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Fuck.
They'd been on patrol for eleven hours now, and Roy's arm was killing him, painkillers having worn out hours earlier. Anything that he could take for the pain now was going to knock him on his ass for the next six hours straight, and he couldn't exactly do that in the middle of a patrol. Most nights weren't too bad, but this was Halloween in Gotham, and for some unknown reason, people still insisted on trick-or-treating, when they should have been home with their doors locked behind them.
Everyone was out tonight; the Birds, all the Bats, Catwoman – even Poison Ivy, who had a soft spot for children, even if it was only at select times of year. Roy was pretty sure Superboy was here helping Tim, and the fallout from that was sure to be epic, to say the least. Jason was defending his territory with prejudice, and had asked Roy along. Since he'd been living with the man for the last six months and spent his normal nights as Red Hood's bodyguard, he couldn't exactly say no.
They'd been out since sundown and it looked like they were going to see the sunrise, too, since it was only about a half hour away. Honestly, Roy didn't know why criminals bothered, at least in Hood's territory, since they almost always wound up with a serious case of dead for messing with kids in his territory. Hood didn't have a lot of laws, but he absolutely didn't tolerate human trafficking or anyone messing with kids. Whether they worked for him or not, Jason made no exceptions.
Still, they'd been busy all night. He was out of arrows, almost out of ammunition, his laser was dead, and his arm ached. He didn't know how it was possible to have almost no feeling left in his fingers and be in so much pain, but he was. He was contemplating taking the damn thing off and just hitting the next idiot over the head with it; it'd be easier than trying to get it to cooperate with him.
Jason finished tying the last guy up – they'd only been trying to rob a place under his protection, not mess with kids, so Jason had left them with broken bones and potential life long damage, but alive – and finally said the words Roy had been waiting to hear for the last four hours.
“Let's call it a night.”
“It's really more of a day at this point,” Roy said grumpily, nodding towards the graying patch of sky in the east.
“Yeah.” Jason was probably making a bitch face under his helmet, but Roy couldn't actually tell. He was more focused on the way his arm kept spasming.
Roy was more than happy to let Jason drive home, pressed up against his broad back with his good arm tight around Jason's waist. He was careful to avoid Jason's worst bruises and the minor gunshot wound he'd gotten in his shoulder. The motorcycle's vibrations didn't even give him a hard on, he was that tired.
By the time they got home, Roy was practically asleep on Jason's shoulder. Jason pulled into their garage and turned the motorcycle off, shaking Roy's good arm to wake him up. Roy let Jason pull him up, his mechanical arm dangling useless at his side. Jason doesn't comment on it until they get upstairs and they've both stripped off their uniforms, leaving them on the floor to wash tomorrow when they get up.
He tries and fails to get his arm off; his fingers are numb and nothing is working the way it should. Jason doesn't ask if he can help, he just comes over shoves Roy's own hand out of the way, entering in the correct unlock sequence and then carefully pulling the arm off. Roy can't help but swear, and bites his lip to keep from screaming in pain as every single one of his nerves reminds him he's not supposed to wear the damn thing for more than eight hours at a time.
“Fuck.”
They shower together, which mostly consists of Roy sleeping while standing up under the spray, while Jason scrubs down and washes his hair, and periodically shoves cleaning products at Roy until he smells better. When they're clean Jason wraps his shoulder where its sluggishly bleeding, and then comes over to help Roy with his arm.
Jason doesn't ask if it hurts. He just gets the topical numbing cream off the shelf and gives Roy something to bite down on while he rubs it into Roy's red and swollen stump. Roy screams into the leather gag, because he honestly can't help it. Jason is relentless, rubbing in the exact right dose even though Roy's thrashing and swearing and screaming while he does it. For all that Jason's a bit crazy, he is unflappable in the face of Roy's agony.
“God dammit.” Roy says, when Jason finally lets him up.
Jason doesn't ask if he's okay. He likes that about Jason. Instead, Jason says, “Want a beer? I'm ordering pizza.”
There's no point in telling Jason it's six am. If Red Hood wants pizza at six am in his territory, he gets it, and it'll be fresh out of the oven, too. Roy is a normal person, not a zombie who survives on insomnia, sex and energy drinks. He's exhausted.
Roy finds himself scooped up and placed in Jason's lap. He mutters swear words, but he's just too tired to bother. His arm still aches, and he just wants to sleep. Jason doesn't soothe him, but he combs his fingers through his hair. Jason turns on the television and starts watching cartoons until the doorbell rings.
Roy is woken slightly when Jason gets up to answer the door, and grumbles angrily. But when Jason comes back with pizza, beer and pain pills, he forgives him. Because he has a tendency to abuse them, Jason doesn't give him pain pills very often. He goes to NA meetings and everything – Jason forces him to. They help a little, but Jason helps more. He's supportive just by being there and never putting up with Roy's shit. Say what you want about Jason, but he's great for that.
He takes his pills and lays back down with Jason. Once the pain pills kick in, it's not hard to drop off, even with the television on. Jason puts a warm hand on his waist, and he feels warm and safe. It's strange, considering Red Hood someone to be safe with, but he does. Their relationship is complicated and misunderstood by most of the super hero community, but Jason really cares for him. Roy doesn't know if he deserves it, but Jason has let him know in no uncertain terms that he wants Roy around. It's nice to be needed.
They don't really talk about love or anything like that. It's more of a relationship built on sex and mutual trust, but it works for them. Jason pulled Roy out of a really bad place, and gave him another chance when everyone else had given up on him. Roy would die for him.
“Stop thinking so hard and go to sleep.” Jason says gruffly.
So he does.