Blink 🌀 Jason Todd 🌀 ( TITANS )

( TWO )

Waking up the next morning in a soft and comfortable bed wasn't what Emric had in mind. He wasn't expecting the Wayne man to be so nice to him, especially after what he brought to the man's home.

Moving the heavy and warm blankets, he climbs out of bed, the first thing he notices is the new set of clothes he has on which a pair of sweatpants and a plain grey T-shirt. On the end of the bed he was sleeping, his clothes sit clean and folded. He walks over to the doorway and pops his head out. The hallway was empty.

Walking into the hallway he retraces his steps and heads down the stairs. After a few minutes of walking and looking around the place he found himself standing in the kitchen, his stomach growling in hunger. Remembering back to the time when he got a small amount of food was a little over a week ago. The billionaires' kitchen seemed like a Walmart to him. It was a good gold mine.

Looking through the cabinets he finds a bag of lays chips and starts to devour the potato chips.  As he eats the chips, he decides to venture through the mansion. Finding himself back in the library where everything happened. The windows had already been replaced  and knowing all to well how long it took to put in windows it made him start to wonder how long he was out. How long was he asleep?

But one question that stood out in his mind was, where is everyone?

Teleporting back to the kitchen he closes the bag up and sets it on the counter. He then goes back upstairs and he starts to walk towards the room he arrived in. Finding the boy sprawled out on his bed, bulky headphones placed over his ears. Using his telekinesis, he moves the headphones off the boy's ears. When Jason notices the boy he quickly jumps off the bed and flips out a little. "Woah your awake."

"How long have I been out?"

"Uh you've been out for almost a week, man." Jason replies moving himself toward Emric who intern takes a step back.

Emric turns around and goes back to the room he woke up in. He wasn't expecting Jason to follow him, so when he started to undress, the little older boy gets an eyeful. Leather boy witnessed the amount of scars and bruises the boy has littered all over his torso, back, and thighs. Jason reaches over and attempts to touch the big scar the lines his shoulder. When his fingers gently graze Emric's skin the boy flips around and grabs ahold of his wrist, fear written in his eyes, "Don't."

The silent boy throws on his clothes and shoes and makes his way past Jason, "Where are you going?"

There wasn't an answer, Emric continued to walk. He figured he had over stood his welcome. When he escaped the first time, he never stayed in one place for long. That's how they found him. He thought he found a safe place but he was wrong. They took him and continued their 'treatments'. After months he finally got consciously aware of his surroundings and which places the dampener were weak enough, then he escaped.

He gets to the front door and was about to open it but a soft and gentle hand stops him. Looking to find the source of the hand he finds Bruce, which cause the boy to be very confused. The billionaire removes his hand and starts to sign, "You are more than welcome to stay. I have a feeling those guys aren't going to be coming after you again."

"Do you really mean it?" Emric signs back, will tears almost spilling over and running down his cheeks. "I'm finally free?!"

Bruce nods and Emric dives in and hugs the older man. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Emric." Bruce replies rubbing the boy's back in comfort.

Jason and Alfred stand in the shadows and watch as some of the boy's defensive armor comes crashing down around him. When the two pull away Bruce says, "Jason show him around."

Jason, hmm, Emric thought that was a nice name, very fitting for then boy. Looking into the boys' eyes he could tell there was a small amount of resentment growing. He knew exactly why, he was overstepping in the father-son department. He could tell how upset he'd become over the gesture Brice had given him. Following Jason out of the room the first room they go to is the gallery room, to Jason the most boring part of the manor. But once Emric stepped inside he automatically found himself drawn to the rooms atmosphere. It was nice, comforting, the lighting made him feel safe. The painting were a plus.

All of them were full of color and vibrant, some were sad and happy but they all looked beautiful.

Emric began to look at the painting all around him but stopped when his eyes landed on one. It was supposed to be what most people thought heaven looked like. It sparked something inside him, familiarity. Then a small memory popped into his head.

"Momma, why are you painting that?" A small Emric asks, looking from his mother back to the painting.

His mother puts down the paint brush and picks him up, setting him gently on her lap. Adora Wilder, gives her son a small squeeze and replies, "This is for a very special gallery. Mommy's painting this because it fits the gallery's criteria. It's what they want to see."

The smaller Emeric reaches his hand out and touches the painting, a light travels through the painting and the fluffy pink and salmon lights up causing him to smile brightly. His mother smiles and tells her son, "That's so pretty, baby."

"Why don't you go play with your toys while mommy finishes up."

So that's what he did. He got off his mom's lap and then traveled over to where his toys were sprawled out on his play mat.

Blinking away the memory he smiles at the good memory he still had with his mother. He had quite a bit of them but that one stuck in his head because of the lights. Reaching his hand out he touches the painting, the same light pink and salmon color lights up causing a tear to slip from his eyes. Jason walks over to him and watches the painting in awe, the resentment falling from his face.

"Do you think..." He begins to sign but stops when he realizes Jason wouldn't be able to understand him. "Can you show me a different part of the mansion, please."

Looking at Emric Jason quickly understood why he wanted to get out of there. Deep down he knew what it felt like to lose parents, but he'd never let Emric see that, he wanted to keep up his too-cool-for-school image. But the silent boy could tell that Jason had troubles of his own but that was just going to his little secret.

Jason leads Emric away from the gallery room and moves onto the room Jason loved out of every room in the mansion besides his room and the kitchen, the home theater. Right when he opened the doors and saw the giant tv he knew he made a giant mistake. He mentally slapped himself. "Why did I just bring a deaf kid to a theater?!!?"

Hearing Jason's thoughts was one indicator that made him think there was some hope for the leather wearing teen, "Its okay Jason, it'll take some getting use too. If it makes you feel any better, I do like to watch movies with subtitles."

Turning to face Emric, Jason grabs his arm and leads him to the next room, the pool room. It has a pool table, pool sticks and a bunch of different pictures of famous people playing pool. Emric didn't mind pool, when he was little he'd watch his dad play pool with his buddies at the bar and grill they'd go to on Saturday evenings. He'd never played though. With all the running he did, it was just never in the cards.

He shows him the different floors, the arcade room, the pool out back and then finally the garden. When Emric saw the garden his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He moved away Jason and began to look at all the different types of shrub animals Bruce has in his back yard. The was an array of elephants and giraffes. But the flowers were what got him, they were so vibrant and colorful.

He began to wonder what living with the billionaire philanthropist would bring him.