metabatchat | encrypted text. to batfam.

So you can engage with each other. Truthfully.

Because that's basically all she wants.

( engage with someone truthfully? in this house full of liars? nah. )

I'd shove you off but that'd require me moving.

Uh-huh.

You got off easy with an interrogation anyway.

I figure she took pity on me 'cause she knew you and Dickie would come at me harder anyway. He gave me the silent treatment. Dick Grayson, being quiet.

( one of the most terrifying experiences in his life right there. )

Oof.

[ that is definitely something. ]

For how long?

The whole ride home from school.

( even worse is having him attached to jason's back and silent. but they made it out okay. )

Even at fifteen he still manages to be terrifying.

I can see that.

And you did have it coming.

Fuck off.

( there's no heat to it. and jason does start moving, even if it's just lowering his hands to hold onto kyle by his hips. )

I did my time.

Does it look like I'm holding it against you?

No.

( grip tightening just by a fraction, and jason - meets kyle's eyes, gaze steady. )

You should be. I left you for two weeks without a word, then fucked off again for another week. Didn't even give you the option of coming with me.

You didn't fuck off. You went to save someone.

It was something you had to do.

I was gone for over a month by my timeline. Got my head bashed in. It was needlessly reckless, I could've brought in backup.

( he would do it again and not change a thing. jason got them out, it just took him time to figure out how. if they'd had anyone else, rations would have been a lot tighter. it was easier to watch each others' back when it was just the two of them. and they has the time to talk. to figure shit out together.

but his point still stands. )

[ hm. ]

And are you going to do that next time?

No.

( of course the answer is no. )

Place was a nightmare. I wouldn't've sent anyone else into that.

So it was messy but you both made it out okay.

That's enough.

( if their positions were switched, he'd be on the same page as kyle. but the shoe isn't on the other foot, and jason's just - dropping his head against the back of the couch and gently pushing at kyle's hips. )

Move. I gotta go brush my teeth so I can kiss you.

You're a real sweet talker.

[ but he does move. ]

( the grin he throws kyle is all teeth, and jason - moves to get up. it's the first time in what feels like forever he's actually let himself relax and the effort to get up almost, almost doesn't feel worth it. but he does manage to get onto his feet.

walks slowly across the living area to the bathroom. leaves the door open while he hunches over the sink and. brushes his teeth, as promised. )

[ kyle just rolls his eyes as he settles himself on the couch. he may even generate a fake playboy magazine to read. ]

( terrible of him really.

a few minutes later and jason reemerges from the bathroom: teeth brushed, face washed, and hair slicked back from his face. he could go back to sitting on the couch like a normal person, but why would he?

especially when he can instead walk straight up to kyle, planting both knees down framing the outsides of his thighs while intentionally ignoring the magazine in hand, so kyle not only gets a lapful of jason but almost immediately gets him shoved right up against him, chest to chest. )

You never answered, when I asked if you missed me.

[ kyle gives a throaty chuckle as he winds his arms around jason. warm, alive. steady. which is a strange way to refer to jason but kyle has never felt uncertain about his place in jason's heart. it could be the worst of storms, the most brutal of fights and he'd still be sure. his harbor. his anchor.

with a voice warm as honey. ]

I missed you.

( jason has always been all heart.

he makes tough choices because someone has to do it. puffs himself up big because sometimes, the only way to help others is to terrify the monsters that go bump at night. be the bigger monster. he cares so much that it hurts sometimes. and that's always, always been what fucks him over in the end. he cares, gets hurt - or worse, others get hurt, and jason falls apart all over again.

and trusting people with his heart, trusting them not to fuck him over - it's never been easy. but kyle laughs, wraps around him, says i missed you and jason should probably be a little more mindful of the fact they're in the living room, and eventually, his teenaged older brother might waltz in from wherever he's off at, but. they're fine probably, and in the small space between them, jason's offering kyle a soft smile.

tips his head so he can press a gentle kiss against kyle's lips. )

[ kyle accepts with a smile on his lips. if he can, he tugs jason closer, needing to get more. it's not just for the sake of reassurance, though that was a nice aspect. ]

( if kyle wants to drag jason in and suffer the consequences of being crushed under him, jason isn't going to protest any. he drops his weight down on top of him, uses being that much closer as a good excuse to tilt kyle's head back a bit more and leaves a kiss against his jawline. nips gently just below it, before his lips move to hover close to kyle's ear.

he's said it twice, and nothing has happened yet to fuck them over. well. nothing more than the ordinary. and while it may have only been a week for kyle, it was a month for jason. he knows kyle knows, doesn't need to hear it, but jason also knows kyle's the kind asshole who likes to hear it. and jason's--quirking up the corners of his lips into a small smirk, as he murmurs soft, )

I love you, you dweeb.

[ kyle is absolutely the kind asshole who soaks it up. the kind of guy who gets a bit misty-eyed at a rom-com, who pauses to look at flowers and sketch them, who probably doodled little hearts at the margins of his notebooks.

kyle, whose fingers brush against the ring he had given jason. ]

I love you too.

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reneger - 2024-02-09 11:40 (UTC) - Expand

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