p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Almost as soon as Jason left, Roy missed his presence. It wasn't Jason personally that he missed, at least not exactly, it was more the case that Roy hadn't just hung out all day with anyone like that for a long time. Despite the studying, it had felt like they'd just been two friends, spending their Saturday together. It hadn't felt forced or stilted at all. Roy had worried that the tutoring would feel like a burden, that Jason would view him as an obligation. But, it truly hadn't felt like that at all, and he'd actually gotten work done - and enjoyed it! It made him a little nostalgic. He hadn't had such a fulfilling Saturday since before Oliver took him in. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For the last 4 or 5 months or so his Saturdays had followed a routine. He'd drag himself out of bed in the early afternoon, lounge about, eat some food, and go to band practice with the guys. They'd practice a little, run through the set for their next gig, and then they'd lay around listening to music. They had a little ritual of sorts, where they'd take it in turns stating a band that they felt inspired by, then they'd sit around for an hour after practice listening to said band and passing a joint between them. So, despite the fact that Roy had enjoyed his day with Jason, and was rather proud of himself for the school work he'd completed and the enthusiasm he'd approached it with, he still had the same Saturday routine to attend to. He shrugged on his jacket and headed out, sparking up a cigarette for the way./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Nearly 3 hours later, he lay across the floor of the garage, the concrete floor rapidly helped to cool his sweat-slick skin. His hair was a tangled, greasy mess from all the exertion he'd put into a rather vigorous drumming session. Chucky rolled a generously sized joint before raising it to his lips. He took 2 large drags and exhaled slowly before passing it along, stoner etiquette. Everyone knew that you didn't take a single drag, there'd be way more passing than puffing if you did it that way./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"By the time it was Roy's turn the haze of smoke had made it's way through the room, the smell was cloying and pungent, and if this had been a smaller and more confined space, they'd have a hotbox on their hands in the not so distant future. They might even get to that point without trying - not that it was ever a bad thing. A small smile touched Roy's lips as he breathed in deep, the taste hit the back of his throat, the second hit felt a lot smoother. He passed it along./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy had picked the music this week, and span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Led Zeppelin/span - though an obvious choice - was always his go to. There was no other band that inspired Roy greater. And the lyrics of span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Whole Lotta Love/span provided the perfect soundtrack to finish off the evening. There were no words spoken between the exhausted but relaxed musicians. There was some humming along, feet or fingers tapping out the beat of the track, and a whole lotta smoking. And for the first time that week, Roy wasn't thinking about the big, empty house he'd have to return to, or what it meant that no one seemed to care where he was, or what he was doing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"You've been coolin', baby, I've been droolin',/spanbr /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"All the good times I've been misusin',/spanbr /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Way, way down inside, I'm gonna give you my love/span/p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason's evening progressed like most others, he ate dinner with Alfred and Bruce, and they both asked him for details of his day. He'd had a really great day. He loved Bruce and Alfred of course, but there was just something different about spending time with someone closer to his own age, someone who he genuinely seemed to get along with despite their initial misgivings about one another. Jason had already started considering Roy his friend, even if only within the privacy of his own mind. He babbled excitedly to Bruce about how this tutoring thing was so much fun. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bruce had always been a keen observer, and it certainly didn't escape his notice that his young ward spoke very highly of the other boy, regardless of the fact they really didn't know one another very well. It was surprising, especially considering how skittish Jason had been when he'd first been taken in. Jason had grown up with the belief that everyone was a potential threat, and it usually took him a considerable amount of time to truly warm up to someone. But Bruce was happy to see Jason so optimistic, nevertheless. However, it did concern the billionaire slightly that he'd had no knowledge of Roy Harper before Jason had brought him up. Surely, he would've been informed if another socialite had taken in a child around Jason's age. It had been all anyone talked about when Jason had come to live with him, and surely his peers would've thought it beneficial for Bruce to know if there was another child in a similar situation. Perhaps Jason and Roy would've been able to meet sooner if he'd known./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Oliver Queen certainly wasn't the fatherly type. Bruce briefly considered what that meant for the young boy in Ollie's care, but he trusted that if Jason had any serious concerns, he'd have told him. So, Bruce decided to leave it for the time being. He just smiled fondly as Jason relayed the events of his day./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As Jason was heading up to his room, he glanced down at the slightly smudged digits on the back of his hand, he smiled briefly. Without too much deliberation he retrieved his phone and quickly pecked out a simple text./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"[[text:Jason]]:/strong span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Hey it's jason :) i had a great time today/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason didn't receive a reply until the following afternoon. He didn't think too much of it, after waking Roy up at noon once already, he figured Roy had been sleeping all morning. The text said a simple span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"'you too :)'/span, but it appeased Jason. It was more than he'd been expecting. The message made him smile widely, and he found himself looking forward to school the next morning. He enjoyed school anyway of course, but there was something extra exciting about knowing that he'd be able to see Roy again. Jason just put it down to the great time he'd had with the other boy, and the possibility of having a real friend in the near future, if they continued to get on the way they had been./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was definitely a concept worth getting excited about./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For the last 4 or 5 months or so his Saturdays had followed a routine. He'd drag himself out of bed in the early afternoon, lounge about, eat some food, and go to band practice with the guys. They'd practice a little, run through the set for their next gig, and then they'd lay around listening to music. They had a little ritual of sorts, where they'd take it in turns stating a band that they felt inspired by, then they'd sit around for an hour after practice listening to said band and passing a joint between them. So, despite the fact that Roy had enjoyed his day with Jason, and was rather proud of himself for the school work he'd completed and the enthusiasm he'd approached it with, he still had the same Saturday routine to attend to. He shrugged on his jacket and headed out, sparking up a cigarette for the way./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Nearly 3 hours later, he lay across the floor of the garage, the concrete floor rapidly helped to cool his sweat-slick skin. His hair was a tangled, greasy mess from all the exertion he'd put into a rather vigorous drumming session. Chucky rolled a generously sized joint before raising it to his lips. He took 2 large drags and exhaled slowly before passing it along, stoner etiquette. Everyone knew that you didn't take a single drag, there'd be way more passing than puffing if you did it that way./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"By the time it was Roy's turn the haze of smoke had made it's way through the room, the smell was cloying and pungent, and if this had been a smaller and more confined space, they'd have a hotbox on their hands in the not so distant future. They might even get to that point without trying - not that it was ever a bad thing. A small smile touched Roy's lips as he breathed in deep, the taste hit the back of his throat, the second hit felt a lot smoother. He passed it along./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Roy had picked the music this week, and span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Led Zeppelin/span - though an obvious choice - was always his go to. There was no other band that inspired Roy greater. And the lyrics of span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Whole Lotta Love/span provided the perfect soundtrack to finish off the evening. There were no words spoken between the exhausted but relaxed musicians. There was some humming along, feet or fingers tapping out the beat of the track, and a whole lotta smoking. And for the first time that week, Roy wasn't thinking about the big, empty house he'd have to return to, or what it meant that no one seemed to care where he was, or what he was doing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"You've been coolin', baby, I've been droolin',/spanbr /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"All the good times I've been misusin',/spanbr /span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Way, way down inside, I'm gonna give you my love/span/p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason's evening progressed like most others, he ate dinner with Alfred and Bruce, and they both asked him for details of his day. He'd had a really great day. He loved Bruce and Alfred of course, but there was just something different about spending time with someone closer to his own age, someone who he genuinely seemed to get along with despite their initial misgivings about one another. Jason had already started considering Roy his friend, even if only within the privacy of his own mind. He babbled excitedly to Bruce about how this tutoring thing was so much fun. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bruce had always been a keen observer, and it certainly didn't escape his notice that his young ward spoke very highly of the other boy, regardless of the fact they really didn't know one another very well. It was surprising, especially considering how skittish Jason had been when he'd first been taken in. Jason had grown up with the belief that everyone was a potential threat, and it usually took him a considerable amount of time to truly warm up to someone. But Bruce was happy to see Jason so optimistic, nevertheless. However, it did concern the billionaire slightly that he'd had no knowledge of Roy Harper before Jason had brought him up. Surely, he would've been informed if another socialite had taken in a child around Jason's age. It had been all anyone talked about when Jason had come to live with him, and surely his peers would've thought it beneficial for Bruce to know if there was another child in a similar situation. Perhaps Jason and Roy would've been able to meet sooner if he'd known./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Oliver Queen certainly wasn't the fatherly type. Bruce briefly considered what that meant for the young boy in Ollie's care, but he trusted that if Jason had any serious concerns, he'd have told him. So, Bruce decided to leave it for the time being. He just smiled fondly as Jason relayed the events of his day./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"As Jason was heading up to his room, he glanced down at the slightly smudged digits on the back of his hand, he smiled briefly. Without too much deliberation he retrieved his phone and quickly pecked out a simple text./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"[[text:Jason]]:/strong span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Hey it's jason :) i had a great time today/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Jason didn't receive a reply until the following afternoon. He didn't think too much of it, after waking Roy up at noon once already, he figured Roy had been sleeping all morning. The text said a simple span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"'you too :)'/span, but it appeased Jason. It was more than he'd been expecting. The message made him smile widely, and he found himself looking forward to school the next morning. He enjoyed school anyway of course, but there was something extra exciting about knowing that he'd be able to see Roy again. Jason just put it down to the great time he'd had with the other boy, and the possibility of having a real friend in the near future, if they continued to get on the way they had been./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It was definitely a concept worth getting excited about./p