Chapter 1

Jason woke up with a strong need to piss.

He rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to relieve himself. The dim light creeping through the window curtains told him it was early morning.

Too early. Jason was still exhausted and wanted to go back to sleep. He wasn't in a rush to be anywhere. A delivery was supposed to arrive today, but fuck it, the driver would just wake him when it got here.

Returning to the bedroom, he had every intention of throwing himself onto the mattress and crawling under the covers.

But there was a complication.

A woman was in his bed.

He didn't remember bringing someone back home with him.

Wait, what happened last night?

He backed out of the room and took stock of himself. He didn't feel hungover. After his resurrection, he coped in very unhealthy, admittedly self-destructive ways. Sometimes his drive to self-destruct had collateral damage. Unfortunately, that collateral tended to be women naive enough to think a bad boy with a drinking problem and an inclination towards violence was sexy.

But he hadn't partied that hard in years. After working through it with Roy, he was on the straight and somewhat narrow path.

Or so he thought. Had he relapsed?

He retraced his steps. Last night, he had rolled into Blüdhaven after a long drive from Metropolis, where he had left the Outlaws behind. He had to drive around the bay to avoid Gotham, which added a few exhausting hours of travel time.

When he arrived at his safehouse, all he did was snack, shower, then go to sleep. He had been alone the whole time. He was certain.

Then where the fuck did this girl come from?

He poked his head out of the bathroom and looked at the woman again. She was lying on her side with the covers pulled up to her chin, her long dark hair splayed across her face and the pillow. She felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite place how.

He wanted a better look at her face. Not wanting to disturb her, he crept to the other side of the bed.

The new angle didn't help; her voluminous wavy black hair still obscured her face.

He held his breath and reached out to brush a lock away, trying to be careful. He only revealed olive skin, plump lips, and a delicate chin before the lock of hair brushed against her nose and caused her to stir.

Jason plucked his hand away as the girl turned over with a soft sleepy whimper.

Hot damn. Jason bit his lip, holding back the urge to hiss in satisfaction.

The girl had squirmed over the covers, revealing… a lot of herself.

All she had on were purple panties and a thin black bralette.

The beginnings of a carnal growl rumbled in Jason's throat, but he held his breath.

Sure, he expected she would be undressed.

Yes, he anticipated she would be attractive.

But he did not expect her to be so fit.

Her underwear did little to obscure the girl's athletic body—taut arms, toned stomach, tight behind, and sculpted legs. Her petite breasts accentuated her lean figure.

He shook his head and rubbed the leer out of his eyes.

Her face, Jason, he reminded himself. He looked up only to see it was still obscured by her raven locks. Although disappointed, he wasn't regretting studying her body again for recognizable features. Maybe she had some tattoos he'd recognize.

Her right forearm had a lace-patterned sleeve that looked embroidered with flowers. On the inside of her left wrist, her light olive skin had a tattoo of two perched cats in silhouette. Jason didn't recognize the artwork. He looked closer for other tattoos and found she was covered in—his breath caught—dark splotchy bruises and shallow scrapes. They were everywhere, but mostly on her arms and legs. Her hands—the knuckles were red, and her palms were calloused.

Jason knew he could be rough if a girl let him, but never that wild. These were defensive wounds. It looked like this girl had gotten into a fight.

Goosebumps prickled on her skin, and her nipples tented to the bralette. The girl stirred, reaching for the covers, still mostly asleep. When she turned over again, her hair finally fell off her face.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself. "No way."

Jason recognized her.

He knew her. Very well.

He backed up in shock. Something on the floor caught his foot, and he fell. His butt made a loud thump on the floor.

The girl jolted awake. She scanned the room, and her dark green eyes landed on Jason.

"Jason?"

"Helena?"

Notes

Sorry for the extended hiatus, guys. Cancer, chemo, blah, blah, blah. You've heard it all from me before.

I'm doing a lot better now, so I tried getting into writing One Bad Day again. Gotham Knights helped inspire me, too, because it was released around the same time I finished my chemotherapy treatments. I play the story almost exclusively as Jason, using Barbara for side missions because she can get around the city easier. (Gliding on her cape is so fun!)

The gameplay can get repetitive and dull. The Arkham games are way better. But the story, guys... *chef's kiss* ... The cutscenes and character dialogue are what make the game worth playing. There are cute, wholesome, and heart-wrenching scenes with Jason and Barbara. They all stoked my imagination. However, I'm not a fan of that pairing, especially after they botched it in Three Jokers, so I subbed in a different Batgirl—Helena. Then I made Helena a little bit different than usual...

And that's when my imagination caught fire, and I couldn't get back to One Bad Day until I put this idea on the page. So here it is. I hope you like it.

And yes, the title references the Thrice song "Black Honey." I know the song about drug addiction, but isn't love a drug too?