Jason sighed, a light breeze carrying a puff of his breath away with it. The small cloud slowly dispersed through the night air, fading away as if it had never even been there. Said breeze was chilling against his pale skin, and he probably should've kept his helmet on. But, Jason surprisingly enjoyed the sensation of cold air nipping at his flesh. Roy thought he was crazy, at which point Jason reminded him that his protection against the elements was a trucker's hat and a tank top. But as the wind started to pick up the cold got too much to bear, even for Jason's undead skin. Breathing one last puff of frigid air, his helmet slid back into place.
"Hell of a view," he mumbled to himself. "Isn't it, Batgirl?" His voice rose now above audible levels.
Without even looking, he could tell he'd surprised her. Obviously, she'd been trained by the Batman. It showed in her abilities to be unseen and unheard. But, unbeknownst to her, Jason had also been trained by the Batman. Her cape gave her away, the faint sound of dragging against the concrete roof. But as if he hadn't been sure, she gasped slightly when he called to her.
Jason stood from where he sat on the edge of the rooftop, turning just as she came out of hiding. Even from this distance, Red Hood could see that she was taller than expected. From the way she was standing, and the way she moved, he knew she was extremely powerful for someone her size. Strong, durable muscles moved gracefully beneath all her layers of Kevlar. Almost as experienced as he was, would be his guess. Jason had heard many rumors about what shade her hair was. Someone once said it was blonde. Roy told him once that it was red. Newspapers had one published photos of a Batgirl who didn't even have hair coming out of her cowl. Roy seemed to be right, in this instance, as Batgirl's hair was long and red and flowing over her shoulder. Another thing Jason had assumed incorrectly: he always thought Batgirl's cowl would be similar to Batman's, with the lenses over her eyes. Instead, the Red Hood was looking straight into the bright blue gaze of one of his former mentor's new partners.
"Why are you in Gotham, Hood?" Her tone was bland, monotone. But in it there was an underlying threat, something in her voice that was fierce. I'll take you down, she seemed to say. And, sure, she could try. But no one took down the Red Hood.
He simply shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be with a view like this?" His arm was horizontal now, gesturing out towards the city beneath their feet.
Those fierce, blue eyes narrowed, the face behind them hadn't changed at all since Jason had first looked at it. "You know Batman doesn't approve of your methods," she said. There was that underlying threat once more, that little hint in her voice that was intended to put Jason on edge. In reality, rather than bringing him goosebumps it only made him chuckle. Her body language was certainly supportive of the threat. But, again, no one takes down the Red Hood. "We don't want you here."
"How could I resist?!" He shouted out to Gotham's rooftops. His arms were waving and he was teetering precariously on his heels, his back to Batgirl as he took in the incredible view once more. "You're crime rate is among the highest in the world."
Turning back towards his enemy, he found that her posture had tensed up from her original stance of relaxed-but-could-pounce-at-any-moment. Now, her body language was saying something more along the lines of not-relaxed-still-wanna-punch-you-in-the-face. "Why does a hired gun care about Gotham's crime rates?"
Jason's fingers found his guns holstered on his hips. Even through his gloves, he could feel every curve and crevice. His arms were slack, the weight of the limbs completely resting on the guns beneath his fingertips. Every move he did was calculated, because he knew that it was probable that Batman was watching him. If not, Batgirl would go back and report to him every detail. He wanted every ounce of him to get his message across. "I have some assets to protect, let's just say that."
His own voice had lowered to a strange rumble, his own threat hidden in the words. If you mess with me, you will regret it.
Once more, Batgirl tensed. This time, Red Hood swore he heard her teeth crack in her mouth. "You're relocation isn't permanent, Red. As soon as bodies start dropping, we will take you down."
A few specs of gravel moved across the rooftop, force to uproot by the toe of his boot. He had relaxed now, feeling like Batgirl received his message. "So Batsy," he began, his eyes low, watching the gravel move with each absent minded kick. "Do you deliver all his messages or just to the villains he doesn't want to face?"
Their eyes didn't need to meet for him to know that he'd hit a nerve. She had to be fuming at this point, but she was hiding it well.
"Do you always lash out when you're scared?"
He froze mid-kick, and let out a laugh. Not like a chuckle, or a scoff, but real laughter. He was laughing so hard he almost doubled over, actually. His hand was on his abdomen now, fingertips just barely touching the hidden knife on his inside coat pocket and the fabric of his gloves scraping the fabric of his armor. If anything, his laughter had only worsened her anger. "I've taken on so much worse than some guy with a couple of brainwashed kids in their jammies. No one takes down the Red Hood."
Seemingly in seconds, her anger melted away. But he could see through it, see that she was only trying to make it look like it had melted away. Her eyes traveled up and down his body, and if he didn't know any better, he would think she was undressing him with her eyes. But within her blue irises burned hatred, not lust. "I could," her smirking lips whispered. Her voice oozed with confidence, every syllable dripping with misplaced pride. "It'd be easy." Her playful tone and mischievous expression gave hints that she did indeed have a personality underneath that mask.
Rather than reply, Jason laughed. He hung his arms by grasping the edges of his jacket, and turned on his heel to leave.
But – as predicted – he heard the telltale sign of a cape rustling in the wind. In mere milliseconds, Jason had caught a fist flying towards the back of his skull. Batgirl looked genuinely shocked for a brief second before he had wrapped one hand around her wrist and placed the other on her stomach. His shoulders rotated to strange angles as they lifted her body up and slammed her down once more – she was heavier than she looked. Most probably due to the muscles. Still holding her wrist, he forced it back and up, twisting her arm into a chicken wing hold and planting his knee firmly on her back to hold her down.
Red Hood had effectively taken Batgirl's ambush attack and turned it on her.
He was close enough now that he could get a better idea of her appearance and her body. Her long red hair cascaded over her cape, dampened with the humidity in the air. It smelt of coconut shampoo, and mixed with the scents of sweat and Kevlar. Feeling her beneath him confirmed the earlier assumption about her incredible muscles. They were straining beneath him, only needing momentum to push him off of her and regain the upper hand. Her head was turned so that he could see her cheek and one of her eyes, and just barely the other cheek squished against the gravel. It was adorable – he could even make out a few of her freckles, giving her a childlike appearance.
The childlike appearance was quickly ruined when he focused his attention on the seething expression she currently wore.
"I guess it wasn't as easy as you thought, huh, Bats?" He whispered in her ear.
The way his voice rumbled throughout his chest and muffled beneath his helmet made her cringe beneath him. A small chuckle at the way she flinched only made her cringe once more. Her skin was crawling, and her poker face had faded long ago.
Pushing harder than he needed to, he stood up and ran towards the edge in one fluid motion. Before he leapt off, he paused and looked at her, if only for half of a second. As she began to stand, however, the ground disappeared beneath his feet and air was the only thing separating him from the ground below.
"Leave me alone, Batgirl! I'm just doing my job!"
Whether his voice reached her on the roof was unknown to Jason, as he had already fallen at least four stories. But something about the fact that Batgirl didn't fling herself over the roof to chase him made him believe that he'd gotten his point across.
*********LINE BREAKER!**********
The window to her bedroom was still open, letting in the chilling autumn breeze and surprisingly bright moonlight. Pale moonlight mixed with blue artificial light from her TV as it cascaded across the room. She was side-eyeing the evening news, ensuring she hadn't missed anything, but mostly Barbara Gordon stood in the doorway to her closet, peeling off her suit. As the tight fabric left her skin, she ran her fingertips across the angry red patterns that danced across her body.
Now only in her bra and underwear, Barbara hung her suit on her forearm and moved all the clothes in her closet to the right to expose the drywall behind. To the untrained eye, it was just an ordinary wall. But as soon as Barbara had gotten this apartment, she'd had a month to make the necessary changes before her roommate arrived from New York. There was a small part of the drywall in the upper right hand corner that looked just like normal drywall. Barbara pressed her thumb to it and it lit up, revealing a hidden finger print scanner. After a moment of scanning, the screen turned green in approval and the wall slid away easily.
Climbing through her closet, Barbara entered the hidden room. It was roughly the size of a small bathroom (because maybe someone had turned the master bathroom into a hidden room maybe not who knows) and one entire wall was completely covered with computer screens. Another wall had a rack full of various Batgirl suits, along with a shelf with boots and utility belts.
She placed her dirty suit in the laundry basket underneath her computer desk. This basket she only washed at the Manor, because unlike her other clothes, a laundromat would be just too risky for bystanders. Taking a deep sigh, Barbara stretched her limbs to keep her muscles loose, then flinched at the sudden pain between her shoulder blades. Curiosity struck her, and her arm twisted around behind her back to prod gently at the sore flesh.
Of course.
There was a small bruise on her back where the Red Hood had pushed her down.
Thinking about it set a fire in her lungs. She'd made a rookie mistake, gotten too cocky and mouthed off to someone she knew next to nothing about. With no idea what to expect, how to react, or his skills, it was no wonder the Hood had taken Batgirl down so easily. Batman probably already knew about the incident, but he hadn't yet contacted her. Hopefully, Dick didn't know, because this was something that her friend would never let her live down, despite him knowing how dangerous the Hood was firsthand.
She loathed the murderous vigilante, even though it was her own foolishness that had allowed him to be taken down. His entire existence bothered her. He was cocky, arrogant, mysterious, and annoying. Worst yet, he killed people on the regular and he acted like it was all just a big game.
Her rookie mistake would not be repeated.
Running her hands over her skin once more, she exhaled deeply and walked out of her small, hidden closet. One her way out, her free hand swiped up a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting tank top. Hastily putting it on, she rand some hands through her cowl hair, before deciding that she better just put it up. Can't have her new roommate wondering how her hair gets so matted down all the time.
Especially when he was so cute.
Said cute roommate was dozing on the couch as Barbara walked from her door towards the kitchen. "Hey," she said casually, glancing over her shoulder at the body occupying the couch.
He sat up, running his hand through his patch of white hair with an exhausted grin on his face. "It's three in the morning," he said, his voice cracking with drowsiness. "Where have you been, missy?"
Barbara couldn't stifle a laugh. "In my room, ya ditz." Her voice was muffled slightly, her face buried in a cabinet as she reached for a mug. "You had to have heard me, I had the TV on super loud."
Now his hulking form was in the kitchen doorway, arms raised above his head and hanging lazily from the doorframe. He was shirtless, and every movement put his exquisite muscles on display. It required an embarrassing amount of effort to not gape at him. "I've been in and out all night," he said. Then his smirk was back and he had a mischievous glint in his eye. "Criminal Minds puts me to sleep."
Again, Barbara laughed and put a pot on the stove to prepare herself some tea. "Jason, I refuse to believe you've been asleep for four hours since I got home." She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly extremely aware of how much the action pushed her breasts together.
He caught her gaze from the side, smirking as if he had some huge secret. "I mean, I went out for a little bit." A shrug while he spoke flexed his muscles once more, and now Barbara's eyes couldn't help but wander across his physique. She at least had the control to keep it to a minimum, only when he looked away.
Moments passed and the silence built. Barbara caught his eye once, turning upwards at the same moment as hers. Perhaps, while she was checking him out, he was also checking her out?
Just when she thought the room couldn't get any more silent (or tense) the teapot screamed and Barbara turned to pour her beverage. "You want some?" she asked over her shoulder. Before he replied, she pulled another mug down from the cabinet and filled it with tea as well. The teapot was hot, so she placed it on the backburner and hoisted herself up on the countertop, sipping her mug as she did so. "So you find a job yet?" she asked.
He finished his own sip before responding. "Yeah, actually." His smirk had shapeshifted into a genuine smile that crinkled his nose and lit his eyes. "I start tomorrow." The tone of voice he used was dripping with pride, and Barbara couldn't help but think of what a dork he was. A huge, hulking dork.
"Where at?" she chuckled to herself.
"I'm working the corner."
Barbara almost spit out her drink, trying to swallow as quickly as she could so that she could laugh freely. Obviously, it was a joke. Though, he could make damn good money as a stripper, or even a prostitute if he was feeling scandalous. They laughed together for a moment, their bodies shaking and tea getting dangerously close to spilling out of their respective mugs.
"Nah," Jason said easily. "There are a few warehouses downtown that I'll take turns watching. Usually nights, but sometimes I'll work a morning if one of the other guys needs a shift covered." He took a slow sip, and Barbara somehow felt magnetized to his bright green eyes. "Trying to get that overtime." His smile was beautiful, honestly. Stretching across his face in a genuine and delicate way, lighting the room with his brilliant white teeth. "But I start tomorrow, and its pretty good money."
"Proud of you, Jay," Barbara said over the rim of her mug. Her words seemed to only make his smile grow.
"Thanks, Barbie."
"Although," she said, swallowing the last of her tea. "As you so eloquently put it, it's past three in the morning and I also work tomorrow." Her mug clinked against the metal when she put it in the sink, Jason's mug quickly following suit. "So I'm going to go to bed."
"Yeah, me too." Jason said. "Training is bright and early," he paused, waiting for her to look at him once more. "Ten o'clock." Had Barbara not been looking at his face, she easily would've been able to hear his smirk. "Goodnight, Barbie," he said, standing in his doorway, facing her as she stood in her doorway.
She smiled, closing her door. Just before the opening shut, she called out to him, "Night, Jay."
**********LINE BREAKER!**********
Ta da! First chapter of my multi-chapter fic featuring JayBabs, because there aren't enough fics out there. Let me know what you think, but I'm so excited about this I already planned on a sequel.