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The air buzzed with a quiet energy that filled the room, subtle but there. The teen titans lay scattered around Jason Todd’s ratty apartment living room— or at least, shell of a living room, there was almost no items in here. Lian, Ezra and Jett were squished together on the ratty piece of furniture Jason called a couch, whilst Eugene and PJ were plopped on some newly purchased beanbags on the floor. Jason sat half asleep slumped into an armchair, the occasional snore could be heard rumbling from his corner. They were absolutely wiped, exhausted from their day of running about the city, gaining intel and progressing new skills. Yet there was a sheen of excitement in the atmosphere, the teens left just wired enough to chatter in low mumbles, yet tired enough to not do anything too physical.
Jett sat with his hands in his lap, picking at his knuckles as he swung his legs idly, back and forth, up and down. Lian spoke quietly about the training she had gone under, from her father Arsenal who taught her archery and combat, leading her to gain insanely good precision, to her mother Cheshire who had shown her precision object throwing and refined her martial arts abilities, and then her time with the Gotham underground, specifically Catwoman. He couldn’t lie; her extensive history of training was impressive.
PJ was nodding along slowly, adding in the occasional remark every so often, multitasking with what appeared to be a homemade game console of sorts. Eugene was tapping away on his phone, despite the lack of good internet, and was entertaining himself with blockblast, a look of screwed up concentration on his face. Jett was pretty sure that Ezra was half asleep, the boy sitting squished to his side, thigh to thigh. Every so often one of them would shift, leading to their knees knocking and Jett’s heart racing.
“Hey,” he started, nudging his knee into the other with a slight push “You wanna go raid the kitchen? I’m feeling kinda peckish.” he grinned coyly, hoping he came off as relaxed and confident.
Ezra turned towards him, a mild expression of annoyance at their knees knocking, however the face was quickly dropped upon hearing his words. He nodded, subtle confirmation leading Jett to stand up, offering his hand out to the blonde because he wasn’t a ‘prude’ Lian, he was a gentleman.
Ezra smiled up at him, and by god was he gorgeous. Taking Jett’s hand with an easy smile and pleased complexion. Graciously, Jett helped the other up, not letting go as he tugged him towards Jasons shitty kitchen, bordering on kitchenette due to the abysmal size.
Jett quickly busied himself in the kitchen, eyeing up the different cabinets and drawers before shrugging, he would just have to open everything to see what they had. He turned, finding Ezra who had made his way onto the bar stool, swinging himself around by pushing off the kitchen counter.
“So, what’s on the menu Chef Blitz?” smirked Ezra, a gleam reflecting in his slate-blue eyes.
Jett tapped his chin, throwing open the fridge and moving various items and what looked like a lot of meal prep out of the way. He snatched up multiple items, hugging them in his arms and shutting the fridge once more, before dumping the various items onto the counter, watching as the items spill out and land on the counter with a thud. Jett winced. Hopefully that wasn’t too loud.
“Okay, so we have milk, cocoa powder and marshmallows. Plus, I saw a shit ton of biscuits and chips in the pantry. I’m thinking hot chocolate and snacks.” he said, grinning widely in a way that showed off all his teeth.
Ezra nodded, “Awesome. We should get to work then. Maybe if we ask nice enough, we can order some pizza? It’s late enough that we can get it for dinner.” he pointed out, hopping off his barstool and making his way around the counter to join him on the other side.
Jett hummed in agreement, licking his lips at the thought of warm crispy pizza and decided he didn’t mind waking the cranky old man and risked getting screamed at (or worse, shot) at the expense of some delicious pizza. He shuffled around Ezra, playfully nudging him by the hips as he passed.
“Jettttt” he whined looking up at the pink haired boy with an exasperated look, “You almost made me drop the plates.”
Jett snickered, “Sorry.” he held up his hands in mock surrender, tone very clearly unapologetic. He turned back around, reaching up onto his tippy toes and grabbing at the cabinet to find a variety of chipped and worn mugs. The two fell into a comfortable presence, working side by side as they exchanged easy conversation and made a mess of cocoa powder all across the counter.
When they were just about done, Jett poked his head back into the living room, greeted with the sight of Eugene, PJ and Lian gathered around a computer with the lights off, the three distinctively resembling a huddle of penguins.
“Hey, anyone want hot chocolate?” he asked, swivelling his head to better face them.
A mumble of yes's and a thumbs up from Lian.
“Okay good, because me and Ez made some already.”
“Not my name.” came a voice from behind him, endeaarance seeping from his tone.
He turned, smiling widely before almost startling (no he did NOT jump contrary to popular belief thank you very much Eugene.) at the sheer closeness of Ezra whose face was unnervingly close. He stood precariously balancing a few plates of snacks in his hand, while floating some surrounding mugs of hot chocolate.
“Jesus dude, way to scare a guy. Personal space much?” he joked.
The blonde rolled his eyes, yet fondness was imminent on his face. “Help me out, will you?”
He nodded, taking a mug from the air and passing it to PJ, who accepted it with a nod and a thanks. Lian reached up to grab herself a mug, passing another down to Eugene. Once there were no longer floating mugs in the air, Ezra moved to set the plates down on the coffee table besides the laptop. Doing so, it was as if it had magically awoken Jason.
“Coaster.” he grumbled from his armchair, voice rough from sleep.
Jett let out an irritated groan. He just wanted to flop onto the couch and sip his hot chocolate.
“Yes, Mom.” he replied, rolling his eyes as he ventured back to the kitchen to snatch up a couple coasters, trudging back to the living room to place them beneath the food.
With the arrival of the coasters, Jason gave him a satisfied nod, before slouching back into his armchair and promptly falling back asleep. Grandpa.
Jett sighed, grabbing a handful of chips before sliding down the couch and squishing right up to Ezra. Never mind that there was now more room on the couch with the other three huddled in front of the laptop, he just needed to see the screen, okay?
“What’re we watching?” he mumbled through a mouthful of food
“Dude, chew. Ew.” retorted Lian, blue head snapping towards him so she could sneer at him with a look of playful disgust
He rolled his eyes at the lack of proper response, choosing to swallow his food and then stick out his tongue at her childishly.
“Project Hail Mary.” came PJ’s helpful reply
Ezra nodded, “Nice.” Seemingly content with the choice of movie, he snuggled deeper into the couch, and also Jett’s side.
If it wasn’t for the lack of lighting, he was sure everyone would have been able to see the rise of the pink flush up his neck and on his face. Lian would have probably commented about it matching his hair. Whatever.
PJ clicked play on the movie and the group fell into a comfortable silence aside from the quiet munching of food and sipping of hot chocolate. Jason even awaking to move from his armchair and to the couch besides Jett, giving him a better excuse to shove deeper into Ezra’s personal space, who didn’t seem to mind at all and only shuffled closer until they were practically pressed together by the side.
The movie was good, Jett appreciated the cool sci-fi details, and Jason would occasionally remark about how the book was better, only to be shushed by Eugene and scowled at by Lian. PJ would sometimes marvel about the CGI, then quickly apologise for talking during the movie.
At around the two-hour mark, Jett shifted in his seat, only to be met with a displeased mumble from his shoulder. He looked down and realised that Ezra had quietened in his remarks on how much he adored rocky and was now fast asleep in the crook of his neck. Jett froze, pausing his movements immediately. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, the crease of his eyebrows gone and a relaxed expression on his face.
“Did he fall asleep on you?” whispered Jason from besides him.
“Yeah,” he breathed, unable to stop himself from going red at the acknowledgement of their position, “He was pretty tired.”
“Mhm.” was the man’s response once seeing that the blonde was okay, eyes locking back in for the last stretch of the movie.
It took another 30 mins for them to finish the movie. PJ shut the laptop lid with a quiet thud, followed by a yawn. Eugene stood up and began to stretch, popping his neck in a way that earned a tsk from Jason and a mumble about something to do with that being bad for him. All the snacks had been cleared from the table, and Jason had gotten up to put the mugs in the sink.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t woken up yet, considering your inability to stay still.” quipped Lian, voice still kept at a reasonably low volume
Jett’s face burned from embarrassment, if it wasn’t for the sleeping boy next to him, he would have retorted with: ‘Well, I can stay still if I want to.’ Instead, he simply held his finger to his lips and shushed her.
Lian rolled her eyes, hopping up from her spot on the floor to make her way over to the kitchen, presumably to bother Jason to order pizza for them for dinner. Eugene and PJ spoke in hushed voices for a while longer, before turning and following suit.
He felt a nudge of motion in his shoulder as a body shifted and hair scratched at his neck.
“Mmh? Jett?” murmured Ezra, voice drowsy and thick with sleep. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah. You missed the best part man.” he breathed, entranced in the way the blondes face seemed to shift with each expression, each word that left his lips and the way his eyebrows crinkled as he squinted from the light.
“Oh. Sorry.” smiled Ezra sheepishly, dimples gracing his face, “Was I on you the whole time?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I barely even noticed.” shrugged Jett, aiming for a demeanour of nonchalance.
“Oh. Okay.” nodded Ezra, rubbing at his eyes with the base of his palm as the conversation came to an awkward stilted pause.
“So do you-”
“I-”
They paused, laughing as they tried to talk at the same time. Jett opened his mouth once more and Ezra nodded, gesturing for him to talk.
“I know that we have each other on discord and all, but I was wondering if I could like get your phone number? So, we could talk on a different app or what not... You know..” blushed Jett, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly
To his luck, Ezra beamed. A slow nod as a smile began to spread across his face.
“Yeah, of course. Here, just lemme get my phone.” he replied, fumbling around his orange jacket in search. He dug into his side pocket, fishing out said device and holding it out towards him, like an olive branch of sorts.
Jett took the phone, appreciating the brief way their fingers touched during the exchange. Glancing towards the phone, he quickly typed his number before double checking it was correct, then handed it off, passing it back to it's owner.
“Cool.” he smiled, springing back on the seat with a newfound energy, knees bouncing rhythmically.
“Cool.” mirrored Ezra, a matching flush high on his cheeks as his fingers tapped away on his thigh.
They stared at each other, seemingly lost in each other’s eyes and finding themselves captivated by the soft tension in the air. Jett felt like he was just another teenage girl in one of those cheesy school age romcoms that sang praises about their crush in their diary filled with love letters. Is this what butterflies felt like? Honestly it felt more like a tornado in his stomach as all the thoughts seemed to drain from his head and his blood swirled dangerously. If he didn’t calm down, he might set off something chaotic.
Sensing this, Ezra reached out, placing his pale hand on Jett's thigh which made him blush furiously. In a brief moment of decision making, he reached out and placed his hand atop. For a moment, it was as if they were in their own little world and this was all that mattered.
Only for a moment, of course.
“Guys, pizza’s here!” yelled Lian from the kitchen, voice echoing down the thin apartment walls.
They jumped, startled as they were broken from their trance. “Coming!” Jett screeched back, cupping his mouth with his hand. He looked down to where their hands were touching, before impulsively grabbing the blondes so that they were clutching hands.
“Is this okay?” he whispered
“Yeah. More than.” agreed Ezra, his usual devious little smirk present on his face again, squeezing his hand tightly in reassurance.
They leapt up from the couch in unison, making their way into the kitchen. Jett inhaled the fresh scent of pizza with a pleased sigh, crossing paths with Jason who glanced at Ezra, then Jett, then down to their intertwined hands and then back to Jett again. The old man smiled, raising his eyebrows with a knowing look.
Jett ignored him in favour of giving Ezras hand a light squeeze.
This was nice, he decided.