Had to replace this quick, so if you got two updates. That's why.

Alright! Here is chapter twelve, holy crap this is getting kind of long and I'm not even last character development. So for those who might be getting a little bored, I sinceh hope there aren't a lot, just hold on and bear with me because the action should start to pick up in the next chapter or two. I can't say for sure, this story kind of spun out of my control a while ago.

And Thank You, thank you, so much guys for sticking with me this far and following me and this story. It means a lot! I love you all!

And bad news for some, by some I mean all though who were geared up and excited for Jason/Roy slashy stuff... This is not going to delvelop into anything like that. They are just really close friends, the kind of close friendship that boundaries most guys seem to have (disclaimer: I said *most* guys, I know not all, I went to school with six guys that were closer than any thing for eight years). Despite society nowadays, I believe that guys can care a lot about echo thee with out at least one wanting to get the over I to bed. So sorry if you were excited, but that's not my thing. You can read it like that if you really must but it's not my intention.

And last, but certainly not least, thanks to my beta! Who goes through all this and makes sure people outside my head can actually understand what the hell I'm saying! We should all be thankful and send cupcakes. (Yes, I'm just seriously craving them!) BBBBGarden Golden is an amazing person, dealing with my PM's at ungodly hours!

Now enough with my text babble. Here's the story, tell me what you think. Reviews go a long way to getting the next chapter out sooner, so please leave me some feedback. Hope you enjoy!

Roy had not befriended Jason Todd by choice. Quite the opposite really, he had fought against it with everything he had. Robin could not have cared less.

Jason had met Roy days before Roy had met Jason, or been aware enough to recognize his presence. But, however it happened, in whatever order, the boys had met in a hospital room. Roy Harper's hospital room to be exact, five weeks after the original had been rescued for Cadmus, three after he'd been thawed out.

The first time Roy had awoken, he hadn't really been sure what was going on. Jason, the newly minted Robin coming up near his year mark, had been assigned as guard inside the room. The Boy Wonder had looked at him, Roy remembers him being distinctly unimpressed, and spoke dryly, "You're awake, huh? Great. Now, if you're compliant and be a good little boy, you can stay that way. Throw a fit, and I have ten canisters of sleeping gas."

The second time, Roy had been awake when Robin arrived. He'd also been told of his situation: he'd been kidnapped, put on ice, replaced by a clone and no one had noticed for years. He wasn't in a mood for company. But neither was Robin apparently, sweeping into the room like a hurricane, producing a PSP and not looking twice at his charge.

They had sat in brooding silence together until his shift was up four hours later and the next sentry set up showed outside his room again.

The third time, they actually had a conversation. Ollie had just visited, which had ended in disaster, and Roy had been no more receptive of company than the last time when Robin entered. Though the other teen was in a slightly better mood. He still didn't acknowledge the redhead and Roy wanted to throttle him. Ever since he'd woken up, Roy had been either completely alone or smothered with concerned questions and overbearing visitors and nurses, he didn't know how to react to this uncaring, indifferent, silent presence.

Finally, he couldn't take it. "Why are you here?" He'd demanded.

Robin had looked up from his video game to frown at him briefly. "Playing bodyguard, thought that would be obvious. Apparently, we're still worried that the Light could to get you back."

"'Apparently'?" Roy repeated, momentarily distracted.

"Yeah, I really don't agree. I was on the squad that found you, you weren't exactly well guarded like something that they would expend a lot of resources to recover." Robin canted his head to the side, thoughtfully disinterested. "Not that I thought we'd ever find you alive. But then, I've overestimated criminals before."

"'Overestimated'?" The conversation had made him feel a little slow. Unable to grasp or comprehend what was being said.

Robin shrugged. "Just thought that they'd be smart enough to get rid of any evidence. It only took so long to find you because you didn't show up in any of the recent records."

Roy had stared at him dumbly for a moment before shaking his head and drawing back his earlier anger. It wasn't lost on him that that moment had been the first he hadn't been angry since learning the truth. "No, why are you in here? All the others stay outside."

"That's because they're stupid." Roy had looked at him disbelievingly once again. "If you're standing out in the hall, that leave this entire room in a blind spot, since you love shutting the blinds. If you want to protect something, keep it in your line of sight at all times. If someone were to sneak in here through the window and grab you, or kill you, I wouldn't know because I couldn't see. And chances are if they're smart enough to take that approach, you wouldn't have time to scream. Ya follow?"

"And if they sneak down the hall?"

"Anyone who try it that way wouldn't be sneaking, I'll hear them coming three floors down."

"If they're disguised as doctors?"

Robin smirked. "Want to get rid of me that bad, huh? Too bad, if the assassins or kidnappers went that route, I'd have to come in here with them anyway to monitor what they're doing so might as well just start here, yeah?"

Roy decided it made sense and let the subject rest. "What are you playing?"

"Call of Duty. Wanna play?"

Roy had reluctantly accepted, for lack of anything else to do but wallow in misery.

It had snowballed from there. Over time, one of the nurses had noticed Roy's disposition changing a little after each of Robin's shifts and suddenly the Boy Wonder was at the hospital more often than not.

They played video games, they bantered, they full out argued. Even coming close to blows a couple of times but Roy was getting better. Robin didn't walk on egg shells around him, or took it easy on him. He had no pity for the lost boy with half a arm missing.

But even more than that, they didn't hold each other to the expectations everyone else did. For Roy to be exactly like his clone or Jason to be like his predecessor.

Roy wasn't around to meet the first Robin, therefore had nothing to compare the current Boy Wonder to. Jason didn't give jack shit if the two Harpers didn't match up like everyone expected.

It was refreshing for both of them.

Once the archer was released from the hospital, they'd stuck together. Robin helped Roy get back in shape and adjusted to his new disability. He had provided an outlet for frustrations that came with having do-gooder guardians that were unable or unwilling to actually act in the role of guardian, but still wanted to pretend like they did, because Robin got it.

They did that for two years. Eventually, Roy had come to realize that Jason was terribly great at self-deception; almost as good as he was at deceiving everyone. Almost pathological lair style, truly believing the BS you dish out to everyone else. But you *could* see through it, if you took the time to even try to connect with him on something close to a personal level, you'd see just how much of Jason's 'I'm untouchable, nothing can hurt me, I don't need or want anyone' routine was complete, utter bullshit. Roy was the only one that seemed to try though. Jason acted like that was just fine with him, as if he preferred it that way and everyone, including himself, seemed to believe it. And that mad Roy madder than anything.

Conversely, Jason had steam rolled through all of Roy's attempts to keep him away. Every time Roy tried to give up, Jason would kick him ass back into gear and forcibly drag him on. Once inside his walls, the bastard had remained there. I am Jason. I am here. Deal with me. They knew each other inside and out.

Which is exactly why, within a week into his stay at the Manor, Roy became very concerned for his friend. Jason was up and at the table in the morning early enough to see Tim off to school, and his breakfast wouldn't have even passed the criteria for a "Master Cleanse Diet". It was all sorts of wrong! Jason Todd was supposed to be dragged forcefully out of bed at noon. Nothing short of a Armageddon or Alfred, could get the Jason Todd Roy knew out of bed before eleven o'clock. He also packed enough food away to rival a speedster, still stuck in the mentality that the next meal might not come, from the streets.

So one night, when he lay awake at night think about this, Roy decided to do something about it. In true Harper fashion, he refused to wait until morning. It was 3 AM but this had to be addressed and what better time than the present? Roy was going to *deal* with his best friend, come hell, high water, or ungodly hours.

He found Jason in the grip of a nightmare of the likes he'd never seen before. Now, Roy had seen his fair share of bad dreams, and experienced them as witnesses like now before. Jason had slept over at his house after all, many times though neither mentor knew and the kid had seen and been through some pretty horrible things even before he'd donned the cape. But not like this.

Jason was tangled in his sheets, covered in sweat and thrashing. Roy stood shocked still in the doorway until his best friend threw back his head and gasped out a silent scream, then he was all movement. The archer rushed to Jason's side, throwing caution to the wind and shaking him harshly, yelling at him to wake up.

His yes snapped open, glowing a vivid, toxic green and Jason was suddenly a blur as well. Seizing one of the red head's wrists, he wrenched it around and threw his weight so that Roy was pressed to the bed under him. Roy held very still, only tensing slightly when cool metal pressed against the back of his neck.

Slowly, painfully slowly, he turned his head to peer back. Only to find Jason's strange eyes scanning the darkness around them for threats, the intruder underneath him apparently deemed neutralized or a non-threat.

"Jason," he called softly, calmly. "It alright. You're at the Manor, no one is in the room but you and me. You were having a nightmare, looked bad so I tried to wake you up. Now I need you to snap out of it, Jay."

He succeeded in gaining the other's attention, eyes still flicking about every other third half second, but he was looking at Roy now too. Recognition flickered in his gaze and the green glow dimmed. Cautiously, the vice grip holding his arm receded and the metal disappeared.

"Thanks. Welcome back." He didn't get an answer, Jason suddenly tensed again and rolled off both his friend and the bed all together. A second later, Roy heard violent retching in the connected bathroom.

Worry skyrocketing, the archer went after him. He found the fifteen year old slumped against the porcelain bowl and still panting even more raggedly, decidedly no better than how he'd found him originally. Without a word, Roy filled the glass from the counter in the sink and knelt down next to Jason. Pulling his best friend gently upright and back against the nearby wall, he offered the water. Jason took it with shaky fingers and rinsed his mouth.

They sat there in silence for several long moments while Jason tried to collect himself. Then Roy helped him up when he made to stand and the quiet continued as Jason studied himself in the mirror. Only his face, Roy noticed, the gaze never traveled down to his neck or below but stayed fixated on his own face. Intense and searching, trying to find memories, clues, to fix his mask back in place or simply pinpoint the origin of the spider web of cracks, Roy didn't know. He just knew Jason wasn't okay.

Jason stared at his reflection for a long while, failing to accomplish whatever he had hoped to. Then his eyes drifted to Roy in the mirror and he walked out.

Still not speaking, Roy followed him back to the bed, taking a seat on the edge and Jason crouched to sit on the floor, back against the side. He pulled his legs to his chest and didn't acknowledge Roy again.

Not to let this go because of the difficulty in approaching the topic or Jason's obvious reluctance to do so, Roy tried to think of something to approach the situation with. Then he spotted the weapon half hidden in the bed sheets.

"So that's back," he noted dryly. By what he had just witnessed, the archer wasn't surprised to see the gun. It was another thing that had carried over from the streets and never left. In comparison to what Batman believed -that guns were equal to evil incarnated and anyone but police who used them were murders- guns represented safety to Jason. A way to protect himself.

Old habits die hard, Jason had always had one hidden under his bed. On occasion, when they'd zetaed* to different cities specifically because they weren't supposed to, Roy had seen the pistol tucked into his waist band on more than one occasion.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," Jason's voice was hollow.

"Nah. It's good." Dropping all nonchalance and growing serious, Roy studied his friend on the floor. "They don't know, do they?" He refused to believe even Batman could be uncaring enough to know yet not do anything.

"Tim knows to some extent, but not that that is so bad. It's gotten worse."

Roy took vague note of the open text book and half-finished math homework lying next to the computer on the desk. "What was it about?"

"Can't remember. Fire, I think. Someone was laughing."

Roy was more grateful than he had been in a long time that his friend was faced away from him, so that Jason couldn't see the pain and absolute rage that he couldn't keep off his face. The archer knew exactly what Jason was dreaming about. Even as he couldn't remember anything else, something like that would haunt you.

There was still a dirty shirt kicked over in the far corner. Jason's guitar was propped against the desk; sheet music was pinned under it. The book 'Midnight Summer's Dream' was laying discarded near a wall, Roy remember him throwing it and colorfully cursing his English teacher.

No wonder Jason's unconscious mind was stuck in the past. Yes, Jason had a habit of comparing where he'd been to where he was -and not positively- but this wasn't helping. The room seemed to be stuck in time, as if Jason had died and the Bat had shut it up and tried his damnedest to forget he had ever existed. Trauma aside, no one could move on like this, even if they couldn't remember.

With that in mind, Roy stood suddenly and held out a hand to his friend. Jason stared at the offered limb with confusion and apprehension, and then he looked up at his best friend as if he was the one who obviously needed help. And Roy was struck by how small he was, how young Jason Todd truly had been.

When they had been something of the same age, Jason had always seemed too old sometimes, world-weary beyond his years. But now he just looked like a lost child. And that bastard Bruce Wayne was doing nothing to help, Tim was trying, Roy would give him that, but he was still too polite, too timid to really be effective. Jason Todd was not someone to coddle and expect it to get somewhere. You had to beat him over the head. Roy wasn't even going to get started on what a mess Nightwing's relationship was with his so-called brother.

"C'mon," Roy prompted.

Jason frowned. "What?"

The archer have an exaggerated and long suffering sigh. "It's really no wonder you can't sleep in here. But my room's nice and cozy, the bed's big enough to fit half a football team."

Jason continued to peer up at his as if he was the crazy one. "Is this the part where you suddenly confess the undying love you've held for me all these years?"

Roy snorted unkindly. "You first, bastard."

"Ha. Don't hold your breath," Jason quipped, taking the hand and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. "I mean, don't get me wrong, red heads can be hot and all but I usually like them with a little more gear than you're equipped with, if you know what I mean."

Roy punched him on the arm. Hard. "You would love to have me."

"In your dreams, asshole... Or my nightmares."

"Shut up." The archer led Jason down the hall to the room he'd claimed as his, taking him over to the bed and pushing him to sit when his brain went out again. Poor kid looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Ya know, people are going to start askin' questions if they find us." Jason slurred, already half asleep when his head hit the pillow. "Ya sure yer ready for tha'?"

Roy climbed in on the other side, there was still enough space between them to fit at least three more people. And neither boy was exactly trying to take up a small space. "I'm sure Alfred will understand. Or ask first before jumping to any conclusions. And I'm sure he would give us his full support anyhow." Roy liked the old butler, he seemed to be the only other person who realized Jason looked like shit.

Jason snorted. He lobbed his pillow, almost drunkenly, and missed. Roy grabbed it and threw it right back, smacking the raven in the face.

"Now go to sleep, dumbass. You could use some beauty rest."

"Asshole." Jason growled.

"Bastard." Roy returned. He was answered by silence. Broken only by the other's heavy, even breathing.

Roy smiled and rolled over, feeling satisfied. Bruce Wayne, father of the freaking year, could go to hell for all Roy cared. He is away in his little office or behind a cowl because he still didn't know how to handle the boy that was supposed to be his middle son. It didn't matter. Roy knew him, could handle Jason just fine. He'd straighten the boy out, help him through whatever shit he had.

He might even let Tim keep helping.

They didn't need stubborn, stupid billionaires. They could be just fine on their own.

Those strange, toxic green eyes were all but completely forgotten.

*For anyone who isn't familiar with Young Justice, this is referring to zeta tubes: a teleporting device that the Justice League uses to travel to places quickly. You can only travel from one Zeta Tube to another, like docks... I believe. Ps, zetaed is totally a made up word.

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