Falling Through The Hourglass | Jason Todd x Male Reader

Chapter Seven

Jason awoke with a scream and a jolt, still feeling the ache of a crowbar against his skin. He clasped a hand over his mouth as he tried to slow his breathing, nausea fading from his senses with the stench of smoke. He stood, walking over to his bathroom and turning on the sink. He splashed the cold water onto his face and looked up into the mirror.

He sighed, watching the green glow fade from his iris'. Ever since that damned Lazarus Pit, Jason's eyes would glow, especially after a nightmare. That was something else that had begun to feel constant, waking up screaming and sweating as memories from that day flash in his mind.

He spaced out for a moment, so lost in thought that he just now heard the knocking on his bedroom door. Right, he had a housemate now. How long had [Name] been knocking? Running a towel over his face and a hand through his hair, he exited the bathroom and opened his bedroom door.

"Hey," Jason greets, wincing at the hoarse sound of his own voice. "Hey, are you okay?" "I'm fine. Why are you asking?" "I thought I heard a scream. Are you sure you're okay?" "Just a bad dream." He couldn't have understated that more if he tried. It was clear that [Name] wasn't quite buying this explanation, but it appeared he was willing to drop it for now.

"Oh," Jason said, remembering [Name]'s lack of actual clothing. He gestured for [Name] to wait while he went into his room and rummaged through the drawers of his dresser. He had collected a small pile of clothes and walked back to [Name].

"Here." Jason said as he handed [Name] the clothing. "Thanks." "Of course. Get dressed, I'll get some food ready, and we'll get your training started." His housemate nodded, walking back to the spare bedroom. Jason went back into his own bedroom and changed into his day-to-day clothes and headed to the kitchen.

Putting in a pot of coffee, he took out the pans and placed them on the stove. [Name] walked into the living room and sat on the small, cheap sofa just as Jason finished cooking. He walked over to the sofa, handing [Name] a plate.

"So, about your training," Jason started, "We're going to start off with simple stuff. Stuff I initially thought you knew how to do. Picking locks, disabling traps, and disarming bombs." "Oh yeah, real simple stuff." "Depends on how fast you learn."

Once they each finished eating, Jason took the dishes into the kitchen and went back to his room. Searching around a little bit, he finally found his lock-picking kit. “Alright,” he starts, walking back to the living room and sitting back down, setting the kit next to [Name].

[Name] reached his hand out towards it, faltering as his eyes met Jason’s. “Go ahead.” He took a hold of the small leather pouch, opening it and looking through the variety of different picks. After looking a little longer, he closes it and picks up the see-through lock, inspecting the mechanisms within.

“Interesting,” he mumbles quietly to himself. “Isn’t it?” Jason agrees, gently taking the lock out of [Name]’s hand. “So, there are a few ways to do this. You can either pick the lock, meaning to individually move each of these into place.” He explains, pointing to the tumblers.

“Or, you can do what’s called raking the lock. Which is where you basically take the pick and move it back and forth until the tumblers are in place.” [Name] nodded as Jason picked up the leather pouch, taking out a single item and handing it to [Name]. "That's a tension wrench, you twist it once you have the tumblers back in place."

With a determined looked in his eyes [Name] picked up the pouch and took out a pick. He set it down and took a hold of the lock, shoving the tension wrench in it. He then moved the pick inside, quickly moving it back and forth, going for the raking method.

After a little bit, he twisted the tension wrench and the lock popped open. “Not bad. A little bit of practice will help you do it faster, but overall, not bad.” He once again takes the lock out of [Name]'s hand. “Now, this is a more basic lock. You will encounter more complicated ones, but we can cross that bridge when we get there.”

Jason then placed the lock down on the table beside him. And then he took out a pair of handcuffs. “Let's move on to something you're more likely to encounter. I'm sure you know why I say that.” “They cuff captives and occasionally superheroes.” “Bingo. So, this is going to be pretty simple.” He starts, taking out a bobby pin.

Jason locked one of the cuffs, then bent the bobby pin until it was mostly straight. He used part of the handcuffs as leverage to bend the flat end twice. “So, on the inside, there's a lever. All you have to do is use the bobby pin to lift the lever up, and it's unlocked.” “Simple enough.” “Should be.”

Jason hands [Name] the cuffs and the bobby pin, leaning back and watching him. Vaguely, he's reminded of his training with Bruce. Though, Bruce had talked down to him all too much. He had been sixteen, and Bruce would still talk to him like he was still eleven. Never was he Batman's equal or peer. Just a kid, forever the sidekick. He wouldn't do that to [Name]. If he had to have a sidekick, he was at least going to treat him as an equal.

He must've spaced out, seeing as [Name] had long since picked the handcuffs and was now looking at him quizzically. “Are you sure you're okay, Jason? I mean, the screaming this morning, and the fact that you spaced out just now..I'm a little concerned.” [Name] was more concerned than he had led on.

There's absolutely no way anybody can die, then come back to life, and be okay afterwards. He couldn't express that though, so he settled on asking something else. “I'm fine. How's the handcuffs?” [Name] cracked a small smile. “I actually struggled with it a little. The lever was hard to actually get under.” "You'll learn.”

“What the-” [Name] spouts, bewildered as he watches Jason secure the cuffs on his own wrists. “Alright, now uncuff me.” “Like, here, right now?” “Did I stutter?” “I mean- I- okay?” Awkwardly, [Name] grabbed Jason's wrists and began to pick the handcuffs. After around ten minutes, [Name] was finally able to pick the handcuffs. “That took you longer than it should've.” “Thanks for the encouragement.” “I'm just saying, we're really gonna have to work on it if you're going to be on the field.” “Yeah..” “It's alright, it's called training for a reason. Now, bombs!”

"You're not going to have me disarm a bomb right here right now, right?” “Aw, you don't want to?” Jason said with feigned disappointment. Practice ran from early morning to the late afternoon before Jason decided it was enough for that day.

“You can stop. You learned the basics, and that was the goal.” “Okay, great. What do we do now?” “Good question, I'm not sure. I can't let you come with me when I work with Black Mask later because you don't have a disguise yet. You also can't go off on your own.”

[Name] sighed. “Well, were there any errands you needed to run? I can at least do that for you.” “I suppose you could. I've been meaning to for a while now, anyways.” “You got a list for me?” Jason left the room for a moment before coming back with a small notepad, handing it to [Name].

Jason then handed [Name] his wallet. “You know I could take this, right?” “I'm your only source of shelter and food right now, so I doubt you'd do that. Also, I can track it, so I dare you.” “Of course you can. Well, I guess I'll be back in a bit.” “Wait a minute, don’t you have money from the rogues?” “I do! I have to get a new card and cancel my old one, though. My wallet was on my nightstand when the place went boom.

I'll probably get that done while I'm out.” “You should.” With that exchange, [Name] was out of the front door and making his way to the store. He was about halfway there when somebody pulled him into the alleyway. Panicking, he struggled against their hold. “Stop, I'm not going to hurt you!” He recognized that voice.

He was released after he stopped moving. “I didn't know Batman was kidnapping people in alleyways now.” “He's not.”