fic: Are You in or Out?
Title: Are You in or Out?
Author: darthbatgirl
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Characters: pre Barbara/Jason, Dinah, Helena
Summary: Babs gives Jason a second chance
Word Count: 1352
Warning: strong language (it's Jason you expected something less?)
A/N: written for shiny_glor_chan birthday. Both last year's and this year's yeah I kind of suck at b-day requests, but I am going to get better. Promise.
The sound of voices was the first thing that penetrated Jason's sleep. His hand slipped up under the pillow to grab the knife that he kept there only to find it gone. His eyes popped open and he sat up with a start. He wasn't at his place, the bed's too comfortable to be his and the room was too neat, the paint wasn't chipping and there wasn't a draft. The last thing he remembered was tracking some gun runners and hearing a sound behind him.
“Shit,” Jason snarled as he kicked off the blankets and rolled out of bed. He found himself wearing nothing more than a tank top and some sweat pants, there was no sign of his regular clothes or his weapons. His lips twisted up into an ugly snarl as he stomped over to the door and yanked it open - almost disappointed that it wasn't locked, he would have enjoyed kicking it open.
The voices that woke Jason up came echoing down the hall. He stomped down the hall into a room that held massive computer banks, three women Jason recognized easily were clustered around the main monitor. “Where the fuck's my clothes!” Jason hisses.
“Well we can see who's not a morning person,” Black Canary retorted with a smirk.
Jason threw her a glare before settling his attention on the redhead in front of keyboard. “My clothes now Oracle.”
The sound of typing paused for a moment as she spared Jason a glance. “They're being laundered. It looked like that hasn't happen in a while.”
Huntress wrinkled up her nose. “They smelled like you've been crawling around in the sewers.”
“Fuck you,” Jason snarled.
“Don't you wish junior,” she smirked. “ . . . . maybe after you took a couple weeks worth of showers.”
“Helena,” Barbara scolded.
“Why don't we go grab some doughnuts,” said Dinah stepping in before Jason could respond. She grabbed Helena's hand and pulled her towards another door. “You'll be okay chief?”
Barbara nodded as she pushed away from the computers. Jason just stood there glaring at the former Batgirl. “So the old man sent you after me?”
Barbara looked up at him with a measuring look before answering. “No. Bruce has nothing to do with this. All my idea.”
“Your ideas suck. Give me my clothes back so I can get out of this hen house.” Jason said as he leaned forward a bit trying to look intimidatingly as possible.
“Without hearing out why I went to all this trouble?” Barbara said as she headed to the kitchen. Without having any other choice, Jason followed.
“I've been watching you,” Barbara said as she got a couple of cups of coffee, placing one on the table for Jason.
“Congrats, you along with every other hero in this town, have no life,” Jason snapped ignoring the offered coffee.
“You're like Don Quixote fighting the wind mills you know that?” Barbara mused as she drank her coffee.
“What the fuck does that suppose to mean?” Jason asked as he leaned against the wall, since it was apparent that he wasn't going to be getting his clothes back any time soon.
“You put in so much effort proving that your so different from everyone else, that your not like Bruce or Dick or Tim. That you don't care about this city or what happens to it. Though when someone just takes the effort to watch what you're doing they can see that's it's all smoke and mirrors. You care about Gotham, you care about the people here, and you fight just as hard as anyone else for them.” Barbara said as she looked at Jason over the rim of her cup.
“What this all about Oracle?” Jason asked not looking at her. “Why'd ya bring me here?”
“I want you to join my team. I want you to join the Birds of Prey,” said Barbara.
“You want me to join the . . .” Jason threw back his head and barked out his laughter. “Oh that's just too funny. Lady you got the wrong bird, Golden boy or Timmy looks better in fish nets than I do.”
“I'm serious Jason,” Barbara said. “This could be a second chance for you. To start over and get out of the shadow of the past. Maybe even bend a fence or two.”
Jason's eyes narrowed as he slink over to the table and leaned over it to leer at the red head. “I see what's going on here.”
Barbara scrunched up her nose and looked up confused. “What?”
Jason leaned forward enough so that his breath was warming the shell of Barbara's ear. “This is about Dickie setting up house with Timmy isn't it? Your pissed that Dick finally made a choice and it wasn't you, so why not grab the black sheep for a tumble to get back at Dick right Barbie?”
A sharp crack shot up Jason's leg and then Jason found his feet being kicked out from beneath him, landing on his back with the end of an escrima stick pressed up against his throat. “There you go again being an ass. It's nothing new Jason, the same old responses the same old goads. I always thought you were more inventive than that. And for future reference don't ever call me Barbie.”
Jason's eyes lit up as Barbara took away the stick. His hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist and yanked her from her chair and down into his lap. One fist tangled in her hair as Jason's other arm circled Barbara's chest, crushing her to him. “I can be inventive,” he husked before claiming a heated kiss. He nips at Barbara's bottom lip and then soothes it over with his tongue, pushing in when she gasped. Jason tasted the coffee she just drank and a hint of mint.
Barbara's hands grasped Jason's shoulders, her nails dug in. Jason wasn't sure if she was pushing him away or pulling him closer, so he tightened his hold on her hair and deepened the kiss. Only when his lungs started burning did he break the kiss.
He loosened his grip around her waist and ran his fingers through her hair and whispered. “Now is this where I ask how was that compared to Grayson and you say 'Grayson who'?”
The slap sounded loudly in the kitchen and Jason wouldn't be surprised at all if he ended up with a bruise on his cheek.
“That's something else you don't get to do,” Barbara said as she pushed away from Jason.
Jason touched the slight sting to his cheek, “Yeah . . . that's the usual response.”
Barbara squeezes her eyes shut in frustration. “That's not it at all. Why do you have to be so stubborn about everything? Did it ever occur to you that I might have missed you. That I might have missed that ass kicking, smart mouth kid? The one that sneaked in a smoke and would do anything for Alfred's cookies. I want him to come home. And some times? A girl just wants a corn dog and Helena always looks at me funny when I dip mine in chile.”
“That's the best way to eat them,” Jason said quietly.
“Yeah it is,” Barbara nodded. “So come on home Jay. Don't keep a lady waiting.”
Jason took a long look at Barbara, a war of emotions echoed across his face before he seem to have made a choice., slowly he reached out for Barbara again. This time his touch was gentle as he caressed her cheek. He leaned in and gently brushed his lips against hers as her hands came up and cupped his face deepened the kiss. Slowly they broke apart, Jason wrapped his arms around Barbara, hugging her, his face buried in her neck. “Okay,” he whispered. “I'm in.”