Chapter Text
Later that day the team had a training session scheduled. It was indoors, in the main Mount justice training circle. It was scheduled as a regular every other day training until something unusual happened.
Roy was standing with them, in his Red Arrow attire. Jason and the rest of the teens couldn’t fail to notice that bit of extra detail. He normally never attended the training exercises or even instructed the teens in any lessons. It mostly alternated between Nightwing or Super Boy, with some guest appearances but never Red Arrow.
‘Great.’ Jason thought, biting his lip. He suddenly had the urge to make sure he didn’t mess up. He was next in line to spar with Nightwing. During so, the teen did very well. It seemed he was getting better each and every day and he may have over performed a tad—no thanks to an extra pair of eyes on him. Although, towards the end, Dick still pulled a fast one on him and knocked him to the ground.
“Okay, not bad.” Nightwing helped him up by the hand, but before Jason could fully stand up, another voice interjected.
“I didn’t just come here to stand on the sideline.” The redhead boldly complained.
“True, why are you here?” Dick passed him a questioning look.
“That aside,” Roy ignorantly yet casually brushed him off like nothing. “I’ll take it from here. I’m getting bored.”
Jason stared at the redhead as he approached them.
“O…kay…so who’s nex—?” Dick was about to turn to the remaining three teens, being Cassie, Gar and Jaime but Roy cut him off again.
“That move could have easily been defended. Let’s run that again.” Roy commanded, directing mostly at Jason. Nightwing backed away and let them have a rerun of the spar. The younger teen looked confused initially but rolled with it. They got into position, and Jason pulled the same move Nightwing did on him. Roy demonstrated how to evade it and hence avoided the fall.
“See?” The redhead made sure the teen saw that.
“Yeah, got it.” Jason caught his breath and stepped closer thinking they were done, not anticipating the abrupt attack from Roy as he did. Jason instantly swerved away, surprisingly managing to dodge the attack, but the sudden movement did throw his balance off and he felt himself descending forward. The redhead naturally caught him with an arm, holding his body while Jason instinctively clutched the other’s bicep. They were both shook for a second as they stared wildly into each other’s eyes, bodies pressed together again. Jason lost focus for a second until his stomach did a flip.
The younger instantly pulled away, murmuring a “That was a cheap move…”
“You gotta be ready for anything.” Was Roy’s defense and he earned a subtle grimace from the other.
‘Geez, he was bad for his heart.’ The teen exhaled internally.
“Alright, who’s next.” The arrow master pretended to move on, but he secretly watched Jason’s back as the teen walked away back in line with the others. For some reason, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. The elder glanced down at his hand. ‘He’s so lean, and light, despite packing quite a punch back there.” Roy’s hand burned for some reason. He could acknowledge the potential in the teen. Jason stood back in line and studied Roy handling the other teens.
‘Show off.’ The ravenette pouted with envy.
After the individual sparring, they had a session of cardio and then finally hit the showers.
“Ah, man, that was a lot. Who invited the red amigo?” Jaime complained as he and Gar walked out from the showers.
“I know right! I’m famished!” Gar exclaimed.
“What about you, Jason?” Jaime turned to Jason who was sitting on the couch with a canned drink. He had finished little before them.
“I’m okay, I had some decent sleep, can’t complain.” Jason shrugged.
“Lucky you, ese.” Jaime also dropped himself on the couch.
“Soda?” Garfield opened the fridge.
“Sure!” Jaime motioned to toss one his way. The teens chatted for a bit in the living room until their mentors stepped into the space from the training area. Dick and Roy were discussing something until they saw the teens.
“Good work guys,” Dick cheered as they passed by.
“Thanks.” Jaime acknowledged as he and Gar sat on the side couches, meanwhile Jason was sitting on the center couch, with his back towards them as they passed by. The ravenette pretended not to care as they all transiently interacted, but then he felt a hand on his head, playfully mess his hair up once as it drifted away.
Jason whipped his head to find Roy smirking back at him, all the while waltzing away. No one else noticed or cared and as Jason stared back, it began to feel like they were the only ones in the room. Every other sound and existence had just tuned out of the world while their eyes were connected.
The teen ultimately turned away, feigning indifference but the growing warmth under his cheeks would say otherwise. Roy was almost treating him like a younger brother, but it was interesting. It was even endearing in a way. If Dick did that, he wouldn’t care so much about it, but Roy doing something like this? He couldn’t stop thinking about it, resisting the urge to touch that area on top of his head. ‘So annoying.’
Why did it feel like the stone walls around them were slowly chipping away?
A whole month went by in the blink of an eye. Roy was nowhere to be seen, and Jason had also gotten busy between missions, school and Batman. Even then, his eyes would unconditionally wander, preparing for a certain redhead to appear out of nowhere—like he usually did.
‘Ugh, he was a lost cause.’ Jason knew by now he was definitely crushing on the elder, and that realization alone made him want to facepalm so hard. ‘Of all people, seriously.’
Nevertheless, the teen didn’t have time to ruminate about his undefined love life. The team was recently investigating these aliens who had landed on earth, known as Kroloteans. There’s suspicion that they were using humans as trial subjects to look for special genes that granted powers, called metagenes. Their current mission was to scout out one of their covert centers and infiltrate it.
Robin, Blue Beetle and La’gaan were on the case as they sneaked in underground and attacked the makeshift testing arena. Things only got worse as the traitor Mantle, formerly Aqualad joined scene. Nightwing, Batgirl and Wonder Girl also got involved as they fought the Kroloteans. Meanwhile Blue Beetle and Robin were tackling one of their big, robotic guys. Their hands were full and no one had time to dissemble the self-destruct bomb that had been recently activated.
‘Great, they were toast if they didn’t wrap this up fast.’ Jason couldn’t help but think as his eyes jumped back to the timer on the bomb.
Big mistake. The second his eyes were off his opponent; the big guy sent him flying across the ground. Jason groaned loudly when a broken ragged boulder struck his back. He smelt blood and knew he was bleeding but had no time to check. The teen struggled to sit up and reached for his utility belt while the monster stomped towards him. Except, someone jumped in front of him last minute and launched an arrow straight into the alien’s face, who exploded into robotic parts and scattered all over the ground.
“Red arrow?!” Jason exclaimed out loud in pure astonishment. ‘And right now? Of all places and times? Or should he say finally!”
“Why are you still here?! Evacuate with the rest!” Roy demanded as he tucked his bow away, pulling the teen up of his own volition. The elder swung Jason’s arm over his neck and hooked a secure hand on the younger’s waist, effortlessly lifting him up.
“Th…anks…” Jason choked, as he allowed Roy to drag him out of there.
“Thank me later.” The redhead claimed with a cold somber voice. He wasn’t pleased at all with the current state of Robin’s condition. The ground shook again and that was a telltale sign that the ceiling would collapse soon. “On second thought, this’ll be faster.” Roy called out, grabbing Jason’s attention before simply scooping him up, bridal style.
“Hey!” Jason let out an embarrassing yelp, digging his nails into the redhead’s clothing further, face flushed at the unanticipated gesture. ‘God, he hoped no one saw him like this.’ The younger tucked his head low. The redhead noticed that and bit back a smirk, finding it adorable.
The elder got them outside safely, moments before the place exploded with some of the remaining team in the water. “Good work, that was a close one…” Dick announced.
“Robin?” Wonder girl saw them. “Are you okay?” And they all turned to the pair, Roy still holding him. Jason wanted to open a sink hole and get sucked in. Meanwhile the redhead held back a laugh upon seeing Jason’s face and decided to have mercy on him by putting him down.
“Yea-yeah I’m fine…he did that on his own…” The ravenette grumbled, head low with humiliation.
“I can’t wait to head back.” Jaime suggested.
Back at the cave, Jason got his back bandaged. Right after the doctor left the infirmary room, Roy knocked on the ajar door to get his attention. Jason raised his chin to find the redhead at the door, now entering. Jason was sitting semi-sideways on the bench bed, shirtless, maskless.
“How bad?” Roy asked, standing over him, still in his uniform. His gaze inevitably tracing down the pale skin, bare lean muscles.
“Just a deep scrape, I just need to avoid getting it wet for the time being.”
“That’s all?” Roy sat beside him, somewhat behind him since Jason’s back was mostly facing him.
“Yeah, the doctor said that…” The younger began talking but soon enough Roy tuned him out as he examined his body. The teen’s physique was much leaner and smaller than his own. His eyes swept around his shoulders, down to his arms, then to his back, shoulder blades sticking out from underneath the bandages. Without even realizing, in a trance of his own, the elder gently grazed the bandaged area.
Jason stopped talking for a second, not missing the action. But when Roy refused to say anything and remain silent, the younger continued rambling, just to fill the awkward air with something. All the while, the elder continued to trail his fingers lower.
“Roy…?” The name snapped the redhead back to reality and he lifted his head to meet bright turquoise eyes. Jason stared back over his shoulder, with a mildly concerned and confused expression. Roy’s breath got caught in his throat and he found himself leaning away like he was in a dangerous situation. He could suddenly feel the heat from the teen’s body at the tip of his finger tips. “Roy?”
“Er, anyway, that’s good.” The redhead retracted his hand and instantly turned away, getting up as well, all in one go. The teen still looked lost, like he was missing a piece or something had changed, but he didn’t push it. All he knew was that Roy was not acting normal.
“You should get any injuries checked too.” Jason recommended.
“Yeah. I will.” The elder agreed absent-mindedly and left with a quick “Take care of yourself.”
It wasn’t until after he left that Jason realized he didn’t get a chance to ask where the redhead had been and how he even managed to get to that location. Oh well.
After a couple days of rest and recollection, the team was preparing for their next mission. The Kroloteans were hiding and it didn’t help that Aqualad was on the opposing team as well. They didn’t have time to spare so they were going to scavenge the area, look for any missing teens, etc.
Nightwing was gearing up, and ran into Red Arrow, who was also at Mount Justice. “Are you coming? I mean honestly, it’s not bad to have some extra hands on board.”
“Hm, yeah but this is a passive mission, isn’t it?” Roy crossed his arms, not too interested.
Jaime and Jason came downstairs, all suited up. Jaime moved on to find Beast Boy while Jason recognized the two elders.
“Oh, Red Arrow? What, are you coming on this mission too?” Jason asked curiously but couldn’t stay to hear the answer as Beast Boy hollered at him. “Hold on, coming!” He ran over to the other teens.
Roy paused. He stood still, face turned towards where the teen appeared from for a long second, away from Dick until he turned back around. Dick raised a brow, waiting for him to say something.
“On second thought, I think my evening is free. Luthor can probably wait.” The redhead decided on a whim. Dick gave him a suspicious look but didn’t question it further.
‘Yeah. What exactly was he doing?’ Roy questioned himself behind the fake smile.
Jason was eating at the table with the other teens but couldn’t avoid the long stares from Cassie. He glanced away once and back at her, but she never budged.
“Uh…did you cook this?” Jason asked for the sake of saying something. Those eyes were beginning to drill traumatic holes into his soul.
“What? Oh, I mean, no not really…” The blond blinked, softening her gaze temporarily.
“Okay, it’s edible though.”
“That’s good to hear…” Cassie responded back sheepishly before she went back to stealing glances at him.
“Uh…you hermanos okay?” Jaime sat one seat away from them on the dining table, witnessing this weird tense dynamic. Gar was too busy enjoying his food, but even he glanced up, at the funny mood taking over the table.
“That’s kind of what I wanna know. Is there something on my face?” the ravenette felt around his mouth.