Chapter Text
Every last class on a Friday is study hall. Every study hall, Ajina sits in his classroom, redoing his notes from the day's lessons. Today is no different. He tucks an errant lock of hair behind his ear, acutely aware of the admirer right next to him.
'His hair is so pretty…'
Ajina lets out a soft sigh. His admirer hides his staring by pretending to read a book.
'Gosh, even his sighs sound cute.'
Ajina nibbles on his bottom lip, deep in thought.
'His lips are so soft… I wish he wouldn't bite them so m-'
"Hey, earth to Jason? You there, dude?"
Jason suppresses a groan before turning to his friend. He makes sure his expression reflects his sheer displeasure.
"The hell do you want Prime? If you can't tell, I'm a bit busy right now."
Prime huffs and pushes up his glasses and Jason wants to roll his eyes. The geek keeps doing that because he thinks it makes him look like some anime character. Prime transferred in a year ago, after his family moved from Smallville to Gotham of all places. Somehow, Jason ended up being buddies with him.
Prime holds up a poster of some nerd shit that Jason doesn't really care about.
"Dude, you can make heart eyes at Ajina all you want later!" Prime waves the dumb poster in Jason's face, "Heroes of Justice is relaunching today! Like, right now!"
Jason raises an eyebrow, "Oookay? Why should I give a shit?"
Prime guffaws, looking incredibly offended, "Number one, your dad is literally on the dev team."
Jason rolls his eyes, "Because it was good for PR. All he does is fund it anyways."
Prime, that asshole, ignores him, "And number two, your brother is literally a micro-celebrity on the OG HOJ. Ever heard of Robin?"
Jason turns his attention back to his book, "What, like the bird?"
Jason hears Ajina scoff. It's almost concerning how fast his head snaps up as he turns to look at him. Ajina speaks up while writing something in his notebook.
"Robin is one of the most well-known players in Heroes of Justice history. He's a living legend, starting off in the Gotham area with the most ridiculous role ever. I mean, circus acrobat? Who in their right mind would choose that?"
Ajina adjusts his glasses, "But he chose it. He formed a casual guild called Haly's Circus while being mentored by the elusive Batman. Then, he formed a pro guild called Teen Titans and it consisted of the best of the best. He's dominated PvP events since, like, forever."
Prime's eyes light up, "AJ, I knew you were a man of culture!"
Ajina sneers, "Kent, never call me that again. Anyways, I'm just a casual player."
Without another word, Ajina turns back to his notebook, effectively shutting down any further attempts at a conversation. Prime nudges Jason, not so subtly whispering.
"He's totally not a casual. No normie knows that amount of lore."
Jason's dreamy expression immediately disappears. He looks at Prime with so much disgust, "Prime, buddy, never say normie again. You sound like a loser."
Prime frowns, "You're no fun."
It's silent between them for a moment.
"Sooo… you're downloading Heroes of Justice today?"
Jason nods solemnly, "The things I do for love."
Prime shakes his head, "What do you even see in that guy? Whenever I see you guys talk he looks like he wants to punch you."
Jason pats his shoulder, "Love is merely a madness, Prime. You'll understand when you find someone you love."
Prime blinks at him, processing his words. Then he recoils, looking at Jason like he's an idiot, "I-i literally have a girlfriend?!"
Jason rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat, "Yeah, your girlfriend who's totally real."
Prime clenches his jaw, "I've told you before, she's still in Smallville."
Jason nods, clearly not believing a word Prime says, "Sure, buddy." He gets up as the school bell rings, shoving his book into his bag, "See ya later, Prime."
Prime pulls out his phone. Jason's best guess is that he's doing his daily log ins or something, "See ya. I'll text you my HOJ referral code later."
Jason nods as he walks out of the classroom. His phone buzzes with a message from Alfred. Apparently the butler will be late since there's some traffic, which isn't really surprising in Gotham, some sort of bullshit is always happening in the city. He leans against the wall near the entrance of the school. As he's scrolling social media for information about Heroes of Justice, a small droplet falls on his screen. He looks up and sees the stormy sky.
"Damn… guess B had a point when he said to bring an umbrella everywhere." He pulls out the umbrella that Bruce slipped into his bag. As he opens the umbrella, two things happen at once. First is that the light drizzle has turned into a heavy downpour. Second is that Ajina runs out, holding his bag over his head. He's breathing heavily, cursing under his breath. Jason blushes slightly before clearing his throat and approaching the troubled boy.
"Hey… forgot to bring an umbrella, huh?"
Ajina looks up at him with wide eyes and Jason can't help but fawn internally on how cute he looks like that. It doesn't last long though, as Ajina huffs and looks away. He's clearly embarrassed.
"I did. So?"
Jason swallows, before huddling close to Ajina, holding his umbrella over the both of them, "Here, we can share mine."
Ajina stays still for a moment, clearly surprised. Then he shuffles closer. Jason bites his lip to hide his smile.
"Sooo." He starts, "Congrats on the recent rankings. Y'know, for midterms. 2nd highest in the cohort for all subjects is crazy."
Ajina's eyebrow twitches. "I don't want to hear it from the guy who topped the class in every single subject."
Jason grins, smug, "I could tutor you, if you'd like."
Ajina rolls his eyes, "Yeah, no thanks."
Jason bumps their shoulders together. "C'mon, it'll be fun. We can talk. Like about… Heroes of Justice and stuff."
Ajina blinks. Then he inclines his head. With Jason having a self-proclaimed PHD in Ajinaology, he knows that means Ajina's interested. "You play?"
Jason shrugs, determined to play it cool. "Not yet. But with the remake coming out today, I might as well. It can't hurt to try it out."
Ajina nods. "You should. It's good."
Jason grins. "Does that mean I can send you a friend request?"
That draws a snort out of Ajina, his lips tugging up into a small smirk. Jason has to cover his mouth to hide a grin.
"You wish, Todd."
They stand in silence for a moment, before Ajina spots something.
"I assume that car's here for you?"
Jason looks up and sees Alfred approaching in his Rolls Royce.
"Yeah. Do you wanna hitch a ride? It doesn't look like the rain'll be stopping anytime soon."
Ajina shakes his head. "I'll just wait for it to end."
Jason furrows his eyebrows. "In the rain? No way."
Ajina sighs. "It's fine. I'll just use my bag. Or head back in."
Jason frowns. "Take my umbrella."
Ajina blinks. "What? No!" He huffs, "I'll be fine out here."
Jason shoves it into his hand, not taking no for an answer. "Here take it. Don't worry about giving it back, you can keep it. See ya!"
Jason rushes off to the car. Just as he opens the door, he hears Ajina speak.
"…Thank you."
Jason doesn't bother hiding his giddy smile as he flops into the backseat. He sees Ajina clutching the umbrella as the car drives off and stares until Ajina is just a far away dot.
"Ahem. Your seat belt, Master Jason."
"Oops! Sorry Alfred."