voicelog | metaheroes

( right. the book gets set down on the back of the couch, and jason swings his legs over to get himself to his feet. looks to the elevator for a moment, before he's opting to instead make his way to the window. not to make a blind leap, but to hook the end of his grapple gun to the inside of it, open it up, and let himself drop the six floors down to tony's workshop. a controlled drop, so kas and tony both better not bitch about it. doors and elevators are for people who can't let themselves in via window. )

you know this building has an elevator for a reason

[ why can't jason ever do normal people things? why is he so fixated on leaping and/or grappling out of windows? in any case, T will have the window opened at the ready for his entry. jason will find him seated on a stool in front of a work table scattered with schematics, tools and various mechanical parts.

the workshop itself isn't all that different from the lab. just messier with more equipment that's better suited for tony's own ventures. it also has a notable cot in the far corner as well as a small makeshift kitchen, composed of a microwave, a coffee machine and a small fridge — for times when he's too immersed in his work to want to step a single foot out of the room. otherwise, it has space. a lot of space. just for him to build and to leave shit scattered around, while he rethinks and he redesigns and he does whatever he has to do during his processes. there are a couple of large wall screens too, but they seem to only be used right now to play some r&b and hip hop music.

it's evident that he has stopped working for this — his body angled towards the window that jason will be coming through with his left arm propped on top of the table, all of his visible holographic screens retracted and his tools temporarily set aside. ]

( he's down in through the window, and jason's--closing it behind himself. kas didn't yell at him, likely because he knew jason wasn't actually leaping that far. boots hit the floor, and jason takes a moment to brush dust off the sleeves of his jacket before he's grabbing onto another stool and taking it along with him. sets it down a few feet away from where tony's is settled, so he can prop his left forearm against the table, putting his weight in against it.

there's a few discolored splotchy bits on his face still from his stupid fight with roy, but nothing's swollen, nothing's broken, and he looks fine. looks significantly less ready to bolt out the window at a moment's notice, too. )

Elevators are boring. And significantly more likely to kill me than my using the windows is.

( just as an fyi, since tony decided to bring up jason's preferred method of travel. )

We've talked about this before. If you're going to live here, then you need to take the elevator. I promise you the 0.00176% chance of you dying in an elevator won't happen under my watch.

[ but before this derails into another bicker about jason's inability to use doors and elevators, tony is gonna pivot them both back onto the topic they're actually here for. he would rather not have it inadvertently get postponed because they got into a dumb argument again. ]

So, [ he meets his eyes as jason takes a seat across from him. ] May. You want to talk about what happened, so let's talk.

[ take the stage, todd. it's all you. ]

( there are three ways this can go: they can have a nice sit down, talk it out, and be done with it. they can get into yet another bitch fight. or they can start talking it out and jason can instead opt to go for the window, again. there might be a fourth option in there. but jason's hoping to stick to the first, because it's less messy that way. )

I don't do casual anything. Never have. ( his list of people he's fucked around with is shorter than--than tim's, and that's saying something. it's not something jason thinks is bad, it's just who he is. he's all in or he's all out, no in between. ) It happened. It's not something I think was a huge mistake or anything, you know damn well it wasn't--bad. ( tony knows. tony was there. ) But it's not gonna happen again.

( is this the adult conversation tony was wanting to have earlier? fuck if jason knows, this is new territory for him. )

We're fine as is.

[ in all honesty, he already ran through at least 20 different scenarios in his head on how this "talk" would go before jason got here, whether it was going to be short and sweet or "completely out of left field" complex. he went over how he would respond, what he would do if the conversation turned sour and the ramifications of it.

it's really the anxiety, but it's also his distaste for surprises.

tony stark doesn't like to be caught off guard.

fortunately, it seems like the conversation is leaning more "short and sweet" than overly complicated. he can feel tension in his muscles that he wasn't even aware of immediately begin to relax in response. an easy, "don't sweat it" smile slides into place as he nods his head. ]

Oh, okay. [ so, that's what he wanted to tell him. cool. ] Well, thanks for telling me. I pretty much figured that was going to be the case. [ he motions between them with a pencil in his left hand. ] Just a one time thing. [ he, in fact, considered it a mistake, but even he knows not to vocalize that opinion. maybe it wasn't one for jason, but tony should have known better, given their relationship. ]

If I had known that casual sex wasn't your thing, I would have never—... [ he gestures with his hand. ] you know. [ he wouldn't have done it. ] I probably shouldn't have in the first place because our relationship is complicated enough without it. Not to say that I didn't enjoy it because the sex was great and I— [ tony, you need to shut up. now. ] I'm... just gonna stop myself right there before I say something I can't take back.

[ did he mention how he a. has anxiety and b. doesn't like surprises? ]

So, I guess we're good now...? [ on the same page? in mutual agreement?? conversation over??? ]

Oh, I know. I'm a great lay. ( the cocky little grin matches the sentiment, and leaning on being a snarky asshole makes this conversation way easier. he could dig into it deeper, dig into the i was hurting and the i used you bits, but they don't need to touch on that. tony's already gotten enough of jason's complex problems dropped onto him. and it's--not important, they're not doing it again. )

But, ( the grin falls into something a little more serious. jason sits himself up a bit straighter, because this is also a lot. ) I don't do anything casual. Not just sex. Either I hate someone or I don't give a shit about them. I trust someone, or they're nothing to me.

( this is the important bit of this conversation. it's one jason doesn't usually have with people. but given--how complicated shit has been lately between them, he figures it's probably best to clear the air. )

I trust you. Enough to trust you with my family, an' that isn't something I take lightly. ( moving dick into the tower, telling tony when shit comes up. that level of communication is--big for jason. ) I can't afford to have that fucked up by whatever the hell that was, not here.

[ he didn't think a day would come when he'd hear "i trust you" from jason todd.

their relationship has always been undefined. it is what it is. he likes it that way. he kept it that way with the intention to never dive too deeply into it because nothing in the life he's currently living is permanent. inevitably, one day, he'll go back to 616, possibly right back where he'd started with no memories of any of this.

he might have broken his own promise to avoid developing too good of a relationship with anyone from a different dimension with stephen, but he also doesn't know stephen. not really. they've kept their friendship casual and confined to the very boundaries of the worlds they've lived in together. tony doesn't know the first thing about the stephen strange from before new amsterdam, just as stephen doesn't know anything about him and his past.

jason todd is different. tony has come to know him, whether he wanted to or not. he knows too much about his past, too much about the issues and troubles that afflict him and has inevitably shaped him into the man he is today. he has met his family and even some of his friends. he has felt his anger and his pain; experienced his humor and his wit, and knows his pleasure and his warmth all too well. he can't afford to care more for him than he already does.

so, even though he appreciates the honesty and the depths behind his words, he can't bring himself to reciprocate that sincerity whole-heartedly.

he neither makes a big show of it nor dismisses, however; because disregarding how he may feel, tony stark can always maintain his composure when he needs to the most. his smile grows more relaxed, more affable, as he employs a familiar and comfortable mask. ] I agree. [ succinct, without giving too much away. ] I'm not interested in fucking this up either, so let's just put this to rest. We'll never speak of it again and we can both move on with our lives.

( the look itself is familiar, even if it being on tony's face isn't. but it's been that way through most of this whole damn conversation, hasn't it? jason lets it sit there between them for a moment, before he's shoving his arm down against the counter and pulling himself up to his feet. )

Grew up surrounded by people who wore masks, Stark. It ain't hard to see when someone's wearing one.

( but he's not going to push it. instead, he moves to walk past tony. raises a hand to press it against tony's shoulder as he passes by him. it doesn't really matter much; jason gets the why, he's seen that same shit from almost everyone in his family. he's done it. maybe not in this context, but jason knows how to put on a mask and pretend everything's fine when everything is absolutely not fine and it's falling apart. tony's is likely for different reasons, but jason isn't going to psychoanalyze him. not today. )

I'll take the elevator back up.

( so he can go back to his book. )

[ looks like they both know he has his walls up. he isn't going to acknowledge his comment or try to offer up an explanation in defense though. it doesn't matter if jason's aware or even if he misunderstands. it might be better that way, for the long run.

so, he lets him go, turning back to his work — yet another familiar barrier. ] Alright. I'll see you around. [ he has no intention to see him for a while, if he can help it. honestly, with everything that's happened as of late, he needs time to sort out his own thoughts alone, away from everyone who matters. ]

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