The Royal Triumvirate

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Jason/Nick

So, this chapter is going to be a little different. This chapter was written by my amazing friend and editor @Pabis23. In the timeline of events this is the date between Jason and Nick during the full moon.

Jason

Jason has been staring at himself in the full-length mirror so long at this point he had lost track of anything beyond his reflection. What was time? What was the powerhouse of the cell? How the hell would he know? They didn't matter. They were irrelevant to him right now. All that mattered was that stupid fucking wrinkle at the corner of his eye.

The damn thing taunted him. Reveling in his distress. Any other day he wouldn't even have noticed but today was his date with (hopefully) the love of his life.

His eyes slowly slid to the reflection of the door. Maybe he could sneak into his mother's room and just borrow her concealer. That hides wrinkles...right? He'd have to ask his mother. Maybe send her a text.

The door creaked open as Alex opened it. He quickly spun to her, walking so fast he nearly ran her over. Grabbing her shoulders, he shook her.

"Code red! I need you to tell Nick that I fell down a cliff, saving a kitten and died."

"What?! Why?!" She responded slightly panicked.

A gust of air escaped her as a small smirk danced on the side of lip. "Moisturize me!" She said in a snobby accent and bent her knees while clawing at the air. "I'm wrinkling! Moisturize me!"

He let out an insulted gasp, "this is no time for Doctor Who!"

"It's always time for Doctor Who," she deadpanned standing straight dusting invisible dust off of her arms.

"Alex!"

"Okay okay sorry," she patted his shoulder. "You look fine."

"But the wrinkle..."

"What wrinkle? You have no wrinkles! Stop squinting and it'll go away."

He took a deep breath to clear his nerves. Slowly his feet began to move towards his closet, Alex following behind. He opened the door and just stared at the assorted outfits.

"Why are you so panicked?" Her concern radiated from across his room. He could hear her as she sat on his bed. "It's not like you."

He rubbed a piece of cloth from between his fingers. In the silence, he could hear the fabric squeak as it rubbed against itself.

"You...you remember...he who should not be named?" His voice quivered.

Alex stiffened, her nose wrinkling in disgust, "Yeah. I remember that asshole."

"You wanna know what he said to me once?" Before she could speak, he answered himself. "He said 'you're a lot to handle and not even close to being hot enough to make it worth my time to stay and deal with that'."

"Jason..." Another empty silence. He knew she wanted to say more but didn't know how to give advice when she herself was as clueless as him.

He finally let the shirt go and turned to his foster sister. She stared at him with such a soft expression. Anyone who didn't know her well would've thought it out of character for her, but he knew nothing was more important to Alex than caring about others. Even if she sometimes had a horrible way of showing it.

"I guess I just don't want him to leave me," Jason sighed and waved his hand vaguely around. "And I have it my head that he needs to find me attractive enough to stick around and fall for me." In an instant, she marched up to him, her face deathly serious, and smashed his face between her hands.