Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/456844.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      Gen, M/M
  Fandom:
      Batman_(Comics), DCU_-_Comicverse, Under_the_Red_Hood
  Relationship:
      Jason_Todd/Bruce_Wayne
  Character:
      Dick_Grayson, Alfred_Pennyworth
  Stats:
      Published: 2012-07-11 Updated: 2012-09-07 Chapters: 2/100 Words: 2345
****** I Never Chose You ******
by Bludhaven
Summary
     Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd resume a dysfunctional relationship and
     Bruce desperately tries to bring Jason home. Jason isn’t entirely
     unwilling but there are a million roadblocks.
Notes
     This is part of a 100-prompt challenge. Chapters will not be in
     chronological order and can be read alone or together. Chapter titles
     are the prompts. All of them take place within the DCU but at varying
     times. Most are during or post Under the Hood.
***** First *****
Chapter Notes
     This chapter, I ended up losing the coding for my italics. I’m too
     lazy right now to put them back. I figure it read just fine without
     them.
It looks exactly how he remembers it. This is the first time Jason has been in
the batcave since before his run-in with death. Though, how he got here, he
isn’t quite sure and he has money that says Bruce is just as surprised as he
is.
The night was like any other; Red Hood stood before Batman, Bruce hidden deeply
in the cowl. Jason popped his helmet off and tossed it aside and smiled wide
and smug underneath the remaining domino mask. For Bruce, he smiled because he
knew the man was in there no matter how far into Batman Mode he wanted to hide
himself. Jason knew it hurt him. Almost as much as it hurt himself. He taunted
the man with a small flash of teeth and off he went and the chase was on.
Batman followed, he always did. It was like a little game they played and Jason
was the one who decided how it went. Tonight, he cut it unusually short. He had
a plan.
Atop an unmarked roof, they argued about moral code and it quickly angered the
both of them into getting physical. Jason threatened Batman with his keris
knife but didn’t attack, only taunted and pulled Batman closer and closer.
Batman knocked it out of his hand and Jason let him, a smile still written
across his lips though concentration was on his brow. “Come on, Batman, what
are you doing?”
What was he doing? That was a good question, one he couldn’t answer and so he
resorted to fists and aggression. Jason only dodged and pretended to go for
punches that were half assed and unserious. Jason was toying with him. Why?
Batman paused for a second and Jason suddenly looked disappointed, worried that
it was over. But it wasn’t. Batman punched him square in the jaw. It wasn’t
hard enough to break anything but that was going to leave a bruise and it
wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow to start hurting.
“Ow,” Jason whined and spat out a little bit of blood. He ran his fingers over
his jawline as it began to swell. But still, Jason didn’t punch back and Batman
felt lost.
“What’s with you? You haven’t even laid a fist on me. I know you can,” Batman
growled.
“Hah! Was that a compliment?” replied Jason. There was a long and tense silence
between them. Jason was the one to cut it. “Dunno, I guess I’m feeling
masochistic today. I just needed someone to beat me up.”
Batman’s jaw was hard and set. He wasn’t going to take that for an answer.
“Maybe I just want a ticket into to Arkham!” Jason continued but that wasn’t
quite bought either. He offered his wrists to Batman to be zip-tied. Nothing
happened at first but slowly, Batman stepped forward and tossed Jason around to
be tied up. It looked to be the usual zip-tie to a pipe. Finished, Batman went
for his communicator supposedly to alert the police but Jason stopped him.
“You can do better than this. I can get out of this in under thirty seconds.
You know that.” Batman almost called the cops anyway, but he was intrigued by
Jason’s confusing motives. He undid the zips and Jason snerked. “So what are
you going to do, then?”
Without a word as usual, Batman re-tied Jason in a way that left him with
little to no mobility. He could still get out of them if he really wanted to -
after all, he was trained by the very man who tied him. Today he decided it’d
be more fun to let Batman continue, and he was carried over the Dark Knight’s
shoulder back to the batmobile and taken straight into the Batcave.
That brings them to now. Bruce still dons the cowl but is sitting in his chair,
immersed in information displayed on the batcomp. He had tossed Jason to the
cold cement floor and said, “you can decide when to tell me what you were
doing.” But Jason hadn’t thought it through this far, didn’t expect this and
now he doesn’t know what to do next.
“I just wanted to see what you’d do,” Jason says as he leans against the back
of Bruce’s chair, the ties that bound him left behind. “This is a little
excessive, even for you. Now what?”
Batman is extremely tense. Jason realizes Bruce is researching him, though he
isn’t surprised. Most of his recent drug control scatters the monitor. Slowly,
the chair moves to face him but the face of the man sitting in it is
unreadable. Goddamn this man, Jason thinks. It’s so hard to get him to speak.
“You can’t keep me here, Batman, if that’s even what you’re thinking,” Jason
babbles just to fill the silence. Bruce peels the cowl back, finally. Jason
clears his throat and corrects himself. “Bruce.”
“Jason,” says Bruce and Jason feels something unfamiliar in his spine that he
can’t quite pinpoint. “How did it get to this?”
“Not this shit again.” Jason’s face darkens and he turns to leave. “I was
hoping for some more fun toying with you but-“
He’s cut off when Bruce lays a hand on his shoulder and spins him around to
look at him again. Jason glares, not particularly threatened, but with the look
he receives from Bruce he’s not sure if he was even supposed to be. There’s
nothing but pain in Bruce’s eyes and Jason knows what’s on his mind.
“You’re not going to keep me here like a pet again.”
“That’s not…” Bruce looks shocked, almost desperate to say something but the
words don’t come to him. He struggles to say, “I just want to know what drove
you to this.”
“What, the killing thing you don’t like? If I don’t, no one will, and if no one
does then what good is it? You can send them to Arkham all you want but name
one of your high crime villains that don’t just break out and do it again. It’s
just what I call common sense, and it might not be within your fucked up moral
code, but who cares? I know you do, but who else?” Jason shrugs Bruce off and
heads for his old bike faithfully parked next to Bruce’s classics. “You seem to
think I’ve changed somehow, like I’m broken and I can be fixed. Dying is a
pretty big milestone. I’ve always been this way, though. You knew that when you
picked me up off the street and you definitely know it now.”
“There used to be a young boy in you, curious for adventure and excited for
life.”
Jason’s getting increasingly tired of this. He sighs loudly and turns around.
Surprised by how close Bruce is when he turns around, Jason stares into the
taller man with cold hard eyes. “All pups eventually grow into wolves. Or
something stupid like that. Do you miss little old me that much?”
“What if I do?” Bruce replies quietly.
Jason looks horrified for a moment but recovers quickly. How often does Bruce
let down his emotional wall like this? Maybe he’s seriously lost it. “Jesus,
it’s past your bedtime old man.”
“Jason.” There’s a very serious tone as Bruce says his name.
It’s really strange, Jason thinks, to be talking to Bruce like this. They’re on
an equal level and talking with their lips and not their fists, in the privacy
of the batcave instead of half-assed calls across a rooftop where anyone might
hear. Bruce has even let down his guard and that means quite a lot.
“You can’t change who I am. I know you don’t like it, but. What can you do?”
Jason decides to drop his own guards down just a notch. He looks away from
Bruce, to the bike and in a softer tone he says, “There’s shit I hate about you
too. But if you want proof I haven’t changed as much as you think… there’s a
part of me that still loves you.”
It’s almost as if the words burned Bruce, and Jason is slightly alarmed but
doesn’t show it. Neither of them say anything but there’s some comfort in the
silent acknowledgement of their past relationship. It didn’t have the time to
go very far but they did go on a few dates and they had several innocent nights
together. They even bathed each other once, but that was the closest they ever
got to intimacy.
Jason gently places his hands on the taller man’s shoulders and presses his
lips to Bruce’s cheek. He doesn’t have to tip toe like he did back in the day,
but there’s still a height difference that doesn’t exactly make it easy.
“Goodnight, Jason,” Bruce says. There’s a crack in his voice that isn’t so much
heard as much as it is felt. It’s weird like Bruce is giving him the permission
to leave.
Jason only nods before he straddles the bike and rides out.
***** A Close Shave *****
Chapter Notes
     I wrote this while I was on Nyquil so I will not take any
     responsibility for retarded sentences or FEELS. It is not beta’d so I
     AM SORRY I’M SURE I MESSED UP THE WHOLE THING…
A cute blondie and a tray of alcoholic beverages. They were one of Jason’s
favorite things; they always seemed to know just where and when they were
needed. She smiled at him sweetly as he took another glass of champagne from
her. In return, he nodded his thanks as she spun gracefully on her heels and
headed for the next empty handed person.
In any ordinary circumstance, Jason might have attempted to bring her home. But
tonight, he had his eyes on someone else. Whether that was for the good or the
bad it wasn’t certain, but it was what it was.
Across the room was the famous Bruce Wayne. As usual, he looked oh so dashing
from above the rim of Jason’s beverage as he took a long drink. Something
bitter, something sweet - champagne wasn’t something Jason ever had the taste
for, but Bruce on the other hand… that was a taste he had acquired many years
ago.
Pangs of jealousy were pushed out of Jason’s mind as he drank himself further
away. Not too far - after all, he was trained by the Bat to always be on his
toes - but enough to relax into his seat at the edge of the room. He needed it,
badly. Banquets like these left an awful feeling in his chest, especially now.
Jason Todd, after all, was supposed to be dead. He was forced to lay low and
wait, anonymously sitting away from company with nothing to do but to eye Bruce
from afar as the older man greeted various important individuals.
All Jason wanted in that moment was to touch and be close. Instead, he was left
with nothing but the occasional eye contact. But for Bruce, he waited. Loyally.
Small glances of apology from the busy man were all Jason had received that
night. That and a lot of alcohol. It was getting late, though that was relative
for someone raised in Wayne Manor, and maybe he had one too many glasses of
champagne. Jason finally stood and headed out.
“Jason.” He stopped in his tracks and turned his head over his shoulder.
“Sorry, there’s only so much waiting I can do,” Jason responded.
The space between them was closed as Bruce laid a hand on Jason’s shoulder and
turned the shorter man to face him. “I understand,” Bruce said.
Do you really? Jason wanted to respond, but instead he said nothing. He sighed
and glanced over Bruce’s facial features and his expensive suit, finally able
to see them up close. Bruce glanced back with his face twisted in apology.
“What’s that look for?”
“I didn’t think it’d take me this long to break away,” said Bruce. He trailed
his hand down Jason’s arm to his wrist and pulled him into one of the many
deserted, darkened hallways of Wayne Tower.
“Hah, yeah,” Jason smirked. “Remind me how I got dragged into this?”
Bruce smirked back. “I asked.”
“What can I say? It’s hard to say no to Bruce Wayne.” Especially when you’re
boning.
“You look good in a suit.”
No I don’t. Not as good as you do, Jason wanted to say. Bruce always looked
like he belonged in a suit, he was a man with class. Jason was just a street
kid and a suit never looked right on him. “I’m just the usual old mess.”
He didn’t know how Bruce could have so many different looks. Jason himself only
had one look for everything and his hair couldn’t be tamed no matter how hard
anyone tried. But Bruce, whose scruffy jawline and messy cowl hair Jason had
gotten used to, was now clean shaven with his hair slicked back perfectly. His
suit was expensive and new while Jason just wore whatever was left in Dick’s
old closet. Bruce looked so fine, but Jason was just… Jason.
That must be fine though because while he was busy molesting with his eyes,
Bruce had pressed him up against the wall. Jason initiated the first kiss,
fisting one hand into the lapels of Bruce’s jacket and hooking his other hand
around the man’s thick neck. It was a long and deep kiss and they ran their
tongues against each other’s teeth, exhaling out of their noses.
Jason broke the kiss only to trail his mouth over Bruce’s strong jawline. If he
cared to break contact, Jason would have asked how he kept the stubble down for
so long. But instead he continued, admiring the smooth skin with his tongue and
teeth and lips.
Just as Bruce pressed his body further against Jason’s, his phone rang suddenly
in his back pocket. Jason sighed and Bruce grunted in mild frustration.
“It’s okay, I understand,” said Jason. “You have people to get back to.”
“It’s only-” Bruce began but Jason cut him off with his lips.
“Maybe tomorrow night, huh?” Jason smiled and ran his hand across Bruce’s jaw,
admiring it’s smoothness one last time.
There was a moment of silence between them and then Jason was gone, oblivious
to the lonely ache that plauged the rest of Bruce’s night.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!