knight Wolf.
Jason kept looking at her, watching as her eyes danced in excitement, seeing how she already mentally started planning what to do to the house. She wanted to run a shelter, a safe haven for kids like him and people down on their luck. If he didn't know he loved her already, this would've done it. This would've been one of the defining moments.
Blair turned to face him again, laughing a bit when she saw him already looking at her, "What?"
"You know, in business world, we're married now." He grinned, wriggling his eyebrows.
Blair laughed loudly, "Jason!"
"What?" He laughed with her. "I'm just kidding."
Blair lightly shoved his shoulder, "Way to ruin the moment."
********
Blair wandered into the kitchen, knowing they only had a few more hours before they had to be out on patrol, but she just couldn't leave the house before doing this one thing. She walked up to the stereo installed in the wall next to the refrigerator, flicking the power switch on. She was surprised to find that there was still a CD in the player, even more surprised when it turned out to be one of her father's Joni Mitchell albums. She immediately realized which album it was, pressing the skip button to find the song she liked the best.
"Looking for a specific song on the stereo that shouldn't be working in an abandoned mansion?" Jason asked, walking into the kitchen, eyeing the stereo warily.
"I turned on the power before we left home." Blair shrugged, her eyes still on the track number flashing on the stereo. "You forget that Matty works at an electric company."
He leaned against the counter, "So we've been wandering in the dark for what exactly?"
"If I said the aesthetic, would you be mad?" She threw a dazzling smile over her shoulder at him before turning back for the stereo. Finally, she stopped skipping, finally finding the song she was looking for. "Cactus Tree" filled the quiet house as a smile spread across her face.
"Wait, I know this song." Jason exclaimed, causing her to turn around and look at him in confusion. He smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "I may have heard you sing it in the shower a few times."
Blair smiled, walking over to the kitchen island, leaning against it to hear the music. Jason walked up to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her to him before putting his hands on her waist. She looked up at him in surprise, "What are you doing?"
"I know you." He said, tilting his head as he looked at her. "You turned on the power just for that one stereo. You made sure to come in here before we left. You want to dance in the kitchen one more time before you leave it again."
"You got all that in five seconds of being in here?" Blair asked, a little unsure.
"I got that just by looking at you."
She put her arms around his neck, raising a curious eyebrow, "What else do you know about me then, Jason Todd?"
"I know that you would rather have tea over coffee, though if there is coffee you'll down at least five cups before anyone can even say good morning." He grinned, causing her to start laughing, despite the fact that it was very true. "I know that your favorite movies are Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland because you used to want Peter Pan to take you to Neverland and you like the craziness of Wonderland. You understand it."
Blair smiled, moving with him to the slow beat of the song, "What else, Birdbrain?"
She expected something light and breezy like his other observations, but what he said next was anything but. "I know that you stare at the stars at night because you feel more at home at night than during the day, not just because they're pretty."
"What-"
He didn't stop to let her say anything, he just kept talking, "And I know that you have just as many love songs on your phone as you do songs about literally anything else."
Suddenly, all that was heard was Joni Mitchell as Jason looked at her like he wanted to say something but was afraid of how she would react. She looked up at him, daring him to continue speaking, "There's something else isn't there?"
"I know that you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and blame yourself for what happened with Dick and the Titans." He said with certainty, cutting straight into her very core. "I know that you even blame yourself for Jericho."
"I do not." Blair tried to lie, knowing that her words were falling flat.
"You do. You carry around these demons, you struggle with a lot of fucked up shit and think no one notices because no one has said anything." Jason said, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "You think you're broken, but you aren't. You're nowhere close."
Blair swallowed hard, "You know all of this, huh? You know everything?"
"Not everything." He said quietly, so quiet that it was just barely above a whisper. "Just you. I see you."
He did, she realized. He really did see her, he knew everything, saw everything she tried to hide. He knew her, in and out. She never thought, never in a million years, that she would have someone know her like that. That flutter in her heart came back as she looked straight into his eyes, "And?"
"I'm not going anywhere." Jason promised, staring back into hers.
Blair had heard him say those words before, but this time it was like the world had stopped spinning. Everything came into focus, everything that mattered in that moment at least. And that was him. It was like all of her choices, all of the things she had done in her life, had led her straight to this one moment. How easy it would be to kiss him right then, his lips only a few inches away from hers.
A shock went through her at the thought as she pulled away. She was so focused on getting her mind back on track that she didn't notice Jason's uneven breathing that matched her own racing heart.
"Right." She stepped away from him, turning off the stereo. "Well, it's almost time for patrol, so we should get going."
As she walked out the door, Jason following behind her, she knew. She knew that she was falling in love with Jason Peter Todd and she didn't know when or how it had happened. And she didn't know how to stop it.
A/N: Sorry for the long hiatus. Things have been really hectic (for lack of a better word). This would've been published a while back, but there was a sudden death in the family and then I just kind of lost my motivation to write for a while. But I'm back now, I'm feeling better, and to make up for it, here's a very long chapter 😂 I hope you liked it!