Chapter 32

When he opened his eyes, Jason found himself...staring at an empty half of a bed. Slightly saddened that he didn't see his lovely and first girlfriend. He found that he didn't hear the consent traffic or millions of voices ringing in his ears. Only silences as he moves out towards the living room.

There on the sofa as he was reading manga, a man in his early twenties sat there. His light brown hair was nicely styled but looked like he could use a nice trim. Behind his thick glasses his eyes were full of doubt and sadness he tried his best to hide it. Only Jason could see straight through it for a simple reason.

Looking up from his manga, he stood face to face with Jason. Only unlike Jason's trained and toned body, his was slightly thicker, but couldn't be called chubby or fat. With his thick, yet nice looking beard, he was still decent looking and fairly attractive.

"So, have you read anything good lately?" Jason began as they sat down.

"Yes. It was a romcom believe it or not. Truth be told it was probably one of the better ones I read in a long while." The man started loudly but was fairly timid. "It follows the life of a teenage boy who felt alone until he stumbled upon his classmate. From there he would keep coming back to visit her and they would get up to funny shenanigans before they eventually started dating."

"Really." Jason replied with a kind smile. "If I remember, they made an anime about it."

"That they did, that they did. It was fairly good, but a bit too rushed in my opinion." The man answered honestly. "They cut out a few moments that truthfully made the manga good in my opinion."

"Yeah. Thinking back I believe you are right" Jason replied before slightly changing topics. "How have you been? It's been some time since we met each other."

"Fine." The man timidly responded with a fake smile.

"So did you finally meet someone special." the man asked after a strange silence fell between them.

"I believe so. I never thought it would happen though." Jason learned back in his chair. "Life has a funny way of working. For the longest time I never thought I would ever gain a girlfriend, much less a friend."

"Mmm, I know the feeling. It is funny how first love has a strange hold on us." The man leaned forward as he looked down. "It comes like a bullet and before we know it we are head over heel making a fool of ourselves. It's funny, but I doubt she even remembers me anymore. I thought we were friends once upon a time, but maybe we were never friends."

"I guess she was just a friend we move on from once a time comes. Like most of them that came before and after her."

"I know, but at least she seemed happy, so that's all that matters." Jason said as both let out a sigh. "Even if we could change the past, I doubt we would have gotten her. It would probably end up mostly similar or even lonelier."

"You're right, and we can't change the past. Nothing ever good happens when one changes the past." The man said as he brightened up. "So tell me about this special someone you met. I bet she is super cute."

"Lala is unique to say the least. She is playful and even childish at times, but knows when to be serious. From time to time she likes to keep me on my toes or attempts to tease me only for it to get deflected back. It's cute how she looks when embarrassed, though don't tell her that. The best part though, she isn't perfect nor tries to be." Jason smiled widely as a soft smile bloomed. "But you already knew that though."

Giving his own smile back to Jason, as his greyish light blue eyes shined behind his glasses. "How can I not know?"

"We are one and the same." Both Jason and the man said in sync.

"Even if I don't say it as I know you will. Please take good care of her, she isn't a manga character anymore to us. She saved us from loneliness even if we don't want to admit it." As his past self began to fade away, Jason felt slightly better. "Also, don't be afraid of becoming the hero we always dreamed to be once upon a time."

"You know it." Jason smiled as everything began to fade away.

--

Waking up in his own bed, he found Lala by his side and tucked her soft pink hair behind her ear. While she drooled on his pillow, he gave her a small kiss on the cheek. A small light soon formed on her lips as she continued to sleep.

"Thank you for being here, Lala." he whispered.

Seeing that the morning sun was rising to a new day, Jason left his bed carefully so as not to wake her. Upon entering the kitchen, he found his father preparing coffee. While he was playing the word search in the newspaper as he waited for the machine to stop pouring he glanced over.

"Up already?" James asked. "So how did it go last night?"

"You already know the answer, perverted old man. While Lala may not have heard you two, I did." Jason growled. "Did you really have to bet when we would finally get together?"

"Yes." James replied without hesitation.

"So did you at least win the bet?"

Offering a thumbs up with a bright smile as if bragging. Jason just rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

"So how is your work going?" Jason changed topics.

"Well, it's a whole lot of busy work. A few murders here, a few thefts there, and reports of the vigilanties." James said frowning at the last part. "I'm glad they are trying to make a difference but that Spider-boy still has a lot to learn."

"Weren't you the same?" Jason asked.

"I hope I wasn't this bad. Granted it probably wasn't on purpose, but he ruined a few plans and takedown the higher ups or others divisions were on. Now they have to think of a new way to get into Kingpin fold." James sighed. "Well, today is the unity fair that Oscorp is hosting. You should take Lala out, it might be fun."

Thinking about it for a moment, Jason nodded to his father's suggestion. It wasn't like either him or Lala had anything planned for the day.