"Roll away your stone I will roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find." - Roll Away Your Stone by Mumford and Sons
Leaning his back against the concrete wall, Jason let himself rest for a few minutes before he would have to continue on with his patrol. The night in Gotham was different from what he encountered when he lived in the streets and in his current life with Bruce Wayne. Seeing the multiple streets, lights and old buildings blend together from one of the many newer buildings to make something that was almost beautiful scene. Close enough to a normal city that anyone could forget that it was Gotham.
Still there enough details for people who lived in this city to know that it wasn't a normal city. Especially when one of the many villains executed a plan to take over it in one way or another.
Then quietly, almost like he expected his mentor to suddenly swoop in, Jason took out a cigarette pack that he had been hiding for the last few weeks. Even if it was a habit he shouldn't continue since he lived with two people who were more observant than they let on, he clung onto it. Like he needed something from his old to life to know he actually lived it.
As if the the other million things that Jason did around the two adults in his new life that never reminded him of his time on the streets.
Lighting the cigarette and then taking a deep breath, Jason could feel his mind starting to relax a bit. Continuing to let the smoke escape his mouth, he moved his body to sit on the ledge, dangling his legs over the side with ease. Peacefully he watched over the city, taking a few puffs of the cigarette in his hand. Jason didn't worry about any reporters spotting him and possibly indirectly telling Bruce of his habit. Nobody was all that interested in the sidekick of Batman. Even with the concerns of whoever wore the target of a costume to be a kid, nobody was interested.
All except maybe the kids. They adored that someone they're age was a superhero. At least from what Jason read of the news during the morning when he could steal the newspaper from Bruce. (Who still read newspapers in this day and age?) Who knew what anyone actually thought now that he was stuck with elites.
As he released another bout of smoke from his mouth, Jason heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Before he could crush the cigarette onto the ledge he sat on, he felt the light touch of someone's hand on his back. Definitely not Bruce since he would have a stronger grip and an angrier presence about catching his ward smoking than whoever was behind him.
"Don't think you should be smoking on the job, non?" An accented voice spoke up. Then the person entered Jason's field of vision, the long brown hair falling to one side of his neck. "Wouldn't be good to be caught by the boss when he finally trusted you to do this on your own."
Taking in the appearance of the older boy in front of him, Jason could only furrow his eyebrows in confusion. The trench coat was a bit big, probably even a decade older than the boy with the few mysterious stains on it. But somehow it fit along with the plain t-shirt, jeans and sunglasses that he wore on this night.
"Better than having a jumpscare because of a kid few years older than me." Jason finally answered back, putting in a bit of a sarcastic edge to it. "Plus wearing sunglasses during the night around here is asking for somebody to rob you blind."
"Oh, you just have as much spunk as Papa spoke about." The older boy said, chuckling a bit. Then he moved to sit on the ledge right next to Jason and plucked a cigarette from him as well.
"Hey don't steal those! I don't have a lot of them left and I don't have the time to get more of them." Jason said harshly. He tried to get it back, but was met with a playful smirk and the cigarette being held over his head. "Come on man, I don't need to deal with this."
"Then let me have the one and I'll get you a pack in return for doing so. How about that for a deal, oiseau?"
"If you give me your name along with the fact why you're bugging me than I'll consider it."
"I can deal with that." The boy said, still holding his playful smirk. "The name is Remy Lebeau and you met my father when he visited this city a year ago. I just wanted to see the boy that he was considering to adopt for the future of the Thieves Guild."
Jason processed this information, trying to remember who Remy was talking about. A lot happened to him in the last year and even with his sharp mind, some things were bound to escape him. But there was something familiar about the mentioning of the Thieves Guild. "Did your father visit Gotham for a meeting for the Thieves Guild?"
"It was a routine one. He mentioned a small boy trying to steal his wallet and then beg him to teach him all he could before he left the city." Remy said. He still held the cigarette in his hand, waiting for Jason's approval to light it up.
"You mean that man was your father?"
A smile replaced the smirk on Remy's face. "A lucky imbécile I was to try and steal from Jean-Luc and he only decided to adopt me rather than do anything else. Same way you were lucky that he only decided to teach you his secrets as a thief."
"I'm guessing he's the head of the whole guild with that statement." Jason said. Then he handed Remy his lighter and watched as the older boy lit up his cigarette.
"Oui, you are correct." Remy said, breathing out smoke. "But he was sad to hear that he couldn't have two possible sons as the next Master of the Thieves Guild when he heard the news of you being in the process of being adopted by Bruce Wayne. So he sent me to check in on you."
"So this is your roundabout way of saying hi to me?" Jason asked. "Couldn't have done it when I wasn't patrolling? What, how did you know I was patrolling?"
"That's the first question you should have asked me, petit oiseau." Remy said with a laugh. Smoke poured out of his mouth as he tried and failed to keep his laughter in.
"I'm asking now. How did you know I was patrolling tonight, especially alone?" Jason demanded. He watched as Remy gained control over his laughter and quietly take in another inhale of the cigarette. Below them were the sounds of traffic continuing on despite it be late in the night.
Then with an exhale of smoke, Remy spoke up again. "I used a few of my connects I have in the guild to get some information about you and then continued my own investigation when nobody else could give me anything. Then I followed you around for the past few days and found out you were Robin. Knew it wouldn't take much to find you alone and talk to you."
"And you're just going to report that back to Jean-Luc? Not gonna try and inform the news that you found out the identity of Batman and his sidekick?"
"Have you so little faith in a thief?" Remy asked redundantly. Then cracked a smile as he pulled his sunglasses down far enough for Jason to see the red and black eyes.
Even if they aren't as noticeable in the dim light that came from the street below them, it was the only physical indicator that Remy was a mutant. Still it was enough for Jason to understand why the older boy wouldn't give away such huge news. It would come at the cost of endangering himself in the process.
Jason looked down at the street below, watching the few citizens that braved the night walked on. He could hear Remy shuffling beside him, even heard when the cigarette was finally put out. The silence hung between them, but it was something that Jason needed for now.
Then he felt the light touch on his back once more. "I'll want to see you a bit more the next time we meet up. Papa will want to keep tabs on you just in case you ever want to join the guild."
"Give up the life of being a vigilante for a thief? Don't think Bruce will ever let that happen willingly." Jason said with a small smile. "Even Jean-Luc might have some issue going against the Bat stare."
"Never say never petit oiseau. Life has a strange way of twisting things around." Then with that Remy moved away from the ledge and walked away. Jason waited for the steps to fade away before he got up to resume his patrol.
Swinging from the building, he felt just a bit lighter than he had for the past few months. Between the fight with Bruce and Dick and the media trying to pry secrets out of him about his new life, it was nice for something like this to happen. When meeting up with Bruce to report that not a lot happened, he hoped he could form a friendship with Remy.
It wasn't until he got home and was away from prying eyes that he saw that Remy had taken two more of his cigarettes. With a few swears at the older boy, Jason carefully stashed them back in the spot that neither adult would easily find them. With that he fell asleep in a bed he still wasn't quite use to.
In the morning when he woke up, he noticed something on the nightstand. When reaching for it, he saw a note with unfamiliar handwriting addressing him. 'Mon oiseau, hopefully you can forgive me for taking a few more cigarettes than what was promised. I couldn't resist myself as a thief you know. Hopefully these will make up for that.' -Remy Lebeau.
Putting aside the note, Jason reached over to see a brand new pack of cigarettes, not even opened by his new thieving friend. It was the same brand that he smoked last night, probably even from the same shop that he would get them at when he lived on the streets.
All Jason could do was smile at the gift as he put them with the other nearly empty pack of cigarettes.
Yeah I got this chapter done pretty quickly. I'm just really excited to write this out and having these two interacting with each other. But the next chapter is gonna be interesting to do since I'll be doing it from Remy's POV. That might take me a bit longer for what I'm gonna be doing.
Anyway, hopefully this was a good chapter to read! :D