RP with Jason Todd

[gravity_grrl]

[A few days after the depressing text messaging Roxy had with Jason she gets a call from one of the girls she knows from work who tells her that they've been offered to dance for a private after party at the club.

"It's good money Rox, these guys are big tippers to all the girls. Not just the ones up on stage." She tells her, "C'mon it might be fun."

Fun. Sure.
It's something she could use right now, having spent the last two days in a depressive slump over the situation with Jason, so after some consideration she agrees. She loves dancing so it might help break her out of her mood and she definitely could use the cash seeing how she just had to use a good chunk of her savings to buy a new cellphone, but most of all she says yes because there's a part of her that wants to look sexy as fuck and have guys check her out just to spite Jason. He won't be there, seeing how he's not 21, but that doesn't matter. It's the vibe, that badass bitch vibe that she needs right now.
Because otherwise she's just going to sink deeper into heartbreak.

And so, on Saturday night Roxy selects an outfit from her costume closet that she knows is a "fan favorite", throws it and some heels into a bag and heads down to 'The Penthouse' strip club located in downtown Gotham.]

Comments

[theotherobin]

We've got eyes on them. Just to make sure they'll be alright.

[ There are eyes on Roxy too, but he's pretty sure she'll figure that out, if she knows there are eyes on the other girls too. Will she be upset about that? Maybe. Probably. Everything feels like push and pull right now.

He leans his face into her touch, moving his other hand back to her waist. He really just wants to be close to her right now. The past few days have been shit without her.]

He doesn't know. Not even Alfred would be okay with this.

[ Jason's pretty sure, anyway. Because in the grand scheme of things, Jason is new, and all the rest of this has been going on for ages. He's new enough that they'd toss him out before risking it all. He's pretty sure of that too.]

Can't believe the two of you went behind my back for this, though.

[ he gives her the smallest smile so she knows he isn't mad about it. he'd be more amused if so much wasn't hanging in the balance. ]

Hey, you wanna... wanna grab our breakfast and go to my room? We can talk more there.

[gravity_grrl]

[His remark about having eyes on them, she knows what it means and nods. You don't live with an ex-government agent for four years and not pick up on the lingo. She doesn't mind so long as it's his or Bruce's and not the cops or the government, she's had enough of that to last a lifetime.

When he mentions Alfred she smiles and shrugs.]

You told me that he liked me and I know he cares about you...so I figured he'd be open to helping us talk things out.

[She nods when he mentions moving their conversation to his room, out of all the rooms in Wayne Manor it's her favorite one. It feels the most comfortable and safest which is kind of ironic now that she knows who else lives here.]

I'd really like that.

[theotherobin]

[ Jason doesn't want to freak her out by having her think that someone is watching her, but they'd never use someone they didn't trust for something like that, and never the government. She doesn't seem upset about it though, so that's a relief.

He thought this would go so much shittier than it actually is. Then again... it's Roxy. Maybe he should have known better, but it's hard for him to trust that anything will actually go right. ]

Guess you were right. And he does. He likes you. And I think he figured something was up. I've kinda been a moody bitch the past few days.

[ Alfred will ask about it later. And now? Now he's gonna have to lie to Alfred too, but an omission of the truth is different, right? And anyway, he wouldn't be lying about them working things out with each other.

Before they part, Jason slides his fingers through her hair and leans in, but stops, because he's not really sure if has the right just yet. he pretty much broke things off with Roxy and he knows they're making up right now, but still.]

Can I kiss you?

[gravity_grrl]

[She chuckles and lifts an eyebrow up at him in a sardonic arch]

You? Be a moody bitch? Noooooo....I don't believe it.

[When he stops short of kissing her she has to smile, he projects such a bad boy attitude most of the time and yet he's been nothing but respectful about her boundaries. It's an interesting and alluring dynamic and she reaches up to brush his bottom lip lightly with her thumb, her eyes meeting his and holding them for a long moment before smiling.]

You fucking better.

[theotherobin]

Hey, are you saying I'm always a moody bitch?? Cause... you're probably right about eighty percent of the time.

[ he can breathe now, and he doesn't feel like he's dying. his heart is back to beating normal, and his stomach isn't trying to evacuate itself. maybe this will all be alright. they'll have to talk and figure some shit out, but it isn't the end of the world. he can trust her.

Jason might seem like a conundrum in a lot of ways, but he knows what it's like when people push, when they hurt, when they don't respect boundaries and when they try to beat you down to nothing. most of his bad boy attitude is a cover anyway, for a thousand and one insecurities that he doesn't know the first clue about dealing with.

what he does know is that he cares about Roxy a lot though, and maybe this really is stupid, and it'll be difficult, but it'll also be worth it.

he smiles when she says he better kiss her, eyes locked with hers too, until he closes them to lean in and kiss her, much deeper than the quick one last night.]

[gravity_grrl]

Well....maybe not always...

[When locks eyes with her and smiles she feels something large move inside her and her mind whispers softly, 'He could stop my heart with that smile'. But then his lips are against hers and she doesn't bother thinking anymore, she just kisses him deeply and thoroughly. He hands moving up and around his waist, pulling herself tightly against him.]

[theotherobin]

[ Fuck, he's missed this. That spark from last night, that spark from before. It's always here no matter how many times they kiss, and Jason knows he could never deny it, even if he tried.

He doesn't want to deny it though. Not anymore. He wants to lean into it more and more, arm wrapping around her waist to pull her tighter against him and keep her there.

It feels like he's making up for days without her kisses, and he wants to make it up to her too. He keeps kissing her until he needs to pull back and take a breath, resting his forehead against hers. ]

Missed this. Missed you. Sorry for being such a shithead.

[gravity_grrl]

[She lets out a breathless little sigh when he breaks the kiss, grateful for both the pause and his apology.]

Fuck I missed you.

[She reaches up to run her hands through his wild, bed-head hair.]

It's okay, at least understand now why you were acting so cold. But if you pull that with me again I will have to kick your ass.

[theotherobin]

[ He can't promise her that he won't be a shithead again, because he knows that's impossible, but he doesn't want to act cold and push her away again either. There's really no reason for it now, unless it's to keep her safe- but at least he can tell her the reason now and she won't be left in the dark wondering what the hell happened. ]

I won't pull that shit with you again.

[ he gives her another brief kiss, then starts tugging her back towards the counter, arms still wrapped around her tightly as they hobble walk. he only lets go when he goes to grab their plates, reluctantly pulling away even more. ]

Grab the coffee mugs and then we'll head up. We can hang out there as long as you want. Don't have anything till later.

[gravity_grrl]

Thank you.

[She kisses him back and then follows him to the counter, going to grab the coffee cups but before she does she spies a little pad of paper on the fridge. It's probably where Alfred writes down notes and grocery lists, she quickly bops over to it and writes a thank you note for him. With that done she comes back over, tops up their coffee cups and motions for Jason to lead the way upstairs.]

So I'm assuming you have 'work' later? Oh, which reminds me....uh... Any word on if it's safe for me and the girls to go back to that club?

[theotherobin]

[ He gives a small smile when Roxy writes Alfred a note. Jason will have to thank him later as well. He knows he was annoyed at first, but it really worked out and maybe Alfred knew that. It's still kind of frustrating that he'll have to keep a secret from them now too, but it'll be different from all the lies he's had to tell Roxy.

He leads them up the stairs, heading for the privacy of his room. Maybe they should have gone up there to begin with, but he knows Bruce isn't monitoring the sound in each room. He's sure Alfred went to distract him anyway. ]

Yeah. Work.

[ He gives Roxy a crooked grin. It still twists in his stomach for a moment that she knows, but that relief is there too now. The rest of it has him frowning though, glancing at her. ]

That club was a part of their underground operations, Roxy. They were snatching girls, working out of the basement. Don't think it's going to be up and running for a while.

[gravity_grrl]

[Balancing the coffees in one hand she helps open the door to his bedroom, motioning for him to go inside first and once they are both in his room she hip checks the door shut. She falters when he mentions the shit that was going on under the club, almost spilling coffee on herself. She swears and sets the cups down, sighing unhappily.

This was awful for a number of reasons and it made her feel sick to her stomach to know that every time she was at work there could have been girls below her, being hurt and killed.]

Fuck. I...didn't know. Jason I feel awful.

[She looks at him, her brows knitted together in concern.]

How many have gone missing?

[theotherobin]

[ He sets their plates down on a side table and tosses things off of his bed, yanking the comforter up. He wasn't expecting Roxy to be in his room today.

But then he stops, coming over to her. ]

There was no way you could know. We were investigated them for weeks until our findings led back to that club.

[ Should he be telling her all of this? Probably not. Just because she knows about Batman and Robin, she shouldn't be getting the rest of the details as well, especially if it might put her in danger. ]

Six. Hopefully no more. That was the main ring we shut down last night, we found three girls, and we'll find the rest. I really shouldn't be telling you any more than that.

[gravity_grrl]

[One of her hands drifts up to her neck, unconsciously rubbing at the spot where she had been choked last night as she digests the information Jason is giving her.]

Oh god.

[Her stomach clenches uncomfortably as it finally hits home that if she wasn't who she was, if she didn't have her powers or the years of training that Mr.Lynch had given her she could have been one of those women. She could have been taken next. She swears under her breath, feeling a low throb of anger at all the men who were the cause of this.]

I hope you find the other three soon.

[She sighs and sits down on his bed, trying to shake off the awful guilt and anger that wants to take hold right now. Hopefully it will turn out okay, she knows Jason isn't lying to her about his dedication to finding the others. It's a small thing but at least she knows someone is looking for them instead of just ignoring the issue or leaving them to die.]

Guess this means I'll have to find a new job...

[theotherobin]

[ He reaches out, sliding a hand over hers on her neck, moving in closer to her. He knows it's a lot to take in all at once, especially after everything that happened last night, but at least he can be here for her now. ]

We will. We'll find them. We've got... we've got ways.

[ Recognition scans across the city that he doesn't know if he should tell her about. Not the details anyway. He's already pulled her into all of this way too much.

He moves to sit down next to her, placing a hand gently on her leg. ]

I know a couple places that are safe. I can put in a good word if you want.

[gravity_grrl]

I'm glad. I'm glad you two are out there, doing something. Helping people.

[She's grateful for his touch, it soothes her and she moves closer to him. Leaning her head on his shoulder.]

That would be nice, thank you.

[She pauses, biting her lower lip.]

Urm so, are you okay with me doing that for work?

[theotherobin]

[ He's quiet for a moment, turning his face into her hair. What a weird, fucked up few days. What a relief to be able to be close to her again. He knows he was stupid in so many ways, but he felt trapped. He doesn't feel so trapped anymore.

But still, it's hard to forget how he felt that night and he knows she said it was about how she was feeling, but Jason is unsure. Insecure. The thing is, he wouldn't change his ways anyway. If he's too brutal, so be it.]

You don't think it's too much? The other day you said it was too brutal. Too much. I think you should know now that it's not gonna change. Those guys? They all deserve what's coming to them and I'm not gonna feel bad about it.

[ he doesn't want her to feel bad about it either. not because of how she feels when she's glad they got hurt, or because of what he does.

he's glad she takes his offer to help her out. he's got some good and bad rep with the places around here, but he does know the safer places, and the ones that he and Bruce can watch over more.

As for if he's okay with what she does for work, he kisses her head, then pulls back a little so he can look at her. ]

It's not up to me what you do for work, Rox. I mean... don't get me wrong, I don't totally like the idea of other guys having their hands on you, if that happens from time to time, but it's your choice. I'm not gonna be a dick about it.

[gravity_grrl]

[When he brings up her reaction the night she was shot she sighs again, struggling with how much she should tell him about some of the deeper reasons why she reacted like that.]

It felt brutal but....after what's happened to me in the span of a week it suddenly doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels...I mean...Knowing that those guys are hurting women right below me when I'm at work?...You're right. They should be dealt with harshly. They deserve it. Because that's sick and wrong.

Part of the reason I've been struggling with it is because I'm not used to having to sort through all the morality in these kinds of situations, before I came here it was all sort of done for me.

[She looks up at him after he kisses her head, smiling at him gratefully.]

I appreciate you saying that, I really do. And because it's my choice I want you to know that I don't do private dances, not because I look down on it, but because I know that I can't handle it emotionally. I only want people I know and care about to touch me.

[theotherobin]

[ That's the thing about Gotham. The more you see what goes on around you, the more you believe something drastic has to be done about it. Even more so than what even Batman does sometimes... which is why Jason takes to the streets on his own sometimes, but he doesn't make a habit of it. When it came to Roxy though, he has no regrets about what he did to those guys, and when the cops beat down on people, he has no qualms about being brutal right back.

They all get what they deserve, and it's a relief to hear her say it. ]

They do deserve it, because if they don't get what's coming to them, they'll just keep doing it, over and over again.

What do you mean it was done for you?

[ He looks at her curiously, realizing he really doesn't know all that much about her past. And now... she knows so much more about him. He'd like to know her too.

It's good to know she doesn't do private dances... like she says, not because he looks down on it either, but the thought of someone else touching her intimately... he doesn't like it. It might even make him a little jealous.]

Rox... I know I fucked up. I lied to you, I treated you like shit and I don't fucking deserve you at all, but. I care about you a whole fucking lot and I wanna be with you. I want us to be together, like an actual couple. I don't know if this is stupid or not, or too corny or whatever, but... if you want to, will you be my girlfriend?

[gravity_grrl]

[Her eyes flicker up to the ceiling for a moment, trying to pick her words carefully to describe her past and some of her secrets. It's such a weird mess but she hopes he will be open to listening to her secrets as much as she is about his.]

Remember how I told you I was on the run from the government? That's because technically for a while I was part of a government created team, it was all kids my age whose fathers had been experimented on in like the eighties. Some really fucked up stuff was done to them and they wanted to see if the next generation was better, or could do better so we were all rounded up and tested on. That's how I met my friends, we were all in the same unit and after we saw how fucked up everything was we all made a run for it.

We had help from a guy who was part of those original experiments, Mr.Lynch, he helped us get out and put us up in a big house in La Jolla where for a while we sort of tried to forget what had happened. But soon we decided to use our training to help people, Mr.Lynch would send us out on missions to save other kids like us or people who were stealing government weapons to use on regular people. That kind of shit.

[She licks her lips, her mouth suddenly feeling very dry.]

So...it's like, we were helping people but we never had to ask who the bad guy was and who wasn't. We were just told who to fight and who to save. In a weird way it was almost kind of mindless, and you'd feel so far removed from the actual morals of it. It's one of the reasons we all went our separate ways eventually, we got tired of being good little soldiers who didn't think for themselves.

[She looks down and isn't surprised to see that she's nervously wringing her hands together and forces herself to stop.]

When...when I saw first hand the outcome of what you did to those guys it shook me up, because that was never part of what we saw. It felt so close all of a sudden and it scared me to think about my own morals.

[She pauses for a long time, waiting for his reaction.]

So turns out you weren't the only one who was lying. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you but it's such a bizarre thing to even say out loud and I didn't want to scare you away with all this weirdness and I know that...wait....

[She had been babbling out an apology but she stops and looks up at him, looks into his eyes.]

Did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?

[theotherobin]

[ Oh.

Oh wow. That's a lot to take in. Seems like they both had their secrets, their lives outside of anything they've ever talked about or done together. Jason had a feeling, of course, with the whole on the run from the government thing. That doesn't just happen for no reason, but... what they had before, it was so good, so fun... he didn't want to ruin it by digging. He didn't want to ruin it with any of this.

But that's not what any of this turned out to be. None of this is ruined, and all of this can make them stronger. He knows that now.

But it's still a lot to take in. Experiments, government created teams, kids being tested on. A team of kids using their training to help people. It all sounds so familiar to him, that it's almost fucking unbelievable that the two of them found each other somehow, when they basically did the same thing. ]

So you're telling me that you used to do this kinda stuff too. Like what I do. You were part of a team who helped people. And then like... maybe this guy tried to fuck you up and steer you a different way, but you got out.

[ He raises his eyebrows, shaking his head. It's fucking unbelievable, because it really isn't at all. He just never thought she was involved in that much of it. ]

So... you were experimented on? ...The other day with those guys. I saw the surveillance footage. You got shot, didn't you. You appeared on the scene out of nowhere and you got shot with a real bullet and then you healed up.

[ Maybe he shouldn't be laughing right now, but it's so much, and it's almost as much of a relief finding out about all of this, just as much as the whole Robin thing, that he lets out a small laugh, then presses the back of his hand against his mouth. This is crazy. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I just asked you to be my girlfriend. Is that alright? Figured we could make it official. If you want to.

[gravity_grrl]

[Her hands are trying to be restless again so she lets them loose to pick at the hem of her sweater dress. She knows it's a lot of information to hear, that it sounds like something out of a fucking sci-fi movie but it's the truth and he deserves to hear it.]

Yeah, although our outfits were never as elaborate as yours is. [She gives him a tentative smile.] You look good in yours by the way...

[When he mentions her getting shot she just nods her head, not sure if she needs to go into the details of her powers just yet. He seems to be taking it okay but she really doesn't want him to suddenly call her a freak and cast her out.

At the sound of his laugh she lets herself relax a bit, looking at his expression carefully before smiling.]

Is that alright? If I want to?

[She repeats back at him with a grin and wraps her arms around his neck, swinging her legs across his and pulling herself into his lap. She kisses him, gently first and then with more pressure. When she finally breaks the kiss she's breathless and grinning.]

Of course I want to.

[theotherobin]

[ He wants to pull her hands away from her dress to keep them from their nervous thing, but he knows he wouldn't like that, so he doesn't do it to her either. Sometimes you just have to feel things out. ]

That's still... wow. Okay. So this whole Robin, vigilante thing isn't new to you either. That's... that's a fucking relief, actually.

[ he gives her a small smile when she says he looks good in his outfit. it's not really his own, but there have definitely been some improvements, and he's proud of it. ]

Thanks. I'm sure you were pretty damn hot in whatever you were wearing too, though.

[ He makes note of how she doesn't do much more than give him a nod when he brings up the other night, and the bullet wound. The way she healed. He wants her to talk to him about it, and he doesn't really understand why she wouldn't, especially after everything they've been through, especially last night.

But he's distracted enough by everything else, especially when she smiles and then quickly moves into his lap. The rest of it fades to the background, because this is what he's wanted, and there'll be time for everything else later, because she wants what he wants, and that's incredible enough as it is. His arms go around her right away, leaning into the kiss, kissing her back deeply. Fuck, he's missed this. No matter what the rest of it is, he feels good about this. ]

Yeah? Good. Cause I really want to. I was stupid enough not to before.

[gravity_grrl]

Yeah, it's eerily similar. Which is why I wasn't mad at you for not telling me that you are Robin because...like why would you? That's not something you should tell the girls you're randomly dating.

[She chuckles to herself, thinking back about what she used to wear with the other members of Gen13. Almost everyone on the team had full costumes and she was usually the one in shorts and her leather jacket.]

Aw shucks, thanks.

[She cuddles up against him, happy to be feeling his arms around her once again. She feels safe in them, and after the night she had last night she needs that.]

You're not stupid.

[theotherobin]

Makes a whole lot of fucking sense. I still would've been worried though.

[ And he probably still would have done the same, thinking they needed to part because it was the best thing to do for both of them. It was the safest, and he thought so intensely that he'd fuck it up anyway. Somehow though, she's able to reach him further than that. Able to get him to see past his insecurities, because she's so much more important than that. ]

Thanks for coming by today. Thanks for being brave enough, cause I sure as fuck wouldn't have been able to do it.

[ He hugs her tight against himself, forehead pressing against hers as she looks at him. This could have all ended so badly, but it didn't. He almost can't believe it. ]

Easier to believe when you say it.