[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. This is going to be, you guessed it, a continuation of the JerX I've got set up in my other fic. This is essentially a telling of the time passed from when Red first rescues Jericho from the Joker to the time when Jericho fully becomes the Jericho in my story. Before you read this, go check out XxPhoenix FlightxX's fic Kintsugi. It's a great start to this story, and I couldn't have written it better myself.]
Jason sighed tiredly as he made his way into the living room to prepare some breakfast for both he and his new housemate. So far, progress with Joseph was going considerably good. Joseph had finally opened up to him, which brought a wave of relief to Jason now that he knew they had a chance to fix the broken shell that was Jericho. Joseph still flinched anytime he was yelled at, and blatantly expected to be beaten and hit whenever he did something.
Jason sighed again, his brows bushed together in worry and frustration. He wanted to help this kid, he really did. Jason knew what it was liked to be so fucked up to have no one want anything to do with you. Most people thought it was easier to just ignore broken people because they caused minor inconveniences in their lives.
"Gah!" Jason yelled, startled.
There, at five in the goddamn morning, sat Joseph on the couch. The boy fell asleep in the bathtub for christ's sake, how on Earth was he up this early? He'd obviously been neglected emotionally and seriously deprived of sleep, so why was the baggy eyed boy so intent on startling Jason so early in the morning?
Joseph didn't even turn to look at Jason, though he flinched into a more defensive position to show he knew someone was in the room with him. Instead of speaking to Jason, or better yet sleeping like any normal person should be doing right now, he was leaned towards the TV and staring at an episode of Looney Tunes like he was receiving a message from God.
"...Joseph…?" Jason questioned softly as he tapped the distracted boy on his still bony and frail shoulder. Joseph titled his head slightly to show he was listening, but kept his eyes glued to the large flat and multicolored screen in front of him.
"...Would you like some breakfast? Maybe some eggs?" Jason asked as he tried not to worry about the kid. He had to remind himself that Joseph hadn't been exposed to normal things like TV in a long, long time because of The Joker.
Joseph made a soft humming noise in agreement, barely nodding his head. Jason decided to just take it as a yes and continue his routine.
While Joseph 'ate' his breakfast, which really consisted of him looking down at the plate in front of him once before returning his attention to the cartoon characters he was so invested in, Jason set out throughout the building to gather every sharp or weapon like object he could find and hide it away. It wasn't that he was worried Joseph would hurt him - Jason could very easily defend himself - it was that he knew the boy couldn't control his homicidal tendencies just yet and that once he realized what he was doing, the kid would have another breakdown.
Jason felt a lot like a worried parent, to be honest.
When Jason returned to the living room, Joseph's food was untouched except for perhaps half of one egg, and Joseph himself was missing.
Jason immediately jerked into a defensive position, scrambling toward the hallway to find the small boy. Jason let out a large sigh of relief when he found Joseph very much unharmed and stable, just standing in one of the many rooms of his house and staring out of the window.
Jason approached him slowly, looking out onto the city with him. It was quiet and peaceful in the mornings of Gotham, the sun always bright and the people always much too tired to start trouble.
"...You get to see this every day?" Joseph practically whispered as Jason smiled warmly at the smaller.
"Yep. Gets pretty old after a while, but I guess it is a pretty great view at first glance." Jason explained, watching people walk by on the concrete like ants.
"...You have a very beautiful home, Jason." Joseph said as he finally turned to look at Jason's face for the first time today. Jason's heart crumbled just the smallest bit at the sad smile that seemed to be stuck on the victim's face.
"It's not really a home, I would think. A home is somewhere...special, emotionally. This is really just a very expensive penthouse that carries all of my belongings." Jason said to lighten Joseph's mood the slightest bit. Jericho's tired eyes looked back out onto Gotham again.
"...I don't think I've ever had a home then." Joseph said in a raspy, quiet voice.
As Joseph saw a very vulnerable looking man cross the street below, his eyes started dialing and his fists started clenching. His once tired, forest green eyes grew feral and neon as his whole body tensed with sick desire and his fist clenched around a weapon that wasn't there.
Jason laid a gentle hand on Joseph's, holding on to his fist enough to let him anchor himself to reality while staying gentle and kind at the same time. Joseph let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding as his eyes returned to normal and his body relaxed itself, his fist unclenching and his fingers hanging limp and tired from Jason's hand.
Joseph frowned and the air around him seemed to change into a much sadder, darker one. He wanted to cry. He wanted to fall to his knees and cry like any other person, but he knew if he did he'd begin to laugh too. So instead, he closed his eyes that were still burning from sleep loss and rested his head on Jason's shoulder, not noticing how Jason inhaled sharply in surprise.
There was a long moment of silence between the two, something that Joseph naturally despised and Jason hated very much himself. Joseph didn't know why he hated it so much, he just knew he did. For Jason, the silence symbolized his aching head and throbbing fists from way too many nights spent planning organized attacks. But for some odd reason, the silence brought a sense of peace and safety to the two boys.
"...Do you promise you won't leave me Jason?" Joseph said finally in a frail voice. Jason looked down at the broken kid, his limbs bony and limp and his face sunken in.
"I promise, Joseph." Jason said guiltily. He knew there was no telling how long he could actually keep that promise, but for right now Joseph just really needed to hear that.
"Even though I'm all…" Joseph said before he paused, trying to gather the right words as he tightened his hold on Jason's hand.
"...fucked up?" Joseph finished. They'd had this conversation, Joseph knew, but he just needed to hear one more time that he wasn't completely useless.
"I promise, Joseph." Jason repeated with more strength this time.
Joseph hummed once as he rubbed his cheek against Jason's arm, trying his hardest to warm up his still freezing cold body. Jason was going to fix what The Joker had done, if it was the last thing he did. This kid, he wasn't a homicidal maniac, and he wasn't a psychotic killer. Jason knew Joseph was different before Joker came into play, but this just knocked him back. Joseph was frail, and at a loss with himself.
[Read and review! I hope this turned out okay.]
