I'm back~ didn't even realize its been two weeks—man time. smh

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Bloodyloveless: Haha yea they're slowly progressing. No worries, take your time. HAHAHA I love your reaction to the latest chapter. Looks like Jason has some tricks up his sleeves too lmao. Pretending to be like that haha. I'm cracking up here. Omg, my bad, didn't mean to do that to you poor readers and then I just happened to take a while in updating this chapter too—oops. Time flies, what can I say. But here I am. See sit back and relax. And thanks for the great reviews!

Disclaimer in first chapter.

Spoilers to Death in the Family Movie.

Chapter 9:

"Fxck off." Jason growled, but that only evoked a whistle from the older man, who found his sassy side cute.

"That's some attitude, haven't seen that in whore's lately." The man had the audacity to cup the younger's chin, raising it up. "Shouldn't ya be the one ashamed of yourself. You're the one opening your legs for money. Greedy little things."

That was it. The teen's ears couldn't stand listening to his grumbling any longer, hence swinging his hand to punch the living daylights out of him, However, to his surprise the man gripped his wrist, and swung his arm behind his back, slamming him into the wall.

"Who do you think you're aiming for?" The elder pressed him harder against the wall, as Jason clenched his teeth, cheek flattened against the cold wall. "Why don't you let me have a go once? I'm really curious what about you caught the richest man's attention—bet you're a killer in bed." He whispered the last part near his ear and it made the younger sick to his stomach.

'Fxck! If I have to hear any more I'm gonna rip his tongue out and literally feed it to the strays outside the street.' The ravenette thought, squirming a bit, until the dead weight was lifted off of him. The teen looked over his shoulder to find a shadow looming over them.

"What's going on here?" The third person, Bruce, was glaring down at them as he held the man back.

"Bruce…" Jason breathed out, instantly walking over to his side, missing the murderous death glare the elder was sending the other man.

"Is there a problem?" Bruce imposed again.

The man straightened up after Bruce released him. "He was acting out of hand, didn't know he was with you."

"Liar." Jason tattled but Bruce stood in front of him.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding. I would rethink those accusations Mr. R. We were on our way out. Also, your company runs a media firm, I heard some of your stocks were recently lost. I'd focus more on that than other's affairs. After all, it'd be devastating if one more hit brought your empire crumbling down." The man paled at Bruce's subtle threat.

"O-of course, my apologies Mr. Wayne, I must have drunk too much."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to."

"Young man, I think I went a bit overboard with the drinks and party tonight. I didn't mean any harm." The man grumbled towards Jason.

"I still didn't hear an apology." Jason crossed his arms, feeling cocky suddenly.

"I'm very sorry." The older man said through gritted teeth. The teen pretended to think on it, but Bruce planted a hand on his shoulder and led him out.

'Bruce is amazing.' Jason smirked, admiring his partner. "Hey I was gonna have a little more fun with it."

"I'm sure you would have. Now let's go, that's enough of this place." The elder solemnly mouthed. He underestimated how much of a trouble magnet Jason could unknowingly become.

"Tell me about it."

'He probably dressed you up head to toe so he could undress you himself later, like some prized trophy.' The old man's words ringed in his mind again, but the teen shook his head to knock them out.

On way back, Jason pretended to sleep in the car, leaning by the window with his eyes closed and steady breaths. He assumed it was less awkward that way. Though why he felt awkward—he had no idea.

When they arrived at his apartment, Bruce gently tapped him to wake him up. The teen straightened himself and rubbed his eye, getting out of the car.

"I had a great time, thanks—but definitely not going again haha." The teen said but still appreciated Bruce risking his reputation and inviting him. The elder flashed him a smile, before reaching out and handing him a gift bag. The younger stared baffled, slowly taking it. "What's this?"

"Just something for your brothers to enjoy." The elder told and waved as they drove away. The teen peered down into the bag, they were deluxe chocolates, similar to ones he saw at the party.

"Hmph, really, he's so…" Jason couldn't stop his lips from tugging into a fond smile, warmth spreading in his chest. 'Why did everything he do, just make him like him more?'

"Welcome back." Dick opened the door and Jason handed him the desserts. "These are expensive—where did you mug these from?"

"The fxck? From Bruce."

"You mugged Bruce?!"

"No! I got them from Bruce dimwit! He gets these all the time!"

"He's such a gentleman." Dick adored. "How can a billionaire be so kind? But anyways how's the internship going? You guys ended late today."

"Yeah…just some convention thing he wanted me to attend…" Jason had lied to his brothers saying he had accepted to work for Bruce. Obviously because it was a great cover up for his time as Robin.

"Hey guys~" A redhead girl in a wheelchair greeted the pair in the batcave one day.

"Batgirl! Yo!" Jason paced over to her as he exited the elevator, Bruce slowly following after.

"Ahem, its Oracle now, remember?" Barbara reminded.

"Meh, I like batgirl better." At that the girl rolled her eyes. He had known her shortly after he joined Batman, so he had known her mainly as Batgirl until recently when the whole incident with joker put her in a wheelchair permanently.

"What's the urgency Oracle?" Bruce asked as he stepped closer to the bat computer. The girl began typing on her laptop which was placed on the Bat computer shelf.

"Not urgent per say… but I have been picking up activity in the city that's been consistent and catching my eye." She explained. "There's someone lurking about. You may even know her. Female, 5' 8, dark long hair and spotted dressed in ninja or spy like clothing." Bruce raised a brow. "Or not…if you're making that face. Well either way, she sent a signal to meet you at Xx rooftop tonight. Good luck."

"Robin, be prepared." Bruce called out in his batman voice and went to assemble his gear.

"Yes sir~" Jason followed suit.

The pair made it to the said rooftop and waited. As promised a curvy female figure leaped on to the edge and trudged towards them, face all covered. "What is this? I thought I requested only Batman? Not the child." Bruce recognized the accent and voice right away. Jason narrowed his eyes, not entirely recognizing her but it seemed Bruce had.

"Talia." Bruce announced. "Why are you here?"

"Why not?" Talia casually strolled closer. "I missed you beloved. And I knew you would never call." She now stood merely inches away from Batman's solid figure. If she shifted any closer, her breast would be grazing Batman's armor and Jason wasn't sure how comfortable he felt with all this…proximity.

"Is that the sole purpose you are here?"

The women sighed. "So cold, as always. Are you telling me you didn't once think about me?"

"No." Batman flatly answered and the teen stifled a mocking chuckle. Talk about clingy. "Are you done?"

Talia didn't like that response, if her body language was any indication. Pulling her mask down, and revealing her face, she hooked her hands on the elder's shoulders, smiling confidently at him. "Not yet. Think again beloved. That night we shared was so magical—we should do it again. We used to be quite the power couple. I still remember it like yesterday."

Jason wanted to barf. 'Please lady, don't start making out right here.' He couldn't see that—didn't want to see that. What was this tightening feeling in his chest…?

"Talia, if you have no business here, then return. Don't loiter around here. Robin and I have work to get to." Batman firmly pulled her arms off. The brunette woman glanced at Jason once, eyes not very welcoming but not very hostile either. It seemed more like she was looking down on him, but Jason wasn't going to let it get to him. With that, Batman turned away and Robin followed in his footsteps, leaving the women standing on the rooftop.

"Oh you will see me again beloved…and you'll be surprised next time."

Batman brushed off the message, but the teen couldn't help but think about it. 'Why did she sound so confident? Like she already had something up her sleeve…'

"Never thought I'd witness Batman's ex." The teen remarked after they settled on another rooftop that night.

"It's in the past." Batman expressionlessly replied. The younger wanted to hear more, out of curiosity but it didn't seem like the elder was going to say more.

"She looks a little familiar though…"

"Ra's Al-Ghul's daughter."

"Ah! The leader of the League of Assassin's?! Damn, that explains how you guys met I guess…" Jason put the pieces together. He was aware of Ra's but he never really ran into Talia, he had only seen a few pictures of her while skimming through the files. "You got caught up in some shit…she still seems hung up on you…"

"Like I said, that's in the past. Stay focused Robin." Batman took out his grappling gun and shot it in the air, jumping off the building.

Jason sighed. "Okay, okay fine."

'Wait this…this lead…' Jason was examining some documents in the batcave a week later when he stumbled across Joker working with a new lady. 'What was this clown up to now…?'

"You're already here." Bruce's voice exiting the elevator startled him and he quickly shut down all the files.

"Y-yo. What's up?" Jason played it cool. The elder shot him a questioning look at first before shrugging it off.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, just some old files." The teen lied.

"I see. Any new leads?"

"Nope." While Jason stood up and let Bruce take over the bat-computer, his phone buzzed once. He walked away from the computer towards the bench, leaning over it. It was Barbara.

Ba: Hey. How did the meeting with Talia go?

The teen texted back.

J: u call that a meeting? It was awkward and annoying as hell

J: the whole time she was practically simping over him

J: how long did these two even dated?

He didn't realize he had typed so much until the girl texted back.

Ba: Mh…not a hundred percent sure but not for too long. I heard they even got married once but got divorced shortly after she had a miscarriage or something…

Ba: i mean it's probably hard to choose sides when you're dating the batman but affiliated with the League of Assassins

'Miscarriage…' Jason thought, Talia's last remark automatically replaying in his head. 'Or did she…whatever, it doesn't matter now. If she had a triumph card, she would've already used it by now—especially if it had anything to do with getting Bruce back.'

J: I see…

Ba: you're pretty interested

J: not really…just curious…

Ba: you sounded so furious earlier

J: whatever

Ba: hang on.

J: ?

Ba: Are u JEALOUS?

"What?!" Jason ended up exclaiming out loud, catching Bruce's attention. "N-nothing…" The teen sheepishly reassured the elder before turning back to his phone.

J: the fxck? No—why would I be?

Ba: …

Ba: just proved my point

J: yr dumb ok

After that, he just tossed the phone aside.

"Everything okay?" The younger heard his partner ask.

"Yeah. Never better." Jason brushed off. 'Jealous?'

"If you say so." Bruce never looked away from his computer and continued typing. Jason sneaked a glance towards the elder. 'Jealous of Bruce…? Or jealous of Talia…?' The younger's face flushed as he looked away. 'Shit.' He mentally cursed when he registered it was the latter.

"I'm…I'm going home." The teen proclaimed as he rushed away, out the cave. Bruce raised a brow, thinking his behavior was odd tonight.

Jason convinced Dick that he was going on an overnight field trip with his school—outdoor camping blah blah. Luckily Dick bought into his lies and without informing anyone he booked a ticket to Bosnia. As much as he wanted to handle Joker on his own, because he knew Bruce wouldn't, he also had suspicions of this blond lady Joker was working with. It probably wasn't significant but it was bothering him.

The teen was currently walking inside his hotel lobby. He was grateful Bruce gave him so much money for expenses. Of course he rejected it at first but the elder convinced him to buy more food and clothes when he needed. A part of him felt kind of guilty spending it like this—

Jason could hardly finish the thought when a hand yanked him backwards into a storage closet, slamming him against the wall.

"Jason!" An all too familiar voice roared in his ears as he cracked his eyes open and saw the serious face before him.

"Bruce?" There was mild surprise in his tone as he uttered the name. "You followed me—figures." Why was he shocked at that? He could never hide anything from the elder.

"I was about to guess the same for you, but I didn't follow you to Bosnia, I followed Ra's Al Ghul."

"Hah, he's got you jumping through hoops to marry his daughter again, huh?" There was a taste of spite on his tongue. "Well, I'm on my own mission here. I'm tracking joker."

"Joker? Here? And you're tracking him alone? You know how dangerous that is right—we have specific protocols—"

"I know he shot Barbara through the spine! And you only put that waste of life back in a cell. Well he's broken out again." The teen criticized.

"Ra's is attempting to build deadly bombs, and he's buying nuclear material from an unknown seller." Bruce told.

"…Joker got a hold of stolen uranium. I got a lead he's selling it to terrorists." Upon that, Jason took out his radar from his inside pocket and showed it.

The elder smiled at that. "Excellent detective work Jason. I think It's going to take Batman and Robin to close this case."

Pushing all the animosity from aside earlier, Jason smiled back in agreement.

Batman and Robin hid behind a snow pile, below ground level to a warehouse up ahead as they tracked their adversaries.

"Ra's's men are getting away. We need to act now." Bruce claimed.

"Batcycle only seats one. You take them down while I investigate that warehouse we tracked Joker in." Robin pointed.

"No. Stay here." Batman sternly stated, grabbing hold of the teen's shoulders, insinuating just how serious he was. "Just watch that warehouse."

"But—" The younger wanted to prove he was capable of much more than that. He wanted to make Bruce proud and showcase how much he had improved.

"Jason for once just listen to me. Don't go after joker alone—he's too dangerous. Do you read me?"

The teen's shoulders slumped. "…loud and clear. Just… hurry back." He replied dejected. Batman nodded once and rode off on his motorbike.

Jason waited for what seemed like forever. 'He's going to get away…there's no way Bruce is going to make it back in time.' The younger was fidgeting back and forth. 'He could take that clown on his own…what was the big deal? Especially since Joker was alone here without his usual devices…it shouldn't be too bad…Batman could always join in later.' Jason wanted to make that clown pay. And then they could fly back home, feeling accomplished, just in time for his eighteenth birthday which was in two days.

However, it was nothing like Jason planned. He held up a good fight initially but Joker pulled out his usual tricks and in the blink of an eye, had the upper hand all of a sudden. The deranged clown managed to tie his wrists behind his back and beat the ever living crap out of him with a crow bar. The teen never looked away though, a glare persistently lingering in his bright turquoise eyes as he took every hit. He was also convinced that Batman would burst in any minute.

But seconds dragged into minutes and no one showed, to the point Jason had to fake being unconscious just for the Joker to leave him be. It worked, as Joker stopped his abuse and began pulling his coat on.

"Okay kiddo, I gotta go now. That was fun wasn't it? Though it was probably a smidge more fun for me than it was for you—I'm just guessing since you're being awfully quiet…" Joker opened the door, the blizzard winds from outside ravaging inside, sending a chill to his bruised body. "Anyways, be a good boy, finish your homework and be in bed by nine. Oh, and please tell the big man, I said hello." His undying cackle could be heard even as the wooden door closed shut.

As soon as the clown was gone, Jason peered an eye open, grunting as he rolled over on the floor such that his wrists were now in front of him. He pushed himself off the ground, standing weakly, taking a step but collapsing back down. 'Shit it hurt like no other.' He had no choice but to crawl his way to the old door, streaks of blood smearing on floor while he practically dragged his body. The glimmer of hope he had died on the spot once he reached the door and saw it was locked, trying the door handle a couple times.

'Fxck…' He didn't even have the strength to slam his body against the door to force it open.

Tick.

'Fxck, fxck.' He was such an idiot.

Tick.

Tick.

Over the internal cries of his wounded body, the teen hadn't processed it before but he glanced to the far end of the room to find a timer—counting down.

Jason's expression numbed as it hit him. 'A bomb.' The time was already at the seconds phase. At that point, he had accepted his fate, as he sadly closed his eyes. He wished he could have said goodbye to Dick and Tim one last time—he felt so sorry for them, not aware of any of this to come. And Bruce… if only he had figured out his feelings earlier…he could have confessed if he knew he'd die today.

There was no use in crying now. Jason knew that but tears still welled behind closed eyes as he clenched his jaw.

To be Continued…

Things got intense real fast huh, lol. Sorry for the cliffy, I'll be back soon with the next chapter. Thanks for reading and plz review!

Also I felt bad for the lack of fanart in this story and was in the mood, so I drew an image for them while i wasn't writing. It's on my deviantart. 😊