The café was located near the neighborhood where he had grown up and was becoming an oasis for the nearby residents. Jason had discovered the cozy place a little over a year ago after being out the whole night dealing with a particularly powerful, now former, druglord. Since then, he spent a lot of time reading in one of the armchairs by the window while drinking lattes. The best part was this café had yet to be discovered by any Bats, Birds, Cats, or whatever other animals were a part of his ever-growing family. Jason loved them. Really. Truly. But it was nice to have a place where he could have time to himself.
Today, as much as he wanted to have even the shortest of moments to himself, Jason was in a bit of hurry. He had promised to be at Dick’s place in a little less than an hour to watch Mar’i. After that, Eddie and he had a meeting with the ever-infernal Jason Blood regarding an artifact they found when they were in England last week, then he was volunteering at the local LGBTQ center for a couple hours. After that was the candle making class he had enrolled in for the hell of it, followed immediately by book club and then it would be time for patrol. Oh, and at some point in there he had to eat something. He was tired just thinking about it all.
As Jason stepped into line, his phone went off signaling he had a text message. It was the alert sound that sounded like a squawking parrot which meant, Tim was trying to get a hold of him. Jason sighed. He read the message. Tim was looking for an oddly specific book in the library at the manor and wanted to know if Jason had any idea where it was. He went to respond and thus did not notice the line had moved up. He yelped a little when he felt someone walk into him.
“Sorry,” Jason said, “Are you alright?”
“I am,” the guy answered.
Jason moved forward. He turned around in order to apologize once more. “It won’t happen again.”
The guy nonchalantly looked Jason up and down. “I wouldn’t mind if it did.” He flashed a clearly flirtatious smirk.
“Ah, why not? He’s cute,” Jason thought to himself. He held out his hand and out loud said, “In that case, I’m Jason.”
“Todd,” the guy said, shaking his hand.
“Yes, that’s right,” Jason said, very much confused as to how this guy knew his last name.
“Pardon?” he asked, tilting his head to the right.
“I thought you knew who I was somehow. Todd is my last name,” Jason said.
The guy snorted. “And my first name.”
Jason chuckled, knowing full well that he was blushing slightly. “What are the odds?”
Todd shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
It was Jason’s turn to order. He politely asked the barista for his usual, a chai tea latte and a scone. He then dropped his voice and told he was going to pay for Todd’s order to. Whatever was left after his, she could keep as a tip. The barista agreed and soon sent him on his way. Jason went to grab a couple napkins. He took a deep breath and wrote his number on one. “I’ll see you around Todd,” Jason said, slipping the napkin into his hand and quickly walking out the door.
When Jason sat down in his car, he received another text message. This time it was from a number that was not saved in his contacts. “Thank you. Are you free Friday night?” the message read. Another message soon followed. “This is Todd by the way 😂.” Jason smiled. He could afford to skip a meeting for the other book club he was in just this once. He saved the number and sent back a positive response before driving off to Dick’s apartment.
