▶ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇʙᴛᴏᴏɴ ʙᴀᴛᴍᴀɴ: ᴡᴀʏɴᴇ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇꜱ ꜰᴀɴ-ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 5⅓

After what felt like hours, Pearl checked her phone for the time, having not slept in 12 hours. The thought of Jason Todd not responding to her text frightened her, and she almost went out to search for him and his team of outlaws.

But Pearl then, remembers that he promised that he'll let her know when he'll be back.

She had already changed into her nightgown and settled into her bed, the soft sheets a welcome embrace against her anxious thoughts. The room was dimly lit, shadows dancing on the walls as the wind whispered through the slightly ajar window. 

Pearl's mind raced, each tick of the clock echoing her worry.

'What if something had gone wrong? What if he was hurt?' 

Images of their final conversation as high school seniors replayed in her mind, the memory of his murder overshadowing Jason's confident smile. The burden of returning from the dead felt immense. 

She had always admired his bravery, but now it felt like a curse, intensifying her fear. Taking a deep breath to calm the turmoil within, she clenched her fist over her chest, desperately trying to avoid thoughts of him as she sought sleep through the night.

Meanwhile...

Jason returned from his mission, bloodied and weary, fumbling for his keys to lock the door. He considered visiting Pearl to announce his return but lacked the energy. Instead, he locked his flat, placed his red helmet on the kitchen counter, and collapsed onto the couch.

With a tired groan, he ran his fingers through his hair as a sudden vibration echoed from his leather jacket pocket. He pulled out his phone and smiled at the notification that read "PEARLY sent a message to you", unlocking it, he clicked on the message to read:

Pearly🦪෴:

{Hey 😉 Still out there saving the world, Mr. Mercenary? 🫡}

Jason instantly chuckles and begins typing a reply. 

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★

[Yeah, I'm back, mission accomplished!🫡👍🏻] 

Just as he sent his message, Pearl's ringtone chimed, prompting her to scramble to her bedside table to check her phone, and in an instant, she typed:

Pearly🦪෴: 

{That's great! For a second I thought it was an intruder🫢🫣 }

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★

[Lol, for real.🤣 

If it was, you would've beat the living crap out of them for me!]

Pearly🦪෴: 

{Careful, you might get in trouble with the "law" for beating up a citizen 😉 }

Both of them smile at their phones, Pearl then sends him another message, momentarily closing her eyes before glancing at a photo of herself and Jason at an amusement park with a giant teddy bear that's placed on her bedside table.

{Anyways, how was it? Good? Bad? More or less or...what?}

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★ 

[Just another night, another near-death experience. 

You wouldn't believe how much FUN it was!]

Pearly🦪෴: 

{You're soooo lucky to be alive (again)!

{I thought something might have happened to you!} 

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★ 

[Aw, you worry about me? 😏 That's sweet.]

At this point, Pearl puffed her red cheeks in embarrassment at how Jason could easily tease her like that, even through text she quickly typed a playful retort, fingers trembling slightly as she tried to mask her flustered state.

Pearly🦪෴:

{And if I said yes, would it make a difference?😏}

Just as she hit send, her phone buzzed with an incoming message, and her heart raced a bit. 

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★

[🤷🏻Anything is possible, sweetheart. 

[But remember, I'm the king of cringe here. 

You're just a mere princess!] 

He replied, and with Pearl, who could almost picture him winking through the screen with that mischievous spark in his eyes, making her playfully roll her eyes.

Pearly🦪෴: 

*Sends a GIF of how offended she 'was' at him calling her princess*

*Sends another GIF of a gasp*

{Hmph, please! As if you're any better with your endless dad jokes!} 

Biting her lip to suppress a smile, she sent it, Jason's laughter and playful banter still echoing in her mind and softening her as always.

{But seriously tho, you need to be more careful.}

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★ 

[But don't you worry your pretty little head, princess. 

I'm practically indestructible.]

*he sends a Wonder Woman heroic pose GIF*

Pearly🦪෴: 

(reacts with a laughing emoji on the GIF)

{Not a princess...}

{*replies to the second message* Uh huh, sureeeee😪~~~~}

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★ 

[It's true though.]

Both of them kept on playfully chatting by talking about movies, and TV shows and even telling each other embarrassing stories from superheroes and villains they've encountered until Pearl sighed in delight but slowly frowned at something but was hesitant to ask.

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★

[ Wow...I haven't texted you like this in years, it's great to do it again.]

Pearly🦪෴:

{Jason...

{I-uh wanna ask you something? If it's alright?}

Jason raised an eyebrow at her serious question and, as a self-proclaimed "good friend," he agreed and typed out to send it:

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★ 

[Sure, what is it?]

Pearl seemed nervous but immediately used her telekinesis to type down what she wanted to ask:

Pearly🦪෴: 

{So... after... y'know... after you came back... 

Have you thought about... seeing me? }

Jason thought about lying for a second, but then he remembered his promise to always be honest with her. That really stuck with him to the core, and it kept him from deceiving anyone, he took a deep breath and got himself ready to say the truth, knowing he had to do it. 

No matter what, he promised to be truthful to her:

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★: 

[....Every. Single. Day.]

Jason briefly closed his eyes, his gaze lingering on a photo from a Wayne gala on his living room coffee table. He, a younger, gelled-and-tuxedoed version of himself under Alfred's styling, a memory he wryly considered 'torture' but ultimately worthwhile. 

His thoughts drifted to Pearl. 

In the same photo, a vision in a teal dress he'd secretly gifted her without her knowledge, fitted perfectly on her, with her hair softly styled, her eyes shining like diamonds and how talked with him had always made him smile. 

Recalling how he'd whisked her away from the party to dance under the stars, as "friends" of course, the memory that felt like pure bliss. His trance was broken by the binging sound of the notification on his phone which showed a text from her.

Pearly🦪෴: 

{You...wanna talk about it?

{Y'know, to get it off your chest.}

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★: 

[...Maybe another time]

[I gotta go to bed.]

Pearl frowned at the avoidance but clearly understood that she should give him time, after all, she was the patient friend for the job.

Pearly🦪෴:

{Alright just remember...}

★ 🆁🅴🅳 🆁🅾🅱🅸🅽 🅷🅾🅾🅳 ★: 

[????]

Pearly🦪෴: 

{My offer of being a therapist still stands, night}

Eventually, Pearl put away her phone on the bedside table and tucked herself in bed before she let herself sleep with a soft smile. Meanwhile with Jason Todd A.K.A. Red Hood, had just gotten into the shower, the steam hot water cascading over his broad shoulders; A stark contrast to the chill Gotham nights he usually patrolled. 

He scrubbed the grime, the blood, and sweat of the evening's escapades – a particularly nasty run-in with some Penguin goons – from his skin, the scent of cheap cologne and gunpowder swirling down the drain. 

He replayed the fight in his head, cataloging mistakes, noting opportunities missed. He was getting rusty, or maybe the goons were just getting dumber. Either way, he needed to sharpen his edge.

He leaned against the tiled wall, letting the water beat against him, a temporary balm for the perpetual ache in his bones. He closed his eyes, the steam filling his lungs. Tonight was quiet, relatively speaking. 

No city-wide explosions, no mind-controlled hordes, just the usual petty crime and territorial disputes. Still, it wore on him. The weight of it all, the constant battle, the endless cycle of violence... it was a heavy burden for one Red Hood to carry.

He rinsed the soap from his hair, running his fingers through the short, dark strands. He needed to call Roy. Someone who could distract him, remind him that there was something else out there besides broken bones and bloodshed. 

But he already did that.

After talking with Pearl, he stood under the water, letting it wash away the last of the weight of everything, if only for a moment. He pretended he wasn't the Red Hood, a ghost, but simply Jason Todd, seeking a few minutes of peace in the shower.

When the only thing he could hear was his heart racing for his best friend.