It wasn't him. Dick knew it couldn't have been him, it was just that he was here; alone in a new town with new scenery and a new schedule and his mind was searching out anything that could be placed as being even remotely familiar.

It was just that Dick's mind must have been on a particularly masochistic kick right now, and it was searching for that familiarity in one of the most horrible places it could. The lack of sleep since coming to this city wasn't helping much either. That was all. The only explanation as to why some random kid – not random - could make him think so much of…

"Jason?" Dick couldn't help himself from calling out either way, couldn't keep his feet from stalling then turning to follow, his hand from reaching out to what he'd already half convinced himself was the ghost of someone dead and gone for too long.

"What, the fuck, hands off, you…" The boy started at the touch, leaping away from Dick and spinning to face him with bright eyes that were too green and wide with surprise when he slapped Dick's hand away from him, "… you dick?"

The last part was said softly, and with an uptick in tone that in Dick's racing, clouded mind, it could have almost sounded like a question and that lone, second of hope that rose in his chest was the cruelest, most painful thing he could have given himself.

Because it took only another second for it to dash itself against the insides of his ribcage with enough force that Dick might almost have thought it had been fractured.

The eyes really were too far off from being the right color, and he saw not only surprise in them, not recognition, but fear. Dick, in another state of mind might have been able to reason around even that, but the kid, whoever he was, was also too big, bigger than even Jason would have been right now, he'd always been so small, and this was…

This was some random kid Dick had grabbed hold of in the middle of a seedy corner of the only city that was even worse about these things than Gotham.

"Oh, god I'm…" Dick pointedly took a step away, his hands raised up on either side of his head, "… sorry. I thought you were," He looked the kid over again, the kid who was too big and too old and had for just a moment looked a little too much like a dead boy, "someone else." He stepped further away and repeated it again for extra measure, "I'm sorry."

The kid blinked, his hand gone white knuckled in its hold on the strap of the backpack slung across his shoulder. The expression on his face quickly morphed from shock, flittering between things too fast for Dick to read before going blank and finally settling on something that could only have been disdain.

"Whatever," he snarled as he adjusted the backpack, then with a last, furtive look over his shoulder, he hurried away like… well, like he was trying to get away from some stranger than had grabbed hold of him out of the blue.

Soon as the kid was relatively far away, Dick buried his face in his hands and let out a low groan. God, he needed to see about skipping a shift at the bar sometime so he could get some sleep before he wound up traumatizing another teenager. Maybe even this shift.

No, he needed to be there this shift, maybe the next one.

ooo

'Thought you were someone else.'

The phone in his pocket was beeping incessantly, as if to remind him to keep moving, that he had more important things to be doing that listening for a voice to call him back. Than the horrible sinking he'd felt yanking him down when he should have been relieved that Dick was going away.

Talia hadn't told him. Or, more accurately, she'd told him it was unlikely, and Jason, beyond that bought of what she'd convinced him was paranoia, had thought it was unlikely too. And she didn't want him to running into Bruce any more than he did right then, she had no reason to like. For all its closeness, Bruce had never really ventured into Bludhaven, at least not while Jason had worked with him.

Gotham was enough on his plate and Bludhaven was an ugly duckling that's business had died before it could ever become beautiful. Too much to hold along with Gotham, this City was an afterthought, if that. Jason wasn't supposed to run into any of them here, though it was exactly his sort of ironically craptastic luck that it would happen while he was here for stealth training of all things.

Which was really the best evidence that 'Though you were someone else,' had to be a load of bull, no way had Jason dodged a bullet that had come so squarely at him. The odds were stacked high as these crumbly skyscrapers against it.

It was some kind of trick, wasn't it? Had to be. No way Dick had seen him, looked at him like that, and then just decided it wasn't Jason he was looking at. The way he'd hurried away, it must have been that he was on his way to tell Bruce what he's seen. If Bruce even needed to someone telling him, could have been that they'd known from the start, because Bruce didn't work in Bludhaven, Dick stuck around in New York with his Titans. There was no reason for Dick to be casually roaming the streets here right when Jason had shown up for his 'stealth' training.

Those thoughts in mind, it was easy for burning green anger to shove everything else down when Jason spun round to search the crowds for Dick, not really expecting to see him again, when he caught sight of the man slumped over with his hands shielding his face from view. Still amongst the people moving around him.

The phone kept on beeping, without a thought, Jason pulled it out and snapped the offending thing in half. For half of the second before he dropped it into the nearest trashcan, Jason regretted the action, but it passed. Seriously, that guy was annoying anyway, and Jason had a much more interesting surveillance assignment in mind.

ooo

"You should have seen the poor kids face." Dick lamented, phone pressed between his ear and shoulder as he carefully shelved the new stock in the shiny shelves of the bar. Things here sold out a lot faster than Dick might have guessed before he'd started this job. Whether it was just this particular bar, or all of them that went through so much stock, he couldn't tell. Maybe Bludhaven's cops just needed a lot to drown out the guilt inherent in their jobs. "Like he thought I was going to drag him into an alley and murder him."

'That bad?' Donna laughed lightly at the other end of the receiver, but he could tell it was a strain on her, something that was only proven by with what she said next, 'You sure it's a good idea for you to be taking on a while city by yourself right now? If you need a break, you could always stop by here for a visit, I know Robbie would love to see his favorite uncle.'

No, he was not letting her use her kid against him, not with such blatant lies.

"I'm know I'm not the favorite uncle." Dick replied, injecting as much of his eye roll into his tone as he could get across without her being able to see him, he slid a bottle of cheap bourbon into its waiting slot. "Besides, I'm fine, just a little shook up yesterday is all, I'll take some time off soon as I get the chance."

'And you're going keep putting it off, what a new surprising turn of events.' She said dryly.

"Are you trying to imply something here?" He circled round to the back of the bar to gather up a couple bottles of tequila.

'Me? Oh, I would never.' Donna sniffed as if she'd never been so offended.

Dick growled lowly in his throat, but wasn't given the chance to come up with any witty reply before he heard the door swing open. A little earlier than usual, but not like it was his place to say anything. "Customer," he said, "gotta get to work."

'Just promise me you're trying to take care of yourself there.' She got out before he could hang up on her.

"I promise," Dick said, and he did mean it, for the most part, he thought he was doing okay at being by himself, "long as I don't see any more doppelgangers for a while, I'll be fine."

'Okay Dick, but I'm call to check up later.'

"I'll look forward to it." He had no trouble meaning when he said that at least.

What happened earlier had just been a fluke, nothing else, now that he really thought about it, the kid probably hadn't even looked as much like Jason as Dick remembered, it was just the stress of such a big change searching for familiarity where there wasn't any. He was fine.

Then he turned into to see Jason's face looking back at him and only his quick reflexes saved both bottles from shattering against the floor. It hit his breath away with such force, his usual welcome spiel died in his throat.

"You!" The kid let out a loud, over the top gasp and clutched a hand at his chest. "Are you stalking me?"

What?