#boy. i am rusty. hope this lives up to your hopes aussie my beloved!

[citrinesparkles]

take a break

jason todd x gender neural reader. 595 words. notes: requested by the ever-lovely austen anon for my valentine's celebration! so sorry for the wait, love- i don't even want to acknowledge how much trouble this gave me. happy st paddy's for anybody celebrating! warnings: picking at fingernails, reader's stressed out and hangry, i think that's it!

"you're doing it again."

jason's voice gently dragged your attention away from the work you were poring over, bringing it to the fact that you were indeed picking at your nails.

"dammit," you muttered, clenching and unclenching your fists before very pointedly laying your hands on your keyboard. right where you could see them. "thanks, jay."

"mhm."

you and he returned to your peaceful co-existence, sitting on the bed and at the desk respectively, the only consistent sounds the jazz he had playing quietly and the rain hitting the window.

it was peaceful.

or it would have been, had your stomach not been in knots over the tasks staring you in the face. all you wanted to do was turn your computer off, throw your phone in a safe and forget the combination, and curl up into jason's side for the rest of the day.

with a sigh, you threw yourself back into your reading.

you made some progress, the words actually making sense this time- right until your boyfriend sniffled.

such an innocent action. he probably didn't even realize he did it; but you did.

and it threw you out of your rhythm.

you swore under your breath, letting your head fall forwards to thunk against the desk almost childishly.

you felt his eyes on you. "that bad, huh?"

"yes," you groaned into the desk. "that bad."

"maybe-"

"i don't really want advice."

there was the sound of fabric across fabric and the quiet creak of the bed, and then there was a hand on your upper back. "okay."

"i just- i don't want to do this."

"i know."

"i'm tired, i've got a headache, my neck hurts. my eyes hurt. my eyelids hurt. i just want to go to sleep."

he hummed, rubbing small circles in between your shoulder blades.

"i'm so sick of this shit." you took a deep breath, letting it out in a heavy sigh. "alright, what's your genius idea?"

"i wouldn't say ge-"

"jason."

"sorry," he said, grin fully audible. "how about a break to eat?"

"groundbreaking," you said dryly.

"i said i wouldn't call it genius."

you rolled your eyes. "it's not an awful idea, either."

"considering you didn't have breakfast-"

"alright," you groaned. "alright. food."

-

jason, damn his ass, was right. food did help.

but so did getting to curl up into his side on the couch, far away from both computer and phone, so he wasn't the only one that was right. so there.

now, here, away from the brain-melting screen and despair inducing deadline, with jason- wonderful, caring, genius jason- holding one of your hands loosely in his own against your shoulder, things somehow seemed a lot more manageable.

and his jazz- streaming through one earbud for each of you- was much more "smooth, lovely mood music" than "the very last straw", now.

funny how that worked.

funny how his rhythmic tapping on his thigh and low hum were the sweetest sounds you'd ever heard when you weren't neck-deep in reading.

"i like you a lot more out here," you said dryly, squeezing his hand.

"out here, or after food?"

"...no comment."

he chuckled, resting his head against his. "i'd see through it anyway."

"cocky."

"observant," he said playfully, "and therefore confident."

"confident, cocky, potato, potahto."

"only if potato is justified and potahto is not."

you huffed out a laugh despite yourself, rolling your eyes. "oh, shut up. i'm listening to art."

he made a zipping motion over his lips, and you snuggled further into his side.

your work could wait a little while longer.

#citrine writes #being me is just one big game of 'lemme go search my masterlist and make sure i didn't already use that title' #boy. i am rusty. hope this lives up to your hopes aussie my beloved! #jason todd #dc #dc imagine #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #imagines #gn reader #dc comics #dc comics imagine