Around Red Hood's Barn

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/14159745.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics),
Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Relationship: Roy Harper/Jason Todd, Red Hood/Arsenal - Relationship, Roy Harper
& Lian Harper
Character: Roy Harper, Jason Todd, Lian Harper, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake,
Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen
Additional Tags: Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Secret Identity, Alternate Universe -
Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Still Vigilantes, Single Parent Roy, Roy
Hates His Neighbor, But He Loves His Buddy, Jason Just Wants His
Brothers To Leave Him Alone, and Stop Unwittingly Ruining His Love
Life, Jason swears a lot, It's Mostly Dick's Fault, Roy Only Knows Of
The BatFam, But Not Them Personally, Misunderstandings, Crack and
Angst, Identity Porn
Stats: Published: 2018-03-31 Completed: 2018-05-25 Chapters: 5/5 Words:
24745

Around Red Hood's Barn

by tori1116

Summary

Roy thinks he would rather love Swamp Thing than to love Jason Todd.

“--You know what else do I hate?”

Knowing where this was going, his friend groaned, “Hell, not your neighbor again.”

“My neighbor,” Roy declared crisply. “Jeez, I hate that guy.

 Chapter 1

It was starting to get cold up on the rooftop at night. He drew his arms to himself as a drift of
biting wind assaulted him.

“Boy, it’s cold,” he grumbled pathetically.

The guy next to him seemed rather warm and comfortable wrapping inside his own jacket. He
regarded his friend with some jealousy.

The guy returned him with no more than a plain hum. Roy poked at the guy.

“I just said it’s cold.”

“So?”

“So, it’s my subtle way of telling you I’m cold.” He continued stirring his friend with an intent
look, until his friend finally craved in and turned to face him unwillingly.

“Look at the goosebumps I’ve got on my arms, dude,” Roy said to him, “Don’t you wanna do
something to warm a brother up?”

“If you’re my brother, you won’t be warmed up, you’ll be set on fire,” the guy replied in an
impassive tone. “And how am I supposed to warm you up anyway? You expect me to pull a
cardigan out of my utility belt and wrap you up in it?”

“I’ve imagined a lot of things you might’ve hidden inside your utility belt, but never in my wildest
imagination there’ll be a cardigan,” Roy smirked. Though he couldn’t see it personally, but he
would eat his own arm if the guy wasn’t doing an eye-roll.

“I’m actually kind of expecting you’ll do the gentleman thing and lend me your jacket. But
apparently, you’re no gentleman.”

“Well, pardon me for my lack of chevalier manner,” his friend snorted. “I’m usually a gentleman
around the ladies, but I just thought you’re an arse, I’ve never realized you’re a lady.”

“You’re cold, man,” Roy shot him a rueful look. “If I catch a cold tonight, it wouldn’t be the
weather. It would be you. You gave me the chills.”

“And you would have given me rash if I’m allergic to idiocy,” the guy returned in a smug voice.

Another drift of cold air slapped Roy in his naked arms. He hugged himself tighter. “Boy, I hate
cold,” he murmured, then a thought of something came to his mind.

He gave his friend a meaningful look. “--You know what else do I hate?”

Knowing where this was going, his friend groaned, “Hell, not your neighbor again.”

“My neighbor,” Roy declared crisply. “Jeez, I hate that guy.”

The groan turned louder. It seemed like the fact that Roy was going to talk about his lousy new
neighbor again was giving his friend some physical pain.
***

A freezer was landed right in front of his door, blocking his entire way out of his own apartment.

Roy stretched his head out to see who was responsible for this.

The guy who apparently was supposed to be moving the freezer into next door had stopped in the
hallway to take a call.

Once Roy caught a glimpse of that guy, he let out an internal whistle.

The guy had the type of body shape that even Roy was impressed. He was all tall and handsome;
even though he had those bags under his eyes like he hadn’t been sleeping for ages and he was kind
of sending out a dark vibe while he was talking on the phone, Roy still felt like his rating on the
Kinsey scale went a little bit higher just by looking at this beautiful stranger.

If it was a couple of years ago, he definitely wouldn’t have minded to just stand there and admire
the view; but now he was older with better priority, he didn’t feel like spending the entire day
admiring some beautiful stranger, but would much rather the guy just moved away his stuff already
and let him and his daughter get out of their apartment before they’re late to school.

After the last time the teacher of Lian’s class had given him that look again for bringing his
daughter late to school, he had had enough of feeling like a terrible parent who just couldn’t do
what the other normal parents could, so he had started this thing when each day they weren’t late to
school, he would draw a smiley face on the calendar once he had gotten back home. It had been
almost a month by now, and he was on a winning strike. Every weekday he had dragged himself
up in the morning, no matter how late, or horribly early, he had gotten home from work.

“Hey, hi,” Roy started nicely, trying to draw the guy’s attention.

The guy didn’t seem to capture his voice. “--For the one last time,” he kept growling to the phone,
“No. I—no, no, listen to me. Under no circumstances you can come to my place today. I don’t
want any fucking housewarming--”

Roy put his hands over his baby’s ears immediately. But it was too late. Lian looked up at him with
eyes full of curiosity.

“Did he just say--”

“No,” terrified by what she was about to say, Roy cut her off promptly before she could repeat that
word.

He called the new guy again but with a scowl this time, “Hey, dude.”

Giving zero damn to Roy, the stranger who seemed to be his new neighbor continued the heated
argument. “I don’t care what you think. I don’t want any of you to come here. I don’t—what? I—
what do you mean I’m hiding someone? I'm not hiding anyone, I—what do you mean me and—no.
How many goddamn times do I have to tell you we’re not like that. He’s a friend, for fuck’s sake--”

“Hey,” Roy cried out in exasperation, hands remained firmly over his baby’s innocent little ears.
“Hey, hey, Mr. potty mouth--” Roy raised his voice.

Mr. potty mouth heard him this time.

He lifted a freaking finger to put Roy on hold.

“I do not have the hots for him,” the guy kept denying strongly to whomever on the phone. “I told
you, not everyone has a thing for—Babs? I—hey, I was a teenager, of course I hit on Babs. That
doesn’t mean I have a preference on hair color. I—okay, if anyone has a thing for that, it will be
you. And you know what, I’m tired, okay? I’ve been working nonstop for three weeks. I just want
to move my shit into my damn place--”

“Hey,” Roy yelled out again when Lian started to giggle.

Again, the guy gestured him to hold off.

“—Then get some sleep. The reason I do not want you to come here is not because I’m snuggling
up with him, but because I just don’t have the energy to deal with you right now. No, no, not
tomorrow either. No—hey, hey, you listen to me, you dickhead--”

Lian asked him in a whisper, “What’s a ‘dickhead’, daddy?”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Roy slammed his hand heavily against the freezer.

Only now, the guy lowered his phone. “The hell do you want,” he spitted coldly, didn’t even
bother to spare Roy a proper glance.

“I want your stuff out of my doorway,” Roy glared at him. The guy might be good to look at, but
whatever nice feeling Roy had had for his good look had long since died out at this point.

“You’re blocking us,” Roy told him, “Me and my kid are in a little bit hurry here.”

“Fine,” the guy replied with annoyance.

Putting his phone away, he went back moving the freezer. Roy put down the backpack he was
carrying and tried to speed up the process by giving the guy a hand. But the asshat snipped the
moment he touched his stuff.

“Keep your hands off my shit.”

“Why don’t you keep your mouth clean in front of my kid.”

The guy froze up for a second, then glancing down uncertainly.

“Hello,” Lian greeted him.

“Uh, hi,” he replied with some hesitation, looking as though he had no idea there was a little kid
here until now. His eyes moved up to Roy. “I’m--”

Sorry.

Roy expected that’s what the guy would’ve said, since it would only be appropriate.

But in truth, the guy said nothing.

He just kind of stood there, taking his sweet time to frown at Roy instead of moving his stuff.

“Hey, dude,” Roy returned the frown. “Your stuff, out of my doorway, now.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the guy shook his head and mumbled.

They had already wasted plenty of time for this. Once the freezer was finally out of their way, Roy
strode out of the apartment quickly.

In his hurry, he kicked his toes into a box of heavy shit that undoubtedly was also supposed to be
moved into the next door like that freakering freezer.

Noticing his little accident, the neighbor guy regarded Roy with a frown.

“Careful,” he said.

Wanting no more of this guy’s attitude, Roy returned darkly, “Worry not, man. Your shit is
perfectly fine.”

His baby pulled his hand.

“The swear jar,” she reminded him.

So the new guy next door hadn’t just ruined his morning by being rude to him, sworn in front of
his daughter and given him a toe injury, he had also cost him five bucks. What a dreamy new
neighbor.

Roy picked up his baby and rushed into the elevator.

Before the elevator door closed, the guy was saying to Roy as though he was trying to clarify
something, “That’s not--” Roy pushed the button repeatedly to get the door to close faster.

Getting into his car, he started the engine, having the feeling that he could still make it.

And they would’ve made it to school just in time, if he didn’t have to turn back for Lian’s
backpack which he had left in the house when he had attempted to help that damn guy moving
away his damn stuff.

The teacher of Lian’s class gave him a disapproving look when they had arrived just a couple of
minutes too late.

Once Roy returned home, he picked up a pen and drew a sad face on the calendar.

Normally, when he failed at doing some stuff that some other normal parents from some other
normal, parental family could easily be crushing it, such as something as simple as bringing his
little girl to school in time, he would only have himself to blame.

But this time? He could totally blame his new neighbor.

***

“I get it,” his friend grunted in reply. “You started off on the wrong foot. I agree that he presented
himself badly, but it didn’t sound like he was being an ass on purpose.”

Roy nodded in agreement. “You know what? You’re right. That guy wasn’t being an ass on
purpose. He’s just being an ass naturally.”

“That’s not fair,” his friend grumbled. “Why don’t you just cut him some slack. You’ve said it
yourself, he was talking to someone on the phone.”

“So?”

“So, maybe he’s only acting like an asshole because he’s worn out and he was driven crazy by
some asshole he was talking to?” the guy applied reasonably. “And it’s not like he’s never
apologized.”

“Yeah, like an apology would bring me back my little girl’s sweet innocent, my perfect record, the
fiver I put in the swear jar, and my chance of getting onto the good side of my daughter’s teacher
for once,” Roy huffed. “And it wasn’t even a sincere apology. Have I ever told you how he
‘apologized’ when he ran into me in the elevator the next day?”

“Yes,” his friend cried out quickly in a low, pained growl.

Roy ignored that and went on with his story. “You see, I was in the elevator, ready to go out and
pick up my baby from school. Then he rushed out of the hallway and stopping the door with his
hand. Then do you know what he did next?”

“I know,” the guy grumbled, head thudding down into his palms. “--Because you’ve told me. About
ten fucking times.”

Roy was telling him, “--He just stood at the door and oggled me for like a minute. I mean, what the
hell?”

His friend let out a sigh. “I really think you’re just being self-conscious here,” he said. “I’m pretty
sure he wouldn’t oggle you.”

“Oh but he did. His eyes were practically pasted over my arms. And he wasn’t just staring. No, pal.
He was staring and smirking. Like I'm just some piece of meat. And I was like, ‘Eyes up here,
buddy!’”

“Okay, fine. So what if he did check out your arms,” his friend retorted in a heavy voice. “If you’re
feeling so violated when people check out your arms, how about you wear more sleeves.”

“Are you telling me that I should hide my body because it’s my fault that my body is beautiful?”
Roy returned dramatically with a scowl. To which, his friend snorted, in the usual compound of
vexation and amusement.

“Not that I think your ego needed to be fed, but if he was eyeing you, which I doubt it was true,
shouldn’t that only be a boost to your ego?” the guy retorted dryly. “I thought you like getting the
attention.”

“From someone else, maybe,” Roy replied in a murmur, eyes glancing at his friend with some
expectation. To his disappointment, the guy didn’t seem to notice his glance, let alone read the
meaning of it, which, was pretty much within his expectation, actually.

Letting out an internal sigh, Roy said, “Usually, I wouldn’t mind the attention. But not from that
guy. That Jason guy is a pig.”

***
Roy pressed the pillow over his head, trying to shut out the noises and force himself to sleep.

Back then, when he could’ve slept whenever he wanted, he had taken things for granted and felt
like sleeping was only for losers.

But now, being between his irregular work hours which were mostly long and would be taking up
all night, bringing his little girl to school at the morning, doing all the chores in the house and
picked up his baby from school, sleeping had kind of become a luxury these days.

There’re merely a few hours until the school time was over, and seeing how he still had work
tonight, he supposed it would only be better if he could catch some sleep while he still could,
unless he wanted to embarrass himself by falling asleep in the middle of busting someone’s head.

The noises next door shrieked through the wall and his pillow. It had been going on for about half
an hour by now. Never until today, had Roy realized how thin the wall between his house and his
neighbor’s house was.

Though he couldn’t hear what the people next door were arguing about, the noises were loud
enough to keep him awake.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Roy threw away the pillow and crawled out of bed, determined to
bang on his new neighbor’s door and tell him to keep the squabble down.

As the same time Roy poked out his head into the hallway, the guy next door was throwing
someone out of his own apartment.

“Get, the fuck, out,” he demanded harshly, one hand pushing against another guy who was yanking
at the door strongly in an attempt to keep the door from closing before his face.

“But I’ve come all the way here,” the other guy appealed imploringly.

“After I specifically told you not to,” the guy ground his teeth.

“But I just need to know--”

“Fuck, off.”

“Oh, come on--”

“No, don’t ‘come on’ me. This is my place, and whatever between me and him is my business.
You’re not allowed to come breaking into my goddamned house and snooping into my business. I
don’t care about what you think. I won’t explain myself again. Just piss the hell off.”

“But little Wing--” The door slammed close in front of the poor guy’s face. The guy who had just
gotten thrown out knocked on the door in one last effort. “—Would it help if I told you I love
you?” he spoke up hopefully. But there’s no reply coming from Roy’s neighbor.

Standing at his own door, Roy watched the dark-haired stranger sighed heavily while walking
away from his neighbor’s house.

So it’s a love issue. Roy thought to himself, eyes glanced at his neighbor’s door with some
indignation.

He was really feeling for the guy who his neighbor had just kicked out. According to what he had
heard, it seemed like his neighbor’s boyfriend had suspected the guy was cheating on him or
something, so he had come to his place and confronted that cheater but only getting tossed out in
return.

It would seem to Roy that his neighbor’s boyfriend was the only one who was taking things
serious. That his neighbor just wasn’t as into it as his boyfriend had thought.

What a real piece of work. Roy shook his head and snorted.

Normally, he would throw no stone. He had been quite a player himself before he had become a
dad; it’s not like he had never been into this kind of situation before. Roy could understand how
sex and love wouldn’t often be the same thing, and also how people might’ve sometimes
misinterpreted the meaning.

He didn’t think there was right or wrong in this matter, but it definitely seemed wrong to Roy that
his neighbor would’ve treated his partner with such dreadful manner.

Perhaps it was all just sex to the guy, and he just didn’t want to be bothered; but there’s still no
reason for him to treat someone who had been sharing his bed with such cruelty, especially not
someone who looked like that.

How could the guy have the heart to treat a beautiful creature such as this boyfriend of his so
badly? Roy asked himself, while his eyes were still regarding the stranger with some admiration
and a lot of pity.

He guessed his neighbor might not only be as rude and as insolence as he had thought, but also
didn’t have a heart at all.

Turning back into his house, Roy went back to bed. Since the squabble next door was over, now he
could finally catch some sleep.

Hours later, he woke up, ready to go pick up his daughter from school.

He stepped in once the empty elevator had arrived. A hand shoved against the hatch promptly from
the outside, catching the elevator from closing.

Roy looked up, not psyched to find it was that new neighbor of his.

To Roy’s confusion, the guy who he assumed had wanted to take a ride on the elevator did not get
his ass into the elevator, but just stood outside the open door, eyes lingering on Roy with a smirk
slowly creeping up onto his lips.

It was—objectively—a nice smirk. Roy had to admit, and he would have been totally flattered by
the fact that a handsome guy was clearly checking him out if that handsome guy wasn’t actually
just an asshat, who, so far, hadn’t seemed to Roy that he had done anything but being mean to
people and, apparently, taking up his time.

“Dude,” Roy started impatiently. “You’re getting in or what.”

Dropping his hand from the hatch, the guy drifted into the elevator.

It would appear that his new neighbor was really enjoying the sight of him. Roy didn’t need to see
it, he could just feel that gaze at his side, scanning thoroughly over his skin.

He turned to the guy with a scowl.

“Are you looking for something?”

Roy was sure he had sounded as unaffectionate as he felt. But the guy just shrugged at him
nonchalantly and kept regarding him with a smirk.

“You live next to me, right?” he said in a delightful tone. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean
to swear in front of your kid.”

“Well, that’s good for you,” Roy replied dryly. “I might’ve had to beat you up if I know you’re
intentionally hurting my baby’s ears with your F bombs.”

The guy let out a huff of laughter.

“I don’t usually drop that many F bombs. I was having a bad day. And in my defense, all of the bad
words were only directed to someone who totally deserves them,” he explained good-naturedly.
“So, could you forgive me for yesterday? I don’t have much experience with neighbors, but I’m
kind of under the impression that it’s important to be into a good relationship with them.”

The smirk before Roy’s eyes was all nice and sweet. Too nice and sweet, if you asked him.

This was unbelievable.

This guy hadn’t done nothing but being rude to him yesterday. But now he had taken a good look
at Roy, he was suddenly getting all charming and stuff.

It was one attractive smirk the guy was putting up. Roy wondered if this was the same smirk that
had gotten that poor guy from earlier to fall for him in the first place, before he had ended up being
tossed out heartlessly like a pair of old shoes.

The guy reached out a hand. “I’m Jason,” he said, a second before the elevator reached the ground
floor and opened.

“I’m leaving,” Roy returned him a smirk of his own and stepped away.

***

“I just couldn’t believe that asshole has had the audacity to pull a move on me right after doing
what he did. I can’t even believe how bad he treated that guy,” Roy cried out, enraged by the
memory. “--That guy is beautiful, and he loves him.”

With his head still burying deeply inside his palms, his friend grunted in exasperation, “How many
times do I have to tell you? You don’t know if that’s really his boyfriend.”

“What else could he be?” He shook his head. “--I love you,” he turned to face his friend directly
while saying. “--That’s what the other guy said.”

He was only repeating it. It wasn’t like he had put any actual signal inside the word. But still, he
couldn’t help his heartbeat from spiking up a little.

The guy didn’t seem to notice anything. Or maybe he did, but he just thought better than to give a
Roy response. Sometimes, Roy just honestly couldn’t tell.
There’s nothing he could read on his friend’s face. No expressions ever, no nothing ever but his
words, and all of those little feelings that he had been leaving into Roy’s heart whenever they’re
being together and getting just a bit too close to each other, or whenever they’re casually sharing
the thoughts that they had been keeping strictly to themselves, or laughing about the same things,
or bickering back and forth, or working together in perfect sync.

There’s something special in their friendship. Roy could feel that, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to
him if he was the only one who was feeling that, since his friend had never showed any suggestion
that he saw Roy as anything but a friend.

“That could be his family,” the guy said in return. “Families are allowed to throw the ‘L’ word.”

“They don’t look alike,” Roy countered. “I mean, sure, they both have blue eyes and the same hair
color, but the other guy has brown skin, and I’m pretty sure my neighbor is white.”

“They don’t necessarily need to be related,” his friend pointed out.

Pondering for a moment, Roy agreed reluctantly, “Okay, so it could be true that I had
misunderstood the whole thing and they aren’t what I think they are, but even so, that Jason guy is
still awful as hell.”

He told his friend, “You know, I’ve seen him hanging in the mob’s club the other day while I was
doing my job. I think he’s working for the mob.”

“There may be a perfect explanation for that.”

“Like what? That he’s actually an undercover cop?”

His friend shrugged noncommittally, taking some thoughts before he started, “He might not
actually be a criminal. But even if he is a criminal, so what? I never know you would judge a book
by its cover. Aren’t you the one who has told me that no matter how bad a past is, it helped us who
we are, but not who we’re doomed to be? I thought you’re all about non-judging and giving people
chances.”

Well, sure. Considered how he had fallen himself in his youth, he should know better than anyone
that people should not be condemned by their pasts, and if a screw-up like him could recover
himself from his own weaknesses and be better, then sure other people could too.

He couldn’t care less if people had a shady past. But it could hardly be called a past since he had
only seen his neighbor with the mob just a few days ago.

It didn’t seem to Roy that the Jason guy had gotten tired of his crooked life and looking to turn
over a new leaf. Seeing the way he had dealt with his criminal buddies, Roy would say he was
feeling pretty fine with the criminal life he was apparently leading.

Taking a note of the doubtful look on his face, his friend said, “Why don’t you just be friends with
him like you’ve been with me.”

The corner of Roy’s lips curled up into a small smile when he had caught the sweet little word that
the guy would rarely use. Though he didn’t need to hear it to know that they were, in truth, friends,
it was still nice to hear the guy saying it out loud every once in a blue moon.

There’s nothing in sight, but Roy could sense it. The echo of his smile dawned slowly on his
friend’s face.
Even he did try, Roy doubted he could be friends with his new neighbor the same way he had been
with his friend here.

Left out the fact that he just didn’t like that Jason guy at all, he was pretty sure that he liked Red
Hood much too much than he would usually a friend; which was kind of ridiculous, actually, since
he didn’t even know how the guy looked like.

It had been almost a year since they had met each other doing their vigilante work. Despite how
they would hang out whenever they could and work together sometimes, they had never seen each
other outside the costumes.

Never once did Roy see the face under that big, red helmet. The guy was really putting the secret
into this secret identity thing. For all he knew, it could easily be Swamp Thing down there. Roy
thought to himself, and getting slightly amused by the fact that he wasn’t even minding that.

“I can be friends with my lousy neighbor if I try,” Roy started nonchalantly after some thoughts. “--
Except I have more love for Swamp Thing than I have for that Jason dude. So, nah. I don’t think
I’ll try.”

Once again, Red Hood dropped his head heavily into his own palms.
 Chapter 2
Chapter Notes

And the suffering continues.

Comments and kudos are highly appreciated!

Oh hell, no.

This did not just happen again.

His teeth clinched in irritation the instant he took a glimpse at his house door.

Reminded himself how he did not really, really (--really?) want to murder anyone, he drew a deep
breath, before moving soundlessly from the elevator to his own apartment.

“Oh, please,” he started in a calm voice. “Just let yourself in. What even is privacy anyway.”

The kid stood frozen for a second.

“Uh, hey, you’re back.” Turning around slowly, he flashed Jason a grin, hand fell limp over the
doorknob that he had been pulling to get the door open.

Tim was trying, “Now I know how it might look like--”

“It looks like you’re breaking into my house,” Jason returned impassively, eyes regarding the pin
that the kid was still holding in his other hand.

Tim smiled up at him shyly while putting back the pin into his jeans pocket. “You weren’t home
when I got here, I just figured I could wait inside,” he explained innocently. “I was just going to sit
inside and wait, I swear. I wasn’t going to do anything else.”

The kid was looking so harmlessly innocent.

Jason had seen the same innocent look on Dick’s face merely a couple of weeks ago, when he had
woken up from his own bed and found the dickhead in his living room, casually going through his
stuffs while munching the brand new cereal he had just bought a day before.

The box of cereal which was supposed to be full and unopened had gone half-empty by the time
Jason had snatched it back. It was a miracle that Dick could have even left his apartment alive that
day. Seeing how much self-control he had presented by not murdering the dickhead, he felt like he
should’ve been given a freaking reward or something. Only he hadn’t. Because obviously, the
universe despised him for some reasons, so now also did his red-haired neighbor.

He regarded Tim with as much warmth and trust as he had regarded Dick.

The kid looked hurt.

“You don’t trust me?”

“My trust to you, Timbo?” Jason drawled. “--Has been lost the second you dug out my address and
shared it with Grayson the dick. And I’ve seen you looking more trustworthy when you’re not
committing any breaking and entering to my place. Now I don’t care how much money you put in
your little betting pool--”

“Who said we’re betting on anything?” Tim countered quickly.

Jason sent him a dry look.

“Okay, even if there is a bet--which I’m not saying there is—it wouldn’t be the reason I’m here.”

Tim pleaded to him, “I just want to visit you at your place, that’s the only reason I’m here.” Taking
a look at Jason’s face, he pleaded harder, “I have nothing to do today, honest.”

Jason nodded thoughtfully. “So you have absolutely no intention to look over my place and try to
dig up some proof to prove your ‘theory’ is right and Dick’s not.”

Instead of giving Jason an answer, the kid turned around to the door. “Hey, do you mind if we take
it inside? I can really use the loo--”

“Oh, no. Don’t even try.”

Jason shoved a hand against the door, shutting it close quickly before Tim could open it.

Trapping the kid in front of his house door, Jason leaned in and declared dangerously, “You’ll be
getting into my place and be up into my business over my dead body.”

Tim turned back to him.

“Technically, you are a dead body,” the kid pointed out reasonably.

Jason looked him dead in the eye. “You know how I sometimes joke about being dead?”

“Sometimes?” Tim retorted in a murmur. “You always joke about being dead.”

“I joke about that, not you,” Jason ignored him and announced.

Tim let out a sigh.

Making some loose gesture at the door, he said, “Could you just please let me in? I wasn’t kidding,
I really need to use the loo.”

“Well, in that case,” Jason started in a kind voice. “--No.”

The kid slumped with disappointment.

“Come on, what do you really have to hide,” he retorted flavorlessly before some thoughts crossed
his mind.

“You’re not actually hiding anyone, are you?”

He said while inspecting Jason in thought, “I didn’t think the reason you’ve decided to move into
this city is because you two have already been together for awhile and it’s time for you to take a
big step. Dick thinks is definitely it, but I disagree. I mean, I’m usually a pretty good detective
myself, and judging by all the evidence I’ve gathered up so far, I’d say you still haven’t pull
yourself out of the friend zone. But hey, I wouldn’t mind if Dick turns out to be right--”
“He’s wrong,” Jason cut him off.

He glanced up at Jason expectedly.

“So…my guess’s right,” he spoke with some caution and self-satisfaction.

It seemed to Jason that he had, more or less, intended to be sensible and keep down his own
excitement so he wouldn’t look like some competitive little shit. Only the sense of triumph he was
getting was leaking out onto his face, so it seemed pretty much clear to Jason that he was a
competitive little shit.

Tim asked tentatively after some internal struggles, “I realize it may seem too much to ask, but do
you think you can call Dick and tell him personally? He said he would only admit I’m right if I
could somehow prove it --”

“You’re not right either. You’re leaving, Nancy Drew,” Jason told him.

Technically, Tim wasn’t wrong about anything. They’re friends alright. Even though he wasn’t
going to shout it out on the top of the city didn’t mean their friendship was ever less than important
to him.

He wouldn’t mind helping Tim prove his theory to Dick and put an end to whatever wager they’re
having, if only Tim’s theory wasn’t just about them being a couple of good friends but them being
in the friend zone.

It just had a certain offensive ring to it. It was as though the kid was implying that he did want
something more than friendship from his friend but he wasn’t getting anywhere because he had no
game at all (He had plenty of game, thank you very much).

“Good day, Tim. See you again when there’s a funeral,” he said, ready to send the kid away.

Although he had nothing to hide inside his new apartment, he did value his own privacy and would
rather not have his place violated by intruders.

The whole point of him keeping his location secret at the beginning was that he could keep his
business to himself, which, now he thought about it, might be a complete idiot move. He should’ve
known these people would just smell out the secret immediately and dig their noses right into it.

Jason would’ve blamed himself for stupidly put up the secrecy, if he didn’t think it was actually
Bruce’s fault for creating these invasive creatures and giving them the idea that it was totally cool
to break into people’s houses since it was only an acceptable human behavior.

Some noises arose on the hallway before he could get rid of Tim. Jason glanced around,
momentarily distractedly by the sight of his next door neighbors.

The redhead seemed kind of overloaded to him, with the bags of groceries filling up his two hands
and his little girl dangling upon his back. Except he didn’t appear to be overburden by all things he
was carrying. In fact, he was moving easily across the hallway while laughing at whatever funny
story the little girl was telling him.

Tim spoke up in some fusion of shock and bafflement, “You uh…you’re smiling, man. Why are
you smiling?” He turned his head around, attempting to take a look at the hallway.

Jason blocked him up immediately, pressing closer against Tim before he could catch a glimpse of
the redhead.
The last thing he needed was for Tim to see the guy and getting excited over some wrong idea.

“On second thought,” he started abruptly with a grin. “Let’s take it inside, little bro. You should
totally check out my place.”

“What? Really? But you said--”

He opened the door and pushed Tim behind it.

When Jason glanced around the second time, he was startled to find that the redhead was staring
intently at his way.

The smile Jason had seen on the guy’s face just a moment ago had disappeared into nowhere; the
redhead was now regarding him with suspicion.

“Hey,” Jason called to him nicely.

The look the redhead returned him wasn’t at all nice.

Feeling uncomfortable with the suspicious look the redhead was sending him, Jason turned his
eyes away and headed into the house.

Seeing Tim had already been moving around his place and checking out every closed door with
great curiosity, he let out a frustrated sigh.

A couple of seconds later, someone knocked at Jason’s door.

Reluctantly leaving Tim to his snooping, he went to the door to see who it was.

To his surprise, the redhead, now had everything put down inside his own house, was standing
alone outside his apartment.

“Is everything okay?” he started the second Jason showed up, head stretching out subtly, trying to
get across Jason and take a look into his place for some reasons.

Jason stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind him.

“Sure,” he replied with his best innocent face.

The redhead narrowed his eyes slightly with distrust.

Studying Jason for a brief moment, he appeared to have some change of mind, expression shifted
quickly from hostile to friendly.

“It just suddenly occurs to me that I’ve never officially welcomed you in,” he spoke up smoothly,
lips drawing up into a lazy smirk. “I mean, what’s the deal with that? We live next to each other.
Wouldn’t it only to be right if I visit you at your place and learn a little more about you? Just so we
could—what was that again?--Build up some good neighborly relationship?”

With that nice little smirk dangling on his lips, he tossed a glance to Jason, eyes glinting faintly
with some delicate suggestions.

There’s barely any sincerity Jason could find on his face. It was clear that the guy was only trying
to play a trick on him, but--well, the redhead was kind of cute when he was trying to be cute.

Jason regarded him intriguingly, feeling compelled to play along.

“So now you’ve decided to be my good neighbor and pay me a visit.” He retorted in some false
confusion, “You sure you want to get into my place instead of ‘leaving’?”

Seeing the redhead frowning in puzzlement, Jason nicely reminded him, “When I introduced
myself, you said you’re leaving. I figure it’s either you have a really interesting name, or you’re
just a busy person who never has time for any social interaction. Or, maybe, it could be that you’re
being rude to me--”

“Rude? Me? I have no rude in my bones, buddy. Just ask my doctor,” the redhead broke him off
swiftly. “I was like, totally busy that day. Picking up the kid and all that, who had time to make
friends? Nope, not me. But now--well, now I've got time.”

The taut, fine muscles flexed and the T-shirt hugged him tightly as he crossed his arms casually
over his chest.

It would seem the guy was really putting in the effort to try to get inside his place and find out what
was going on. Jason would’ve been offended by the fact that the redhead obviously suspected he
had something shady hidden behind his door, if he wasn’t so entertained by the approach. And he
might’ve even laughed at his approach if the smirk and the outlines of those fine muscles weren’t
so…perfectly distracting.

Hauled up his eyes back to the guy’s face, the first thing Jason saw was how that smirk deepened.

He was about to say something in return. But the apartment door behind Jason pushed against his
back suddenly.

“--Hey, Jason, what are you doing out there?”

Shit.

He had almost forgotten that.

Feeling the door was opening up, he pushed back roughly to shut it down.

When he returned his focus to the redhead, he was distressed to find that all those nice little
pretenses were gone.

The guy had dropped the front immediately and turning into alarm.

“You sure everything is okay?” he pressed the question again, with his voice strengthened and his
brows creased together with concern and suspicion.

He needed to send the redhead away as quickly as possible.

“You know what, Roy?” Jason was saying, “I’d love to have you at my place. For a cup of coffee,
and some quality time. Unfortunately, I have guest right now. So how about a rain check?”

For a moment, the redhead did nothing but just squinted at him. Then he started suspiciously, “You
said my name. I never told you my name.”

Oh, right.

“I asked around,” Jason simply replied. “So, next time, neighbor?”

After some considerations, the redhead nodded his head slowly. “Suuuuure,” he said, in a tone that
just didn’t sound at all promising to Jason.
Dammit.

Flashed the redhead a forced grin, Jason withdrew into his place, shut the door behind him and
turned to glare deadly at Tim, who was regarding him curiously while treating himself with a bag
of his fucking snacks.

“Oh sure, just make yourself at home,” Jason spitted in despair.

***

“Now I don’t know what exactly has happened in there, but there’s definitely something.”

He was feeling nothing but assertive.

“I saw him, Hooch. He was cornering a guy in front of his apartment. And the second he realized
they weren’t alone, he pushed the guy into his place.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s shady,” Red Hood returned in a grave voice. “And what did I tell you
about ‘Hooch’ and your trachea?”

That he couldn’t have both. Roy remembered. However, he was still living happily with his
trachea. So evidently, he could have both.

Paying no regard to the half-ass complain, Roy nodded at him in mock agreement.

“So my neighbor is not shady. He’s just a harmless, respectable everyday citizen,” he started
evenly. “--A harmless, respectable everyday citizen who has a tendency to be mean to people, has
been involved with some messy love problems, potentially a cheater, associates with the mobs, and
would corner people at the hallway for whatever reason.”

“You know how sometimes people just look like they’re guilty and would be convicted for crimes
when they’re actually just wildly misunderstood?” his friend returned thoughtfully. “Can you
honestly rule out the chance that he isn’t like me when I was wanted for murder? Can you?”

“But you did kill those guys,” Roy pointed out reasonably.

Glimpsed mindlessly at the guy, he was surprised to find that his friend actually seemed a bit
distressed by his response.

Though he couldn’t see the guy’s face, the air of gloominess around him was hard to miss.

It was unlikely that he had touched a nerve or something. The guy joked about his past as often as
Roy joked about his own. It had been ages since he had killed anyone for any reason. Even though
he might not be the poster child for morality, Roy knew for a fact that he was a good person who
was only trying to do the right thing. So the guy had done bad stuffs in his bad days, so he had
faults and demons; but rather than the ones without demons, it’s actually those ones who would
stand up to their demons that Roy found most admirable. It took some real strength to be above
one’s own demons, Roy could say that because he would know.

He didn’t seriously think his friend was having some personal crisis, but he drew closer to the guy
just in case. “You’re good,” Roy assured his friend, hand moving up to pet the guy in his…uh,
hood. “Unlike that Jason dude.”

Red Hood retorted dryly, “Presumption of innocence--have you ever heard of that? It means
people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.”

“And guilty he is,” Roy exclaimed clearly. “If he isn’t guilty of something, tell me why the heck he
wouldn’t just let me take a look behind his door so I would know everything is fine? He wouldn’t
even let the guy come outside when I was there. He was trying so hard to keep me from seeing that
guy. That didn’t scream innocent to me. That just made him ten times shadier.”

It seemed that his friend wanted to say something, but he gave up on it when he realized he had got
nothing.

Roy continued, “What even was happening in there anyway? Who is that person he was cornering?
I can’t even tell what kind of situation that was. Was he getting into another one of his love
troubles? Is that person the reason that the other guy from earlier has gone to confront him in the
first place? Is he like, one of his love conquests? Does he have many love conquests?”

“Okay, let me just stop you right there,” Red Hood started sharply.

“I took a look at the person he was cornering that day before he hid him away. I don’t think he’s of
age,” Roy was telling him, “I think it’s a teenager, Hooch. Is that even legal?”

“It’s not legal that you’re being ridiculous,” his friend remarked grimly, “It’s a crime, pal. There’s
a law against idiocy. I think you need to stop acting like an idiot soon before they hang you.”

It would’ve sounded mean and insulting if Roy didn’t actually just find it kind of cute. “You and
your dark humor,” he remarked with some amusement.

“What humor. I’m dead serious.”

Roy tossed him a smirk in return. A sincere one with genuine appreciation, not like the fake one he
had thrown at his shady neighbor a couple of days ago when he had tried to charm his way into the
guy’s apartment.

“No matter,” he said affirmatively, hand leaving his friend’s head and turned to nudge him
playfully with his elbow. “You’re not going to let them hang me. I’m growing on you.”

“Like a cancer,” his friend returned in a dry voice.

Roy went back on track after pondering briefly. “Maybe I am thinking too much,” he said.

Red Hood turned to him slightly in a somewhat hopeful manner.

“Maybe I’ve jumped the gun too soon. My neighbor and the kid might not be sexually involved. It
could be that he’s a drug dealer and the kid has just looked him up for a fix.” His eyes narrowed in
thought, “Yeah…I can see that. It makes total sense.”

“It makes zero sense,” Red Hood grunted, head dropping down into his hands with
disappointment. “Can’t you think of any other possibilities that just won’t end with the conclusion
that your neighbor is some awful human scum?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘human scum’,” Roy corrected sensibly. “But uh, no, I’m pretty sure he’s awful.”

He scowled with indignation once his mind had turned to the thought of last night.
“Last night,” he started gravely. “--Jeez, you won’t even believe me if I told you what happened
last night.”

“I probably won’t,” Red Hood nodded. “So how about you just keep it all to yourself and don’t
ever tell me a word.”

“--I was out working last night,” Roy told him, “and just when I was about to call it a night and
turn home, there’re these noises coming from an alley. It sounded like someone was in trouble. So,
I went to check it out. And when I got there, I saw my neighbor. And he was manhandling a baby.”

His hands swung up in exasperation.

“—A fucking baby!”

***

A moment after he had entered his own neighborhood, he heard some noises of struggle.

Thinking there might be troubles, he changed his original direction, tracing down the sounds to an
alley nearby.

Perched silently above the alley, he saw a broad figure down there crouching to the ground with his
hands pressing firmly against something beneath his body.

“Let go of me,” the thing the person was suppressing growled angrily.

Since the person Roy was seeing was big and the figure underneath him was much, much smaller,
he was unable to catch a good look. But the bawling voice was thin, with a little screechy ring of a
child.

The man in the alley was holding down a child on the ground. Roy’s face stiffened with anger the
second he realized.

He was about to hop down to teach the bully a lesson, but then the man spoke up, and Roy was
surprised to find that he had known this voice from somewhere.

Roy squinted his eyes, couldn’t believe that his next door neighbor was actually bullying a child.

He knew the guy was shady, but come on--a child? That’s it. This guy wasn’t going to live next to
him much longer, because he was going to the pen.

Ignoring the protest against him, the guy was saying to that little thing, “Whatever money you’ve
put on the bet with those two, I’ll triple it if you just piss off.”

He was talking to the kid with some casual familiarity. It sounded like they’re rather familiar with
each other. Roy halted himself, getting a little confused and curious about the situation.

“It’s not about the stupid bet,” the little kid returned him in a contemptuous voice. “I care about
your relationship status as much as I care about my school assignments, which, similar to your love
life, are negligible and undeserving of my time.”

The guy snorted with irony.

“So you don’t do your homework. But you would come all the way here to stalk me--for no reason
whatsoever--because that is the finest way to spend your precious, precious time.”

The little one remained silence for a moment, before starting unwillingly, “Those two said they
couldn’t find out anything certain. So I figured I shall discover what’s going on with you. And by
accomplishing that, they’ll have to acknowledge me as the superior one.”

The voice of Roy’s neighbor laced with disapproval and some amusement. “You’re not superior,
kid. You’re caught and you humiliated yourself.”

With his hands still pinning down the kiddie, the guy said, as though he was showing the kid a
great mercy, “--Now, I’ll let you off this time, because I’m a bigger person. Just say you’re sorry
for bothering me and that you’re a horrible little shit, then I’ll let you fly away back to daddy--
either daddy dick or daddy dickhead, I don’t care. That’s your choice, buddy.”

“How about I say ‘let go of me or I’ll send you back into the graveyard’,” the kid snipped,
swinging back his elbow in an attempt to hit the guy in his face.

The attack forced Jason to reel back, but he quickly regained his suppression upon the kid.

A muffled grunt escaped the kid’s mouth as the guy caught his arm and twisted it behind his back.

Through the dim light in the alley, Roy saw with his own damn eyes that his neighbor drew out a
grin, like he was somehow having fun bullying that small, little baby who didn’t seem to Roy that
he’s older than his own little girl by much.

Soundlessly, Roy moved up behind him. “Hey, man,” he started. “Why don’t you pick on someone
your own size.”

His neighbor stayed frozen for a couple of seconds.

Slowly, he turned his head around.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he said, eyes regarding Roy with some caution. The guy seemed
nervous to see him. It must be the work suit he was wearing; it had an effect on guilty people.

Roy flashed him a sneer. “It looks like you’re roughing up a baby,” he pointed out matter-of-factly.

As his attention shifting to Roy, the pressure he had been putting upon the kid naturally eased off.

Before he could say any more to Roy, the kid pushed roughly against him, twisting out of his reach
and springing up onto his own feet.

“Who are you calling a baby,” the little person returned Roy, eyes regarding him coldly with
contempt. “--I’m a teenager, you moron.”

The attitude was uncalled for. Roy turned his attention from his neighbor to the kid, confused and a
little bit shocked.

The guy next door took a step to the kid. Thinking the asshole was trying to do something, Roy
reached out promptly, grasping his shoulder with a firm hand.

“I don’t know what’s happening here. But how about you just leave the kid alone,” Roy warned
him in a grim voice.

The guy huffed in frustration. “You don’t understand--” the guy was saying, before the kid
interrupted him with a thoughtful hum.

“Hum.”

The kid squinted at Roy and his neighbor in some confusion, seemingly was pondering about
something.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea of what you’re playing here,” he said to Jason. “--But I’m not going to
stick around and find out. I still have school tomorrow. See you later, Todd.”

Without giving either of them another look, the kid turned on his heels and waved them a quick
good bye.

Again, Roy was getting confused and shocked.

He chased up behind the kid once he had recovered. “Hey, wait up, kid--” he called out, not feeling
comfortable with the idea of letting a little kid wander off on his own.

The little kid shot him a look over his shoulder. “Don’t follow me. Unless you want a trip to the
hospital,” he said with his eyes squinted chillingly.

As Roy stood gaping, the kid picked up his speed and took off.

His neighbor walked up to him.

“See what I mean?” Jason started scornfully.

After a brief moment of struggling between the ideas of keep chasing down the kid and stay
dealing with this guy, Roy eventually came up with a decision.

The kid seemed he really would be fine on his own. On the other hand, Roy really wouldn’t mind
teaching this guy a lesson about roughing up a child.

He turned to his next door neighbor as the douche next door was saying to him, “--That thing you
saw? It’s not a baby. It’s the embodiment of horror. He was harassing me. I was just trying to
protect myself.”

“Oh really,” Roy retorted in a dry voice. “That little child, who is hardly at the same size as a
Labrador, has been harassing you.”

“You have no idea what he’s capable of,” the guy replied. “You’re lucky he’s gone and couldn’t
hear what you just said. Otherwise, he’s going to be pissed. He’s really sensitive about his size.”

Roy rolled his eyes.

“What’s your business with the kid anyway?” He crossed his arms and regarded the guy
impassively. The guy shrugged at him.

“He’s my foster brother.”

With a ring of irony in his voice, the guy explained, “We do a lot of rough housing in our family,
that’s how we express feelings. I wasn’t trying to hurt the kid.”

Thinking about the way they had been conversing, it did seem they were familiar with each other.
But even though they were family and that the kid hadn't been in any actual danger, it still didn’t
mean the guy was innocent of all crimes.
Having no intention to let this guy off the hook just this easy, he demanded, “Turn around, pal.”

The guy seemed to be confused by his command. Roy smirk at him. “Come on, turn around,” he
said to the guy sweetly. “--I’m gonna feel you out.”

His neighbor gaped at him.

“What?”

Roy scowled in confusion, having no idea why this guy was acting so shocked. Sure it wouldn’t be
the first time it happened to a guy like him.

“Are you—what? I…Right here? All this sudden?” the guy stuttered while regarding Roy
uncertainly, like he couldn’t believe Roy would be this forward.

“What?” Roy scowled harder. “I’m saying I’m going to search you. What the hell do you think I’m
saying?”

The realization dawned onto the guy’s face along with some embarrassment.

“I…heard you said feel me up.”

“No,” Roy cried out, hands swinging wildly in exasperation. “That is not what I said. Why would I
say that?”

“That’s…what I was wondering,” the guy nodded dully.

This was ridiculous.

This guy? Was ridiculous.

“Just turn around already,” Roy shook his head and grunted, grasping the guy by his shoulder and
turned him around to the wall. The guy complied, raising his hands indifferently as Roy pet him
down.

Roy searched him for awhile, kind of hoping he could find a bag of smack or something. To his
disappointment, there’s nothing he found save for the guy’s cell phone, his wallet and a chain of
keys.

The guy, who now had his cool reclaimed, sent Roy a look over his shoulder.

“You’re done feeling me out yet?” he drawled, lips rising up into that little smirk of his. “It’s
starting to make me uncomfortable.”

Roy stared at him grimly, fishing out the guy’s wallet before stepping back.

The guy turned from the wall to him.

“So, I’m good, not-officer?”

“You’re something alright,” Roy replied in a grumble, passing the wallet back into the guy’s hand
once he was done checking it.

Leaning closer to the guy, he spoke threateningly in a whisper, “Just don’t do anything bad, buddy.
Or your ass is mine.”
The douche next door stared at him weirdly for a moment.

“Alright, I’ve got to ask,” he started, eyes glinting with some amusement. “Is that supposed to be a
threat? Or--”

Infuriated, Roy cried out, “It’s a threat, dude! Read the room!”

***

“So he didn’t actually rough up some baby. He was just messing with his kid brother, who, sounds
a lot like to me, is one lousy, bratty baby.”

“Still a baby,” Roy countered.

Taking a moment of thoughts, he said, “You know what really gets on my nerves? It’s that every
time he sees me in the building, he’ll just send me this look and this little smirk, or even go out of
his way to chat me up.”

Red Hood breathed out in dramatic horror, “The monster.”

“You don’t get it, dude,” Roy told him, “The guy is hitting on me. Big time.”

His friend paused for a second.

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Roy sent him a dry look. “You think I can’t tell if someone is interested in
me? The signal is shining. In my face. The last time I saw that big a signal was when I visited
Gotham.”

“Okay. Let’s assume he is interested in you. How is that a bad thing?”

“Uh, because he’s most likely a criminal? And he’s mean, and apparently is just looking for a
laid?”

“But what if--” Red Hood started.

There’s something in his tone that raised Roy’s attention.

His friend spoke quietly, “What if, he does like you. What if, for whatever reasons, he just finds
your whole…red-haired, man-childish, hippie single parent thing, kind of--I don’t know--lovable?”

“Then I’ll probably feel sorry for him when I turn him down,” Roy replied nonchalantly, while
pondering what that was he was hearing in his friend’s voice.

That little thing in his tone. Roy didn’t know how to make of it, but he loved it.

He said clearly, “My neighbor might have the look of Bruce Wayne, but I’m only into women, and
guys who aren’t a complete ass.”

“I’m so going to regret asking this--” the guy started flavorlessly after a second of silence. “But,
what do you mean ‘the look of Bruce Wayne’? Why would you even mention Bruce Wayne?”
“Because that man is generally recognized as the very definition of hot stuff? The 'Hot Wayne', as
everyone calls it?”

“Nobody calls no such thing. And if you ever say that horrible, horrible word again? It’ll be your
last word, Arsenal. It’s not a joke.”

Roy knitted his brows in bafflement.

So the pun wasn’t genius, but it couldn’t be appalling. He had no idea why Red Hood would’ve
acted as though he had said something appalling.

“I’m just telling you my neighbor is hot. That’s what I’m saying,” Roy replied easily. “Just because
I have no interest in the guy doesn’t mean I’m blind. His look is basically the only thing I like
about him so far.”

“So you like his look, but you just won’t like him,” Red Hood murmured sourly.

Pondering for a moment, he said in a meaningful tone, “You know, you kind of talk a lot about
someone you have absolutely no interest into.”

Roy frowned at him.

“What do you mean.”

“I mean, maybe you two should get a room, and give me a break.”

The indifference in his friend’s voice made his frown deepen.

The guy didn’t seem to have any problems with the idea of Roy sleeping with his neighbor. In fact,
he was suggesting it. Like it somehow would be a good thing.

So the feeling really wasn’t mutual. Roy thought to himself sourly.

Red Hood liked him, of course, but only as a friend. It’s not though he had never thought of the
possibility that they just didn’t feel the same way about each other, but seeing how little concern
the guy showed to who he chose to sleep with…well, it still kind of stung.

In response to his suggestion, Roy returned unhappily, “You suck.”

“But you still like me, right?”

The guy was doing it again.

Speaking to him with that little thing in his modified voice. That little softness that just had a way
to pull at Roy’s heart.

If only he would know what he was doing to him.

Roy replied half-heartedly in a grumble, “Yeah, but you suck.”

 Chapter 3

Once he woke up, he reached out for his phone to check what time it was.

Using the intel he had learned from the mobs, he had chased the lead down to this city.

After being away from his new home and out working for over a week, the job finally had been
finished last night. And it had been a long, exhausting night, with all the fights and what not. He
was half-expecting himself to have slept the whole day away; but the time was actually earlier than
he thought.

There’s an unread message from Bruce reminding him to pass off the file he had been asking for
before he headed home. Right above that message, there’s the redhead asking him a couple of days
ago about how his job was going and when he would be back.

I miss you, Hooch, he had written in his message. Srsly, I miss you so much, I went to chat up a
fireplug the other day. I think Reddie and I really hit it off. If you’re not coming back soon, it’s
going to become my new best friend. (What an idiot. Jason had snorted at the message.)

Before he went home, he took one last stop at the manor to drop the file to Bruce. Bruce wasn’t
home but at the office. He was about to pass the stuff to Alfred then leave right away, but the old
man invited him in for some tea and cookies.

Jason walked into the kitchen with him, sat down at the kitchen table and being treated quickly
with a cup of tea and a plate full of freshly baked cookies.

“Now I remember why I used to like this place,” taking a bite of the delicious treat, he remarked
with appreciation. “If you finally have enough of taking care of the babies, you could just quit your
job any day and go opening your own business. You could make a fortune out of this.”

“As long as the children still haven’t been fully able to provide themselves, I’m afraid I’m stuck
with my duties here.” Alfred returned him a smile. “--It’s very nice of you to say such thing, Master
Jason. The greatest compliment I’ve received lately is ‘Not bad, Pennyworth, you’re improving.
Just be easy with the cinnamon next time’.”

“Sounds to me you’re actually being way too easy with the cyanide.”

Sitting down across him, Alfred replied musingly, “I’ve been considering increase the dosage in
my recipe. It’d appear the special ingredient that based on one of Ms. Isley’s old chemicals has no
longer had the effect of stabilizing their moods.”

Jason lowered the piece of cookie he had been eating.

Seeing the startled look on his face, Alfred threw him another smile. “It’s a jest.”

“It’s not funny, Alfred. It’s horrifying,” he grumbled in some exasperation.

“You would appreciate the humor of it if you have seen the look on Master Bruce’s face,” Alfred
replied with a note of complacency in his voice.

Whenever Jason had thought about how Alfred had to be stuck here with Bruce, and now Damian,
he had felt sorry for the old man. He just kept forgetting the fact that Alfred could actually be the
most terrifying being in this house.
Still feeling a tiny bit unsettled, he stared down questioningly at the piece of cookie he was
holding.

“There’s nothing suspicious in these,” Alfred reassured him. “—The ingredient has been run out a
long time ago.” Jason glared at him deadly.

He was pretty sure Alfred was just messing around. But given the fact that the old man did have a
record of dosing people into sleep when they’re being a stubborn ass workaholic who had thought
they could live forever without sleeping because they’re an immortal, Jason could only be like,
seventy percent sure.

After he had finished the cookies, Alfred asked him, “Are you settling well in your new place?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Everything’s good.”

The old man nodded in reply. He took a glance at Alfred before reluctantly continued, “--Except
I’m having some troubles with my neighbor.”

Alfred raised his eyebrows slightly.

“You don’t like your neighbor very much?”

He snorted. “More like the other way around.”

Alfred took a second to turn his thought around. “--You like your neighbor very much?”

He stared dully at Alfred. “I mean my neighbor doesn’t like me.”

“Oh.” Alfred blinked in some confusion, probably was wondering since when he cared anything
about neighbors, or people liking him or not. “--Well, if you wish to get along with your neighbors,
perhaps you should take the initiative and show them your goodwill.”

“I’ve showed him plenty of goodwill,” he returned in a sour voice.

Alfred regarded him for a moment.

“Here.” He left the table to the stove after some thoughts, filling up a bag of cookies and handed it
to Jason. “--You should try visiting your neighbor with these. You can’t be truly showing someone
your goodwill until you offer them some homemade treats.”

It was a good advice. Jason stared down at the bag of delicious cookies.

Those were good stuff. And the redhead did like food. Jason had seen him eating at work a handful
of times. There’s no way the guy could find anything terrible about this.

“Thanks, Al.” He took the cookies.

Maybe he could stay here for another cup of tea. It’s nice hanging out with Alfred. The man had
always seemed to know exactly what you needed and would help solving your problem with
absolutely no questions asked.

He was really enjoying the way that the old man wouldn’t have ground him with questions that he
had zero intention to answer.

The smile that Alfred returned him was professionally perfect.

“Anytime, Master Jason,” Alfred said. “--Now, about that neighbor of yours. Is there a specific
reason that his opinion on you matters? Has anything happened between you and your gentleman
friend who I’ve heard of?”

Jason changed his mind.

“It has been good to see you, Alfred.”

Went to give Alfred a good-bye hug, he then headed to the exit.

Couple of hours later, Jason returned to the apartment building.

Put down the traveling bag in his own place, he went knocking at his neighbor’s door with the
homemade cookies in his hand.

Instead of the person he was expecting, an unknown guy with stylish brown hair came answer the
door.

The stranger was talking on the phone.

“But how about I bring her with me?” he said while glimpsed at Jason questioningly, appeared to
have wanted to address him but unable to detach himself from the heated conversation. “--I can just
bring her along, it’d be like the police ride-along program. Trust me, she’ll love it. We could have
so much fun together and it’s perfectly safe--”

“Is Roy here?” Jason cut in bluntly, while pondering who exactly this guy was and why he was
answering Roy’s door like he owned the place.

“No,” the stranger replied in a hurry. Pried himself slightly off the phone, he asked, “You are?”
But he didn’t give Jason a chance to answer, attention shifting back onto the phone within the next
second.

The person on the other side of the phone was saying something. The guy listened intently.

“You sure?” he frowned with uncertainty. “It would be an awesome experience. I would die for a
chance to go out there when I was her age. I…yeah, yeah. No, you’re right, it’s a stupid idea. I—
okay. But you know Jim and Sue are out of town, who am I supposed to--”

A small, girly voice rose behind them, “Hello.”

The little thing stretched her head out of the living room and regarding Jason curiously.

Distracted, the guy turned around to her, putting the conversation on hold. “You know this guy,
monkey?” he asked, one hand swaying loosely at Jason.

“He lives next to us,” the girl replied.

Letting out a thoughtful hum, the stranger turned his eyes back to Jason. “So you’re friends with
Roy?”

Jason scowled at him, confused and slightly annoyed. He’s not having a warm feeling about this
"haircut".

“Yeah?” he replied, and the guy busted out into a grin.

It’s a nice grin, to be fair; but it’s also kind of unsettling.

“If he’s not here, I can come back later--” Jason was saying.

The guy got back on the phone. “Listen, Roy, don’t worry. I think I got it,” he declared with some
strong, natural confidence, throwing an arm around Jason before he could walk away from the
doorway.

“Are you busy today?” he asked eagerly.

“No?”

“Good.” The guy guided him into the living room. “--Roy is out of town, I’m supposed to watch
the kid for him while he’s gone, but I have this emergency call, I’ve got to go now. He said he
could be back at night, in the meanwhile, would you mind watching Lian for us?”

“What?”

While Jason was having a hard time processing, someone, who apparently was Roy, was yelling
out from the other end of the phone, “What’s going on? Hal—Hal, who the hell are you talking
to?”

“Thanks, buddy,” the guy nodded at Jason with appreciation, didn’t seem to have taken a note of
Jason’s confusion or caught a single sound from his own phone.

One hand gesturing vaguely at the little girl, he gave Jason an instruction, “Just uh…you know
what to do.”

Jason had no idea what to do.

The guy went to pick up a flyer jacket on the couch and putting it on quickly. Jason could still hear
Roy shouting about something right before he hung up the phone and shoving it deep inside his
coat pocket.

“I’ll see you around, monkey,” he gave the little girl a hug.

“Bye, Uncle Hal,” she replied naturally.

Realized this guy was actually just going to leave him alone in here, Jason was trying to say
something to stop him, but before he could find the chance to open his mouth, the guy had already
rushed out of the apartment.

Once the guy was gone, the place fell into silence.

Seconds later, he turned to the girl slowly.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Lian replied, eyes regarding him in thought. “--My daddy doesn’t like you.”

“No kidding,” Jason snorted dryly. “So he told you that?”

“No, but his face goes like this every time he sees you,” she said, scrunching her face into a mock
irritated expression.

He laughed at the silly face she was making. It did kind of look like Roy whenever he was
addressing him.
“It isn’t the kind of faces that said ‘I like you’,” she explained.

He asked in reply, “But how about you.”

Lian tilted her head.

Instead of answering, she took a look at the bag of sweets in his hand. “Are those cookies?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I have some?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Have as many as you want.”

The girl broke into a grin. “I like you.”

***

He tried a couple of times, but Hal wasn’t answering his phone anymore.

Getting transferred into the voicemail for the one last time, he called home instead, feeling
excessively nervous as he was waiting for someone to answer the phone.

Someone picked up the phone.

“Who is it.”

Roy froze up for a moment.

“Jason?” he started in horror. “--From the next door?”

This was not happening. Roy told himself. This could not be who Hal had left his daughter with.

“That’d be me,” the person in his house replied.

Roy took a deep breath.

“Why are you in my house?” he asked in a calm voice, still trying to convince himself that Hal
wouldn’t have done something as foolishly reckless as this.

“Your buddy took off. So I guess I’m your babysitter now,” his neighbor told him. “--You’re
welcome.”

Well, that settled it. He would have to murder that green, sparkling reckless fool once he came
back from space.

“Listen, buddy,” Roy growled in a deep voice, “I don’t know exactly what you do for your living,
but if anything—anything—happens to my daughter, you’re a dead man.”

A few seconds of silence, then he caught a sound.

It sounded like his neighbor was chuckling.

Roy gritted his teeth. “Do I sound funny to you?”

What’s the matter with this guy. Roy honestly couldn’t figure it out. Had he got some hindrance of
threats reading? How come this guy just seemed to be having so much trouble taking his threats
serious?

His neighbor took a second to swallow down the chuckles. “Don’t worry, mama bear,” he replied
in a strict voice. “I can handle it. I know how to deal with kids.”

If it’s anything like the way he had dealt with that kid brother of his, then Roy had every reason to
be worried.

Would it have been better if he just let Hal kidnap his daughter to space? He wondered.

“I’m coming home right away,” he announced curtly to Jason, hung up the phone and turned to
Oliver who had been busy fighting ninjas at a distance.

One of the ninjas surged at Roy. He took out that guy and said, “We need to finish this up right
now. The ring-slinger bailed on me and went ring-slinging. I’m really worried about what’s
happening in my house.”

“Why couldn’t you just hire a nanny in the first place,” Ollie retorted with disapproval. “What
were you thinking leaving Hal to watch the kid? That man is my best friend and I love him, but
he’s a flyboy, and you’ve got to know he has hit his head a disturbing amount of times.”

“Yeah yeah, go ahead and rub it in. Your unhelpful criticisms are all that keeps me going,” Roy
returned sharply in annoyance.

There’re still a couple of things left to do once they took down the assassins. But since they had
already solved the mystery at this point and flushed out the people they wanted, he was pretty sure
Ollie could handle the rest himself.

Roy asked out of courtesy, “Are you going to get killed if I take off?”

“Go home,” Ollie replied. “I could manage without my ex-sidekick.”

“Ex-partner,” he corrected with a long face. “--Don’t call me again when you need help. Your
ungrateful attitude has brought you straight back onto the blacklist.”

“Tell Lian grandpa loves her,” said Ollie nonchalantly.

Leaving Ollie on the spot, he headed off to his way home.

He was trying to get back to his daughter the fastest he could, but there’s a car accident ahead, and
the entire road out of this city was blocked up.

Needed to make sure Lian was okay, he called home again while he was stuck in a traffic jam.

He started anxiously the instant someone picked up the phone, “--Tell me you’re my pumpkin."

It was followed by a moment of silence.

“Tell me it isn’t your idea of sexy talk,” his neighbor responded in a dubious voice.

Roy banged his forehead onto the wheel.

“Where’s my daughter,” he demanded curtly. “Just get my daughter on the phone.”

“Sure.” The guy called out inside his house, “Is there a ‘pumpkin’ here?”

Another voice quickly responded from a distance. Roy relaxed immediately at that little screechy
voice. “--Is that daddy?”

“I believe it is,” Jason was saying to his daughter on the other end of the phone. “But are you
‘pumpkin’?”

“That’s me, but I’m not really a pumpkin,” she replied with some dignity before getting to the
phone. “Hi, daddy.”

“Hey,” he responded, mouth cracking up into a smile. “You’re doing okay, pumpkin?”

“Yeah.” She paused for a beat. “Jason said you’re coming home. Would you be home soon? Uncle
Hal is great, and Jason is great, but I miss you.”

“Not as much as I miss you.”

“But I miss you more,” she countered.

Roy snorted at her. “That’s impossible, little lady. Because I miss you the most.”

Lian pondered briefly.

“But I miss you more,” she declared with an insistence.

Though she could never beat him on this, he decided to just let her have it. “I’m on my way home,”
he said softly. “But there’s an accident here, so I don’t know what time I'll be back. Just be safe,
okay? And if anyone tries to do anything to you, remember--narwhal blast them in the face.”

He was expecting a reply from his daughter, but instead, the guy next door was answering
sarcastically, “If by ‘anyone’ you mean me, don’t worry, I don’t have a habit of being mean to
kids, unless they're the snotty children in my family.”

Roy started in a dry voice, “Am I on speaker?”

“Good guess.” It sounded like Jason was smirking. “--What even is a narwhal blast?”

“It’s just something from the TV,” Roy replied evasively.

In the meanwhile, Lian was telling the guy, “It means you blast narwhals at people, but I can’t
blast narwhals because I don’t have magic, so daddy told me to throw any hard thingies I could
pick up if I’m in trouble. He taught me how to aim for the face.”

She spoke with confidence, “My aim is pretty good.”

On the one hand, Roy was feeling kind of proud that she seemed to remember everything he had
taught her; on the other hand, he would really rather she just kept it a secret so they wouldn’t have
lost the element of surprise.

His neighbor, who Roy was still being far from trusted, appeared to be amused. He said to Roy,
“That sounds like a solid self-defense technique.”

“Yeah,” Roy responded dryly. “I’ll really appreciate it if you could just keep her safe until I’m
back.”

“You got it,” Jason replied, in a tone that was--unexpectedly--reassuring.

By the time Roy reached home, it’s almost midnight.

The light in his house was on, but the place was quiet with only some small noises of the TV.

“Lian?” he called out while moving into the living room.

His neighbor replied in a quiet voice, “She’s asleep.”

The guy was sitting on the couch with Lian curling up at his side, head resting on his thighs.

Seeing she was indeed being safe and well, Roy drew out a long sigh of relief.

“Thank God,” he murmured. “I’m this close to murdering one of my favorite people in the world.”

Jason from next door sent him a questioning look. “I’m one of your favorite people in the world?
But I thought I’m just a douche to you.”

It would appear the guy did have some awareness of his feeling to him. Roy regarded him
musingly.

“Not you,” he corrected. “Though I’ll also have to murder you if anything happens to my kid, but I
mean the other douche with the haircut who has taken off earlier.”

“Oh that,” Jason acknowledged in a nod. “That one does seem kind of like a douche. What’s the
deal with him anyway.”

“That guy is in the army, of a sort,” Roy explained dryly. “He’s been away for months, and he
hasn’t been paying his rent forever. He came couch surfing at mine after he’s gotten evicted from
his own place. I had to leave for a few days, and seeing he’s already been staying with us, I figured
he could watch the kid for me.”

He would rather jump off a cliff than admitted it out loud, but Ollie was right. He should have
known better than trusted Hal when he had said he was off duty. That guy was a ring-slinger; he
could never be off duty.

Roy said with a sigh, “He was looking so reliable when he offered to help me out.” His eyes stared
off wistfully. “I guess I was just…hoodwinked.”

Jason looked like he was disgusted somehow. “You need to stop using that word,” he said to Roy
gravely.

“What? ‘Hoodwink’?” Roy was confused.

He had no idea why his neighbor seemed to be so disgusted by it.

It’s the first time he ever used this word to him. It wasn’t even something he would usually say; he
had only said it a couple of times when he had been in a fight with his friend and the guy had taken
down the enemies by pulling up a distraction. (“—You just got hoodwinked!” It seemed to Roy that
it really was the most appropriate thing to say, but Red Hood facepalmed himself every time he
had announced smugly to their opponents.)

Shook away the confusion, Roy went to pick up his daughter from the couch. There’s a leather
jacket covering upon her. He took a glimpse at it while moving it away, getting a little surprised to
realize that it seemed exactly like the jacket Red Hood was often wearing.

“I think my friend has a same jacket,” he stated thoughtfully.

His neighbor nodded while taking back his coat. “What are the odds,” he deadpanned.

Carefully, Roy carried his little girl into his arms. He was hoping he could get Lian to bed without
waking her, but she stretched her eyes open once she had sensed the approach.

“Daddy?” Her voice was heavily slurred. “You’re back.”

“Yeah.” Pressed a kiss on her forehead, he remembered something. “--Have you brushed your
teeth?”

“Mm-hum.”

“Have you really?”

“Up and down and all around,” she hummed out a small section of a nursery rhyme in reply,
drawing a smile out of Roy without effort.

“Nice,” he said. “Now go back to sleep. I’ll make you a dope ass breakfast in the morning.”

“Doooope,” she nodded her head drowsily while shuffled closer to him.

After bringing Lian to bed, he returned into the living room. His next door neighbor was standing
at the couch with his hand carrying his jacket.

Roy scratched his head, suddenly feeling a little bit apologetic.

Never until now had he came to acknowledge the fact that the guy had been watching his daughter
for him almost the entire day.

“Sorry you’ve gotten dragged into this.”

“It’s fine,” the guy shrugged. “I just finished some work. I’ve got nothing important to do at the
moment. It’s actually kind of refreshing. The only little kid I’ve ever gotten to hang out with is my
youngest brother. It’s good to be reminded that not all children in this world are demonic.”

Roy sent him an amused look in response.

“Why have you come to my place anyway?”

“Someone gave me some cookies earlier. I was just going to bring them to you as a neighborly
gift.”

“Really?”

Well, that’s…really nice.

“Where are they?” Roy regarded him curiously.

“Uh, in your daughter’s stomach. She ate them all,” Jason replied, then turned into thought for a
moment. “--Just to be clear, you always let her eat as many sweets as she wants, right?”
Roy gave him a look. “Did she tell you that?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Roy responded in a sigh. “I don’t let her eat as much sugar as she wants, because that
would be all she’s eating. Did she even eat any real food today? Anything green at all?”

“I've ordered us pizzas,” Jason started uncertainly. “--There're green peppers.”

“And she ate them?”

Jason considered for a moment.

“I…don’t think so.”

Roy had figured as much.

“Thanks for watching her anyway,” he said, flashing his neighbor a small smile, which, unlike
before, was actually carrying some genuine appreciation.

Jason returned the smile. And it was… nice. The guy had always had a nice smile, but usually, it
would only have seemed annoying to Roy.

“I uh…would you want me to pay you?” Roy offered.

“Sure,” Jason started nonchalantly. “How about some dinner later?”

Ah, right. His neighbor had an interest in him. The elephant in the room; how come he forgot.

It seemed like it's time for him to clear the air. He regarded the guy kindly. Given what his
neighbor had done for him today, he attempted to do it as gently as possible.

“You are…a nice guy, I guess,” he started. “And I’m sure you’re totally fun to have funs with. But
you see, I have a kid here, so my fun days are pretty much over. I’m looking for something
more…stable, at this point. And I’ve seen you with your uh…friends?” he made a vague gesture
that shared a similar purpose of an air-quote, “--It just isn’t my scene anymore.”

Jason from next door stared at him blankly.

A couple seconds of uncomfortable silence, then he said, “I suppose you mean the people who
have come to visit me before.” His voice was heavy with irony. “--Those are, unfortunately, my
brothers.”

Roy was surprised.

“Really?”

“Really. We’re all adopted, so we don’t look exactly alike.”

Huh. Roy raised his eyebrows in bemusement. So Hooch was actually right about this. Who would
have thought?

“That’s…good to know,” he replied with a slow nod.

Jason from next door tossed him a smirk. “So, anyhow, I’ve seen this new diner just a few blocks
away from here. It seems to be a nice place for two people to have some friendly dinner together
and try to be friends with each other.”

Wasn’t he cute. Roy shook his head to himself and let out an amused snort. “You got it, J-man. I’ll
be making a reservation later. That sounds good enough to you?”

“That sounds like a start,” Jason replied. "Just do me a favor and don't call me J-man. I'm not a fan
of nicknames."

Roy nodded his head, "Whatever you said, J-man."

Jason let out a heavy sigh.

Maybe his neighbor wasn’t such an asshat after all. He thought to himself after walking Jason to
the door.

Despite the part he had gotten freaked out at the start, what happened today had actually turned out
to be a nice thing. He’s sure Red Hood would like to hear about this. Once the guy had gotten back
from work, he would be telling his friend something nice about his neighbor for once.
 Chapter 4

The kid he had known from the soup kitchen grinned up at him once he had opened the door,
looking way more confident about himself than the first time he had taken up the job offer. Roy
welcomed him in.

“There’s food in the kitchen,” he walked the kid through casually. Not that the kid didn’t know the
drill, but it had been awhile since he had come babysitting for him. Now the kid had found a job at
the store, he had been busy building up his own life. The kid was doing fine these days, just like
Roy had known he could be.

“Eat whatever you want if you’re hungry, or order something for yourself. I’ve left some money on
the drawer,” he said to the kid. “Remember, there’s a bowl of broccoli with her name on it. She
could have a scoop of ice-cream after she ate all of it.”

The little girl quickly whined, “Some of it.”

Roy tilted his head to her. Lian gazed up at him imploringly once their eyes met. It was a powerful
look she was sending him, but he had already known every one of her tricks. If the little missy here
thought she could break him down this easy, she had got another think coming.

Unmoved, he said, “All of it.” Seeing Lian slumped with frustration, his lips twitched up into a
crooked smile. “—Then, you can have two scoop of ice-cream.”

Her eyes sharpened.

“Three,” she tried to sweeten the deal.

With the babysitter snickering at his side, Roy narrowed his eyes in a calculating manner.

“Two and a piece of cookie,” that’s his final offer.

Pondering for a couple of seconds, she then found the deal acceptable and nodded her assent.

The mention of cookies appeared to have reminded her of something.

As Roy was getting ready to go out, she started earnestly, “Are you going to be nice to Jason when
you guys are going out tonight?”

Roy paused for a second.

“I suppose?”

She sent him an encouraging look. “You should be,” she said, nodding her head for emphasis.
“Because he’s nice, daddy. And I like him. I think you should like him too and be nicer to him.”

“So you’ve been telling me,” Roy regarded her bemusedly.

His little girl had said this to him a couple of times, which had really started to raise his suspicion.

It's almost as though she was having some duty to get him to like their neighbor better. Roy didn’t
know how many sweets the guy had fed her that day, but he figured it must have been a lot, or that
the cookies he had given her must have been some really mean cookies. His daughter was
compromised.
Putting the phone and the wallet into his jeans pockets, he squatted down in front of his baby.

“What’s with all this talk of our neighbor, daughter? The boy next door fed you some sugar, and
now you’re into him?” he examined her jokingly with squinted eyes, keeping her in place by
putting his arms around her.

“Have you forgotten the time when you said ‘boys are super gross’ and I said ‘totally’ and then we
agreed you’ll never be into boys because that will be gross? Are you being gross, Ms. Harper?”

“I’m not being gross. You are being gross,” she countered with a giggle.

A wicked smile floated up on Roy’s face. Knowing he was up to no good, she let out a silent “oh
no”, trying desperately to wriggle out of his arms once he had started to tickle her.

With a defeated look on his face, he set her free eventually, pretending she had escaped the big,
bad tickling monster all by herself.

Lian scurried off in a flash, dropping herself onto the couch, panting and giggling. Getting his own
laughter under control, he turned to the babysitter and said, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Call
me if there’s anything.”

Right before he went out, Lian turned her head to him, regarding him innocently with her chin
resting over the backrest of the couch. “Have fun,” she was saying. “Tell Jason I said nice things
about him.”

It would seem she was feeling somewhat proud of herself. Just like every time she had finished
some tasks she was appointed to or had knowingly done something nice for the others.

In response, Roy nodded his head significantly. “I will.”

Leaving Lian to the babysitter, he went to the next door.

Once the guy showed up at the door, he started in a musing tone, “My kid has been putting in a lot
of good words for you. So I guess my question is, how sweet a deal did you make her.”

“I didn’t make her any deal,” his neighbor replied unconcernedly, putting on his jacket before
stepping out of his own apartment. “I can’t help it if the lady digs me because I’m likeable.”

Roy crossed his arms in thought, leaning against the wall and regarding his neighbor from the side
while the guy was closing the door.

The guy really had a kickass profile, with his sharp feature and his chiseled jaw. Practically
everything about his outward was kickass. Roy would have liked to tap that if he wasn’t still
having some questions about this guy, or if he wasn’t feeling kind of…emotionally unavailable, at
the moment.

He drawled in return, “So you didn’t—let say--bribe off my daughter or something.”

“Of course I didn’t,” the guy spoke clearly. “I don’t know what wrong, ridiculous impression
you’re having about me, but I’m an honorable man, Mr. Harper.”

Roy raised an eyebrow at him.

Jason from next door took a glance at his face before turning to him slowly, mimicking Roy’s
posture in crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against his house door.
“Your girl said she’s loving the cookies, and that she thinks I’m a really nice person for treating
her with such deliciousness,” the guy justified, lips curling up into a lopsided smirk.

“The lady wanted to do something nice for me in return. I’ve just suggested that maybe she could
do that by letting her old man know just how nice I actually am, since her old man—for some
reasons—seems to have problems with me. It’s not like I’ve told her to say anything. As far as I
know, she’s saying whatever she’s been saying on her own, just that she could show her
appreciation. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from that young lady.”

Roy slit his eyes with mock indignation. “Who said I’m not showing my appreciation? I’m buying
you dinner, aren’t I?”

His neighbor flashed him a smirk.

Once they had gotten into the elevator, the guy settled himself in the corner across Roy, glancing
him up and down leisurely before starting in a ruminative tone, “--You look…basically how I’ve
imagined you’ll look like tonight, by the way.”

Roy took a glance at himself. The place they’re going to was just a small diner around the blocks;
since they weren’t going to anywhere fancy, he didn’t put on anything fancier than a T-shirt and a
pair of old, comfy jeans.

The T-shirt was clean and so were the jeans, so Roy would say he had dressed up decently.

It’s not like he had never gone out on a date like this, and it wasn’t even a date. He was only
buying the guy dinner to say his thank you, that’s all. He was neither under any obligation nor
having any intention to do his hair or dress nicer like he was trying to impress someone on a first
date (“—So you two are going out on a date,” Red Hood had started thoughtfully after hearing
about the dinner plan. “Color me shocked, Red. It seems it was only yesterday when you’re talking
my ears off with how much you hate that guy. I never thought I’d live to the see the day when
you’ve started to like him.” The guy had gotten so smug. Roy didn’t even need X-ray vision to
know that he had been grinning under the hood. “It’s not a date. And there’s a huge difference
between ‘not hating someone’ and ‘totally digging someone,” he had clarified strongly, not
especially enjoying just how much his friend had seemed to be enjoying this).

Roy couldn’t say for certain if his neighbor was having some false expectation about tonight; but
given the fact that the guy also didn’t dress up any different than usual, it would seem he was only
saying what he had said to tease him.

Roy returned him with an amused look, “Am I supposed to take it as a compliment or an insult?”

“Take it however you like,” Jason replied simply. “I’m not hating your look, that’s all I’ve got to
say.”

He didn’t want to give off any wrong signal, but the corners of his lips turned up despite himself. “I
bet you say that to every neighbor.”

The guy next door carried on with his signature smirk, “—And you can always dress worse, I’m
sure.”

“Stop it, man. You’re making me blush,” Roy replied with a grin, swaying forward to knock his
fist lightly on Jason’s arm.

They took a short walk from the apartment building to the diner. The place was small with a cozy
setting. Roy hadn’t actually booked themselves a table beforehand, and he didn’t need to since
there’re only a few groups of people dining inside.

Seeing the place had a big red pepper on its sign and it's literally just called “The Chili”, it was
clear what their specialty was.

Roy ordered himself a chili. He assumed his neighbor would do the same or have something that
was also hot and spicy. But to his confusion, Jason ordered himself a grilled cheese burger which
Roy was fairly certain it didn’t get ordered a lot in The Chili.

“You don’t want to try something spicy?” Roy looked at him questioningly.

Jason naturally replied, “I don’t like spicy food.”

Roy was baffled.

“Then why pick The Chili?”

“It just came to my mind,” Jason shrugged.

Pondering for a moment, he then explained to Roy, “My friend was just babbling to me the other
day about how his old man used to feed him this godforsaken chili. He said it was the mother of all
nightmares and that his old man has only made him eat it because he’s a sadistic son of a bitch who
likes watching people suffer. He said he isn’t keen on spicy food, but the taste of that dish was so
strong it’s burned into his brain. So, every once in a while, he would have this chili craving, and
apparently, he is kind of having one at the moment.”

Roy could totally relate to that, because he too had suffered the same fate as that poor friend of
Jason’s and he too had also kind of been craving for chili recently.

He gazed at his neighbor in pleasant surprise. “I’ve told my friend the exact thing just awhile ago.
What a coincidence.”

Jason nodded in a serious manner. “What a, indeed.”

Unable to imagine that there’s a chili in this universe that could be worse than Ollie’s, he said, “I’m
really feeling for your friend. But I’ve got to tell you, no matter what chili your friend used to be
forced down his throat by his old man, it wouldn’t be any worse than what my crazy old man used
to feed me. The old bastard has a chili recipe that is straight from the bottom of hell. I’m pretty sure
‘Satan’s vomit’ is one of the ingredients.”

Jason replied with his lips turned up kindly, “I would remember to tell him that there’re people out
there who had it worse if he’s feeling down about this. That’ll cheer him up.”

“You do that,” Roy encouraged him. “It’ll really make me happy knowing that someone is inspired
by my experience and that I haven’t suffered for nothing.”

Amused, Jason shook his head and snorted softly.

The waitress brought the food to their table.

Roy started after trying the food, “The chili is good. You should try it with your friend sometime.”

Jason hummed in agreement.

A thought of something came to Roy’s mind. He regarded his next door neighbor with some
amusement. “You know, I’ve always wanted to get my friend to dine with me like this.”
“And why haven’t you already.”

“We just haven’t. I’m not even sure if he wants to.”

“I’m sure he wants to,” Jason replied in a mutter. Taking a glance at Roy, he continued with
indifference in his tone, “--Who doesn’t like to dine. Everybody dines.”

“But he isn’t just everybody.”

Seemed to be catching something in his tone, the eyes of Jason’s turned up directly to his face.

Feeling a little bit weird under the strong attention, Roy added nonchalantly in a way of explaining,
“My friend is kind of a freak.”

Jason gave him a dry, dubious look. “Seriously.”

Well, the guy fought crimes with a goofy red bucket covering his head, so, yeah, Roy thought it
was safe to say that he was kind of a freak.

“Not in a bad way, mind you,” he told his neighbor, mouth twitching up into an easy smirk. The
guy rolled his eyes with some amusement.

Pondering briefly, Roy said to him, “My friend and I have known each other for awhile and we did
a lot of things together. He’s my best friend. But we never go out like this. Never do anything as
simple as just going out to grab some bite together. Sometimes I just think it’ll be nice if we could,
you know.”

Jason stared at him thoughtfully.

“We’re going out and having dinner together, aren’t we?” he started in a slow voice. “--It seems
nice to me so far. The grilled cheese was nicely grilled, and the company is…well.” He gave a
vague shrug at the last word, eyes drifting off shortly before returning to Roy’s face.

“You and your friend could find your chance to go out some other time. Right now, you should just
enjoy this,” Jason was telling him.

He could do that. Just enjoying some nice dinner with his next door neighbor. It’s not like this
dinner thing hadn’t been nothing but enjoyable so far.

“Okay,” he replied with a smile, before straightening his back a little and regarding his neighbor
significantly, making it clear that he was turning his full attention on Jason.

“So, tell me, Jason, what do you do for living.”

Jason tossed him a look, eyebrows raised up ironically as though he just knew that Roy was trying
to feel him out.

“I’m kind of a freelancer,” he replied properly.

Roy regarded him with strong interest. “And you’re usually freelancing in…”

“Some manual works.” Snorted at the curious look Roy was putting up on his face, he said, “I can
see you’re wondering, so I’ll tell you this--I haven’t done anything that would bring the police on
my back. Not at the moment.”

Roy tilted his head in a mix of confusion and amusement. He wasn’t sure if the last part was a
joke, but he was willing to let it slide.

“Are you from around?” he asked.

“Not really. I’ve never lived in this city before.”

“Where are you from?”

“Gotham.”

He should’ve guessed.

The guy was kind of carrying a crafty, wicked charm that could only be found in a place like
Gotham. Now Roy wasn’t so put off by this guy, he could see he’s almost as wickedly charming as
Red Hood, who apparently was also from Gotham.

“But it’s been a life time ago since I lived there,” Jason was saying, “I haven’t settled down in
anywhere until now. Just sort of moving between places, really.”

Now he truly was curious.

“What happened now? Why settled in this common city?” Roy asked jokingly, “Why not
Metropolis? That’s a great place to live. They’ve got Supes in there. If you’re ever stuck on a tree,
the big blue would even come and rescue you.”

“I can climb off a tree myself,” Jason snorted at him. “--It just seems to be a nice place to settle in.
I never have much consistency in my life, and I just figured it won’t be bad if I could have some.”

“So you didn’t come to this city for anything. It’s just a random choice.”

Instead of replying, Jason turned to eating his food in silence, didn’t open his mouth again until
seconds later.

“My friend—the one with the tragic chili story—lives here,” he started with a note of irony in his
voice, eyes flicking swiftly over Roy’s face. “My brothers think that that was the reason I’ve
moved into this city.”

“Was it?”

“Partially. Maybe,” he reluctantly replied.

Knowing there’s something more to it than the guy had let on, Roy regarded him patiently with
encouragement.

Jason huffed out a sigh.

“I didn’t exactly come here just so I could be here with him, or be closer to him or anything,” he
clarified strictly. “I didn’t actually think too much about it before I picked up the location. I was
just…he seems to be really happy in here. Living this stable life he has built up for himself and his
family. I guess it just gave me the impression that, maybe in here, I can do the same. That this city
could be a place for me to build up some consistency. Some stability.”

He locked eyes with Roy briefly, before turning his attention to the food and added in a casual
tone, “—It’s better living in the same city with a friend than living in somewhere else where I have
no friends around.”
Roy narrowed his eyes in thought.

“So, when you say ‘friend’, you mean…”

“I mean ‘friend’,” Jason rolled his eyes. “We’re not together, if that’s what you’re asking.”

It might have sounded different in his own head, but to Roy, it just simply didn’t sound like he was
talking about a friend.

There’s this certain ring in his voice, which Roy just didn’t think that people would have gotten in
their voice when they’re talking about their friends. No matter how tight they were. Unless they
had some certain feelings for them.

He had come to the assumption that his neighbor was obviously gay due to the boyfriend incident
he had witnessed; but now he knew that the other guy wasn’t his boyfriend, he realized that his
neighbor might not be so obviously gay. Given the fact that his neighbor had been openly flirting
with him, it seemed rather unlikely to Roy; but the chances of the guy was only hitting on him
subconsciously and that he was still in the closet weren't slim to none.

Roy regarded him gently.

“You don’t need to answer if you’re feeling uncomfortable about it,” he approached with caution,
didn’t want to give the guy any pressure. “--But, how straight would you call yourself exactly? It’s
okay that you tell me that. It’s fine, I promise.”

“Not as an arrow,” Jason replied impassively. “I thought you know that.”

So he wasn’t in denial. Roy nodded his head absentmindedly in response.

After doing some reasoning, he pointed out, “So you and Mr. Chili are ‘friends’, because he just
doesn’t swing that way.”

Jason let out a snort.

“I’m pretty sure Mr. Chili swings wildly. I can recall he has told me some time ago that he has
enough love for both genders. I believe he lives by the motto that says ‘If it feels good, just
freaking do it’. That guy is kind of a hippie.”

“I am kind of a hippie myself too,” Roy started earnestly with his eyes brightened, already giving
up on finding out the truth between Jason and his said friend. It’s not like it was any of his business
anyway.

“If your friend comes by, we should totally go out together. He sounds like an interesting person.”

“He’s an idiot. But not in a bad way.” Jason drawled with his lips turned up smugly, “—Does it
mean you’re going to go out with me again, Roy? You’re not going to just go back giving me the
stink eye once this night is over?”

“Well, the night is still young. I could always just change my mind again.” Roy returned the smirk.
“But, as the moment, I’d say that you don’t seem to be such a horrible, horrible neighbor.”

“Damn,” Jason remarked in a mock amazement, “Are you seriously telling me that I don’t look
like shit anymore? It must be the light in this place.”

“It must be,” Roy replied solemnly before breaking out into a grin.
***

“You two are going out? Again?”

Red Hood sounded like he was shocked. “--It must’ve been some really nice dinner you’re having
last time.”

“It was nice,” Roy replied simply. The guy was definitely having fun with this, he would be
damned if he’s going to encourage him.

“My kid kind of pushed me to say yes when he asked me out for another dinner, you know.” He
snorted with amusement. “My baby’s just really digging that guy. I think he’s been secretly
slipping sweets to her.”

“But how about you, old man?” He tilted his head to Roy. “--Are you digging this guy?”

Roy squinted his eyes, mouth twitching slightly with bitterness.

He unwillingly replied, “Maaaaybe. Just a little.”

Red Hood shook his head lightly. “You’re going out on a second date, ginger. I think it’s okay if
you’re liking him more than just a little.”

Roy stared at him ruefully.

The bitterness he was feeling was right in his eyes, but seeing how utterly unconcerned his friend
was, Roy guessed it was either that the domino was doing an excellent job of masking his face or
that the guy was just really good at playing dumb.

There’s no way that the guy didn’t know about his feeling. He must have read it. It was laid out, on
an open book, in some plain, simple pictures.

“You know what, I think you may have a point,” Roy started in a meaningful tone. “My neighbor
is totally hot. And he isn’t without his charm. He has that wicked sense of humor that I like. It’s
obvious he has some interest in me. Given that we’re both--technically--available at the moment,
who knows where we’ll end up.”

“You are really going to take a chance with this guy?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” He asked tentatively, “What do you think, Hooch? You think I should go
for it? Take a shot at Jason?”

“No one is going to stop you. Certainly not me,” Red Hood replied encouragingly.

***

Neither the first time nor the second time did Roy actually see it as a date; he had no intention to
date the guy, but the thing was, both of the dinners were just so perfectly nice. He had never
thought he would say that, but he and Jason really had a spark.

He was in truth enjoying his time with his neighbor and wouldn’t mind if they could hang out
more.

After the dinner, they went back to their apartment building. Roy was just about to turn into his
own apartment when Jason invited him into his place for a cup of coffee.

A moment of relaxing himself on his neighbor’s couch, which was incredibly comfy, while talking
with the guy about some small stuff, Roy started suddenly, “Would it make me sound bad if I say
I’m just really enjoying this?”

“What, spending an evening with me? Why would it sound bad?”

“Not with you, precisely. But just spending an evening with someone else who isn’t my daughter.”

He turned his head to his neighbor, who was sitting at his side and listening attentively.

“Me and my girl spend a lot of evenings together. Unless I’m out at work, otherwise I don’t get
excited with the thought of leaving her at home to the babysitter. I love being with her, that’s my
favorite thing in the world. But this?” He made a small, lazy gesture with his hand. “--I’m liking
this too, man. And I guess I’m just feeling a little bit guilty about just how much I enjoy being in
here, while the kid is just right inside the next door, possibly bargaining with the babysitter for
letting her stay up late instead of going to bed as she should.”

Jason replied with an amused snort, “I don’t know anything about parenting, pal, but I highly doubt
that anyone is going to judge you if you’re out enjoying yourself every once in a while. And as far
as I can see, she wanted us to go out and have fun.”

“Of course she did,” Roy sent him a feign glare. “You’ve been slipping her sweets, you evil sweets
man. You know she has a sweet tooth. She would happily sell out her old man just to obtain a good
relationship with her supplier.”

“It’s not a crime to give your neighbor’s kid some candies and stuffs. And you don’t have proof
that I’ve done that.”

He smiled up at Jason sloppily in reply, before returning into deep thought.

“I just think I should be with her, always; and put her first always,” he started in a quite voice. “I’d
like to think that that is what I’m doing. That I’m being a good enough dad to her. But sometimes,
I’m just not so sure if I am."

“What do you mean.”

He didn’t know why he was telling the guy all these. It seemed to be too private to be shared
easily. And he didn’t even know his neighbor that well.

But he was saying, because he felt comfortable to. The guy was listening.

“My job, for example, it isn’t such an ideal job for people who have to raise kids. Too many risks,
too many episodes. Too much complexity and indeterminacy. Every time I go out at work, I don’t
know where the situation might take me. I love my job, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything
else. It’s my choice of life. It always has been. But after the last time I had an accident at work?”
He shook his head to himself sarcastically. “--I started to wonder, that perhaps I haven’t been
making the best choice for her.”
He spoke with his eyes staring off at a distance, “She deserves the best of life, and I just really want
to give her the best she deserves. But what I’m doing? That’s part of who I am. I can’t just quit my
job even though it may be better if I did.” He paused for a beat. “--Does it make me a shitty dad?”

His neighbor met his gaze squarely once he turned his eyes to him.

“Trust me when I say I know a thing or two about shitty parents, and that you’re not one of them,”
Jason started, in a voice that was surprisingly gentle.

“The little girl told me a lot of stuff the day I was watching her. Mostly about her daddy. She told
me one of those silly stuffs he did, so, naturally, I said that her daddy sounds like an idiot. And do
you know how she responded?”

He let the suspense sink in a little before saying, “--She glared at me and told me she won’t be
friends with me anymore if I talk bad about her daddy.”

“That’s my girl,” Roy replied with a huff of laughter.

“Your kid adores you, Roy. She loves you and knows clearly how much you love her. To me, it
seems like you’re just the very thing she deserves.”

The guy was sitting close at his side, looking at him deeply with a pair of blue eyes that Roy
believed might just very well be able to cut inside a soul.

Involuntarily, his voice quieted down into a whisper, “Keep feeding me with stuff like this, I may
actually be hooked on your sugar like she is.”

Someone leaned in.

Roy didn’t know who was it, but someone must have made a move.

Their lips locked. The touch was feathery. It was there for a moment, then it was gone the second
Roy shut his eyes and was about to give himself into that sweet, tentative touch.

His eyes fluttered open. He looked at Jason with expectation, and in return, stunned by the many
emotions inside the longing gaze he received.

When their lips met again, it wasn’t feathery. The kiss was heavy with passion, with intensity that
could easily suffocate.

Jason was pressing hard against him, so it was only natural that Roy pulled him in with equal
strength.

His hands sneaked up under the back of Jason’s T-shirt. The amount of scars his fingers had
bumped into was significant. It made him wonder what the guy had gone through to earn himself
this many scars.

While Jason was mouthing his neck, nuzzling with his teeth like he had every intention to devour
him, Roy traced his fingers over each one of those scars, marveled and confused.

It wasn’t how Roy expected his back would be. It was a back that belonged to someone who was
battled. Someone like himself. Like his friend Red Hood.

It was just like how he had imagined Red Hood’s back would be.

The guy was wearing that jacket of his. Since they’re being nothing but plastering into each other,
Roy was surrounded by the smell of leather, of engine oil, of a faint scent of cigarette. The jacket
has an identical design to the one that Red Hood wore, and it even smelled like his.

Roy would be surrounded by that certain smell every time Hooch carried him out from a battle, or
he was carrying his big ass.

He was drowning in the familiar smell. It felt like he could even catch a scent of gunpowder.

Except it couldn’t be.

Jason trailed back to his jaw, lips searching for his blindly.

Roy should be kissing back, but he didn’t.

Because while every touch Jason had left on his body was truly marvelous, all he could think of
right now was how he had reminded him of his best friend, and that how much better it would be if
he was doing this with Red Hood.

Shit.

Roy drew himself out.

“I can’t do this.”

“What?”

Jason pulled back slightly, regarding him in utter confusion.

Damn, he’s beautiful. Roy thought to himself ruefully.

“I’m sorry, you’re a nice guy and I’ve really started to like you, but I just—I think it’ll be better if
we be friends.”

“What?” Jason glared at him. “But you said—and I thought--”

This was just painful.

Why did he have to do this. He really hated to do this, but he had to, because he couldn’t get into
bed with this guy while he was still hopelessly hung up on the other stupid guy with the stupid,
stupid hood.

Criminal or not, Jason was a great guy. Roy could see this now. It would be fine if the guy wasn’t
serious about this; but it no longer seemed to Roy that he was only looking for a laid. The guy
actually seemed to be serious about him. Roy couldn’t have sex with him while knowing clearly
that the guy had feeling for him and that he could hardly return his feeling because he was having
feeling for somebody else. It would be like he was using him. He couldn’t do this to Jason. It’s
simply not fair.

Roy told him earnestly, “I’m so really sorry if I gave you the wrong signal.”

“I don’t get it. This just doesn’t make sense,” Jason murmured to himself in a hollow voice.

Quickly, Roy replied, “It’s not you, it’s me.”

Jason stared at him dully.

“You’re excellent, Jason, you’re beautiful and you’re the coolest, I’ll be totally into you if I
wasn’t…”

Okay, he didn’t know how to finish this.

How were people supposed to tell a beautiful person that even though he was absolutely beautiful
and he was totally attracted by him, but he had got to turn him down because it was clear that he
just had some real strong feeling for his best friend, who might not even have a face that was one
tenth as beautiful as his, but might just easily look like the Swamp Thing? Even though that the
fricking Swamp Thing wasn’t even into him?

Roy didn’t know how to do it properly, but he pushed himself to finish his speech, “I’ll be totally
into you if I wasn’t having some serious feelings about Swamp Thing.”

There’s no word coming from Jason.

The guy just remained staring at him with a pair of dead eyes, like he couldn’t even begin to grasp
just what the fuck was happening.

It was clear to Roy that he should just see himself out.

“I’ll…I’ll see you later, J-man.”

Moving off from the couch carefully, he bolted from his neighbor’s house to his own house.
 Chapter 5
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

He was hoping by getting out of the apartment it would all drift away and that he would feel
less…rejected.

But the memory of the warmth stuck on his skin, refused to be brought away by the cold air of the
small local pub he was sitting in.

The glint of light shining before him softly, beaconing for him to get closer the moment their eyes
had met; the concrete pressure pressing against him, firm but elastic; the touch of those hands,
rough and callused just as his own, stroking melodic notes over his back; the taste that had woken
up a hunger in his stomach; the texture of lips; the sensation that wasn’t exactly brand new but
different than anything he could ever remember.

A sensation that he sort of wished he hadn’t known in the first place, because now he knew, it
would never return to be unknown.

He tried to let go of all of these, tried to clear up his head; only a long moment after sitting alone in
the pub, all things that had happened tonight in his new apartment were still ghosting around him,
stirring inside him deeply, and all he could think of was still—“what the bloody fuck just
happened”.

Ordered himself another shot of drink, he glanced around carelessly. There’s a group of women on
the other side of the pub, one of them was looking at his way.

The woman flashed Jason a subtle smile once their eyes met. The smile was warm with invitation.
For a moment, he wondered should he just return the smile. Just walk up there, and turn this
wrecked, lonely night into a night that he could actually share some warmth with another person.

It’s always just about sharing the body warmth. It’s always just about two individuals in this world
having a fleeting, pleasant moment when they’re connected and being less alone.

The signal he saw in the woman’s eyes was pretty much clear. She was attractive. There would be
no confusion with her. It was clear that she liked him, and would hardly blow him off for the
fricking Swamp Thing, or whatever the hell that had a resemblance to the Swamp Thing.
(Honestly, what the fuck? What did he mean by “Swamp Thing”? Was it like, the actual Swamp
Thing? When did that guy even get involved with the Swamp Thing?)

It could be simply a night of pleasure. Something he could easily let go of afterward; not
something substantial he would like to stick around for. Something he would like to hold onto and
be a part of.

His phone buzzed before he could make up a decision.

Jason pulled out his phone, and there’s a text--

From Arsenal.

Arsenal—the guy who had just blown him off like an hour ago, now was asking Jason what he
was doing tomorrow night, because he wanted to meet him--the guy he had been leading on and
made out with and just suddenly blown off like an hour ago.

If Jason didn’t know the idiot that well, he might’ve thought this guy was just messing with him
and torturing him for fun.

Forgot about the woman in the pub, he turned to stare deadly at the text, while pondering if this
idiot was for real.

He had been trained by the greatest detective in the world, and yet, he was unable to make sense of
all these. In a moment of weakness, Jason dialed a number.

“--Hey, what’s up?”

“Riddle me this,” he started bluntly the moment the call had gone through. “—If someone likes
you, and he likes your look. Like, he actually said to your face that he thinks you’re hot. That
means he likes you likes you, right?”

“Uh…normally, I guess?” his brother replied in a confused voice.

Instead of prying into the subject like he usually would be, Dick spoke hesitantly, “I um…I’d love
to know what this is about, but I’m kind of busy at the moment, can we get back to this later?”

“You’re at work?”

“Ummm, no.” Dick cleared his throat.

He said with his voice lowered, “I’m with…someone.”

Jason took a good whole second to think before inquiring, “Someone you’re going to have sex
with.”

“What are you, a teenager?” Dick retorted with some mild indignation. “That is not a grown-up
question to ask. I’m not going to answer that.”

He took it as a “yes”.

“Is it serious?”

The question sent Dick in silence for a moment.

“Yeah,” his brother answered eventually. “Yeah, I think it is.”

Wasn’t it great.

“Well, I hope it doesn’t work out,” Jason told him.

“What?” Dick cried out in shock. “Why would you say that--”

Jason hung out the phone.

Getting back to the textboard, he stared at Roy’s text for another couple of seconds.

Once again, dickhead had proven himself to be unhelpful.

Calling his brother really didn’t help him sort out anything. He was still pretty much lost, and
frustrated, and disappointed. About how thing hadn’t turned out the way it normally would have
turned out. Or how he had wished it would have turned out.

He couldn’t understand how the hell he would’ve misread it. But apparently, he had misread
everything. The redhead only wanted them to be friends and nothing more, which was fine,
because they were friends. They had always been friends.

Leaving the text unanswered, Jason clicked off his phone, putting it back into his jeans pocket.

He would be damned if he’s going to let his own stupid crush get between their friendship. He had
lost plenty in the past, he’s not going to lose it too. But since he didn’t have the best record of
getting his emotions under control, he was afraid that that was exactly what’s going to happen if he
faced the redhead right now.

Before he could find a way to put these feelings behind him and get things back into the way they
used to be, he needed some space.

***

Instead of walking in, he stopped outside the apartment door, eyes drifting off involuntarily onto
his neighbor’s place.

Getting Lian into their own house, he turned to his neighbor’s door slowly.

He knocked and he waited; and once again, there’s no answer coming from his neighbor.

It had been three days already. Roy let out a sigh.

He had been telling himself that the reason he hadn’t seen his neighbor once ever since that night
was because the guy was out busy doing whatever he was doing. Not because the guy was trying to
avoid him; which, he couldn’t help but suspected might just be the case.

Roy hoped it wasn’t the case. He hoped he could just talk to Jason and find out if they were still
cool after what had happened.

Jason was a great guy, and Roy had really grown to like him. It would be a shame if they couldn’t
become friends just because they’re not going to date each other. Roy really thought he and Jason
could become good friends.

Feeling kind of dejected, Roy walked away from his neighbor’s door.

Whether the guy was in truth avoiding him or not, he would have to show his face sooner or later,
and by then, they could talk. Roy thought to himself.

He wanted to talk things out with Jason, but on top of that, he wanted to talk things out with Hooch.

He had been meaning to reach his friend ever since that night he had returned to his own
apartment. Wanted to meet up with him and just tell him the things he had been meaning to tell him
for awhile.

Despite how unlikely things would work out the way he wished they would work out, he needed to
let the guy know. Needed to just man the hell up. Just face the rejection and put himself out of the
“will they won’t they” misery he had been wallowing in and started to move on (--He had to move
on. Look what had cost him when he didn’t. A chance with someone great. Someone beautiful and
cute and actually got him. That’s what).

He was intended to do that, except his neighbor didn’t seem to be the only one who had fallen off
the grid these days.

Red Hood hadn’t been answering his texts or his calls for days, never showed up once at their
usual hang-out spots.

The guy was probably just busy at work. Roy thought at this point.

But then another couple of days had passed.

And then another.

It eventually went on for two weeks. Roy was afraid Red Hood might be in some deep shit.

***

“Look who’s not dead,” he started dryly.

Red Hood didn’t response with words, didn’t even turn his head around but remained overlooking
the construction site in silence.

The only implication of his surprise to Roy’s presence was the brief second of an abrupt stillness of
his body.

Roy walked up to him, finally could feel the anxiousness that had been eating him for weeks
drifting away when now he could actually see with his own two eyes that his friend was indeed
being alive and kicking.

He sighed. “Do you know how super weird it is that I had to call my mentor to call your mentor to
ask him to use his super ‘Find My Kids’ app to find out where the hell you are?”

Red Hood seized up for a moment, before turning to him slightly in an incredulous manner.

“You called Batman?”

“Well, none of my apps was working.” Roy sat down next to him. “--You dropped off the grid,
Hooch. I thought you’re in trouble. Imagine my surprise when the big Bat told me you’re not dead
or captured or in any kind of deep shit.”

“I’m fine.”

The guy turned away, facing back to the area he had been monitoring. “I’ve been busy,” he
declared curtly.

“So busy you couldn’t return a call?”

“I lost my phone.”

“You lost--” Roy stared at the guy with his face wrinkled up dubiously, getting struck dumb by the
obviously dumb excuse.

Spending a moment to ponder, he asked with deep concern, “Are you hiding from someone? Did
something happen?”

“No.”

Now that’s a big lie.

People didn’t just suddenly drop off the grid and conveniently “lost their phones” if nothing had
happened.

Roy frowned at the guy, who appeared to have his eyes fixated on the area down there, like he had
found something highly intriguing was happening on the site, when there’s absolutely nothing Roy
could see was happening at the moment.

There’s definitely something wrong. Whatever that was, Roy would like to get to the bottom of it.
But not now. Now he had a confession to make, and he better made it quick before he lost his
nerve.

“I don’t know what this is about, but I want to talk,” he said to Red Hood. “I want to…I need to tell
you something.”

“Can’t it wait?” Red Hood returned in a dull voice. “I’m working here.”

“But I haven’t seen you in weeks. And I want to talk. Now,” Roy declared relentlessly. “--It’s kind
of urgent.”

It’s not exactly “urgent”. But as he had said, it had been weeks he had sat on those feelings while
worrying about the guy, and the fact that he had been worried sick about the guy just simply did
not help him with his feelings.

He needed to get everything out of his chest and get it over with.

Red Hood regarded him for a moment.

“Are you dying?” he started in a plain voice.

“What?” Roy scowled confusedly. “No?”

The guy turned his face away. “Then it isn’t that urgent.”

What? What the—

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Roy threw up his hands in frustration. “What’s eating you? Why
don’t you just level with me? You know you can tell me anything.”

He was only trying to get to Hooch; but for some reasons, he was actually stepping on his nerves.

“Nothing’s going on,” Red Hood snipped in a huff. “--Just give me a break.”

The testiness in his voice took Roy aback. He didn’t understand why Hooch was getting so pissy,
but it seemed pretty much clear to him that his friend just didn’t want to talk to him, or even see
him.

He didn’t know why. All he knew it’s that hurt.

“Shit,” Red Hood cursed softly once he had seen the look on Roy’s face. “This is what I was afraid
of,” he grumbled under his breath, and Roy just simply could not understand what was going on.

Red Hood puffed out a heavy sigh and turned to Roy properly, appeared to have come up with
some sort of decision.

“Look,” he started clearly. “Don’t ever repeat it to anyone, but you’re a great guy, Arsenal. You’re
a good friend, and trust me, I want us to stay friends. But you’re not making it easy.”

What did that mean?

“What are you saying?” Roy asked quietly in agitation, heart turning cold at the implication in his
friend’s words.

He thought everything would still be cool between them even after he confessed his unrequired
feeling to his friend. Sure, it probably would get awkward for awhile, but it would be fine, because
that’s just how strong their friendship was.

Was the guy really telling him that he didn’t want to be his friend anymore?

Red Hood replied strictly, “I’m saying you need to stop doing this.”

“Doing what?” Roy retorted in a cry.

“The mixed-signal—dammit,” the guy gritted his teeth, like it was a torture to him to even have to
explain this to Roy.

“You need to stop sending me your goddamn mixed-signal. Then I’ll be fine. Just leave me alone
for now. Go be sweet to Swamp Thing or something.”

“What? I—what?” Roy was clueless. “What do you mean ‘Swamp Thing’? The hell are you
talking about?”

Right before the guy was about to reply, a sound of gunshot rang through the construction site
below.

They switched their focus onto the scene immediately.

“Look what you did, you just have to distract me,” Red Hood growled before jumping down onto
the shooting scene. Roy followed suit.

“Oh yeah, just blame it on me. That’s real mature,” he returned in a grumble. “--I just cannot
believe I actually turned down my awesome neighbor for this.”

“Wait, what?”

The mindless remark seemed to have caught Red Hood off guard. He seized up to the spot, looking
toward Roy who had landed his feet a few steps away from him in an uncertain manner.

It would appear the guy was having some questions about the thing that had just slipped out of
Roy’s mouth.

It seemed now he would like to talk to Roy, but the situation they had jumped right into was
keeping him from getting further to the conversation.

After a while of battling against the criminals, everything seemed to be settled.

Most of the bad guys were knocked out. It seemed to Roy that they could warp things up pretty
soon and this would be another good day.

Except one of the bad guys who had been knocked down on the ground regained his senses,
crawled toward a gun and fired at him from a distance.

It happened at the time Roy was about to finish off the one last criminal who had left fighting.

Since his focus wasn’t on that guy at the corner but on the guy he was dealing with, he didn’t see
the danger that was directed at him. He could only hear it, as the moment Hooch was yelling out,
“—Arsenal!”

Without hesitation, Roy knocked the criminal out of the firing line and threw himself away to the
opposite direction.

His arms rose up instinctively to cover his head. The bullet grazed him in the shoulder while he
was still hurling through the mid-air. The shooter fired another shot at him before he could hit the
ground.

When you’ve spent you whole life in such hazardous business, you’ve started to have this gut
feeling--this intuition--that would tell you a lot about your job including if things were just going to
end badly; if it was going to be another good day when you could went home to your loved ones or
if it was going to be a day when the fire you’ve been playing with had—once again--burned you.

Roy knew it the instant he had heard the second gunshot that this was going to end bad. And it
scared the shit out of him. Not about the fact that he might’ve gotten burned. He had been burned
plenty of times, he was fully aware of the occupational risk. He was only scared because now he
just hadn’t got the nerve to be burned like he could’ve been before.

He was scared because if he wasn’t home but in the hospital, if he was gone—where did it leave
Lian?

A force bumped him aside right before he hit the ground, blocking off the bullet that Roy assumed
could’ve caught him.

A couple of arrows fell out of the quiver on his back as he rolled over on the ground. He landed on
his wounded shoulder. A pain shot through him and he felt slightly disoriented. But he collected
himself quickly.

Reaching out his head to take a look at the shooter who was about to fire another shot, he
immediately snatched one of his arrows and shot before the criminal did.

The electric arrow put the criminal’s lights out. Once the shooter was down, Roy shifted his
attention abruptly to someone else.

Shit.

Right on the spot where Roy should’ve been lying, Red Hood was lying on his side with his back
to Roy.

“Hooch!”

His stomach dropped when his friend didn’t answer.

Roy ran to him in a flash, hand reaching to Red Hood’s shoulder and rolled him onto his back
carefully.

For a second, Roy was relieved, because there’s no blood oozing out from his body. But then he
took a glimpse at Hooch’s head and his blood ran cold.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit--

“Hooch--”

His voice was trembling, and his hands, which didn’t get shaky under the highest of pressure, were
shaking.

“Come on, you big lug, say something—I know what you’re doing, don’t just freaking ignore me,
you know I hate that--”

Red Hood remained in stillness.

Roy moved him up slightly, laying the guy’s head onto his thighs with great caution. The hood was
cracked. Fuck.

The guy had gotten shot in his fucking head. Because he was an idiot. A fucking idiot who just had
to jump up and take a shot for him.

Roy didn’t want to be dead and leave Lian alone in this world, but he also didn’t want to be left
either.

He hated being left. Hadn’t this guy known?

Hadn’t his friend known how important it was for him to not have his loved ones left him?

People had always had a tendency of leaving his life. There had been a time Roy had believed it
was because of him. Because there was just this thing about him and that it was always how things
were going to be.

He had stopped believing that a long time ago; hadn’t tasted that intangible fear for a long time.
But now he was frightened.

His eyes stung and his throat tightened.

He was raving terribly, “I turned down a young Bruce Wayne for your stupid, ugly ass--if you die
on me, I swear to god--”

“Who are you calling ugly.”

The fear drained away from his body the instant he caught the muffled sound.

As though he was unaware of what kind of emotional roller-coaster Roy had been on, Red Hood
was saying in a grumble, “—Did you just say ‘Bruce Wayne’ again? Seriously, pal, you need to
stop using Bruce Wayne as a synonym for hot people. I can really live without knowing that you
think Bruce Wayne is hot.”

Roy drew out a sigh of relief.

“But Bruce Wayne is hot,” he returned with little thought.

The guy was talking coherently, which was good. But Roy still wouldn’t go as far as saying he was
alright before giving him a proper check-up.

The crack on his hood was deeply concerning.

Roy had never seen the guy without his hood, so to him, it kind of seemed like it was his actual
body part. And now seeing the hood was cracked, it’s pretty much the same thing as seeing his
friend with a broken head.

He needed to know if his head was broken.

“Sorry if I’m being too forward, but I need to take off your hood. Tell me if it hurts.”

Red Hood snorted in response.

Slowly, Roy removed the hood, doing his best not to jog the guy’s head.

With no other thought in his mind save for the thought of making sure Hooch was okay, he put the
hood away and took a quick inspection over his friend’s head, merely looking for injuries and
nothing else.

The guy looked fine. Roy thought to himself.

And then he took another look at Hooch, and he suddenly realized that the guy didn’t just look
fine.

He looked kind of gorgeous, actually.

Not at all like Swamp Thing as Roy had assumed he would look like, but more like his gorgeous
neighbor.

In fact, Red Hood looked very, very much like his neighbor.

Even with the domino sticking over his eyes, Roy could still see the similarity, which was
uncanny.

He stared at his friend. “Do you have an identical twin?”

“Not that I aware of,” the guy replied nonchalantly.

There was a long moment of silence.

Then Roy started in an uncertain tone, “--Jason?”

“Yeah? Roy?”

Roy glared at him.

What the hell?

“What’s going on? Why are you—this whole time—you’re—and you—what?”

Red Hood—Jason--stared up at him with some self-satisfaction, lips curling up into a small smirk
that Roy was so goddamn familiar with.

Now without a big hood covering his head, Roy could see his expression clearly; and his
expression was saying that he was somewhat enjoying watching Roy drowning in confusion.
The asshat.

“—So you’ve been playing me this whole time?” Roy gritted in disbelief. “You fricking
hoodwinked me?”

“I didn’t ‘hoodwink’ anyone.” Jason rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I planned it.”

“You live next to me,” Roy pointed out accusingly.

“It wasn’t on purpose. I told you, I didn’t think much before. I didn’t choose the place because I
knew you live there.”

“But you had to know.” Roy didn’t believe him. “You just said my name. You know who I am,
and I’m wearing a mask. If none of this was on purpose, how would you know I’m me? You’ve
run a background check on me, you creepy Bat creep!”

It’s no coincidence. The guy had found out who he was and where he lived then moved into his
next door. It was all part of his elaborated plan. It must be. And he was doing all this to…what?
Trying to get close to him?

“You’re a stalker,” Roy announced in a murmur. “—You are my stalker. Damn, this is so creepy.
But also kind of sweet.”

Again, Jason rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t run a background check on you.”

“Then how did you know I’m me?”

“You have red hair,” Jason replied with a strong note of irony in his voice.

“So do a lot of people.”

“And you have costume tattoos on your arms, which you’re flashing around constantly when
you’re constantly not wearing sleeves.”

Jason snorted in a mixture of amusement and exasperation, “It’s not even elementary, Roy. I don’t
even know why the hell you’d bother to put a mask on. You’re practically wearing your name on
your skin.”

That…was pretty much a solid argument. Roy could find no flaw in that.

He regarded Jason with some embarrassment, “So that day at the elevator, I thought you’re
checking me out but you’re actually just checking out my ink.”

Jason stared at him blankly.

“Exactly.”

Roy shook his head, amused and still kind of confused. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What am I supposed to say?” Jason retorted in a dry voice. “‘--Hey, pal, remember the guy
you’ve been grouching about over and over? Well, that’s me. I’m the asshole neighbor you
absolutely hate’.”

“’Hated’,” Roy corrected. “I only thought you’re the worst before you babysat my kid. And do you
see how simple it is to say it?”

Jason gave him the stink eyes. “You’re lucky your daughter is cute.”

“And I’m not?” Roy retorted with his lips moving up into a smile. The guy was trying to press
down his own smile and he was failing.

“If you would’ve just told me, we could’ve ended up doing a lot of stuffs that night.” He paused
for a beat. “--You want to do stuffs with me, right? And by stuffs, I mean ‘sex’. You want to have
sex with me, right?”

“Only if you don’t call me ‘Swamp Thing’ in bed,” Jason replied with a snort. “Why the heck
would you call me Swamp Thing anyway? Did you seriously think that’s how I look like?”

“You wear a big-ass tin can over your head, and you never take it off,” Roy countered with
indignation. “Everyone would’ve thought you look like ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. You came
back from death, dude. Your face could’ve been easily decomposed.”

“Well, it isn’t.” Jason flashed him a smirk. “Apparently, I’m kind of a hot stuff.”

Roy snorted at him. “You’re an ass.”

“No, you are an arse.”

“You’re lucky my kid digs you.”

“And you don’t?”

“I dig your hood,” Roy shrugged. “I mean, I wouldn’t wear it myself, but I dig it. It kind of grows
on me.”

“It has that effect on people,” Jason responded resonably.

It would seem the guy was feeling rather comfortable with his head lying down upon Roy’s thighs.

Roy ran his fingers briefly over his cheek.

The pair of blue eyes drifted shut and the lines of Jason’s face softened up peacefully under his
touch. It was fascinating. Roy really felt like he could just dwell in this beautiful moment forever,
except he couldn’t.

They were still pretty much in a crime scene, with guns and blood and unconscious criminals lying
around.

“Can you move?” Roy asked.

“My head is a bit dizzy, but yeah.”

“Then let’s bag up the baddies and go grab a bite together. Fighting crimes has really burned off
my energy.”

Jason pulled himself up slowly onto his feet. “Are you asking me out on a date?

“I am if you’re up for it.”

“It’s a date then.”

 “Nice,” Roy tossed him a grin. “--And you know what?”

“What.”

“It’s the third date, Hooch. You might even get lucky tonight.”

“I just got shot in the head,” Jason replied in a grave voice. “If I’m not getting lucky tonight, I’m
going to be so fucking pissed.”

Roy regarded him thoughtfully.

“You better stop swearing or start keeping some fivers in your pocket, dude,” Roy told him. “—
You’re going to be in my house a lot. And with your swearing rate, you’re going to drop a lot of
money into our swear jar.”

Chapter End Notes

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