p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason composed himself quickly and couldn't help but scowl at Roy's cocksure expression. In the years that he'd attended the academy he'd been trying to kick his smoking habit, and this was the first time he'd ever been caught. He didn't like relying on a stranger to keep his secret, especially one that didn't seem to like him very much. But there was nothing to be done about it now. Wordlessly, he flicked his lighter, holding out the flame for Roy to spark up. A few seconds passed in tense silence as they smoked their respective cigarettes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"If Roy had seemed like the kind of student to belong to any sort of clique, Jason might've been a bit more concerned about the boy knowing his secret. A lot of the students they went to school with kept together in small clusters, they all came from wealthy families and if their parents were associates then usually the children had grown up together. They stayed close throughout school, if one of them knew something, span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"they all did/span; and usually their parents did too. Jason didn't know who Roy's friends were, but by the way the other boy had spoken upon their first meeting, it was an educated guess to assume that he was not a part of one of those close-knit groups. So, it stood to reason that even if Roy had any inclination on spreading word of Jason's smoking, there'd be no one for him to tell. Very few members of the student body would ever take his word over Jason's anyway./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason knew that Bruce had many, many colleagues and associates, people who donated and attended various galas. Bruce had taught Jason the importance of keeping up appearances, stating that he didn't personally like or enjoy the company of the people he attended such events with, but it was a necessary part of the business, to make connections and establish business opportunities. Luckily, because Bruce generally kept to himself outside of such events, Jason didn't see any of those kids outside of school and the occasional charity dinner. It had been easy for Bruce to bow out of hanging around with these wealthy couples and their offspring, he had been a childless bachelor, and that in itself meant that no one expected him to hang around with full families. When Bruce had taken Jason in, everyone was understanding of his need to 'settle in', even though Bruce had never had to indicate such a thing. A lot like his guardian, Jason liked to spend as little time as possible around the cliques. They were rather overwhelming, and spent more time bragging and trash talking than actually engaging in genuine conversation. He was polite and outwardly friendly, but preferred to deal with them in small doses when possible. Jason knew that if any one of them ever caught wind of his habit, it would undoubtedly find its way back to Bruce./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason wasn't proud of his smoking. He knew it was a nasty habit, that he was far too young for. But, he'd been in a desperate situation where cigarettes were a weapon he utilized, nicotine fights both stress and appetite, and those were things that plagued Jason daily. At the time, when faced with such things, smoking just didn't seem like such a big deal. Naturally, he'd gotten addicted. He didn't want Bruce to be disappointed in him, Jason was confident that he could kick this habit alone. He'd already managed to get himself down to smoking only 2-3 a day. On some days he'd only have the one in the morning. He was getting there./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy was somewhat of an enigma. Bruce hadn't recognized the boy's name when Jason had brought him up, which in itself was strange. There weren't many people that Bruce Wayne didn't know, and all the students at the academy had to have parents or guardians that could afford the tuition. Jason didn't have much information to go on, but what he knew about Roy so far was leaving him with more questions than answers, and against his better judgement, he couldn't help but be curious./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In his peripheral, Jason could see the other boy's shoes lightly kicking at cement, the fingers of his free hand tapped a beat absently on his thigh. Roy cleared his throat and Jason looked up from watching the boy's fingers play out their tune, and met his eyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I- uh...About yesterday..." Roy began, seeming unsure, and his some-what shaggy hair fell to obscure his gaze slightly. "I get that this wasn't your idea...you're just kinda goin' with it. But, I guess I was just kinda pissed at span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"the whole thing/span, y'know?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason furrowed his brow as he listened. He quickly stamped out his cigarette, he popped some minty-fresh gum in his mouth immediately after and fished in his bag to spray himself with deodorant to mask the odor of smoke. He appraised Roy carefully, with an eyebrow cocked as if daring him to say anything. Roy didn't comment, though he looked almost amused by the display. Jason figured that this would be the closest he'd get to an apology, but he hadn't been expecting one at all, so he couldn't complain. He could understand why Roy was pissed, no one really liked being called out, no one really enjoyed confrontation. But, at the same time, Roy had gotten himself into this mess, hadn't he?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It's cool." Jason waved him off lightly. There was no point in keeping hard feelings. "I'll tell you what, I'll meet you in the cafeteria for lunch. We'll look over our schedules and find out what works best, 'kay?" He reasoned, not interested in dragging this awkward encounter out longer than necessary. Roy could think things over during his morning classes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy smirked again, looking almost grateful before giving Jason a small nod. "Sure."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"They parted ways and for the first time Roy thought that maybe this whole ordeal wouldn't be so bad after all. He was almost looking forward to lunch, he could just eat and let the younger boy set up a timetable, Roy was free whenever. He had band practice on Fridays and he went out most weekends, but on school days he usually did a whole lot of nothing, it shouldn't be too difficult for the two of them to come to a consensus on when to meet./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy was more than a little surprised to find the younger boy smoking. Roy might be a smoker himself, but on some level he knew that he was acting out, that the people he spent his time with weren't positive influences, and his rebellion was the one thing he had that was really span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"his/span. His smoking was simply a byproduct of that reality. It may even have been a cry-for-help type scenario, but Roy wouldn't dwell on that./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was becoming abundantly clear that Jason Todd was not some typical rich kid. Roy was more than a little intrigued./p