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Roy Harper could have been described differently by everyone around him, everything from a trustworthy hero to a good-for-nothing junkie. Some were accurate and others were far from reality, but Dick liked to think that he knew him better than anyone else.
He had to. After all they had been dating for a couple of years now and had been in love with each other for even longer. So, it didn’t matter how many people told him he was a screw up or that he deserved better, because Roy was the best thing to ever happen to him.
“Almost there…” Roy said nervously before glancing over to Dick, “you look really nice.”
The red head’s eyes left him quickly to focus again on the road, but not fast enough for Dick to miss the distress in his eyes.
“That is the fourth time you’ve said that since you picked me up… Is everything alright?” He pulled down the passenger’s mirror from the roof of the car to look at himself in search of anything wrong.
“No!” the reply came fast and desperate, meaning there was something really wrong then.
“Is this about Bruce?” Dick questioned, recalling the events from a couple of moments ago.
Roy had never been Bruce’s favorite person, and the feeling only worsened after they started dating. Insisting to take Dick out on a date exactly during a Christmas night wasn’t helping him to get on the man’s good side.
“I mean… he didn’t help make the night better…”
“If it helps, I hate going to galas on special days,” he huffed in annoyance. “Seriously, expecting me to be Dickie Wayne during Christmas…”
Thankfully, that seemed to ease his boyfriend. Though only a little.
“We can always turn around and join the party… No one would mind if I showed up with a plus one if you are that worried,” Dick kept speaking, trying his hardest to lighten the mood which seemed awfully bad considering they were on their way to a date.
The archer’s shoulders tensed up, and he looked nervously at his watch.
“Bruce would probably threaten to call security on me…”
“He wouldn’t!” he protested offended, but one arched brow from his boyfriend made him roll his eyes and sigh heavily. “He wouldn’t follow up on his threat, at least…”
“So comforting,” came the sarcastic response.
Silence filled the space between them after that, and Dick could only beg that this awkwardness wouldn’t follow through the night as it was their first date with just the two of them in a long time.
“Who’s taking care of Lian?” Dick asked eventually in hopes of saving the conversation.
“Mrs. Garcia.”
Dick turned so fast he almost got whiplash, his mouth opened with shock.
“You left your daughter alone on Christmas night?!”
Roy looked confused at him, “I just said she’s with Mrs.—”
“I thought she was with Ollie and Dinah or that you had finally given in to the idea of Donna taking her to Themyscira!”
To his credit, the redhead looked horrified with both of those ideas as he had been the previous times they were mentioned. But still, how could leaving his daughter with the neighbor on Christmas night be a better idea than…
“I’ll be joining her soon,” Roy gulped and looked over to him with nervousness.
His mind stopped working for a second.
“I thought we were going to the Black palace,” not that he minded at all if that was not the case, but he felt overdressed to be spending the night at Mrs. Garcia’s place.
Roy had made a special emphasis when discussing tonight’s plans that he had a reservation at the luxurious restaurant, though he assumed it was mostly to show of in front of Bruce, a man who despite being the richest in Gotham, still couldn’t get a reservation without having to pull multiple connections.
“We are.”
Dick stopped playing with the lapels of his suit to stare back at Roy.
“Is Mrs. García dropping Lian at the restaurant?” He kept pushing, trying to make sense of the situation.
“I’m driving back home, Dick…”
Dick liked to consider himself very smart, and while he was not greatest detective in the world, he was still up there. But this conversation was confusing him more than any case he’d worked on before. His mouth opened and closed multiple times before he could manage a weak “…Roy.”
Roy made sure to turn his face for a moment so he could be facing Dick straight into his eyes, and when he saw those green-blueish eyes filling with tears, a knot set in Dick’s stomach.
“I’m really sorry, Dick… I really messed up.”
The confession felt like a knife straight to younger man’s heart, who up to this point had been having a bad feeling.
“Roy?”
The question was filled with worry, and it seemed to only make Roy feel worse, if the tears running down his face were any sign.
Thankfully, the redhead was able to pull up the car before rubbing his eyes with more strength than necessary. His whimpers the only sound filling the car for a moment before Dick dared to reach out and place a comforting hand on top of his shoulder.
“Hey, it’s okay! Don’t worry, Roy!” he began to rub gentle circles on the man’s back to make the crying stop. “Whatever it is… we’ll figure it out together.”
“They were right! I’m such a loser!” the archer kept repeating over and over. Most likely talking about Ollie, Bruce, and any other authoritative figure in his life. But to be fair, only the first had actually said those words out loud.
“… Just tell me what’s wrong and I swear I’ll do everything I can to help you fix it…” The younger of the two kept saying words of comfort until he said that last part. That final sentence seemed to bring Roy out of his dread, and he finally looked at his boyfriend in the eyes again.
He bit his lips and his whole expression looked troubled. Dick was used to reading every little detail since he became Robin, and it wasn’t something he could turn off or on, so even in this intimate moment he was analyzing every detail in his lover’s body language.
“Will you really help me, Dick?” He asked with a weak voice feel of uncertainty, and Dick decided he didn’t look like just a man with a problem; Roy looked like he felt guilty over something.
His stomach was still tied in knots, and he felt like he would hate whatever Roy needed of him, but at the end of the day… He would do anything to help those he loved. Especially his best friend. His partner in crime. His first love.
“I’ll do anything for you, Roy…” he said afraid of how much he meant it, but he ignored those negative emotions, put on his warmest smiles, and grabbed Roy’s hand. “Just tell me what is going on.”
Dick had to wait for a long moment while Roy struggled to gather his thoughts. His mouth opening and closing several times before he could finally find the right words to give Dick an explanation.
“Last year when I decided to move to Gotham to be closer to you… I was really excited and full of hope to get a fresh start with Lian… with you. But as it turns out finding a job without a college degree in this city is way tougher than I thought…”
Dick opened his mouth to argue but Roy shot his hand up between them to stop him.
“I know you could have pull some strings to get me into the GCPD or, I’d rather shoot myself in the eye than go for that route, asked Bruce to get me literally any job. But I was determined to make it out on my own, you know? To prove that I am capable like you…”
“I went from job to job, earning the minimum wage and barely making enough to make it to the next month. I was failing to be a competent adult and I… I just wanted an escape.”
Dick gasped, his free hand going to cover his gaping mouth. Being aware of Roy’s addiction problems meant he didn’t need to be the world’s greatest detective to know what had happened, but he still remained silent. He waited for Roy to continue the story.
“I swore to myself it would be only once to get rid of that awful feeling of misery, but I was a fool. Only once wasn’t enough and before I could realize it, I was in deep shit again. Only this time I had Lian” the red head frowns for a moment before looking away.
“Roy…” Dick place both hands again right on top of Roy’s to held it comfortingly and was ready to start with the speech saying he had tripped and it was okay because Dick was there to catch him, but before another word could escape his mouth, Roy stopped him placing his free hand in the air between them.
“I was never drugged in front of her. I didn’t lie about that job as a truck driver. I only lied about the length of my trips so the last day I would go to a motel and get high off my ass…” the man’s scowl was only deepening as he kept retelling the events and Dick was glad to see regret on his face. “Until that time I over did it and one day became three.”
Dick remembered that moment and suddenly all the pieces seem to fit into place. He had only called Roy to ask if he was okay because he always sent a message after he got back from his trips —one day later, apparently— and after not getting any news from him in several hours he texted instead and only got a poorly written message from the redhead saying he would take longer than expected and to babysit Lian for a couple of days for him.
Now he understood that the poor grammar on the message was because Roy hadn’t been thinking clearly.
“I missed Lian’s PTA meeting and her teacher chew me out the next morning. She said some things about doubting I was fit to take care of my daughter and I realized I had to stop.”
“The next day I heard the news the drug dealing had changed drastically after the asshole I owed money to had been killed and I just thought that was good luck looking my way. I thought I could just stop thinking about it and change my life… I even joined a NA group;” he said sheepishly as he pulled out a coin with the number 35 on it.
Seeing the coin made some of the worry leave Dick and he allowed himself to let out the air he had been holding.
“I’m really proud of you, Roy. I promise I will be more present to help you stay sober,” he lifted the hand he was holding and placed a kiss on top of it. He expected to see relief after putting the hand down but instead was met with more dread.
“Unfortunately, I was wrong in assuming that Black mask being dead meant my debt was forgotten. The peaceful days of not hearing from my debt collectors started again after the new guy took over the business.”
The new guy being The Red Hood. A mysterious man who had been giving headaches to Bruce and Tim ever since his name became relevant in Gotham.
Nightwing had yet to have an encounter with the masked man but from the footage he had seen, he could determine that the man was a serious threat. Probably not Deathstroke level of dangerous, but definitely higher than black mask.
“A couple of days ago I got a visit from my old dealer saying my debt had been growing since then and…” Roy swallowed hard and he looked even more distressed than before. “It’s a lot, Dick.”
Dick was fast to hold the red head by the shoulders, rubbing his hands up and down to calm him down, “hey, hey, hey. Don’t worry. I have some money saved and…”
“It’s over half a million,” he cut Dick mid speech, and his reaction must have been bad, because Roy’s eyes filled with tears again. “I told you it was bad.”
The younger man shook his stupor and resumed his soothing hand movements.
“It’s far from ideal, of course, but there are still options…!”
“There is one,” the red head cut him off again, though this time it was welcome as it seemed like the like Dick was desperate to find. “The new boss offered me a deal… I thought of going as Arsenal to try and take the Red Hood out, but Bruce would kick my ass out of Gotham. I could sell everything to pay off my debt but then I can lose Lian if child services find out and I’m already on their radar! I could just disappear and live in the country, but I can’t do that to either you or Lian! I can work for the man but same thing with Bruce! I spent days trying to find a solution but, in the end, I can only take his offer!”
Dick listened attentively at his boyfriend’s rant until he stopped yelling, and he could rub his back again.
“So, we take his offer and we move on,” he said calmly. “If he wants you to work for him, I’m sure me and Tim can find a way to keep B from ever finding out and then…”
“He wants you, Dick.”
He froze.
No more words came out of his mouth as he stared at his boyfriend with confusion.
“He wants me to be his mole on the GCPD?” he asked hopeful.
“He said that my debt would be totally cleared… if you spent Christmas night with him.” He explained without daring to meet his eyes.
Dick looked outside the window and realized Roy hadn’t just pulled over in any place. He had actually parked in front of the Black Palace. The hotel that used to belong to Black mask.
“I’m sure there are other ways. I can ask B—!” his mind began racing as he looked for a better solution to this problem.
However, the name didn’t get to leave his mouth because that triggered a violent reaction in Roy, who turned around and hit the steering wheel a couple of times. The few pedestrians that were out so late on a Christmas night looked at the car with curiosity after hearing the horn.
“I can’t ask Bruce for money! It would be as bad as asking Ollie! And don’t even try to say you would say it’s for you because both Bruce and I will now the truth!” Roy’s face became red with anger and Dick could only listen in shock as heard what came next. “That Ollie, Bruce, and everyone was right about me! I’m a fucking loser who only ruins things!”
“But Roy! This is—!”
“Fucked up! I know! But it’s the only way, Dick!,” he insisted with desperation. “If I ask for a loan I still have to pay in the end, but if you do this for me my whole debt is gone! I can start again and be free from all of this!
“Why me?!”
“I don’t know! Maybe the dude had a fucking crush on Richie Wayne like half of Gotham!”
“But I…” don’t want to do this.
The words die in his mouth at the sight of Roy’s pleading eyes. He looked more desperate than that night when he showed up at his doorstep after being kicked out by Ollie.
“Please Dick. Do this for me,” he held Dick hands in his and began begging. “Don’t you want to help me?”
If he had been any other person, he would have easily said that it was not his problem so he shouldn’t be the one to pay. But unfortunately, Dick was the type of person who would sacrifice his own life to save his loved ones. And he loved Roy so dearly. He loved him so much he couldn’t bear the idea of not helping him when he was the only person who could.
He put on a brave smile and asked. “What do I have to do?”
Everything after that moment was a blur for Dick.
He listened to Roy’s instructions with the fake smile he had perfected since he was 12 years old and left the car with a gentle wave of his hands. He felt a little bad when Roy visibly crumbled after rejecting the goodbye kiss he tried to give him before exiting the car. And he felt even worse after thinking it was only fair that they were both miserable tonight.
He walked into the hotel, fighting back his tears, and told the receptionist who he was. He let out a sigh of relief after he was guided to the restaurant instead of a room.
The relief was short lived as he soon realized that the restaurant was completely empty. Getting a reservation for Christmas night was hard, and getting the entire place reserved was nearly impossible. Unless you were the owner, clearly.
“This way, please.”
The young hostess smiled at him politely and then pointed the direction of the only table set in the entire room. He nodded at her, unnerved by how happy she looked despite being forced to work on a Christmas night when he was going to be the only person showing up.
His nerves were killing him all the way to the table, where a man was sitting on a chair reading some papers. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie and ruby cufflinks. He looked extremely formal except for the red mask covering his face.
Dick stood in silence for a moment waiting to be noticed, but after seeing that whatever he was reading was too important to look away, he cleared his throat.
“Dick…” the man looked up from the papers and Dick wished he could see through the mask because even through the voice modulator he sounded shell shocked. Almost like he had been expecting him to not show up, despite having the whole place ready. Maybe Roy had been right about the whole crush on his public persona after all.
“Merry Christmas,” he said with caution after the long moment of silence that had settled between them.
That did the trick to get the criminal out of his shock and the next thing he knew, he surprised Dick by quickly removing his mask. “Sorry, I just… didn’t think you would show up,” Dick was ready to take note in great detail to later inform Bruce of the secret identity of this new criminal.
Unfortunately, under the red mask was a smaller one that only covered his eyes. It was similar to the ones they used on their escapades as vigilantes.
“Like I had a choice?” he replied sarcastically.
The Red Hood, who had been stood up and was walking towards Dick, stopped in his tracks and frowned.
“You didn’t?” the doubt sounded genuine. He quickly tsked his tongue and looked down with clear disappointment. “I told that guy the offer was only valid if you wanted to be here…”
The man leaned over the table to take back his helmet and Dick feared he was about to ruin Roy’s chance of a fresh start, so he shook his hands in front of him and denied with his head.
“I do! I came here voluntarily!”
The guy’s shoulders dropped, forgetting about his helmet for the moment, and even not standing perfectly straight Dick became aware of how big he was. His muscularity could easily compare to Bruce’s. And that jawline was impressive, he was sure he would remember if he had seen a face like that in person and… that thought was purely his vigilante mind telling him to memorize every detail of the criminal.
“You don’t have to lie,” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You can leave if you want.”
“Wait, I didn’t mean to—!”
“I’ll forget all about that jackass debt, so you don’t have to worry about that…” he said before reaching for his helmet again.
“What?”
The man stopped once more before putting the helmet back on, though this time was probably because Dick had placed his hand over it.
“He didn’t even owe ME in the first place so it’s fine, really.” He explained with a light twist of his mouth, trying to disguise his disappointment. “This was a stupid idea anyways.”
“What was a stupid idea?” Dick kept pushing for answers as he was deeply confused by the whole situation. What crime lord in their right mind would forget such a big debt just because the deal wasn’t made with them originally.
He immediately went through everything Tim had told him about The Red Hood and remembered a particular conversation where he said Bruce and him were conflicted because the man’s modus operandi was different to every other criminal in Gotham. They didn’t dare to face him because so far, he had improved the situation on the side of the city he was controlling.
He was, however, messing directly with them and interfering with their missions, and he was still a crime lord, so he was definitely not a good person.
But the way he was behaving with Dick right now made him think that he was definitely not a bad person either.
“It was my men who messed with that jackass since I told them to keep with their usual job. And when I found out what was going on to tell them to not collect interests on any debt with Black mask… until I found out who this particular jack ass was dating”, his cheeks colored at the end of the explanation and Dick made a mental note that this man couldn’t be older than him.
“So, you wanted to…” Dick nodded slowly, asking for the other to elaborate more.
“I grew up in Gotham, alright? I was another of the suckers who …” he adverted his gaze to avoid finishing the sentence. Instead, he cleared his throat and stood straight again, trying to regain some sort of control in the conversation. “I just thought that having dinner on Christmas with Gotham’s most eligible bachelor would be one hell of a story.”
“That’s actually Bruce, you know?” Dick corrected the man but couldn’t help the laugh that came out as soon as the other man’s face twisted in disgust.
When his laugh died eventually, he became aware of the gentle smile on the other man. He looked in every part of his body for a sign that he was acting, but he determined that the man was being sincere.
“Did you mean it?” Dick asked and watched as the man frowned again, then he asked again. “I can leave now and you will clear his debt?”
The Red Hood closed his mouth tight. Every muscle of his face tensed, and Dick began to get ready for a violent outburst but after a brief moment he relaxed and nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
It looked like it had taken everything inside the man to say those words and Dick was suddenly reminded that the man in front of him was a crime lord who earned the title by killing another. But he also remembered all those times that former criminals had helped him through the years and decided to do something that would definitely make Bruce angry.
“Okay,” he smiled sheepishly at the man. “Let’s have dinner.”
Red Hood perked up with a mixture of surprise and excitement, “wait, really?”
“Sure, it’d be a great story for me too,” he said in the usual Richie Wayne voice. He would try to gain another ally tonight or possibly get this man out of crime and if neither was possible, he would at least try to gain intel on a new villain.
“Gonna’ brag about your date with a crime lord?”
He threw his head back and chuckled once before looking back at him.
“This isn’t my first rodeo, big guy,” he teased as he got his Richie Wayne mask on, “you’re just the first one to ask nicely.”
“Then be my guest.” The taller man grabbed the chair opposite to where he had been sitting moments ago and motioned for Dick to sit.
Dick looked cautiously at him for a moment and added, “it’s just dinner, not a date.”
“Whatever you say, dearest.”
He shivered at the term of endearment.
“I mean it,” he warned.
There was a pause as the crime lord stared into Dick’s eyes, even if the latter could not properly see his eyes through the mask.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be so nice you won’t want to leave,” he said it with gentle smile and voice that sounded really sincere.
He really hoped he didn’t regret it later, but he was willing to give the man a chance.
“I hope you keep your word, Mr. Hood.”
Dick took the seat and let the taller man push his chair closer to the table. He was so busy trying to keep his smile and get a glimpse of the papers spread across the table that he missed the expression of the man standing behind him.
Standing with a wicked grin full of satisfaction, the crime lord patted his shoulder three times before fixing his expression back to the gentle guy he was trying to be for dick. “Please, call me Jay.”
And so they had a lovely night together, having dinner and talking about themselves. At some point, Dick forgot he was supposed to be angry for being tricked into coming here. Only caring about how funny Jay was.
The nickname made him think back to his dead brother, but he pushed that thought aside to enjoy the night with this man, who was very much alive.
Though he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if Jason would have been anything like him if he was still alive.
Between delicious food and fun conversation, the night went on until Dick was sent back home in a car provided by Jay. Dick had to reprimand himself for being disappointed that he wasn’t invited to spend the night.
Of course he would have said no, because he was in a relationship. He was sure of that.
But a small part still wondered what if…
“How was it?” was the question Roy greeted Dick with the very next morning.
The boy had texted him many times throughout the night, but Dick had decided to ignore him and focus on his conversation with the Red Hood.
“It was nice,” was the response he got.
They spent the next two hours arguing. Roy felt offended that his boyfriend wouldn’t reply to any of his texts because he was too busy getting chummy with yet another villain while Dick kept remembering him, they were in that situation because of him.
Dick kept insisting that nothing had happened last night besides a friendly conversation and dinner, but Roy couldn’t believe no matter what he said.
The discussion ended when Dick said Jay had been a total gentleman.
Apparently, learning that Dick was now on a first name basis with the newest crime lord was even worse than whatever he had imagined. It only took five seconds after that for Roy to leave.
Despite being angry and knowing he was right, he still tried to reach out to Roy, but it seemed like the man was doing his hardest to avoid him completely, which was bullshit if you asked Dick, who still couldn’t believe his boyfriend had the nerve to sell him off and then get mad.
He continued to operate on autopilot the following days, going to work during the day and patrolling during the nights.
Trying to contact Roy and failing.
Trying not to think of Jay and failing
Tinse and repeat.
He was in the middle of a patrol when he got a distressed signal coming from the Bat cave and he dashed on his motorbike as fast as he could. Fear growing with every call Bruce and Tim failed to answer. He was even considering asking Roy to check on his family for him but thought he didn’t want to see him yet.
The motorbike was barely parked when Dick was already taking off his helmet and rushing to the med bay, but he stopped two steps in once he started hearing a heated discussion between Bruce and Tim.
“He is only toying with us!” Bruce growled with that deep Batman voice that almost made Dick want to hide behind the bat computer.
“Tonight is the night and I know it!” The youngest exclaimed, not cowering from Bruce. “I’ve monitoring the docks for weeks and they always get their ‘merchandise’ on Tuesday!”
“Last four times we have checked their only transporting empty boxes! The real ones are being sent elsewhere!” Bruce stepped forward, towering over the newest Robin.
“Those are decoys, but the real thing is going to that warehouse! Not somewhere else,” Tim, to his credit, raised to the challenge and growled back at him.
Dick felt like it was best to intervene now before things could escalate more. He jumped in with his hands raised, “I’m here! What’s the problem?”
To his absolute shock, both Bruce and Tim seemed completely surprised to see him standing there. It wasn’t the fact that they clearly hadn’t sent the distress signal but that they had failed to realize he entered the Batcave that worried him. He hadn’t spoken, but the bike engine should have alerted them even if they were screaming at each other.
“What are you—?” Bruce started but was interrupted by Robin.
“Thank God you are here! Can you please talk some sense into Batman so we can—?!”
“We are not wasting any more time on—!”
The two of them kept screaming and interrupting each other, leaving Dick to stand there confused as to what was going on.
“That’s enough! I need someone to explain what is going on and I’d prefer if it came from someone not screaming!” Dick stopped the other two, steeping between them and pushing them gently with a hand on their chest. He kept his hands there to keep them grounded and shove them more if it was necessary.
“I apologize, master Richard. I sent the distress signal,” Alfred spoke from the stairs and earned a look from the other three. The butler continued to descend the stairs until he was standing next to them. “I fear both, master Bruce and master Timothy have been neglected their health far too much.”
“Alfred?” Bruce questioned the old man, his voice sounding deeply offended.
“The two of them have been so focused on this case that I have not seen them go upstairs in four days,” Alfred continued his explanation and Dick paid closer attention to them.
“It has been two days at mo—ouch!”
Dick pulled the mask off of Tim’s face to reveal dark circled under his eyes, and from closer he could pick on the distinctive smell of sweat dried for days.
“Bruce!”
“I have tried to get him to rest but he doesn’t listen to me!” the man began to defend himself, batman voice long gone.
“Come on, Dick! I need to solve this case before winter break is over!” Tim yanked his mask back from Dick’s hands.
“What case?”
“The Red Hood!” Tim screamed with his hands held up in the air. Poor boy looked like a mad man.
He turned back to the alleged responsible adult looking for a better explanation. He’s heard both of them ramble nonstop about the Red Hood for the past few months, but he never thought the situation was this bad.
What even was the situation? Because there’s no way Jay—Red Hood was giving them this much trouble.
“He’s been here for months, and we still can’t figure out what he wants,” Bruce spoke finally, his voice filled with badly concealed shame. “We don’t know where his main base is, what’s his goal, his intentions for taking down the black mask… He keeps sneaking away every time we think we are close to getting close to him…”
“What?” Dick frowned, “surely…”
“I have been doing stake outs on every place we suspect him to be and always run into decoys, Dick! It’s like he can read our minds!” Tim pulled from his hair.
Silence filled the cave for a moment where both Bruce and Tim looked like dead men walking.
“Do you understand why I sent the distress signal, Master Richard?”
Dick felt his heart dropping at the sight of his father and little brother looking miserable.
“Take a shower and go to sleep now,” he said calmly.
“Chum…” Bruce spoke surely about to argue that he was fine.
“I know where to find him,” Dick said to their complete surprise. “But I will only tell you if you both get a whole night of sleep.”
Tim jumped forwards with excitement, “no way! Time is key!”
Dick placed his hand on the shorter boy’s shoulder to ground him once more.
“Being in your best condition is more important.”
The younger boy stared at him for a long moment, probably analyzing the situation, before he turned to Bruce and the man nodded at him. The boy’s shoulders dropped.
“Fine, I guess we can go tomorrow…”
“I will leave dinner in your rooms,” Alfred said full of satisfaction as he trailed behind Tim up the stairs.
Dick was left alone with Bruce, and he got ready to argue that he needed to rest too when Bruce took of his mask, which somehow frighten Dick more than facing the man in the cowl.
“How do you know where to find him?”
The question was filled with a thousand more that didn’t need to be made.
“I simply have a pretty good lead.”
Bruce stared at him unconvincedly.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Chum.”
After that, he went upstairs to sleep while Dick stayed back to read every file they had on The Red Hood.
For the next hour he tried to mix everything on the computer’s files with what he learnt from Jay.
He was classified as heavily dangerous due to his possession of a big arsenal of weapons he clearly knew how to use and the Black Mask incident. But besides that, the man’s file was quite empty.
Jay had told him he had only raised to the title of crime lord because he wanted to make a true change in Gotham, and every testimony Dick read seemed to indicate he meant it. He was protecting the sex workers, only killing when necessary and even doing more to protect the kids than most politicians had in the past decade.
Sure, it was easier for him since he controlled the drug selling, but still, making sure that no kid got access to substances made Dick’s chest feel dangerously warm.
Even refusing to interact with the Bat looked noble in Dick’s eyes. Jay had told him he grew up in Gotham so maybe he looked up to Batman and Robin, which is why he didn’t want to fight with them.
Maybe it was the savior complex Dick was very aware he had or the guilt that he was planning to use the information Jay had shared with him in confidence to let Batman get to him, but he felt like he couldn’t sleep unless he did things right.
Shortly after midnight he left the bat cave and drove all the way to the building Jay had told him he could meet him anytime he wanted. At the time he swore he would avoid that place at all costs, but now he felt drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
He used his grappling hook to reach silently to the top of the building.
Dick Grayson was welcome in any building owned by The Red Hood, but Nightwing was surely a different story. Still, he was there to investigate on his own, not to speak directly with the man.
He navigated through the ventilation ducts in search of the man’s main office, it was, however, not empty as he had hoped. The man himself was sitting in his chair while reading some papers.
Dick stayed staring in silence, waiting to see if anything interesting happened. After approximately 15 minutes, Jay cracked his neck and stood up with a long sigh.
He hoped the man was about to leave the room so he could investigate more, but that hope died when Red Hood stood right below him and stared up for a good ten seconds.
He tried to stay as silent as he could, but despite all his stealth, he was not expecting the vent to suddenly break and let him fall right on top of the crime lord.
Dick was expecting to hit the floor without being able to land gracefully on his feet due to the position he had been crawling in, but there was no hit. Instead, he was caught by the other man.
“I see the rumors were true… you really know how to make an entrance.” He commented sarcastically, though his tone was hard to understand through the voice modulator in the helmet. Still, it was enough to make Dick blush.
“Red Hood, nice to finally meet you,” he said charmingly, with the same way of speaking he used to taunt villains. “I’ve heard so much about you?”
“No where near as much as I’ve heard about you, I’m sure” he taunted back. Whenever some criminal responded in kind to Nightwing’s flirty banter usually meant they were someone interesting to deal with as they were usually above average fighters or strategists, and Hood looked like he was both.
“All good things I hope.”
The Red Hood leaned closer until the helmet was no more than a couple inches away from his own face and whispered, “depends on who’s asking.”
Dick was frozen for a moment, not sure of what to answer to that. This man really seemed like a real threat, and being still in his arms only unnerved him more than he’d like to admit.
“What do you think?”
The pause that followed made the vigilante deeply worried and he had to chastise himself to remember that he shouldn’t mind what a bad guy thought of him. And yet he found himself leaning closer as well in expectation.
“I think you might be the most interesting thing in Gotham…”
Something inside Dick fluttered and he fought really hard to stop the smile that wanted to form on his face, but somehow, getting validation from this man felt like some form of revindication from his argument with Roy.
He crackled and patted the man’s chest.
“Come on, I’m sure there are lots of interesting people in Gotham,” he teased again. He pretended to think about it for a moment, like he wasn’t about to use his knowledge to his advantage. “I’m sure you must have hear more about that Richie Wayne… He is all over the tabloids.”
Hood cooked his head to the side and finally, after a couple minutes, he put Nightwing back on the floor, much to his disappointment.
“Like I said,” he admitted nonchalantly before turning back to his desk. “The only interesting thing in Gotham.”
That made Dick flinch.
Did he just?
“Am I more interesting than Dickie Wayne then?” He laughed while asking, hoping to sound as nonchalant as Jay did.
The answer he got was the helmet coming off, leaving his face covered only by the same domino mask he wore the other night.
How could his hair look so flawless after wearing that helmet for so long?
“Tell me why you are here, wing?” He asked with a tilt of his head that looked more interested than annoyed.
Dick quickly glanced around to see the office better but found nothing out of the ordinary. The only odd thing was that there were far too many books for what villains usually had, but besides that, nothing criminal looking “I heard you were giving the Bat a hard time…”
Jay scoffed at that, “I haven’t even crossed paths with him.”
“That’s why, actually,” he replied truthfully and at the questioning lift of the eyebrow from Jay, he continued, “not knowing what you’re up to must be ruining his days.”
The man smirked at that and the look on his face showed how pleased he was with himself for that.
“So, you wanted to steal my secret diary and give it to daddy dearest?”
Dick followed the man to the desk and sat on the corner, leaning forward to stay close to him.
“My plan was blown away after I saw how many books are on your shelf.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but there’s nothing here for you to impress the bat,” Jay sounded almost disappointed before turning to look at some papers he grabbed from the desk. He tilted them just enough for Dick to be able to see what was on them, but he didn’t pay any attention to them.
“Why haven’t you shot me?” the question came without thinking.
He was incredibly well aware that Jay had several guns on him and his aim was impressive if Tim hadn’t been exaggerating anything. He was a hero breaking into his office and any other villain would have tried to kill him already.
“I don’t have any reasons to.”
“You don’t mind that I’m trespassing?”
Jay put the papers down once more and stared at him for a couple of seconds before sighing heavily.
“I actually wanted to ask you some things for a while so I’m just earning your trust,” he confessed so earnestly it made Dick tense.
He stood from the table and gained control of his emotions to look unfazed.
“Well, I’m here for the same reason.” He admitted back, all the teasing long gone and in its place was a serious tone that sounded a lot like business.
“Want to make a deal with me, then?”
A pause.
“What kind of deal?”
Jay smiled again like they were back at the restaurant having dinner and he was trying to romance him.
“I’ll answer one of your questions for every one of mine you answer,” he motioned to the empty chair on the other side of the desk. “I swear I’ll be honest.”
Bruce would be terribly angry with him if he knew what was going on.
Thankfully, he removed every camera and wire from his domino mask before leaving the cave.
He sat and smiled.
“Can I trust you?”
Jay smiled pleased, “I promise I won’t ever hurt you.”
“But you’ll hurt others?”
The only answer he got was an even bigger smile and Dick smiled back understanding it was not his turn.
“Are you in love with Batman?”
“What?” Dick couldn’t help but feel disgusted at the implication, and the laugh that came from the other man told him it was evident in his face.
“Can you blame me?” he spoke once his laughter had died down, “almost every villain refers to you as Batman’s boytoy.”
“All the rumors are false. Nothing like that ever happened between us!” he yelled defensively and Jay raised his hands in surrender. “He’s like a father to me!”
“And Robin is like a brother to you then?”
He ignored the question, playing the same game as Jay.
“Why did you kill Black mask?” he went straight to the point in case they kept getting sidetracked.
Red hood twisted his mouth to the side, contemplating his answer for a moment.
“It had to be done.” Dick almost asked why, but thankfully, Jay kept speaking without needing a follow up question. “The fucker was making life hell for everyone in his territory. If his men didn’t kill the people, the delinquency would. I took his place to make sure the thugs were kept in line.”
“Could have become a police officer if you wanted to stop him then…”
“Like the ones on his payroll?” he fired back and Dick shut up knowing he wouldn’t win that argument. “Why did you stopped being Robin?”
“I outgrew him,” Dick’s answer didn’t sound convincing to him nor to Jay apparently as he kept staring at him until Dick looked away ashamed and admitted, “Batman fired me.”
“I’m surprised you accepted to be re-hired then.”
Dick frowned at the sarcasm but chose to let it go. “Why have you been pretending to do criminal activity in the warehouse near the docks?”
“To keep the newest replacement busy,” he admitted easily, like he was giving a toy to a kid. “You should thank me for keeping him doing stakeouts instead of fighting bad guys.”
“He…!” Dick stopped. “Can you make him believe he was on to something real?”
“We’ve move on to favors now?” Jay asked incredulously, though a snicker proved he wasn’t feeling angry about it. “Sure, I’ll make my man stage something, but you must promise they won’t go to jail!”
He gasped, surprised that he was getting his way.
“You have my word.”
“Good. Now answer me the one-million-dollar question…” Jay turned serious again. He even opened and closed his mouth several times before finally getting the question out, “rumor has it that you killed the Joker, but I know for a fact that the motherfucker is still running around in Gotham. So, tell me why every goon in the city say you are the one criminals should be afraid of instead of Batman?”
He froze.
He didn’t know, or more like he had hoped, no one knew about that incident. Never even stopped to think that maybe there were some goons lurking around witnessing everything that had gone down that night.
“Who told you that?”
“Some men trying to earn my favor… I thought they were only repeating absurd rumors, but your face…” Jay seemed to be shocked as well.
“He killed someone important to me,” he confessed for the first time ever. “He threatened he would kill the new Robin too and I… I lost it.”
He looked at his own hands before clenching his fists and putting them back to his sides.
“But he is still—”
“Batman revived him.”
Dick was fully expecting to hear some form of laughter or praise. The thing one would expect from a criminal after hearing a good guy confessing to his crimes, but he got the opposite reaction.
He looked relieved.
“He did the right thing.”
“What?! But the Joker—!”
“Deserves to be dead,” Jay spoke casually like was stating the color of the sky. “But it’s Batman’s duty to do it. Not yours.”
“The outcome would have been the same,” Dick said defensively.
“No, it wouldn’t. You don’t deserve to carry with that weight over your shoulders,” Jay tried to comfort him, which was strange coming from a crime lord. “But thank you.”
He didn’t know what to think of this situation anymore.
He was relieved that he was able to speak about that night for the first time in years, but he still felt like he had failed Jason. Listening to Jay saying this, however, felt like revindication somehow.
“Have we met before?” Dick asked eventually.
Jay smiled bashfully.
“I promised I wouldn’t lie to you…”
The man moved his hands towards his own domino mask and removed it.
“You’re underestimating me, Dick.”
Dick’s breath hitched. “How—?”
He stopped trying to think if he knew Jay’s secret identity as he was now more worried about his own being revealed.
“Come on. I told you I had a big crush on you growing up,” Jay began his explanation, “do you seriously think covering your eyes with a domino mask is enough to stop me from recognizing the most beautiful boy I know?”
“You just, recognized me?!” Dick was doing his best to stop his growing panic attack. Bruce was going to kill him.
“Relax. I’m sure no one has figured out yet… No one else is as deep in love with you as I am…” Jay explained again with that stupidly handsome smile that made Dick forget he was dealing with a crime lord. One that had to kill his predecessor, mind you.
The vigilante stood up in panic and looked for the closest exit, “I shouldn’t have come here…”
“Hey, relax.”
Jay hurried to stop Dick from leaving, placing gentle hands in his arms.
“The newest crime lord knows my fucking identity. How can I—?”
“I promised I wouldn’t hurt you, remember?”
Dick wanted to ask for a good reason to believe a criminal, but once he stared into those green eyes, he realized he believed in him.
Bruce always reprimanded him for being so trusting with bad guys, but despite popular belief, he knew how to read people and that allowed him to know when it was safe to do so. And Jay had been nothing but kind and gentle with him.
He stood for a moment while Jay kept rubbing his arms up and down comfortingly.
Without hesitation, he stood on his toes and kissed Jay.
It took a couple of seconds for the taller man to catch up with the situation, and once he did, he returned the kiss.
Jay’s hands moved to hold his waist and pull him closer while Dick’s found their place in the other man’s hair. Soon, their tongues began to fight for dominance just as Jay kept shoving him backwards until his back hit the bookshelf.
The kiss continued until Dick was hit by reality and he pulled back.
“Wait, Jay.” He pushed the man back and he was glad that Jay didn’t put up a fight.
“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” he asked with deep concern that made Dick’s stomach flutter.
“No, it’s not that,” Dick hesitated. “Roy…”
The taller man sighed and took a step back, leaving Dick to miss the warmth of his body. “Please don’t tell me you’re still with that jerk.”
“He is not the best but—”
“Would you have done the same?” Jay asked with a level of anger new to the image Dick had of him so far. “Would you have sent him to the Lion’s den to fix your problems?”
Dick scoffed. “Are you the lion in that metaphor?”
“Dick…”
“No,” he grumbled his answer.
Jay nodded, satisfied with that answer.
“I wouldn’t either.”
“I…” he hesitated. “I should get going.”
“Okay,” Jay walked back to his desk, suddenly relaxed and ready to resume whatever he had been doing before Dick showed up tonight. “Next time, use the door.”
“Right. Next time…” He turned around to leave, but stopped before grabbing the door and looked back at Jay, “can you keep this between us?”
“This…?” Jay looked around in confusion.
“My identity.”
The crime lord put his domino mask back on and smiled.
“You’re safe with me.”
When Jason came back to life, he wanted to destroy everything.
He came back to Gotham with every intent to burn down the city and tie Bruce so he could watch it happen from the first row. Then he learnt about a new Robin, and he considered tying the boy down to a train track and the Joker on a parallel track like in the cartoons and Force Bruce to choose someone to save.
He had about a million ideas to make Bruce suffer and bring everyone down with them. But he had only set one foot back in the city when he saw him, Dick Fucking Grayson, leaping through the sky like he belonged up with the stars.
The first Robin had to be the one thing Jason hadn’t fully made up his mind about. He was his first crush without any doubt, but he had also been straight up rude with him when he became Robin, though he found out he was totally justified after the titans explained how Bruce fired him and then went months without talking to him. They got along slightly better after that.
He decided to proceed with his plan cautiously as he now was worried of Dick interfering and making him hesitate when it came to torturing Bruce.
Then he started hearing all these crazy rumors from his men, and one in particular that made his mind short-circuit.
“Nightwing is way scarier than the bat… he might be all jokes and giggles, but between the two of them… Nightwing is the one that has actually killed someone.”
“I heard he killed the Joker for killing the second Robin… I heard it from one of his goons. Said he deserved it for taking down one of the birds.”
“The joker is only alive because the bat stopped Nightwing from beating him to death… Huh? You thought he used a weapon? Nah, he did it with his bare fists.”
“It was good that Nightwing did it, though, he was brutal after the second Robin’s death.”
Jason assumed his dead had been nothing but a minor inconvenience in everyone’s lives, so hearing about how Dick had not only been affected, but that he had actually went and took revenge on his behalf was exhilarating.
He interrogated about every goon in the city to get all the details and while some details changed, the general consensus was that Nightwing had beaten the Joker up with his bare fists right to the brink of death.
And he got absolutely fucking hard whenever he thought of that.
That’s why he had to adjust his plans to get an even more rewarding outcome. Making Bruce suffer would come later, first he would have to play the nice guy to get Dick to fall in love with him.
The first setback was that junkie Harper. His rival in love from before dying.
At first, he thought it would be harder to get rid of him after he “got better,” but then he found out he was a regular for Black Mask’s top merchandise, and he knew he had him by the balls.
Threaten him with exposing his addicted ass to the child protective services would hardly be described as villainous. Hell, he should even be considered a hero for trying to get the girl a better home.
Still, he was a perfect mix of happy and angry when that mother fucker traded Dick in order to pay off his debt.
And if Jason had gone ahead and done with Dick everything he really wanted, he would have been an even bigger asshole, but luckily for Harper, he was in for the long game. Forcing Dick would have been so easy after he showed up willing to sacrifice himself to help that son of a bitch, but then it would have been harder to make his pretty boy trust him.
Kicking Harper out of the city had been more satisfactory after he got to throw a few punches in his face. Not that they were necessary after pulling out the video of him purchasing drugs, but he deserved the fun.
And if he ever talked to Dick ever again, he would make sure Child Services took Lian away forever. He was looking after the girl, really, so Dick should be proud of him, but it was better for him not to find out.
Avoiding Batman and Robin had been hard, mostly because he wanted to take out a few teeth from Bruce’s annoying smile and maybe break a few ribs of the new Robin for taking up something that didn’t belong to him. Though he guessed the boy was only another victim of Batman in the end.
He didn’t expect that being a shadow they couldn’t catch would have such a great outcome. Not only did he managed to annoy Bruce enough to be benched, but he also got Dick to fall straight into his arms, literally.
After being kissed by the star of all his wet dreams, he knew that playing the nice guy would be worth it.
It stung a little that Dick hadn’t been able to recognize him, even after introducing himself with the nickname he had used years ago. But it was better not to reveal that yet, at least not before Dick stopped thinking of him as his little brother.
It’d be fun if he made the grand reveal while he was fucking Dick.
He should film his reaction and send it to Bruce.
But that would have to wait a little longer.
“Jay?” Dick asked surprised to be finding the man at the supermarket.
Jason pretended to be surprised, like he didn’t stalked Dick for weeks to get his full schedule. He put the carton of milk in his basket before fully turning to face the man, “What are you doing here? I thought rich people had employees to buy groceries for them.”
Dick blushed hard.
“Contrary to popular belief, I don’t take Bruce’s money.”
Oh, Jason knew. And he got turned on whenever Dick reject daddy bats in any possible way.
“Still, I’m not used to famous people doing normal stuff,” he teased, getting closer.
“I’m a rich man’s ward. I should hardly qualify as famous…”
“The last Flying Grayson definitely deserves to be famous,” he smiled flirtatiously and rebelled in the way Dick’s eyes opened wide. “Come on, it’s not a secret that Bruce Wayne adopted a circus boy. If anything, I’m more surprised that no one else has made the connection with your night job.”
Dick looked around in alarm and let out a breath of relief after finding the isle empty.
“Tim did, actually. My new brother, he—uh…” Dick scratched his head, probably wondering how much he should say. “He was worried after months of no Robin and tracked me down saying no one could fill the shoes.”
So maybe the replacement wasn’t so bad after all. At least he seemed to have a brain between those ears.
“You look better in blue, anyways,” Jason changed the topic before it turned to something sad.
“Did you ever watch one?” Dick questioned bashfully and at Jason’s questioning stare he asked again, “a Flying Grayson show?”
Jason smiled down at the boy, thinking fondly about that one time he managed to get his father to take him to the circus.
“Yeah… I think that was the night I fell in love with you.”
Dick blushed, “you’re impossible.”
“Sorry,” he scoffed. “I forgot you have a boyfriend…”
Dick hesitated for a moment.
“Not really… He left and I think he’s avoiding me…”
“Shit. Sorry. That must suck.” Jason faked pity and concern, “are you okay?”
It had been a fortnight since he made sure Harper left Gotham and broke every contact with Dick. Just enough time for Dick to be sure the man was not coming back.
“Last time we spoke we had a huge fight over… You know,” he flinched remembering the unpleasant conversation.
“Fuck him! He is an idiot for trading you and an even bigger one for leaving you without a fight!” Jason spat, with genuine anger. He knew, he was the last person to see him in Gotham, and if Harper had wanted to fight for Dick, he wouldn’t have left after some puny threats.
Jason would literally die before letting Dick leave his side ever again.
“One could argue I’m the idiot for choosing him,” he said with little self-pity. To Jason’s delight, it sounded like a genuine joke.
“Everybody makes mistakes… Just make sure to pick better next time…” he commented nonchalantly, like he wasn’t also flexing every muscle in his body to look bigger.
“Right…” Dick smiled and looked down bashfully before making eye contact with Jason. He was flirting. “I guess I should pick the good guy next time.”
Jason smirked mischievously while leaning forward to get into Dick’s personal space, “I never said anything about a good guy, Dickie…”
Dick moved closer towards Jason’s lips and stopped inches away.
“Going for a bad guy doesn’t sound smart either, does it?” he whispered right in Jason’s face. He then pulled back and laughed at Jason’s astonishment. “Goodbye, Jay!”
Jason stood still with a lovestruck expression as he watched Dick walk away.
He waited until he was sure Dick was out of earshot before pulling out his cellphone and dialing the number of his second in command.
“Hello, sir.” The answer was immediate.
“Contact Oswald. Ask if he’s still interested in the merchandise we discussed last time… But change the payment. I’ll give them what he wants in exchange for a favor,” he spoke softly, making sure there were no civilians close.
“What favor, sir?”
He watched Dick walk a couple aisles away, turning once to wink at him and continue his walk towards the cereal. His ass bouncing like a pair of fucking basketballs.
“Two days from now, the bat we’ll be busy and Robin will be at our fake warehouse. Ask him to kidnap the boy and send me the location… He can break a rib or two if he wants, but he must be ready for me to show up and save the day…” Jason smiled while he started strutting towards his future lover. “I have to play the part of a good boy.”