It Burns For a Moment, but Then it Molds You

Chapter seven: Months later

a/n: So this is where the actual story REALLY picks up, for the most part im going off BAtman: Arkhm knight: Genesis and Red hood and the outlaws for jasons backstory, though i dont really like red hood and the outlaws very much (*Cough* *cough* S t a r f i r e   i s   f o r e v e r   r  u i n e d  f o r   m e ), but basically this is where stuff start to get  bit more real in tune to the comics

Jonson's mom died.

It was sudden, in a way. But in that same way it was not. She had gone too far, swallowing bottle and a half of pills instead of just  handful. She just couldn't take it, Willis had died in Prison and without him she truly had no idea what to do with her son, Jason.

So you watched him get worse, he'd go through more cigarettes. He would steal more, he would lie more, he would get into trouble more. He was more physical, he was more loud and he argued a lot more. But he was still soft.

He lived outside of his apartment. It didn't belong to him anymore, and he stopped going to school. Child Protection Services had been looking for him. He was wanted, basically. So he ran off, an literally lived out on the street. The last thing he ever wanted was to be put in the system. And in truth? You would have doe the same.

He had a gun.

The idea of Jason with a gun, it came to you often. You figured that someday he'd probably get his hands on one, but never had you imagined he'd actually own one this soon in his life. You've seen him shoot it, throw it, hit a disgusting man with the handle. But he'd never actually kill anyone. He only really ever shot on guy in the foot, every other shot was a warning shot.

Still, Jason, with a gun. A scary idea. One day, he would climb over the edge with that gun in his hand and instead of grabbing for the ledge to pull himself up? He'd probably reach for another gun, then fall. Jason was begging to be corrupt. Even if he wasn't truly saying he wanted to change, to be different. He was begging.  And he was doing it all to himself by not taking your help. By not taking Layla's help. Who, he had cut off.

He cut everyone off, everyone but you. For some reason, Jason felt it too selfish of him to keep you by him this entire time. But he didn't care, what he did care about though, was you. And that might just come back and kick his ass later in life but he doesn't really mind. As long as he gets to see you and know that you're okay while he isn't there to watch you? He is okay. He will survive with that. As long as he gets to see you outside of different circumstance.

You'd been there for him through everything. And this is when he needed you the most, even if he never said or it admitted it to himself.

Currently,  as of this moment, he was running. Running away. Not much of a difference, some old same old. always running it seemed.

But this time, he was running away from you. He was annoyed, sure. But he enjoyed the adrenaline he felt as you chased him through Gotham.  To water it down, and give the specific details? Jason had been shot, after stealing from someone who very much did own a gun. And who very much didn't care that he had aimed the barrel at a kid. Exactly what you were afraid of.

That happened about a week ago. So the reason why he's A-okay and running now is because he's healed, due to his hospital visit with Leslie Tompkins after being found on the side of the street, not by you of course. But by an officer.

After he was all patched up and healthy, Doctor Tompkins decided to give him a speech about how things will change if he tried, and she had this entire therapist thing goin' on saying that life gets better, there is always a light to the dark.

So how does he pay her back? By stealing pharmaceuticals from her office to sell o the street. Running off, and out the window. All this happened just a few hours ago, he was in the hospital for quite the long time. All the while? You were unaware. You hadn't known Jason, your best friend, the boy you've known for basically all the important bits of you life for.  You had no idea that he had been shot, and hospitalized for a week. He could have died, in fact he came pretty close to bleeding out in that old alley in a pool of his own blood. Not a good way to go out, but considering this is Jason in one of his most reckless states right now? You're pretty sure he could die of an even worse way, that would make him wish he had just died back in that alley in a pool of his blood.