Chapter Text
“I was at the tower with Bruce the other day,” Tim tells Jason over the phone.
“Mhm,” Jason isn’t really listening to be honest. He’s got his new phone balanced between his ear and shoulder as he plays his Nintendo DS.
“Yeah, someone was asking after you.”
“Sure,”
“He was asking how you were doing and everything. I just told him you were in New York now and he said he’s probably going to be hanging around there too.”
“Nice, is he hot?”
“That’s a bit shallow.”
“I’m shallow Timbers.”
“Whatever, I don’t know. Dick said you used to have the hots for him so sure, maybe.”
“Could’ve just said you were talking to Clark,” Jason snorts.
“No it wasn’t Clark, it was Kyle Rayner, asshole.”
The phone falls along with the DS as Jason jumps. They both go clattering into the hardwood floor and a crack streaks across the phone screen.
That’s not what Jason’s thinking about though as he scrabbles to bring the phone back to his ear.
“ Kyle Rayner? ”
“Oh so now I have your full attention.”
“Shut up Tim, was he actually asking for me?”
“Jesus you’re like a preteen girl with a crush,”
“Answer me Tim.”
“Fine, yes, he was asking about you.”
“What did he say?”
“I told you, he was just asking how you were and what you were doing then he said he’ll be around New York for a while.”
“ Why?”
“Jesus Jason I don’t know, go find him and ask him yourself.”
“Why would I do that?” Jason scoffs and picks his DS back up. “I don’t care.”
“Jason what the hell! You just freaked out about him, don’t tell me you don’t care!”
“Whatever. Listen, I’m kind of busy right now so…”
“Fuck off, you’re playing Pokemon.”
“Yeah and it’s really important so I’ll call you back later.”
“Jason c’mon-“
“Talk later Timbers!”
“Jason don’t-“
And with that Jason ends the call.
He tries going back to the game but he can't concentrate. His head is spinning and his heart is jumping in his throat. As if Kyle Rayner means something to him.
Jason has met Kyle only a handful of times, mostly when he'd kick around Gotham or when he actually ventured to the tower, but they were never really close. Sure, they had a good time with each other, poking fun at Dick and winding up Bruce, but that was the extent. And sure, he was kind of really hot, but that was all he was to Jason, a hot guy with a magic ring he could joke around with.
It's not as if Jason would have wanted anything to happen anyway. At one point he was with Roy which ended because Jason just wanted his best friend back, then here was Rose which ended because, well, Jason still isn't too sure on that, then he was low-key back with Roy then he wasn't, and then he was gone anyway. Again, Kyle wasn't a constant, he was just some guy Jason knew.
Some guy who's apparently been asking after him and is now hanging around his city instead of space for some reason.
It's whatever though, Jason doesn't care. Nope nope nope.
“You're distracted,” Bucky tells him the next day over lunch.
“No I'm not.”
“Yeah you are, you've been pushing your curly fries around the plate for the past ten minutes, if you're not going to eat them let me have them.”
Jason scowls and pushes the plate over to Bucky.
“I am not distracted,” he repeats.
“You kind of are,” Bucky tells him between chewing. “What's up?”
“It's nothing.”
“It's got to be something.”
“It’s, uh,” Jason sighs, “It’s just some guy I used to know.”
“Some guy?”
“Yeah, and that’s all he is, and all he’ll ever be.”
Bucky shrugs and picks up another fry.
“If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
Of course, Jason still can’t stop thinking about him. He doesn’t want anything with Kyle, he doesn’t have time for a relationship.
Well, technically he does.
His job is only really part time and he doesn’t do anything during the day other than go on runs, hang around Tony’s lab and run errands for Steve and Bucky whenever they want alone time (Jason tries his best not to think about what they get up to). Sure, sometimes he kills time helping Peter with homework (he doesn’t need Jason’s help, but he’s happy to pretend he does) and there’s the trips to Gotham every so often but really, Jason doesn’t have a very busy schedule. He’s got nothing but time for a relationship.
Still, Jason isn’t going to go about searching for one. That’s not really his style, so he’ll take a breath, tell himself to stop thinking about Kyle Fucking Rayner and relax.
And then the universe drops Kyle Fucking Rayner into his lap not even a day later.
Actually, Jason drops into Kyle’s lap.
The subway is still the abysmal mess it’s always been, Jason just seemed to forget after having the freedom of travelling around the city on his motorbike. However, he’d drunk maybe one too many beers the night before with Bucky and Steve has a strict rule of no driving until the alcohol is completely out his system, so that means Jason has to brave the subway this morning to get to Tony’s.
He’s crammed into a carriage, squashed between commuters with no elbow room to even reach up and grab onto a handle.
So that means when the train comes to a lurching stop, Jason tumbles backwards, trips over a pair of feet and falls into the lap of some lucky bastard who had managed to snag a seat.
“Fuck!” He exclaims, trying to scramble back up. But the train jolts again and he goes back down.
“Hey, dude, don’t worry about it,” says the unfortunate soul Jason has graced with his tumble. Except he recognises that voice, that voice he’s been thinking about since Tim mentioned his name the other day.
“Uh, Kyle?” He swings his head around and yep, there he is. Kyle Rayner, with his goofy grin and mop of soft black hair stares back at Jason, his eyes lighting up when he recognises him.
“Jason!” He laughs. “I was hoping to run into you, Tim told me you were around.”
“Yeah he said, what’re you doing here?”
“What am I doing under you?”
Jason laughs too but makes no move to get up.
“I meant New York, Rayner, your head up in space or something?”
“Very funny bird boy. I’m just taking a break, y’know? Feels good to be on earth for a while. Heard you had the same idea.”
“Eh, more or less,” Jason shrugs.
“You like it here?”
“Sure, not as much crazies as Gotham.”
“Hm, I'm not sure about that, I mean just today some stranger sat on my lap on the subway and he's still not got up!”
“That's the subway for you.”
Kyle laughs again, grinning ear to ear and Jason's heart seems to beat a little quicker. Those two things are totally unrelated though. Totally.
“Listen, as much as I love having you sit on my lap, I am gonna need you to get up because my stop is next.” Jason's heart drops a little which is completely ridiculous. Completely.
“Sure, sure,” he says a little too quickly before scrambling off Kyle’s lap. “I'll, uh, see you around?”
“Actually, do you want to, like, grab dinner or something on Friday?”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, I know this great burger place.”
“Uh, sure, yeah that sounds fun.”
“Fun,” Kyle smirks and stands up. “I'll text you details later?”
“Okay, that'll be, uh, great.”
“Great, see you soon Jason,” he winks and goes to step off the train but a sudden thought has Jason calling out to him.
“Wait! You don't have my number,”
“Oh, yeah, I asked Tim for it.” Kyle’s cheeks gain a hint of red, then he waves and disappears behind the closing train doors, leaving Jason standing dumbly in the carriage.
Jason thinks it's kind of ridiculous how much he spends thinking about this dinner for the rest of the day. It's probably not even a date, just two guys going out for dinner, right?
Besides, why would Kyle even ask him on a date? He doesn't know if Jason's single, he doesn't anything about what Jason's been up to since they saw each other last.
Unless he asked Tim of course, like he did with his phone number.
So maybe he does know Jason is hopelessly single and maybe this is a date.
Jason groans and collapses on his bed when he returns home.
Why is he even so worked up about this, who cares if it's a date? Sure, Jason's not been in a relationship in a while, but he’s sure as hell not been having a dry spell. Even with his living situation and night job Jason's not really been doing too bad on the contact thing, meeting people in bars, finding out they're not really after anything serious just like him then returning to someone's apartment, awkwardly sneaking them out past Steve and Bucky the next morning if they go back to his. There's even been a couple of dates thrown in too, although they were only ever first and only dates. And none of them were ever with Kyle Rayner who knows Jason and his family well enough to relay the situation back to everyone he knows if he takes this as a date and it turns out it's really not. Jason's got his reputation on the line here.
He groans again.
“Everything okay Jason?” Steve suddenly appears in the doorway.
“Yes,” Jason replies, words slightly muffled by the pillow he's pressing his face into.
“You sure? Your groaning has cut down considerably recently, so something's got to be up.”
“It's dumb,” Jason whines.
“Whatever it is, it's not dumb.”
“It is though,” he takes a breath. “It's a guy, okay?”
“A guy?” Bucky suddenly appears too, as if he had been listening in the whole time. Which he most likely was. “Is this the some guy you used to know?”
“Wait, what guy?”
Once again, Jason groans.
“I know him from before, alright? Like, with all the batman stuff and the watchtower and all that crap. He hangs around in space with a magic green ring, but I don't know maybe it's white now, but he was talking to Tim about me and now he's in New York and I was sitting on his lap on the subway and now he wants to get burgers Friday and I don't know if it's a date!”
“You were sitting on his lap?” Steve asks, confused.
“That's your fault for not letting me drive. Actually, this is all your fault Steve.”
“As much as I like blaming Steve for your mild inconveniences, I've got to say this time you've not got a very strong case pal,” Bucky tells Jason. “So you like this guy then?”
“No!”
“Then why are you going out with him?”
“It's not - I - fuck, I do like him but I've not got a crush, okay? I'm not Tim or something.”
“Gotcha, so you're nervous.”
“No!”
“I think you might be nervous.”
“Shut up Steve, I'm not nervous,” Jason states. “I can't be,” he adds quietly as an afterthought.
“Hey, who cares if you're nervous?”
“I do because it's stupid and dumb and I'm not nervous.”
“I remember I was nervous our first date Buck,” Steve muses. “But I think I was just more nervous you were gonna make me ride the cyclone.”
“Is that why you threw up?”
“No, that was definitely the cyclone.”
“ Guys. ”
“Right, sorry Jay, we’ll talk about your problem.”
“There's nothing to talk about, I'll just go and it'll be fine, right?”
“Right,” both Steve and Bucky confirm in unison.
“He can decide if it's a date or not, yeah?”
“You're going to be fine,” Bucky slaps Jason's shoulder. “Be yourself and all that crap, you've been doing just fine every other time.”
“Every other time?” Steve questions.
“Not the time Stevie.”
“Be myself? That's all you got Bucky?”
“And don't throw up like Steve did.”
“Right, got it, I’ll try not to throw up.”
“It's harder than it seems Jay.”
“Shut up Steve, this is still your fault.”
Friday rolls around way too quickly for Jason’s liking. He’s low-key a nervous wreck as Bucky and Steve wave him out the door to the burger place Kyle texted him the address to earlier. It’s in Manhattan so Jason takes the subway, which also means he can have a drink or two to work up the courage to ask Kyle Rayner if this is a date.
Kyle isn’t there yet when Jason arrives, so he drops into a booth and orders a beer. And then another one.
“Started without me?” Kyle asks when he sits down opposite Jason.
“In my defence, you’re late.”
“By like five minutes Jay, you have high standards.”
“Sure I do, Bruce Wayne is my dad, it’s part of the genetics.”
Kyle laughs at him and Jason’s heart picks up again and he can’t even be bothered telling himself he’s ridiculous.
“Well, I better catch up,” Kyle states, calling the waitress over and ordering three beers for himself and one more for Jason.
“You sure you can handle that Rayner? I hear space messes you up.”
“It’s two beers, I think I’ll be okay.”
And that’s how the rest of dinner goes. They joke and laugh and grin goofily at each other like a pair of idiots.
By the time the waitress is clearing their plates, they’ve both polished off another two beers and are playing footsie under the table.
“You want to get shots?” Jason asks, a little buzzed but still not buzzed enough to ask if this is a date or not. But he’s finding that he doesn’t really care too much about that at the moment.
“Shots? I don’t think restaurants do shots Jay.”
“Don’t patronise me like that, I know a bar.”
“Well I don’t doubt you there.”
“You know what, fuck you.”
“I know you want to, but let me pay for dinner first.”
So they go to the bar. Jason only knows little hole in the wall dives and this one hipster place Dick made him go to once, but Kyle doesn’t seem to mind.
He bumps Jason’s shoulder as they down their drinks, slinging his arm around Jason to keep himself steady.
“You can’t really hold your drink Rayner,” Jason laughs, bumping Kyle’s shoulder back.
“Give me a break, I’ve not drank in like a year,”
“Doesn’t mean you have to turn into such an embarrassment, I mean people are staring Kyle.”
It’s stupid, Kyle’s nowhere near as bad as Jason’s making out and Jason’s own mind is fuzzy and light, but they’re having a good time. It’s fun and easy and Jason doesn’t really remember how good it felt leaning against someone that he really does want to take home to his family like this. Suddenly, Jason doesn’t want this night to end.
Kyle laughs, a sound that’s slowly becoming Jason’s favourite thing and it all gets a little too much.
“Kyle, Kyle ,” he breathes as he leans in closer.
“Yeah?” Kyle’s breath dusts across his cheek.
“Can I, can I kiss you?”
Kyle’s breath hitches and Jason’s worried he’s fucked up, yet again, but then Kyle grins, big and wide and toothy and goes for it himself.
It’s sloppy and not a lot a more than a wet press of lips against lips but it’s sweet and nice and just, good and Jason can’t stop himself smiling.
“We should’ve done this years ago,” says Kyle.
“You wouldn’t have liked me years ago,” Jason replies, then goes for another kiss before Kyle can say anything else.
They go out again the following week. Well, they see each other again the following week. Jason goes to Kyle’s apartment where they drink less beer and watch old buddy cop movies. The movies are bad and Kyle’s couch is tiny, but that just means they’ve got an excuse to sit close and Jason sure as hell isn’t complaining when Kyle’s arm finds it’s way over his shoulder.
“Do you know what would make these better?”
“If you say set in space one more time, I swear to God Rayner I will kill you.”
When they go out for a third time they don’t even have a drink, but that’s only because Jason doesn’t really want to be the guy drinking at Coney Island. He still throws up on the Cyclone though. But it’s okay, Kyle buys him cotton candy and kisses him still so all in all Jason isn’t as embarrassed as he could be.
“You threw up on The Cyclone?”
“Yeah, just like you Steve. It’s cool, he still wanted to make out after.”
“That’s gross.”
“You were the same Bucky.”
“That was different.”
Soon it’s been a month and a half and Jason isn’t wondering if that first time was a date anymore.
“You want to be my boyfriend?” Kyle asks as they lay in his bed.
“Alright.”
“Wow, don’t get too excited.”
Jason just grins and leans in for a kiss.
“I guess this means you’re gonna have to meet my parents.”
“I’ve met Bruce tons of times.”
“I’m not talking about Bruce.”