Cognitive Dissonance

Chapter 4: Jason Todd

He was wrong. Rachel Roth isn't as interesting as he thought she would be. He can't say he understood her timid actions during dinner when much earlier than that, she practically jumped in front of him to introduce herself. Not that he wanted her to talk to him. But he certainly had arrived with certain expectations. None of which were met. She seemed ordinary.

For one, he knows very well Dick isn't someone who is good with staying. That means it isn't normal for him to take someone in and be responsible for them. Why and how is she different?

Two, out of the many places Dick has, why here? The manor isn't exactly the happiest place on earth. In fact, it is just slightly better than being on the streets. It's like the sugarcoat for something distasteful and bitter. Who exactly is Rachel Roth that she can and should be here?

Tapping his pointer finger on the quartz countertop, he waited for the sound that will reveal the other person behind the door. He has been sensing someone was on the other side. It didn't take a minute before the slide of wood against wood almost echoed in the absolute silence. There was no way he could have guessed it wrong.

"Hey there, sunshine."

"Oh, I am so sorry, I didn't know. It was just -- " Rachel responded in quick succession, taking a step back, as she tucked her hair behind her ear, obviously embarrassed. She was ready to turn away but Jason cut her rambling.

"Relax sunshine, it's not like I'm naked," Jason chuckled, taking his toothbrush from his mouth so he could speak more comfortably. "Though," he started and paused, tilting his head to the right, making sure to establish eye contact. Rachel found herself stopping on her tracks and returning the gesture. "I can't say I'm not curious to see just how much redder your face could get if I was," Jason finished nonchalantly  before he resumed what he was doing.

"Eew~" Rachel said, unable to filter her apparent distaste for his kind of humor. "I can't say I'm sorry for that reaction, but I'm sorry for myself now that I'm learning I'm sharing bathrooms with you."  She surprised even herself with her response. She wasn't usually one to voice out her thoughts without deliberation in her head.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Jason confidently said right after he finished what he was doing. "I am the best person you're going to encounter in this house," he added, purposely wiping his mouth and chin with his shirt. The white cotton cloth hiked up to just below his chest, revealing what shouldn't have been hidden.

What a shame.

A snapping sound alerted Rachel and she stiffened in response. "Eyes here, sunshine," Jason, the person responsible of breaking her quiet, said. He then gestured at her when he knew he got her attention. Rachel regretted following his moving finger in the air so that her eyes landed on his face. Jason freaking Todd looked like a cat that ate the canary!

"Bathroom's yours miss Roth," he offered with a stage bow. The mockery wasn't lost on Rachel but this time, she made sure to not react to it. "A tip?" he continued, the twinkle in his eyes ever present. "Unsolicited, I know, but a good advice nonetheless. Don't say things with finality, especially in this house. You don't know what you got yourself into."

With a salute, he turned his back on her and disappeared behind the sliding door on the other side of the room she didn't think was there. Rachel admits, she has to give a hand to the person who built the building. If she didn't see it for herself, she wouldn't have thought there even was a door across from where she stood. Although, she should have expected that -- considering she just opened a faux wall to get into the bathroom herself.

As soon as he's gone, she gave herself a quick look in the mirror wondering just what is it that's happening to her. Her cheeks are tinted the softest pink still. She hasn't even lasted day one in the manor and already, she's stepped out of character more than once. Both times, in front of Jason Todd. Apparently, the best person she's going to encounter in this house. Yeah, right.

Rachel can only shake her head in disbelief that he just might have given her a sound advice. He told her to not say things with finality. She supposed, this extends to mean that she can't arrive at a conclusion too early about things in this house. That includes the people in it. Especially the one who just got out of the room.

But just her luck really. It wasn't like she ever intended to hangout with him in the first place. His advice may work for everything else about the manor but not on her impression of him. This means she can conclude things about him as early as right now and go about her own business. There was no way she's not going to make it final. She was right to assume he is something else. Someone who isn't as kind as Dick Grayson. He is a jerk. Period.

"First task, ask Dick if he made a mistake about assigning you the room," she whispered to herself, locking the door to the room where Jason disappeared into. Her guardian can't have intended it considering a female guest should not have been given a bedroom that shares a bathroom with any of the masters and Alfred. Right?

Plopping on his bed, Jason covered his eyes with his arm -- as if the dark room isn't dark enough. For a teenager, he felt tired like a hundred-year-old person after walking a yard's distance. Not that he knows how that feels. He almost didn't even get the chance to live out the last year of his teens.

He died and they brought him back to life without his consent. At first, he thought he should be thankful. And he was. Now, he isn't so sure.

Jason shifted on his bed and winced. The cuts, bruises, and everything else a person's eyes can see have healed -- he'd be damned if he didn't admit those surgeons did do a great job at stitching him up -- but his body still aches here and there. It has been two months and a half since his untimely death in the hands of that fucking nut case. Yet with what happened, he probably is more of a clown himself than the bastard.

All he had to do was be himself. Jason Todd. Sure is the biggest dunce in the world than the rogue who killed him. He inwardly laughed at the image of himself in his mind but Jason composed himself just as quickly as his sudden chuckling started. Even smiling is exhausting, more so when he laughs.

It has always been taxing. Being himself. And it's more punishing now after his rebirth. Just dealing with Rachel Roth in the bathroom wore him out. And now, he has a bigger problem. What if Rachel Roth hears him the way he can hear the pitter-patter of water from the shower she just turned on?