.𖥔 ݁ ˖ sypnosis — jason woke up and decided chaos was his word of the day
.𖥔 ݁ ˖ tags — flufffyyyy, domestic, established relationship, strict reader, reader uses playful punishments, mild language, burger jason, panty stealing jason, bad ass kid jason, ooc jason tbh, jason has a healthy outlet to be childish
.𖥔 ݁ ˖ wc — 1.8k
author's note — guys I'm soooo sorry for the delay on a new story and im not even going to try and find an excuse...i was just too lazy to write mb
ever heard the saying "a cat only breaks things because they feel safe?" well, that totally applies to jason peter todd. sometimes you really wish you hadn’t made him feel so safe around you, not for any bad reasons or anything, but because that serious, put-together guy you once knew? yeah, he’s gone, and there’s no way he’s coming back.
"you gon eat that, sweetheart?" his muffled voice pulled you from your thoughts, of course, he was talking while chewing. you looked up, hoping to catch his eyes, but his were too busy zeroing in on a small pile of fries you didn’t have room for.
"no, jay, you can take them," you replied, trying not to smile. don’t encourage his behavior, you reminded yourself.
he didn't hesitate at all, scooping the fries off your tray and tossing them into his own while you sipped on your milkshake. you shook your head, this dude was serious about his food time.
"can I have your pickles then?" you asked, eyeing the pile he’d pulled out of his burger along with his tomatoes and onions...and lettuce.
he just nodded, taking another bite of his meat-only burger and humming like he was in a commercial or something. you couldn’t help but chuckle as you grabbed the pickles away from him.
you noticed his eyes tracking your hand, that familiar glint shining through them.
uh oh.
"babe, babe," he said, swallowing and putting his burger down to really grab your attention, even though he already had it. "what do you call pickled bread before it’s baked?" he asked, grinning big and resting his hands in his lap.
"uhh… I don’t know, jace, what’s it called?"
“dill dough! get it? get it, babe?”
you took a deep breath and hid your face behind your hands, partly to cover up your smirk and partly because you heard the old lady in the booth behind you gasp while her grandkids snickered around her.
you took another deep breath in and a deep breath out before taking your hands off your face and looking at him. he had the goofiest smile on earth you could practically see the little halo forming around his head, rounded cheeks, and a little ketchup on his nose. you really shouldn't have enjoyed the way his smile dropped when you spoke.
"you're moving your clip to yellow when we get home."
"ow! please, baby, i said i'm sorry!"
"no sir, you will drop your pin and I will be watching," you said, fingers gripping tighter against his ear as you pulled him further into your shared apartment.
"this is abuse!" he exclaimed, clutching the paper takeout bag against his stomach for comfort as you walked him to the fridge.
a small magnetic behavior clip chart sat in the center of it, with a little wooden pin engraved with "jason" right on the green "ready to learn" section.
you released his ear, and he immediately started rubbing it. clearing your throat, your gaze shifted back and forth between him and the chart.
"but—"
"no buts mister, you really made a dildo joke in front of that sweet granny?"
his smile returned, big and wild as he nodded with pride, his tousled curls bouncing, making you clench your fists at your sides to stop yourself from cupping his little face and smooching him all over.
"not funny, jace."
he rolled his eyes and whined, "do i haveeee to?"
"yes."
he groaned and muttered under his breath as he reluctantly moved his pin down from green to the yellow "think about it" section.
"good, if you behave for the rest of the day, you can bring your pin back up," you said with a satisfied nod, walking past him and narrowing your eyes as you looked him up and down. "you big baby," you scoffed, snatching the bag from his hands and heading toward the counter to unpack the containers.
he was left with his brows furrowed and his lips pouty, hands still around his stomach as if his little bag was still there.
oh, it was on.
you were so focused on slicing the takeout burger in half and arranging the extra fries into a bento box that you completely missed when he slipped away. jason had a big mission tomorrow with b, and you wanted to make sure he had a meal ready for him while he was out.
just as you were about to grab a sticky note from the junk drawer to write him a sweet message, you heard it.
the unmistakable sound of your laundry basket scraping against the floor. a frown crossed your face as you glanced around, but it quickly softened when you remembered how you had taken his socks a few days before, insisting they were cozier than your own.
you stepped away from the counter to go help him, but the sight that greeted you as you rounded the corner was...adorable
jason was bent over your laundry basket, gently sifting through your clothes with his fingers. a soft grin crept onto your face at the scene, but it quickly faded when you noticed a small pile of your underwear he had carefully arranged next to the basket.
you blinked. once. twice. then, you crossed your arms over your chest and raised an eyebrow.
he picked up another pair of panties, biting his bottom lip to suppress a giggle, and placed it on top of the stack. when he glanced up, his eyes seemed ready to pop out of his head.
neither of you moved, nor did you break eye contact, but you could sense he was wishing you would just magically disappear into thin air.
“care to explain yourself—” you started, finally shattering the silence, but the words got stuck in your throat as you watched jason quickly shove your panties into his pocket before dashing away.
your feet instinctively followed him around the apartment before you even realized it.
"jason, goddammit, come back here!" you yelled as he led you in circles around the kitchen island.
curse him for his athleticism and curse yourself for feeling so bloated.
you could hear him breathing heavily. that's right, big guy, all you needed to do was wear him out.
"jason, you better pick that up!" you exclaimed, gasping for air as he tossed a pillow from the couch at your feet.
"no! just leave me alone!" he whined, desperately searching for an escape route. "i need those panties... for stuff," he added, taking off again as he noticed you charging at him with the pillow in hand.
"ow! hey, stop it, baby, come on!" he protested as you finally caught up and began to whack him with the pillow, slowly pushing him into a corner.
"get in there, get," you muttered, nudging him toward the corner while your eyes caught sight of the broom from the corner of your eye. you launched the pillow at his head to distract him and grabbed the broom, turning it around and poking at him like a sword.
"time out, ten minutes," you declared, holding the broom against his stomach. "get in your corner, todd," you whispered darkly as you narrowed your eyes on him.
his eyes got all squinty as his hands turned into claws and he started baring his teeth at you like some kinda animal.
you raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but notice how... weirdly clean his teeth were?
"wait, jace, did you seriously use my toothbrush?" you asked, holding your broom sword up higher toward his face.
he just snarled and made this sound that was basically a bark. was he actually trying to scare you right now?
"oh put those away! get down, down boy!" you said as you started poking at his chest gently with your sword, pushing him further into the corner.
he only frowned and a small whine bubbled in his chest when he realized there was no way he was getting out of this. slowly he slid down the wall and turned away from you.
you grinned proudly and leaned down, sticking your hand out toward him. "and give me my underwear back," you said through clenched teeth.
"but-but they're mine," he huffed, slowly digging through his pocket before reluctantly tossing your panties into your hand.
"thank you, you get to keep two," you said as you grabbed your panties and threw two into his lap. "now that's ten minutes in time out, and I don't wanna hear a single sniffle coming from this corner."
"i wasn't being too… difficult today, right?" his voice breaks the silence, and you open your eyes again.
your fingers keep running through his curls, messing them up in the cutest way. you just shake your head, and before you can even say anything, he interrupts.
"i'm serious, you can be honest."
your heart tightens at the way his eyes shine in the dim light, not with tears, but they always managed to pull you in.
"no, baby, you were… fun. at least i got some cardio in today," you say with a light laugh as you lean in to plant a quick kiss on the side of his nose.
you hear his breath catch and feel his arms tighten around you. you'd normally complain about him feeling too heavy on top of you, but you can't bring yourself to do it now.
"you're welcome," he replies after a moment, a small smile appearing before his head drops onto your chest and you let your nails scratch at his scalp.
"you look really pretty, jace," you blurt out, and you hear him laugh as he lifts his head.
"thanks, you do too, baby." he says with a lopsided smile as his eyes scanned your face and the way the light of the candle illuminated only half of it. he leaned in, his lips softly brushing against yours. it starts off slow and sweet, but then his hands go to your cheeks and he deepens the kiss.
"jace, oh my god, jason!" you squeal as he moves from your lips to slobber your cheeks, your nose, your jaw, and your temple with kisses.
he has a grin on his face, "what? can't i be affectionate now?"
"yeah, but why are you being so good now?" you ask. "i could've used a well-behaved jason a few hours ago."
"i'm being good?" he leans back to look at you with an arched brow, his grin growing as you nod.
"does that mean i can move my pin back to green now?" he asks, his lips starting to brush against the top of your head.
you chuckle while your fingers slide under his shirt, feeling his stomach tense up. you love how each of his muscles responds differently to your touch.
"pft, no," you say, laughing at the sound of his groan.
𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: you cannot believe this day is real; the day you’re marrying the love of your life, jason todd.
𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: none, absolute fluff, corny ahhh vows, bruce giving a speech, batcat + dickory crumb(s), brucejason moment, also someone PLEASE lmk if the read more thing works!, 2.3k words
Jason plays with his tie for what feels like the hundredth time. His reflection looks like the picture of calm, but inside he’s a jumble of nerves.
“She can still run away.”
Jason glares at Damian from over his shoulder. “Don’t you have some sword to play with?”
“I am attempting to prepare you for all possible outcomes.”
Before Jason can snap something back, Dick steps in—are his eyes red again? “You're getting married. You're allowed to freak out a little.”
“I’m not.” He deadpans.
Tim has his hands shoved into his pockets. “I've checked everything three times. Nothing's on fire.”
“Right.”
Roy grins. “You’re totally nervous.”
Jason huffs. “You four are the worst groomsmen ever to exist.”
A chorus of protests ensues. While they bicker amongst each other, Jason goes quiet. It still feels surreal to him that, in less than an hour, you’ll become Mrs. Todd. He has more contingency plans than what's deemed sane for today, and yet Jason can’t help feeling nervous because what if? What if somebody barges in? Or there’s a breakout at Arkham? Or whatever else might happen that will ruin today.
He’s spent most of his life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now that he’s so close to a future with you—he doesn’t want to lose it like all of the other good things he’s ever had.
“Where’s Biz anyway?”
Everyone pauses for a moment, then Roy says, “I think he said he wasn’t going to eat.”
Jason curses.
He knows it’s stupid; there’s less than half an hour left before you two pronounce your vows and get legally married. But. He needed to see you. The sky is blue and the grass is green; it’s another universal truth that your sole presence calms Jason.
He knocks on the door of the room you’re in. Hands in his pockets, still as a rock.
Steph pokes out her head. “You can’t see the bride just yet. So, shoo!” She motions with her hand for him to leave.
“I need to talk with her.”
Steph’s eyes soften and she lets out an over-exaggerated sigh. “You are literally the most dramatic groom I've ever met.”
She then shuts the door in Jason’s face. Wow, rude.
There’s chattering inside, a few noises of protest, but slowly all of the bridesmaids trickle out. Before Jason can step in, you take hold of the door.
“You can’t see me yet, it’s a surprise.”
He slumps against the door. “Mhm. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
There’s a beat of silence, and then you sound closer—you must be in the same position he’s in. “Hey, Jay?”
“Yes, princess?”
“Do you… do you feel slightly nervous?” Before he can answer, you continue. “It’s not like a bad nervous, it’s like a… rollercoaster. Yeah, that’s it!”
“You’re comparing our marriage to a rollercoaster?”
You laugh. “It’s those same nerves, exciting but you still have a funny feeling in your stomach.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” He pauses. “I had to get out of there. It’s just—I want today to be perfect. You deserve nothing less.”
“You bastard.” There’s a sniffle on the other side. “You can’t ruin my makeup before the pictures are taken.”
Jason widens his eyes in panic, almost getting up and barging in. He cannot handle it when you cry. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Because I love you so much.”
His shoulders slump; what a relief. “I love you too.”
“I don’t need today to be perfect, just by being with you it already is.”
Jason grins, head tilted against the wall. “You’re not getting rid of me now.”
It’s only Jason and the wedding officiant in the room. It’s a beautiful room, with a massive marble fireplace, wooden floors, details on the walls and columns. There’s a large window at the back that shows the sprawling gardens of the estate. To the side, a mahogany desk with all of the paperwork and pens for everyone to sign.
The light trickles in and hits Jason on the face, but he doesn’t blink once, completely absorbed by the still-closed door.
Then it does, with a light click. Jason’s world tilts.
Jason is not a religious man, but he knows an angel when he sees one. You look absolutely stunning; he swears his heart stops.
He picks at the collar of his suit. “Yeah— that’s not fair.”
You laugh and walk over to him at the window. Your fingers gently readjust his collar. “You look stunning, Mr. Todd.”
He can’t help the expression of pure adoration that is written all over his face.
“Shall we begin?” the officiant says.
You nod and release Jason’s collar. To be honest, Jason doesn’t hear a single word of what the officiant is saying—he's too busy looking at you.
“I do,” he manages to say.
And then, “I do.”
“You’re now husband and wife.” The man smiles at the two of you. “Now for the personal vows.”
Jason slips a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. It’s been touched and folded far too many times. He actually doesn’t need it; he knows the speech by heart, but still.
“I never thought I'd be standing here.” He looks at the floor for a second before locking eyes with yours. “Not because I didn't believe in love or anything. I just never thought I'd be lucky enough to keep it. I've spent most of my life fighting; fighting to survive, fighting to be understood, fighting against the parts of myself I wish I could leave behind. Then you came along, and for the first time, being with someone didn't feel like another battle.”
Small tears are already blossoming in your eyes, a lonely tear or two falling down the slope of your cheek, and you’re fighting a smile.
“You saw me at my worst and stayed. You saw the anger, the scars, the mistakes, the things that keep me awake at night—and somehow, you loved me anyway. I don't know if I'll ever deserve that. What I do know is that every morning I wake up beside you, I'll spend the rest of my life trying. I promise to be honest with you, even when it's difficult. I promise to trust you with the pieces of myself I've always kept hidden. I promise to stand beside you when life is easy and when it isn't. I promise that no matter what happens, you'll never face it alone.
“I can't promise perfection. You know better than anyone that I'm far from perfect.”
Jason is not even hesitant; he delivers his words like gospel—a mix of unwavering security and blind faith.
“But I can promise this: you will always have my heart, my loyalty, and a home with me. And if the world ever comes for you, it'll have to go through me first. I love you. Today, tomorrow, and every day I have left. And I choose you. Every single time.”
Tears are freely falling from your eyes, and he’s quick to wipe them away. You let out a small laugh and start yours.
“Jason,” you let out a small laugh and shoot him a pointed stare. “You can’t laugh.”
Jason’s eyes are absolutely soft. His entire body is relaxed, and you’re sure he doesn’t realize he’s inching closer. “Wouldn’t dare to.” You take a breath. “People see your strength first. They see the confidence, the stubbornness, the way you walk into every room like you're ready to challenge the world. But that's not the man I fell in love with. I fell in love with the man who cares so deeply it hurts.” You smile, getting emotional again. “I mean, remember when we met?”
Jason smiles.
“I fell for the man who would give everything he has for the people he loves. The man who pretends he doesn't need anyone, but reaches for my hand when he thinks no one is looking. You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known. And it is the greatest privilege of my life to be trusted with it. I promise to love every version of you: the fearless one, the angry one, the gentle one, the kind one. And the one who is still learning that he doesn't have to carry everything by himself. I promise to remind you that you are worthy of love on the days you forget. I promise to laugh with you, argue with you, grow with you, and stand beside you through every chapter of our lives. I promise to be your peace when the world becomes too loud.
“Your partner when the road gets hard. And your home, wherever we are. You once told me that trust doesn't come easily to you. So thank you for trusting me. I choose you too, in the good and bad days, no matter what happens because, Jason, I love you. With my whole soul.”
Jason says nothing for a second, a thousand thoughts and feelings crossing his face. You instinctively brush one of his hairs away from his forehead; he closes his eyes briefly. Moves closer, his hands gravitating to your waist to kiss you—
The officiant coughs, and even he looks moved, but he snaps out of it and redirects the two of you to the table. “We need the two witnesses now.”
Roy and Dick are there in less than a second, eagerly picking up the pens and signing. You and Jason do too—you even share the same blue ballpoint.
The officiant reads over the document, making sure nothing is amiss. “Perfect. You’re now legally husband and wife.” He smiles. “Congratulations to both of you.”
Jason captures your mouth. The kiss is both sweet and hungry, and by the time you two remember that you can’t kiss for eternity, he smiles, forehead pressed to yours. “I love you, Mrs. Todd.”
You kiss him again. “I love you too, Mr. Todd.”
The wedding is perfect. Or rather, it’s perfect because Jason is there enjoying it by your side.
There’s dancing and drinking, laughter and cheering, and the constant congratulations! The muscles of your face hurt from how much you’re smiling, but you won’t stop.
Time moves far too quickly, and you’re caught in a dream you don’t want to wake up from. You see the world through a sparkling filter; everything is bright and good, and what could ever go wrong if you and Jason are together? Then comes Bruce’s speech.
He stands up, perfectly poised and straight. Beside him, Selina is looking up at him with a look of pure love. She squeezes his arm, and he gives her a small private smile.
“I’m not fond of speeches. Most of you know that. Yet somehow my children keep finding reasons to put me in situations where public speaking is expected. Tonight is no exception.”
There’s a small ripple of laughter.
“When Jason was young, there was never a quiet moment. He was curious about everything, stubborn about everything, and absolutely convinced he knew better than everyone around him. Some things never change.”
Some more laughter, and you lean against your husband’s arm—you’ll never get sick of saying that. He presses a kiss to your hair, eyes slowly moving from you to Bruce.
“What has changed is the man he's become.” Jason suddenly finds the tablecloth really interesting. “People see Jason's strength first. His determination. His ability to keep moving forward no matter what stands in his way. What I've always admired most is his heart. Jason cares deeply. Sometimes more deeply than is good for him. He loves fiercely. He protects fiercely. And when someone earns a place in his life, he never stops fighting for them. That has always been true.
“Today, I watched him look at the woman he loves, and I realized something. For a very long time, Jason spent his life surviving. Now he's building one with this lovely woman by his side.”
He looks at the two of you, smiling at you first— it’s not wide, but it’s honest— then settling on Jason.
“And there is nothing I could be more proud of. To my new daughter—thank you. For standing beside him and seeing the good in him that has always been there. And to Jason—there is very little left for me to teach you. But if I can offer one piece of advice, it's this: the people we love are not burdens we carry. They are gifts. Cherish this one every day.”
He raises his flute of champagne, and the rest of the guests follow.
“Congratulations. I love you. And I'm proud of you. To the happy couple.”
Dick starts crying immediately, Roy pretends he isn't emotional while actively crying into his drink, and Damian acts disgusted by the display while secretly recording it.
Those are just a few of the reactions Jason catches before raising his glass to Bruce and then slowly drinking. Things are not perfect between them—they may or may not ever be—but this, this is progress.
The cake comes next; exactly like the one on your Pinterest board, made from a mix of yours and Jason’s favorite flavors. You cut it together, but the moment the knife is away, you sink your fingers into it and smash it all over his face.
Everything stops for a second, and then Jason is laughing. Bright and loud, before he takes another piece and does the same thing to you, aiming for your mouth instead (he doesn’t want to ruin your makeup).
The world fades away when you and Jason have your first dance together. Your head is pressed to his chest. Looking up, you find he’s already looking at you before making you spin. You giggle and pull him down for another kiss (Damian pretends to be disgusted in the crowd).
The dancers come onto the floor; Roy and Lian, Kory and Dick, Damian and you (though he claims he does not dance but does so anyway), Bruce and Selina, Artemis and Jason at some point…
Jason and you end up exhausted, tipsy, and drunk on your love for each other. Buzzing with excitement for the honeymoon.
IN WHICH... jason said a lot of shit he didn't mean and he nearly loses you
warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, fluff at the end, f!reader, jason lowkey mean/toxic at the beginning, established relationship, cussing, probably ooc!jason, YN used literally ONCE, allusions to cheating but nobody cheats, your friend's name is Sydney sorry if that's ur name, jason’s pathetic asf icl
wc: 1.8k
a/n: pls don't be all in the comments like "she's better than me" and "i would've broken up with him immediately" like PLS💔 ik you're all gonna get mad at reader for forgiving him but pls like she rly loves him and thats okay
based on this ask
last night, 6PM...
"Fuck, baby, I don't know why you're still here," he snaps, shutting you up immediately. "I've given you the chance to leave, time and time again, but you don't!"
"Maybe because I want you around! I want to be here!" you reply. "Can't you say the same about me—"
"Nope, I really can't," he scoffs, cutting you off.
You blink. "What?"
"I can't really say that I want you around just as much as you do me. I don't want to be here, with you. That's why I keep trying to get you to leave."
You're still standing there, stunned, zoned out and looking at one spot on the floor. "Maybe I will leave," you mutter absently, more so to yourself than to him.
He laughs, the sound bitter and cruel. He puts on his Red Hood helmet and throws the hood over top. "We both know you won't," he says before slipping out the window.
Spoiler: he'll regret his words in the morning.
the next day...
"What the fuck?"
He freezes, standing by the window. The sight before him is...terrifying, to say the least. He feels like he's in a nightmare. He spent the entire duration of patrol mulling over the things he said to you before he left. We both know you won't, except you did.
He stares at the kitchen of your shared apartment. All of your water bottles that you constantly left by the sink are gone. The vase of flowers you always left on the island is empty. Your collection of cheesy magnets is gone, the fridge stripped bare.
He looks to the living room. The stack of your books that always accompanied his own is missing. Your coffee mug no longer sits empty on the coffee table atop your favorite coaster. Your stupidly girly throw blanket is no longer draped over the couch.
"What...the fuck," he whispers to himself again. "No, no, no, no, no..."
He walks to the front door. Your shoes—usually tossed haphazardly by the door, thrown over his own boots—are nowhere to be found. Your keys are not in the ceramic bowl by the door. Your collection of puffer jackets and coats no longer clutters the coatrack.
Jason swallows, and only then does he register the growing lump in his throat and the pit of dread in his stomach. "Baby?" he calls out, as if this is all some sick prank. "C'mon, doll, don't do this to me, where are you?"
He slams open the bedroom door. "Fuck," he breathes, shoulders dropping. Your cluttered mess of brushes and foundations and powders is gone, the dresser's surface wiped completely clean of excess from your makeup—it looks untouched, like you were never there.
The bed is stripped bare—that was your comforter and pillowcase set, after all. The clinical white color of the pillows and mattress seem to mock him and everything he lost.
He opens the closet. Only one half of the space is now occupied—his half. The rack that once held your shirts and hoodies, the organizer that once held all your "going out" heels, the overflowing laundry basket you never let him touch...all of it is empty.
"No," he mutters again, entering his final destination: the en suite bathroom.
He finally lets his unshed tears fall as he stares at the room. Your pink towel? Gone. Your fragrant shampoo and conditioner? Gone. Your decadent body wash that he loved to sniff off of you after your showers? Gone.
...Your toothbrush that once accompanied his by the sink?
Gone.
With shaky hands he pulls his phone out from his pocket, immediately going to check your location. "Location unavailable, what the hell does that mean?"
With his heart in his stomach, he clicks a few buttons and suddenly he's waiting for you to pick up the phone—you're his one and only emergency contact, of course.
After a few rings, it goes to voicemail. "Fuck!" he exclaims, calling again.
Voicemail, again.
10 times he calls. Each time, the line rings thrice before sending him to voicemail. On the last call, he finally leaves a message.
"Doll, where the hell are you, baby?" he asks into the phone, scrubbing a hand down his face. "I know I said you'd never leave but please, all– all your stuff's gone and I don't know what to do. Please, please pick up the phone, ma. I- fuck, I love you, come back."
He hangs up, not noticing—or maybe just not acknowledging—the tears streaming down his face. "My baby," he sighs, taking a seat on the couch. If he doesn't sit, he might collapse with how much he's shaking.
For good measure, he shoots you a bunch of a few texts asking where you are, why your location's off, and telling you that he loves you.
He tosses his phone to the side, clenching and unclenching his fists in an attempt to get this shaking to stop. The apartment feels cold and clinical without you or your belongings in it.
He doesn't like living alone—or at least feeling like he's living alone.
Jason doesn't go to the manor at all that day. He spends the entire day busying himself with random chores around the half-empty apartment and checking his phone every 5 seconds.
With every one swipe of peanut butter onto a slice of bread, he checks his phone for your location, a call, or even a text back. He never thought it'd take him 20 minutes to make himself a PBJ sandwich.
He's wiping down the bathroom counter when his phone buzzes in his pocket.
Y/N has started sharing location with you.
"Oh, thank fuck," he sighs deeply, feeling as though a weight has been lifted off his chest. He doesn't know if you meant to turn on your location again, but the details don't matter now—he needs to get his baby home safe and figure out what the hell happened.
The address in his phone led him to another apartment on the other side of Gotham. He almost second-guesses his GPS until he sees your car parallel parked outside the complex. He can see boxes in your trunk which likely house everything missing from your own apartment.
He gets out of the car. Apartment 117, he's looking for. "Please don't be with another man, please don't be with another man," he whispers in a chant to himself. It's not long before he's stopped right outside the apartment door, the little dots on his phone—one representing you, the other him—shown as being 10 feet apart.
A shaky fist raises to rap his knuckles against the door. He stands there for probably two minutes, and he begins to wonder whether he's made a mistake. Just as he's about to walk away, you swing the door open.
Wait, not you. His brows furrow—he recognizes the girl immediately as your friend Sydney from the unmistakable sleek ginger hair.
"She doesn't want to see you," the girl says.
Jason has to look down at her, but he subconsciously tries to make himself smaller. The last thing he needs to do is scare off the one person who can lead him to you.
"I...I really need to see her, Sydney," he murmurs softly. "We– we had a big fight last night and now all of her stuff is gone. I just need to talk to her."
"I know what happened," she says, ready to shut the door. "You're a dick, Todd."
"Wait– don't shut the door—"
"—Syd, it's okay. I'll talk to him."
His entire rhythm seems to slow, his body calming down once he finally hears your voice. It may not be directed at him, but that kind, gentle lilt could soothe him under any circumstances.
"Doll?" he mutters, trying to peek around Sydney to get a glimpse of you. "Oh, baby..."
You brush past your friend, offering her a grateful smile before shutting the door behind you. You and Jason stand alone in the stuffy hallway, the walls suddenly too close.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"What're you doing here, Jason?" you ask finally.
His breath hitches. It would go unnoticed to most, but not to you. "Don't call me that."
"Your name?"
He nods. "No...I'm supposed to be Jay or– or 'baby' or 'handsome,'" he replies. "Jason feels too...formal."
You sigh, eyes diverting from his and focusing on the decorative plant stood in the corner. "You never answered my question."
"What am I doing here?" he shifts to meet your gaze once more. "Ma, what are you doing here? You had me scared shitless when I got home! Your– your stuff was all gone, you wouldn't answer my calls or my texts. Baby, I–"
"You what?"
"I thought I lost you." That familiar lump is clawing up his throat again. He tries to swallow it down, tries to brush away the sudden burning in his nose and behind his eyes.
"Shouldn't you be thanking me?" you murmur. "You told me that you wanted me to leave; you dared me to. So I did."
He cups your cheeks and you can feel the tremor in his warm hands against your skin. "Babygirl, you have to know I didn't mean that," he whispers oh so softly. His blue-green eyes are so gentle and assuring as they stare into yours, albeit a little glossy as well. "Oh, fuck, you're my everything, darling, I could never do without you."
You swallow as his hands drop from your face, arms falling to his side as his head falls to your shoulder. "I'm sorry," he whispers. You feel a sudden wetness against your shoulder when his arms engulf you. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
You take a deep breath. How could you not forgive him? Your sweet, broken Jay...
Fuck if Sydney calls you 'easy.'
You reciprocate his hug, tangling both your hands in his hair to cradle his head. "Oh, Jay..." you shush him gently, lips trailing a path of kisses across his hairline. "I know..."
"I don't deserve you," he admits.
"Is that why you're trying to push me away?" you ask him in your soothing voice.
He blinks, staring into space for a moment against your shoulder. "I...yeah. I think that's exactly why."
You smile softly, resting your temple against his. "Then we can fix it, okay? Together."
He nods, finally picking his head up to meet your gaze again. "Together."
You look into his eyes for a bit. "I'm sorry for my...extremities. Y'know, moving all my shit out of the apartment and ghosting you and—"
"—Ma," he cuts you off, eyes imploring you to slow down. "I understand. You had every right to be angry and act on it, okay? I'm sorry, not you. Never you, my baby."
You lean in, hands cupping the back of his neck. He goes gladly, soft lips meeting yours in a gentle, slow kiss. There's a tinge of salt on your tongue from his tears slipping down his face, but you don't mind. You pull away after a few moments, resting your forehead against his.
"I love you," you reassure him. "I'm not leaving. I'm yours. I love you."
He nods. "I love you, too, doll."
a/n: EWWWWUHH somebody get me i hate this :( i hope you all like it at least
becoming jason’s roommate ends with you being wayyyy more than just roommates.
# headcanons.ᐟ⸝⸝ fwb roommate!jason todd ⸝⸝ smutty ⸝⸝ oral ⸝⸝ p in v ⸝⸝ nsfw mdni ⸝⸝
fwb roommate!jason todd who’s never really looked twice at you when you first moved in due to trouble with your rent. he’s red hood—always out there doing god knows what, coming home late, too buried in his own shit to notice the roommate who pays rent on time and keeps the fridge stocked.
fwb roommate!jason todd who comes home one night bleeding from a nasty gash across his ribs, helmet off, leather jacket somewhat torn, insisting he’s fine even as he leaves bloody footprints on the same floor you just cleaned. you force him onto the couch anyway, hands shaking as you press gauze to his side, and for the first time he’s wondering if you were always this pretty.
fwb roommate!jason todd who bites his cheek and tells you not to fuss, because getting you involved in his shit is the last thing he wants. but you don’t listen. you clean him up and his eyes linger on the way you bite your lip when you’re focused, your fingers gentle over old scars and fresh bruises.
fwb roommate!jason todd who starts leaving you portions of whatever he cooks at 3am after patrol—chili, pasta, breakfast for dinner, he always gets creative as cooking is pretty much a downtime for him—with sticky notes in his messy handwriting that say “eat, don’t wait up.” he tells himself it’s just practical, but he catches himself looking for the leftovers the next day to see if you’d actually eaten them.
fwb roommate!jason todd who steals your knitted blankets because they smell like you and the fabric is soft against his skin. he walks around shirtless with the blanket hanging over his shoulders, the waistband of his sweats hanging low enough to show the deep v of his hips and the heavy outline of his thick cock when he stretches, pretending he doesn’t notice the way your eyes linger. he does. he definitely notices.
fwb roommate!jason todd who teaches you self-defense in the living room after you ask for his help one night, his hands firm on your waist, his body pressed close everytime he corrects your stance. there’s tension and it’s visibly building until suddenly you end up pinned on your back over the arm of the couch, his hips pressing in between your legs, both of you breathing hard for reasons that have quite literally nothing to do with training.
fwb roommate!jason todd who finally breaks after a brutal patrol a few nights later. the built-up tension comes to a boiling point when he backs you against the kitchen counter still half in his gear, kissing you like he’s starving. like he’s wanted this since that night you took care of him. he lifts you onto the counter, pulls your shorts down, strokes himself, and pushes into you with a deep, desperate groan, giving you a moment to adjust before thrusting harder. “fuck—been thinking about this for weeks,” he growls against your neck, fucking you with raw need until your legs shake, until you’re moaning into his neck, and until his cum is dripping down your thighs when he finally pulls out.
fwb roommate!jason todd who pretends it didn’t happen the next morning but makes your coffee exactly how you like it and avoids eye contact until you grab his chin and kiss him. that’s when the dam breaks for a second time—he bends you over the counter again, this time slow and deep. “so fucking good for me, princess. take every inch like you were made for it.” his cock grinds against your g-spot while he whispers filthy praise.
fwb roommate!jason todd who turns into the most annoying, possessive roommate/friend with benefits after that. he gets territorial when your dates text you, waiting on the couch for you to get home and he wastes no time the second you walk in. he yanks your dress up, sinks you down on his cock right there, and makes you ride him until you’re crying his name and apologizing for even looking at anyone else, filling you up until his cum leaks out of you as he holds you close and praises you afterward.
fwb roommate!jason todd who wakes you up on lazy mornings with his head between your legs, tongue buried in your pussy, sucking your clit and fingering you open until you’re grinding against his face and cumming hard on his mouth. then he slides into you while you’re still fluttering, fucking you slow and lazy, hips rolling deep while he murmurs how perfect you feel wrapped around him, warm and wet and … his.
fwb roommate!jason todd who eats you out until you’re a trembling, blissed-out mess and then slips out of bed to make you breakfast in bed—bringing coffee exactly how you like it along with pancakes or eggs and toast on a tray, wearing nothing but low-slung sweatpants and a rare, soft smirk as he watches you eat. pleased that he can take care of you like this even if there’s no label on it.
fwb roommate!jason todd who still crashes on the couch some nights because the quiet in his room gets too loud and his nightmares creep in, but now you crawl in with him without an invite, curled against his chest as his big hand strokes your back until he falls asleep. without you ever asking, he started to secretly restocks your drawer with period stuff, lotion, lube, and the toys he’s bought for you, never mentioning it, because taking care of you has become his favorite part of coming home.
fwb roommate!jason todd who reads his smutty romance novels on the couch and leaves them open to the dirtiest pages with notes like “we’re trying this tonight” scribbled in the margins. he tries his best not to distract you when he sees you working even though it’s all he wants to do, then rewards you later for finishing everything by pinning you to the bed and fucking you until the only thing you can utter is his name.
fwb roommate!jason todd who still insists he’s fine when he comes home injured, but now he lets you patch him up on the couch without as much complaint as before. after he pulls you down beside him, wrapping his arms around you and burying his face in your neck while his fingers work patterns on your arms or your back.
fwb roommate!jason todd who starts leaving little notes around the apartment that aren’t just about food anymore—“lock the window after I leave,” “you looked pretty today,” “don’t wait up, but I’ll be back”—because he’s shit at saying how he feels or how he cares out loud but needs you to know you’re on his mind even when he’s out.
fwb roommate!jason todd who catches himself smiling like an idiot when he hears your laugh from the other room or smells you on his pillows, realizing this apartment stopped feeling like a temporary hideout and started feeling like home the moment you forced your way into his walls. honestly, he’s scared of it—of how much he needs you safe and happy—but he’s even more scared of losing it.
fwb roommate!jason todd who, late one night after patching him up again, holds you tighter than usual on the bed and admits that you’re the only person who makes the pit in his chest feel quieter, the only one who sees the man under the hood and doesn’t flinch in fear of getting hurt. he doesn’t say “I love you” yet, but he doesn’t really need to since the way he kisses your forehead and falls asleep almost immediately with his face buried in your neck says it for him.
fwb roommate!jason todd who knows he’s a mess but keeps choosing to come home to you anyway, because somewhere between the patching him up, the sex, the shared coffee mugs, the late-night talks, and the way you take every part of him—this gruff, broken vigilante realized the best thing in his shitty fucked up life was the roommate he never meant to fall so damn hard for.
Just Us Two: Damian loves intruding on your and Jason's alone time.
Third time's The Charm: The two times Jason almost told you he liked you, and the one time he finally did.
Baby Came Home: After you lose your powers while trying to take down a partnership between Lex Luthor and Penguin, Jason and you confront your deepest fear — being each other's second choice. When the rest of the batboys lock you in the Batcave, though, the confession becomes inevitable.
How Can We Go Back to Being Friends: You hook up with your best friend, and now you don’t know how to act around each other.
Damian, You Are So Psyched: Damian came home from school yesterday acting off, so now it's your goal to cheer up the distant little boy.
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Leather Jacket: Jason has been telling himself he's visiting the little coffee shop at the end of the block for its cheap coffee, but it's his only way to see the cute barista every day and quote "Pride and Prejudice" at her until she falls for him.
Don't Judge a Book by Its Leather Jacket (sequel)
Not what you think: Jason went snooping and thinks you're cheating on him. Good luck explaining yourself!
A shear disaster: Your boyfriend is acting suspicious and won't take off his helmet.
Guilty pleasures: You cheat on your boyfriend, Jason, with the Red Hood.
Unexpected Guests: Damian finds out you're dating Jason.
Rough Night: Your secret relationship with Jason is accidentally revealed the morning after a rough night.
The Babysitter: After being hired to babysit Damian Wayne, you end up putting a masked intruder in a chokehold, only to realize you’ve just tackled his older brother, Jason Todd.
Making an Ass of U & Me: Jason didn’t mean to keep your existence secret from his family. At first, it was for his and your own protection more than anything; his double life wasn’t just for any average person after all. But, even after the whole marriage and settling down thing, he may have just forgotten to mention it.
Careless Accidents: You get hurt, and Jason’s pissed.
So This is Love: You show each other what love is supposed to be like (4 in 1)
The Gift of Truth: After figuring out that your boyfriend is Red Hood, you struggle to figure out a way to tell him you are aware of his “nightly activities.” When Jason finally introduces you to his family a week before Christmas, you are presented with the perfect opportunity to tell him
Pride & Prejudice: When you first meet Jason Todd, he seems to be nothing more than an entitled asshole, but as the seasons change, you begin to realise maybe you were wrong about him.
Good With Kids: You never really had an opinion on your colleague Red Hood, that is until you walk into him interacting with some kids.
The Investigator: The Batfamily discovers Jason's been hiding a long-distance relationship with someone who might be even more terrifying than Batman himself.
Are You Dating My Teacher: Bruce decides to cash in a favor that Jason owed him, and now the Red Hood- the most ruthless vigilante of Gotham- is chaperoning his youngest brother’s field trip to the zoo.
Who Do You Love: You're hopelessly in love with your classmate, Jason Todd. And you just so happen to be quite good friends with Red Hood. drunk one night, you admit you have feelings for Jason to your vigilante friend, not knowing the man behind the mask is the man you're in love with.
When She Sees Me: Your best friend Dick Grayson took you to one of Bruce's galas a while ago. When Dick finds out his brother has a crush on you, he decides to play Cupid.
Blah Blah Blah: Jason is angry after watching Wuthering Heights. You are horny watching him get angry.
Cover Blown: You and Jason cannot stand one another. Unfortunately. you both go undercover as a married couple, and that should'nt change things between you two... right?
La Vie en Rose: The four times Jason wildly preferred you over everyone else.
Kiss or Miss: A quiet Saturday at the shooting range becomes anything but when Jason decides hands on help is the best kind.
Can I: It’s your last year of university and Jason Todd has been in your classes, plotting on you. You’d promised yourself you’d make the most of this year, go to more parties, finally lose your virginity, and step out of your comfort zone, while Jason steps into yours.
Glad It Was You
Prove It To You
Hit Me
The Magic Words: You’ve been urging to tell your boyfriend that you love him and you finally do.
Ice Skating With Jason: Ice skating, jealousy, and accidental confessions... what could go wrong?
Scuff Marks: Your car breaks down, and you meet your best friend's brother, Jason.
Brother's Best Friend: Sleepover at Wayne Manor with a side quest of making out with your secret boyfriend.
Wait…We're Not Dating: For the entire year you and Jason have known each other, he assumed you two were dating and had no idea you weren't.
It's Just a Crush: You have a crush on Red Hood, and your best friend stephanie brown thinks it’s so funny. Funny enough, she introduces you to her brother, Jason Todd.
Random One-shots
Old habits
Revealing Secrets
I'm still right though
Jason accidentally reveals he has a soon-to-be fiancée
Interrupted Dates
First Time
Shy (but experienced) Jason and his freaked-out (but inexperienced) girl
Jason Todd who makes everything in your home kiss
Random Headcanons
My pretty, pretty girl
Collar
Jason has a wet dream while you’re trying to wake him up
Jason is insecure about his scars
Jason Todd is hungry and impatient
Jason with a gf that likes it when he's mean (and Jason who hates it)
You and Jason have a fight and he think you broke up with him
Damian bullies Jason (sorta)
Reacting To Their Kid Disrespecting Their Wife
Dick Grayson
Sweater Weather: Dick just wanted to have lunch with his best friend, but he didn't expect you to show up in some other guy's sweatshirt.
The Light Behind Your Eyes: A week spent at Dick’s apartment leads Damian to discover what unconditional love looks like.
Hard to Impress: Dick Grayson can't seem to make you swoon, no matter how hard he tries, until he finally does
The "She's With Me" Is The New Gaelic Shrug (sequel)
Easy lovers: After a series of dates, dick finds himself desperate and decides that tonight will not end until he gets to walk home with a kiss from you.
Miraculous partners: Basically, a "Miraculous Ladybug" plot between you and Dick.
Territory, Marked: Damian makes an unexpected friend at the dog park, and when his older brother tags along one day, he takes a little too much interest.
Dinner Was Not Served: Dick had one goal: to seduce his girlfriend. He forgot the part where he should check for unwanted guests first and narrates his plans in very, vivid detail.
Stakeout at Table Nine: Dick Grayson just wanted a normal date. No suits. No masks. Definitely no Batkid stakeout at a fancy restaurant. Too bad his siblings brought disguises, drama, and a front-row seat to his love life.
Lightning Strikes Twice: Nightwing accidentally develops feelings for the anxious woman whose rescue has become part of his regular nightly routine by this point.
Whatever You Say Teach: Damian gets in a fight at school, and his favorite teacher has to set up a meeting with a parent or guardian. Bruce Wayne is away on a mission and Alfred isn’t picking up the phone, so Damian’s eldest brother has to attend a parent teacher conference. Only to find out that he has history with his little brother’s English Lit teacher.
Random One-shots
Take him back, please!
Revealing Secrets
Interrupted Dates
Sleeping in his bed turns into something more
You accidentally called Nightwing a "good boy"
Reacting To Their Kid Disrespecting Their Wife
Damian Wayne (aged up ofc!!)
Near: He hates contact, except apparently when it’s you he’s inching toward.
Nepo Vigilante: After your parents die, you inherit their legacy as vigilantes, reluctantly stepping into a life you never asked for. Bruce takes you in to honor a promise to them, pairing you with Damian, whose cruelty and perfectionism push you to your limits, until one day, fed up, you choose to train with Tim instead, sparking Damian’s outrage.
When The Spite Dies: You were expected to quit after Damian Wayne’s first vicious insult, but fueled by spite, you stayed— only to end up hopelessly attracted to the despicable man and vice versa.
When The Spite is Desire (sequel)
The Heart Remembers: Damian's short-term amnesia from a concussion causes complications when he refuses to believe the break-up ever happened—and his missing memories dissolve all defenses and unravel the true depths of his undying devotion for you.
The Only Exception: Getting a list of everything Damian hates, you feel self-conscious about ticking the boxes in that list—and try to fix that, not knowing that you’re Damian’s only exception.
Animal Interests: Damian’s father drags him along to an old acquaintance's house for intel, only to find that her teen also has an interest in animal rescues. In other words, she has a rescued panther as a pet.
Who Said The Waynes Were Cold: Damian Wayne, son of Batman, grandson of Ra's al Ghul, capable of neutralizing a threat in thirty seconds flat, is completely, irrevocably incapable of speaking to the girl he loves. The solution: an anonymous note slipped into a locker. Dick Grayson finds it hilarious. Damian doesn't.
Random One-shots
Interrupted Dates
Damian Wayne and Reader Get Domestic
Jason isn't going to let Damian lose the love of his life
Reacting To Their Kid Disrespecting Their Wife
Tim Drake
If I Was Your Boyfriend: Tim Drake had his eyes on you from the very first week of the semester. So now he’s praying for your (ex) boyfriend’s downfall, because God forbid a man openly plots to have you for himself instead.
Dairy Queen Closes in 10 Minutes: You broke up with Tim a year ago. Too bad he still thinks of you as his. Too bad everything he does reminds you that you are.
Random One-shots
Interrupted Dates
You know who Red Robin is; you're just waiting for your boyfriend to tell you
Reacting To Their Kid Disrespecting Their Wife
Bruce Wayne
The Wrong Man’s Wife: The Justice League members think Batman is in love with Bruce Wayne's wife.
Like Real People Do: Bruce's wife goes missing, and the media and family are both in shambles. Bruce grows colder as the family tries their best to find her. To try and cheer him up, they find old video diaries from the couple’s early dating lives and witness a new side of Bruce.
The Watchtower's Worst Kept Secret: The Justice League suspects something is happening between Batman and Bruce Wayne's wife.
Seven Smacks: Bruce Wayne was a stubborn and fiercely independent man, which meant that his children were too. Unfortunately for you, that meant that scolding one of them was practically a moment to scold both.
The Bat's Wife: Some members of the league are still surprised by the way the Dark Knight's wife looks.
Oh, It's... Gold: Bruce made a small mistake on a gift he gave you, and everyone judged him for it.
Random One-Shots
Revealing Secrets
Reacting To Their Kid Disrespecting Their Wife
thinking about being a good little bitch for my rapist. drooling and rolling my eyes while he forces his hard cock into me. pulling my tits out to give him something pretty to look at. making sweet mindless noises to make his cock throb. spreading my legs to make it easier for him to rape my cunt as hard as he wants. thanking him for replacing my thoughts with the slamming of his cock and the warmth of his cum
After you lose your powers while trying to take down a partnership between Lex Luthor and Penguin, Jason and you confront your deepest fear — being each other's second choice. When the rest of the batboys lock you in the Batcave, though, the confession becomes inevitable. (22k words)
Tags/ CW: smut, 18+ mdni, jason x fem!reader, porn with plot, hurt/ comfort, jealousy, unprotected p in v sex, brat taming, oral (f & m receiving), overstimulation, angst (not for long i promise), sex marathons, creampies, rough sex, kinda switch Jason, dirty talking, orgasm denial, prone bone, mating press (my beloveds <3), batfam being batfam, forced proximity yall, eventual fluff, ex wonder girl reader
“And I would like to remind all of you that dinner with Diana and the girls is in two days. I expect all of you to be there and on your best behavior”
That was all Bruce had said on Tuesday night, the low growl of the Batcomputer humming beneath his voice. Behave. And even though he was looking at Dick, the growl was more intended towards Jason. The way his voice lingered when he mentioned ‘the girls’ all stern with a cough that was stuck to the depths of his throat– Jason would be an idiot not to catch it.
Jason had only lifted an eyebrow, slouched back in the chair with his boots crossed at the ankles, arms folded like he was posing for the cover of “I Don’t Give a Damn Weekly.”
“Yeah, sure thing, B,” he’d muttered, half under his breath, but loud enough for the growl to shift a decibel deeper, while Dick had only nodded.
Now it’s Thursday night, and that reminder has aged like spoiled milk.
Jason could already imagine it—polished marble floors, Diana’s patient, diplomatic smile, Donna cracking jokes to keep the peace, Cass pretending not to laugh, and Bruce sitting at the head of the table like he was running a board meeting instead of a family dinner. Dick would show up five minutes early with a bottle of wine he didn’t even drink. Tim would have brushed up on Themysciran customs just to avoid offending anyone. Damian would probably arrive in full formalwear like the miniature assassin he was.
Bruce is tense like he has taken a punch, thirty minutes before Diana’s expected arrival and the rest of the boys, already present by the time Jason gets there, look as concerned as him.
No questions are asked, not even if Artemis would be there, if you would be there, or if both of you would be there at the same time– a disaster, truly, but with Alfred’s playful banter and everyone helping with setting up the dining table, the weird tension in Jason’s chest mellows down for a soothing second too long.
It’s half past nine when the doorbell rings and the second it does Bruce starts acting like a mess again. Any composure he had gathered a while ago is thrown into thin air and the only confirmation Jason needs for that is his gaze that’s set directly on him
“Behave.”
He hadn’t even needed to look at Jason for a moment longer—just that single word, heavy and pointed, rolling off his tongue like a warning shot. Still, when Bruce’s eyes flicked toward Dick, all calm and composed, Jason caught the shift. The kind that said you especially.
And well, truthfully, if you’d ask him by the end of the night Jason would say he did try his very best to behave and if there’s a reason as to why he’s acting the way he is now, the blame is all yours.
Diana and the girls are visibly upset when Alfred opens the door, yet still they’re all grace and composure in their greetings, while they’re waiting for you to catch up with them to enter the manor. You seem too preoccupied with juggling your bag, your phone, and a bottle of wine you’d promised to bring.
“Hello Alfred” you say, bluntly, no expression on your face as you stand hidden behind Diana.
“Well long time no see dear”
“We’re terribly sorry we’re late Bruce. But we were stalled by a lash extension appointment” Diana says gently, though there is something almost regal in the way she adjusts the tray with goodies in her arms. “A warrior never rushes to the battlefield unprepared it seems.”
“Right,” you mumble, dabbing at the wine with a napkin. “Next time I’ll bring a sword instead.”
The silence that follows is sharp enough to cut glass. Bruce buries his face in his palms and mutters that “it’s alright”
Jason swears he isn’t laughing. Not out loud, anyway.
But the slight arch of Diana’s brow, the subtle look exchanged between Donna and Cassie—yeah, that is when the whole night starts going off-script.
You stand there in the doorway like you’ve just walked off the wrong movie set — perfume sharp enough to make Bruce blink, your heels clicking against the marble as you finally step into the manor. The coat you’re wearing is half-slid off one shoulder, your lip gloss catching every drop of light in the foyer. The dress you’re wearing, black, skin tight and short, turtleneck but arms out makes Jason gulp. You look like trouble dressed as —very questionably— good manners.
Jason catches the way Bruce’s jaw tightens. The way Dick shifts uncomfortably beside him, like he’s watching a car crash in slow motion and can’t look away.
Diana greets Alfred again, her voice soft but clipped — that tone she uses when she’s balancing diplomacy and disappointment. “I hope what you made hasn’t grown cold. We weren’t informed about how late we’d be either” she tells him, but she’s looking directly at you.
You just smile, small and defiant. “Didn’t want to track mud on your battlefield.”
There it is again— that crack in the air, that beat of silence where everyone pretends not to react. Alfred clears his throat. Tim coughs into his sleeve.
Jason’s biting the inside of his cheek just to keep from grinning.
You glance past the room, eyes skimming over everyone without lingering. Not even a flicker of recognition when they land on Jason. Not a hello, not a smirk, not even that teasing spark you used to have when you saw him —just blank, plain right indifference as you hand the bottle of wine to Alfred with a careless, “It’s Merlot. Don’t spill it, it stains.”
“Of course, miss,” Alfred replies smoothly, though there’s a flicker of amusement in his eyes that only Jason catches.
Diana’s patience thins by the second, her smile all grace, her eyes all azul steel. “Perhaps you’d like to join us in the dining room now?”
You shrug, finally tucking your phone into your bag. “Sure. I’m starving.”
And that’s how you walk in — chin high, hip cocked, completely unbothered —while Bruce looks like he’s aged five years in thirty seconds and Diana’s aura of divine calm starts to crack just a little around the edges.
Jason watches it all unfold, hands shoved in his pockets, heart doing that stupid thing where it beats too fast for no reason. He tells himself it’s just the tension in the room, but it’s not. It’s you.
Because somehow, in a room full of gods and heroes, you’re the only one who looks untouchable, changed.
Dinner is the kind of formal that only Bruce can host—crystal glasses, polished silver, a centerpiece that looks like it costs more than Jason’s bike. Everyone’s sitting in their assigned civility, pretending this isn’t already a disaster waiting to happen.
You take the seat Diana gestures toward, right across from Jason. Perfect. Of course it’s across from Jason.
He’s in his usual black crewneck shirt, sleeves rolled, trying way too hard to look relaxed. You don’t give him the satisfaction of even a glance as you drink some of your wine.
“Jason,” Diana says pleasantly, “I heard you’ve been keeping busy with the Outlaws.”
Great. Maybe downing the whole glass is going to taste better than the thought of that.
“Something like that,” he answers, but his eyes are already on you. You’re pretending to scroll through your phone under the table, your glossed nails tapping idly on the screen.
“Phones away, please,” Diana adds without looking at you.
You give a slow, sarcastic but syrupy smile. “Oh, sorry. Force of habit. I usually get bored faster.”
That earns a cough from Dick that sounds suspiciously like a laugh. Bruce sends him a look sharp enough to wound.
Diana breathes through her nose, serene as a saint. “We value presence here,” she says, tone gentle but carrying the weight of an Amazonian blade.
“Right,” you reply, folding your hands neatly, still not looking at Jason. “Wouldn’t want to disrespect the battlefield.”
Jason nearly chokes on his drink. You don’t look up.
Alfred intervenes, ever the savior. “Miss, would you care for more wine?”
“Please. It’s the only way I’ll behave.”
That line lands like a live grenade. Bruce stares down at his plate. Cassie hides a smile. Diana’s lips tighten.
Jason’s staring at you now, openly, trying to read what’s underneath the act—whether you’re just being difficult or if this is about him. Probably both. You can feel it, his gaze; it prickles against your skin like static. But you keep your chin high, voice light, eyes fixed anywhere but him.
You swirl the last of your second glass of wine in seconds, eyes unfocused, the soft chatter around the table barely reaching you. Alfred is saying something polite about the roast; Dick laughs too loud at something Tim mutters under his breath. Everything sounds muffled, like you’re underwater.
And then Diana sets her glass down.
The crystal barely touches the table, but the silence that follows is deafening.
“So, Bruce,” she begins, voice steady but pulsing with restrained fury, “how exactly did Lex Luthor obtain your anti-superpower injectables, and why did he target my sister specifically?”
Jason’s hand stills halfway to his mouth.
Bruce doesn’t flinch, but something sharp flickers in his eyes. “We’re still tracing the breach,” he says evenly. “Nothing leaves the cave without my authorization.”
Diana leans forward, that Amazonian calm starting to splinter. “Then explain how she ended up in a hospital bed two weeks ago with your tech in her bloodstream.”
You feel the air in the room thicken, every eye sliding toward you.
You smile —that glossy, careless, wrong kind of smile. Lips pressed together in a thin line, tucked tightly underneath your teeth. You look at Alfred with absolute plea in your eyes for more alcohol before speaking “Oh, we’re doing this now?”
“Enough,” Diana warns quietly. “You should rest, not play dress-up and pour wine like nothing happened.”
“I’m fine,” you say, your tone flat, brittle around the edges. “You don’t need to keep telling people I almost died. It’s getting old.”
Diana’s voice lowers, almost trembling with control. “You lost your powers.”
You laugh, too loud. “And? Maybe I want a vacation from divine expectations and saving the world”
That’s when Jason looks up. His gaze catches yours. Hard, searching, a little haunted.
You meet it for half a second, then look right past him, the way someone does when they’ve memorized a face too well to trust themselves with it.
Bruce exhales, rubbing his temples. “Let’s not do this here.”
Diana doesn’t move. “No, Bruce. Let’s. Because my sister was targeted because of your weaponized paranoia against the league—”
“Because of Luthor,” Bruce cuts in sharply. “And because she made herself visible when she shouldn’t have.”
The table jolts. You set your glass down, eyes narrowing. “Excuse me? I made myself visible while tracking down a whole ass human trafficking gang between him and Penguin? With Jason?”
Jason mutters under his breath, “Shit.”
Diana turns to Bruce, horrified. “Don’t you dare blame her for your mistakes.” But Bruce doesn’t answer. The silence that follows feels nuclear.
You push your chair back with a scrape of wood. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to come.”
Diana stands too. “You can’t keep running from accountability.”
“And you can’t keep running my life!”
The words hit the room like a slap.
You grab your coat, ignoring the stunned faces of Donna, Cassie and the boys, and walk out of the dining room— head high, eyes stinging, your throat burns with a lump that’s stuck inside it, pumping white hot pain every time you take a breath.
Jason’s up a second later, mumbling something about “getting air” but everyone knows he’s going after you.
Bruce doesn’t stop him and even gestures to a half standing Dick to sit down. He just looks tired— like he’s seen this exact kind of disaster before. Like He's been expecting this exact moment all night long. Even if he’s never been responsible for a slip up like this. Even if he was the one who allowed you and Jason to work together on this case almost a month ago.
Outside, Jason finds you on the balcony, the night pressing close, your breath fogging the air. You don’t turn when you hear him, but you know it’s him —you can feel that quiet weight of his stare everywhere, heavy as regret. Jason has a way of filling a space even when he doesn’t speak.
The night air bites against your skin, sharp enough to sober you. You press your palms to the cold railing, staring down at the glittering sprawl of Gotham on the far edge. Somewhere far below, a siren wails and fades.
The door closes behind you, hinges whispering. For a moment, he says nothing. The silence stretches thin. Then,
“You didn’t tell me you lost your powers. I thought you dropped the case”
“Why would I tell you anything?” You hiss “I have other people to parent me”
“Diana’s just worried,” he finally mutters, voice rough. “She doesn’t know how else to show it.”
You snort. “Yeah, well, she can show it without trying to parent me in front of a dinner table full of bats.”
“She’s not wrong, though,” he says quietly. “You should be mad at Bruce, you shouldn’t even be standing out here, not after—”
“After I got lucky?” You glance back at him, lip gloss catching the light. “You don’t get to lecture me. Not when you lied to me about Artemis..”
That lands. He looks away, jaw flexing. “That wasn’t—she and I were done before—”
“Before I woke up in a med bay without powers? Sure. Such convenient timing.”
You turn back to the view of the garden. The wind lifts your hair, carrying the faint smell of smoke and winter.
He takes a step closer; you can feel the heat of him on your shoulder. “You’re angry. I get it. But acting like you don’t give a damn about anyone isn’t helping you or them.”
You laugh softly, bitter. “Says the king of pretending not to care.”
He exhales through his nose, defeated. “Yeah. I’m not exactly the guy who should be giving advice.”
The quiet returns. Just the hum of Gotham in the background and the ache of things neither of you know how to say.
Jason’s voice drops lower. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t come out here to fight.”
“Then why did you?” you ask without turning.
“Because you looked like you were about to disappear,” he says. “And I’ve seen enough people do that.”
Something in you stirs—an old warmth, or maybe a bruise that never healed. You tighten your grip on the railing. “Don’t worry. I’m not running off to die dramatically. That’s your thing.”
Your words sting; a meticulous weave to weaponise anything against him. What hurts him the most, used against him. There’s shame streaming inside your whole body when you mouth them. Immediate regret.
Jason almost laughs, then doesn’t. “Yeah, well. Guess we both have bad habits.”
You finally look at him, the city lights flickering across his face. There’s exhaustion there, and guilt, and something else—something that used to be yours to read.
For a second, you let the silence hold the both of you. Then you say, softer, “You should go back inside. Bruce probably thinks we’re breaking the no-violence rule.”
Jason shakes his head, but he doesn’t argue. He just leans beside you on the railing, close enough that his sleeve and your shoulder brush. Neither of you speak for a second, but the atmosphere between you feels suffocating, heavier than words could describe.
Then, he breaks the silence “If you’re mad about Artemis I should be mad about Dick”
As if, he has a right to be mad about who you dated while mourning him. While he was dead.
You look at him and then, bitterly, you look away. “Then I should be mad about both you and him confessing to Barbara and abandoning me for her?”
Jason flinches, a quick, involuntary jerk of his head. The name Barbara hangs in the air, sharp and painful. He runs a hand through his hair, a gesture of panic. “I—”
“Save it.” The words peel off your tongue, thick with acid. You turn, and your eyes aren't just angry anymore—they’re glowing with a searing, white-hot envy that feels corrosive. “I'm not going to be your second to last choice. I’m not your rebound when the better Amazonian warrior leaves, or the safe distraction when the original Batgirl won't choose you.”
“But you're not, i—“
“And I'm not gonna help finish the Penguin and Lex mission. You're on your own”
The wind carries your final words away, leaving a vacuumed hollowness where the tension had been. It isn't a threat, just a flat statement of fact. You are done. Done with the mission, done with the dinner, and done being a secondary consideration in the messy, complicated world of Jason Todd.
Jason doesn't flinch, but the faint light of the city catches the moment his expression fractures. The small, guarded defenses he's put up—the rough voice, the casual lean against the railing—collapse. He knows what it’s like to be powerless, rejected, humiliated. He is very well acquainted with the horrendously green ogre of jealousy. He has come second to last before, hell, he has even come last. And he’s the reason you feel that way now.
Jason hates himself in more ways than you can think of.
He should shut up. Let you go. Rethink of any choice he’s taken that’s condemned you cold and disheartened. But it’s you.
You who he met in the Tower all those years ago when Bruce saw fit Robin accompanied him to a meeting with the league, both looking like fish out of water, even if you surpassed him by two years of age. You who feared Superman just as much as he did. You who let him hide behind your body when the big ‘S’ came to meet you. When he first noticed your bangles were too big for your arms, while his suit fit him perfectly.
A troubled child turned into a soldier. Just like him.
He should shut up. But he simply can't.
“Don’t say that,” he says, his voice dropping from a rough murmur to something quiet and raw, barely loud enough to carry over the city hum. He straightens, turning to face you fully. “You can be mad at me. You should be mad at me. But you can’t walk away from the case because of this, not after what we saw. They’re trafficking. I can’t do this alone”
This time, in his eyes, it’s your first time in the cave and you’re even more scared than you were when meeting Superman. For a kid, your facade of bravery makes you look like an adult.
“Then your little girlfriends should help you”
You meet his gaze, and for the first time since you walk into the manor, the indifference is gone. Only hurt and simmering anger remain. Jason knows what jealousy is— an obsessive notion of care, love. But it’s still you. To let you walk away now, so broken, would be a second death— a final, self-inflicted execution of the best part of a self of his that died once already. That terrified, armored kid he met in the Tower? He’d promised himself he’d always have her six like she did for him. And he shouldn’t be using the mission as a reason to keep you in his life.
“The mission is what gets me stuck here, Jason. It’s what Luthor uses to put a target on my back and it’s what allows Bruce to watch while Diana and my sisters tear me down. I’m not playing Batfamily field agent anymore, especially when I’m just the collateral damage. No one cares about the forgotten Wonder Girl.”
“You’re not collateral damage,” he insists, taking a step closer. His hand lifts, a hesitant, familiar movement, but he drops it before he can touch your arm. He looks so visibly upset “You’re the one who finds the warehouse. You’re the one who gets me the intel on the smuggling routes. We catch them together. If you walk away now, they get off clean. Is that what you want?”
“I want a break from this life,” you retort, your chin lifting stubbornly. “I’m de-powered, Jason. I’m a liability now, not an asset. You don’t need me; you have Dick and Tim and Damian, and Bruce will step in. He always does.”
He laughs, a single, harsh sound devoid of humor. “I don’t want them. I want you.”
The words hang between you—simple, heavy, and too late.
“Well, you should have thought about that before you, what was it, confess your undying love to Barbara?” you shoot back, the bitterness sharp in your tone. “Or before Dick decides to join in. I hear the whole thing. Do you really think I don’t know? You all treat me like an emotional pit stop, somewhere you stop when the main road is closed.”
Jason runs a hand over his jaw, the sound of the stubble rough under his palm. “It’s a mistake. A massive, stupid, cowardly mistake to not just be honest with you. It has nothing to do with how I feel about you. It’s… I’m trying to avoid this exact conversation. Because I know if I say it out loud, I lose you.”
He is looking at you with that open, unguarded intensity that has always been your undoing.
“You’ve already lost me,” you say quietly, your voice cracking only slightly as you turn back to the cityscape. “And you lost the Artemis you loved so much. Right? You try to hedge your bets and end up with nothing. Now I need to figure out how to live a normal life with an Amazonian mom and a god complex sister watching my every move.”
Jason sighs, the sound heavy and tired. He doesn’t try to argue about Artemis, or about Dick, or about Barbara—not anymore.
“Okay,” he finally concedes, his voice barely a breath. “Fine. You want a break? Take it. I’ll finish the case myself. But I’m not going back inside while you’re out here. And I’m not letting you walk out of my life because I mess up. Not when you need me.”
“I don’t need you,” you whisper, but the lie feels flimsy, like spun sugar in the cold air. “I never needed you”
Lies—you needed him every time Diana would get mad at you. When her anger would turn into silence, he was always one phone call away. You needed him to convince Bruce to tell Diana that you should study at Gotham Academy. You needed him on your first day of the last class of middle school. You needed his help with math. You needed him more times than you’ll ever admit.
He moves again, one last step, until he is right behind you. His presence is a solid, undeniable heat against your back. He doesn’t touch you, but the closeness is an invasion.
“Don’t push me away,” he pleads, the low, gravelly sound a ghost of the growl you hear from Bruce earlier. This one is different, though—it’s all need and very little threat. “I’m sorry, goddammit. I’m sorry I’m a selfish idiot. I’m sorry I put my foot down on this case and get you hurt. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings and I’m sorry about Artemis. But right now, you’re in a wonderbat intervention with no powers, talking about abandoning your life’s work. You can be mad at me, but you can’t be reckless.”
“I wanna leave”
He pauses, letting the silence hang.
“Let me take you home. Or at least somewhere warm. We can figure the rest out tomorrow. Just… let’s get you warm. Please.”
“No Jason,” you say, turning sharply, the chill air catching the skin of your biceps, making you wrap your arms around yourself.
You don't get far. His hand flashes out, his grip firm on your forearm—not hurting you, but absolutely stopping you. The heat of his fingers is a shocking contrast to the cold air and your exposed skin.
You whirl back around, your eyes blazing with the same furious defiance you showed Diana inside. “Let go of me.”
His jaw is set, his eyes dark and unwavering. “I told you, I’m not letting you walk out there alone right now.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore!” you hiss, pulling against his grip. The black dress is no match for the Gotham wind, and a sudden shiver races through you, which only infuriates you more. You hate that he can still affect you, that he's still right about you needing warmth. “I can take care of myself. I’ve done it before, and I can sure as hell do it now that I don’t have an arrow and a bow breathing down my neck.”
“You are wearing seven-inch heels, you've had too much wine, and you are radiating fury,” Jason counters, his voice low and dangerous, holding an echo of Bruce’s own protective growl. He doesn't budge. “Let me drive you. Or let Alfred call a car. But you are not walking out the front door and into the city while you’re like this.”
You lean in, your voice dropping to a harsh whisper. “You think a ride home is going to fix a night where your whole family watches mine fall apart because of our screw-up?”
He releases your arm, the touch replaced by a sudden, heavy pressure of air as he steps even closer. His shadow engulfs you.
“No,” he admits, the word a weary exhale. “I know it won’t fix it. But it stops you from getting arrested for public intoxication or mugged, which would be a colossal pain in the ass to explain to Diana. Just one good decision, okay? Let me make one good decision tonight if you don’t want to do it yourself.”
He looks completely defeated, his earlier defiance gone, leaving behind only raw fatigue and a stubborn concern.
You yank your arm back completely, the lingering heat from his touch a sharp contrast to the biting cold. "Just because i don’t have my powers doesn’t mean I’m useless," you state flatly. "And I'm not calling anyone. Diana and the girls are leaving soon. I’ll wait."
You turn your back on him and head for the main exit, your heels clicking rapidly on the marble. You move past the foyer, bypassing the dining room where the heated fiction of dinner is still playing out, and walk straight toward the front doors.
Jason watches you go, his body frozen in defeat on the balcony. He doesn't move to follow. He can’t. He knows that line—I don’t need you—even if it was a lie, or something you drunkenly said, was the deepest cut. He stares out at the cold, unfeeling Gotham skyline, thinking he could actually burn the entire city down in what remains of tonight to match the ache in his chest.
You stand in the echoing expanse of the manor foyer, your exposed arms now, truly feeling the chill of the marble and the night seeping in from the heavy oak doors. Your coat, half-slid off your shoulder, feels more like a burden than a comfort. You focus on the glossy black of the wine stain on the rug where you spilled the Merlot, counting the seconds until you hear the dining room chairs scrape back.
A moment later, the dining room doors open, and Alfred emerges first. He sees you standing there, a defiant, shivering silhouette in a flimsy mini dress, and his expression softens, a flicker of true worry crossing his normally composed features. He carries a small, empty tray and no seemingly anger for the way you spoke to him earlier.
“Miss,” he says quietly, his voice a low hum that won't carry back to the room. “Perhaps a blanket, or a cup of warm tea while you wait?”
“No, Alfred. I’m fine,” you manage, your voice brittle. You hate that he can see the lie in your posture.
He nods, accepting your prideful refusal, but he pauses before retreating. He meets your gaze, and his eyes, so rarely judgmental, hold an unmistakable depth of compassion. “I believe I heard Miss Diana mention that they would require at least a quarter hour. She is still finishing a rather pointed conversation with Master Bruce.”
You simply nod, grateful for the honesty, but the knowledge that they are still inside, picking through the rotting carcass of your failure, makes your skin crawl.
The conversation eventually breaks. First, you hear the low rumble of Bruce’s voice, heavy with exhaustion. Then, the clear, crystalline authority of Diana’s voice, which cuts through the air like a knife.
Then, they appear.
Diana is first, her posture impeccable but her features drawn tight, the regal calm finally shattered. She doesn’t look at you. Donna and Cassie follow, their expressions mirroring a mixture of discomfort and concern. Donna gives you a brief, apologetic glance, while Cassie, ever perceptive, meets your eyes with a flicker of raw understanding before quickly looking away.
Bruce lags slightly behind Diana, looking exactly as Jason had imagined—like he’d aged five years, his tie loosened, his composure hanging by a thread. He meets your eyes, and his gaze is heavy with accusation, the silent affirmation of the disaster you caused.
Diana stops directly in front of you. Her blue eyes finally lock onto yours, not with anger, but with a profound, terrifying disappointment.
“We are leaving,” she states simply. She glances at your exposed arms, the full eyelash extensions, the nails you've manicured to the most extreme length you possibly could and the too-short dress, and puckers her lips. You look all but ready to entirely give up the hero life and commit to just being pretty.
“I will not discuss this here.” She sighs “You will return to Themyscira with us, immediately. This 'break from divine expectations' ends now. I will not have my sister vulnerable in Gotham.”
“I’m not going back,” you reply, your voice a determined whisper, unwilling to break under her stare. “I don’t belong there right now.”
Bruce finally steps forward, his voice a quiet command aimed squarely at Diana. “She can stay here, Diana. She’s just as protected here as she would be in Themiscyra”
Diana turns on him, her control snapping. “You have already proven your protection is worthless, Bruce! Her vulnerability is because of your paranoia, and your weapons!”
The silence that follows is absolute. The front door of the manor feels miles away, and you are trapped between two warring titans.
Bruce’s face is granite, his eyes heavy with the weight of her truth. He opens his mouth, undoubtedly to double down or apologize with the economy of a CEO, but before he can, another voice slices through the brute tension—bright, easy, and completely out of place.
“Hold up. Everyone take a breath.”
Dick emerges from the dining room, moving with the acrobatic grace of someone determined to prevent a diplomatic crisis. He’s all charm and composure –as usual–, though the strain around his eyes shows he’s ready for a fight. He places himself casually between Diana and Bruce, offering Diana a small, genuinely concerned smile.
“Diana, look, you’re right to be upset. Bruce, you’re… well, you’re Bruce. But this isn’t a divorce court on who gets the kid. Plus she’s cold” Dick says, his gaze sweeping quickly over you and your shivering form. He takes in your defiant posture and the cold marble floor. He seems to understand immediately that what you need least is another debate over your short term future.
He turns to you, his eyes gentle but firm. “You look like you’re about to catch a cold. And you’ve had a night, to put it mildly. I’ve got an extra guest room that is definitely not in a cave, and it’s miles away from any Amazonian or Wayne Enterprises boardroom. How about you crash at my place tonight? No questions, no arguments. Just a solid lock on the door and maybe some really bad takeout.”
Diana’s glare doesn't soften, yours does, at the expense of a friend that you trust. “Richard, she is not a child to be babysat. She needs to be secured.”
“She is family, Diana, and she’s not going to feel ‘secure’ in the middle of a war zone,” Dick counters smoothly, glancing pointedly from Bruce's rigid form to Diana’s tense one. “She needs space. A safe, neutral space. My apartment is the definition of neutral.”
Bruce finally speaks, his voice a low, heavy rumble of reluctant agreement. “It’s acceptable. I need to handle the situation with Luthor and the tech breach, and Dick’s apartment is monitored.”
You seize the lifeline immediately. It’s better than being trapped on Themyscira or in the Batcave. “Fine. I’ll go with Dick.”
Dick offers you a look that says, ‘thank you for not making me argue for another hour’. He turns to Diana. “I’ll bring her back to you when she’s calmed down, Diana. You can have your conversation then, in private, where no one else is listening in.” The final shot is subtle, but it's aimed at the core issue: the public dismantling of your dignity.
Diana stares at Dick, then at Bruce, then finally back at you. She knows when she’s been checkmated by bureaucracy and common sense. She gives a clipped, formal nod. “Very well, Richard. But I expect a full report, and she is to remain inside your sight.”
Donna steps forward and gently puts a hand on your arm. “We will call you tomorrow.”
“I liked the lashes by the way” Cassie gives you a small, genuine smile before following Diana out.
Dick immediately turns and holds out his hand to you, his concern shifting from diplomacy to pure practicality. “Alright, let’s get you out of those heels and into the Nightwing mobile!”
You take his hand and a chuckle roams out of your throat. The touch on his skin is simple, a promise of escape. As you let him lead you out, you steal a glance toward the balcony where you last saw Jason. It’s empty.
As the front door closes behind you with a heavy, final thud, two younger voices drift from the hallway connecting the foyer to the den.
“Todd is gonna freak out,” Damian tells Tim.
“Oh yeah,” Tim agrees, already sounding exhausted by the impending drama. “He is absolutely going to freak out.”
“Wait- You support them together too?”
“Do I support her with Jason or Dick?” Tim asks, puzzled.
“Todd obviously”
“Oh yeah yeah, they’re literally made for eachother”
Jason is a gargoyle on the cold marble of the balcony, his jaw clenched so tight he feels a dull ache behind his teeth. He hasn't moved since you yanked your arm away and strode back inside. He watches the light of the foyer from the corner of his eye, listening to the muffled, escalating confrontation between Bruce and Diana.
When Dick’s voice cuts through the argument—calm, collected, and impossibly right—a fresh, horrible wave of possessive anger washes over Jason.
Dick, the golden boy. The one who always knows exactly what to say to disarm a god or diffuse a bomb. The one who knows how to make everything right, the one who is calm and collected, the one you dated after his death. Dick Grayson, the epitome of a big brother, who knows how to slip between cracks, steps in to be the savior once again, offering the neutral ground that Jason couldn't.
He watches Dick emerge, moving with that easy confidence, placing himself between the heavyweights. Jason doesn't hear the exact words, but he doesn't need to. He sees the gesture: Dick’s hand reaching out, not to restrain, but to guide.
He sees you take that hand.
The gesture is simple, but it feels like a punch to Jason's gut, twisting the knot of jealousy he already carried into the past into something sharp and new. Dick gets to be the hero, the protector, the temporary, safe sanctuary. Dick gets to take you home.
Safe, neutral space. That’s what Dick calls his apartment. Jason scoffs under his breath. It's a space free from expectations, free from the Batfamily baggage Jason is currently buried under. A space where you can both talk about shared trauma—the kind that brings people like Dick and Barbara and you closer—while Jason is left out here, alone, smelling the failure and cold air.
He watches until you and Dick are just two dark shapes moving toward the front doors.
"I don't want them. I want you," he'd said. It is too late. Dick is the better choice, the easier escape. The one who hasn't been juggling an Amazonian ex, after confessing love to Batgirl, and generally making a mess of your life– twice.
Jason finally pushes off the railing, the friction of the stone a pointless sensation against his ruined nerves. He doesn't go back toward the dining room. He turns and walks to the far end of the balcony, resting his head against the cold glass of the window, unable to watch anymore. The city lights blur into streaks of indifferent color.
He has just given Dick the ultimate victory: the one night where you will be vulnerable, safe, and most importantly, with him. And how can he be sure Dick and you have nothing going on anymore? That there aren’t any lingering feelings from a teenage love that ended just as fast as it begun?
Jason closes his eyes, the memory of your furiously fuming face the last thing he sees. He loses you not because he isn't strong enough or smart enough, but because he is a cowardly idiot who tries to hedge his bets and ends up with nothing.
Outside, the air bites sharper than you expect. Gotham’s winter creeps in through the seams of your dress as you follow Dick down the steps, heels clicking against the wet stone. The manor looms behind you, silent, ancient, and heavy with everything unsaid. You don’t look back.
Dick presses the key fob and his car chirps, headlights washing gold across his face. He opens the passenger door for you without comment—other than a side eye because he knows you hate men that do that—just a faint grin that’s meant to be comforting but lands somewhere closer to tired. You slide in, pulling your coat tighter, watching him circle to the driver’s side.
The city unfolds in streaks of sodium light as he drives. Gotham at night feels like it’s always mid-breath; never asleep, never alive. You rest your head against the cold window, eyes tracing the blurred reflection of your face in the glass. The silence stretches until Dick breaks it, soft but steady.
“I’m sure Jason didn’t mean it,” he says, eyes fixed on the road. “Whatever went down upstairs. He’s just…” He exhales through his nose, searching for the word. “Jason.”
You huff a faint, humorless sound. “You don’t even know what he said. And him being himself's not an excuse.”
“Didn’t say it was,” he replies, tone light but edged with something older. “I just need context.”
The car hums, steady. You don’t answer. You don’t want to talk about Jason—not when his shadow still feels like it’s pressed against your ribs.
Dick glances at you once before turning back to the windshield. “But you know,” he says, voice low, “you’re allowed to be the one who walks away for once.”
The words settle like static. You keep your gaze on the glass, on the city lights flickering like heartbeats.
Soon, Gotham’s black and white has been replaced by Blüdhaven’s blue and purple neon on almost every building.
Inside Dick’s small, aggressively cheerful Blüdhaven apartment, the tension finally begins to bleed away.
You are curled up on his couch, wrapped in one of his soft, oversized college hoodies, with a chunky knit blanket pulled up to your chin. Your elaborate dress and ridiculous heels are forgotten in a pile near the door. Dick sits in his favorite armchair, equally casual in sweats.
In an attempt to earn best friend kudos, he makes you a massive mug of tea—Earl Grey with milk and an obscene amount of honey—and puts on some terrible 90s action-comedy that demands exactly zero attention. The only light in the living room comes from the television and the orange glow of the streetlights filtering through the blinds. It feels like a sleepover, a decade too late, and you almost forget that outside this apartment, your entire life is in crisis.
He sips his own tea, the steam warming his hands, and watches the TV for another moment, letting the comfortable quiet settle. Then, he presses the mute button on the remote.
“Okayyyy, the silence is officially driving me crazy,” Dick chirps, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. His gaze is gentle but direct, his eyes batting with an annoyingly sweet blink-blink-blink, the big brother concern back in full force. “And I know you’re using that terrible movie to avoid the last three hours of your life.”
You exhale slowly, clutching the mug tighter. “It was a very good terrible movie.”
“It was not. It was just loud. Look, I’m not Bruce, and I’m definitely not Diana. I just want to make sure you’re okay, and maybe get a hint of what the hell happened out there on the balcony.” He pauses, then lowers his voice. “What did you say to Jason? Tim messaged me he’s trying to unscrew his whole bike and screw it back together.”
You look down at the swirling surface of your tea, the honey turning the golden liquid cloudy. “I told him the truth.”
“Which truth? The 'I’m de-powered and scared' truth, or the 'I hate being stuck between two dysfunctional hero families' truth?” Dick asks, hoping it’s at least one of the two.
You lift your head, meeting his eyes. The anger is mostly exhausted, leaving behind a deep, aching vulnerability. “The one about me knowing about Barbara.”
Dick winces, leaning back. The casual posture instantly dissolves. He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Ah. He told you that?”
“You both did,” you correct, your voice flat. “I heard everything in the cave when I last visited. The kiss, the letter, the shared trauma, the whole ‘I wanted to be better for her’ mess.” You take a shaky breath. “I told him I’m done being the second choice, the emotional pit stop, or the convenient rebound when Artemis leaves or when you two are too scared to commit to Babs. I told him I’m done with the mission. I told him he lost me.”
Dick runs a hand through his perpetually messy hair. He doesn't try to defend himself or Jason; he simply accepts the accusation. A few years ago, he would have acted defensively regarding his stance when it comes to you. Now, when what’s left behind for him and you is friendship, he only says, “That’s… rough.”
“Well i don’t think he cares anyway”
“Don’t say that” Dick says, playfully shoving your side. You barely move when he nudges you, but the corner of your mouth twitches, betraying the tiniest crack in your armor.
“Come on. Don’t say thaaat,” He repeats, quieter this time. “You know he cares. He just doesn’t always know what to do with it.”
You stare at the muted television, where two badly CGI’d helicopters chase each other through an explosion. “Yeah. That’s kind of the problem.”
He exhales, settling back in his chair. “Jason’s whole thing is pushing away the people he doesn’t want to lose. It’s his one consistent talent. That and brooding on rooftops.”
“That makes two of you,” you mutter.
He grins faintly. “Touché.” Then, after a beat, “You know, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you were ever a second choice.”
Dick speaks for himself first, then for Jason. Though it hurt once upon a time, he has accepted your tenderness lies with the latter.
You scoff, half a laugh, half a defense. “Please. You all orbit Barbara like she’s the North Star. I’m just… what? A temporary moon?”
“More like the eclipse that screws up all our schedules,” he says, voice softer than the joke ever deserves. “You came in and changed everything, and Jason—he doesn’t know how to live in the light of that yet.”
Your response is simply a pout.
Dick studies you for a long moment, the playfulness slowly fading. He pauses, then his expression shifts, turning probing, his eyes squinting. “But you wouldn’t have thrown away the Luthor case just over that. Yeah you lost your powers but you’re not that reckless. This is about more than just Jason’s bad decisions, isn't it? You’re punishing him, aren’t you?”
You look away, but the words hit harder than you want to admit. “I’m not.”
He tilts his head. “Then why don’t you just tell him you love him instead of hiding up here and pretending you don’t care?”
“What!?”
His grin snaps back, too wide, too knowing. “Ha! You do love him. You loooove him.”
“Dick, are you five years old?”
He leans back, hands raised in mock defense. “Emotionally? On a good day.”
“Yeah well. I love him. What about it?”
He laughs at his own joke, but the sound fades quickly, leaving only the quiet hum of the city beyond the window. The smile slips. His tone levels out, steady, serious in that rare way he gets when he stops performing.
“Hey,” he says, softer now. “I’m not trying to make fun of you. I just… know what it looks like when someone’s scared to admit how deep they’re in.”
You exhale through your nose, eyes fixed on the skyline. “I’m not scared.”
“Yeah, you are,” he says. “Because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be sitting up here trying to convince yourself that pushing him away is strength. You’d be down there telling him he screwed up and figuring it out together.”
You press your lips together. “It’s not that simple.”
“It never is,” Dick agrees. “But the thing about Jason is—he’s a mess, sure, but he’s not a liar. If he’s showing up, it’s because he means it. You scare him, and that’s saying something. The guy died once and came back, and somehow you are what freaks him out.”
Your throat tightens. “That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking.” He leans forward, elbows on his knees. “You’re the first person he hasn’t been able to out-brood. The first one he’s had to actually face. And now you’re running from him the same way he runs from everyone else.”
You glance at him, sharp. “You think I don’t have a right to walk away?”
“I think you’ve earned the right to stop fighting people who want to love you,” he says quietly. “Especially the ones who don’t know how to say it right.”
Dammit, you hate that Dick knows you too well. He waits patiently, letting the silence hang and meddle about, warm and heavy in the dim apartment.
You stare at Dick, finally unable to sustain the protective indifference you’ve managed to upkeep for so long now. The tears come suddenly, hot and stinging against your cheeks, a shocking betrayal after hours of rigid control. You quickly raise the mug, using the steam to hide your face.
“Aw, hey, come on don't cry”
You lower the mug, your eyes red and glistening with fat, salty tears. "I hate it, Dick. I hate that I care what he does. I hate that the thought of him being happy with someone else, someone safer, makes me feel like I did when I was fourteen and Bruce wouldn't let him talk to me for a week because we tried to drive the batmobile on our own"
Dick slides out of the armchair and moves to sit beside you on the couch. He doesn't hug you; he simply rests his hand firmly on your shoulder, anchoring you.
“You love him,” Dick states like it’s a fact that stings him, not as a question, but as the unavoidable truth of the night.
You stay silent, letting the confession—Dick’s words and the unspoken truth behind them—settle over you like a weight you can’t shrug off. The mug in your hands grows cold, forgotten, steam curling into the dim light above.
He doesn’t push. He doesn’t speak again. Just the quiet press of his hand on your shoulder, steady, unyielding, reminding you that someone sees you, really sees you, and isn’t letting go.
Your tears slow, leaving streaks over flushed cheeks, your breath ragged from hours of holding in more than just frustration. You swallow hard, voice small and raw. “I… I don’t know how to stop myself from feeling like this.”
Dick tilts his head, eyes soft but sharp, tracking every tremor of your body. “You don’t have to stop,” he says. “Not yet. And not alone. You just… need to admit it to yourself first.”
The words prick at something you’ve been keeping buried. You glance at him, half-expecting a smirk, a joke, anything to shield you from the vulnerability. But he’s serious, impossibly steady, and it terrifies you more than you expected.
“I do love him,” you whisper finally, so quiet it almost disappears into the shadows of the apartment. Your chest tightens at the sound, as if saying it aloud makes it irrevocable.
Dick’s hand doesn’t move, but the pressure shifts subtly, just enough to say, I know. And it’s okay.
You bury your face in your hands, the confession shaking you, and Dick finally wraps an arm around you in hopes to hold you through this as tears stream down your eyes and into the palms of your hands. For the first time in hours, you allow yourself to breathe fully, knowing the truth is out—and that someone who understands is sitting right beside you, not judging, not teasing, just being there.
You look at Dick, tears still tracking through the dry anger on your face. "He just ran from me one too many times, Dick. And I am tired of waiting for the day he realizes the risk is worth it."
Dick squeezes your shoulder. “He knows the risk is worth it,” he says quietly, his eyes dark with regret. “He’s just an idiot. And a coward sometimes. And I think he was afraid of losing you by telling you he has feelings for you.”
He shifts, looking toward the hallway. “Look, I can’t fix Jason. I can barely fix my own relationships. But I can tell you this: the jealousy you’re feeling—don’t deny it— is the clearest indicator of where your heart is. And you just gave him the shock he needed to actually look at what he lost. Also… I think we should order burgers.”
“Jason’s favorite?” Your lip quivers. A tear escapes your wide, sadness blown eyes, streaking down your cheek, and you sniffle, trying to pull yourself together.
Dick stands, stretching exaggeratedly. “Shit– I’m going to make you some actual food. For tonight, you’re safe. You’re warm. The lashes are still killing it. The universe hasn’t collapsed. You focus on the fact that you still have a whole Amazonian sisterhood to help you figure out how to be an ass-kicker without the powers. And tomorrow, we figure out how to perhaps confess to Jason before the whole Batfamily ends up without vehicles.”
The weeks following the confrontation at the Manor have been a cold war.
You and Jason exist in parallel universes, both working the Luthor and Penguin case—yes the one you dramatically declared you dropped out of— but never, ever meeting. You've become a ghost, working from Dick's secure Blüdhaven apartment or remote safe houses, reporting only to Diana and Bruce.
Jason, meanwhile, has been relentless on the streets, turning his guilt into destructive, high-impact patrols. Last week he sent a singular, unanswered text that just said, "Talk to me."
You ignore it, of course taking the much preferred route, to deal with it in an infinitely more childish way of coping which is whining incessantly to Dick about how utterly immature Jason is, and bubble about it for quite a few days. Something about you taking pride in Jason ‘breaking no contact first’ and being a ‘yearner’
The city feels smaller when you don’t have him on your radar. You can move through Gotham—or Blüdhaven, more often than not—without the pull of his gaze, without the low hum of his judgment lingering in your spine. You can pretend, for weeks at a time, that you don’t care that he’s out there, cracking skulls, raining down vengeance for your stupidity. Spoiler alert– you do care.
Jason won’t let Tim breathe about it. He talks about you non-stop, a continuous, high-volume drone, always, always making it explicitly clear that all the information he’s sharing is strictly confidential and shall not be shared with Grayson or anyone else. Said information usually consists of him absolutely going through the five stages of grief about you. One moment he’s angry, then he wonders where he went wrong, then he says he’s okay with it, that he’s gonna let it go.
Damian happens to be caught in the fire when he finds you asleep before the batcomputer hugging a suspiciously looking, very well known edition of Pride and Prejudice. The one Todd lent him. When he rips it off your hands and wakes you up he swears your eyes well up with tears.
Naturally, the stress is too much for the younger generation and golden boy older brother to bear. So they decide to do something about it.
Thus Dick, Tim, and a begrudging Damian have been meeting covertly in the Manor Gym night after night, the only place where Bruce's eyes and ears can't easily follow them while he’s off with the League on some Darkseid intergalactic business.
After days of conspiring and many mid-day Alfred snacks, they come to a foolproof plan. The one that always works.
Their plan is simple, efficient; They're going to lock you down. Or well, in.
Tim calls you late Friday night.
His voice is tight with engineered panic. "It's the final piece of data on the Luthor encryption key and it relates directly to the Penguin case you took on. It's stored locally in the Cave—Bruce never uploads this stuff. Pffft, This guy right? We need you to review it now before the scheduled scrub. Dick is tied up. Can you get here?"
Knowing the Luthor and Penguin files overlap with your current focus, you reluctantly agree despite finding it very hard to believe the comment about Bruce.
A nationwide human trafficking scandal is on the stake anyway.
Dick texts Jason a single, non-descript message: "Warehouse 12. New weapons shipment. Big."
Jason, already on patrol, takes the bait instantly. He speeds to the location only to find a single, cheap plastic toy gun inside. Frustrated, he receives Dick's follow-up text: "Psych. Now meet me at the Cave. Emergency Batcomputer update."
Damian is in charge of actually powering off facial recognition to get you out of the cave. And then, he is forced to fleet under Grayson’s order because the following events might not be very ‘PG-13’
You descend into the Batcave via the elevator, annoyed at Tim's urgency but focused on the screen of your phone.
You step out onto the smooth concrete floor and immediately spot Jason, standing near the main terminal. He's still in his Red Hood gear, helmet resting on the console, his posture coiled and furious.
“Dick? What the hell is going on?” Jason demands, his voice a low growl. "I just wasted an hour chasing a—"
Before he can finish, the heavy steel door of the elevator shaft clangs shut. Simultaneously, the airlock doors on the vehicle bay slide closed. The main power lights flicker, settling into the emergency red glow.
Then, Tim's voice crackles over the loud, unfiltered comms system, echoing throughout the massive cavern.
“Alright, the doors are sealed. Red Hood, she's not leaving until you talk”
You shoot a panicked look at Jason before Tim continues by calling your name, “he's not getting out until he talks. We disabled the auxiliary controls. You have all night. Batman’s off with the League. Don't touch the Batwing.”
Jason whirls toward the Batcomputer, where Dick looks at him through the screen, leaning casually against a gargoyle on the other end of the city, giving a tight, unrepentant shrug. Damian is visible beside him, arms crossed in self-satisfaction. The little brat mocks him– going as far as to shove his tongue out of his mouth and give him a clowning expression.
“You little shits! Open this now, or I swear I will turn this whole cave into a grease fire!” Jason roars, taking a step toward the deck.
“You won't,” Dick counters, his voice calm and clear. "And we know you two are both too stubborn to call a truce on your own. Consider this a mandated therapy session. The only way out is through, Jay. And we're all very tired of the brooding."
The comms click silent. Dick gives you a tiny, apologetic wink before he and the others disappear behind the glitching screen.
“I’m gonna kill him” You mumble, heart stammering inside your chest. The panic is quickly being replaced by a surge of defiant anger—anger at Dick, at Tim, at Damian, and most of all, at the man standing ten feet away who just had to be the reason for this absurd, humiliating trap.
“Texting me is one thing” you say, raising your voice in his direction “But having your brothers trap me here with you? That’s a new low”
Jason turns from the now-silent Batcomputer screen, flipping his helmet off the deck and letting it fall with a deafening clatter onto the concrete floor. His eyes, raw and shadowed by weeks of anger and guilt, bore into yours.
“I ain’t done shit!”
Jason’s chest heaves with the force of it— a short, ugly sound that could be grief if it weren’t so close to anger. The concrete smells like dust and ozone and the cold from the night. He plants his boots, both a challenge and a plea.
“I ain’t done fucking shit!” he repeats, louder, and the words ricochet off steel and glass.
You take a step closer despite everything, because you’re maddened and exhausted and the heat of him is a furnace you can’t help leaning toward. “Then why the hell—” you start, but stop midway when you see the way Jason’s jaw tightens.
He runs a hand through his hair, then looks at you properly, something raw and ragged in his eyes. “Yeah. I texted you.” The admission is too quick to be prideful, too honest to be strategic. You blink in confusion “Said ‘talk to me.’” He swallows. “I didn’t— I didn’t set this up. I just talked to Tim about it”
“Don’t lie to me,” you spit. “Don’t make me the idiot who walked into a fucking playset you staged.” Fury is a blunt instrument and you wield it too well; it keeps the tremor from your hands steady. “If this was a ‘talk to me’ thing, then why the theatrics?”
“So I’m the liar again?”
“You know what? I had regretted calling you a liar during our talk in the balcony but after you not admitting you trapped me here with you, I’m glad I didn’t believe it when Dick said you’re not a liar”
In a quick moment of realisation Dick’s name dies on your tongue. Twice.
“What the hell?” Jason demands, his voice a low, rough growl, skipping past the immediate crisis to the source of his misery. "You've been ignoring me for three weeks. You won't answer my text. What did you tell Dick that convinced him to pull this kind of juvenile bullshit?"
“Me!?”
You cross your arms tighter, refusing to let the panic of him turning this on you show. Your pride—the pride in his single, unanswered text, the pride in being the 'winner' of the no-contact—is the only defense you have left.
You hold his stare, refusing to let him turn this into an attack on your character. The surge of anger, though, is mixed with a chilling, sudden confusion about what Jason is actually denying.
“Yeah you. If you wanna talk to me then answer my text. Don’t involve my brothers”
All the self restraint you’ve got is needed at this moment not to snap again. You look at Jason, really look and decide to believe he probably knows nothing about the fact that his brothers locked you in the cave. You can’t deny the desperate sincerity in his voice, and the possibility that Dick and the boys actually acted on their own initiative is a sudden, dizzying thought.
“Okay Jason,” you start “Let’s say you didn't orchestrate this”
“I didn’t!”
“I’m not blaming you,” you snap, stepping closer, heat crawling up your spine. “I’m just… I’m pissed that my whole life gets invaded by third parties. I don’t need this, Jay!”
His eyes soften, almost imperceptibly, and the fury bleeds into something taut, heavy. “You think I wanted this either?” he mutters, voice lower now, rougher with exhaustion and something closer to hurt. “I’ve been trying to reach you, okay? Three weeks! You vanish, you ghost me, and I’m left here—wondering if you’re okay, wondering if you even care!”
The words hit you harder than his anger. Your chest tightens, and for a moment, the only sound is the echo of your own ragged breathing. You want to argue, to push, to retreat behind the armor of pride, but it’s too raw, too real.
“I do care,” you whisper, almost ashamed of the vulnerability. “But you can’t just—just—fuck okay screw this. I can’t say it”
You push past him, walking towards the Batcomputer terminal, the red light glinting off the tears you refuse to shed.
You gesture vaguely towards the locked doors.
"You and I are locked in here for the night. You're the one with the reputation for solving impossible situations with pure, bloody-minded force.” You turn back to the Batcomputer, your fingers already flying across the keyboard, bringing up the Luthor/Penguin data.
“If we’re going to fix anything. Let’s start with working. I'm fixing the mess we made. I'm not going to sit here and waste the night on your emotional cowardice." you finish, your voice cool and professional.
Jason stands frozen, helmet on the ground, trapped between the walls, your work, and your unforgiving challenge. He has the words, but you’re demanding the action.
Jason’s hands clench into fists, his whole body taut with the impulse to smash something. He could still argue, yell, or simply walk away and find a quiet corner of the cave to brood.
But your words of challenge and a devastating thought that you'd confessed your love to Dick first—have landed too clean. Like the sharp edge of a knife. You’ve taken his pain and turned it into a mission.
He looks at you, hunched over the Batcomputer terminal in the aggressive red light, already focused on the work, already moving on. He sees the flicker of tears in your eyes, but also the resolute set of your jaw. He knows you mean every word. He has to prove he can solve the problem.
He takes a deep breath, forcing the raw anger down, replacing it with a cold, almost detached focus.
“Fine,” he says, his voice low, gravelly, but controlled. He walks toward the Batcomputer, not toward you, but to the equipment bay. He grabs a spare headset and clips it on, accessing the private comms channel.
“You want to work? We work,” he mutters, pulling up a schematic on a secondary monitor. “You said the Luthor key overlaps with the Penguin location data. Let's see if we can find a back-end exploit that lets us override this lock without tripping an alert. Tim and Dick didn't think about the code redundancy loop in the original Batcave schematics.”
He glances at you, his eyes hard but focused entirely on the screen, accepting the truce of work. “But don’t think this means you win, either. You’re working out your pride on a crisis that could actually kill us. Now look at the timestamp on that data scrub. Is it the Penguin’s own timer, or Luthor’s contingency?”
Jason is working with an intense, surgical focus, navigating the complex Batcave network with practiced ease. He pulls up a series of nested code streams related to the Penguin’s use of Luthor’s encryption for shipping. For a few minutes, the only sound is the frantic tapping of keys and the quiet, technical murmur of Jason talking to himself through the headset.
You, meanwhile, are intensely trying to focus on the work, your adrenaline and hurt still raging under your professional exterior. You're analyzing a timestamp, trying to ignore the proximity of his shoulder inches from yours.
Jason hits a sequence of commands and the secondary monitor flashes with a section of compressed code.
"There," he mutters, leaning in, his voice slightly muffled by the headset mic. "See that signature? It's not Penguin. It's a derivative of the code Luthor used in the '09 banking raid. Old school. Why would Penguin use—fuck! Fuck this shit."
He cuts himself off, his frustration spilling over, and he rips the headset off, throwing it back onto the console with a sharp clatter. He turns, planting his hands on the console table, forcing his stare onto the opposite wall, but his anger is still laser-focused on you.
“You know what the worst part is?” he demands, his voice low and tight with venom, finally snapping the work truce. “The worst part of standing there on that stupid balcony, drowning in my own failure, wasn't Bruce’s face. It was Dick.”
You finally stop typing, your spine rigid. You knew, for better or for worse, that this was coming.
“You looked like you were about to collapse, and Dick—golden boy Dick—he just walks in, calm, collected, with his stupid, gentle grin, and plays the savior. And you just... you took his hand. You walked right out with him.”
His head snaps back to you, his eyes burning with accusation. He doesn't wait for your response. The floodgates are open, and the weeks of internalized humiliation and possessiveness pour out “He gets to be the easy choice, the easy way out. The hero pass”
“I’m the one who has to stand there and watch Bruce and Diana carve you up while I freeze, and Dick gets to be the reward for your pain. Dick gets to put the blanket on you. He gets to comfort you and listen to you confess all the things you won’t even say to me. It’s happened before, when I died.”
He pushes off the console, taking a menacing step toward you. “I knew you were safe, yeah. But you were safe with him. You’ve made your point clear about Artemis. I’ve spent the last three weeks on patrol picturing you in Dick’s apartment, wrapped in his clothes, talking about shared trauma while I was out here losing my mind because I didn’t know how to apologize.”
He finally looks at you, his eyes wide and burning with raw, agonizing jealousy. "Tell me you don't look at him and think, 'Why can't Jason be like this?' Tell me you don't feel a flicker of that old, easy history when he is sitting there, playing the perfect, uncomplicated friend!"
He stops, chest heaving. He has finally said the worst thing: he has admitted his deepest, terrified belief that you choose Dick's comfort over his own complex, frightening love.
You stare at him. The fire of your own anger—the pride, the defense, the calculated indifference—suddenly goes out, leaving behind a profound, aching realization. He isn't lashing out to hurt you; he is tearing himself apart because he truly believes Dick is a better man for you. Just like you thought Barbara and Artemis were better women for him.
This Jason is still the kid you hurled behind you when you first met Superman, muttering something about being discreet. The teenager that Joker tortured and killed and took away from you. The one you mourned before you even turned 18 years old.
The best friend who convinced Bruce to tell Diana to let you enroll at Gotham Academy. He listened to you cry when she would be mad at you because you were a reckless kid with newfound powers or when that girl from your Maths class tried to bully you.
Maybe, in the end, no Barbara, no Artemis, no Dick can come between you.
The frustration of his stupidity is too much. The pain in his eyes is too real. His self-loathing is too close to your own secret fear that he is right. You don't want the easy comfort; you want the hard, chaotic, terrifying truth of him.
You take the one step that closes the distance between you. Your hand, which was steady seconds ago, comes up and cups the side of his jaw, thumb resting gently on the sharp edge of his cheekbone. The other wiggles across your body and entangles your fingers with his, guiding his hand to the small curve of your lower back. His other hand follows respectfully.
“If you’re in love with Dick then give me back the Nirvana shirt I gave you in middle school!” He pouts, petty.
Your eyes widen, shock written all over your face in a matter of seconds. A hiccupy sound of surprise exits your throat "You're taking this too far.”
Jason’s eyes, burning with raw agony moments ago, narrow in genuine confusion. The intensity of his rant shatters. He leans into your touch, the heat of his skin familiar and grounding.
“Am I?” he asks, his voice thick with bewilderment, the earlier roar gone. “I gave it to you because I liked you. And you didn’t even get it”
The words reach an unhealed part of your past. The cut that always bleeds. At sixteen you didn’t want to date a fourteen year old. At eighteen, when Jason dies, Dick’s face is like an endless possibility of what Jason might have looked like when he’d turn twenty. You spend days locked up in Jason’s room, wearing his shirt until Dick convinces you to eat something, drink water. But you keep the shirt as the only relic of Jason you could ever have for the rest of your life.
You wouldn’t give him back that shirt, even if you had to write it off in your will.
Your breath hitches, the tears you’ve been holding back for weeks stinging your eyes. The absurdity of arguing over a moth-eaten tee shirt while trapped in the Batcave by his brothers is devastatingly close to home.
“This is the only thing I’ve got from before you died. You're not taking it from me. I need it.”
A faint, broken smile touches Jason’s lips. It’s not a cruel smile, but one of relieved realization. He’s looking past the fight, straight at the raw, vulnerable heart of your attachment.
The shirt isn't just clothing; it's the physical relic of unrequited history and the tangible proof of your mourning. Your refusal to give it back is the first and most powerful clue that Jason’s fears about Dick are unfounded.
“Ha!” He chuckles, the sound raspy. “I knew you didn’t mean that you never needed me.”
The smile is too much. The relief in his voice is too much. You snap, the three-week dam of fear and anger finally bursting.
“I'm in love with you Jason!” You cry out, your voice echoing off the cavern walls. “Not Dick! I’m keeping the shi—” You clap a hand over your mouth, cutting off the confession too late, your eyes wide with the shocking betrayal of your own protective silence.
Jason freezes.
For once, the constant restless movement that defines him, the pacing, the half-steps, the clenched fists, stops dead. The words hang between you, fragile and burning, like a live wire neither of you can touch without getting hurt.
His eyes go wide, a thousand emotions crossing his face so fast they blur together: disbelief, shock, anger, and something far more dangerous that lies at the end of Pandora’s chest—hope.
He stares at you. He doesn't move, doesn't speak. All the rage, the jealousy, the self-pity—it all evaporates, leaving him stunned. His gaze is desperate, searching your face for any sign that the words weren’t just another angry lie.
He drops his hands from your waist, only to immediately raise them, framing your face with his palms. His thumbs gently wipe the tracks of your glossy tears.
“Say it again,” he demands, his voice a low, rough whisper, barely audible over the hum of the computers. His eyes are shining green now, dark like a forest under a crescent moon and impossibly open. “Look at me. Say you love me. Say it again.”
You shake your head quickly, heart hammering so hard it feels like your ribs might split apart and let the vital organ slime down the floor of the cave.
“No,” you mutter, hand still over your mouth. “Forget it. I didn’t— I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t lie to me now,” he interrupts, surging forward, making you trip a step back towards the computer deck. His voice isn’t angry anymore. It’s raw, stripped of every defense he’s ever built. “You can call me every name in the book, you can hate me, you can ignore me for weeks, but don’t take that back.”
You lower your hand, your breath trembling. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
Jason huffs out a laugh that sounds like it hurts. The corner of his lip twitches “Yeah, well. You’re the one who yelled it.”
There’s a beat of silence. Then another. The kind that feels endless and your heart still wants to split your chest apart.
Jason does the least expected thing in the world at this given moment— he pulls you in. Hugs you. Right into his chest. Enormous biceps trap your back onto him, pressing you close, close, close until you feel like your lungs will collapse.
He’s not thinking in full sentences at that point. It's all static and pulse. Yours? His? He doesn’t even fucking know.
The hug isn’t even a decision that he takes; it’s instinct, a grab at proof that he’s real and that you didn’t mean to wound him and that he understands. The anger that’s been driving him burns out mid-motion, replaced by a kind of stunned quiet. The air in the cave still tastes like gun oil and adrenaline, but what he’s holding isn’t a fight anymore —it’s someone who said the one thing he’s wanted to hear since he crawled out of his own grave.
In his head, it’s chaos. But his body’s language is simpler: hold, breathe, anchor. His chin finds the top of your head, his heart is hammering like it’s still trying to outrun death. He smells the faint detergent on your shirt, your shampoo, the salt from your tears. It’s so small, so human, that it breaks something open in him.
His heart wants to crawl out of his chest too and if it’s a race between your vitals on which is going to give in to failure first, he’s definitely winning.
He pulls back just enough to lean his forehead against yours, both of you gasping for air, but his hands roam on your face, the back of your head, to hold you place. He wants you to look at him in the eyes when he says,
“I’m in love with you too. Have been, forever”
The words land and just… stay there. No thunderclap, no music cue. Just the thrum of the cave’s machines and his breath shaking against your temple.
You don’t move at first. You can’t. You feel the tremor in his chest before you hear it—the uneven rhythm of someone who hasn’t said I’m in love with you out loud in years. Someone who’s been holding it in.
The warmth of his hands on your face doesn’t feel like possession; it feels like someone holding a miracle too tight, afraid it’ll vanish.
Your eyes trace the new softness in him, the way the fight has bled out but left him raw, eyes red-rimmed, mouth parted like he’s still bracing for you to take it all back.
So you don’t say a word. You just breathe, steady, until the static in your head fades enough to find his pulse beneath your fingers. Then you tilt your chin up, slow. His breath catches.
You look at his lips, chapped, a fading powdery pink draft of skin, then that freckle on his left eyelid. The one on the eye bag underneath his right one.
The whole world has shut off for one second.
And then, when you kiss him, the clocks start ticking again.
You’re not giving in to prove him wrong or to make a promise—just an answer.
The kiss doesn’t feel like triumph— it feels like recognition. He freezes for half a heartbeat, then exhales into it, the weight of you lifting just enough for him to kiss you back, slow and trembling. He doesn’t deepen it yet; he just stays there, lips pressed softly to yours like he’s afraid a bigger movement might ruin the fragile truth sitting between you.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, his breath warm on your skin. “I love you. I won't run. I swear I won’t run again. I promise.”
The way he kisses you next could only be described as blasphemy. A sin. Unholy.
It is not sweet or tender. It is a desperate, consuming plunge that feels like a violation of the sterile, rule-bound space you inhabit. It is the raw, unedited violence of his resurrection funneled into an act of love. It’s rough, lip-numbing.
You press into him, gasping, your fingers digging into the tough, corded muscles of his neck. This kiss is uneven, and tastes like the salt of old tears and the fierce, bitter copper of an adrenaline spike. It's too fast, too sloppy and too hungry—the emotional equivalent of the Batwing takeoff—and it shatters the last remaining piece of your composure.
It is blasphemy because it makes a mockery of all the 'clean' relationships you're supposed to have: the sisterly Amazonian bonds, the measured partnership of the Justice League kissing the outlaw that’s back from the dead. This is a covenant sealed in stolen moments and self-destruction.
It is a sin because it makes you crave the chaos. You feel the answering darkness in you rise up, matching his hunger, and for a terrifying second, you want nothing more than to burn down the entire world with him.
It is unholy because it feels like two people who have been fighting death finally choosing to fight for life—and choosing the most dangerous, unstable way to do it.
The second Robin. The second Wonder Girl. Pulled together by strings of fate.
He finally pulls away, the urgency of the moment—and the impending elevator doors—forcing him back to reality. His eyes are dark, blown wide with an intensity that matches the sheer, terrifying depth of what just passed between you. He is breathless, and his jaw is clenched.
“God,” he rasps, his voice a low vibration against your ear. He kisses your temple once, quick and hard, a possessive gesture. “We need to go upstairs. Now.”
Jason ignores the security system, using his own code for situations just like this one —getting out of the cave during emergency lockdown— and bypasses the main foyer, dragging you up the stairs to the manor and into his old childhood room.
The door slams shut behind you. The room is dark, lit only by the cold, indifferent glow of Gotham's lights filtering through the blinds. It’s barerer than you remember: a bed, a desk buried under old patrol maps, and a tactical rack where his Red Hood armor hangs like a silent, metal sentinel. His mini library that Bruce built.
You are leaning against the door, breath coming in ragged gasps, still shaken by the altitude, the escape, and the kiss. You are suddenly acutely aware of your figure that's trapped inside and in between both of his arms.
Jason fumbles with locking the deadbolt. The adrenaline has not burned out, but it has shifted. His movements are slower now, predatory. He parts from you and crosses the room in three strides, but stops just short of touching you.
He doesn’t ask for permission. He simply reaches you and unzips your compression jacket in one smooth, decisive movement. The fabric sighs open, pooling around your feet. His leather jacket shares the same fate hitting the floor with a soft, dull thud.
Your eyes meet his. In the dim light filtering through the blinds, his gaze is dark, searching, stripped bare of the anger and the excuses.
You could tell him you’re scared.
You won’t.
Since he came back four years ago, you and Jason have had sex twice, maybe thrice if you decide that most recent the time you absolutely nuked each other dry through your clothes on top of his bike matters at all, or even counts. You didn’t look at him for weeks after, never risked seeing what it did to him, or to you.
Now he’s right here, close enough that every breath you take brushes against his. His hands are still on your face, steady but trembling at the edges. The hum in the air fades until it’s just that shared pulse, that quiet between heartbeats where you both realize no one’s running this time.
His eyes search yours, as if waiting for you to flinch, to joke, to find a way out. You don’t. You just hold his gaze until the fear blurs into something heavier.
When you finally move, it’s not a decision—it’s gravity. Your lips find his, slow and sure, and for once there’s no heat or mask to hide behind. Your hands wrap around his neck, your fingers tangle through his hair, pulling him down.
The kiss is a blur of need and desperation, a claim staked in the only territory that matters now. Your lips. The patted space between them. He groans, low, guttural, and the sound vibrates against your lips. He breaks the kiss, pulling away just an inch, his eyes locked on yours in the dim light. His pupils are wide, black pools swallowing the faint light of green around them.
“Bed, now” he dictates, his voice rough, heavy with the weight of the last three weeks and the unholy truth of their confession. It isn’t a question; it's a command.
You don’t need to say yes. You answer by hurriedly pulling your tank top over your head, letting it join the growing pile of forgotten clothing on the floor.
He tries to work on your jeans but his fingers tremble slightly as they brush against the button of them, hesitating before completely undoing it.
The sound is loud in the tense silence between you both. He doesn’t look up at you—doesn’t meet your eyes—as he works on pulling down the zipper. He grins, leaning back just an inch, a breath of space, before yanking your pants off in a single motion.
Jason’s gaze burns over you, an inventory of everything he nearly lost. At the cost of it not happening again, he doesn't waste another second. He lifts you, not gently, but with a sudden, powerful surge, trapping your legs around his waist and grabbing the plush skin of your ass so violently that you know it’s going to bruise.
He carries you toward the bed, stumbling slightly on his way—a reminder that he is not the golden, graceful crispy ironed duvet, shifting you so you are pinned beneath him. The cold metal of the buckles on his belt presses into your hip when he rolls his hips into yours experimentally, a tangible reminder that his cock is pulsing through his cargos, just for you.
His hands are everywhere—possessive, reassuring, demanding.
You lay there in your underwear, your body trembling slightly from the cold of the room, the adrenaline, and the consuming pull of his presence.
Just as the kiss deepens, just as the last barrier of composure threatens to shatter, Jason draws back. It’s a deliberate, agonizing retreat that leaves you suspended in need. He doesn't move off of you, though, even if you moan in protest; he just props himself up on his elbow above you, his chest heaving, his eyes heavy with a teasing, wicked hunger.
He pushes a strand of your bangs away from your forehead and lets you brush your lips to his before flinching his head back, denying you another kiss
“This reminds me,” he starts. An evil chuckle escapes his mouth “the other time, you said you never needed me”
“Jace”
“Uh-ah” he shushes you, bringing a finger to your lips that you threaten to suck into your mouth “I’m gonna need you to take it back. And beg.”
A soft, sudden growl escapes him. He grabs the back of your thighs, effortlessly pinning you to the bed beneath his body in one swift, fluid motion, your legs over his shoulders, locked.
He doesn't kiss you. He doesn't move. He simply lets out a slow, satisfied exhale that brushes your ear, a sound of absolute, predatory triumph.
You refuse to look away, the burning heat in his eyes mirroring the consuming need in your own chest. The position he’s put you in is undeniably worse than a headlock, leaving you entirely open, entirely his. He's asking you to admit defeat, but your pride is the last thing you have left.
You swallow, the tremor in your voice betraying your composure. “I won’t beg,” you whisper, the words an act of final, desperate resistance. You grab his wrist, your fingers digging into the strong pulse point there.
You dig your fingernails in, but he barely flinches. The pressure doesn't bother him; he just leans in closer, his smirk turning sharp.
You grit your teeth, the effort to hold back a sob making your jaw ache. His victory is palpable, the cruel warmth of his bulge pressing down on your cunt.
“Really?”
“I bet, you can't make me say please.”
He snorts, reaching down to grip your chin, forcing your gaze to meet his. His eyes hold a dangerous look of pure lust.
"Oh, trust me, princess. I haven't even begun, yet. I think I should play with you a little longer, hm? Until you're begging me to give you what you really want. Then, and only then, will I decide to give in. And when I do, it'll be so worth it."
A malevolent laugh escapes him. He leans in to nip at your sensitive throat, finally relenting with a smirk.
His hand leaves your thigh and rises, the movement slow and deliberate. You track it, helpless, as his fingers hook beneath the strap of your bra where it meets your shoulder.
He doesn't tug or rip. He simply pulls the strap down your arm, exposing the side of your breast to the cool air, leaving the fragile fabric bunched up at your elbow. His eyes never leave yours, waiting for the capitulation.
His free hand wiggles underneath your back—hot, too hot—and moves to the center of your back, his fingers deftly finding the clasp of your bra. A quiet, metallic click, and the garment goes slack. He slides the now unfastened fabric from beneath you, discarding it with a casual flick of his wrist onto the floor.
The predatory triumph in his eyes is back, intensified, and he finally lowers his head, not to kiss, but to claim.
He nips at your earlobe, a promise and a threat. "You have no idea what I've been imagining doing to you."
“Like what?” You ask, voice barely above a whisper.
He growls, his voice dropping to a husky whisper right against your ear "Like teasing you until you’re begging me to cum. Like marking every inch of this perfect body as mine."
He bites down gently on your shoulder, then continues in a darker tone "And like making sure that when I finally give in and let myself have what we both want so damn badly? You’ll never forget who owns you."
He bites at your earlobe again, his voice husky, hands groping your ass to adjust you better against him as he grinds against you. "Maybe I'll start with some of the, ah... less intense things, first. That way you won't be overwhelmed all at once. I know how sensitive you are."
Jason doesn't wait. The second the admission is out, the second the bra is gone, his mouth descends.
He doesn't attack with fury, but with a calculated, devastating hunger. His lips and teeth find the tip of your exposed breast first, a harsh, possessive tug that makes your entire body arch up impossibly into his. A moan rips from your throat, swallowed instantly by the charged air between you.
He sucks hard, using his tongue and teeth to work a tight circle around the nipple, drawing the heat and blood to the surface. The deep, wet sound of his mouth against your skin is deafening in the silence of the room. Your hands tighten around his shoulders, your fingers digging into the hard muscle, trying to anchor yourself as a wave of intense, focused sensation washes over you.
He pulls back to look at his handiwork—your breast is perked, the nipple rigid and glistening. His eyes, dark and heavy-lidded, burn with satisfaction. Your clit gives you a warning pulse when he grinds you against the seam of his pants again.
"God. You’re so damn beautiful." His eyes rake over you. "Seeing you all spread out beneath me like this... I could stare for hours."
“Jason come on—”
“Sssht—Now let’s see,” Then he nips at your throat, his voice dropping to a low purr. "That pretty little spot on your hip... maybe I'll give that special attention. Or that sensitive bit on your inner thigh. I can’t tell you how many times I've imagined it."
You’re… speechless to say the least. The very few times the two of you have had sex have been normal. Almost talkless. The much needed foreplay and an exchange of words that could boil down to not even sweet nothings.
What’s happening now is feral. An instance that’s making you embarrassed and flustered in all the wrong ways. Telling him how much you want him, begging him—it feels stupid, embarrassing, it’s making you—
“You're making me—“
Jason growls against your skin, smirking as he feels the undeniable shiver that runs through you.
"Making you what, sweetheart? Finish your sentence. Tell me what I'm doing to you." His teeth graze your collarbone, a gravelly whisper.
“Nghhh” you moan
"Come on…Tell me how badly you want it, princess. Tell me just how badly you crave it— We both know it. You want it. It's just a matter of when you'll beg for me."
“You're making me wet, Jay.”
He laughs, immediately satisfied. His fingers trail down your side before suddenly gripping the inside of your thigh and squeezing possessively.
He presses open mouthed kisses down your body, trailing his tongue on every spot his lips wrap around and each kiss makes you jolt, cunt squeezing around nothing.
"Oh? Really now? Thought so,” He bites the soft skin of your hip with a smirk when he reaches the band of your cotton underwear. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear, babe. And we haven't even gotten started yet."
Then, with an abrupt change of focus, he begins to trail hot, open-mouthed kisses across your sternum, up the soft dip between your breasts, and up the other side. His tongue sweeps up to the second peak he left untouched before, and he takes it into his mouth with the same intensity, demanding the same raw, breathless response.
You stop fighting. Your body is a nerve pulled taut, trembling under his focus. The demanding pull, the wet heat—it’s too much. Your head falls back against the mattress, your defense completely shattered.
The second Jason brings his hand to your clothed slit, pressing two fat pads of his fingers right oover your aching clit, your whole body shivers.
“Ready to say please?” He waits, letting the silence and the proximity do the rest of the work.
You shake your head in denial and his fingers press onto your clit harder in one, two, three, four swirls before he shifts. He removes his hand entirely, sitting up slightly. He leans forward, right next to your ear
“Maybe I could use my mouth on you,” Jason whispers.
The words are soft, a sudden break in the harsh tension. The quiet invitation—the shift from his aggressive challenge to a devastatingly intimate offer—slams through your last bit of composure.
He watches you, a smug triumph flashing in his dark gaze.
He trails his fingers back down your body, slowly, before his hand settles on the inside of your thigh. His head follows as he leans in close, his mouth hovering just over the inside of your thigh, claiming his generosity.
“See, I can be nice,” he murmurs, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper as he begins to trace the sensitive skin near the edge of your underwear close to your center. "But nice doesn't mean patient. It just means I'll make sure you're damn near screaming for me before I even bother with those pretty little panties."
He shifts, his eyes never leaving yours, watching for the exact moment the resistance breaks. You expect him to move slowly, to prolong the agony of the hover, but Jason is done with subtlety.
"Fine," he grits out, the word raw. "You want to know what I risk for a sound? Here."
He pushes your hips down, his leg weight heavy and commanding. He lowers his head, and the cold air is immediately displaced by his hot, broken breath against your soaking wet cotton.
His tongue is a sudden, scorching press against your inner thigh—a sharp, wet line drawn right up to the edge of your underwear. He doesn’t go over the fabric. Instead, he uses his teeth, tugging the damp cotton down just enough to expose the slick, sensitive skin beneath.
The pressure is agonizing. You gasp, arching your back against the mattress, your fingers sinking into the duvet.
"Don't you dare bite that pretty lip, princess," he dictates, his voice muffled, a low vibration against your hip bone. "I want to hear every sound I pull out of you."
Then, he commits. He sweeps his tongue over the pulsing, aching nub of your clit. It's a possessive demand, and the shock is so intense that your entire body snaps taut, your hips lifting into the air without conscious thought.
He pulls back an inch, his eyes flashing up to your face, triumph and a dark, raw need burning in his gaze. He smiles, a savage, satisfied curve of his lips.
The sound that tears from you—that high, desperate, broken whimper—is only half the admission he’d been waiting for. You didn't even know you were capable of making it.
The pleasure, the shame, the sheer overwhelming focus of it all snaps your control completely. You don't try to speak. You don't dare challenge him again.
Instead, your hands shoot out, gripping the sides of his head, your fingers burying themselves in the dark, damp strands of his hair. You pull him down—hard—a wordless, frantic plea for him to return, for him to finish what he started.
He groans, the low, guttural sound rattling against the mattress. The savagery in his eyes doesn't fade; it sharpens. He doesn't go back to your throbbing center, not yet. Instead, he settles his mouth against the wet heat he created on your inner thigh, taking a possessive, teeth-grazing bite of the sensitive skin.
"Beg for it, sweetheart," he dictates, his voice muffled against your flesh, heavy with the promise of more. "Tell me what you want me to do next."
"Take my panties off, Jason, please."
The demand is strained, not the begging whimper he wanted, but close enough to shatter the last barrier. He grunts, a raw sound of satisfaction tearing from his throat.
He pulls back an inch, his eyes flashing up to your face, triumph and a dark, raw need burning in his gaze. He smiles, a savage, satisfied curve of his lips.
"That was a damn good first attempt, but you’re gonna have to do better than that, sweetheart,” he says, his fingers already working on the cotton band of your underwear.
He doesn't bother with finesse. With a sharp, possessive yank, he tears the uselessly wet fabric down your thighs and kicks them off the end of the bed.
“I’ll still reward you” He doesn't pause, doesn't wait. He immediately replaces the cotton with his mouth. The cold air hits your slick skin for one agonizing second before his hot, wet tongue takes a slow lick from the bottom of your pussy to the tip of your clit.
He starts with a devastating pressure right over the source of the ache, then uses the rough pad of his tongue to rake across your core.
A genuine scream—raw, broken, and utterly involuntary—tears from your lungs, muffled only by the worn duvet beneath your head. Your hips surge off the mattress, seeking the relentless pressure.
He stops, pulling back just enough to look at you, his eyes dark with the finality of victory.
"There it is," he breathes, his voice thick with triumph. “Do we like?”
“Yes!”
“Mhhhm” He grunts in satisfied acknowledgment against your pussy, his eyes staring right into yours, still heavy with that raw, victorious lust. He doesn't pull back again. He dives back down, relentless, using his tongue, rubbing it in figure eights over and over on your puffy clit.
You’re only gasping and sobbing against the mattress. A slurry mess is what you’ve become, with fat tears gathering at the corners of your tightly shut eyes
The sounds you make are primal, unedited, and for better or for worse, belong only to Jason. You can only pray, amidst your mind that’s already turning into goo, that Alfred is not anywhere near this wing of the manor.
Jason doesn't move off your pussy, not wanting to shake the immense wave of pleasure he's creating. His tongue is suddenly everywhere—slick, insistent—pushing you past the final point of thought, past the edge of control. The rhythmic pressure of his groaning every time he dips his tongue into your syrupy hole, is forcing a continuous, broken whine from your throat.
You are completely lost to the sensation, clinging to the fabric of his duvet, your hips bucking instinctively. The world narrows to the heat of his mouth, the rough pad of his tongue, and the shocking sound of his satisfied moans against your clit. Every muscle in your body locks, tightening against the consuming force of his attention.
He shifts his head once, a slight movement that changes the angle and pressure, and the world shatters. Your chest heaves with short breaths and Jason bullies a thick finger inside you with vigilance.
He twists it once, thrice, twice –you don’t even know how words work and in which order right now– and your legs start shaking, locking around his neck, urging him to put his mouth on you immediately.
And fuck, if that’s not the hottest thing Jason has ever seen. Fuck being told he has the best thighs in the world on the regular; It’s your thighs he wants to die in between of.
So he complies with you, only because he’s so close to actually breaking you; His lips find your clit again and suck subtly. Your fingers leave the duvet and claw uselessly at his hair. You can't breathe, can't think. Every muscle is pulled like a rope, your thighs trembling as you try to press yourself harder into his face. The pressure builds, a tight, coil of pure hedonism winding tighter and tighter in your core.
He uses his thumb—the same thumb that had been teasing you earlier—and presses down hard on your swollen, sensitive clit, even as his mouth continues its ruthless, focused assault.
The contrast is dizzying. The soft kitten licks of his combined with the mixture of wetness of you and his tongue versus the roughness of his thumb. He is just everywhere, missing nothing, taking everything.
You shutter. Or, you’re going to shutter. Very soon and very suddenly. And you can't even shut up about it.
“It’s coming– I’m gonna come Jay– fuckfuckfuck” You repeat, over and over, like a mantra.
Jason pulls away in one swift move and at first you don’t realise he’s not just taking a breath. You try to push his head back onto you, hips bucking, missing the warmth of his mouth on you, his fingers not even anywhere close to being enough for you.
You look at him, panicked, eyes surging to search his face for a reason as to why he’s not mouth to mouth with your pussy yet, only to see him smiling at you with his eyes squinted, wiping the string of wetness connecting him to you.
He sniffles, then wipes his nose, lips parting with cockiness, despite the fucked out expression on his face, as he swipes his thumb over your clit one final time, only to trace a line of slickness up your thigh, his eyes locked on yours.
Your whine of his name could only be described as a scream, really. Not Jace or Jason, but a sound closer to a wounded animal's cry.
“I told you,” He rasps “Good things come to those who beg”
Your legs kick, your body bows. You’re only left wondering– Where the fuck did Jason learn how to eat pussy like this?
The rush of his words, the conceited, arrogant confidence of his claim, cuts through the haze of your pleasure. He leans back, expecting you to simply concede, to fall silent under the weight of his control. His fingers trap your chin, forcing your face into his.
“What do you say, pretty?”
“Fuck” You start mumbling “’m sorry, i need yah Jay, please– Please–”
He swallows the sound you both make ,with his lips on yours and only pulls back once the shudders begin to subside. He rises, his chest heaving. He looks down at you—limp, spent, glistening—and his eyes are dark with victory.
“Please what ‘Jay’?” He asks, mockingly.
"Please, fuck me!" The word tears from your throat, raw and broken, a sound that finally holds the deep, true desperation he’s been hunting for. "Please, Jason. Don't stop. I need you inside me, now. Please. Please. Please, I need you."
You don't just say the word; you choke on it multiple times. Your hips are bucking again, frantically trying to bridge the small, agonizing distance between his body and yours. The sound is ragged, humiliating, and just perfect. Giving in feels so. fucking. good.
Jason goes utterly still.
His eyes widen, the triumphant smirk freezing on his face before it melts into an expression of pure, unadulterated shock and yearning. He stares at you, absorbing the sound of the word he earned.
"God," he growls, the sound thick and final. “Look at you.”
He doesn't waste another second. He yanks his boots off, kicking them carelessly onto the floor. With one fluid motion, he strips off his own cargos, the kevlar under armour and boxers, tossing them aside. The cold metal of his belt buckles finally clatters away, leaving him fully exposed, completely vulnerable, just like you.
His body is hot, hard of sculpted muscle and littered with scars that vary in size, and so very immediately pressed between your legs. He braces his hands on the mattress beside your head, leaning over you, his gaze intense as he slaps the eight of his dick on your pussy and finally, lines himself up with your entrance.
But instead of slipping inside, like he could have done sooo easily, he pushes himself to tease you a little more, even if his bulge is begging him not to.
He slugs his body over yours, his weight heavy and intoxicating. His cock drags, slowly, excruciatingly, from your throbbing, squelching hole to your clit, smearing slickness across your hypersensitive core. He goes to repeat the motion, twice, the rough texture of him drawing a sharp, frustrated gasp from your throat.
"Fuck," he rasps, his hips pushing into the friction again. “Can I put it in?”
You nod frantically in response, saying yes, yes, yes, yes, like it’s the only word you know how to say.
He moves once more, his cock sliding just past the swollen entrance, riding the delicate ridge of your sex. The friction is unbearable, building the pressure you thought had already peaked.
Your hand reaches over his tip, fast. Pressing it down against your clit in heated need, desperate for some more friction and Jason’s just taking it, shimming his hips back and forth until he slips, once, inside your velvety pussy.
Jason groans. A long, trembling broken whine of a sound that lasts as long as it takes for him to bottom out inside you. Your pussy splits around him, pulling him in tight, clenching impossibly. Nothing has ever felt this good in his entire life.
Your breath is punched out of your lungs. The other wise sound of an “ooof” escapes you once your walls stretch just enough to accommodate him.
The silence that follows Jason's groan is only broken by the frantic, heavy rhythm of his own pulse hammering where your bodies meet. The way his chest stutters by his broken breathing.
He waits, not moving, savoring the feeling of being completely sheathed inside your throbbing walls. His hands slide from the mattress to your waist, gripping you hard enough to bruise.
"Mine–ffffuck," he rasps, the word a vibration that starts deep in his chest and echoes through your core.
Then, he moves. It’s not a graceful rhythm, but a hard, punishing thrust that forces another gasp from your lips. He pulls back almost completely, then slams home again, deep and desperate, seeking friction where you are already raw and sensitive.
You can't do anything but cling to him, your back arching off the bed with every collision. The intensity is immediate, sharp, overriding the lingering exhaustion of how badly he’s teased you prior. You feel the familiar, dizzying spiral starting again—faster this time, rougher, fueled by the desperation of his entry and how snug every ridge of his cock fits inside you.
"Look at me," he commands, his hips pausing, his fingers digging into your flesh. “How long has it been since we did this?”
The pleading in his eyes could actually, irrevocably destroy you.
“One year. Four months” you slur the words strained, the numbers sounding immense and tragic as they exit your mouth.
He doesn't let the emotion interrupt the act. He takes your answer and weaponizes it.
"Too damn long," he growls, shoving his hips forward with bone-jarring force. He starts the relentless tempo again, faster, heavier, each deep thrust punishing the long separation.
He pulls back, his hips rotating sharply, then fucks forward with piston-like thrusts. The headboard behind you thuds against the wall, a heavy, rhythmic declaration of their collision.
He is all angles and power, driving into your core with extreme speed. Your arms wrap automatically around his torso, holding on for dear life.
Jason doesn't slow, even when your nails dig into the skin of his back –he only hisses– maintaining the depth and impact of fucking into you, aiming to smash the lingering haze of your previously ruined release and rebuild the climax with his sheer force.
Your hips rise to meet him, an involuntary response to the violence of his tempo. Your thighs lock around his waist, trying to anchor the sensation, but you are just along for the ride. Moaning his name over and over, trying to be louder than the wet sounds of skin on skin that fill the room a hundred times a second.
He shifts his grip, one hand flattening against your stomach, pushing down slightly, forcing him deeper into the curve of your body. The pressure is intense, focused entirely on the friction. And then, he leans his weight down, grinding his chest against your already sensitive breasts.
He pulls back, again his jaw tight with effort, and delivers three sharp, stuttering thrusts, so deep they make your vision swim.
He’s lost all his ability to speak. All of his cockiness and authority, gone, to the sound of his own moans. He leans down, taking your mouth with a bruising, desperate kiss that swallows your ragged gasps. It's a claim, meant to silence everything but the collision of your bodies, the drop drip drip watery sound of him fucking into you. His tongue sweeps inside your mouth, mirroring the invasion below, giving you not a spec of space to hide.
The way his hips rock you make your ass lift with each movement, each roll of his waist and hips inside you. Everything condemns him impossibly deeper– your sugary walls keep clamping around him so intensely that you feel every vein, every curve of his dick molding you to his shape completely.
The sensation is too much, too fast. Your lungs lock, your chest heavs in short, broken gasps “Please touch me” you tell him, voice barely above a whisper
“Where baby?”
“My p-pussy-”
He half-laughs, amused at your sudden stammering, but he doesn't even use the mocking princess title. He breaks the kiss, only to drop his head and press his mouth against your ear. At the same moment, his hips shift slightly, and he brings his free hand down. His thumb finds your swollen, sensitive clit, pressing down hard and working it in a tight, merciless circle while he drives deeper inside you.
The simultaneous pressure—the internal crushing force of his thrusts combined with the external, focused torture of his thumb—sends you spinning.
You feel the familiar tightening deep in your belly, the warning signs of a secondary peak that is rougher, more demanding than the first and find solace in the fact that this time, you’re going to get your release.
You try to move your hand to his shoulder, to slow him down, but he simply catches your wrist and pins it above your head with his other hand, maintaining the relentless drive.
He delivers a broken series of hard, long and shattering thrusts and the world dissolves into noise and pressure. Your climax is explosive, a violent, full-body surrender that makes your back bow and your legs lock around his waist with uncontrollable force. You scream his name, the sound muffled against his skin giving him the final victory he demanded.
Jason collapses on top of you for a moment heavy, spent, his breath sawing raggedly against your neck. The intensity of the climax still pulses all around him, and you're left limp and boneless beneath his weight.
He rocks mindlessly into you as you buck your hips against him too, riding your orgasm into a sweet prolonging that feels like eternity.
"On your knees," he commands, pulling out of your slick core in one agonizing, slow withdrawal. He gives your face a playful pat on the cheek.
He doesn't move far though, just rising enough to help you stand as you wobble and shuffle, to bring his pulsing length to your face, his gaze burning into your own. "I wanna cum in your mouth."
You open your mouth, looking up at him, wordless. Your body is still shaking and the sudden vertical shift makes your head swim, but the ingrained obedience to his command is absolute. You are too spent to argue, too raw to refuse.
Jason watches you for a beat, his expression a complicated mix of being utterly spent and yearning for what you’re about to do to him, and grabs his cock at the base to rub it back and forth onto your swollen lips.
The motion is slow, possessive, smearing the remnants of your own release across your mouth. The contact is an intimate claim, a shared secret between the two of you in the dark, quiet of his room.
You remain kneeling, your eyes locked on his, accepting the gesture entirely. The heat is intoxicating, the taste a visceral reminder of the pleasure he just surrendered in and the absolute dominance he exerted only moments ago.
You reach up, one hand circling his hard wrist, holding him steady, keeping the friction exactly where he put it. You use your tongue, flicking out to clean a path along the underside of his length.
He groans, a low sound pulled deep from his chest, and his eyes briefly slip shut.
He leans forward, gripping the back of your head firmly but ever so gently, guiding you to his rigid length. You tuck your lips over your teeth and suck, taking him fully into your mouth.
Your tongue dances over every vein, every single rigid of dick that you can reach without breaking the suction you’re creating.
The first buck of his hips into your face is slow, his hands tangling through your head to come and cup your jaw tenderly. The action alone sends you into frenzy— you bob your head and hollow your cheeks out until he fills your mouth completely.
You’re making sounds you never thought you could possibly make. Lewd slurping and the occasional smooching whenever he makes a move that slightly breaks the suction of your mouth around him.
Jason allows you to pull away for air just once, your hand coming to form a ring over the base of his cock and his balls. You let the weight of it slap your cheek as you take both balls onto your mouth and lick.
He hisses, utterly spent, but his eyes refuse to leave yours for a second.
Popping his balls of your mouth, you gather enough spit to pool it at the edge of your parted lips before rubbing his swollen tip over them again.
“Fucking hell,” he moans “You’re pure sin.”
Jason stops you from teasing him any more– He brings his hands up, gripping the back of your head with a sudden, powerful grip and thrusts forward, driving deep into your throat. The move is so forceful, it makes you choke. He sets a hard, desperate rhythm, pushing himself to the edge quick, quick, quickly.
His breathing turns into sharp, broken gasps. He is focused entirely on the explosive feeling building inside him, his eyes squeezed shut against the sensory overload.
"That's it, babe," he chokes out, his voice thick with struggle "I'm cumming—God!"
He empties into your mouth—a thick surge of hot white that lasts agonizingly long. You feel him shudder violently above you, his whole body locking as he spends himself completely, every muscle straining. You swallow, obediently, to the very last drop.
Jason finally leans back in an arch of his back, and you downright ogle at the way his abs flex. Then, he pulls out of your mouth with a thick, shuddering gasp. He doesn't move far, though, just standing there, spent, sweaty and out of breath, watching you. His eyes blink open, irises blown with exhausted satisfaction.
He holds you for a moment, his hand tight in your hair.
"Stay," he rasps.
Then, with a rough, sudden move, he shifts. He uses the hand gripping your hair to pivot your head sharply, then your hips, while his body weight executes a rapid turn. He manhandles you on your chest, moving you in one fluid motion so you are now pressed onto your stomach, flat on the mattress beneath him.
“I’m not done,” Jason rasps against your back, placing a kiss onto the middle of it.
You can only groan as you brace yourself against the mattress, heart hammering, your sex immediately slick and open for him.
Jason’s hands both land on your ass, making you hiss, then, he uses his thumbs to spread your cheeks open, making a loud hissing sound at the sight of your wet and already ruined pussy.
He grips your hips—hard—his fingers digging into your flesh to anchor you to the bed. He pulls back slightly, then plunges.
His shimmies inside you, with a force that makes your knees slip slightly on the bed and an uncontrollable gasp is knocked out of you by the motion alone.
He drives into you, hard and fast. The angle is brutal, leveraging his full weight, and the sensation is a squelching friction, the peak you thought you could only reach once tonight starts coiling again deep and low inside your tummy.
Jason pulls your hair, this time to keep your neck arched and exposed, and repeatedly growls against your ear, "all mine." Each syllable punctuated by a deep, relentless thrust, your neck coated with saliva from his open mouthed is kissed on every spot he can latch onto.
“Jay..” you interrupt him with a slur
“Yeah baby?”
“Jay, pillow…ah— hips”
Jason gasps, too keen to follow the rhythm of his hips fucking into yours, too focused on how tight your pussy feels around him. He doesn’t even have the energy to tell you how solid his cock pumps with blood at the though of having already fucked you stupid. How much his chest shudders at the feeling.
He does the only thing he can— he shows you.
Instead of grabbing a pillow, he bends his back, lifts your hips and snuggles one thick forearm under your hips to support you, while the other drives your hips onto him repeatedly.
You claw at the covers underneath you, the fabric bunching in your fists. You're unable to maintain any thought outside of the explosion point, your mind finally a puddle of goo. The pressure of this new angle builds sharply, vibrating all focus at your core, right where his hips meet yours again and again.
He feels like heaven inside you. Too thick, too hard. Each thrust bruises your sugary walls and makes you scream almost exactly like a pornstar.
Then— he slides the hand from your hip, reaches forward, and finds your clit, pressing his middle finger down hard against the slick, sensitive nub. He keeps up his rhythm, achingly slow, trapping you between the mattress and himself.
The sensation is too much, too immediate. Too everywhere. Your hips buck backward, desperate to find the bottom of his thrusts, and a high, uncontrolled moan rips from your throat as his tip finds and violates that one spongy spot inside you that feels just right.
He lets out a series of thick, guttural grunts as he unleashes a final, shattering barrage of strokes. He feels the inevitable clenching deep inside you, hits it over and over again.
He just loves how your pussy clamps around him when you come, how you just gush so perfectly for him. How slippery and hot you feel, just for him. How—
“Fuck, fucking shit I’m gonna cum again” JJason throws his head back, all muscles locking, his body pitching forward as he spends himself entirely inside your tight core.
The climax is almost simultaneous and that to him is devastating on its own.
You both scream, the sound swallowed by the mattress and the dark walls of his room. The world dissolves into white noise and pulsing, and his body collapses, heavy and spent, trapping you beneath his sweaty weight.
The only movement left now is the shaking release of his muscles and the pulsing aftermath in the form of sticky, white cum deep within you. He rests his head against the crook of your neck, his breath coming in hot, ragged gasps. The silence is finally complete.
He places a kiss underneath your chin and groans when you start shaking.
Fuck— As he watches you twitch, he realises, he completely forgot you don’t have the stamina that comes with your powers anymore.
“‘M sorry” he apologises, trying to make you turn your head to him, but you're limp, breathless. Shaking against him, like you’ve been hit by a tidal wave and barely survived.
“‘S‘Kay” you manage to say.
Jason shifts, his cock pulling out of you with a slow, gentle withdrawal that is the opposite of everything that just occurred.
He rolls slightly to the side, his cum immediately dripping out of you when he pulls you close to him, spooning your exhausted body tightly against his chest.
His arms wrap securely around you, one hand coming up to stroke your hair, pushing the damp strands back from your face. His breathing is slowing, evening out. He doesn't speak; he just holds you, anchoring you to the present.
The only exchange between you that could be considered a conversation is the kiss you seek when you shove your face right into his.
He doesn’t deny it. He needs it as much as you.
He hasn’t felt this safe and sound with you in years.
You don’t know how long you sit there, laying in each other’s arms, but at one point you manage to get inside the covers. Eventually, the chill of the room on your sweaty skin forces the move. Jason shuffles, pulling the duvet up over your shoulders, his movements now slow and meticulously careful.
He lies there for a long moment, completely still, letting the moment settle around the ruins of where you both stood contrary to each other when the night started.
His breathing is slow, evened out. Yet— he wants to do the unfathomable right now.
"Come on," he murmurs, his voice raw, finally breaking the silence. “Let’s go clean up”
In your sleepy state you protest. Your muscles ache all over in dull little spasms. You want to sleep and stay asleep in Jason’s arms for at least a week.
Your eyes keep shutting, sweet sleep enlacing you under his warm blanket. Jason’s chest is warm, his skin is soft like a feathery pillow and you sink deeper into him as your eyelids finally betray you and shut completely. Sure, cleaning up can wait. Right?
Just fiiiive more minutes.
When your eyes open again Jason is leading you into the adjoined private bath of his bedroom and is already turning on the hot water in the shower. He doesn't bother with the harsh main light, in fear of ruining your sleepiness, relying instead on the soft, dim glow from the hall as steam fills the small space.
He guides you into the stall, stepping in behind you. He finds a bottle of body wash, one that smells so much like him, but is still better on his skin than inside the bottle, working it into a rich lather on a washcloth between his big hands. He takes a moment, simply running the scalding water over your back, letting the heat seep into your tight muscles, softening you up.
You sheepishly moan at the sensation
He starts with your back, washing the sweat and tension from your shoulders and spine, his movements slow and mesmerizing. He works down your body, meticulously cleaning your legs, thighs, and finally, reaching between your legs.
He cups you gently, even if you tremor through it, running the washcloth over the raw, sensitive skin he has so savagely claimed. His eyes are kind as he rinses the last remnants of hot, sweaty sex away from your body, meeting yours briefly—a moment of profound intimacy, acknowledging the space you just shared.
Your lips form a sleepy pout as you go to hold onto his beefy shoulders. A silent plea to get back under warm covers soon.
A dangerous thought crosses him— he loves ruining you on his cock, he’s sure now, but he absolutely hates seeing you this weak.
He takes care of himself quickly, then helps you step out, wrapping you in a thick and very very soft, fuzzy bath towel. He pulls on a pair of loose boxers, ignoring the rest of the discarded tactical gear littering the floor.
He dresses you accordingly. A pair of tighter boxers and a tee that’s just too big for you.
He doesn't let go of your hand until he's settled you back into the warmth of the bed. He climbs in beside you, pulling the covers up to your chin, and immediately gathers your shivering body back into his embrace, pulling you over his chest.
You settle into the familiar contours of his body. The scent of him—smoke, leather has vanished and is replaced now with clean, damp skin, and that ridiculously cheap axe cookie smelling body wash and deodorant—it’s the only anchor you need, really.
He runs his fingers along your spine, tracing lazy, possessive patterns, his movements mesmerizing. His lips find your forehead, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to your skin.
You cling to him, burying your face against the hollow of his neck, feeling the steady, powerful beat of his heart beneath your ear. He is no longer the aggressive dom, but the man holding onto the one thing he feared losing most.
He squeezes you tight, then loosens his grip just enough to tilt your chin up with one finger. He kisses you again, soft this time, a slow exploration that holds all the tenderness the last hour lacked.
The light is the first thing that changes. Not the cold, indifferent glow of Gotham filtering through the blinds, but a weak, pale morning sun attempting to break through the perpetual glooming clouds that loom over the city.
You wake slowly, your exhaustion still deep. Your body is a map of all sensations—a dull ache in your hips, a lingering throb in your inner thighs, and the profound, comforting weight of Jason’s arm thrown intimately across your stomach. His head lays perfectly onto your chest, eyes closed still and you hold out a breath as not to wake him.
You shift slightly, testing the security of his hold. His arm tightens instinctively, a low, incoherent rumble vibrating from his chest.
He's not letting go.
You bow your head just enough to study his face. The tension and savage hunger that defined him last night are gone, replaced by a rare, almost startling softness. His expression is too peaceful, his upper lip, bunched and tucked underneath his lower one, his brows smooth, looking closer to the boy you remembered than the brutal man who drove you to your knees hours ago.
Your heart pulls at your chest.
You trace the sharp line of his jaw with one finger, then move to gently brush the hair back from his forehead. The duvet is tangled around your legs, and the cool air hits your bare skin, but the heat emanating from his body is that of a fireplace.
He stirs, his eyes fluttering open.
He doesn't smile, but his hand moves from your stomach to cup the side of your face. He pulls you gently forward and presses a long, slow, sleepy to your lips.
You slightly smile against his lips.
And Jason? Jason doesn't need words right now. No. He tightens his arm around you, burying his face deeper into your chest with a low, satisfied sound. He's clearly drifting back to sleep, content in the knowledge that you are pinned exactly where he wants you. And that he’s the small spoon.
The peace lasts all but thirty seconds.
Then, a loud, rhythmic knocking starts on the bedroom door—heavy, insistent, and totally unapologetic.
Jason’s body instantly tenses beneath you. The peace vanishes, replaced by the familiar, coiled alertness of a predator disturbed. His eyes snap open, cold and annoyed.
"Are you serious," he mutters, the sound is a low, murderous growl from the depths of his chest.
You shift, and Jason immediately tightens his arm around your waist, pulling you back against him.
“Five more minutes,” he growls into your skin, his voice heavy with sleep.
He ignores the knocking completely, settling his chin on you and pulling you even closer, his leg hooking over yours.
“Jayyyyybird”
A cheerful, far-too-loud voice calls through the thick wood of the door “We brought coffee and the good doughnut stuff—the raspberry jelly ones!"
That's Dick.
Seriously, who lets him be in charge when Bruce is out of town?
Jason lets out a long, slow breath—the sight of someone contemplating homicide, while you run your nails in soothing lines across his scalp. He looks up at you, his eyes flashing with a mix of fury and resigned apology. He is completely naked, you are completely naked –after a very sleepy, very five am round of sex that got you to remove all clothing he worked so hard to get you in last night– and two of his brothers are standing on the other side of the door.
This is exactly why he hates sleeping at the manor.
“Go away,” he growls, pressing himself further into your chest
“We’re not going away,” Tim speaks from the other side of the door.
"They're not going away," Jason confirms to you, rubbing his thumb along your jaw. He sniffles, pulling the duvet over your shoulders like a fortress wall. "Stay here. Don't move."
He throws himself out of bed, grabbing the first piece of messy, discarded fabric he finds—one of his own boxer briefs—and yanks them on with aggressive speed and a jump. He glances pointedly at the tactical rack where a spare Red Hood helmet hangs, looking like he wants to solve this problem with ballistic speed and force.
He stomps to the door, unlocking the heavy deadbolt with a dramatic, resentful thunk. He yanks the door open, blocking the entryway with his wide, muscular frame. He's shirtless, sweaty, one eye is still drifting with sleep and he’s radiating pure, lethal irritation.
Dick is standing there, bright-eyed and entirely too cheerful, holding a tray with two large coffees and a box of pastries. Tim is beside him, looking perpetually tired and carrying a tablet.
"Good morning, Sunshine," Dick chirps, immediately trying to step sideways to peer past Jason’s hip.
"Don't," Jason growls, his voice low and dangerous. He plants his foot, making himself a solid, immovable barrier between the two idiots and the inside of his room. "The door stays open an inch, and you talk fast."
Tim, ever the detective, ignores the threat and leans around and under Dick's shoulder, eyes narrowed as he tries to scan the interior. He catches sight of the rumpled duvet and the pile of discarded tactical pants near the desk.
"Woah, wait a minute," Tim starts, a tired smirk playing on his lips. "The plan actually worked? Did we interrupt—"
Jason doesn't let him finish, although the confirmation that they set last night up is something he is going to circle back around later. He reaches out, grabs both brothers by the scruffs of their shirts, and physically shoves them back into the hallway.
"The coffee, the food, and then you get the hell out of this wing for the rest of the day" Jason snarls, snatching the tray from Dick's hands before the former Robin can even protest. He sets the tray just inside the doorframe, still blocking the view of the bed. "Take your damn selves away and go debrief Bruce."
“Whoah, a simple thank you wouldn’t hurt” Tim broods, fixing the collar of his shirt. “If Bruce comes back and finds his security protocols compromised and his cave locked, we’re dead. Be glad I set everything back to normal.”
“Fuck oooooffffffff” Jason whines.
"Come on Dick, they had hate sex and are now dead from exhaustion!"
“Scram Drake. We’re busy doing it again.”
Dick laughs, utterly unapologetic. "Okay, okay! Message received! Just needed to confirm the trajectory of the mission!" He winks hugely at the obscured room.
Jason’s face darkens. He slams the door, the deadbolt locking with a decisive, final clack, cutting off the rest of their smug laughter.
He leans against the wood for a moment, letting out a heavy sigh that holds the weight of his irritating family lurking around the worst moments. He turns around, looking back at the safe harbor of the rumpled bed and your still resting form. Yeah, that sets him back on track.
He picks up the tray, grabbing both mugs of coffee but pointedly ignoring the box of jelly doughnuts. He stomps back to the bed and climbs under the covers, pulling the thick duvet covers back over both of you.
He shoves one mug into your hand, settling his large body comfortably against the pillows. He looks supremely annoyed, but the hand he rests on your hip is loose, possessive.
You kiss his collarbone in hopes of softening him a little.
He shrugs and you look at him with big, blown eyes, "At least we have breakfast."
~All rights reserved: @/strawberry-nugget, 2025. Please do not copy, over write or steal my work.
Likes and reblogs are so appreciated but comments are the fuel my heart needs to keep pumping fics like this
You can also come to my inbox if you want anything in universe for this. I'll just answer/ write it. See yaaaaaa
So, Jason and Damian are like narrative foils, you know that, right? It's important to me that you know that.
Jason was soft. So full of joy and compassion, but death and resurrection—no longer being Robin, the League of Assassins, all of that made him hard.
Damian was hard. He was stubborn and lacking in empathy, but becoming Robin, going to school, and having a comparatively normal life in contrast to his upbringing made him compassionate and creative, and allowed him the space to grow as a person.
puerto rican [nuyorican] jason ! as your boyfie. pairing ! jason todd x fem!reader wc ! 1.8k warnings ! fluff to smut. sub!jason. handjob. slight orgasm denial. cum eating. based on these requests and ii. 📓 i really yapped alot on this one y’all my apologies 🙏🏾
art creds : @/realstickii
now playing ! bellacoso — residente & bad bunny 🎧
newyorican! bf jason who grew up around noise. his childhood was loud, sometimes a little messy, dodging cops in Crime Alley but always making it back to his block just in time for somebody’s abuela to call out to him from a window with a jace, come! pastelillos! it’s one of the few fond memories he has, that he was never hungry for long and he never ate alone.
newyorican! bf jason who by extension is naturally a good cook. most of his memories are of tightly packed kitchens at somebody’s house where by the sweat of his brow and a million whacks with a wooden spoon in the hands of somebody’s tía that’s now his tía, he learned.
newyorican! bf jason whose love language is food. he’s an absolute monster in the kitchen, makes the best pernil in gotham and will brag about it because that shit falls off the bone, tendernism! if you’re sick, he’s cooking. you’re sad? he’s cooking. sigh a little bit too loud and he’s already grabbing the pots. he doesn’t play about sunday dinners. he will do meal prep the night before if he needs to. he’s usually the one with random cravings in the middle of the night, so you will be woken up and offered food.
newyorican! bf jason whose texts you can expect like clockwork when he’s out on patrol.
Today, 9:54 PM
jacey 💋 :
mamisota
did you eat yet?
love you ❤️
Today, 9:55 PM
you :
yeah, i got something earlier dw
stay safe, love you too ❤️
Today, 9:57 PM
jacey 💋 :
⤷ replied to you : ‘yeah, i got something earlier dw’
real food?
you :
… i mean, it was takeout so, i think?
jacey 💋 :
put some coffee on and wait for me, i’ll come make u something after
newyorican! bf jason whose love for food — the patience when it comes to preparation, the pride when you compliment him or go for seconds — transfers to his relationship with you. he’s attentive, noticing your every need like when he’s frying plantains and has to make sure they don’t burn. he’s devoted, you’re his only one, his girl, the one that feels like home, so he brings you café con leche in the mornings from his favorite spot with a spoon of condensed milk and a splash of vanilla just like he used to do for his mom. he feeds your body, and your soul.
newyorican! bf jason who understands way more spanish than he speaks. his grammar is bad and he forgets words — he’ll switch to spanish halfway in a sentence only when a word clicks or nod along to someone’s fast paced spanish and respond completely in english. he murmurs diablo, puñeta, me jodí, me mamé at every minor inconvenience though. you learn quickly the difference between cabrón and cabrón.
newyorican! bf jason whose spanglish really does kick in when he’s stressed, tired or worse, turned on. he calls you everything from the classic mi amor and mami to mi vida, mi diosa, and bebesota with that low, needy voice. your name is not even uttered after the first few weeks.
newyorican! bf jason who teaches you slang thinking it’ll be a cute little inside joke but you end up unironically using it against him. suddenly you’re calling him a lambe bicho in his own house.
newyorican! bf jason who is sooo easy to ragebait. call him a no sabo kid please. say something exaggerated and pronounced incorrectly i beg you.
“holaaa,” you drawl, sidestepping him where jason stood in the kitchen, back hunched over the stove and tongue peeking out in concentration — that task at hand being : watch the plantains fry in the pot. “bueños días.”
“stop,” he grumbles, side eyeing you then looking back to the pan. “it’s nine in the morning, please.”
“que paso, handsome?” your arms slip around his middle as you curl up into his side. “i’m gonna burn the plantains again, shoo,” jason complained, bumping you with his hip and you whined.
“my pretty boy’s so mean to me....” you sigh dramatically, then press a kiss to the side of his jaw with a mischievous hum. “but so handsome... muy guapo.” the uptick of his mouth into a little smile gives him away before he turns to you and meets your lips in a sweet kiss, melting immediately at the praise.
the smell of the plantains breaks the moment. “puñeta— the fucking things are burning—!”
newyorican! bf jason who hates silence. he grew up around noise, loud laughter, even louder conversations where everybody talks at once, kids screaming so loud you could hear them from the other end of the block. and music, so much music. he’s playing music while he cleans his guns, mouthing along to the lyrics, while he cooks.
newyorican! bf jason who sings. sings in the shower, randomly bursts out into a song for no reason, makes up random lyrics on the spot, serenades you (badly) and who thinks singing is the solution to get your attention, especially when you’re mad at him. you’re giving him the silent treatment after he pissed you off and the moment you come out of the bathroom he’s on his knees singing, “pleaaaseeee, ohh-ohhh, won’t do it agaaiiin, pleaaaaseeee— give me one more chaaance—”
newyorican! bf jason who swears he doesn’t dance, but once there’s any sort of rhythm, he’s twirling you in his arms and pulling you into his chest for a slow dance, murmuring praises in your ear, oh his beautiful girl...
newyorican! bf jason who falls apart under your touch everytime, and you can’t help but love how scatterbrained he gets when it comes to you.
“Thaaat’s it, look at me in my eyes while I fuck you, baby.”
Jason’s head fell back against the couch at your words, his chest heaving. The moonlight made the walls of his apartment glow crimson, lighting the sheen of sweat on his tan skin, dark curls sticking to his forehead.
His thighs were spread wide, shirt unbuttoned at the front where the heatweave hit him the most during tonight’s blackout, and his jeans shoved down just enough for your hand to work him properly.
“Fuck… baby, just like that,” he groaned, voice rough as your fist twisted around the head of his swollen cock on the upstroke, slick with his own spit and precum, stroking him just how you knew he liked it. “God, you feel so good… shit, it’s so fuckin’ sensitive.”
“Mhm?” You grinned wolfishly, your fingertips smearing the stringy mess of arousal all over the tip of him, and he twitched in your hand as you picked up the pace again. “I said look at me,” you demanded, your other hand grasping his jaw and a whimper left his throat.
“Christ— okay, I’m looking—” his eyes, all glazed over and watery, his eyelashes fluttering, threatening to fall closed with ecstasy stared up at where you straddled his lap with ease. “Just keep doing that, baby, please…”
You squeezed his throbbing cock in your fist once, then twice, and started stroking him faster, the slick, wet sounds of flesh on flesh echoing in the room. “You’re so good when you want it this bad,” you giggled.
Jason’s abs flexed hard, his thighs trembling.
“Ah—ay, fuck!” he hissed, eyes squeezing shut, his hips bucking up without meaning to. “Así, así, así… fuuuck—just like that, ma.” Jason’s hand shot down to grip your wrist, his mind dizzy from the stimulation as his hips fucked up into your fist desperately, chasing it. “Jesus— fuck, you have me talkin’ Spanish—”
“Didn’t I tell you to do something?” You leaned in, your lips brushing the side of his jaw. He let out a broken moan as his eyes opened again, and this time you leaned down to kiss him, his shoulders trembling with each moan released against your lips.
“You’re driving me crazy—” His voice cracked, his other hand moving to grip the back of your neck to steady himself, as if he was on the verge of passing out. “Oh fuck— shit, wait, that’s too much—”
“Shh, take it,” You twisted your wrist slower, up then down, then right over the head again, thumb pressing against that sensitive spot underneath that made him see stars, and he let out a wrecked sound that went straight between your legs.
“Don’t do this to me— please, please, I’m so fuckin’ close—”
“Oh, my big man,” you cooed, a glint of amusement in your eyes. “Say it properly.”
“Me estás matando…” Jason laughed breathlessly, the sound turning into a broken moan as you squeezed him tighter. “Do you wanna kill me? Is that it—”
You kissed him soft and sweet, and he melted against your lips, up until you stroked him faster again, and he shivered from the sudden stimulation just before you withdrew your hand completely, his cock slapping against his stomach with neglect.
“Mamisota…” he whined.
You hissed your teeth at him. “Beg, properly.”
“I’ll be good, I’ll be so fuckin’ good, I swear,” he whimpered, the words slipping out shaky and desperate. His hips twitched, trying to fuck up against your palm, but you only barely grazed his leaky cock with your fingertips. “No me hagas esto… I’m so close already. Please, please, I’m begging you. I need to cum so bad—”
You sighed long and low, feigning annoyance as you granted him mercy. “You’re lucky you sound so pretty…” you grumbled, taking him in your fist again, your palm hot and soft around his aching cock and the feel of you made his eyes water.
“Coño… fuck—” He forced his eyes to stay open and locked on you, as he stroked the short hairs at the nape of your neck. “I’m— yeah, like that— I’m right there— let me cum, please…”
“Cum for me…” you whispered against his ear. “You can do it, it’s okay. I want you to, baby.”
Jason’s head snapped back again, eyes squeezing shut momentarily before his eyes went wide followed by a string of guttural groans. “Oh my God— fuck, mami, I’m gonna cum!” He held you tight against his chest as hips stuttered hard, thighs shaking and cock pulsing violently in your hand as he reached his peak.
Thick ropes of cum spilled over your fist, coating your fingers, dripping down the length of his shaft and he buried his face in your hair, cursing under his breath as his body jerked with every pulse until he was completely spent.
When he finally sagged against the couch, chest still rising and falling fast, he looked at you with a lazy, fucked-out grin, seizing your messy hand by the wrist and bringing it to his mouth.
“Yo voy pa’ encimotaaa,” he sang, voice hoarse and you burst out laughing, watching as he took your fingers into his mouth, licking each of them clean. Then he tugged you in for a messy kiss, singing against your lips once more, “Baby, estás buenotaaa—”
“Enough, oh my gosh…” you guffawed, hiding your face in his neck.
Jason huffed a laugh. “Give me three minutes, I’ll deal with you.”
newyorican! bf jason who is utterly whipped for you.
🗒️ tagging : @unicvnthlle who requested . browser & scroll dividers by @/honeyluvsw, chain divider by @/chrisssiren, art by @/realstickii on x
Synopsis: Dick Grayson is convinced Jason Todd deserves to fall in love. Jason Todd is convinced Dick Grayson should mind his own business. Unfortunately for him, the Batfamily seems to have chosen its side. Between clumsy interventions, far too convenient coincidences, and a fate that insists on playing matchmaker, Jason finds himself caught up in a situation he no longer truly controls. The worst part? He probably figured out what was going on long before everyone else. He simply decided to say nothing.
divider from @pixopix
The problem with Jason Todd was that he was fine.
Which, in his case, didn't mean much. But for six months, Jason had stopped disappearing for weeks at a time, had answered three calls out of five, and had even agreed to come to the manor for Thanksgiving without anyone having to threaten him. It was objective, measurable progress.
It was also, in Dick's opinion, deeply concerning.
"He's bored," he said.
Damian looked up from his book. They were sitting on the floor of the second-floor hallway of Wayne Manor, because Dick had decided that was where they were going to have this conversation, apparently.
"He's bored or you're bored ?"
"Him. Look at the signs, Damian. He answers texts too fast, whereas he usually responds after 2 days. He watched eighty-two episodes of a home renovation show in two weeks. He sent me a photo of a SUNSET."
Damian considered this for a second.
"It was a nice photo."
"That's exactly my point."
He stood up, crossed his arms, and Damian recognized in his expression the precise look of someone who had already made a bad decision and was now looking for company to share it with.
"He needs someone," Dick said. "An anchor. Someone outside of all this."
"Outside of all this," Damian repeated flatly.
"Someone normal. Who lives a normal life. Who does their grocery shopping, pays their rent, has plants on their windowsill."
"You're describing an apartment, not a person."
Dick wasn't really listening anymore. Damian closed his book with the quiet resignation of a man who knows his evening has just gotten away from him.
~~~
Three days later, Dick was standing in the fourth-floor hallway of Jason's building for entirely legitimate reasons. He was returning a borrowed book, a book he had bought that very morning for exactly this purpose, but the detail didn't change anything.
The door of the apartment across the hall opened.
The girl who stepped out was carrying two grocery bags that were too heavy for her hands, keys clenched between her teeth, with the focused expression of someone who absolutely refuses to make two trips. She bumped into her doorframe, caught a bag at the last second, blew a strand of hair out of her face, and disappeared toward the elevator without having noticed Dick at all.
Dick didn't move for four seconds.
Then he pulled out his phone and sent a message to the family group chat.
Emergency meeting tonight. Manor. Mandatory.
Tim's reply came first: your definition of emergency?
Then Bruce: .
Then Barbara: Dick no
Then Jason, later: if someone's dead just say so
Dick smiled, pocketed his phone, and slipped the book under Jason's arm when he opened his door.
"Returning this," he said.
Jason looked at the book. Looked at Dick. Looked at the book again, a paperback of a novel he didn't recognize.
"That's not my book."
"That's why I'm returning it. See you tonight."
~~~
There were seven of them around the dining room table, and Dick had prepared a slideshow.
Not a big slideshow. Only five slides. But still.
"I ran into a girl today," he said. "She just moved into Jason's building. Apartment right across from his. She doesn't know anyone in the city yet, she seems nice, and I genuinely think she and Jason-"
"No," said Jason.
"You haven't even heard the rest."
"I've heard enough."
"Jason."
"Dick."
Bruce was staring at the ceiling with the expression of a man who had raised these children of his own free will and was now living with the consequences. Alfred, standing near the door, maintained the professional neutrality of a diplomat in hostile territory.
"All I'm asking," Dick said, "is that we give them a chance to meet. Naturally. Accidentally. Without it being weird."
"Nothing about that sentence is reassuring," said Tim.
"I agree with Drake," said Damian, which made Tim turn to look at him with a mildly panicked expression.
"The plan is simple," Dick continued, having decided to ignore the general atmosphere. "We arrange for situations to come up. Small things. She needs help, Jason's there. Jason needs something, she's there. Neighborly run-ins happen all the time."
"Not that many," said Barbara from her laptop screen, which she had brought and set at the end of the table because she had refused to make the trip but had still wanted to see everyone's faces.
"Slide three," said Dick.
Slide three contained a calendar, color-coded arrows, and the word synergy written in italics.
Silence.
It was Stephanie who spoke first.
"I'm in," she said. "What do we do first?"
Cassandra looked at the slideshow. Looked at Dick, and said:
"That's the stupidest plan I've ever seen."
A pause.
"I'm in too."
~~~
The first incident took place on Tuesday.
Dick's plan was straightforward: Tim would deliver a package to the wrong address, the apartment across from Jason's, meaning hers, which would force a simple, polite hallway interaction and potentially the beginning of a conversation. Tim had agreed reluctantly. Tim had also, that morning, drunk three espressos and decided to optimize the plan.
Which explained why he rang the doorbell carrying a box so large he couldn't see over it, tripped on the threshold when the door opened, and spilled the entire contents, office supplies he had bought at random online to fill the box, across the hallway floor.
There was a stapler. A pencil cup. Approximately two hundred paperclips.
"Oh," said the voice from the other side of the upended box. "Oh, do you want some help?"
"No," Tim said from the floor. "No, I-"
Jason's door opened at the same moment. Jason stepped out in sweatpants and a t-shirt, coffee mug in hand, and took in the scene : Tim on all fours picking up paperclips, and his new neighbor crouched beside him to help.
He took a sip of coffee.
"Need help?" he said.
"No," said Tim.
"Yes," you said, because the box was really very large.
Jason set his mug on the hallway floor, crouched down, and started collecting paperclips. He didn't say a word to Tim for the entire process. Tim had the feeling that was intentional.
"Thank you," you said when the box was full. "I'm your new neighbor across the hall. I moved in last week."
"Jason," said Jason.
He picked up his mug and went back to his door.
"Your brother ?" you asked Tim.
"My… yeah. More or less."
You nodded and disappeared back inside. Tim sent a text to Dick.
Contact made. Context: disaster. Todd was there. He picked up paperclips. That's it.
Dick replied with six fire emojis.
~~~
The second incident took place on Thursday, and it was entirely Stephanie's fault.
Dick's original plan for Thursday was that Stephanie would drop something off at Jason's, run into the neighbor, and strike up a friendly conversation that would organically end with oh you should really meet my brother. Stephanie had listened to this plan carefully, found it boring, and decided to improve it.
The improvement involved getting deliberately stuck in the elevator.
With you inside.
Stephanie's calculation, one that Cassandra had apparently helped develop, was that thirty minutes in a stuck elevator created the kind of forced intimacy that led to confessions, bonds, and eventual mentions of mysterious almost-brothers. It was a calculation that failed to account for the fact that the building's elevators had an alarm button wired directly to a maintenance company, that the maintenance company had a twelve-minute response time, and that twelve minutes in an elevator was too short for intimate revelations but long enough for Stephanie to start running low on air.
"Did you hit the alarm ?" you asked.
"Yes," said Stephanie, who was sweating slightly.
"Are you claustrophobic ?"
"No. Well. Maybe a little."
"Okay. Just breathe. They're usually pretty fast."
You had taken out your phone and were calmly looking something up. Stephanie watched you with an admiration mixed with guilt.
"You're the new neighbor on the fourth floor ?" Stephanie said.
"Yeah."
"Nice building, right ?"
"I mean. A lot of weird stuff has been happening since I moved in."
Stephanie smiled with the innocence of someone who had absolutely nothing to do with the weird stuff in question.
They got out of the elevator eleven minutes later. The maintenance technician looked at them, looked at the elevator, and said he couldn't find anything wrong with it.
"Mystery," said Stephanie.
She sent Dick a text on the subway.
Got acquainted. She's cool. She's also sharper than you think. Warn the others.
Dick replied: in what sense ?
Stephanie replied: in the sense that if we keep this up she's going to figure out something's going on.
~~~
The third incident took place on Saturday, and this time it was Damian who had taken matters into his own hands, which was itself a warning sign no one had anticipated.
Damian had not wanted to participate. Damian had said explicitly, at the manor meeting, that the plan was childish, that Todd was perfectly capable of managing his own romantic life, and that this was all going to end badly. But Damian had also, over the course of the following days, developed a curiosity he refused to name about the neighbor in question, based solely, he told himself, on the fact that he wanted to assess whether she was up to standard.
His plan was simple: he would stop by Jason's under the pretense of borrowing something, leave the door open, and observe.
What he hadn't anticipated was that walking down the hallway he would see you, standing in front of your door, keys in hand, and your cat, a grey cat of concerning size, sitting in the hallway two meters away from you, watching you with total contempt.
"He got out without me noticing," you said, more to yourself than to Damian.
Damian looked at the cat. The cat looked at Damian. There was a silent mutual assessment between them.
"What's his name ?" Damian said.
"Bernard"
Damian crouched down. Held out his hand. Bernard sniffed his fingers, considered, and decided in his favor. He allowed himself to be picked up.
Damian straightened with the cat against his chest, turned to you, and said:
"He lacks discipline."
"Probably."
"Cats without structure develop erratic behaviors."
You looked at him, this boy of about fourteen with a monstrous grey cat in his arms, discussing behavioral structure with the seriousness of a career veterinarian, and said:
"Do you live in the building ?"
"No. My brother does."
"Jason ?"
Damian paused for a quarter of a second. Handed back the cat.
"Possibly," he said.
He knocked on Jason's door, went inside, and sent a message to Dick from the hallway while the door closed behind him.
She has a cat. She's competent in a crisis situation. She asked if I was Todd's brother.
Then, after a second:
She's acceptable.
Dick sent twenty heart emojis. Damian read them and didn't respond.
~~~
Jason, for his part, had developed a fairly clear picture of what was going on.
There had been Tim's package. The elevator incident with Stephanie, which he'd heard about from the building's janitor. Damian's baffling visit, during which he had spent forty minutes staring at Jason's bookshelf without saying anything before leaving. And Dick, who had been calling more often than usual with casual questions that always ended with so how's the building? Nice neighbors?
Jason wasn't an idiot.
What interested him more was why he hadn't said anything.
He had an answer for that too, but it was one he hadn't quite finished putting into words. It looked vaguely like the memory of paperclips on tile, of someone crouching down to pick them up without being asked. Like a voice he'd heard through the wall on Thursday night, singing off-key to something he hadn't recognized. Like the grey cat he'd passed in the hallway once, sitting alone in front of his door as if it were a destination.
Bernard, he'd learned.
He drank his coffee and waited for the next phase of Dick's plan, which was inevitably coming.
~~~
The fourth incident took place on Monday evening and was nobody's fault, which, paradoxically, made it the most effective of the four.
The rain had started around seven. You were coming back from the grocery store, again, two bags, again too heavy, and the elevator was out of service, which this time was a real breakdown and not the work of Stephanie and Cassandra. You climbed four flights. Set the bags down in front of your door. Reached for your keys in your coat, in your bag, in your pockets.
You looked for your keys for five minutes.
You didn't have your keys.
You sat down on your grocery bags in the fourth-floor hallway and looked up at the ceiling with the specific calm of someone who has had a long day and no longer has the energy to be upset about anything.
Jason's door opened.
He looked at you. Looked at the bags. Looked at the complete absence of keys in your hand.
"I probably left them at the grocery store," you said. "Or on the subway. Both are equally possible."
Jason leaned against his doorframe.
"The super can let you in."
"He left at six. I checked."
"The locksmith down the street closes at eight."
"It's eight twenty-two."
Jason looked for a moment at the empty hallway, at the rain audible through the landing windows, at the two grocery bags that clearly contained perishables.
"Come in," he said. "While you call the store."
You looked at him.
"Are you sure ?"
"No," Jason said. "But your yogurt's not going to keep indefinitely in the hallway."
You picked up the bags. Went inside. Set the groceries on the counter while he handed you his phone, the supermarket was in his contacts, for reasons he didn't explain. You called. They had found your keys. You could come pick them up tomorrow morning.
You handed back the phone, deflated. Looked around the apartment : books everywhere, the lamp a little too bright, the window open despite the rain because Jason hadn't thought to close it.
"I'll call my landlord," you said. "She has a spare."
"Does she answer at night ?"
A pause.
"Probably not."
Jason went and closed the window. Came back. Crossed his arms.
"Couch is free," he said. "If she doesn't pick up."
It wasn't a romantic offer. It was said in the same tone he would have used to announce that the weather was going to change, or that the coffee was ready. You heard it exactly that way.
"Okay," you said. "Thank you."
"Have you eaten ?"
"No."
"Me neither."
He opened the fridge, pulled out things at random, and started cooking without ceremony while you settled at the counter with your phone. You didn't talk much. You didn't need to. The rain kept going against the windows, and the kitchen smelled like garlic and thyme, and Bernard, who had managed to escape again, was scratching at the front door from the hallway with the persistence of a creature who knows exactly what it wants.
Jason went to let him in.
The cat entered, inspected the territory, and jumped onto the couch as if it had all been arranged in advance.
~~~
At eleven forty, Dick received a text from Jason.
Canceled movie night. she's still here. landlord not picking up. key situation.
Dick read the message twice. Set down his phone. Crossed his arms. Looked at the ceiling with the expression of a man who had just realized the universe had done more in one evening than he had managed in two weeks.
Damian, sitting across from him, turned a page of his book without looking up.
"We had nothing to do with this," he said.
"No," said Dick.
"It happened on its own."
"Yeah."
"Perhaps some things don't need to be orchestrated," said Damian.
Dick smiled.
"Maybe."
He turned off the lamp, picked up his phone, and went to bed leaving the group chat quiet for the first time in two weeks.
In the apartment on the fourth floor, the rain had settled. Bernard was asleep in a ball on Jason's couch. You had called your landlord, left a message, and fallen asleep in the armchair with a blanket Jason had set there without comment. Jason was reading in the next room, and every now and then he heard your breathing deepen, and he kept still so as not to make any noise.
It wasn't much.
But it was a start.
Taglist: @starrydustedwinter
Thanks for reading my fic. I think I might write about another fandom in addition to this one, but I don't know which one yet. If you have any suggestions, feel free to write them in the comments or send them to me privately.
─── ❨ 𝐚𝐝𝐣. ❩ smoothly charming and confident , often in a polished or sophisticated way :: you secretly love the way he attracts you and he knows too well !
content ⸝⸝ aged up . damian al ghul-wayne x fem . reader , oneshot , suggestive , shorter . reader , 1.47wc , this was a request 𓈒 𓈒 𓈒
It's not like you are dirty-minded or anything — after all, you are a grown woman and capable of controlling yourself for some decorum, someone you should pay your high respect to and as well honour.
People and the world in general shall never know of that one dark side of you, including your fiancé. You are in denial yourself, claiming that this side does not belong to you.
No, never. No one should know. No one shall face.
(Still, no one is surprised when he knows.)
But you couldn't help but feel a little guilty whenever you watch your fiancé do his things — stuff that is considered normal and part of his daily life yet there is this intimate ring around it that you quite weren't able to figure out.
I. — PRETTY RINGS AND PRETTY FINGERS ,
Damian was doing it again, after adjusting it numerous times already. You counted and it actually has been a handful of times. It's not like you minded that much — it was just a little distracting for you.
"Especially because the Wayne foundation is such a great funder for those charity events and..."
The longer you listened to their words, the more you wanted to bury yourself into the ground. You blocked out their voices from your mind, a polite smile playing on your face while nodding.
And then — your gaze fell short on your fiancé, how he was barely listening. His attention solely fixated on his hands, pulling his pretty ring off his slender fingers before pushing it back on.
It's shamelessly shining into your eye, the ring around his finger and how he was rubbing against it so slowly.
Wow, I need some alone time right now—
"Focus." he murmured under his breath, blank expression written all over his face as he caught you staring.
You bit back a loud, exasperated groan from leaving your lips and threw your head back, feeling a tinge of anxiety and also partially exposed as soon as he caught you staring at his hands.
This couldn't get more embarrassing, right?
"Is everything alright, Mrs. Wayne?"
"O-Of course... Everything is fine."
Everything was fine. You tried to cover your own flinch the second Damian's hand rested on top of your thigh under the table, fingers tapping a soft rhythm before it slid further.
Stop playing you breathed out shakily, hand grasping his wrist.
Make me he chuckled at your weak grip.
II. — SHIRTLESS SPARRING ,
It was actually part of your life now after you spent so many years being together with Damian Wayne, or sometimes, in moments like these, you preferred to call him Damian Al Ghul instead.
Not to forget, you don't even understand when it started to bug you so much. Because the first time you watched him sparr without a shirt, you were only grinning and cheering him on. And now it was bugging you immensely.
Bug you in not a necessarily bad way.
You are staring once again, watching how his body moved with fluidity and flawlessly within the air, manoeuvring in the silence and without breaking the rhythm.
Every step is a careful and planned out approach.
Every skill is polished throughout day and night since his childhood days.
He does not hesitate to move like the wind, lets himself get carried and follows it like a lifeline.
It takes a while until he breaks into sweat, the first droplets of them forming on his neck — gliding down his collarbone before it reached his chest. And you noticed that the entirety of him is well built.
His body is not a symbol of beauty but rather one of dedication and hard work, reaching the extreme and fulfilling the best someone can.
Your gaze wander from his toned chest to his arms, seeing the muscles flexing through his movements. His golden brown skin started to glisten under the trail of sweat that accompanied his body like a true companion.
"—Careful now before your eyes end up at the wrong place." he paused his training, gaze set on you.
The heat immediately rushed up to your neck as you got caught another time. "Is that so..?" you trailed off awkwardly and threw a towel into his direction that he caught in ease.
"I would be more than happy if you sparred with me." he wiped off the excess sweat with the towel, "I figured you might want to join."
Wrong, wrong buddy. You don't want to join in his sparring at all.
"You are always free to leave if this bores you."
Very wrong.
III. — INTIMIDATING HEIGHT DIFFERENCE ,
You do remember the days when you were the same height as him. Or hell, when you were a few centimetres taller than him. You remember how you were teasing the shit out of him.
Truth to be told? It was fun, seeing how he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly in annoyance. It was adorable to see him inwardly fuming, while telling you that you will see in the future.
It was nice while it lasted. The moment he was taller than you by an inch? You knew it was over for you. And he grew taller than you both had anticipated, standing almost a head taller than you. You have to crane your neck to meet his gaze — crane your fucking neck. It's the biggest humiliation of your whole life, entire existence but it's a loss you will forever cheer for since it makes you feel certain things.
"Hayati, you seem lost." you don't seem lost, you are lost — lost in the way the endearing term rolled off his tongue so easily, lost how he stares down at you. "Shall we move out of the busy hall?"
"No wait—I'm right where I want to be." you choked out, almost tripping over your words.
Even if the room was filled with socialites and high rich people. But they didn't matter as you stood in the very corner of the room, all noises and background sounds.
The proximity draws you in unbearably hot, the way he gazes at you is making you sweat, he makes you nervous — makes you feel sixteen again when your crush has first developed. It was unfair, it was killing you.
Your lips formed a thin line as you suppressed a groan from leaving your throat, head falling forward and your forehead leaned against his shoulder, your grip around the glass tight.
"It's unfair. You are unfair, I hate it."
It enticed a chuckle out of him, voice low and rich — god, it made your knees weak.
Actually, you do know he doesn't do it intentionally. He doesn't even know what effect he has on you and this makes you tweak. You are so sure that you could bet your life on it.
He doesn’t do it intentionally.
Right, keep telling yourself that.
Yet the way he eyes you tells a different tale. It’s not the possessive and selfish kind of eyeing — but the one that forces you to tell the truth, that makes your heart stutter and your breath hitch.
“Stop.” you avert your gaze from him, heat leisurely crawling up to your head.
“Hmm?” there’s this underlying smugness under that hum, breaking you. “With what?”
“Staring—obviously.” you hissed before covering your face with both of your hands. “It’s so unfair!”
“Pray tell, what makes anything so unfair? You’ve been mentioning it since the very start.” he titled his head slightly.
“You—! You, you…”
“Lost your words? Poor you." the mock sympathy.
Silence settled, your eyes set on his fingers for a while, then drifting to the shirt that barely covered anything (it covered him whole) before they landed on his eyes.
“I noticed.” he whispered.
“N-Noticed what?” you played dumb.
Damian grasped your wrist before you could make an attempt to flee, fingers curling around your wrist and raising your hand towards his lips — leans close to your hands and sharp breath fanning against your skin.
A shiver ran down your spine at the cooling sensation.
He doesn’t smile, doesn’t smirk — nothing to feed your suspicions.
“Do not play coy now.” the gentle pressure of a touch, lips ghosting over your wrist.
“What…” you were looking everywhere but him.
“To be frank, I did not expect you to enjoy me in such an intimate way.”
“I do not..!”
“No need to be shy now.”
Suddenly — he pulled you close with one swift and steady movement, pressing your body close to his while his free hand snaked its way behind the small of your back, burying his face deep against your neck.
“Ack—!” you yelped out in surprise, hyperaware of every touch now.
The way he interlocked your fingers, the way he breathed down against your shoulder, the way he refused to let go.
author’s note — what if i open a taglist is someone interested erm or never mind haha also PLS i’ve been on a writing trip recently but only post short ass boring drabbles . yet lately? those damian wayne requests bring the longer fics out DAMN (sobs in i could never write a +5k wc fic) vro I wanna write about cass so bad she makes me giggle ⸝⸝
࿐ synopsis ⦂ jason todd can outrun anything gotham throws at him, but sitting still in a safehouse at two in the morning, blanket-warm and dangerously honest, turns out to be the thing that undoes you both.
꒰꒰ involving contents ⦂ light angst with a tint of fluff, soft!jason, established relationship dangerous surroundings, slight mention of future plans, remaining in a safehouse until the danger passes.
masterlist . . . . . ↷
his call rang at eleven, the exact time nothing good ever happens. you answered on the second ring. it was always like this when his name lit up your screen past ten... you answered immediately and you didn't ask questions until jason todd told you it was safe to ask them.
"pack a bag," he solely said, "...clothes for two days, devices if you need them, anything you can't replace. don't turn on the lights!"
your stomach dropped to a soft floor that was once hard under your feet. you were no stranger to this feeling.
"alright," you respond. "how long?"
"until I say otherwise." you could hear him breathing, which meant he was somewhere quiet, trying to be careful. "are you already awake?"
"I was reading what you left at my place."
"good. don't put the book down until I'm at your door... I'm seven minutes out."
he hung up... you were left in the dark with your phone glowing and your book still open. you breathed carefully, the way he taught you, and then you got up to pack your belongings. all lights out.
his safehouse was in a part of gotham that doesn't have a recognisable name to many. jason unlocked it with a key from a ring weighted by at least eleven more keys, probably for his other scattered safehouses. he went in first, and he checked it before he even let you pass. you stood in the doorway, a bag on your shoulder waiting for him to be done with all this moving through the dark rooms.
"clear," he announced, and only then could you move in.
It smelt like dust and old radiator heat. jason drew the curtains together the second you were both inside. he flipped a switch to a single lamp in the far corner, and the room brightened a sweet softness that surprised you every time, 'cause deep down the unwanted bias of expecting these places of his to feel brutal and caging in was always proven wrong.
"you want tea," he asked.
"Is there tea?"
"I stock them." he strolled to the small kitchen.
you sat on the couch and pulled your knees to your chest, listening to him work around the kitchen. at some point, your eyes fell shut. you allowed yourself to be comforted by the domestic sounds.
jason returned with two mugs and set yours in front of you on the table. he flung his body onto the couch's free space without bothering to take his jacket off. his eyes were scanning the space... alertness second in command to his being... constantly tracking sound...
"...jay," you were tired of waiting, "are you gonna tell me why I'm here?"
"someone I put away three years ago got out on a technicality." his voice was even. "he knows my face. he doesn't know yours, but..."
"but I know yours."
"...yeah." he snatched up his mug. "so you're bound to me."
you nod slowly. this was practising what it meant to live a life by his side. the way that loving jason todd meant you had to disappear from your own home at midnight with no light and your heart in your throat, 'cause someone somewhere had decided to make you an answer to an equation that was only ever meant to involve him.
you used to resent this. there were early months where the line blurred and you threw the resentment in his direction simply 'cause he was there... but now you don't resent it anymore. you're not entirely sure when that changed.
"how long do you think?"
"a night. maybe two." he shifted, getting himself comfortable on the couch whilst angling slightly toward the door. "depends on whether he makes a move or just goes to ground."
"and if he goes to ground?"
"then we wait until I find him... I'll find him faster than he expects."
oh, he was serious, and no doubt did you believe him.
by one in the morning it became clear that both of you weren't going to surrender to sleep any time soon. jason fetched blankets from the closet and pulled one over your shoulders; the other over his lap as you caved into his firm side. your feet tucked under the edge of his thigh. his arm along the back of the couch behind you.
"you can sleep," he said. "I'm not going to."
"I know you're not." you cranked your neck from his shoulder to meet his eyes. "that's why I'm not."
he opened his mouth, only to shut it at the lost argument. little seconds crossed, he whispered, "...I mean it, you don't have to stay up with me."
"I know." you shoved deeper into him.
jason and you spoke for a while about nothing. something the two of you were always good at. he listened to you with beautiful attention, the kind that made you feel like what was coming out you mouth was the most interesting thing he's heard in his life.
you knew that could never be true given the life he led, and yet... around two he went quiet, and you sat in that same silence for a while with him, before talking...
"am i allow to say something?"
"you're gonna ask it either way..."
"when you're in situations like this. being hunted, or ... whatever the right word is." you keep your tone considerate. "does it feel like it used to?"
his mouth pressed closed long enough that you wondered if you overstepped a boundary...
"...no," he finally gave you an answer. "It used to feel like I was part of the thing. like the danger and me were the same substance."
you waited.
"It doesn't feel like that now," he continued. "now there's a line between me and it. I can see both sides of it." he cast a look to the curtained window. "most of the time."
"...most of the time," you echoed, curious.
"most is better than none."
"yeah," you agreed. "It really is."
he glanced at you. you looked back at him steadily, knowing that with jason you weren't supposed to look away from times like these. he needs to be met.
"you're not scared," he questioned.
"of this? the situation?"
"of me." he paused. "the situation is me."
now, you were feeling it within. he wasn't asking for reassurance or a pretty answer. he was demanding honesty with no way to say it aloud.
"I thought about it," you began. "early on, I thought about it a lot."
"and?"
"and I think I would be scared of a version of you that didn't worry about it." you turned your mug in your hands. "the worrying is the point. that's you on the right side of the line."
"that's..." jason cut off, thinking.
"you don't have to say anything."
"I know, I..." he paused like he was trying to come up with a deep explanation, before simply settling with..." I know I don't."
by three, thirty you had pushed barriers until his arm was actually around you and your head is on his shoulder and the blankets were pooled across both of you.
he was still very much alert... in the slight tension in the arm around you, the way he went rigid at a sound from outside (a car, passing, nothing) before easing again. his alertness wasn't frightening from your angle. in fact, it was the thing that let you close your eyes.
"I've been thinking," he said quietly, into the top of your head, "about getting a new place."
"a safehouse?"
"an actual place. with a kitchen and..." he hopelessly started again. "with enough space for two people."
you open your eyes. didn't lift your head.
"two people," you repeated.
"I'm not asking tonight," he clarified. "I'm not... this isn't me asking. I just wanted to say it out loud. once. to see what it sounded like."
"what does it sound like?"
a pause. outside, the rain. the radiator's tick...
"less terrifying than I thought!"
you melted your face into his shoulder. "yeah," you muffled into his jacket. "same."
jason's arm tightened around you.
you didn't really get any sleep. you drifted in and out of your awake consciousness. around four he called your name, testing whether you were asleep or not.
"hmm..."
"there's a diner two blocks east that opens at five." jason informed. "they do good eggs."
you pondered it, "are we safe to go at five?"
"should be. checked in with my contact twenty minutes ago." his hand moved, once, across your hair to stroke it, soft. "I'll know more by then."
"alright." you leaned back. "wake me at four, forty five."
"yeah," he obeyed.
you closed your eyes again. the lamp made the inside of your eyelids warm and orange. the rain was easing.
white feather hawk tail deer hunter by lana del rey.
Summary - Jason plans out a whole proposal only to forget everything when he gets down on one knee.
Jason has always been a planner. Even when he was young he took comfort in making a plan. It makes him feel more confident in himself and in his abilities if he can make a plan and at least a dozen contingencies for said plan.
So when it came to him proposing to you he planned it out for months in advance.
You had begun dropping hints after your third anniversary, staring too long at rings in the windows of a jewelry store, making a secret wedding Pinterest board that he found open on accident on your phone, bringing up the future often.
Jason would be an idiot to not see your hints and come hell or high water he was going to make it happen.
So he started planning out the best date and time to propose to you. He probably looked a little crazy to his siblings as he set up a cork board in one of his many safe houses with ideas and dates.
Dick was the only one that thought his planning was sweet, everyone else thought he was stressing out about your answer. And maybe in a different time he would be but after three years of you staying and reassuring him that you wanted him he was sure that you would say yes.
He had the ring custom made with your anniversary etched on the inside of the band and a garnet in the center alongside two small diamonds. Dick and Roy had helped him pick it out, they argued most of the time but in they end helped, three months before he planned to propose.
There were multiple phone calls from his brother and best friend to hype him up in the two days before he planned to propose. He had outwardly scoffed at them calling him to tell him that you would obviously say yes but inwardly he appreciated the support.
When you walk out of your shared bedroom he almost gets on one knee there. You look radiant and Jason almost forgets his whole plan. He restrains himself because him proposing before dinner wasn’t planned.
First, Jason takes you to the bookshop where you met and has become a semi-frequent date spot.
It’s a small hole in the wall shop that really only people know in the upper east side know about. He knows the owner, an older woman named Meredith whose family had this shop for generations, and she was extremely excited to know that you two were getting engaged. She keeps it a secret for him but does give him a discount on the books you end up buying.
He really enjoys watching you read through the backs of books with a slight pinch between your brows. You eventually end up getting two since you couldn’t decide between them.
After you finish up at the book store he takes you a couple blocks down to an Italian restaurant that he knows is a front for the mafia but makes the best cannolis he has ever had so he lets it slide. You talk about your work, friends and anything else that comes to mind and Jason is happy to watch you talk.
When the check is dropped off by a gruff looking guy who gives Jason a knowing smile you reach for it and Jason lightly smacks your hand away from it.
“Nope.” He states simply.
“Jay-” You go to protest with a frown on your face.
“Nope!” His voice increases in volume as he takes the bill away from your hands.
You give him a huff and an eye roll before giving in. Jason feels particularly accomplished as he walks up to pay the bill.
Once the bill is settled Jason leads you back to your building and up to the roof.
He had some help decorating the roof since he was with you for most of the day. Steph and Cass had taken point on that because Steph had told him that his taste was tragic, Cass had agreed before pulling out Bruce’s credit card that she swiped off of him somehow.
“Jason.” You gasp softly at the lit up rooftop decorated with pillows and blankets for stargazing. “This is beautiful.”
He runs his hand over the back of his neck in embarrassment, “I just came up with the idea, Steph and Cass set everything up.”
You squeeze his hand softly, “You still thought of it and that’s what matters.”
Jason takes a deep breath, reaching for the ring box in his pocket. “I also have something else.”
You get a confused pinch between your brows that evens out into shock as Jason gets down on one knee.
He goes to say the long speech he had planned, the one where he told you how much you mean to him, how you love him the way he is, how you make him want to live again rather then just survive. Jason had pondered what to say for months.
But now as he look up into your shocked face and teary eyes his brain stutters to a stop.
“Please?” Jason breathes out, no other words in his mind.
“Yes.” You sob and throw yourself into his arms. “Yes! Oh my god Jay. Yes.”
Jason holds you with a smile on his face that’s so wide it hurts because you love him when he has a plan and even when he doesn’t.
Blue’s Notes - Late night update inspired by this post! It’s so Jason that I couldn’t not write it.
a few centered around his family—he always sits or stands to the left of dick, always makes cass her plate, always brings dessert to gatherings because nobody can do it as well as he can.
a few about his work—he always starts on the south end of gotham and works toward the north, always cleans his guns an hour before patrol, always puts his right boot on before his left one.
then, he has several for you.
he always flicks your sky projector on fifteen minutes before you’re done getting ready for bed, he always lets you take a bite of food first before picking his fork up, he always lets you read the prologue of a book he’s considering purchasing.
but your personal favorite?
jason always lets you kiss him first.
he’ll lower his face to yours, keeping the space between the two of you until you lift your lips to slot against his. whenever he wants affection, he’ll draw closer, look at you with those utterly compelling eyes of his, and wait.
he waits until you respond—whether it be reciprocating his energy or not.
he doesn’t take from you. he loves whatever you give him, even if it’s merely eye contact.
even then, he’ll graciously accept it because it’s from you.
jason has a habit of waiting for you to kiss him first, not because he’s nervous or shy.
he waits because he knows what it’s like to have things taken, and he always wants you to have a choice.
