Yk the HC where whenever Jason hears the scrap of metal across the floor he thinks of Joker? My take is that he got used to that during his revenge era and eventually it stopped bothering him as much, but what still terrifies him is the sound of ticking.
And it’s not even every time he hears it, because he can’t avoid clocks like that. But when it’s quiet, and everyone’s asleep and he can hear the distant sound of someone’s alarm clock all of a sudden he’s back at the warehouse watching the seconds count down until boom.
And yeah, he still remembers the feeling of heat on his skin, of smelling his flesh burn. He remembers hearing Bruce’s scream seconds before everything went dark.
And it’s not something that tends to interfere with his nights out on patrol and he thinks he had it under control. But one day he’s out with Tim and Bruce scouring Gotham because the Riddler broke out once again, and for some god forsaken reason he winds up at an abandoned clock factory and he’s frozen.
Even from the roof he’s on he can hear the faint tick, tick, tick.
And when Bruce goes inside for recon, he can feel it in his ear from the comms and recoils in fear and no one can find him for days after the incident.
Dick does eventually show up at his door a week later with takeout and a board game.
‘I watched it go off, you know.’ Jason said quietly, watching Dick make his move on the board. His hand stills on top of the chess piece.
‘I watched it go off that night. Seven seconds. I knew Bruce wasn’t gonna make it.’
Dick looks up at him then, concerned.
‘You-‘ he chokes on his words. ‘You watched the bomb tick down until you died?’
Jason looks down to the board then, unwilling to look his big brother in the eye anymore. He nods.
Dick’s expression changes as it clicks.
‘The ticking,’ he says more than asks. ‘It’s the ticking.’
Jason doesn’t answer, instead moving his piece and calling checkmate. They don’t talk about it for the rest of the night.
Later on, when Jason comes to visit the Manor, he realizes all the clocks and timers have been removed from every room.
