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Like most of Jason’s best ideas, it started by accident.
He’d been doing his best to spend more time with his family (mainly because Tim would give him sad puppy eyes if he went months without seeing them) and he and Bruce were finally able to have a civil conversation. Which meant that, for the first time in years, Jason was invited to the annual Bruce Wayne and Co Christmas Party/PR Stunt.
Joy to the world.
Jason tuned back into his father’s monologue in time to hear Bruce say, “I’m guessing you won’t need a plus one?”
It was mostly sheer stubbornness and a lasting bitterness towards the man that made Jason say, “Yes, I do.”
Bruce’s eyebrows rose. “You have someone you’d like to bring to this?”
“Yes,” Jason said, wracking his brain for someone he hated enough to invite to his Jewish father’s Christmas party.
“Alright then,” Bruce said, in a mildly disbelieving tone that Jason found honestly insulting. “Oliver Queen’s coming down from Starling City this year, by the way, so make sure you’re at least mildly presentable.”
Something in Jason’s brain clicked. “Oliver Queen?”
“Yes, you might have heard of him.” Bruce took in Jason’s expression. “Is something wrong?”
“Nope. I just had an idea.”
Three hours later, Jason was dialing a number into the burner phone he used for work. It rang four times before a voice on the other side said, “Arsenal.”
“Hey, Roy, I need a favor.” Jason opened his closet to look through his possessions for something ‘mildly presentable’.
Roy sighed. “Did you get arrested again? I’ve told you not to call me as your one phone call, Jay, I know your family’s rich enough to get you a lawyer–”
“No, no, I didn’t get arrested.” Maybe his suit from four years ago would still fit. He doubted it. He’d have to spend money for this bullshit. “Bruce is having a Christmas party, I need you to come with me.”
The line went silent long enough for Jason to check that the call hadn’t disconnected. Finally, Roy said, “Okay, I have several questions. First off, you called me on my work phone to ask me out on a date?”
“No!” Well, technically, yes. “I just need you to come with me and pretend to be my boyfriend because I told Bruce I have a plus one.”
“Because he assumed you didn’t have a plus one and you didn’t want him to be right?”
“You know me so well.”
“Unfortunately. Second question, isn’t Bruce Jewish?”
“Yeah. This is mainly for PR.” A more private Chanukah celebration happened every year with just the family. Jason hadn’t been invited to that in a while either. He preferred not to think about it.
“Okay. Why me?”
“I need someone who knows me well enough to bullshit our way through this.”
“And Kyle–”
“Is not on Earth right now, I checked.”
Roy snorted. “So honored to be your second choice. Unfortunately, I’ve got more important shit to do than be your trophy wife.”
“Oliver’s gonna be there.”
The silence that time was a lot more promising.
Jason grinned as he said, “Think how pissed off your dad’s gonna be.”
“You know he’s bi, right? He’s not gonna be pissed at me dating a man–”
“But he’ll be pissed you’re dating Bruce Wayne’s son.”
Roy laughed. “Do I need a suit for this shit?”
“I’ll pay you back.”
“Nothing says Christmas quite like doing elaborate shit to spite our parents?”
“You know it.” Jason gave him the date and time before hanging up. For the first time since he was a kid, Christmas might actually be fun.
In the week leading up to the party, Jason got just one text from Roy: “u wearing red?”
Jason replied, “yea”.
Roy responded with a thumbs up. Jason was left to ponder what the fuck that meant.
On the night of the party, there was a knock on Jason’s door. He pulled one of his guns out from under his kitchen table (not paranoia if people are actually out to get you) and answered the door.
Roy had pulled his hair back into a ponytail and was wearing a black suit with a red tie and pocket square. He grinned when he saw the gun. “Hey, babe, did you miss me that much?”
Jason scoffed and opened the door wider to let him in. “No pet names.”
“Aw, Jaybird, come on.”
“They’ll know it’s fake, I’d never let you call me babe.”
Roy came in and sprawled onto Jason’s couch, somehow managing to fuck up his suit immediately. “I would’ve gotten you flowers, but I thought you’d shoot me if I did.”
“I would.” Jason put his blazer over his shirt and took out the only tie he owned. He put both ends over his collar. Fuck. He tried to remember how to do it. He’d known how to tie a tie at some point, probably when he’d been thirteen.
“I can do it.” Jason looked up to see Roy standing in front of him. Goddamn vigilantes being goddamn sneaky.
Jason sighed and relinquished the tie. Roy pulled the ends so one was longer than the other and started tying it. “You know we aren’t actually dating,” Jason said, because he felt like he needed to say something when another man’s hands were this close to his face. He hadn’t been this close to somebody he wasn’t fighting in…a depressingly long amount of time.
“Yeah, but nobody’s gonna believe I’m dating you if you look like trash.” Roy finished up and patted him on the shoulder. “All done, you can stop looking constipated.”
Jason gave himself a onceover in his bathroom mirror, running a hand through his hair. The tie was perfect. “Did Oliver teach you to do that?”
Roy snorted. “WikiHow taught me to do that. Let’s go, Jay, our Uber’s here.”
“You got a goddamn Uber?”
“Yeah, we’re rich kids, remember? Rich kids don’t walk to parties.”
Jason didn’t bother saying that he usually went to events via rooftop. Roy was probably right. “Let me lock up.” He pushed Roy out of his apartment and fumbled for his keys. His Red Hood outfit had way more pockets than these bullshit slacks.
Roy watched him struggle. “It’s not like you have anything worth stealing. If I’d seen your place back when I was robbing people, I’d probably have given you a dollar.”
Jason finally locked the door and elbowed Roy in the ribs lightly as they headed down the stairwell to the damn Uber.
Jason had been to a lot of parties in his day. He was very familiar with the feeling of his tie slowly strangling him as he looked out over a sea of people rich enough to buy his childhood home a dozen times over and tried to fight the urge to get plastered on whatever expensive alcohol they were serving that time.
The alcohol.
Roy stiffened beside him just as Jason realized that he’d brought his recovering addict best friend into a place with champagne flutes at literally every corner. Fuck.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, angling himself to block Roy from the view of the other guests. “I’m a fucking idiot. Are you okay? We can leave.”
Roy huffed out a laugh and put a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “It’s fine, I’m not that fragile.” He thought about it for a second. “Not anymore, anyway.”
Jason frowned. “You sure? If there’s a chance you’re gonna relapse–”
“I’m not gonna relapse, Jay,” Roy replied, voice tight. He forced a smile. “I appreciate the concern. We’re both fucking idiots. I should have known it’d be like this. Where’s your family, anyway? Bruce better be really pissed to make this shit worth it.”
“Why is Bruce gonna be pissed?” asked a voice from behind Jason.
Jason did his best to hide his flinch as he turned around to see Tim in a dark blue suit, with a blond boy next to him. Jason wracked his brain for who the other kid could be. His brother did not have a lot of friends.
Tim cleared his throat and gestured to the blond kid, who looked like he was about to have a fucking heart attack. “This is my friend Bernard. Bernard, this is my brother Jason. Jason, stop staring at him, you’re being creepy.”
Oh. Bernard. The Bernard that had made his brother realize he was bisexual, a realization so important that it had ended up with Tim breaking into Jason’s house. “Bernard, yeah,” Jason said. “I’ve heard about you.”
That did not make the kid look any less terrified.
Roy jumped in, “Hi, Roy Harper. Nice to meet you.”
Bernard shook his hand gratefully. “It’s nice to see somebody else who’s not part of the family.”
Jason knew he didn’t hide his wince at that very well because Roy’s hand on his shoulder tightened. Roy continued, “Yeah, I know right? They’re like some kind of Gotham mafia. Bruce Wayne’s got twenty kids at this point, I’m pretty sure.”
Nineteen kids, now. Jason ignored the bitter aftertaste of that thought as Bernard’s attention turned back to him. “It’s a real honor to meet you, Mr Todd,” he was saying. “I’m a huge fan of your work.”
Tim elbowed Bernard in the ribs and hissed something.
Jason frowned. “My work? What–” Tim put on an extremely unconvincing innocent look. Oh, no way. No fucking way.
Jason forced a smile that he knew from experience looked downright predatory and tugged his brother closer with a hand on the back of his neck. “Drake.”
Tim tried his best to look nonchalant. “That’s me.”
“Did you tell a civvie about our…family hobby?”
Roy snorted. Jason looked away from Tim to glare at his friend. Roy put his hands up as if to say ‘carry on, don’t mind me, I’m enjoying the show’.
Tim was squirming now, looking anywhere but at Jason.
“Drake. Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I didn’t tell him!” Tim said, somehow managing to make his voice an octave higher than his usual range while whispering. “He figured it out! He saw me as Ro– it was a whole thing, I didn’t do it on purpose! Nobody ever recognizes us!”
“Yeah, the domino mask is foolproof,” Roy muttered.
Bernard was looking like he’d drastically fucked up, which, to be fair, he had. Jason glared at him until he started to fidget before saying, “So you figured it out. Good job.”
“Thanks–”
“I was gonna give you one shovel talk for going out with my brother–” He ignored Tim’s indignant protesting at that. “--but now you get another one for free. You said you know about my work? If anybody else finds out about it or if I hear that Tim here got hurt because of you, you’ll get to see some of the shit I do first-hand.”
Bernard nodded. He’d gone a little pale, but there was a hint of a smile on his face that made Jason think this was exactly what he’d been hoping for in getting involved with a family of vigilantes. The kid was insane. He’d fit right in.
“Maybe don’t threaten the fifteen-year-old with bodily harm,” said yet another voice from behind Jason. How the fuck do these assholes keep sneaking up on me!?
“He’s sixteen,” Tim said, taking advantage of Jason getting jumpscared for the second time to wriggle away from his hand.
“He’s sixteen, Dick,” Jason repeated, turning to look at his older brother.
Dick looked perfect in his suit, of course. He always did at these kinds of events. Like he’d been born to be here. He actually enjoys this. He fits in. Dick grinned. “Good to see you, little brother.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m taller than you,” Jason muttered.
Dick ignored him. “Roy! What a surprise. How long has it been?”
“Couldn’t tell you, I was high out of my mind for years,” Roy replied cheerfully.
Dick’s grin softened into something a bit more genuine. “I’m glad you’re doing better. Are you here with Oliver?”
“He’s here with me, actually,” Jason said. The world’s best and second-best detectives stared at him blankly.
It was Bernard who broke the silence. “That’s cool,” he said. “You guys look great together.”
“I know, right,” Jason replied, flat.
“So, this– how long has–” Dick was trying very hard to keep smiling as his brain combusted. Thinking back, Jason thought he might have forgotten to tell his brother he was even queer. Oops.
“About four months,” Roy said. Jason felt the other man tap his arm and pulled his hand out of his pocket so Roy could lace their fingers together. They hadn’t rehearsed any of this, but they’d bullshitted their way through countless missions and they’d been friends for years. Roy probably knew Jason better than anybody. Wasn’t that a terrifying thought.
“It’s five months,” Jason corrected. “I asked you out in July.”
“You asked him out?” Dick repeated, incredulous.
“And he said yes?” Tim muttered. Jason casually flipped him off.
“How did you do it?” Dick had the look he got when tasked with a particularly difficult case. Jason was very insulted that his brother was this suspicious of him dating somebody. Of course, he was right to be suspicious, but still.
“We’d been working together for a while and I just asked him if he wanted to get coffee sometime.”
Roy laughed. “Yeah, it was great, he was really nervous.”
Jason glared at him in a way that he hoped conveyed ‘don’t embarrass me in front of my shithead brothers’. “I was not.”
“You were, too.”
“Fuck off.”
“How’s it been going?” Tim asked. His brother was smiling in a way that– ah, fuck, he was just happy for Jason. Because he thought Jason had a partner he actually cared about and Tim wanted Jason to be happy. Goddamn kid.
“Oh, it’s been awful,” Roy replied. “I’m only with him for his money.”
Jason snorted. “What money? You’ve got Ollie.”
“Yeah, like Ollie gives me anything.”
“You think Bruce gives me anything?” It was a familiar routine that he and Roy had, bitching about their billionaire father figures. There was actual hurt there, deep down, but they dealt with it the way they dealt with everything else: by covering it up with many layers of irony.
His brothers, however, weren’t used to Jason bringing up his daddy issues every minute or so as a joke. Tim’s face fell. Jason had a moment to feel guilty before Dick said, quietly, “You know if you need money, you could ask him.”
And there it was. Any hope of a civil conversation with his family members gone out the window because it all boiled down to the fact that Bruce wouldn’t help him if Jason didn’t ask and Jason refused to ask.
Jason heard himself say, “I would quite literally rather die. Again.”
Roy squeezed his hand. Jason looked down to where their fingers were still laced together so he wouldn’t have to see his brothers’ expressions. The joke was probably in bad taste. He knew it’d bring up bad memories for both of them. Part of him wanted to say that it was his trauma, his death, and they shouldn’t be getting upset at him for bringing it up just because this whole family had decided to ignore it, but–
“We’re gonna go get some air,” Roy said. “It was nice seeing you, Dick. Nice to meet you, Tim.”
Jason let Roy steer him out of the main room and out onto one of the balconies. They were on the second floor, but the usual landscape of dark city streets and tall buildings was replaced by a simple view down onto the driveway, with countless cars and valets coming and going. This was the house he’d grown up in, full of people invited by the man supposed to be his father. Jason had never felt more out of place in his life.
He leaned his elbows onto the railing and stared out into the distance where the skyline of Gotham proper was barely visible.
Roy leaned next to him, facing towards the party with his back to the railing so they were mirroring each other. It was an instinct at this point, from their years of missions. Looking casual while keeping a 360 view on the area, so nobody could sneak up on them. Jason was having a shit time, so Roy was keeping an eye on things for him.
Jason was suddenly glad he’d come up with this whole stupid lie in the first place. He wouldn’t have been able to get through this night by himself.
“You wanna talk about it?” Roy asked, not looking at him.
Jason opened his mouth to make a joke or laugh, and then closed it. Who else was he going to talk to? He said, “Sometimes it feels like I’m still dead. Like they’ve all moved on without me. I can’t even really blame them. They had a funeral and went through the stages of grief and got closure. It’s not their fault I came back.”
There was silence. Jason started to wonder if he’d overshared, if Roy had just been making conversation and hadn’t actually wanted an unloading of resurrection trauma and he was about to apologize, when Roy said, quietly, “You coming back is a good thing, Jay.”
And that was– Jason wasn’t at all ready to deal with that, so he just laughed. “I don’t think Bruce would agree with that,” he replied, trying not to make the words sound as bitter as they felt.
“You don’t mean that, right?” Roy sounded serious now. How did they get to this conversation? That was just supposed to be a joke.
“You say shit about Ollie all the time, this is just like that.”
“No, it isn’t. Look at me. Jason, look at me.” Jason looked up to see his friend’s face full of genuine concern. “Ollie and I have had our issues and he’s kind of a shithead, but if I came back from the dead, he’d be happy. That’s kind of a baseline decent human being thing. To be happy your kid’s not dead. Are you seriously saying Bruce has made it seem like he’s not happy about his son being alive?”
This was going way further into his family bullshit than Jason had ever planned to go, especially not at a damn Christmas party thrown by his very Jewish father. He had to get out of this conversation. “No, yeah,” he said, noncommittally. “I was just being dramatic. I know he’s happy I’m back.”
Roy put his hands on Jason’s shoulders and stared at him. There was maybe six inches of space between their faces now. Jason tried to stop being aware of that. “Are you lying to me?”
“I’m not lying to you,” Jason lied. Time to switch subjects. “How do you and Dick know each other, by the way?”
Roy sighed, but let go of him. “We did a bunch of missions together when he was with Young Justice.”
“Oh, that’s–” Something surfaced in the back of Jason’s mind, a memory of Dick telling him about Young Justice and a guy named Red Arrow. “Hey, Roy?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you sleep with my brother?”
Roy turned away, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean–”
“Oh my god.”
“No, hey, look, most people Dick’s friends with have slept with him at least once!”
Jason covered his face with his hands. “I don’t wanna know that. I’ve never wanted to know that. Oh god, you slept with Dick. I’m dating my brother’s ex, oh my god.”
“‘Ex’ is a strong word, we slept together like twice.”
Jason lowered his hands to glare at him. “‘Like’? What, you don’t remember?”
Roy looked frustratingly unashamed. “I told him earlier, I was high out of my mind most of that time.”
“Don’t play that card, you’re not gonna make me feel bad for you.”
Roy laughed. “Good. I hate people feeling bad for me. That’s one of the many reasons my relationship with Dick didn’t evolve past us hooking up.”
Yeah, that sounded like Dick. He always wanted to help, but… “He has a bit of a savior complex.”
“That he does.” The two of them reflected on the wonders and horrors of Dick Grayson for a moment. Roy asked, “Wanna go back in?”
Jason sighed. “I guess we have to.”
“Yeah, I’ve got at least eight more of your siblings to meet, right?”
When Roy offered him his hand again, Jason took it and they went back into the room that was filled with laughing people, music, wine, and the Christmas spirit. What a fucking nightmare.
The next two hours went by in a blur.
Jason introduced Roy to Steph and Cass, both of whom looked lovely, of course: Steph in a dress with a blazer over it, Cass in a suit, with headphones around her neck for when the party inevitably got too loud. Both of them smirked at Jason as they asked a never ending array of questions about his relationship (Cass signed for Jason and Steph to interpret). The girls seemed thrilled Jason was dating somebody and he had to fight the urge not to come clean just so they wouldn't get disappointed. He was so weak about his younger siblings.
From Steph, he learned that Damian hadn’t been allowed to come to the party and that, if Jason saw him, he wasn’t allowed to say anything. Jason did end up seeing a small shadow dart through one of the many doorways in the room and turning away resolutely.
Oliver Queen found them at the end of the first hour. He looked just like he always had: flushed, smiling, younger than he actually was, the epitome of a young man with too much money and very few problems. Jason had heard more than enough about the man’s vigilantism from Roy and he knew that Queen’s body count had to be nearing a hundred now, but he almost forgot that as he looked at the gregarious man in front of him. No wonder he’d never really been suspected of being the Green Arrow. The two men were nothing alike.
“Roy!” Oliver said. Roy let himself get pulled into a hug, rolling his eyes at Jason. “It’s so good to see you. Are you planning to visit Starling City anytime soon?”
“Not if I can help it!” Roy replied, matching the man’s smile. “This is my boyfriend, by the way. Jason, this is that guy you remember seeing on the evening news.”
“I thought you looked familiar,” Jason said, holding his hand out for a handshake.
To his credit, Oliver only looked blindsided for a fraction of a second before shaking Jason’s hand. “It’s great to see you again, Jason. How are you doing? I always feel so out of place at these things.”
Oliver was too smart for that to not have been intentional. Jason forced a smile. “I’m more of a Chanukah person.”
“Of course.” Oliver turned to Roy again. “You know, since you came to Bruce’s party, I think it’s only fair if you brought Jason to the one I’m having later this month.”
“I think this one party’s gonna be enough to turn us off of Christmas forever, but thanks for the offer,” Roy replied.
“I just want to have my kid’s boyfriend over for dinner.”
“Still not your kid.” Roy was looking more tense by the second.
Jason put an arm around his shoulders. “We’ll let you go, I’m sure you have a lot of people to talk to.”
Oliver took the hint. “I’ll see you later, Roy. Jason.” With that, he disappeared seamlessly back into the crowd.
Roy let out a breath. “Jesus Christ, I have never wanted a goddamn drink so bad.”
“I could ask one of the waiters to get you a Coke.”
Roy sighed and gave him a very unimpressed look. “You’re so funny, Jason. Has anybody ever told you how funny you are?”
“Constantly. You’re lucky you got me, I’m a catch.”
“Oh yeah, I’m the luckiest man in Gotham,” Roy replied, leaning his head on Jason’s shoulder. They’d done this sort of thing before. Jason was a pretty physical person around his friends and both of them were too queer to worry about another man being affectionate with them.
Still, at this hellish party, it meant a lot that they could lean on each other when they couldn’t stand their relatives anymore.
They stayed by the wall after the conversation with Oliver, exchanging dry comments about the other party guests.
Jason made eye contact with Bruce once or twice. It was always met by a blank smile from his father, something he put on for his investors that Jason would never have found himself on the receiving end of before.
He looked away.
Tim and Dick came up to them again, separately, both with the same set of questions about their relationship, clearly intent on catching them in a lie. Jason almost laughed. Despite many people’s opinions, he and Roy were both smart and they’d been bullshitting everyone around them since they were kids. Their criminal records put together were probably about a foot long. They knew how to improvise.
So, a story of him and Roy came into being, slowly, each piece of it getting added by one of them and getting expanded on by the other. Jason found himself surprised at how little they ended up having to lie. They had been hanging out a lot the past couple of months, ordering takeout and spilling a lot of it on Jason’s couch, watching Netflix with the account password that Jason had stolen from Dick the year before, planning out missions while Jason fixed his hood and Roy sharpened his arrows. They’d met up every couple of weeks. It hadn’t meant anything at the time, but now it meant that they could lie about dating without really lying about much else.
Tim seemed ready enough to accept the explanation and, to be honest, he seemed busy talking shit about his siblings with his boyfriend, which…fair, that’s what Jason was doing, too. Dick, on the other hand, was suspicious to an honestly insulting level. God forbid anyone finds me attractive, there must be some ulterior motive. There was, but still, insulting.
But, bitterness and stilted conversations aside, the party had been going better than Jason anticipated until Steph came to tell them there was a ‘family meeting’ happening in the other room.
‘The other room’ was a living room half the size of the main room that had been closed off for the party. By the time Jason and Roy followed Steph in, the others were already sitting on the various couches and armchairs there. Steph waited for the door to shut before groaning and leaning down to take her heels off. Tim had undone his tie already and was saying something to Bernard about losing circulation in his neck. The party was almost over and this was the last part of the event the kids would be required to attend. Jason remembered that he and the girls had usually gone to get coffee on nights like these, still in their formal wear, rumpled and messy. Watching his siblings bicker and make themselves comfortable while he stood by the door, Jason had a familiar sensation of being an outside observer. Like a ghost.
He felt a hand on his lower back and looked up to see Roy motion for him to go further into the room. He let himself get pushed towards the rest of his family, taking a few steps until…when Jason got close enough to be seen by the others, the talking stopped. Jason just stood there, waiting, trying not to feel like an imposition on his own family.
Bruce cleared his throat. “Thank you all for coming to the event, especially you, Cass. I know the noise is hard for you.” Cass had her headphones on, but did a thumbs up when he gestured towards her. “I wanted to make sure everyone was on board for the party we’re having for the first night of Chanukah in about a week. Tim and Jason, your…guests are welcome to come if they’d like.”
And it could have ended there. It could have, but Jason was tired and bitter and he didn’t even think about staying quiet before he asked, “So I’m invited now?”
Bruce looked at him. The same flat, expressionless investor look. “Of course you are. You’re part of this family.”
“Am I?” Jason felt hysterical, all of a sudden. This whole night, they’d been pretending he hadn’t been living on his own for months, that he wasn’t the Red Hood, that they were just back to normal after everything that had happened.
Bruce just sighed. Like he was tired. Like Jason was the one causing this, like Jason was the problem. “If we’re going to have this conversation, perhaps your guests would like to leave.”
“No, thanks, I’ll stay,” Roy replied. Jason had almost forgotten about him, but there he was, still by his side. Looking at him now, he could see what made criminals run away at the first sight of him. Roy was standing casually, hands in his pockets, but his eyes were locked on Bruce and they were full of nothing but ice-cold disdain.
Bruce looked back at him for a moment before saying, “Tim, take Mr Dowd back to the party, please. This is private.”
Tim scrambled off the couch and pulled Bernard up after him. As they passed Jason, Tim gave him a look that was almost apologetic. Jason heard Bernard mutter, “If I sold any of that as a quote to a tabloid, I’d be rich enough to pay off my college tuition” and Tim hiss at him to shut up.
The door shut and the room was silent again.
Bruce said, “It seems like you want to pick a fight, Jason. By all means, let’s hear it. You’ve already tried to cause a scene by inviting your guest to this event, so why not carry on? Let’s have this over and done with.”
Jason’s mouth felt dry. “What do you mean I tried to cause a scene?”
“You’re telling me there was a reason to invite your friend other than to frustrate me? This is just another ploy for attention, clearly.”
“I wouldn’t have to do shit like this if you’d just give me attention instead of pretending like I don’t exist!” He heard his voice rise and he heard Bruce’s voice in his head telling him that he was undermining his argument by getting emotional, but he didn’t care. “You keep acting like I’m not here, but I am, I’m here, I’m not dead!”
“Oh, believe me, I’m aware,” Bruce snapped.
Cass exchanged a look with Steph, who was picking at the edge of her dress. Dick was staring at the floor. It was just Jason. It was always just Jason against the world.
Roy asked, quietly, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“My son died,” Bruce replied, flat.
“And then he came back! Look at him, he’s right there! Fucking act like it!”
Dick started, “Roy–”
“Shut up,” Roy cut him off. “You didn’t say shit to defend your brother, don’t start saying shit now. The others are kids, but what the fuck are you doing?” He turned back to Bruce. “Your son came back from the dead. That’s a goddamn miracle. You should be fucking thrilled. Instead, what? You’re ignoring him? Having your other kids give him the cold shoulder? Not inviting him to your damn parties like he doesn’t exist because what, you don’t agree with him on philosophy or some shit? He told me he doesn’t feel like you’re happy he came back to life and I thought, No fucking way, what kind of father wouldn’t be happy his son was alive, but apparently, he’s right. At least that’s what it fucking looks like.”
There was silence. And then, Dick asked, quietly, “Roy, are you drunk?”
Any chance of this party ending peacefully went up in flames.
Roy’s voice had been loud before, but it went quiet again. “No. I’m not, Dick. I’m not drunk. I’m just pissed off. Do you want me to take a Breathalyzer for you?”
“I’m sorry, I just thought–”
“I’m sober, Dick. Not that you and your shithead family are making it easy to stay that way.”
“I’m going to ask you to leave,” Bruce said. “You’ve voiced your opinion, quite loudly, and you’re not welcome in my house anymore. This is none of your business.”
Roy scoffed. “It is my business. I actually give a shit about Jason. I guess that makes one of us.”
“Leave.”
Jason felt like he was watching his own life happen to him. He watched Roy turn to him and ask, “You wanna go?” He didn’t remember how to move his head. He felt like he was drowning again. Everything was happening to him and he couldn’t do anything. Roy’s expression changed into something softer as he repeated, “Jaybird, you wanna go?” He touched Jason’s arm and then, suddenly–
Jason was back in his body, alive and surrounded by his family and in front of his best friend, and he was nodding and letting Roy take his hand and pull him out of the other room and past all the partygoers and past Queen and past all the bullshit of the stupid party until, as they reached the door, there was a noise and Jason turned just in time to avoid getting tackled by a hug from Cassandra.
He hugged the girl back for a minute before separating her arms from around his waist. She took a step back and put a fist over her heart, making small circles, signing ‘sorry, sorry’.
Jason nodded, quickly. After everything that had happened, after Bruce and Dick and this whole night, one hug from his sister made him feel like he was about to start crying and he wanted to get out of the house before it happened.
Cass made the gesture for ‘I like’ and pointed at Roy before smiling at Jason one more time and disappearing back into the crowd.
Jason turned around and walked out of the house into the wonderfully cold night. He let out a breath, watching it billow out in front of him and started walking, not needing to look back to know that Roy was following.
They walked in silence until they were well past the house before Roy said, “You owe me so much money.”
Jason barked out a laugh.
Roy smiled a bit, but it faded quickly. “Listen, I’m sorry if that was overstepping it…I got mad. It probably wasn’t my place to yell at your dad, I–”
Jason stopped walking to stare at him. “Are you kidding?”
“What?”
“That was probably the hottest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
Then, it was Roy’s turn to laugh, loud and relieved. “What the fuck is wrong with you? The hottest thing anyone’s done is yell at your dad?”
Jason was laughing, too. “It was fantastic, god…I don’t think I’ll be allowed back there in years. I’m just sad Tim missed it.”
The laughter faded and the bitter aftertaste was back. “Thank you,” Jason said, redundantly.
Roy scoffed. “Yeah, I’m glad you enjoyed that ‘cause you’re not getting anything else for Christmas this year.”
“No, seriously…thank you.” Jason heard his voice break and looked away.
He continued staring at the snowy pavement, willing himself not to cry, until he felt a hand on his arm and let himself get pulled into a hug. “I’m glad you’re not dead,” Roy said and then Jason was crying and there was no stopping it, he was crying into his friend’s new suit in the middle of the sidewalk and he didn’t think he’d been this fucking sad or this fucking happy since before he died.
They stood there, Jason’s arms around Roy’s waist and Roy’s arms around his shoulders, for a while after Jason stopped crying, just standing there, until Roy said, “You wanna bust some heads?”
Jason scoffed and pulled away, wiping his face to try and preserve some dignity. “Can we just go back to my place? We can bust heads tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Roy agreed, falling into step beside him. “Your place sounds good. I gotta see if I can do something that’s hotter than making your family hate me.”
Jason ignored his face heating up despite the cold at the implication there. “Cass likes you, she said so.”
“Oh yeah? That’s good, that’s the important part of what I just said.”
“Do you mean it?” Jason kept walking and not making eye contact. That was easier. He’d just keep doing that.
“Yeah, I mean it, Jay. Do you wanna or did you really invite me just to piss your dad off? I’m fine either way.”
Jason didn’t say anything as he tapped Roy’s arm for him to take his hand out of pocket and laced their fingers together.
Roy smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Gimme a second, I’m trying to decide if I want Dick Grayson’s sloppy seconds.”
Roy scoffed and shoved Jason off the sidewalk. Jason laughed.
For the first time since he was a kid, Christmas looked like it was going to be fun.