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Sep 18, 2025

The Long-Awaited Relationship Reveal Job

When some old friends you haven't seen in a while end up crashing one of your safe houses, it turns into a nice opportunity for a family dinner which turns a bit chaotic and emotional when a misunderstanding is revealed.

DC Crossover Week Day 3 - Wednesday, September 17 Crossover Pairing || Misunderstanding || Butterfly Effect Year of the OTP - September Date Night Gone Wrong

for @dc-crossover-week 's DC crossover week 2025 :)))

i wrote this polyam!Joyfire x Reader as queer-platonic partners but can be read as more platonic or romantic reading as you like :))

crossposted on ao3

wc: 3.9k

You got the notification on your phone and frowned down at it. A silent alarm on one of your safe houses had been triggered. (Yes, you had multiple safe houses. Sue you, your adoptive bat family rubbed off on you … a lot.) You pulled up the feed and then relaxed when you realized just who it was that had “broken in”. Then you saw who else was there and started worrying again.

Jason just wanted to get home, eat some good homemade food and fall asleep with his partners. He’d settle for access to a good kitchen.

So, when he saw three strangers already in your safe house, he reacted quickly (unfortunately for his bag of groceries) and pulled out his gun, pointing it at them.

Not today, motherfuckers, not today, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

The grumpy blond with the bandana immediately stepped in front defensively, much to the silent annoyance and protest of the other two. The way he watched him (and the gun) and balanced on his feet, Jason could tell that this man knew his way around guns and violence. The other blond behind him though… she reminded him of Dick. Even without a constant smile like him, the capability of violence and acrobat’s grace were clear in her fierce glare and movements.

“Who are you?” the third asked, the way his hands moved on his hidden phone reminded Jason of Tim and Babs.

“I asked first,” Jason growled. God damn it, he wanted to curse these people for spilling his groceries. He’d been so excited to try a new recipe he’s found online with ingredients he’d picked up at a local farmer’s market.

His phone started to buzz in his jacket at the same time as he noticed a tell-tale vibration in Bandana’s pocket.

They stared at each other. Slowly, their hands drifted towards their pockets, and they grabbed them carefully, simultaneously.

Jason opened his and held it up to his ear as Bandana handed his off for Murder-Glare to read.

“Jason,” your dry and amused voice greeted him.

He didn’t respond but he assumed you were expecting that because you continued almost immediately.

“If he’s tall and handsome with a glare for days and at least one visible injury, that’s Eliot. He’s a friend.” You paused. “Don’t shoot,” you added.

“He knows about your safe houses?” Jason demanded, not in english.

You exhaled a laugh. “Of course that’s what you focus on,” you teased. “But yes, like I said, he’s a friend. I’ve known him for a while and that’s one of my older safe houses. ‘Sides, my safe houses are safe houses for a reason. So … play nice.”

“They ruined my groceries,” Jason grumped.

“Ouch,” you winced sympathetically. “But was it intentional or was it because of them accidentally startling you?”

He grumbled for the sake of grumbling.

You gave another soft laugh. “I’m on my way, it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, and I don’t trust y’all not to ruin my house.”

“Rude.”

You hummed, amused, knowing neither of you were being that serious.

“Play nice until I get there, I shouldn’t be too long.”

“And when you get here?” Jason teased.

“Hmmm, we’ll see, ‘kay, bye, love you.”

“Love you,” he said before you hung up. And then remembered where he was and cursed himself for forgetting himself and his surroundings. He glared up at the three sets of eyes staring curiously and suspiciously at him.

“You’re a friend?” Bandana- Eliot asked gruffly.

Jason nodded jerkily. “And you?”

Eliot nodded back.

Jason studied them, then sighed and put his gun away and crouched down to salvage his groceries.

“Those from the market just outside town?” Eliot asked.

Jason looked at him suspiciously as he stood, cradling the broken bag. “Yeah.”

Eliot nodded. “They have good produce, it’s a true farm to table market.”

Jason paused. “You like cooking?”

“Like cooking?” the hacker asked. “Dude, he loves it, and he’s great at it.”

Well, fuck. Looked like they had more in common than just knowing their way around guns.

You approached your safe house and hoped everything was going alright. Thankfully the building was still standing, there didn’t seem to be smoke coming out of the windows and no loud sounds were coming from inside. Sighing, you walked up to the door and let yourself in.

“We once stole a country.” That was Parker.

“A country?” Jason.

“Mhm.”

“Impressive. But have you ever been to other planets?”

“Aw, c’mon man, don’t say that! Leverage is international, not intergalactic. We do not need to deal with extraterrestrial crimes! We deal with enough shady politicians and ruthless scumbags here!” Hardison.

You turned the corner to the kitchen.

“Yeah, don’t mention going into space too much, you’re gonna make Hardison jealous.” Eliot smirked at him.

“Nah man, I am not jealous, nuh uh.”

“Hardison wants to meet aliens. But he can meet them here so I dunno why you need to travel to another planet just to do that,” Parker said.

“That is true, there are plenty of aliens on earth,” you said, stepping forward. You smiled at Jason first and he smirked back, knowing you were thinking of your girlfriend, the alien. Then you smiled at Eliot who nodded back from the kitchen with Jason, who looked like they were making a meal together.

“Parker, Hardison, good to see you again. How are you?”

Parker hopped off the counter and bounded over to you. “Hi!” She jumped up and you caught her in a tight hug. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too. Sounds like you’ve had some fun, though,” you smiled.

“Bah, you knew about the country one, that was years ago. But we did have to steal a monkey off of a princess’s shoulder a couple months ago, that was fun, and we bankrupted a couple more companies that were selling cancer causing products, those scoundrels.” She blew a raspberry and hopped out of your arms. She went back to sitting on the kitchen counter, mostly out of the way of what Jason and Eliot were doing.

“Nice.”

“You knew they’d stolen a country and you never told me?? I am wounded,” Jason teased.

“Forgive me for my blasphemous error, it will not happen again,” you said dramatically/sarcastically**. “Good to see you, too, Hardison.” You shook his hand.

“You too, how you been?”

“Oh, you know,” you shrugged, “living my life as an offense to all you law breakers,” you joked.

“One of the good ones.” He pointed at you.

“I try.”

“How’s Taggert and McSweeten doing? We haven’t run into them in a while.”

You snorted. “They’re doing well, doing good work and rising in the ranks. They’re both good men.”

“They are.”

“How much food are you making?” you asked the men in the kitchen a little while later, watching incredulously as they seemed to start preparing more and more dishes.

“A lot,” Hardison said.

“It’s a competition to see who makes the best food,” Parker said.

“We’ll need more people to finish what they’re starting,” Hardison joked.

Jason shrugged. “We know a few people.”

Eliot shrugged, too. “If you want, if you trust them.”

The men paused and glanced at each other, realizing what they’d said.

“So, what? Are we having a family dinner now?” you joked seriously, looking around at everyone. “I mean, we have two partners we could invite, it’s been a while since we’ve all been together…”

“If you wanna invite your partners over, hell yeah, then Eliot and Jason don’t have to make excuses for making so much food,” Hardison said.

You glanced at Parker and Eliot who both shrugged and nodded, not opposed. You looked at Jason. You ok with inviting them?

His mouth twitched. Sure. Missed you all.

Ok, I’ll text them. You pulled out your phone and shot a text to Roy and Koriand’r asking if they were free and inviting them to meet your friends for dinner.

They responded quickly, saying they’d be there as soon as possible. Lian was staying with Dinah and Ollie for the weekend so Roy wouldn’t have any trouble getting out, Kory had already finished her shoot and would pick up Roy on her way.

Your partners arrived, you introduced them to your friends, and they hit it off. Talking lawbreaking and jobs and supervillain fighting. The five of you hung out outside the kitchen, close enough to Eliot and Jason that they could be included in the conversations but out of their way while they cooked.

“So, how long have you been together for?” Roy asked, taking a sip of his water.

“A couple years now,” Hardison responded.

“A while,” Parker said.

Your gaze drifted to Eliot, working in the kitchen, as the conversation moved on without him. He was listening in, you were sure of it, but he wasn’t participating. He looked tense, and if you hadn’t known him for so long you might not have noticed, and you didn’t know why.

“One time we went on a date to steal this guy’s ugly guitar that he stole from a charity and Eliot had to punch like 10 guys in the face.”

Eliot made a noise. “That was a date for you?”

“Duh.”

“Yeah, man … it wasn’t for you?”

“I mean, I was there, if you had wanted it to be a date, why didn’t you just do the job yourself? Or pick another scumbag to rob that doesn’t have the private security of a military compound?” Eliot scoffed as he mixed ingredients.

“You…” Hardison trailed off, frowning.

“What do you mean? Of course we had to bring you along, it’s not a full date without you?” Parker glared at him.

You and your partners’ eyes were flitting back and forth between the three of them, silently wondering when you would need to give them some privacy.

Eliot looked up, defensively frowning as he glanced between Parker and Hardison.

“You’re important to us, man, we thought we were … that we were all…” Hardison gestured between the three of them.

Parker rolled her eyes. “We’re all dating. I’m dating you and Hardison, Hardison’s dating you and me, and you’re dating both of us.” She paused and frowned. “Do you not want to date us?”

“No! I mean- yes! No, I- shit, we’re not dating?” Eliot blurted.

This seemed to be getting very deep and very personal, very fast.

“Eliot, I love you. Jason-” he looked at you and you waved your phone at him “-it’s Dick. Parker, Hardison, I love you too.” You glanced at Jason again and nodded towards the stairs, not needing to nudge Kory or Roy for them to get them message and move backwards. “C’mon.”

Jason put down the pan he was holding, turned down the burners on the stove and followed as the four of you escaped upstairs to give the band of thieves some privacy.

You ended up in one of the unclaimed bedrooms and closed the door behind you. Roy and Jason sat on the bed while you leaned against the desk and Kory stood by the bed.

“They’re like us,” Roy joked softly.

“Two partners thinking they’ve been dating while the others are completely unaware? A misunderstanding that lasts years?” Jason huffed a laugh. “Sounds about right.”

Roy rolled over towards Jason to wrap his arms around him. “But we’re glad we got it sorted.”

“Yah, yah,” Jason rolled his eyes jokingly.

“We are very happy that we have all agreed to be in a relationship with each other,” Kory said and floated towards the men to gently kiss the backs of their hands.

“We are,” you said softly, remembering your experience and worrying for Eliot, even though you knew the three loved each other, the fear of losing your favourite, most important people? The fear that they would change their minds and not accept you? You could understand some of Eliot’s struggle. You were just glad you and your partners finally talked about it and you all made the decision every day to be together.

Kory floated across to you and squeezed your hand before bringing it up to her lips to kiss.

You squeezed back and just stayed like that for a bit, holding hands with your girlfriend while your boyfriends cuddled on the bed.

Jason squirmed slightly in Roy’s arms.

“Hey,” Roy protested.

“We said we were calling Dick, let’s call him.”

You chuckled. “Ok.”

“It will be nice to catch up and hear stories of your siblings, we have not visited in a while.”

“It sucks, we’ve all been so busy recently,” Roy sighed.

Jason hummed in agreement as his phone rang with the facetime dial tone.

“I am glad that, as impromptu as this was, we were all free,” you said.

“Yes,” Kory agreed, and you kissed her cheek for the sake of kissing her cheek.

“Jason! Hi! Is everything ok? Where are you-”

“I’m fine dick-head, don’t make me regret calling you,” Jason growled.

You could hear Dick’s dramatic gasp across the room, and you shared a smile with Koriand’r as you pulled her along to join your partners on the bed and cram your heads into the little screen.

“You’re calling because you missed me? Aww, Jay-bird, I love you too!”

“Yah, yah, I love you, now start talking, about whatever shit the kids have been up to lately that you can’t wait to share.”

Dick wiped a fake tear from his eye. “So sweet.” That’s when he finally acknowledged the other three people surrounding Jason. “Oh hi!” He greeted you all by name. “How’s it going?”

You chatted briefly and Dick did indeed share stories of the recent chaos at the Manor before you ended the call, Dick having to get ready for a date-night with Wally.

You slid off the bed to stretch.

“We should crash family dinner again,” Roy said, flopping back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“I would like to see your siblings again, it has been difficult with our schedules to find time to be all together.”

“I’ll ask Alfred when he’s trying to wrangle everyone for dinner again and let you know,” Jason agreed.

The front door opened and shut quickly, and you had a feeling you knew what had happened. You looked at your partners. “I’ll be back, promise.”

They all nodded, only a vague idea of what you were talking about, but trusting you, nonetheless.

“Go,” Jason said, perhaps understanding the most out of all of them.

You raced out of the room, down the stairs, past where Parker and Hardison were still at the kitchen counter, and out the door, running to find wherever Eliot had escaped to.

Jason stood up.

“Where you goin’?” Roy asked, shifting to stand and follow if Jason left.

“Gonna finish dinner. Food’s still gotta be made.”

“We shall join you,” Kory said, and Roy nodded, quickly standing and following them both out the door.

You saw Eliot, walking a block ahead of you and kept running after him. When he heard your footsteps, he sped up. Not to get away, but in a “I’m-going-to-speed-up-so-that-when-you-get-here-we-can-run-together-but-not-talk-to-each-other” kind of way. A kind the both of you were familiar with.

You caught up to him and matched each other’s stride to run side by side. Feet pounding on the sidewalk, miles passing by as you forgot about everything outside of the beating of your hearts and the air in your lungs.

Jason walked quietly into the kitchen, even though he passed right by the two guests. They’d quieted as soon as they heard him and his partners’ footsteps, and he didn’t blame them.

Roy and Kory leaned against the wall, watching him, while Parker and Hardison still sat at the counter, and they all existed in silence for some time.

He picked up the knife he’d left earlier (the knife he and Eliot had been annoyingly passing back and forth, much to your amusement given that there was an entire knife block at their disposal) and started working on the salad.

Jason pondered his words, debating whether or not to say the words slowing building up in his throat. “He knows you love him,” he said, not looking up from chopping the peppers in front of him.

“Of course we do,” Hardison said reflexively.

Jason nodded. “I know. And he knows.” He took a breath. “It’s just hard to admit. And to accept it. That you love him for him because of what he’s done. He … he probably doesn’t believe that he deserves it-” he swallowed “-deserves you.”

“But we forgave him for all of that, we don’t care,” Hardison said, voice full of confusion, hurt, longing.

Jason grabbed the tomatoes next and turned away to rinse them in the sink. He shook his head. “’snot about that. ‘s the fact that he’s done some shit that he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven for. Snapped too many necks to be allowed,” he took another deep breath and continued chopping the tomatoes, “to have something soft. To be allowed to touch people he loves and have them trust him not to hurt him.”

Parker made a sound of protest, but he quickly explained.

“He would never.” Jason looked up at them, seeing his own partners out of the corner of his eye and felt his shoulders loosen and heart calm.

“He would cut off his own hands before intentionally hurting you. But all he sees is the blood on his hands, feels the callouses from the guns and knives and knows about the dirty work they’ve done. Knows what he’s capable of and what he’d do again if you were in danger. And then he looks at you and sees everything he’s ever wanted and nothing that he feels he deserves.” He continued slicing methodically. “He wouldn’t be able to bear it if one day you woke up and started looking at him differently, if he snapped and did something unforgivable.”

The scars and betrayed looks he’d caused after coming back floated through his mind.

“You’re together. And maybe he knows other people can have multiple partners but he’s worried he’ll just fuck up your relationship, your dynamic, because you’ve got a good thing going. Besides, you’re friends, you hang out together anyways. You’re important to him, he can’t lose you. So why mess things up? He’ll just hold on to whatever he can, knowing he couldn’t survive losing you. He’d go to the ends of the universe for you. He loves you but he doesn’t believe he deserves you.”

He slid the tomatoes into the bowl, grabbed the mushrooms, cleaned the knife, started slicing again. He was sure that they could hear that he wasn’t just speaking for Eliot … but from experience, for himself. Because, in at least some sense, he knew what Eliot was going through, could guess what mental hula hoops he’d be pulling himself through because he felt like he didn’t deserve forgiveness for his past actions.

Jason knew what that could feel like.

Eliot finally slowed down in the park, to a jog, then a walk, and eventually you paused near the river-walk to stretch.

After a few minutes you broke the silence. “It was 5 years before I realized Roy and Kory thought we were dating. All of us,” you started, looking off into the distant city skyline. You saw Eliot tilt his head towards you out of the corner of your eye. “Me and Jason both. Neither of us knew. It seems like a ridiculous amount of time to some people.”

It was silent for another minute before you continued.

“We loved them, loved each other, of course we did. But we just didn’t realize they thought we were dating. We were close, important to each other, cared for each other, flirted with each other, lived together a lot of the time, co-parented Roy’s kid, did things together. But to me? That didn’t mean we were dating. They never overstepped boundaries, and we just never talked about it, never seemed to have to, we thought we were on the same page.” You changed to a different position. “I knew we were in a relationship but not … We all knew we loved each other, we knew we were important to each other, so it never really came up.”

The two of you sat down on the grass to keep stretching.

“And I can’t … and won’t speak for Hardison and Parker, but I see that they love you. And they wouldn’t, won’t, give you up so easily. They won’t let you run away. Not if you don’t want to keep running forever, they’d keep chasing you down, they’re the type to not let go so easily, are they?”

Eliot huffed beside you, agreeing.

You let that sit for a bit as you switched sides.

“It was terrifying,” you admitted softly. “Having something so big change. The fear of losing them? Of them not accepting me even though they did every day? The fear that they’ll leave you, or reconsider loving you if you let them in deeper, into all the dark parts and crevices.” You exhaled. “But they love you, they accept you, they know who you are and still continue, choose to love you. But they wouldn’t pressure you into anything, so it’s your choice now. It’s up to you how to proceed. Run, walk, towards, away, whatever, it’s up to you, they’ll accept whatever you decide. … Probably.”

Beside you, Eliot huffed another laugh. “If you think Parker would let me run away, you don’t know her very well,” he joked quietly. “Neither would Hardison, him and his satellites, any security camera.” He snorted. “Never leave me alone.”

“Of course not, not if you were doing it out of fear or some misplaced feeling of being unworthy, because you know them. You just said you know they’d never leave you.”

He sighed and you thought you could hear the nerves he fought so hard to hide. You both stood.

“You don’t have to tell me. But you should … let them know. Even if it takes some time. They’d wait. You know they would, however long you need.”

He nodded and started walking away. You matched his pace and slowly sped up to jog back to the house together.

You were murmuring quietly about some of the jobs Leverage Inc had pulled over the years as you pushed open the door to the house. You wandered into the kitchen area together where your partners were talking with each other.

“Hi, darling,” Roy greeted you and kissed your cheek when you got close.

You murmured greetings to him and Koriand’r as she kissed your cheek next.

Eliot rejoined Jason in the kitchen, but not without brushing his hand across Hardison’s arm and tapping Parker’s hand as he walked past. They watched him like hawks but didn’t say anything, not going to bring it up yet, just glad that he was back.

“Everything ok?” Roy whispered into your ear as you leaned back against him.

“Mhm, ran, talked. Was good,” you murmured.

Koriand’r interlocked her fingers with yours and squeezed your hand. An I love you gesture. You squeezed back and watched Eliot and Jason move fluidly together in the kitchen. Jason looked up and caught your eye and your lips twitched up into a small smile.

I love you.

Love you too.

So, maybe not everyone had a perfect start to their relationship, or even realized they were in a certain kind of relationship, but if it truly mattered to them, giving it a name didn’t always matter, not if you were on the same page. And these people around you, your friends and partners, were some of the most important people in your life and you loved them dearly. They knew it, and so did you. And for you, that was enough.

~~~

thanks for reading!! feel free to rb and leave nice comments <3

#dccrossoverweek2025 #day 3 #fanfiction #batman - all media types #red hood and the outlaws (comics)#leverage (2008)#teen and up audiences #no archive warnings apply #alec hardison/parker/eliot spencer #roy harper/koriand'r/jason todd/reader

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