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 knew that he was in too deep. The reality was that upon moving in with Oliver, he'd been full of boundless positive energy, the kind of disposition that can only be carried by children. He'd been so sure that everything was going to be so much better. Oliver had a huge house and shiny cars and Roy could have whatever he wanted, and though Roy had never been a materialistic person - not by any stretch - as a kid he'd been so enamored by the grand scale of Ollie's fortune, and the endless possibilities that were at his disposal as a result. He'd never expected things to go so down-hill so fast, he'd never imagined that he would be shunned and mocked by his school peers because of his background, he'd never thought that Oliver would leave him to his own devices so often that Roy felt completely alone in the world. He'd never dreamed that he'd somehow develop a habit for making self-destructive decisions as a means to cope with his negative feelings. But, ultimately, Roy had never seen Jason coming./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 had crawled under Roy's skin and made a home for himself, like the second that Roy's back was turned and his defenses were down, Jay had set up camp and vowed to stay. And suddenly, Roy felt like he could be better than what he was settling for. For the first time in entirely too long Roy had someone who brought out only the good in him, and Roy wished that it was enough, that one good person could be enough to erase all the damage that he'd done to himself, the damage that had been done to him./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;"He liked the version of himself that he saw in the distant, potential future whenever he thought about Jason's influence on him. He wanted to be the kind of person that Jason could be proud to associate with, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult for him to spend time with his band mates without feeling like he was being torn in two, the guilt ate away at him, eroded the edges of every thought he had, until the only clear thing in mind was Jason./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 loved drumming, always had. It was his freedom. But suddenly, he didn't know who he was, it wasn't exactly a foreign concept. Roy had remade himself upon joining Great Frog. He'd felt so out of step that the need to become someone else had been irresistible. He'd taken the position as drummer and modeled himself after those he'd admired. He'd decided on the person he was going to be, painted over his former self and gave the performance of a lifetime everyday. Fake it 'til you make it. He hadn't made it yet. He was barely settled in his new shoes, still trying to flesh out the nuances of his character, and already this rendition of himself he'd created felt unfamiliar. He felt like a fraud. When he was with Jason, he felt an overwhelming calm, a realization that span style="font-style: oblique;"this is who i'm meant to be/span, but in every other aspect of his life he was bombarded with the feeling of span style="font-style: oblique;"i don't know who i am, so i'll make someone new/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;"Looking around Chucky's step-dad's garage at the mess of instruments and a precariously stacked CD collection, Roy just missed Jason. He passed the joint along and text his friend, and couldn't help the shit-eating grin that dominated his features when he got an almost instantaneous response./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[text: Jay]:/strong Not a lot :) Just finished my homework, what about you?/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 nearly chuckled, it was so typical of Jay to have his priorities in order. Never put off until tomorrow what you have time to do today. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Roy quickly typed out a reply./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[text: Roy]:/strong Just band practice. Same old, same old./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 wanted to tell Jason he missed him, but that would've been a little pathetic, and completely left-field. Roy himself wasn't entirely sure where that thought had come from, and though it was true, that didn't mean he felt particularity inclined to broadcast it. He could hear the boys talking around him, but he was paying no heed to the words, didn't even know the topic of discussion. His phone buzzed in his hand./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[text: Jay]:/strong This is really weird. Feel free to say no. But Bruce kinda wants you to come to dinner soon./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 froze, and reread the message a few times. He didn't have an immediate response to that, wasn't sure of his own reaction. The idea of meeting Bruce Wayne was daunting, just the idea of the man intimidated him badly enough. It was also a little peculiar, Roy had never eaten dinner with a friend's parents before. He'd always thought of span style="font-style: oblique;"dinner with the parents/span as a thing that span style="font-style: oblique;"couples/span did, and he and Jason were certainly not romantically involved in any sense. If it had been anyone else asking, Roy would've declined, but he had a hard time saying no to Jason, and he refused to dwell on what that meant./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="font-size: 15.12px;"[text: Roy]:/strongspan style="font-size: 15.12px;" sure, i'll be there/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;"span style="font-size: 15.12px;"_/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;"Roy palms were clammy and his fingers were quaking with nerves as he raised a hand to ring the door bell. He'd been dreading this ever since he'd initially agreed, all throught he school week Jason had been adamant that Roy could back out at any time, and it wouldn't be a problem. But, Roy had vowed to stick to his guns, so he found himself on the porch of Wayne Manor the following Saturday afternoon. There was a brief sound of shuffling from behind the door before it opened. Roy looked into the eyes of a balding man in formal wear, and in his peripheral he caught sight of Jason peering around the man's elbow. He grinned at him./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;""Good afternoon, Master Roy," the man spoke, his accent was thick and distinctly English, "I'm Alfred Pennyworth, welcome to Wayne Manor. Master Bruce is being held up on a business call. So, why don't you and Master Jason wait upstairs and I'll call you when lunch is ready?"/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 grabbed hold of Roy's wrist and dragged him up the stairs with a hurried 'thanks, Alfred!' over his shoulder. Roy rushed to keep up, his nerves quickly dissipated in the face of Jason's clear enthusiasm. They reached the second floor, and Jason led him to a room at the far end of the hall, it was large and luxurious, but clearly toned down enough and decorated appropriately for it to be Jason's bedroom. The desk was piled high with papers and textbooks, the book shelves were full of thick volumes with cracked spines that were clearly well-read. Jason stood in the room's center with a beaming smile on his face./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;""Hi!" Jason finally greeted, and Roy chuckled./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;""Hey, " he returned before gesturing to the scene in the foyer with a thumb over his shoulder, "What's with the 'master'? That's not like...a kinky thing, right?"/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!" Jason gasped, clearly scandalized by the very idea but his eyes were shiny with bright amusement, even as he shoved a Roy's shoulder./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 just laughed at Jason's flushed cheeks, he found his friend's embarrassment rather endearing. Cracking jokes, no matter how inappropriate they may be, had always helped Roy compose himself a little, and ease the tension. There was a part of Roy that hoped that Jason was nervous too, so that he wouldn't be alone in this. He wanted to ask Jason about Bruce, wanted to say span style="font-style: oblique;"what if he doesn't like me?/span. The words pushed at his lips, but Roy would never let them out, couldn't make himself appear weak that way. He had to maintain his front, make out that he didn't give a fuck if Bruce Wayne didn't like him, he didn't need his validation anyway. Except, Roy really wanted Mr Wayne to like him, for Jason's sake mostly, but also because if he could convince one billionaire playboy that he wasn't so bad, that he was worth something, then perhaps there'd be hope still for the same acknowledgement from Oliver. Roy hated himself for having that thought, for dwelling on Oliver when the man didn't deserve it. Roy felt feeble, crying out for attention from someone who was unwilling to provide it, like he was screaming with his mouth closed and the sound was simply echoing back and deafening him./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!"/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;"A bellow came from the bottom of the stairs, the voice was deep and carried no inflection or accent, obviously not the butler. Jason smiled and ushered Roy back out of his bedroom, and Roy realized that he was about to come face-to-face with Bruce Wayne, and he really wasn't ready. Before he could voice any protest - not that he would regardless - Jason stopped abruptly and turned to him. The younger boy reached for Roy's hand, and briefly entwined their fingers, so briefly that Roy's mind hadn't caught up on what was happening until it was too late./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's okay," Jason murmured, and offered a smile of encouragement./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 steeled himself, squared his shoulders and raised his chin, he gave a nod./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;""You ready?" Jay asked, almost teasingly./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;""Born ready," Roy couldn't help but quip./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 scoffed and chuckled good-naturedly, he gave Roy a fond smile that made the older boy feel 10 times more confident that he had been. He was as ready as he was going to be./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 had crawled under Roy's skin and made a home for himself, like the second that Roy's back was turned and his defenses were down, Jay had set up camp and vowed to stay. And suddenly, Roy felt like he could be better than what he was settling for. For the first time in entirely too long Roy had someone who brought out only the good in him, and Roy wished that it was enough, that one good person could be enough to erase all the damage that he'd done to himself, the damage that had been done to him./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;"He liked the version of himself that he saw in the distant, potential future whenever he thought about Jason's influence on him. He wanted to be the kind of person that Jason could be proud to associate with, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult for him to spend time with his band mates without feeling like he was being torn in two, the guilt ate away at him, eroded the edges of every thought he had, until the only clear thing in mind was Jason./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 loved drumming, always had. It was his freedom. But suddenly, he didn't know who he was, it wasn't exactly a foreign concept. Roy had remade himself upon joining Great Frog. He'd felt so out of step that the need to become someone else had been irresistible. He'd taken the position as drummer and modeled himself after those he'd admired. He'd decided on the person he was going to be, painted over his former self and gave the performance of a lifetime everyday. Fake it 'til you make it. He hadn't made it yet. He was barely settled in his new shoes, still trying to flesh out the nuances of his character, and already this rendition of himself he'd created felt unfamiliar. He felt like a fraud. When he was with Jason, he felt an overwhelming calm, a realization that span style="font-style: oblique;"this is who i'm meant to be/span, but in every other aspect of his life he was bombarded with the feeling of span style="font-style: oblique;"i don't know who i am, so i'll make someone new/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;"Looking around Chucky's step-dad's garage at the mess of instruments and a precariously stacked CD collection, Roy just missed Jason. He passed the joint along and text his friend, and couldn't help the shit-eating grin that dominated his features when he got an almost instantaneous response./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[text: Jay]:/strong Not a lot :) Just finished my homework, what about you?/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 nearly chuckled, it was so typical of Jay to have his priorities in order. Never put off until tomorrow what you have time to do today. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Roy quickly typed out a reply./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[text: Roy]:/strong Just band practice. Same old, same old./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 wanted to tell Jason he missed him, but that would've been a little pathetic, and completely left-field. Roy himself wasn't entirely sure where that thought had come from, and though it was true, that didn't mean he felt particularity inclined to broadcast it. He could hear the boys talking around him, but he was paying no heed to the words, didn't even know the topic of discussion. His phone buzzed in his hand./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[text: Jay]:/strong This is really weird. Feel free to say no. But Bruce kinda wants you to come to dinner soon./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 froze, and reread the message a few times. He didn't have an immediate response to that, wasn't sure of his own reaction. The idea of meeting Bruce Wayne was daunting, just the idea of the man intimidated him badly enough. It was also a little peculiar, Roy had never eaten dinner with a friend's parents before. He'd always thought of span style="font-style: oblique;"dinner with the parents/span as a thing that span style="font-style: oblique;"couples/span did, and he and Jason were certainly not romantically involved in any sense. If it had been anyone else asking, Roy would've declined, but he had a hard time saying no to Jason, and he refused to dwell on what that meant./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="font-size: 15.12px;"[text: Roy]:/strongspan style="font-size: 15.12px;" sure, i'll be there/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;"span style="font-size: 15.12px;"_/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;"Roy palms were clammy and his fingers were quaking with nerves as he raised a hand to ring the door bell. He'd been dreading this ever since he'd initially agreed, all throught he school week Jason had been adamant that Roy could back out at any time, and it wouldn't be a problem. But, Roy had vowed to stick to his guns, so he found himself on the porch of Wayne Manor the following Saturday afternoon. There was a brief sound of shuffling from behind the door before it opened. Roy looked into the eyes of a balding man in formal wear, and in his peripheral he caught sight of Jason peering around the man's elbow. He grinned at him./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;""Good afternoon, Master Roy," the man spoke, his accent was thick and distinctly English, "I'm Alfred Pennyworth, welcome to Wayne Manor. Master Bruce is being held up on a business call. So, why don't you and Master Jason wait upstairs and I'll call you when lunch is ready?"/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 grabbed hold of Roy's wrist and dragged him up the stairs with a hurried 'thanks, Alfred!' over his shoulder. Roy rushed to keep up, his nerves quickly dissipated in the face of Jason's clear enthusiasm. They reached the second floor, and Jason led him to a room at the far end of the hall, it was large and luxurious, but clearly toned down enough and decorated appropriately for it to be Jason's bedroom. The desk was piled high with papers and textbooks, the book shelves were full of thick volumes with cracked spines that were clearly well-read. Jason stood in the room's center with a beaming smile on his face./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;""Hi!" Jason finally greeted, and Roy chuckled./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;""Hey, " he returned before gesturing to the scene in the foyer with a thumb over his shoulder, "What's with the 'master'? That's not like...a kinky thing, right?"/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!" Jason gasped, clearly scandalized by the very idea but his eyes were shiny with bright amusement, even as he shoved a Roy's shoulder./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 just laughed at Jason's flushed cheeks, he found his friend's embarrassment rather endearing. Cracking jokes, no matter how inappropriate they may be, had always helped Roy compose himself a little, and ease the tension. There was a part of Roy that hoped that Jason was nervous too, so that he wouldn't be alone in this. He wanted to ask Jason about Bruce, wanted to say span style="font-style: oblique;"what if he doesn't like me?/span. The words pushed at his lips, but Roy would never let them out, couldn't make himself appear weak that way. He had to maintain his front, make out that he didn't give a fuck if Bruce Wayne didn't like him, he didn't need his validation anyway. Except, Roy really wanted Mr Wayne to like him, for Jason's sake mostly, but also because if he could convince one billionaire playboy that he wasn't so bad, that he was worth something, then perhaps there'd be hope still for the same acknowledgement from Oliver. Roy hated himself for having that thought, for dwelling on Oliver when the man didn't deserve it. Roy felt feeble, crying out for attention from someone who was unwilling to provide it, like he was screaming with his mouth closed and the sound was simply echoing back and deafening him./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!"/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;"A bellow came from the bottom of the stairs, the voice was deep and carried no inflection or accent, obviously not the butler. Jason smiled and ushered Roy back out of his bedroom, and Roy realized that he was about to come face-to-face with Bruce Wayne, and he really wasn't ready. Before he could voice any protest - not that he would regardless - Jason stopped abruptly and turned to him. The younger boy reached for Roy's hand, and briefly entwined their fingers, so briefly that Roy's mind hadn't caught up on what was happening until it was too late./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's okay," Jason murmured, and offered a smile of encouragement./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 steeled himself, squared his shoulders and raised his chin, he gave a nod./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;""You ready?" Jay asked, almost teasingly./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;""Born ready," Roy couldn't help but quip./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 scoffed and chuckled good-naturedly, he gave Roy a fond smile that made the older boy feel 10 times more confident that he had been. He was as ready as he was going to be./p