Chapter Text
Jett Blitz was on a mission.
It was terribly sultry Tuesday afternoon and the safehouse buzzed with life with the subtle energies with which the Titans busied themselves in their own work. All but one Jett Blitz who was on a mission. A tactical sweep in search of snacks. The munchies, if one must. And not near enough to give up despite whining about it for the last eleven minutes.
“I’m gonna say something-”
“No”, four voices came in unison.
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“Uhhmmm… pretty sure we do,” Lian said, filling out the final box on the sudoku puzzle and flipping the book to the side, looking up at Jett.
“Lian. There is nothing to eat in the entire place,” Jett whisper screamed, gesturing wildly at the kitchen. “Isn’t that weird?”
Nika grumbled something none of them make out as Ezra and PJ perked up to look at Jett much like Lian.
“I checked the fridge”, Jett started, holding out his fingers as he counted up, “There’s a jar of pickles, half a lemon, and something in a Tupperware container that looks ancient. I checked the cabinets, like one empty box of cereals and unopened crackers. Fucking crackers?! Are you kidding me! The freezer has one bag of frozen peas which I literally saw PJ using after he took that hit during the Henderson ops.”
Four groans in unison.
“You’re crashing out, dude,” Ezra pointed out, not moving from his spot on the floor.
PJ sat up pulling one knee to his chest, his tablet caught between his chest and his thigh, “There’s food in the armory.”
Everyone turned to look at him.
“...What?”
“There’s food in the armory”, PJ repeated. “Protein bars, electrolyte drinks. I’ve seen it.”
“Why,” said Jett, voice brimming with genuine bewilderment, “is there food in the armory?”
PJ shrugged, Lian looked considerably between the two of them. “Emergencies,” she offered.
“Is this not weird to anybody else? I mean, doesn’t Hood literally live here?”
Exchanging glances.
“We… don’t know?” Ezra voices out, confusion marring his face.
“We do! Where else could he be living?” Jett said. When everybody just blinked at him with no response, Jett put his hand on his head, groaning.
“You don’t know, Jett. There could be many such safehouses. The bats are known for their resourcefulness,” Lian said with a shrug.
“But he’s not a bat anymore, is he?” All heads turned to PJ as he said that. PJ shrugged again, “He’s not in Gotham.”
“I thought…” Ezra frowned, pausing as he looked around. “Wow, we really don’t know.”
“Hello? Bigger fish to fry”, Jett said pointing out, “Food. In. The. Armory.”
“I think we have all established that Jason is eccentric. Could just be one of his quirks…,” Lian said, not sounding so sure herself. And the way her face soured left it evident enough that she did not believe it.
“What quirk? Not eating food like a normal person?”
“Hmm”, Nika flopped up, sitting cross legged while leaning on the couch, “Metric on normal person? Anyone?”
“Guys, I’m being so serious right now”, Jett said, narrowing his eyes at Nika. “Has anyone here seen him eat a meal? Like a real meal?”
“We literally don’t live here?” Ezra offered and Lian side eyed him with a scoff. “Okay okay whatever,” he said, holding his hand up in surrender then waving it off. “Fine, this is mildly concerning. But we know him. He likes his privacy, maybe he just likes eating by himself.”
Jett crossed his arms, tapping his foot as his frown only deepened. Ezra watched him for a moment before exchanging looks with Lian who shared the same expression. He looked back at PJ and jutted his chin at him, nodding towards Jett. PJ sighed.
“Jett,” PJ calls out. Jett looks at him. “Clearly something’s bothering you…”
Jett sighed, walking over and flopping down on the couch next to Lian. “It’s stupid.”
They remained silent, eyes watchful as they waited. Jett rubbed his nape as he started speaking, “I don’t really know where I’m going with this, okay? At least a good few times I’ve seen him take hits and shrug it off like it was nothing. It… irks. It’s like he… I mean I don’t really know.”
“And that’s the thing isn’t it. We don’t really know,” Lian adds.
“I mean.. He’s Red Hood after all, he’s tough. He’s been doing this for years. He can take hits and walk them off,” Jett speaks up again, visibly rationalizing. “But it’s the fact that he… the kind of hits he takes and then hides it. Intentionally. It’s just so..”
Nika clicked her tongue, “Aww, you care.”
“Hell nah!”
“Come on-”
“No, it’s just weird! It’s so fucking weird-”
Lian clears her throat, “While we’re at it…” she starts. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sleep.”
“Let me remind you that we. Literally. Don’t live here?” Ezra reiterates.
“Oh please,” Lian rolls her eyes. “I’ve seen you sleep on this couch more times than you’ve died in Elden Ring.”
“Your point being?”
“That you die a lot in Elden Ring”, PJ whispers from behind him.
Ezra opens his mouth to say something when Nika beats him to it, “He’s out mostly.”
“It’s not just that,” Lian interjects. “Like I think he struggles to sleep. Whenever I stay post-mission, he’s either in the armory or I hear him pacing around. Or like Nika said, he’s out.”
“See?” Jett shrieks, vaguely gesturing around, “Is this not weird?”
Ezra groans, dropping back on the ground with a thud. A thoughtful silence spreads over the room, as each and everyone of them fall back into their minds, cogs running.
“Well?” PJ asks, his shoulders hunched up.
“I mean… we should do something right?” Lian says, leaning on her knees with her elbows.
Ezra scoffs, “We all know the guy enough to know how that's gonna go…”
“None of your business,” Jett says, lowering his voice and imitating Jason's cadence. “Dude's a master deflector.”
“Not if we're not obvious about it,” PJ offers and all eyes turn to look at him. He blinks back at them, suddenly all attention on him before speaking up again. “It's not just about getting him to eat or getting him to sleep or I don't know… take care of himself. Maybe it's more about getting him to spend time with us…”
“And that's going to help.. how exactly?”
“Jason's too guarded,” Nika states. “Asking questions will only build more walls. PJ is right. We need to lower the guard first.”
“Do you guys hear how insane it is that you've known the guy for like two months and you're so preoccupied by him?” Ezra voices out. “Even he would be weirded the fuck out.”
When they glare at him, he just holds his hands up in surrender. “Sure whatever. Maybe if you guys quit psychoanalyzing him, you'll be able to see beyond the picture.”
Lian quirks her eyebrows, “...Which is?”
“Getting him to hangout with us? We use his safehouse all the time so we play coy, suggest this is the only place and get him to host a movie night. He won't say no.”
“Movie night!” Jett perks up. “That's it!”
“How do you know he won't say no,” Nika pointed out, smirking at Ezra. Ezra shrugged, giving her a look that seemed to suggest the most obvious answer of them all.
“He won't,” Ezra blinks, turning to Lian. “He never says no to Lian.” Immediately four sets of eyes turn towards Lian who turns pink in the ears.
“That's not true!” But Ezra waves it off with an eye roll.
“C'mon.. you know it. He's got a soft spot for you. He got that blanket you asked for.”
“It's cause I spend nights here sometimes! It logistically makes sense!”
“What about the secret archery sessions?”, PJ chimes in. Lian's eyes widen before she holds herself back, opening her mouth to object but everyone looking at her knowingly gets her to stop. She throws herself back on the couch and sighs out loud.
“It's not… a secret thing guys. If any of you want he'll train you-”
“Doesn't let me touch any of his weapons,” Jett points out.
“You're a special case, Jett Blitz. I'm on his side with this one,” Ezra says as Jett gapes him, a look of absolute betrayal on his face.
“So,” PJ interjects. “We do this tonight. Lian will talk to Jason and get him to join. The rest of us, set up.”
“I'm picking the movie,” Ezra announces. The rest of them look around at each other, a determination on each of their faces as they peter out. Nika gets up, smacking Lian in the back playfully with a wink, an unspoken charm of luck which Lian smiles at. They've got a plan and its all about the execution.
Counting time, it had been exactly an hour since Jason had returned. Lian knocked on the door, entering the armory before there was any response much like she had almost any other time.
“Something wrong?” Jason's voice rang out.
“Nope,” Lian answered, leaning on the door frame. “I just need a favour.”
Jason looked up, eyebrows furrowed, Lian could sense him reading her. It was a very specific look she had seen on him, as if a thorough run through of some mental checklist.
“...a favour?” Jason prompts.
“So we do this thing at Ezra's place every week. But his parents have got friends over tonight. Jett does not have the space, PJ's dad is around, you get the picture.”
“You going somewhere with this?” Jason asked.
“We want you to host our movie night.”
“Host?”
Lian shrugs like it's a no-brainer, “You've got the space, a couch, we can set up a screen.”
Jason sighs, “Am I missing something? You guys already treat this place like you own it so why ask me.”
“Cause it's movie night and you're hosting it. So you need to be there.”
Jason looks at her, incredulous. He opens his mouth to say something then closes it, considering. Landing at something and speaking up again, “I have work.” Lian raises her eyebrows. “Mission Intel,” Jason explains.
“I'm sure,” Lian walks over, flopping down on the bench next to him and pulling her leg up, eyes on him. Just a bit closer and she can see him properly, the ever-present grey under his eyes just a tiny bit darker and his shoulders sitting like he was carrying something on them he had forgotten to put down. All this with the context of the conversation they've just had as a team, did little to quell her concern. “Skip a day. One night will make no difference.”
Jason doesn't say anything.
“The team's been wanting to do things outside of just missions, you know?”
Jason sighs and turns his head towards her. Something flickered in his face and immediately buried. Lian was sure it wasn't going to work, she was going to get turned away and the whole thing will be for nothing and in that moment Jason clicks his tongue.
“...One movie.”
Lian beamed, “One movie,” promising and knowing very well it wasn't going to be. The seed has been planted. That's all they needed for now. She moved and heard Jason get up behind her, unable to help the grin that took over her face as Jason followed her out.
The common space had been transformed despite there not being much to begin with. The couch was turned around and moved back all the way to the wall. PJ had set up his tablet on a makeshift table of carton boxes. Lian looked around to find Nika and Ezra setting up the couch as Jett brought in three Pizza boxes with a popcorn bowl balanced on top.
“What're we watching?” Lian asks out loud as she feels Jason shuffling behind her awkwardly.
PJ glances back at Ezra who smiles, boastful.
“Godzilla vs Hedorah.”
They settle around as Jason watches, keeping his distance only until Jett nods at him towards the couch and gets him to find a space for himself. Jason sits at the corner only for Nika to slip in from the side rest of the couch and push him to the other side. Where Lian flops down and pushes him to the center. Jett and Ezra sit leaning on the couch, both on opposite sides of Jason's legs. PJ starts the movie and shuffles back.
They watched in silence, passing around the popcorn and Jason not reaching for any of it. Jett opened the pizza box, passing some comment about whether Chefs Special will live up to it and making a face at his first bite. He immediately held it out for Jason.
“Try that.”
Jason looked at Jett questioningly, back at the pizza.
“I'm convinced people say Chef's choice when the thing's actually not selling out,” Ezra mumbles as he takes his own bite, turning to look at Jason as well. Jason looked at the carton for a few more seconds before picking up one slice and taking a bite.
He looked confused as he glanced around the room, “Tastes alright to me.”
The team mock gapes at him.
“Well then you're having the rest of it, we don't wanna be wasteful,” Ezra says, finishing his slice and moving onto the next box.
They turn their attention to the movie as it plays out until Nika scoffs, “The fact that it's a man in a rubber suit keeps taking me out.”
“That's the charm,” Ezra refutes.
“It's from the seventies, you gotta appreciate the sincerity,” PJ nods along.
Nika rolls her eyes, elbowing Jason. “What do you think, Hood?”
Jason shrugs, taking another bite off a slice, “The kaiju budget clearly ran out, they spent it all on the cityscapes.”
Jett blinks back at him, “You've seen this before?”
Jason shakes his head no. Lian took a sip of her drink, “Are you a cinephile?” Jason shakes his head no again.
“You're asking the book nerd if he's a cinephile?” Ezra gawked at her. He then turns to Jason, eyes skeptical. “Do you have a letterboxd account hidden somewhere?”
“I don't do social media.”
Ezra snickers, whispering “Unc,” under his breath. Lian looks amused as she explains, “Letterboxd is not social media.”
“Objectively, It is. It's your personhood in an online space for people to access even if it's just cataloging and treated as a digital film diary,” Jason says and PJ nods along without looking back.
Jett sits up so fast his drink sloshed in his hands, “You have a letterboxd! You so have a letterboxd!”
Jason reaches back to put away the pizza box, now empty. He looked back at the screen, looking vaguely invested in the movie as the other fell into their silent conversations and commentary throughout the movie. For the next hour they kept at it, keeping Jason involved, pulling him in and pulling him in. By the second act he was leaning back against the cushion.
“Peak cinema”, Ezra calls out when Godzilla uses his breath to fly backwards in the sky.
On the couch, Lian and Nika exchanged looks, noticing the tiny shifts. Small things like a blink that lasted a beat too long. Jason's head tipping back and coming forward and tipping back again. His hands went slack then moved. Almost like he was fighting it. Constantly refocusing on the screen with a grim determination.
“Hey,” Lian whispered, shifting closer.
“Hmm?”
Wordlessly, she reached over, slow and readable movements, as she put her hand over his. Noticed how he frowned momentarily his body tensing and going still but not flinching away. Nika and Ezra were glancing sideways at them as Lian squeezed his hand once, tilting her head at the blanket questioningly. She gave him a singular nod and Jason looked at her for a second.
Something shifting in his face as he looked around the room as well, like a realization dawning. But he didn't move, only looked back at Lian and let his head drop back against the cushion. Lian watched as he exhaled and his shoulders relaxed for the first time since he had entered the space. Nika reached up without looking and pulled the weighted blanket over his chest.
He was asleep in under a minute.
As the credits rolled they all turned towards Jason.
“He fell asleep like an hour ago,” Lian shared.
“What time's it?” PJ whispered.
“Eleven forty.”
“Well, I'm not moving then,” PJ announced from where he laid on the ground. Ezra chuckled and pulled at his arm to move him closer to the couch only for PJ to groan.
“Shh,” Lian said, shifting and getting comfortable on the couch, her hand still on Jason's and not moving. Jett rolled over and put his head down on the corner of the weighted blanket, technically leaned on Jason's legs. The dimmed screen light shut off on its own with the space now just filled with soft sounds of signs of life as the six of them gathered around in their sleep.
The morning came in fragments, half asleep eyes peering at each other and Jason's space empty. Jett sat up straight as he noticed, eying Lian who rubbed at her eyes. Then they both smiled at each other. The rest of them shifting and getting up and clearing out.
“Anybody see him leave?” Ezra asked as all four of them shook their heads.
“So… mission successful?,” Jett asked, cheerful and beaming as he stood up with his hands on his waist.
“As close as it could get to success,” PJ countered but agreed. They all turned to Lian who shrugged.
“Take the win. He ate, he slept. It's something right? For now?”
“...For now.”
“Great. Same time next week?” Nika nudged.
All nodded in unison.
“Same time next week.”