Chapter Text
“Hey! I’m Jaime, nice to meet you.”
Dick shifted the moving box against his hip before offering his free hand. “Dick Grayson. And thanks for saving me from dropping all my worldly possessions down the stairs.” Jaime grinned easily, warm and bright in a way that immediately made Dick think of golden retriever puppy.
“No problem. These apartment stairs are basically a death trap.”
“That explains the memorial bouquet downstairs.”
Jaime snorted with laugh.
Okay. Cute neighbor. Funny. Helpful. Dick was already mentally classifying him as good people.
The hallway of the apartment building was narrow and illuminated with orange light. The old wood floors creaking under every step. Dick had moved into plenty of places before, safehouses, apartments, tiny studios over questionable restaurants the usual, but this one felt… pretty normal.
Well. As normal as his life ever got.
Jaime grabbed the second box before Dick could protest. “You’re in 4B, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh sweet, I’m 4A. Neighbor privileges mean I’m legally obligated to lend you sugar and complain about rent prices.”
Dick smiled. “I can already tell this friendship is going places.”
They carried the boxes inside together. Dick’s apartment was mostly bare except for a couch, some packed kitchenware, and Haley happily trotting around like she owned the place already. Maybe he’d invite Kori and Wally over sometime for dinner. He watched Jaime crouch to pet her.
“Oh my god, hi,” Jaime said. “You didn’t tell me there was a dog.”
“Technically you didn’t ask.”
“Her name?”
“Haley.”
Jaime scratched behind her ears with expert precision. His neighbor seemed more fond of Haley more than him now! Haley had that affect on most. “I would die for Haley.”
“Correct response.”
Dick watched him for a moment while pretending to unpack dishes. Jaime was younger than him by a few years, maybe college-aged, dressed in a blue hoodie with grease stains on the sleeves and sneakers that had definitely seen better days. He talked with his hands, smiled with his whole face, and seemed incapable of standing still for more than ten seconds.
Dick liked him instantly. Which was probably why he completely missed the first weird comment. Jaime was helping him organize mugs when he told Dick, “My boyfriend says I collect too many coffee cups.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Jay keeps threatening to throw them out.”
Jay. Funny, how they both had Jay’s in their lives. Jaime’s boyfriend would be scared shitless of Jason though. “And yet you continue buying them. Bold strategy.”
“He says I’m a hoarder.”
“I’m on your side already.”
His face when Dick agreed with him was unfairly pleased about that. The conversation drifted easily after that. Jaime talked about classes, mechanic work, and his love of late-night tacos. Dick gave vague answers about freelance work and “a lot of travel.”
It was nice. Normal. If not a little fake but he couldn’t risk random civilians being caught in his vigilante life no matter what. A red cup found its way into Jaime’s hands.
“Ooooh, this one’s nice. I think he would like this one! Good pick.”
Ah, to be a young hopeless romantic in love. Dick leaned against the counter. “Your boyfriend likes red?”
“Too much.” Jaime rolled his eyes. “Like, concerning amounts of red. Im pretty sure it’s a trauma response or something.”
Dick laughed. “Yeah, my brother’s the same way.”
“Really?”
“Oh, absolutely. Red everything. I think if he could bleed redder he would.”
“Damn, sounds hardcore.”
“Trust me, it loses charm after the fiftieth leather jacket.” There was a strange pause lingering in Dick’s mind for exactly three seconds before Haley barked at a squirrel outside and derailed his attention entirely.
Over the next two weeks, Jaime became part of Dick’s routine very quickly. It was awesome, if he was honest with himself.
Sometimes they grabbed coffee together before work. Other times Jaime knocked on his door because he’d “accidentally” made too much food. Once, Dick came home after patrol running on two hours of sleep and found a plate of pupusas sitting outside his apartment with a sticky note.
You looked dead this morning. Eat something. – Jaime
Honestly? Neighbor of the year!
But Jaime’s boyfriend, Jay, seemed to be a clone of his brother sometimes.
“Oh, my boyfriend rides motorcycles too.”
“My brother has like six motorcycles.”
“Jay hates cops.”
“My younger brother throws things at police scanners.”
“Jay says pineapple on pizza is a war crime.”
“My brother once threatened bodily harm over Hawaiian pizza.”
Each coincidence stacked gently atop the others until Dick started eyeing Jaime over coffee with growing suspicion. He wondered if maybe Jaime knew Jason or wanted to meet him. Maybe he was a stalker? Jaime didn’t seem the type but he was not sure what the situation was or if he wanted to know the answer.
Still, Dick never pushed.
Mostly because Jaime was so painfully sincere that accusing him of anything felt ridiculous.Like right now.
They sat cross-legged on Jaime’s living room floor surrounded by takeout containers while Jaime attempted to fix some tiny electronic component with a screwdriver clenched between his teeth. Dick watched with fascination. He almost wanted to take a picture and brag to his siblings about his awesome neighbor. “You know, normal people usually buy hobbies that don’t involve potential electrocution.”
Not him though. Ahem.
“Cowards.”
“There he is.” They laughed together.
His phone buzzed on the couch beside him. Dick wasn’t trying to snoop. Really! But the screen lit up bright enough for him to catch the contact name and his eyes happened to have been looking in that direction.
Jay ❤️
hey babe
You eat dinner yet?
Dick smiled despite himself. Sometimes he wished Jason could find someone like Jaime. Maybe then Jason could start to feel a bit of healthy normalcy in his life and enjoy it, of course. Jaime didn’t mind Dick looking over his shoulder even allowing Dick to see the screen at better angle.
Jaime
Yeah mom
Three dots appeared almost instantly.
Jay ❤️
Brat.
Jaime’s grin turned helplessly fond and Dick couldn’t help but stare. Oh. Oh no. That expression. He knew that expression. He had seen that exact ridiculous soft look on multiple friends, himself included. Absolutely whipped and disgusting sweet devotion towards their lover. Dick made a mental note that if Jaime’s boyfriend ever did anything wrong to him he would beat the shit out of the asshole. He narrowed his eyes at the screen.
“…Your boyfriend,” he said, “isn’t secretly eighty years old, is he?”
“What?”
“The texting style feels old.”
“He is kind of grumpy, I guess.”
“Does he threaten people recreationally?”
“Only if they deserve it.”
Dick pointed out. “See? That’s concerningly familiar.”
Jaime shook his head, still smiling. “Nah, Jason’s actually really sweet.”
Dick almost choked. Was it? Could it? Sweet. Jason. Those words did not belong together in the English language. And yet Jaime said it with complete confidence. Like he believed it absolutely. As if he saw something in Jason nobody else got to. Something warm settled in Dick’s chest. He wouldn’t admit it out loud but he had done some background research on Jaime. He was a good kid.
And Blue Beetle. Nightwing never really knew that because whenever Jaime’s in Gotham he’s helping his friend, Batman, all the damn time. Besides that, Jason didn’t… date, usually. Not seriously. Not safely. And definitely not softly. Dick was well aware of every crime and every save Jason’s made. The relationship between them was rocky and unstable as most of them in this family were.
But Jaime talked about him like someone dependable. Someone loved. Dick didn’t realize he’d gone quiet until Jaime tilted his head, worrying about him. It hurt to say about this about his brother but it couldn’t be Jason..could it?
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” Dick said automatically. “So when do I get to meet this mysterious Jay?”
“Oh, you’d probably love him!”
He huffed, “I’m assuming the same.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
A ping of notification interrupted the soon to be awkward moment.
Jay ❤️
Miss you.
The soda slipped from his hands.. because Jason Todd, the human equivalent of a loaded gun and unresolved trauma, wouldnt be caught dead (and he died, FYI) out here sending miss you texts. Jaime looked smugly delighted as he typed back. Dick stared into the middle distance.Maybe this wasn’t just friendship. Maybe his little brother was in love. Maybe it wasn’t even Jason! It could be another human exactly similar!
God help them all.
The rooftop wind was freezing cold, the fall air breezing by his hair. Nightwing crouched on the edge of a gargoyle while below them Gotham traffic crawled through rain-slick streets. Beside him, Red Hood reloaded a handgun, annoyed, helmet tucked under one arm.
“Y’know,” Nightwing said, “I feel like we barely hangout outside of the suits.”
“Right,” Red Hood grunted. “We literally had dinner last week.”
“You stole fries off my plate and threatened the waiter!”
“The waiter was annoying. It’s still dinner so it counts.”
A police siren wailed somewhere downtown. For once, though, patrol had been weirdly quiet. There was no gang wars or Arkham Asylum breakouts . Just routine break-ins and one extremely aggressive guy dressed as a scarecrow who turned out to be very committed to Halloween in May. (Not the real scarecrow.) But Jason kept checking the time so Dick got curious.
“…You got somewhere to be?” Dick asked.
“Uh, no?”
“Wow. That was the least convincing thing I’ve heard all week.”
“Shut up.”
Nightwing smiled at him. “Aw, little wing’s got plans! Good for you man, I’m happy you’re doing well.”
Red hood visibly deflated like a ballon and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m cutting out early tonight.” Nightwing pressed a hand dramatically to his chest.
“You wound me.”
“Survive.”
“What’s more important than quality sibling violence?”
Jason shoved his helmet back on, strapping his guns back into his holsters. “Personal life.” He watched him get ready to leave, a bit suspicious and supportive of the outcome. Jason revved the motorcycle engine already leaving but Dick yelled out to him.
“Wait!” he called over the engine noise. “You voluntarily have one of those?”
Jason flipped him off and sped away across the rooftop access ramp. He laughed as he watched his younger brother drive away. Honestly, seeing Jason leave patrol early for something non-lethal was bizarrely reassuring. Good, even. It meant the mystery personal life existed outside of violence had enough influence to drag Jason Todd home at two in the morning.
Whoever or whatever it was, Dick kind of wanted to shake his hand.
At 2:17 a.m., Dick regretted every positive thought he had ever had. Including the earlier… matter of fact, especially, those ones! The wall between apartments 4A and 4B was not thick. They never were and Dick tried his best to keep quiet whenever he brought people over (hero related) and when they slept there (sex related.) Normally this wasn’t a problem.
Jaime was genuinely a fantastic neighbor. Everything you could want from a neighbor he was! Polite, Considerate, usually quiet after midnight except for occasional music or engineering projects that sounded vaguely illegal. But not loud enough to be considered illegal. It was all rainbows and unicorns everywhere, all day, any day.
Tonight, however, there was definitely someone else in the apartment. And they were not being quiet. Maybe they were trying too brag about how good they were. He sensed it in their bones, Jaime would never be this purposely loud about his sex life! Sure, he told Dick here and there about the romantic aspects but he never needed to know how Jaime sounded in bed.
Jesus. The dude’s a screamer.
So, Dick laid in bed staring at the ceiling, exhausted, too tired to move and now had to process new trauma. At least they finished already, the sun was starting to rise already. Giggles and laughter, whispering and the bed creaking under their weight. He wouldn’t get sleep tonight. Tomorrow, he would ask Wally to come over and bring noise canceling headphones.
“Do you think we were too loud?” Jaime asked his boyfriend timidly.
Absolutely not ‘we’ just you Jaime. But then came another laugh, rough and low and very familiar to someone he was hanging out with earlier. Similar to the laughter he heard leaving Red Hood’s helmet. Dick sat upright in bed. All of his sleepiness and exhaustion leaving his body.
No way.
The wall thumped lightly. Dick’s eye twitched at the thought of them having another round. Hell no!
“Jason! Shh..”
Dick’s soul left his body. Oh dear. Obsessed with red, motorcycles, he has opinions about everything and if he’s wrong violence is the answer. Constantly disappearing at weird hours. Dick slowly lowered his face into his hands. On the other side of the wall, Jaime laughed sheepishly again while Jason muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “C’mere.”
He stared into the void. The void stared back. The answer clear as day now.
“Oh my god,” he whispered to himself.
His brother.
His little brother.
Was dating his adorable neighbor.
His adorable neighbor who had unknowingly spent weeks telling Dick intimate details about Jason Todd. Dick flopped backward onto the mattress. From next door came another muffled sound followed by Jaime dissolving into laughter again. Dick grabbed a pillow and smashed it over his face.
“Absolutely not,” he groaned into the fabric.
By 7:30 the next morning, Dick had made cookies. This was not because he was emotionally stable. This was because he was a menace. If Jason wanted to unintentionally torture him with his sex life then Dick would intentionally torture him back about it. He stood outside apartment 4A holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies and vibrating, trying his best to hide his smug enthusiasm.
The door opened after the third knock.
Jaime appeared wearing sweatpants and one of Jason’s hoodies, hair a complete mess. Dark bruises and hickeys littered all over his neck and … everywhere! He did not pay them much attention for now.
“Oh!” Jaime brightened immediately despite looking sore. “Morning, Dick.”
“Good morning!”
Jaime muffled a yawn. “…You okay?”
“Oh, I’m Fantastic! Heh, Brought cookies.”
“That’s so nice—”
“And I would LOVE to finally meet your boyfriend.”
Jaime lit up instantly. Exactly as Dick expected. Because Jaime had absolutely no idea. “Oh my god, yes. Hang on— Jay!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Dick’s here!” From deeper in the apartment came a very familiar voice. (Which sounded now terrified.)
“…What?”
Dick nearly lost composure right there. Heavy footsteps approached them both, Jason appeared around the corner. There was a full three seconds of complete silence. Jason stopped dead, crushing the plastic cup between his fingers. A toothy grin came on Dick’s face. Jaime looked between them happily, still oblivious.
“Jay, this is my neighbor Dick,” Jaime said cheerfully. “Dick, this is my boyfriend Jason.”
Jason looked like he was experiencing every stage of grief simultaneously. Dick held up the cookie tray. “Hey, little brother.”
His smile vanished, his eyes popping out like a cartoon character. “…Little brother?”
He walked into the apartment without invitation because this was objectively the funniest moment of his life.“You know,” he said lightly, setting the cookies on the counter, “the clues were there. The motorcycle thing. The annoying amount of classical literature. The excessive leather jackets.”
Jason pointed at him. “Don’t start.”
Jaime stared at Jason in horror. “YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOUR BROTHER WAS DICK GRAYSON.”
“You didn’t tell me your neighbor was Dick Grayson!”
“I didn’t know that meant anything! He’s a celebrity, so what?”
“That’s worse somehow!”
Dick was trying very hard not to laugh. He failed instantly. Cackling like a hyena at the sight of them both exposed and embarrassed under his scrutiny. As they should for ruining his sleeping schedule! Jason glared murder through the universe itself while Jaime looked between them with increasing disbelief.
“Wait,” Jaime said. “Wait wait wait. If he’s your brother.. ”
Dick slung an arm around Jason’s shoulders before he could escape. “Oh, Jaime. You sweet summer child.”
Jason looked one inconvenience away from homicide. Jaime, meanwhile, was using his last brain cells to solve this missing puzzle piece. . “…Oh my god.” Dick recognized the exact moment realization hit. The vigilante realization. He watched Jaime mentally replay every single conversation they’d ever had. If Jason is Red Hood then Dick’s…
Jason put a comforting hand on Jaime. “Let’s elope in Italy. I didn’t want this to happen.. ever.”
“YOU’RE NIGHTWING?”
There was genuine betrayal in Jaime Reyes eyes.
”Yup.”