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Roy can't stop staring. The Pocket glares right back, which would be more convincing if it wasn't also clinging onto the bedframe like it wants to hide behind it.
To be honest, Roy has been dreaming of meeting his Pocket. Why wouldn't he want a little companion through the absolute shit show that his life is slowly spiraling into? The con, of course, being that someone sees him go through the absolute shit show that his life is slowly spiraling into. What he hadn't dreamed about is for his Pocket to be... this.
"You're not from Nightwing, are you?" He asks to be sure.
Because that's the only other option for someone with black hair, blue eyes, and wearing freaking Robin colors. Not the costume, but an oversized red hoodie with an R printed on it, green PJ pants, and a yellow cape.
Noticing the heartbroken look of the Pocket, Roy winces. That wasn't the most sensitive thing to say. "Sorry."
The Pocket turns red and then ducks out of view behind the bedpost. It would be more effective if the cape didn't peek out with its bright yellow.
In his defense, this is very much unexpected. Because if this isn't Dick's Pocket, then this is Jason's. Jason who is 15. Roy is 22. The age gap is very much felt. This mess makes his throat burn in need of some alcohol to get rid of the budding headache, but priorities are a thing.
Looking at the part of the Pocket peeking out, Roy tries to figure out how this happened. Is it because he doesn't care about the whole Robin debacle? To be fair, he was pissed in the beginning, but the new one is just tiny. You can't be mad at a tiny kid.
Not to mention the adorable mix of hyper-competence and somehow ending up as the damsel in distress on almost every mission. Jason is cute, there's no denying that, but he's cute in the way that younger siblings are. Not as... Potential life partners. Maybe as a lifelong friend? He'll figure it out.
"Hey tiny Pocket," Roy tries to catch its attention. "Sorry about that, but you have to know that I've barely started my friendship with Jason, and we've barely hugged each other goodnight, like, yesterday, so this is very much unexpected."
He's rambling, but he knows that a lot of people feel more comfortable when you flat-out ignore the tension.
"How about we start from the beginning," He says and reaches out a hand. "Hi, I'm Roy. Nice to meet you Pocket."
The Pocket Jason shifts and peeks out from behind the bedpost. It looks at him wearily, then visibly braces itself and marches forward only to pause in front of the hand. It looks unsure of what to do, so Roy pulls back his fingers until only his pinky remains. The Pocket glances at him, then holds out both tiny hands to shake the finger.
Roy has to bite his lips not to squeal. What is this adorable creature? When the Pocket looks back up, he grins and asks, "Want to go see if we can find your counterpart?"
×××××
Walking into the living room, he sees that everything is empty except for the actual Jason who is in a staring contest with a Pocket. Roy's Pocket.
"Where is everyone?" He asks. Jason squeaks and whirls around. Roy can clock the moment it registers who it is that sneaked up on him because his whole face turns red. Just like the Pocket.
"I- I- I- You-" The boy stammers.
Roy takes pity on him, and announces, "It looks like we're soulmates."
He graciously ignores how Jason squeaks and puts down the Pocket he was carrying beside his counterpart. Pocket Jason just stands frozen.
Pocket Roy, in a sleeveless red onesie, immediately walks up to it and hugs it with cheerful babbles. Just like his counterpart, Pocket Jason squeaks and turns a daring shade of bright red. Damnit, Roy is going to have to fight himself so much to not tease the boy. This is hilarious to watch.
A thought occurs to him and he blinks a few times. Roy looks at a frazzled Jason, the flustered Pocket Jason, and Pocket Roy who is doing the same with a gleeful grin.
"I know what to name you," He states.
Now all three look at him in surprise. Which makes sense, since that came out of nowhere.
He points to Jason and says "You're Jay," then points at himself, "I'm Roy," and finally to the Pocket, "You're gonna be Joy."
Now both Jasons turn a delightful red again, while Pocket Roy claps in cackling glee. Good to know that his counterpart has great taste. The only thing is that it's not actually his choice. Roy crouches down to be face to face with the tiny Pocket. He asks, "What do you say?"
Because while it would be a shame to say no - this is a stroke of genius on his part - this is the Pocket's decision. Pocket Jason thinks it over, then gives a bashful but proud nod.
A grin spreads all over Roy's face. He makes sure, "You like it?"
This time the Pocket, Joy, is even more enthusiastic. Roy grabs it and pulls it into a hug while whooping in excitement. He can't remember the last time he was this happy without being high.
"That's awesome," He says. After a moment, he turns around to the other pair. Pocket Roy jumps up and down in celebration while Jason looks at them in awe.
"Hey," Roy has to ask, "What are you going to name your Pocket?"
Oh, lovely red, here you are again.
The boy shifts from side to side, then tilts his head up to tell him, "Ed."
That has him raise an eyebrow. Not a bad name but, "Where does that come from?"
Jason keeps trying to compete with tomatoes as he answers, "It's short for Edward."
Which, given the boy's obsession with old fancy books, makes more than enough sense. But Roy doubts that any version of himself would just jump at it, so there had to be one heck of a pitch.
One look at his Pocket confirms that. No way in hell would Ed look that smug if there wasn't something hilarious behind it.
Still, Roy greets the Pocket. "Nice to meet you, Ed."
×××××
Half a day of having a soulmate and the world reminds him that his life could never be that simple. No, Jade shows up and tells him he has a daughter. That's one heck of a reveal to have in front of your newly appointed soulmate.
Jason doesn't seem to have a problem with him running off to meet his baby on the other side of the world. The boy is actually cheering him on. Which is nice, or else things would get awkward really fast if Roy went off with an unhappy soulmate.
But with a blessing in hand, the new father gets to meet Lian. She is the most precious thing he has ever seen. With the way Joy stares at her in awe, he is clearly of the same opinion.
Just for that, Roy sends Jason a picture of the Pocket sitting on the pillow inside her crib with a smile that Lian returns. He immediately makes a few backups.
The next few months go by in a similar fashion. Figuring out how to take care of Lian, chatting with both his baby and his Pocket - who both have very strong opinions - building up a life and taking pictures. Joy has learned to say the names "Roy," "Ed," and "Li" - which will never not be precious - but also the words "read," "cook," "yes," and the one he uses the most being "no."
Having a Pocket is different from what he imagined. Joy has some serious choice of words when it comes to their lifestyle, but the food in particular. It's how three cooking books make it into his kitchen.
Lian loves the Pocket. With how good Joy is at entertaining her, Roy manages to get work done without needing to hire a babysitter. He also gets to witness some funny situations where she tries to grab him but her touch always goes straight through the Pocket.
Sometimes Roy gets woken up in the middle of the night by the tiny figure pushing his head to go change the baby's diapers. Other times he wakes up on his own to find Joy in the crib, reading a baby book in his babbling language to a drowsy Lian. Things are good.
×××××
Roy is trying to make fancy Mac and Cheese under Joy's watchful eyes when the Pocket suddenly screams.
Startling, he turns away from the pan and tries to find the problem. Joy buckles over in pain and starts sobbing into his knees.
Frantically, Roy reaches out and asks, "What's wrong?"
The Pocket doesn't answer, the cries only getting louder as it clutches Roy's hand.
"Joy, Pocket, what's going on," he repeats but doesn't get an answer. Lian starts to cry. The Pocket starts to jerk painfully and Roy doesn't know what to do. His phone. Searching the counter, he zooms in and grabs it with one hand while holding Joy close. Scrambling through his contacts, the pit in his stomach grows as the cries get more pitched in their intensity.
The call is barely picked up when he scrambles, "What's happening to Jason? Alfred, why is he- where is he- what is going on?" Joy gasps and is suddenly silent.
Looking at the small figure, the dread slams up tenfold. The Pocket squeezes his hand once, then closes its eyes and evaporates into mist.
His mind blanks.
Roy doesn't know how much time passes, if any time passed at all, all he can do is stare at his empty hand. Why? His hand was holding Joy a moment ago. Where is he? Sobs have him turn his head to the playpen, where Lian is turning red from her crying. He should take care of that.
Slowly, Roy drags himself forward, barely registering the distant mutters of a phone call. Lifting his baby, he holds her close and starts rocking.
"It's alright baby," He whispers. "I'm here. Everything is going to be alright."
Maybe he's lying right now, but his baby doesn't need to know that a part of him just broke. That a piece of his soul was just torn out of him. On the stove, the pan slowly produces dark smoke while somewhere in the background the call is still going.
His feelings don't matter when he has a baby to take care of. He will need to restart the meal with how the smell of burnt food starts to spread. Standing up, Roy ignores the tears trailing down his cheeks.