Chapter Text
If he hadn’t been so blinded by his own misery, no doubt he would’ve noticed the one who was supposed to be listening to him hadn’t been listening since about fifteen minutes ago.
The exact fifteen minutes ago, when he had sunk down onto the chair across the table, looking all distressed and helpless, and he had begun by saying, “Hey, dude,” to which the other, sitting cross-legged without looking away from his phone for even a second, had replied, “'Sup, dude.”
That was to say, it’s possible that he hadn’t been getting the attention he needed since the very beginning.
And if only he hadn’t been so blinded by his own misery, the first thing he would’ve noticed, was how the guy had been staring hard at his own smartphone, with his brows creased together pensively as if striving to solve some unsolvable mystery inside the device; and it might’ve occurred to him that even though he was totally going to win the crown of most-screwed-up of the week in here, clearly there had been something bothering this guy as well, and that very something might somehow connect to his phone.
But he didn’t pay attention to any of that; none of his great detective skills had been put into use, since he had been so completely drowned in his own misery.
After the quick exchange of greetings, he had spoken with all the strength he could currently muster, letting the words pour out of his mouth nonstop for about fifteen minutes. Then he had taken a deep breath to ready himself to make the final request, feeling like he was diving into the bottomless pitch of shame of his own digging.
He had asked, in his most sincere manner which showed just exactly how helpless he was. Then he had waited. Then ten seconds had passed.
He sighed and ran his hands through his sleek dark hair. Someone had once told him that the way he showed frustration was quite eye-catching, but apparently, not all the redheads had the same point of view.
“What?” the red-haired guy looked up from his phone quizzically after a piece of Cheetos had bumped against his chest.
Dick sighed again, throwing a bitter look at him.
“You haven’t been listening to a word I said, haven’t you?”
The redhead tossed up the Cheetos from where it had been hanging on his T-shirt into his mouth. “--No?” the guy admitted with a small grimace.
“Yah, I figured,” Dick murmured sourly.
Now that he had finally got the redhead’s attention, he cleared his throat and straightened his back.
He stared deep into the emerald eyes.
“Roy,” he asked the second time, bringing out all of his charm and sincerity. “--Would you be my boyfriend?”
***
“Excuse me.” Roy swallowed down the Cheetos, uncertain of what had just happened. “--Am I missing something here? I don’t know if my hearing is still a bit off from the fight last night, but I could swear you just asked me to be your boyfriend.”
“I did just ask you to be my boyfriend.”
A moment of silence, then Roy reached out a hand, slowly and carefully, as he found no trace of foolishness on his friend’s face.
“Dick,” he started, wanting to sound affectionate, but not too affectionate that might’ve sent out the wrong signal; it wasn’t exactly easy, since he basically just looked like he was sending out some kind of signal all the time. He honestly thought Dick, as one of his oldest friend, and being Dick, would be immune to his natural flirtiness.
He cursed his natural flirtiness; if it wasn’t for it, he certainly would’ve been living a life without all the romantic troubles.
“Look, Wingster,” he said, while one of his hand was still playing with his phone idly, “I ain’t saying I’m not flattered, I totally am, but we’re friends, like, lets not over explore each other flexibility or slow dance under the moonlight kind of friends, and please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you wouldn’t be an excellent boyfriend, I’m sure you are. Kori have said all the good stuff about you back in the days, and just because you guys didn’t work out and she might’ve said something else when she's angry doesn’t mean any of those good stuff about you are less true.”
“Wait, what did Kori say?” Dick was clearly disturbed. Oops.
Roy cleared his throat. “She will burn off my eyebrows if she ever finds out I spilled a word, it’s a redhead to redhead confidential thing, so please don’t ask me.”
The poor guy frowned at him for a few seconds, then seemingly decided there’s a more pressing matter at hand than his ex-girlfriend.
After shaking his head with a sigh, Dick went back to explaining, “I didn’t ask you to be my boyfriend because I want you to be my boyfriend.”
Roy inspected him closely, getting slightly impressed.
“The girls are right, sometimes you could be so confusing.”
***
“I’m sure there is a reason behind this?” a moment later, the man remarked simply in his usual sedated tone, not as much as breaking it but deepening the awkwardness and discomfort of the awkward, uncomfortable silence they had been stuck in.
Damian, who was perching in a dark corner, was glaring at Dick coldly with his trademark scorn. Tim and Alfred were standing on the side, regarding him in a mix of concern and reproof; while Jason, who apparently was a sadist and hated Dick’s guts, was just crossing his arms comfortably and enjoying the show.
Dick opened his mouth and closed it again, finding himself uncharacteristically speechless.
The voice Bruce had used was nothing but normal, and it wasn’t even much of a question but just stating the fact. It had never been a problem for him to express himself to Bruce, Dick wouldn’t have found himself so unease, except that everyone was gazing at him right now and it was making him nervous.
In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have intervened in the war between Tim and Damian, nothing would’ve happened anyway since there’re at least two legally adults present.
Bruce would’ve just stopped them with his death glare if things got out of control, or Alfred could’ve just ceased the fight by making the no-cookie threat. He didn’t have to butt in, but thanks to the nanny duty he had been carrying out for the past year, now it had became his second nature to keep those stupid children steady. And maybe, it really should’ve occurred to him that Jason had been sitting on the fence the whole time didn’t mean the guy was a pacifist now but just waiting for the exact moment to throw him under the bus.
The part of Dick that still had faith in humanity made him want to believe that what had happened was a slip of the tongue, that Jason had found out his little secret and had spilled it in front of everyone solely by mistake.
But that was Jason.
After Dick had broken the boys apart, “--Well done, Dickie boy, us humble citizens are yet again safe from the war of fierce infants all thanks to you. Too bad you won’t always be here though, how’s the search of your new apartment anyway? I heard it’s not exactly easy to find a nice quiet place in Bludhaven,” Jason had said with a cruel smirk, and it was enough evidence of his ill intent.
“What?” Surprised by the information, Tim had stopped throwing daggers at Damian and turned his eyes on Dick instantly. “You’re moving out? Why didn’t you tell us?” he had questioned, with a bit of disappointment in his bafflement; meanwhile, Damian had been glaring at him with full force, “Why the hell would you tell Todd?”
“I didn’t tell him, alright?” Dick had clarified weakly before he had turned to Jason. “How did you know that?” But Jason had just responded with a small shrug and another smirk.
“No, wait,” Tim had cut in, “So when were you planning on telling us about this?”
Dick had stared blankly at Tim, before Damian had taken note of his expression and answered for him, “The day he moves out, it seems.”
Instead of yelling “betrayer” and throwing a tantrum, the kid had just gazed at Dick darkly with that hard, piercing blue eyes of his, and that somehow had made it more difficult for Dick to find his tongue.
After that, there had been a brief torturous moment of silence, until Bruce had made that simple remark, and everything just seemed more awkward and uncomfortable.
***
“So, why do you want to move back to Bludhaven exactly?” Roy was curious. “You’ve been staying at your old man’s for over a year now, I thought you’re fine living in there?”
“I was, “ he sighed. “It’s just…thing’s fine, but I’ve only moved back to help because he's away, and now he’s back, and it’s his house his rule all over again. And then Jason’s back and just kind of hanging around, and then there are Dami and Timmy--I mean, I love the guys, but it’s not easy to live in the house and being with them all the time and not feel like I’m going to lose my mind.”
No matter how much Dick was enjoying the thought of all of them could get together, it would’ve only been a good idea if they were doing it ever once in a while. Tim and Jason wasn’t exactly living in the house at the moment, but they were still pretty much part of the manor.
Dick might’ve been able to handle Damian being the insolent little brat he was, or the endless playground fight he had with Tim; or Tim’s Bruceness; or Jason’s jackass attitude; or even Bruce's Bruceness. He might’ve been able to handle each one of those with patience, love, and highly self-restraint, but with all of them added together, it was far too much for any sane human being.
“I miss having my own place,” he confessed in a soft, sorrowful tone, “I miss being on my own.”
“I hear you, bro,” Roy nodded with sympathy. “But why didn’t you just tell them, instead of letting it blow up in your face?”
“I wanted to,” and he really did.
The idea of moving out hadn’t just popped up in his head suddenly at the past few weeks, he had known for a fact that he should leave the manor the minute Bruce was back. But Bruce had asked him to stay and help with the team, and he understood that it wasn’t actually the team or the missions Bruce had needed his help with. The newly formed father-son relationship hadn’t been gone quite well right before Bruce’s departure, it might’ve been easier for Damian if Dick was to stay, so he did.
“There’re always so much stuff going on,” he told Roy in a tired voice, “I should’ve said it from the start, but I’ve kind of lost the chance. There’s never seemed to be a good time for me to bring it up, and in the end I just didn’t know how to say it.”
Roy shrugged and suggested lightheartedly, “--I’ve had enough of each goddamn one of you and I’m outta here. See you later, love you. Kissy-face, kissy-face?”
“Yeah, no. I’m pretty sure my family won’t appreciate that, especially the kissy-faces.”
“But you did tell them something.”
“Well…” Dick cast down his eyes to inspect his nails with devotion.
It didn’t get less embarrassing as he explained it again, but at least, instead of talking to himself, the redhead was actually listening to him this time.
An incredulous smile crawled onto Roy’s lips once he’s done.
Roy shook his head, giving Dick the same amazed look he would’ve given to some idiot on YouTube who had mindlessly kicked himself in the balls in some highly creative way.
“Why would you say that?”
“Honestly? I have no idea.”
***
He should have just let it slide. Bruce didn’t really care about his answer, he knew damn well that how much Dick needed his own space. The last thing he should do is getting defensive and over-explaining himself.
A simple “yeah” would be enough to end the subject, since he did, in fact, have his reasons to want to move back to Bludhaven. He could do the explanation later, to everyone, individually, under a more controllable environment, where no misunderstanding could be made.
He would’ve told Bruce that it’s time for him to get back on his own; he would’ve told Damian that nothing would’ve change between them; he would’ve told Tim that he didn’t want to hide the information from him but just simply didn't know how to bring it up; he would’ve told Jason…well, nothing, the guy had just outed him, so that’s that.
He was just about to open his mouth, but Jason, who was leaning against the wall with crossed arms, had beaten him to it.
“So,” Jason started, not exactly being evil-minded, but more likely just getting bored of the stretched silence and deciding to spice things up. “--What is it then, Dickie boy? Why would you want to leave such a warm, lovely home? My guess would be family issues, but what do I know about that? There’s always a chance that you've just found the love of your life and you wanna take things to the next level...”
“--Yeah,” was spilled out, just as he had planned.
Then Jason stopped smirking and turned to frown at him. He looked back at Jason blankly.
“Seriously? I was just joking, man.” Jason did not expect that. “You’re going to move out because you want to move in with someone?”
Wait, what?
“Yeah,” he said it again, because he was stressed out by everything, and once he had realized the mistake he had made, he panicked, and his smart mouth that wasn’t being so smart at the moment had decided to screw him over.
“Yeah,” he found himself saying, “I've been seeing someone, and I thought…I thought we should spend more time together.”
Stick with the story that people are already buying. His stupid undercover instinct was choosing the wrong moment to kick in.
Tim cleared his throat, getting a bit confused but trying to show his support, “Well, in that case, maybe you guys could come together? The charity banquet on Saturday night?”
Now, a man could only dig that much of his own grave. He was really going to control his mouth from making things worse, but then Damian snorted, “Why wouldn’t they? Since everyone has already known about his love affair, there’s no reason for Grayson to maintain the secret and refuse to introduce his lover to us.”
“Yeah,” was all Dick could manage. And yeah, he’s screwed.
***
“Man, you look great.”
“I gotta, otherwise people may think you only want me for my personality,” Roy flicked him a crooked smile, leaving the door open, then went back inside.
Dick followed him into the apartment, waiting by the side of the couch while the redhead went searching for his missing jacket.
Roy had been staying in Gotham for months by now, yet Dick had never gotten the chance to visit him at his place. He took a look around with mild curiosity, giving the living room a casual inspection.
The place wasn’t exactly messy, at least not by Dick’s standard; just a few clothes lying on the couch, a little bit of junk food trash scattering on the table, not unlike the single-bedroom apartment Dick used to live in before he had moved back with his family.
There’s nothing peculiar within sight, except, “--I thought you quit smoking?” Dick hunched down and picked up the pack of cigs from the couch.
“What?” an absentminded sound came from the inside of the bedroom, in which Roy’s jacket had been hiding from him.
The guy stepped out into the living room, putting on his dark red jacket. “Ah, that’s…not mine,” he replied dryly, after seeing what Dick was holding. He took the Marlboro off Dick’s hand and put it back on the table.
“So?” Roy requested, gesturing at himself loosely. The three-piece tuxedo he was wearing was well-tailored, and probably was as expensive as Dick’s.
Dick put aside the further question he was going to ask, and studied the guy with admiration. Roy really did look like the kind of handsome rich kid he basically was, with his red mane being not so messy but slicked back neatly.
“What happened to you, Roy? Where is the bow tie T-shirt, and the shorts? What happened to the man I love solely for his intelligence?”
“Well, that man was a loser who didn’t have a fake boyfriend to take him out for a magical evening, so I murdered him in cold blood, dumped his body into the mountain of dirty laundry where my bow tie T-shirt was buried,” the redhead declared with confidence, while walking toward the door. “And when do you ever see me wearing shorts in formal events, I'm a decent man, I would at least put on some jeans.”
“I don’t know,“ Dick left the apartment with him, speaking in an innocent and confused tone, “I just kind of assumed that I would be seeing more nudity before we move in together.”
They got into Dick’s car after they had left the building. Roy slumped into the front passenger seat as Dick started the car.
“You know,” when they were on their way to the banquet, Roy was getting curious, “I understand why you couldn’t ask Kori, but isn’t there another redhead beauty? I always thought you guys have a thing.”
“We had.” Dick shifted in the seat uncomfortably. It’d been quite a while now, but the thing between him and Babs was still pretty awkward for him to talk about.
The vague reply didn’t seem to bother Roy though, he just nodded in acknowledgment and moved on.
“What about Donna then?”
“Donna wouldn’t say yes, she would just tell me to be honest with my family and that I should confess.”
“But what good would ever come from that?” Roy doubted with a raised eyebrow. Dick hummed in mock agreement at his mock wonderment.
“What about Wally?”
“Nah, he met with Bruce before. And according to him, my scary adopted dad is 'giving him the chills'. What if he gets stage fright and runs?”
“Then I guess it wouldn’t be too embarrassing for you since no one would actually see him flee?” Roy flashed him a lazy smirk. “You know, it did occur to me that I’ve never met your family before, but I do, more or less, have my fair share of the scary-adopted-dad experience, so I probably won’t freak out and ditch you.”
“And that’s all I could ask for a man.” Dick exclaimed softly with deep affection.
They caught in a small traffic jam a few minutes later. While they were waiting it out, Dick darted a glance to his friend, wondering what the redhead had been doing since they was done making jokes.
Head leaning on the arm he was propping against the car widow, Roy stared down at the phone in his other hand, not doing anything with it, but just gazing at the phone thoughtfully with knitted brows.
“Hey,” Dick called for his attention after regarding him for a few seconds. “You're okay?”
Roy glanced up from his phone, looking a bit hazy. “What?” he blinked. “Yeah, sure, why do you ask?”
Dick lifted an eyebrow. “You're sure there isn’t anything you want to talk to me about?”
“Like what exactly?”
“I don’t know.” As Dick was pondering, Roy was getting discomforted and turning to avoid his gaze.
The troubled look Roy had had on his face just seconds ago was oddly familiar. Dick could remember seeing the guy having the same look when he had came to Roy for help at the beginning; how occupied Roy had seemed to be that he didn't pay any attention to Dick and his problem.
Though he might’ve been too caught up in his own trouble back then to actually take notice of things, but it’s in his nature to absorb all the information around him, even though sometimes he might not come to acknowledge what the information was.
Now that he did take note of things, he could say for sure that there’s something bothering his friend.
He hadn’t seen Roy much for quite some time before he had gone to the redhead for help. He could vaguely recall that Wally had once complained to him that he and Roy had rarely hung out with them these days. “--What are you two so caught up about anyway,” Wally had said on the phone, and he had explained. He knew that he had got a manor of reasons to be too stressed to go out and spend some nights with his friends; but he had no idea what had gotten Roy so occupied lately.
The last time Roy had had that pensive look on his face, there's a dark-haired, troublesome, highly-deadly-trained assassin involved.
“Oh, shit,” Dick cursed softly once he had reached a concussion. “You got back with her?”
“What?” Roy blinked, before it came to him, “--You mean Jade?”
Dick let out a sigh. “Just…can you just promise me not to break her out of prison?”
“What are you talking about, man? I’m not going to break her out, and we didn’t get back together.”
“Really?” That’s good to hear. “So you’re not seeing anyone right now?”
Roy fidgeted with his phone.
“Dude,” Dick frowned, “What is it?”
“It isn’t…it isn’t much of a seeing, really.” The redhead stirred in the seat. “It’s just…well, it’s stupid, that’s what it is.”
Roy fidgeted with his phone, and he fidgeted with his hands; sooner or later, he’s going to fidget with his hair and make a compete mess of it.
Dick could already see his hands itching to run through his sleek red hair. He couldn’t let it happen. “Please just tell me,” Dick pleaded, “Just calm down and tell me, and don’t play with your hair, dude. If you got yourself looking like a hot mess, people will see it and assume we've made out.”
“And why would that be a bad thing?” Roy retorted in a dry voice, but after that he sighed, and he did stop moving his hand and started to tell Dick the story.
***
“So,” he cleared his throat, and he took a deep breath, and he was still panicking.
The bow tie around his neck had begun to suffocate him as soon as they had gotten out of the car and stood outside the building.
It would be much more easier to do something else, something more life-threatening, than go in there and lie to his families to their faces.
It was stupid. It was ridiculous. He had dug his own grave, and now he was diving into it with a tuxedo.
Seeing how Dick was getting nervous, Roy nudged him with an elbow. “So,” he suggested, “Wanna do the briefing again?”
“Yeah,” Dick nodded instantly.
Talking could always ease up his nerve. He took another deep breath, before he started, “So, there’s Tim.”
“The younger version of scary-adopted-dad.” Roy responded quickly as though he was at class.
“Well, yes, sometimes. But he's much more functional than Bruce, so it wouldn’t be hard to deal with him. He’s nice, he’s smart, probably too smart for us if we’re not being careful.” He pondered deeply, the only way he could've get through this was by thinking of it as a mission. “--If we’re going to do this, I would rather not to be made.”
“Does that mean we’ll have to be all lovey-dovey to each other?”
“Possibly.”
“Cool,” Roy nodded easily. “Just exactly how much do you want people to bolt away and gouge their eyes out?”
“Not too much, we’re not trying to start a riot here. And also, it’ll probably set a bad example if we got ourselves adult-rated in front of the kid.”
“But isn’t your youngest kid brother supposed to be an overly mature kid?”
That was a complicated question to answer, so Dick just shrugged, and tried to find a way to describe the kid without portraying him as a highly insufferable abhorrent pocket-sized menace.
He personally thought the brat was adorable, but he could understand why people wouldn’t normally see it that way.
“Damian isn’t evil, not the last time I checked anyway,” he simply notified his friend. “Just don’t get smart with him, and don’t try to be funny.”
“Why? Because your lil' bro doesn’t have a sense of humor?”
“He has, it’s just the way he shows it might’ve cost you some body parts.”
Roy clicked his tongue. “Scary,” he commented. “And speaking of, what about your old man, is he going to get all Buffalo Bill on me if I try to be funny?”
“I think you would be pretty much safe with him,” Dick stated unconcernedly.
There’s no doubt that Bruce would be nothing but warm and sociable inside the building; and unless Roy had secretly planned to do some proper damage to the banquet hall and hold everyone hostage, Bruce wouldn’t have taken much real interest in him anyway. As far as Dick’s concern, the old man would probably just make them unnecessarily uncomfortable.
Roy hummed in response. “So what about Jason then? The 'smoldering wrath'?”
Dick spent a moment to wonder whether Jason was going to make an appearance or not.
If he wasn’t, it would be because this type of events disgusted him, and also because Jason wasn’t technically invited since he was still basically a dead guy according to his death certificate. But if he did show up, then it’s hard to say if he was here just so he could have fun embarrassing Dick in front of his date or he was here to trash the event .
There’s no way to tell at this early point, about what Jason true agenda was if he was to show up. Like what he had said about Damian, the guy wasn’t evil either, but he had a habit of getting himself driven by his instinct rather than reasons, therefore, he was unpredictable.
More often than not, things between him and Jason weren’t quite civil. But for a while back, they had actually been in a sort of good term.
The guy had seemed to be at ease for the past few months, possibly more than he had ever been since he had reappeared in Gotham; and at some point, he and Dick had even sat down together one night and had a kind of bonding moment.
It didn’t last though. Whatever progress Jason had been having was set back since about a few weeks ago.
Thinking about how the guy was back being a sheer jerk again, Dick sighed. “I really don’t know if Jason is going to show up,” he told Roy, “let’s just hope he won’t.”
***
Tim was the first one they ran into. He excused himself from the people he had been socializing with after he’d caught a glimpse of them.
“Where’s you date?” he asked as he approached Dick, hands swaying out in confusion.
There’re a few people around them; Roy, his beloved fake boyfriend, was standing beside him, seemingly had been distracted by a beautiful young woman nearby who was wearing a lovely evening gown and was smiling a sweet smile at him since the redhead had walked past her and caught her attention.
So much for devoted partner. Seeing Roy was smiling at the woman in return, Dick sighed internally.
“I thought you’re going to bring someone.”
“I did bring someone,” Dick responded with a soft laugh, pulling at the redhead’s arm promptly to drag back his attention from the young unknown woman. “This is Roy Harper,” he introduced, “--Roy, this is Tim, my younger brother.”
Eyes turning away from the woman, Roy glanced at Dick briefly, before he noticed Tim’s presence.
Immediately, he pressed tightly against Dick. “Hey,” he grinned at Tim, “Nice to meet you.”
“Uh,” Tim started uncertainly. “Yeah, you too.” He took the hand Roy reached out and gave it a friendly shake, eyes studying the redhead discreetly with curiosity.
“So...you guys are dating.”
Dick hadn’t thought about that, but he could see how it might’ve been a bit of a surprise to his brother. They’d never had a conversation about Dick’s sexual preference; considered Dick’s reputation in the heterosexual department, it would seem pretty much unnecessary.
“Not what you've expected, isn’t it?” Roy pointed out, with a leer and a lopsided smirk, causing Tim flush a little with embarrassment.
“Dickybird’s told me a lot about you, and from what I’ve heard, you seem to be a pretty awesome guy. Think you’ll be cool with this?”
“Of course,” without a second of hesitation, Tim straightened his back instinctively and replied.
Scowling, he flicked a glare at Dick. The suggestion that he might not be cool about this was getting him a bit exasperated. “Jesus, man, is this why you haven’t told us? You think that you dating a guy would be a problem?”
“No!” Dick cried out quickly. “Come on, it wasn’t like that, you know I wouldn’t think that.”
“I sure would hope so.” Tim’s voice was dry and skeptical. “--Otherwise I'll be really disappointed. Just because you took a slightly different turn of your dating life doesn’t mean any of us would be less cool about it.”
Roy, who had an arm around Dick’s shoulder and the half of his body draping over Dick, regarded the two of them amusedly and said, “Well, if any of you are interested to know, I really don’t see how there’s any difference.”
Tim gazed at him in confusion; Roy lifted the corner of his mouth languidly.
“--Seeing how my flaming red locks are still flaming, I’m pretty sure that I’m just the same as any former romantic partners my booboo here would love to choose for himself.”
There're seconds of dead silence, as both Dick and Tim were looking at him kind of incredulously; then Tim laughed, and Dick groaned in embarrassment.
***
“It wasn’t so bad,” Roy commented cheerfully, after they had departed from the younger man.
“Yeah, except that my little brother has just gotten the impression that I hid all of this from him because I thought he might be homophobic,” Dick sighed, knowing what would be waiting for him in the upcoming days. Tim would want to discuss the subject further, there’s no doubt about that.
Roy pat his face fondly. “Cheer up Dickybird, at least he didn’t suspect we’re fake. We actually made a pretty good pretended couple.”
“'Dickybird'?” Dick quirked his eyebrows.
“What, it’s cute, and it shows just how much exactly, that I, as your fake boyfriend, adore you.”
***
“This is…”
“Roy, right?” the man had taken over before Dick could finish. Roy blinked in confusion. “--It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Uh,” Roy tossed an unsettled look at Dick before he held Bruce’s hand and shook it with caution. “I’m...sorry. I'm just a little surprised here. I thought Dick didn't tell anyone about us.”
“As much as it’s hurt me to say, that is correct,” the man replied casually, with a somewhat flirtatious smile hanging on his lips, which had gotten Roy to raise his eyebrows. Sure, that's a gorgeous smile of a gorgeous man, but it’s also kind of creepy.
“Boy’s all grown up now, it’s hard to get him to share his romance story anymore.” Bruce remarked jokingly in a smooth, velvety tone .
“Oh my god,” Dick, who seemingly didn’t think much of the act, exclaimed in mild annoyance, “Please Bruce, Roy’s a friend here, so please cut it out.”
But Bruce--no, Brucie, as the people around had been calling him--just tipped his head to the side vaguely.
The man was still holding the glass of wine he had been holding all along while he had been socializing with his rich pals, and he didn't leave out the idleness either.
The way Bruce presented himself didn’t seem completely unfamiliar to Roy; he had seen this act numberless of times, except when Ollie was doing it, it wasn’t that much of an act.
The man who stood in front of them didn’t match any of Dick’s former descriptions; he seemed warm, and charming, and every bit a human being. If any of those things Dick had mentioned about this man were true, then he must be a hell of an actor, or possibly had split personalities.
Roy didn’t know much about this man aside from what Dick had been telling him, but the way the man had called him by his name suggested he knew things about Roy as though they had met before, which kind of made him uncomfortable.
“Well,” he started with an easy smile, “Since Dickie hasn’t spread around my good name, I take that as you’ve already known me from somewhere else, Mr. Wayne?”
“Bruce, please,” Bruce corrected him carelessly. “You’re Ollie’s kid, aren’t you? I remember seeing you in an event your dad has hosted, it's a long time ago, and you was just a child.”
No wonder he didn’t remember then.
He’d only been to those stupid events when he was real small, never paid much attention to anyone in there, and he’d never attended those events again once he had started to realize that Ollie would've just been too occupied by everyone else to take actual notice of how little kiddie Roy was still existed somewhere in that extravagant world which he didn’t belong.
Roy hummed abstractedly while he was taking a short trip through memory lane. Bruce continued, “How’s Ollie anyway? I haven’t seen him in ages.”
“You and me both, Mr. B,” he replied nonchalantly, “Me and the old man haven’t seen much of each other these days.”
Bruce quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize he's that busy,” he said in a light voice, while those blue eyes were inspecting Roy thoroughly.
“Bruce,” Dick tried to chime in, knowing how he felt about the matter; but Roy dismissed him.
“Well, I’m sure he is,” or not. He honestly didn’t give a fuck.
Bruce studied him a while longer, and it was making him nervous. He could see it now, there’s the scary-adopted-dad in there, hiding behind the inane facade of a playboy billionaire.
“So,” the man said, easing up his gaze eventually, “How long have you guys been together?”
***
Regarding the man who had gotten wrapped up into yet another inane conversation with other rich people right after he had departed them, Roy remarked, “I think Wally might have a point, that was unsettling.”
“Yeah,” Dick rubbed his neck. “Sorry about that.”
“Nah,” he dismissed it. “Your pop isn’t so bad, I don’t even know why I’m getting the jitters.” He pondered for a second. “Maybe it’s like those horror movies, that even though nothing is there for you to see, but you can still hear the scary theme music, so you knew something is there, you just don’t know what it is exactly it or when it’s going to jump you.”
Dick snorted, “Excellent, so my dad is a real life horror movie to you.”
”Aren’t being weird and scary is like your family theme? And for what’s worth, I think you guys are cooler than the Addams.”
***
Damian clicked his tongue. “Who would’ve guessed,” he drawled, with his arms crossed and his mouth crooking into a smirk, head tipping aside to glance up at Roy, “--Yet another redhead, you truly are a man of mystery, Grayson.”
“You rascal,” after a look at Damian, Roy turned to Dick and scolded him fondly, “--Why wouldn’t you tell me that this is a dressing up party with little baby acting like a Bond villain?”
Dick groaned internally, chiming in to make the introduction before anyone could begin to say anything less civil, “Dami, this is Roy; Roy, this is Damian.”
“'Sup, kid,” Roy greeted with a smirk, “May I just say, you look exactly like the type of kiddie that Dickybird has said you are.”
Instead of getting curious about what Dick might’ve said about him, Damian replied with a snort, “Then you look like nothing, because that’s how much your existence has ever been mention to our family.”
“Oh, come on, kiddo, just because your big bro won’t tell you about some adult stuff doesn’t mean you’re not his sweet little baby and he doesn’t love you.”
Damian squinted his eyes at the cheerful redhead, voice darkening expectedly, “Don’t talk to me like I’m some kind of toddler.”
Oh no. Dick could see it coming.
The lazy smirk that had been dangling on Roy’s lips was breaking into a whole toothy grin, and he knew what the redhead was going to say.
Roy purred, “--Or what?”
***
“I can’t believe you,” he shook his head. “I mean, Damian? Sure. But I thought you're a grown-up.”
Dick wouldn’t dare to imagine what kind of scene they would’ve created, if Bruce haven’t shown up and called the kid away. Roy, who seemed quite pleased with himself, threw an arm around him and chuckled a little.
“Calm down, man, it’s not like I would’ve actually gotten into a fight with a middle schooler. And just for the record, if I do, I will totally kick his tiny baby ass.”
He should’ve known that Roy would want to mess with Damian, for the same reason that the redhead always had trouble keeping his hands away from any newfound dangerous weapons (On the plus side, Roy did seem to share his opinion on how the kid was adorable).
“I think I need to reconsider our relationship,” Dick returned in a feigned sad voice. “The good thing is, we’re pretty much done here now, let just make some excuse and bail. “
“What? Already? But I put on my best killer dress for you, I think I deserve more fun,” Roy cried out, apparently still quite enjoying the encounters with Dick’s family so far.
“What about your other brother? The Jason guy? I still haven’t met Jason, I’m dying to meet Jason.”
“I did tell you I don’t know if he’s going to show up. We haven’t ran into him at this point, so he’s probably not.”
And, of course, that was the exact moment Jason’s voice rose behind them.
“Hey, Dickie boy,” Jason taunted, “Is that Babs wearing pants because you aren't the one who gets to wear it, or that’s your new redhead of the month?”
Dick rolled his eyes before he turned to face the guy.
“You’re here.”
“Of course I am, just because the mailman has seemed to lose my invitation doesn’t mean I’m going to pass up the chance of meeting your newest love-interest.”
Dick hummed dryly in response. So Jason was here to annoy him, that’s nice, at least now he wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not there would be a life-threatening crisis waiting to happen.
Jason, who was being the only one that didn’t follow up the dress code here, was wearing a white undershirt, a pair of dark denim jeans and a biker jacket as usual. There’s no way he could’ve walked through the front door of the event center without knocking out some securities dressing like this. Not that Dick actually cared about how the guy got in; as long as no one was screaming, that wound be more than enough for him.
“Jason, come and meet Roy,” he said tersely, swaying out his hand in a mock gesture, “Roy, this is Jason.”
A small perplexed frown rose onto Jason’s face as Dick was in the halfway of the introduction.
Jason strolled forward, didn’t seem to have taken a proper look at the redhead until he was finally standing in front of them.
His blue eyes turned to Roy.
“--Jay?” Dick called out, but his brother didn’t seem to hear his voice. The guy just kind of kept staring at Roy with a really, really peculiar look on his face.
The snide smirk on Jason’s lips disappeared, his jawline drooped, and there’s something in his cold hard eyes that somehow set off Dick’s alarm.
Dick scowled and turned around, wanting to see if Roy would understand what was going on. But Roy, who had his arm around Dick’s shoulder, head tilting lazily to Dick and clinging tightly at his side, was suddenly frozen.
“Uh, guys?” Dick started again, slowly and carefully.
The cold hard eyes of Jason wandered down, moving from Roy’s face to the arm he had draped over Dick.
Sure his brother wouldn’t have actually planned to do something particularly dangerous, such as trashed the banquet hall properly and hold everyone hostage, but seeing the oddly dark look on his face, Dick was really starting to get worried.
Eventually, Jason’s expression slid back to normal.
The snide smirk crawled back onto his lips. He chuckled softly.
“So, you’re the secret boyfriend Dick’s been keeping from us, huh?” hands shoving inside the pockets of his jeans, Jason drawled in his typical scornful tone. “--Glad to finally meet you, Roy,” he regarded Roy mindlessly, didn't seem to have any real interest on his brother's red-haired boyfriend whatsoever.
***
“Are you okay?”
The voice woke him.
Tearing his gaze away from where the guy had disappeared, he glanced at the source of the sound. There’s a pair of blue eyes studying him in concern, not the pair of blue eyes that had just made his mind go blank, but a friendlier pair with more warmth inside, and definitely had seen him as way better than someone who…well, he wasn’t actually sure how the guy might’ve seen him as right now.
“Is there anything wrong?” His lack of response was concerning Dick.
“No,” he murmured hastily, twisting his head and continuing to look around.
But the guy was gone now.
If he hadn’t gotten so shell-shocked, he might’ve tried to stop him from strolling away once the conversation was over. He didn’t even get to say anything during the brief talk; just standing there, looking like a compete idiot.
Shit.
“I gotta go.”
“What?” Dick was baffled, “--Where?”
“I just…I have to…I got to go to the men’s room,” he rambled before hurrying away.
***
When Roy was back, almost half an hour later, he looked like he had had an accident, a horrible one.
His bow tie was missing; his lips were bruised and his red locks, which was supposed to be slicked back and neat, was now completely chaotic. The disarrayed look on his face seemed even worse than before he had fled. Dick glared at the redhead with his jaw slacked open.
“What happened?” he cried in concern. “--Did you run into Damian again?”
“What?” Roy slurred, seeming to be having a hard time to recall who Damian was. “No,” he shook his head faintly a few seconds later.
“Then what happened?”
Roy squirmed under Dick’s stare, hands moving about restlessly, yanking slightly at the loose collar of his crumpled shirt. One of his hands was rubbing the side of his neck, the movement drew Dick’s attention.
Dick squinted his eyes confusedly, before he could see it for what it was, that how ravished every inches of the redhead was; then he couldn’t believe it.
“Dude, are you fricking kidding me?”
Roy flinched at the harsh scold.
“Did you seriously just run off and make out with someone?” Dick cried out. “What if my family catch you? Jesus, why would you do that?”
“Okay, I can explain,” Roy pleaded in a weak and somewhat raspy voice. “You remember what I've told you back in the car?”
Dick stared at him blankly, didn’t understand where this was going. “What?”
“You know, the thing about how I haven’t actually been seeing anyone right now?”
“What?” Dick shook his head, trying to recall what Roy had told him. “--You mean the guy you met a few months ago? The guy you picked up from the pub, who you’ve been sleeping with ever since?”
“Well, yes,” Roy cleared his throat. “But not after I mistakenly kissed the asshole in romantic style, and kind of..but not really, asked him out on a…well, it’s not a date, it's just two guys hanging around instead of doing nothing but fucking each other’s brains out; and he didn’t even say no. Not a ‘no, pal, I’m good, just meaningless sex as I ordered’, but just jumped out of my goddamn window, like a fucking lunatic. So you get that why we haven’t been sleeping together after that, since that asshole has never showed up again, or just called.”
Now he remembered hearing that part, and that was just sad. Dick’s expression softened a little. “So what about it then? What is your fling with that guy have to do with any of this?” he asked, then it dawned on him, “Shit, he's here?”
Roy licked his lips.
“Uh, you know how I’ve told you, that all these times we’ve been sleeping together, but the only information I have on him, is a burner-phone number and a first name?”
“Yeah.”
“Well it turns out, Todd isn’t a first name.”
Dick stared at him, waiting for the further context, because so far, it still didn’t make sense.
Roy sulked, “Well, Todd isn’t his first name. I just assumed it is, because what kind of person would give a family name to his sexual partner anyway?”
Dick creased his brows in deep thought, “So, let me get this straight, the guy you’ve been sleeping with, his last name is Todd.”
“Yup,” Roy mumbled.
Dick looked at his red-haired friend blankly, until he realized, “The guy’s last name is Todd,” he repeated, and Roy hummed vaguely. “Like Jason Todd.”
Roy glanced up at him, right before the moment he bulged his eyes and half yelled out, “You were screwing with Jason? In here? Where my whole family is? Seriously?”
“In my defense, I didn’t drag myself into that room, your stupid brother started it.” Roy clarified quickly.
“Oh my god, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Dick couldn’t help but yank his hair a little.
This was not happening. His friend, who his family had now come to know as his beloved boyfriend, had not just had a heavy make out session--or worse, but he wasn’t going to approach that thought--in the banquet they’re attending, with his own brother.
Seconds later, he looked up at Roy, eyes full of pure bewilderment. “You are the worst fake boyfriend ever,” Dick concluded in awe.