You know how I said I didn't want nightmares? Well, it didn't fucking work. For a whole week.
Since I got home from the hospital my usually very peaceful slumber had been plagued by nightmares, most featuring Jason getting hurt and me either failing to save him, or me somehow being at fault. Some nightmares had spiced it up though, featuring Jason and Wally expressing their immense distaste and hatred for me after finding out who I really was. As if I didn't have enough anxiety over that already.
It was exhausting. I kept waking up in the middle of the night almost hyperventilating and covered in sweat, sometimes even crying (not that I would ever admit that), then trying to go back to sleep, only to be thrown right into the next horrific scenario. It was pure torture.
Mom and dad had definitely noticed something was wrong, but it wasn't the same as when I had nightmares about my biological family. That, I could tell them about. This, however, was a whole other situation that they didn't know anything about. So I had suffered alone.
It was nearing the end of day nine without proper sleep when mom finally had enough.
I'd fallen asleep at the table in the middle of dinner, my face planted right on my mashed potatoes.
"Ren, you need to tell me what's wrong, right now! You've been acting strangely for days"
Mom's tone made it clear it wasn't up for debate. Either I told her or she would never leave me alone.
I chose the third option. I got up from the table and stumbled to my room. I grabbed my phone, my wallet and the holo-bracelet, opened the window and simply climbed out.
In hindsight that was probably a really stupid decision, but it did let me avoid answering mom's question. For now at least.
I heard mom open the door to my room, so I kept walking, swerving behind a large hedge. I was not in the right state of mind to get a serious talk.
I hadn't really thought of where to go. Mom and dad were probably going to look for me. There was one place they simply couldn't get to though, which was the rooftops.
I knew of one apartment building, in particular, that was so run-down that the lock to the front door didn't even work. I had made that building kind of a hang-out spot for myself since I could easily get to the roof.
I navigated the mostly empty streets until I got to the building. I had to slow down my pace because of a steadily increasing pain in my side, but I didn't stop to rest.
~~~
Not many people still lived here. It was such a shithole. The few tenants that were left did try their best though. The staircase was always kept clean, and small friendly notes were sometimes left on the notice board. Over all, while the place was practically in ruins, the community seemed to be going strong.
I started climbing the stairs, six floors if I remembered correctly. My side protested at each step, but if I could handle getting shot I could handle some stairs, so I pulled through and eventually made it to the roof.
The view was beautiful from here. The sun was just setting behind another skyscraper and the sky was a mix of orange and purple.
I laid down on the concrete. It wasn't comfortable per se, but it wasn't too bad. Like, I didn't mind but I probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep, although today might be an exception, considering I was extremely sleep-deprived.
It had been a while since I had come up here. I guess I'd been busy lately with all the stuff with Jason. I did kind of miss just laying here in peace, listening to the distant traffic below and the occasional bird flying past.
My eyes slowly began to drift shut. The pain in my side was slightly distracting, but at this point I was too sleep-deprived to really care.
~~~
I wasn't even aware I'd fallen asleep, but I must have, because I awoke to a dark presence looming over me.
I opened my eyes and a squeak of terror left me as two glowing white eyes stared right back.
What in the actual fuck was Batman doing here?
"Um, hi?" I offered a small wave.
Batman crossed his arms.
"May I question why you're on a roof, a roof with no actual way up?" Batman questioned, which was fair, considering I had to do a bit of parkour to even get up here.
"No, you may not" I replied.
"Can you come down?"
I shook my head.
"Don't want to"
Batman sighed. He seemed way too casual compared to the Batman I was used to.
"How did you even get up here?"
"Parkour" I explained.
"And how are you planning to get down?" Batman further questioned.
Fucking hell, it felt like I was being chewed out by dad. Why was Batman parenting me?
"The fire escape, dude. It's not like I haven't done this before"
Giving Batman attitude was probably not the best idea, but oh well.
Batman's 'dad energy' only intensified as he crossed his arms.
"You're gonna need to get down from the roof, kid"
"Why?"
"You're not supposed to be able to get up here. It's dangerous" Batman argued.
"I don't know, personally I'm feeling pretty safe"
I just didn't know when to shut up, did I?
"Please get down, kid" Batman sighed.
Did the dark knight just say please?
Fine. I was getting bored anyway.
I sat up, immediately wincing in pain. My side was being a bitch.
I swore under my breath. I'd have to deal with the pain all the way home.
"Have we met before" Batman suddenly asked.
My heart dropped. I didn't know if I should lie or tell the truth. I really didn't want any more attention on me than needed, but if I lied Batman would surely find out sooner or later, and by then the consequences would have increased.
"You saved me when I got shot" I eventually decided to say.
You could see the surprise and then the realization on Batman's face, even through the mask.
"You got shot less than two weeks ago and now you're climbing rooftops?" he exclaimed.
"Yup" I replied.
"You should be resting" now Batman was parenting me again.
"I did! For two weeks. Now I'm bored" I argued.
"Okay," Batman looked like he was seconds away from a meltdown," let's get you down from here right now"
He left no room for debate.
"Fine" I muttered.
I got up and walked over to the ledge where I knew the fire escape was. Batman stopped me.
"You're not dropping two floors onto a fire escape. Not even if you were completely healed.
~~~
So that's how I ended up getting a piggyback ride from Batman. He used his grappling hook to safely bring us down to the fire escape, me honestly just vibing on his back.
"I better not see you up here again" Batman warned as we were exiting the building.
"Don't look, then"
And with that, I hurried off back home. Hopefully, mom had forgotten about our earlier conversation.