Prompt #2: Why [would] you do that?

Jade still didn't like Gotham.

No matter how much time she spent there, she couldn't get over her distaste for the city. She had a safehouse here, but only used it when she wanted to check up on her mother, or Artemis. Not that they knew, and if they did, she was long gone before they could call for her; family reunions weren't her cup of tea.

When Jade did come around to Gotham, she tried to stay for a few hours at most. She'd brought Roy here, once, when they needed to stock up on supplies before proceeding to Singapore. Figures that he would come back here to wait her out; she was nothing if not predictable.

When she left him stranded in Bruges, she didn't think she was going to come back. There was no reason for her to go back to him. His obsession with finding that Speedy kid was growing far too intense for her liking. More often than not, his moods were low, and she was often on the receiving end of it. In Bruges she'd had enough, and left him without so much as a note. And yet, here she was, back in bed with him without so much as an apology.

"You're cruel," he muttered into her hair, squeezing her waist before climbing out of bed. "Six weeks, Chesh."

She propped herself on her elbows with a grin. "How sweet. You counted."

"Of course I counted, you have all the leads. Next time you're pissed, at least leave those behind so I don't go on a bunch of dead ends." Jade rolled her eyes, reaching under the bed for her discarded clothes while he also redressed.

"Next time I'm pissed, I might just disappear for good."

Roy joined her again, silencing her with a swift kiss that admittedly left her dizzy. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"That's my line, Red."

"And I stole it." Roy paused, letting out a deep breath, almost like he'd been holding it in. "I got you something." Jade wasn't sure if the flush in his cheeks was from the intensity of their kiss, or from whatever he was hiding from her.

She rocked her hips against his, pressing him further against the bed frame. "Why would you do that?"

Roy chuckled, a dry sound that startled Jade; he hadn't laughed in weeks. "I don't know," he admitted, gently pushing her off of him and holding her wrist. "But I did." His thumb rested by her pulse, stirring a feeling in Jade that she had to fight to ignore.

"Well now I'm curious," she purred.

Roy didn't respond. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulling out what looked very much like a ring. He held it in between his fingers, letting out a deep breath. "I don't know what I was thinking," he sighed, unable to meet her eyes just yet. "But you… you pissed me off, leaving like that. Looking for Roy without you, being without you… just didn't feel right anymore."

Jade blinked, unsure if she was hearing correctly. Last she checked, they were fighting, and now he was proposing? Roy caught the look on her face and laughed, almost pathetically, "We make a pretty good team. So I thought…" he trailed off before shaking his head. "It's stupid."

"Getting married? Incredibly."

"Yeah." Roy let go of her wrist, pocketing the ring again. "I wasn't thinking straight. I'm a clone, I don't get to steal Roy's life like this. I can't take another fucking thing away from him."

Jade's face immediately fell, her unimpressed facade broken. She rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to offer the only show of sympathy she could think of. "That's not what I meant. You're not taking anything away from him, Roy—"

"But that's just it, Jade," he spat, rejecting her touch and moving away. "I'm not Roy. I'm his clone, a worthless copy," he grunted, pausing to run a hand over his head. "Why should I get to do anything when he's still trapped somewhere?"

"We'll find him," Jade swore. "We've barely started looking." When he didn't respond, she took a step closer, grabbing his chin with her fingers and tilting his head upwards so he was looking at her. "Just because he's the original, doesn't mean that you're any less important."

"And why's that?" Roy asked bitterly.

A normal girl might have professed her love to him. There would be a whole speech, a moment of declaration with perfect words of reassurance. Jade was never one for normalcy. Instead, she pulled his head down again so she could kiss him. She did love him, she just didn't quite know how to say it, yet. To her satisfaction, he kissed her back, seeming to understand what she was getting at.

Jade pulled away first, resting a hand against the back of his neck as they both caught their breaths. Roy recovered first, muttering a soft 'I need you' in her ear before proceeding to kiss her neck. His kisses were nice, but she couldn't ignore that they were at a stalemate now: a ring was waiting in his pocket, and she still hadn't given him an answer. So, she reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the ring, a tiny thing encrusted with a singular gem: a jade.

"You can't be serious," she muttered. "A diamond wasn't good enough?"

"No." Roy lifted his head from the crook of her neck, giving her a wry smile. It was small, but there. "You were gone for weeks. I thought this was a suitable punishment."

Jade hummed in response. "Fair enough."

"Is that a yes?"

"Don't get too excited. It's not like we can make it legal." Roy shrugged before he kissed her, long and hard. Within moments, the ring was on her finger. It wouldn't stay there for long, but for now, she'd admire it. Later that night, once he'd ravaged her and given her a punishment much more to her liking, that she lay awake, fingering the tiny jade. Maybe there was a reason she kept coming back to him.

In fact, maybe he was her reason.