Jason stood upright, rolling his eyes. My thighs were wrapped around his shoulders with my head hanging to the floor. I grunted and pulled myself up again as he narrowed an eyebrow and looked down at me again.
"I am going to drop you." He grunted, attempting to walk without crashing to the wall nearest to our left. My arm flailed from my chest defensively, hitting the dresser before I pulled it back into my chest.
"No you won't." He steadied as I did another crunch back up to him. My face met his and I smiled before I dipped back upside-down again. Honestly, I don't even know how we had gotten in this position. "I am too cute and you can't resist me."
He said nothing, only walked to the kitchen, using his hand as a guide on the wall.
"Didn't the doctor say that you shouldn't be working out so soon after getting vertical?" I pulled a leg down and flipped myself over like a dancer onto the floor, releasing the other leg in the process.
"Did you honestly think I wouldn't?" I sat down in the nearest stool at the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge and tossed me a water bottle from over his head. I caught it before it hit something breakable.
Jason's apartment was strangely elegant for him. I'd always assumed he would have had lots of dirty clothes and condoms lying around. But no, he surprised me yet again. He had a taste for fine china. Strangely, an antique tea set that he'd seen me staring at was one of his most valued items.
The idea of seeing Jason come home after a long day of fighting crime and having a steaming cup of Earl Grey made me laugh, but was somehow believable. Something Talia turned him onto no less. She had brought him back to life, in more ways than one.
"No, but it's only been a few days." He reminded me. Taking a sip from my water. "And Bruce still wants you to move in there. He doesn't trust me."
"I can't imagine why." I mused thoughtlessly, looking at some of the sparsely decorated walls. Honestly, it was cute. He had most of the things from my apartment (apparently Bruce had sold it three years into my coma). Jason had a fit and decided to loot the place for reminders. He had a few pictures that I'd had stashed away, one by his bedside, one in the living room across from the kitchen. He also had a few of my things hanging up. Just random things I'd never noticed but he took a liking too. Right above his tea set he had my domino, framed. It was cute, a nice gesture.
"After you went under, they couldn't fathom why I kept hanging around. Why I got so angry, why I kept visiting you all this time. I never told them anything. I felt stupid." His eyes wandered, leaning his arms on the counter in front of me. "After all, we'd only been intimate once. We'd really only bonded in those few days. I wasn't going to tell them any of that."
"Damian probably figured it out." I looked around more. Looking at more of my things his had scattered around. Between the bookshelves and scattered volumes of Brain Damage for Dummies there were little things, my old letter opener here, an old bookmark there. He even had an old glove of mine with the finger-stripes.
"He did." He nodded, getting back up. "Tea?"
I smiled. "Sure."
"He asked me about it, around a year ago. 'Were Grayson and you more than friends? Can't imagine why'". He even mimicked Damian's little -Tt- noise.
"What did you say?" He poured some water into the kettle and set it over the burner on the gas stove before turning to me.
"I said that I loved you." Instead of this being a sappy hallmark moment like it should have been, I spit up water on the table. I ended up coughing and sputtering over the counter while Jason watched, laughing.
I eventually looked back up to him. "Jason, we only had one night together. All this time, you were feeling this?"
He walked over to me and looked at me the way he did in the hospital, like he never thought he would ever see me again. He put a hand on my neck, drawing me closer.
"Dick. It killed me inside. I finally opened up to you. I finally gave everything to you, it was perfect. And the day after you die in my arms." He blinked away a tear that I pretended not to notice. "I never got to tell you how I felt."
"I'm not going anywhere." I smiled and he grinned. He let his hand drift away and let the screaming kettle off of the burner. He poured two steaming cups and doctored them up for us.
"I read everything I could." He shot me a smile from the stove as I sat back down. "About coma patients and brain damage. I should have gone to night school; I could have been a neurologist by now."
"Yea if your nights weren't already filled up." I chuckled as he handed me a cup.
"Careful it's hot." He said, leaning back down on the counter. "And don't fill up; we have dinner with the Bat and his demons tonight."
He brought his cup and tapped it with mine, laughing. His eyes crinkled around the edges and he looked happy, like he hadn't in a long time. I took a sip. Wouldn't you know it. Earl Grey.