A lot of things had changed since Bart had been gone, but Gotham wasn’t one of them. The same acrid smell of smog, the same gloomy weather, the same underlying feeling of unrest and wariness that made everybody look over their shoulder without knowing why. Even their old apartment hadn’t changed. Well, it was Jason’s apartment, Bart supposed. It had technically always been Jason’s apartment. Bart had only lived there for a time. But in that time he’d come to think of it as “theirs.” It seemed old habits died hard.
The place looked exactly the same as he remembered, give or take a couple coatings of dust and the fact that the dining set was missing a chair. Even all of Bart’s stuff was still there, much to his surprise. He figured Jason would have gotten rid of it by now, given the less-than-pleasant way they’d parted ways, yet here it all was. The only other things missing were a few of Jason’s belongings and of course Jason himself, although Bart hadn’t really expected to find him here in the first place. Still, every search had to start somewhere.
He did a quick sweep just to make sure that Jason definitely hadn’t been there recently, then climbed out onto the fire escape and up to the roof. Bart checked his watch and let out a sigh. He needed to find Jason tonight. Historically speaking, Bart had the best track record when it came to finding Jason, but he’d never had so little time before. He just hoped he was still up to the task.
The sky was bleeding into early morning when Bart finally spotted him, and it was totally by accident. Or maybe it counted as coincidence? He’d just finished strong-arming some thugs in the West End to try and get some information (which had turned out to be a total waste of his time) when a blinking neon sign caught his attention. It was his old favorite Mexican take-out place back when he’d lived here! It was his favorite because it was open 24/7 and because they made the best darn carnitas he’d ever had in his life. He and Jason had gone there hundreds of times together. Bart stared longingly at the hole-in-the-wall taqueria. He’d been running around all night and was absolutely starving. The temptation was strong.
Bart started toward the window. He had time to get a couple of burritos to go, he was sure of it. A figure inside seemed to recognize him and came towards the window to greet him. It was Ricardo, one of the regular cooks. Bart smiled and raised a hand to wave, happy to see a familiar face. “Well look who it is! Is that really you, Flash-boy?” Ricardo laughed, opening the latch on the window and swinging it outward to talk to him. “I saw on the news that you were back! Almost didn’t recognize you with the new threads, bro! Long time, no-” But Bart wasn’t listening anymore. He’d seen something in the window as it had opened- an all-too-familiar figure in the reflection of the rooftop on the opposite side of the street. Instantly, his eyes narrowed and time slowed down to a crawl. A glimpse of red and brown disappeared over the edge of the roof. Bart’s feet were already moving him towards it, leaving nothing but a gust of wind and a very confused cook in his wake.
The speedster had scaled the building in milliseconds, his pulse pounding away in his ears. He leaped over the ledge where he’d seen Jason’s reflection disappear and stopped, eyes wide with adrenaline and relief. “Jason!” He exclaimed, forgetting for all of an entire second the circumstances under which they’d last parted ways (and also apparently the rule about only using code names in the field). Bart almost couldn’t believe his own ears when he heard his voice aloud. Maybe he’d missed him more than he’d realized, even after leaving that night and not looking back. Even after moving back to Central and finally taking up the mantle of the Flash. Even after reaching for his phone so many times to send Jason a text only to force himself to jam it back into his pocket instead. Even after laying awake so many nights wondering if Jason was doing okay only to never give in to the urge to run to Gotham and check. Even after dying and coming back only to continue to avoid the one person whom he felt like he could talk to about the nightmares he sometimes had even when he was awake. Whether he meant to or not, Bart couldn’t deny that even after all this time he felt happy to see him, and now thanks to the nonexistent filter between his heart and his mouth, he was sure Jason had heard it too. Still, he found himself reaching up to pull off his cowl, drawing it all the way back and letting the loosened fabric rest against the back of his shoulders.
“It’s me. Please don’t run away.” He said softly.
