Work Text:
Late March in Gotham had no right being this cold. Usually it was starting to warm up by now, but apparently this time around the weather decided that wasn't a good plan.
Technically it was the first day of April, but only by about ten minutes.
For Alex's birthday, March 31st, you'd been lucky enough to read that there were supposed to be a couple minor meteor showers that night. Alex was obsessed with stars and constellations, and honestly anything astronomy-related just on principle. He had a ton of glow-in-the-dark stars put up on his ceiling - several in the shape of actual constellations - so you figured that this would be a pretty solid choice for a birthday present.
Currently he was looking through the amateur telescope that he'd borrowed from a friend, trying to get a close up view of some of the brighter stars. "Hey Jay, look, what's this one?"
You hadn't expected Jay to show up tonight. You honestly didn't even know how Jay learned when Alex's birthday was because it hadn't been from you, but he'd shown up earlier with a wrapped gift and everything, saying that he didn't have anywhere else he'd rather be. Alex had been thrilled with the kid's toy detective set Jay had gotten him (which you thought was hilariously on-brand), and he'd been thrilled when Jay accepted the offer to come star- and meteor shower-gazing with the two of you.
Now, you watched as Jay bent down to look through the eyepiece of the telescope at whatever Alex had it aimed at. "I think that's a planet," he answered. "It looks a little too bright to be a regular star, don'tcha think?"
"Well which planet is it?" Alex demanded, pulling the eyepiece back so he could look through it again.
"That I have no idea."
You were just glad Alex hadn't asked you that question. You could generally find the Big Dipper and that was it.
You had no idea how Jay knew so much about the topic, but you sat and watched for a good twenty minutes as he helped Alex find and identify constellations, even telling him some of the stories about the origins if he knew them or facts about the stars themselves. Alex absorbed all of the information with wide eyes and a ton of enthusiasm.
And you felt yourself falling a little harder for Jay in the process.
Eventually the meteor shower started up, and Alex practically dragged both you and Jay over to the blanket you'd brought up, demanding that you all lay down to watch it properly. Which took a little bit of rearranging, because Alex was apparently not happy with the original plan, and the end result was that Alex flopped down in the middle of the blanket and you and Jay ended up on either side of him.
As he stared up at the meteor shower with barely contained excitement, you glanced over Alex's head, meeting Jay's gaze. "I didn't know you were so knowledgeable about stars," you commented.
He rolled his eyes. "My youngest brother went through a phase a few years back," he replied, sounding fondly exasperated. "We all learned an absolute fu-- a crap ton of stuff, whether we wanted to or not."
You shot him a grin as he caught himself and avoided swearing in front of Alex. "Smooth," you muttered quietly.
"Shut up," he whispered back.
"Mom, look! Look at that one!" Alex's exclamation and suddenly-pointing arm - which almost caught you in the face - effectively interrupted your and Jay's conversation, and you assured Alex that yes, you could in fact see the dozens of meteors streaking across the sky.
Honestly, it was an incredibly cool thing to watch, and it was prettier than you'd thought it might be. Considering all it really was were some streaks of white light in the sky. And maybe it was a little bit of Alex's enthusiasm rubbing off on you, but you found yourself really enjoying the meteor shower, even taking a couple pictures on your phone.
By the time the shower ended, you were stifling a yawn and trying not to shiver in the cold. You glanced down at Alex and felt your heart melt at the sight; he was partially curled into your side and had one hand tucked under his cheek, his eyelashes fluttering as he desperately fought to stay awake.
"Hey sleepy-head," you murmured, running your fingers through his hair. "How 'bout we get you downstairs and in bed, huh?" Alex just let out a quiet noise and shifted closer in response, falling further and further asleep. So you'd have to be the one to get him up. Okay then. You forced yourself into a sitting position, then shifted to kneel next to Alex, got your arm under him, and began gently pulling him up as well.
"I got the telescope," Jay said. He easily rolled to his feet and moved over to the telescope, carefully taking it apart and putting the pieces into the carrying case it came with. He was done much faster than you were, because even though you'd technically gotten Alex to his feet, you were having more difficulty waking him up than you'd expected. He was swaying in place a tiny bit, his eyes half open, yes, but it was obvious that he wasn't actually seeing you in front of him.
"C'mon Alex, you need to work with me here," you tried to gently coax him. You didn't want to fully wake him up if you could avoid it, but you weren't sure how else you were gonna get him back down to the apartment.
"I can carry him," Jay offered, setting the telescope case down on the ground.
You glanced up, surprised. "What? No, it's okay, I've got him."
"Seriously, sweetheart, it's not a problem."
You looked back at Alex, who was barely staying on his feet, and remembered how it was nearly impossible for you to carry him anymore, even though he was a little small for his age. "...okay," you relented. "If you're sure."
"I've carried Nightwing before, Alex is nothing." Jay grinned, then crouched down next to your son. "C'mere buddy." He pulled Alex's arms over his shoulders, looped his own under his legs, then carefully stood up. Alex tightened his arms to keep his balance, let out a yawn, and then promptly laid his head down on Jay's shoulder, closed his eyes, and went back to sleep.
You reached out a hand, just to make sure Alex wasn't going to fall or anything. But Jay just hitched Alex up a little higher, making sure his weight was settled properly and comfortably, then gave you a nod. "Alright, lead the way."
"He's not too heavy for you, is he?" you double-checked. You honestly doubted that was the case, but still, a tiny part of you worried for a reason you couldn't quite identify. Maybe you just felt bad about making Jay carry Alex at all.
"I promise, Alex isn't that heavy. He's fine. I'm fine. Let's go get him to bed."
Right, bed. Because it was nearly one o'clock in the morning now.
"Okay." You quickly grabbed the blanket from the ground and bundled it under your arm, carefully picked up the telescope case, then led the way over to the rooftop access door.
At least you only had to go down one floor.
As you and Jay trekked downstairs, you couldn't help yourself from sending a fond look at Alex every few steps; it had been a long time since you'd seen him this relaxed around another adult that wasn't you or Jules, and the fact that he was doing it with Jay was doing funny things to your heart.
You reached the apartment door and opened it for Jay to go first - and it was still a bit of a novel concept that you didn't have to finagle the lock open. The light was flipped on as you closed and locked the door, quickly piled the blanket and telescope onto the kitchen table to take care of later, then hurried after Jay, who'd already started heading down the hall. You caught up to him just outside Alex's room and had to hide a grin at the sight of Jay trying to carefully push open the door with his boot.
"Here, I've got it," you laughed, giving the door a shove. You left the overhead light off though, going to turn on the bedside lamp instead, and pulling back the covers as Jay crossed the room and sat down on the bed. Alex hardly put up any protest as you gently disentangled his arms from around Jay's neck, tugged off his shoes, and got him tucked in under the blankets. You were honestly pretty sure that he was fully asleep by now; and if he wasn't, he was about five seconds away from it. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Alex burrowed into the blankets and pulled them up to his chin, like he was trying to hide. It was adorable.
You smoothed back his hair and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Happy birthday, baby," you whispered. You kissed his hair again, adjusted the blankets to make sure he would be able to breathe in his sleep, switched off the lamp, and then turned to leave.
Jay was leaning against the doorframe, watching you and Alex with an expression that you couldn't quite read. It was… soft, you thought. Almost fond.
You hadn't realized that he was still here. You thought he'd left the room already.
He backed up a couple steps into the hallway so you could pull the bedroom door shut, then cracked a little grin. "Well I think that was a pretty good birthday celebration, don't you?"
"Yeah, it was." You gave him a grateful smile in return as you began heading toward the living room. "It was nice of you to surprise Alex like that. Although I'm pretty sure I'm never gonna give him a birthday party that'll live up to this one, so thanks for that."
Jay chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Oh I see how it is. It's all my fault, huh?"
"Yup. You gave him the detective kit. You talked to him for a full half hour about stars and constellations. I'm never going to compare," you joked.
Jay caught your hand and pulled you to a stop in the middle of the hallway. "For the record, I think you're always pretty great," he murmured, leaning down to gently kiss your cheek.
Immediately, you felt a flush start creeping into your cheeks, just like it had every other time Jay had been even remotely affectionate toward you.
Which had gradually been happening more and more, by the way. Since your first courtesy-of-fear-gas-induced kiss, Jay had kissed you a total of ten times, held your hand over a dozen times, and had spontaneously tucked you against his side or pulled you into a hug for no apparent reason four times.
No, you had definitely not been keeping track.
"Unwarranted, shameless flattery," you muttered, trying to sound unaffected and utterly failing.
"Completely honest, accurate truth," he retorted.
You blushed even further and leaned forward to bury your face in his chest, making him laugh as he wrapped his arms around you. The two of you stood there for a few minutes, just holding each other for a while. Eventually though, you remembered something else, and you forced yourself to pull away.
"On the topic of gifts, I keep forgetting I have something to give you."
"Oh boy, what is it this time?" Jay deadpanned.
"Shut up," you laughed. You ducked into the kitchen and dug through your work bag for a moment. "And it's not actually from me this time, it's from Jules."
"What? Why?"
"Here." You didn't answer his question as you came back, holding something out to him.
Jay took it as gently as if it were a bomb. "These… are gloves. Knitted gloves."
"I'm so glad your eyes still work," you teased, your tone fond. "I know they're gloves. Jules made them for you, and I kept meaning to pass them on, but I kept forgetting about it. She gave them to me like a month ago. I know you're probably not going to really need them anymore soon, but she wanted you to have them anyway."
Jay was just staring at the gloves in his hands, looking a little stunned. "She made these? For me? Why?"
You shrugged as you tucked your hands into your pockets. "Jules likes you. And she loves knitting. You'll probably end up with a sweater at some point, too. Alex and I both have two or three each." When Jay still didn't really have a reaction, you cautiously moved closer, reaching out to touch his arm. "Hey. Are you alright?"
"...yeah, I'm okay. I've just-- I think I've only ever gotten maybe one handmade gift in my entire life. And it certainly wasn't from…" He didn't finish his sentence, but he shook his head with a quiet little grin, then pulled you closer and pressed a kiss to your forehead. "Thanks, sweetheart. Tell Jules I love 'em."