Present Day

I didn't last very long after pulling the sheets from off the bed, curling up and passing out on the bare mattress. I really had felt exhausted and needed the sleep. Given that I wasn't awaken by flailing arms or Jason's cursing, however, I was confused as to how the bed I woke on had fresh sheets beneath and above me, the old ones no longer a heap on my floor.

I decided not to give it much thought as I cleaned up in preparation for the day; until I noticed the curtains over the windows were closed too. Even knowing I was safe here, I couldn't help the paranoid shiver that went through me.

I threw the curtains open, blinking hard at the undeniable presence of the moon. Either I hadn't slept as much as I thought, or I'd slept too much.

There was a knock at the door behind me and I turned to see Jason sticking his head in warily. Seeing me awake, he pushed the door open the rest of the way and stood in the doorway. "About time you woke up," he said. "I was about to declare you brain dead and in a coma, you were so knocked out. Even your nightly body guards were unresponsive."

"You're the one who came in here and changed the sheets?"

"What are you, high?" he scoffed, shaking his head, wild hair remaining like a flawless crown atop it. "I've learned my lesson about disturbing you in your sleep."

"So who was in here?" I asked, growing annoyed.

"Dick," he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. In a way, I guess it was; when the plants started defending me while I slept, Dick and Donna were the only ones they never attacked. "He came in to give you the blankets but you were knocked out cold. He picked you up and asked Conner to super speed around and make the bed so there wouldn't be time for them to register a threat."

"Hmm, smart," I couldn't help but concede with a smile and slight flush in my cheeks. I never would've thought of that and hearing that I was in Dick's arms for even the briefest of times again, while unconscious, hit me in so many ways. "So what are you doing here now? You know, since you 'learned your lesson' and all, this seems unnecessarily risky for you."

"Definitely the dumbest thing I've done all day," Jason shrugged. "But I got bored. Gar and Conner are playing some nerd ops game and I have no idea where Dick disappeared to, honestly. All the other Titans are off on some assignment."

"Okay and what did you expect me to do about any of that?"

"I could use a sparring partner if you think you can handle it," he said with a smirk and I knew he didn't mean because of my injury.

"You're on, junior bird boy," I replied with a smirk of my own. "Give me five minutes to change clothes then I'll meet you in the training room."

"Bet."

* * * **

I don't know why, but for some reason I expected the training room to be different than the last time I was there. Despite Dick telling me no one had been around since us, it hit me surprisingly hard how identical things were.

It didn't help to see the suit cases labeled Aqualad and Wonder Girl, featuring a token of the fallen heroes.

Seeing Donna's belt felt like being shot all over again but multiplied by a thousand. It took a lot of effort not to collapse to my knees right there.

"Took you long enough," Jason called from behind me and I turned to see him stretching in the middle of the room. He had what I'd come to know as his signature smirk across his face, forever taunting. "I figured you were going to chicken out. Didn't want to lose to a young one like me." He winked and I couldn't help but snort a laugh.

"You're more delusional than I thought," I answered, heading towards him. "And for the record, I'm not that much older than you."

"You have to be about Dick's age and he's almost a decade older than me," Jason replied.

"And Bruce is like, in his sixties, still out kicking ass," I countered. "So I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you. I could lay you out in under a minute—"

"Without your powers," he interrupted skeptically.

"Without my powers," I repeated confidently. "I'll show you right now. Hand to hand sparring, knock down to the mat is a point, first to five wins."

"You're on, Captain Planet," Jason accepted excitedly. He shifted his weight foot to foot, shook out his arms and rolled his neck while he smiled at me widely.

"Who the hell is Captain Planet? Is there another fucking hero or villain I don't know about?"

Jason looked at me incredulously before bursting out in laughter. I glared at him in silence but it only seemed to amuse him more. "First off, there's undoubtedly more heroes and villains you don't know about because everyone wants to fucking be like us. And second, how are you a 90s baby and don't know about Captain Planet? He was a cartoon superhero created by the rings of some kids to help fight against the destruction and pollution of earth caused by villains."

I just stared at him blankly and he sighed.

"I called you that as a joke. You know, because you manipulate plants and I assume wouldn't want anything to happen to the earth or them... you know what, nevermind. Let's get started."

"Good idea," I agreed with a shake of my head. We faced off in the middle of the room, both of us throwing taunting smiles at the other. "Don't take it too hard when I win."

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing," he retorted. "On the count of three?"

"Three," I smiled, throwing a punch out and just narrowly missing as he ducked his head to the side. He didn't even complain at the cheap shot which made me think he'd been considering it himself and I just beat him to it.

Instead of pulling my arm back, I threw it to the side trying to catch him there but he ducked beneath it, latched on last second and twisted my arm behind me sending a spasm through my shoulder. I kicked backwards, feeling him hop back to dodge the hit and his grip loosened minimally. I circled my other arm back as if to hit him and felt one of his release their hold in order to catch it. With him holding both arms behind me, I pulled them forward hard and felt him stumble close behind. I smirked and gritted my teeth before slamming my head back and feeling it contact with his, sharp pain exploding through my skull.

"Fuck!" Jason complained, letting go of me in time for me to turn back to him and see him through the white blind spots in my vision. His palm was pressed against his forehead as if trying to hold the pain at bay. Shaking his head, he lunged at me and I sidestepped, almost sending him to the floor. He stumbled to keep himself upright but I couldn't help myself; I kicked out at the back of his knee just enough to catch him off guard and drop him to the mat.

"Point for me," I said cheerily and he glared at me over his shoulder as he climbed back to his feet.

"Yeah, well, consider it your last," he replied.

This time, his arm swung out at me as I ducked out of the way; which was what he wanted. Instead of going past where my head was, he bent his arm and brought his elbow down hard on my back, knocking the air out of me. With me bent forward, he snaked his leg under and up against my stomach, ensuring I couldn't catch a breath long enough to fight back as he shoved me towards the mat.

I let out a small chuckle as I landed with my palms out and keeping me suspended so my knees didn't touch the floor. "Just take the L, Maddie," Jason taunted, sliding his foot under mine and undoing my leverage. I fell to the mat with an annoyed sigh and I knew he was smiling behind me without me needing to see it. "Attagirl. Point."

"I think the wrong Robin was named Dick," I mumbled as I turned over to get up. A new idea hit me and I forced the smile to stay off of my face. I stuck my hand out and looked up at him expectantly. "Can I have a little help here?"

He snorted, shaking his head. "Do I look like I have 'world's biggest idiot' stamped on my forehead? You can help yourself up."

"Wow, Jase, you're a real gentleman, huh? It's not like I got shot and died a couple of days ago, right?" I said with feigned disappointment. I pretended to struggle to my feet and saw him flinch from the corner of my eye before stepping forward to help.

Jason reached out to give me a hand and I took it as innocently as I could manage. The second I felt stable enough to stand on my own, I yanked him forward and swept his legs out from under him simultaneously. He was prepared for the forward push but the backward attack caught him off guard; he dropped on his back, head bouncing on the mat as he cursed under his breath. He kept his hold on my arm, trying to drag me down with him, but I managed to keep steady on my feet.

"Point."

Jason let go of me with a roll of his eyes. "Here's a point: you're a dirty cheater."

"Sooo...what I'm hearing is that I'm kind of like your new best friend?" I teased and Jason laughed in response, rising to his feet.

We faced off again, the look on Jason's face very much saying he would get his revenge. The thought only entertained me more.

It was suddenly like we were in sync, not needing words to agree on the start of the next round. We just went at each other at once, Jason going high and me going low; narrowly missing each other. We both somersaulted away, turning to spin on our heels and smirk at the other. "You know, we could be here for awhile," Jason said. "We both trained with Bruce and Dick. We're bound to know the same moves and countermoves."

"Is that your way of forfeiting?" I teased and his eyes narrowed at me.

"Not a chance in hell."

Jason charged at me as though to tackle me and I shifted my weight to keep solid ground. Last second, he dove into a slide aimed at my feet and I jumped out of the way to avoid it. Unfortunately, the move left my side open to attack and Jason took the opportunity to wrap his arm around my waist and flip me over his side. I landed hard on my back with a grunt and he climbed up to straddle my hips with a cocky smile. "Point."

I glared at him for a few seconds as I assessed the situation, a smile of my own fighting to break free.

Jason hadn't bothered to restrain my arms, which left them open for use. I moved as if to punch him with one arm and he caught hold of it; we did the same with the other and I could tell he thought he had me where he wanted me.

I used that belief to fuel me as I yanked my arms hard, catching Jason off guard and tipping his upper body towards me. Once he was close enough, I jerked my head up and slammed it hard into his again, light bursts filling my vision again as we both groaned. Still, I felt his weight tip backwards unevenly and continued my plan blind.

I hooked one leg over his, leveraging him up and over my head. Our positions now reversed, I elbowed him across the jaw before pinning each hand down with a knee and his chest with my arm. I was leaned in just inches from his face and gave him a wink. "That would be a point for me."

"You are one crazy bitch," Jason chuckled. "I've never met anyone as willing as you to sustain concussions while sparring. Which says a lot since I've been told I'm pretty insane."

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "I play to win."

"You know what, you were right. You are definitely my new best friend." We both laughed, momentarily forgetting ourselves and unaware of our surroundings.

Which essentially set us up for the reaction that came next.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Jason and I looked over to see Dick standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at us. Every feature on his face said he was angry, but even if it hadn't, the fists locked into his biceps would've. "Hey Grayson," I greeted calmly. "What's up?"

"I asked you first," he said gruffly, dark eyes solely zoned in on me. I was confused by his attitude until he added. "What are you two doing?"

I looked at Jason, so close beneath me, and then back up at Dick, imagining the view of the scene before him. I fell into a fit of laughter as I separated myself from Jason. "You're an idiot," was all I could manage to him between the laughs.

Dick's brows drew down more as Jason sat up and looked between us in confusion. "We were just sparring," he said slowly. "Everyone else was gone, I was bored and she was here, so I asked."

Dick's eyes were still locked on me as he spoke. "You were shot just a couple of days ago—"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Dick," I couldn't help but say sarcastically. "Was I supposed to stop living because I died?"

"I mean, technically—"

"Shut up, Jason," Dick and I said in unison. Jason looked annoyed, flipped us both off and mumbled something under his breath but said nothing aloud.

"Clearly, you aren't here to scold me for 'bad' decision making," I said to Dick as I rose to my feet. "So why are you here?"

"I was on my way to get you," he answered. "Bruce got the results of your test back."

All mocking humor drained out of me, immediately replaced with the need for answers. "Well, what are they?"

"I don't know yet. He's waiting on a video call in the comms room."

Jason and I exchanged a silent look. "Well, shit, lets go!" he declared, practically bouncing to his feet and heading past Dick. He'd already disappeared down the hall by the time I'd reached the step where Dick stood. I was ready to move past him when his hand suddenly latched on to my wrist to stop me, sending electricity through my nerves.

Dick didn't say a word until I looked up to meet his eyes. "Are you and Jason...Does he know what could happen...?"

"Relax, Grayson, there's nothing going on there," I answered honestly and sighed. "He may be the world's Robin replacement, but he's not mine."

Dick seemed to stop breathing for a second as he suddenly dropped his hold on me. I stood there for a bit, the both of us just staring at each other, until he looked as though he was going to say something else. I felt as though my heart were trying to slam its way out of my chest and before I could change my mind, I took the coward's move.

I turned away and hurried off down the hall, to the place I knew we wouldn't be alone.

In case this chapter didn't make it obvious, I am hardcore here for a Maddie/ Jason bromance. They are so much on the same page about life 😂 I also love writing fight scenes which made this chapter all the more necessary to me ^.^

While I'm here I also want to thank you all for 13K reads! I'm still in awe that anyone would stop to read this story at all, honestly, so it really means a lot.

What are your thoughts on the story so far? Thoughts on Maddie? How much do you think she and Dick should suffer through before the inevitable? Comment and let me know!