Whatever Jason was expecting of chemotherapy didn't compare to the real deal. His blood pressure dropped as soon as the medicine hit his blood stream and he must have looked like a baby in front of all those people, but screw him if he cared. All in all, it was hell, the thought that he had many others to follow made him want to cry, it didn't help that he had to spend the entire day in the hospital in observation and now that he was finally home all he wanted to do was melt in his bed and die in peace.
Right, Cassidy said he had to keep a positive outlook on his life. His eyes focused on the notebook he started writing. He stretched out and took it and saw the first page, with his list of reasons to live.
"This shit will need to get longer if I want to go through this." He let go of the notebook and drifted off to sleep
At five a.m., his alarm rang signaling Jason had another round of medicine to take. He didn't take long to do it since had to get up to puke and couldn't sleep since then. He considered calling someone he knew just to chat but that would be too suspicious, so he settled to counting the tiles on his roof and at some point he started creating mathematical formulas in his head to determine the size of his room. This thought was too disturbing for him
"I need a hobby." He checked the hours and saw it was already seven a.m., so he changed clothes and went grocery shopping. Lately his mind seems to be drifting off very often, something he didn't use to do before, he was proud to say he could be a very focused person if he wanted to be. He would ask Cassidy about that the next time they met. He walked in the grocery store and started rummaging through the bread section. He considered buying the whole grain kind, you know, be more healthy, but the brown color was too off-putting for his taste, so he settled for the normal kind. Next was milk. Ever since the chemo started screwing around with his body Jason's stomach seemed to prefer lactose-free, fat-free milk. He shuddered just remembering the milk incident, and nope, he didn't want a repeat of that, even if it meant drinking this disgusting think that disguised itself as milk. As he glanced down at his basket, Jason saw that it probably had more fruit than he ever bought before he got sick. Could that be considered a good thing?
"H-hello." The cashier greeted him. He looked to be really nervous somehow, and Jason remembered that this guy was there when he fainted. Shit. That was the reason he was buying his groceries at night
"Hmph." He grunted and glared at the guy, daring him to ask any questions. Thankfully the little bastard seemed to get the hint and just did what he was paid to do
"Okay, so… healthy food." Jason said to himself as he typed out the word on his cell phone browse engine. Pictures of vegetables and fruits appeared on the screen "I know what a carrot is, thank you very much. Hmmm, healthy recipes. Now we're talking!" Jason settled for a recipe of muffins, he thought he could do it. He even dug out an apron Dick gave him when he moved to a decent place and wore the pink frilly thing. Hm, who knew that something goldie chose could be useful. As he got the muffins out of the oven, he heard the sound of a camera shutter going off. He immediately got out his guns and shot at where the sound came from
"OUCH!" was the signal that he hit his target
"Give me the picture, birdy-boy, and no one gets hurt!" He demanded, stretching out his hand to Tim
"You already hurt me! And you should be getting the photo by now." He said with a smirk. Sure enough, a picture of Jason with a pink frilly apron and holding a tray of muffins appeared on his screen
"You little- who did you sent this to?!" he started shooting randomly trying to get a hit on Tim who was jumping around his kitchen like a flea
"Everyone I know. Hey, stop it! I'll tell Bruce you shot me!"
"I don't care! Stop moving, dammit!"
"I'll tell Dick you shot me!"
"I should've used real bullets on you!" Though he did stop shooting, but only because there was a chance he would be stuck with Dick on Thursday's patrol and didn't want him bitching at his ear
"Did you use brown sugar on this?" Tim asked around a mouthful of muffin
"Yeah, what about it?"
"You lost weight too."
"I'm trying to go healthy." Jason didn't want to admit it, but he's lost ten pounds already. His clothes were getting baggy and his muscles were becoming soft, but that was to be expected. Anyway, ten pounds were something he could hide from the bats, the real deal would be once he started looking like some of the people he saw at the chemo session
"Hmmm." That was the thing about Tim that annoyed the most out of Jason. He would hum and nod and all, but you could tell he was analyzing every move of his, and making up theories on his head "Are you going on an undercover mission?"
"What? The hell made you think that?"
"Oh, you know, you're on a diet and you're paler and less healthy-looking, so I thought you were preparing to go undercover as a drug addicted."
"I'm not going undercover. And I'm not paler." Him looking at his reflection on the stove top, however, gave Jason out
"Are you using drugs?"
"No!" Not the type you're thinking, at least "Did you come here to interrogate me?!"
Tim shook his head and grabbed another muffin "Dick said we're acting tonight."
"What?! Why?"
"There's been a change of move on Ramona's group. We're sure they'll flee tonight."
"Okay, and how are we going to split up?"
"Me and you on pier 19. Bruce and Dick on pier 30." He didn't know what annoyed him the most, be it that he got to spend a patrol with the replacement or that he was actually wishing he could pair up with the demon spawn "The plan will be this: We-"
"Nah, don't even bother giving me instructions. I'll shoot the baddies and you'll do your stuff." Tim furrowed his brows and was about to say something when a cheery voice beat him to it
"You'll shoot the baddies with…"
"Rubber bullets." Jason completed with a sigh
"Good boy!" Dick only got to pat Jason in the head once before he tried to bite his hand off
"What're you doing here?" Tim asked as Jason grumbled to himself about getting a vault front door
"I came in through the window." Dick answered and Jason showered him with a murderous glance
"You leave footprints all over my wall when you do that, you clumsy elephant!" Dick and Tim burst out laughing
"Did you really just call me a clumsy elephant?" Dick asked in between laughs to Jason, who was beet reed "Though, looking at how thin you are, I can see why you'd think everyone else was an elephant." Jason choked a little on his muffin
"For the last time, I DIDN'T LOSE WEIGHT!" Dick looks as though he wanted to continue the argument, but Jason cut him off "Why're you here?"
"I came to see you finally using the gift I gave you!" That was when Jason remembered he still had the freaking apron on and hastily took it off and then threw it on the trash. All the moving around and getting angry because of the two trespassers was making Jason feel sick and he leaned on the counter top. He felt something itching on his nose and when he wiped he saw blood on his hand. He softly cussed and rushed to the bathroom to get some toilet paper. He groaned when he heard Dick and Tim follow after him "What's wrong?" Dick's voice came from behind him
"Nothing, my nose's bleeding." He rolled some toilet paper and stuffed it in his nostrils. When he turned around Dick and Tim laughed at the silliness of his face
"You must be dying 'cause you're trying to be healthy." Dick said wiping his face. Yeah, that's what's killing Jason
"Shut up!" He said as he pushed past Tim and Dick and plopped down on his couch "Don't you people have life?" He groaned and wished the world would stop using his head as a trampoline
"Are you okay, Jason?"
"I'm peachy, now go away!"
"You'll be fine for today's patrol, won't you?" Right, the patrol. Not even going to beat around the bush and pretend they're worried about him
"Yes. Go away!" They hesitated a little around him until Jason's already thin patience snapped "GET OUT!" he shot rubber bullets at them until they fled his apartment
