Chapter Text
It’s another day before Roy can speak without sounding raspy, and another day after that before Jason is confident he can stand for longer than 2 hours at a time. During which time, Jason manages to avoid talking with Lian more than necessary, reducing himself to vague grunts for response until she seems to reluctantly gets the message he’s not interested in chatting. He instead spends his day surveying the surrounding landscape of what remains of the quaint town from the safety of the house.
It seems to be mostly composed of greenery, to the West he can see long since abandoned farms stretching out (what remains of such anyway), South looks to be nothing but bush, and he’s well aware all that’s East is large cities and, prior, mass populace. Nothing that particularly whets his appetite.
Contemplating his next destination is what finds Jason atop the rooftop of the house they’ve currently been finding refuge in, taking advantage of the dark to get some fresh air. He hasn’t spotted any infected since he’s arrived in this town, but he’s sure there’s some to be found.
It’s barely audible, but he can hear footsteps from the inside. Purposefully quiet as he spots Roy’s hands grabbing at the gutter of the roof and swinging himself up, cracked shingles shifting yet not careening down to the ground at his weight.
It’s with a long-perfected nimbleness, contradicting the bulk accompanying his figure, that seat him next to Jason. Legs swung into a lazy criss-cross as he looks towards the younger man curiously, peering at the helmet Jason has not yet deigned to take off. “So, you’re going to take off soon I’m guessing?”
Jason gives a shrug, hesitantly nodding at the statement. “I guess. Thinking ‘bout heading West for a bit till it’s safe to head South.”
Roy’s brow furrows slightly at that, turning to properly face Jason and clarifying, “Safe? What’s happening South?”
“Reactors, nuclear. That shit didn’t just drop off the Earth after everything went wrong.” Jason says with a derisive snort, gesturing around widely. “We are currently, if I had to guess, surrounded in all directions by radiation. There’s a real specific kinda route to go if you want to get through to the West Coast while avoiding it.”
Roy’s frown deepens at that, glancing back towards New York with an inscrutable look upon his face. “NYC is clear?”
Jason hums, giving a so-so gesture. “Clear-ish. You weren’t actively breathing it in if that’s any consolation. It would have spread through water, that’s what would kill you. The methane build up in sewers wouldn’t have helped either.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” Is Roy’s simple answer, accompanied by a long sigh. The stars are becoming more and more visible with every passing day, constellations easily traceable where prior it would have been hidden behind a fog of pollution.
“She’ll be lucky to live to the age where she has to worry about the effects of radiation.” Jason’s response is a deadpan, blunt and harsh as he kicks out his legs. To say he isn’t expecting the redhead to yank on his jacket and drag him down is an understatement. Roy holds him in an awkward half angle as he gets up in his face.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Roy hisses, his face twisted, and teeth bared as he glares. “I don’t care what pessimistic bullshit you have going for yourself, but don’t talk about Lian like that.”
Jason can’t stop the way his breath catches, eyes wide from where they are hidden. Words fail him as he silently sits in Roy’s grasp, it’s a tense five seconds before Roy scoffs and pushes him back.
The remark comes without thinking, bypassing his common sense to drawl from his mouth. “Tetchy.” He can feel the grimace cross his face as soon as the word registers, quickly followed by the feeling of Roy’s fist cracking against his helmet, agitating his barely healed concussion and a round of cursing from both boys.
“Motherfucker,” Roy cusses, shaking out his fist with his nose scrunched in a mix of pain and annoyance. He bites at his lips as he glances at his knuckles, looking over the reddened skin which is sure to bruise.
Jason’s hand automatically moves to rub at where the punch landed as though to soothe the hard plastic. “You punched me!” He sputters, his voice quietly shocked.
“You deserved it!” Roy immediately retorts, the childish protest coming quickly as he pushes his knuckles up to his lips and blows on them gently. “It’s not like I’m not regretting it right now.”
Despite the shock of the hit, Jason can’t help his startled laughter. He grasps at his belly as he cackles gruffly, the occasional snort bursting from his lips. He’s not quite sure why Roy’s words ring so funny to him, but he can’t hold it back. Roy stares at him in confusion for a few seconds before his own quiet chuckles join Jason’s until the two of them are both clutching at their sides with shoulders brushing, laughter ringing out joyously into the night.
The sound of shambling from the street below is what forces them both silent after a minute, Roy grabbing at his mouth with brown eyes squinted in a grin. It’s too dark to be able to tell what is below, but the unsteady trod has it almost guaranteed to be an infected attracted by the sound. Jason gestures back down to the window and Roy answers with a short nod as they both quietly pull themselves back inside.
Jason shuts the window as silently as he can, before turning back to Roy with another soft snicker. “That was so fucking stupid.”
“From who? Because I’d argue I was peak of my game there.” Roy croons teasingly, walking back towards the room where the trio had been staying, and where Lian is currently sleeping.
“It’s whom.” Jason corrects to the wall, his words missing Roy’s ears as he darts out of site.
Roy’s in the room for only a second before he’s coming back out with a cloth, a bottle of water that has yet to be purified and a map and pencil. He gestures for Jason to follow him until they are sat at the end of the hallway, moon shining down through the window enough to light what they are looking at.
“You mentioned a route to get to the West Coast, avoiding the reactors. How?” Roy skips straight to business, pushing the map towards him. It’s a map of North America, well used with pencil scribbles and markings across the whole thing, vague outlines of a route towards Star City sketched out. Jason takes his time to look over the whole thing, memorising as much of the information as he can from it. Roy uses the time to soak the cloth in the water and drape it over his hand, letting the cool liquid soothe the soon to be bruising.
Jason eventually grabs the pencil, voice a murmur as he explains, “There are what, ninety? Ninety-five? Nuclear reactors in America, majority of them are along the East Coast.” He drags the end of the pencil over the top of the map and gesturing to the right side of America. “This is the shit show, I could maybe point out the general locations of fifty of them. A lot of them are in clusters so where there is one, expect more.”
Jason starts to neatly mark the map with an ‘R’ wherever he can remember reactors, the training Bruce drilled into him coming through. When it comes to the West of America, it’s certainly broader and tends more towards guesswork then precise knowledge. “You need to keep a minimum of fifty miles from any reactor, the newer ones are more likely to be stable but you aren’t gonna be able to tell the difference until you’re too close.”
Roy is listening intently to Jason’s words, eyes focused on the map as they skitter across in contemplation. Jason’s hand hesitates over New Jersey before locating the six surrounding reactors with a pinpoint precision, Roy notices the way his movements jerk and chirps up.
“You a reactor tech before this?”
Jason snorts and shakes his head, tapping the pencil against the map as he murmurs, “Was in Gotham when everything went to shit, whole of NJ was a death trap when the Salem reactor went tits up. Set off the four others near it, but we didn’t even realise till too late when the one in Bayville went off. Forced us out of Gotham and got fucked around along the entire Jersey stateline, it’s a wasteland.”
Roy’s breath hitches near imperceptibly, staring at Jason while he explains. He can already tell what Roy’s thinking about, who Roy’s thinking about. Jason doesn’t press him to speak, giving him time to grieve the man. Last Jason had seen of Dick, he was alive and well; thriving as much as one can in the apocalypse, but Jason isn’t about to out himself like that to Roy.
Is that cruel? Maybe a little, although no guilt crosses his mind as he finishes up marking the map. He’s well past the point in his life where he spends his time worrying about others, he has not the time nor the energy for it.
“Should I say I’m sorry?” Roy eventually breaches the silence, hand hovering awkwardly above Jason’s knee.
“No. It was a shithole.” He huffs, moving his body away from any even chance of Roy’s touch. “Just… It was my shithole, y’know?”
Roy gives him a weak smile, reading Jason’s body langu age and dropping his hands back into his lap. “I get the sentiment.” He says softly, his words gentle to try and reassure him.
Jason’s clears his throat, his face scrunching into a scowl beneath the map at the gesture. He’s not a victim, he doesn’t need the pity or the soft looks. He focuses back onto the map and asks briskly, “Where are we right now?”
Roy’s gentle look doesn’t fade, if anything he looks at Jason with more pity, but he lets Jason take the out. “Central Pennsylvania, small little county.” Tapping at a point on the map, the location not even labelled.
Jason grasps the back of Roy’s palm, guiding it in a vague downward motion and dragging his finger through the untouched sections of the map till they hit Virginia, and then pushing his hand straight left across the country, “Once you hit a certain point South-West, you’ll be fine to go straight West. Just keep heading along the vague direction of Tennessee’s border.”
The feeling of his skin against the rough fabric of his gloves, the quiet scrape of calluses against worn leather, has Jason dropping the hand as quickly as he grabbed it. Yanking his own hand back against his chest and his scowl fading to a frown.
“Sounds like we’ll be going the same way then, at least for a bit.” Roy comments, his comment missing the idle tone he was likely aiming for, “You’re welcome to travel with us y’know, no harm in having an extra body.”
“I helped you, you’ve fed me, we’re even. You don’t owe me shit.” Jason says bluntly, his eyes rolling behind the plastic covering.
“First of all, I know you slid more cans of food into our packs, plus you used medical supplies on us. Second, I wasn’t trying to get even. You look strong, you know about urban survival, and you have useful supplies that you are willing to share. My motivations are purely selfish.” Roy lists off easily, gesturing to the map as if to showcase his statement.
“Your first and second argument contradict each other.” Jason points out, being pedantic just for the sake of it as he considers the offer. Being around others hasn’t been horrible and he’s free to leave at any point he needs, they have nothing to force him to stay. If nothing else, they could be used as distractions or meat shields. “You’re a shit liar, but fine. We can travel together till we hit Kansas, then I’m going down till I hit Mexico.”
“The weather is lovely this time of year.” Roy adds with a chirp, a mix of a pleased and smug grin on his face. “We’re gonna get along like a house on fire, we’ll be singing road trips songs before you know it.” Jason’s snort is more genuine than he’d like, but he manages to pass it off as sarcastic.
“I get to know your name than? If we’re travelling together, and all that.”
Jason’s response remains the same as last time, waving it off quickly. “Pass.”
“You got baggage with it Mr. Mysterious?” Roy croons teasingly, leaning in with a tilt of his head. “I’ll drop it, I can take a guess as to why.” Jason’s answering eye roll might not be visible, but from Roy’s laugh it’s certainly palpable.