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Romance and attraction were the least of Jason's worries as a street kid. With the daily struggle of providing for himself and his ma, he had no time for stupid things such as falling in love. He's heard stories from his ma about how she and Willis fell in love, and he's read the romances in the books from the public library he goes to often. He didn't understand any of it, but he supposed it was because he was still a kid. At least that's what Catherine said.
When his ma died and his father went to prison, Jason was left alone to himself. He was occasionally cared for by Candy and Sugar, the sex workers two doors away from their apartment, so he knew about intercourse. But still, he never cared for it; he respected and supported those who liked it and those who did it for a living, but Jason himself didn't care for it. Didn't understand the appeal of the act.
The thing is, Jason appreciated how people looked aesthetically. He knew when a person was handsome or when a person was pretty, but that's it. He's never felt the things other kids say about how they want to bed other people. He's never felt the urge to love someone and want to stay with them forever, at least in the romantic sense.
The other street kids talked about sex a lot, though. Jason ignored them the best he could every time a kid his age asked him which celebrity he'd like to fuck. He was afraid of their reaction if he told them the truth, that he didn't care about it, so he always just said some random celebrity's name to make them stop.
Candy and Sugar were glad when Jason had confided in them, telling him that a child like him shouldn't be entangled with their line of work, ever. They became Jason's older sister figures, though the two of them were already struggling to get by even before Jason came into their lives. Jason knew this, of course, even if they didn't say anything.
Then Jason had this ridiculous plan of stealing the wheels off of the Batmobile. And we all know how that went.
As Robin, Jason sometimes disobeyed Batman's warnings to go off alone in Crime Alley. They both knew Jason could handle himself, seeing as he grew up in it, but there was no easing the worry Bruce had for his son. Jason took that time to check up on Candy and Sugar, making sure that they stayed safe (as safe as they could be living in Crime Alley).
So far, we've established this: Jason was uninterested in romance, attraction, and sex. He didn't think much of all of them, despite the interest of literally everyone else. The unease that maybe he wasn't normal, maybe he was fucked up in the head for not wanting relationships and sexual intimacy, was always there in the back of his mind.
Right now, Jason was staring at a love letter inside his locker. Not only was he definitely not some popular kid (not for good reasons, anyway), nor was he some hotshot on the football team, but lo and behold, there was a fucking love letter on top of this book.
Someone's gotta be fucking with him. Jason opened it up and saw some kind of confession, telling him to meet at the huge tree in the middle of the school after classes. It made Jason feel highly uncomfortable, and he told himself he'd just... gently reject them.
Then he heard the stifled giggles from afar.
Trained senses meant that he didn't have to move a single muscle to see in his peripheral vision who the culprits were.
Jason just ripped the paper into pieces before pocketing it. Just because he was pissed, doesn't mean he was gonna litter. He walked away from his locker and into Math with a scowl on his face, prompting his schoolmates to get out of his way when they saw him.
When he got home, it was just him and Alfred, but Dick was visiting today. Though he would normally be excited about it, the earlier thing just made him feel bad and dejected. Jason just hoped he could put on a cover long enough to fool Dick; the man could read people as well as Bruce could.
While waiting for his older brother, Jason stayed in the movie room and passed the time by going on his phone. Punk rock played in the background as he scrolled through social media, and Jason sang along to the songs he was familiar with.
While scrolling, however, a post suddenly caught his eye.
Jason knew the significance of the month of June to some people. Dick definitely wasn't straight, and he made sure to at least mention it to Jason, and also encouraged him to surf the net if he wanted to know more. He wasn't clueless about it, by any means, but this one post in particular stood out to Jason.
It was a cartoon drawing of personified sexuality flags, all made in honor of Pride Month, which made sense since today was the first of June. The lesbian flag, the gay flag, and the bisexual flag were familiar to him.
Then he saw the Aromantic and Asexual personifications, one majorly green in color and the latter, purple. For the first time in his life, Jason felt like he had just unlocked the secrets of the universe.
Curious and wanting to know more, he exited the app and went to search for both terms.
Aromantic. People who feel little to no romantic attraction to other people.
Asexuality. People with little to no sexual attraction to other people.
Jason was... He didn't know what to feel. He was happy, of course. Finally, he had something to reassure him that he wasn't weird, that he wasn't fucked in the head.
But he was afraid. He knew in his heart that Bruce, Alfred, and, of course, Dick would accept him for who he was, but at least Dick was interested in other people. Jason wasn't, and he thought he never would be.
His thoughts were cut off when he heard his name being called out by Dick. Jason instinctively closed his browser and locked his phone before going outside to greet Dick.
"Little Wing, hi! How have you been?" Dick said with a smile. Jason's unease slightly went away with his brother's presence. Jason thought that if anyone would be understanding of his recent discovery, it would be his older brother.
"Hi, Dickie. I'm doing okay; nothin' special," Jason replied, returning the same smile Dick had given him.
"That's good! Now, I believe I owe you a movie marathon for skipping out on you last week. So, shall we?"
Dick had let Jason pick the first movie, and Jason chose a random, popular movie that the app recommended they watch. He tried paying attention to the movie, but Jason's mind was still thinking about the new terms he encountered today.
Dick was enjoying the movie, but then he saw that his little brother wasn't even looking at the screen, but at his phone (that was turned off). He pursed his lips, sensing that something was wrong.
"Something wrong, Jay?" Dick asked, his tone gentle as to not startle his brother. Jason's eyes snapped up from his phone and to the screen.
"Sorry. It's nothing," Jason said hastily, furthering Dick's suspicion that something was off. Dick reached for the remote, paused the movie, and turned to fully face Jason. His younger brother was just staring at the screen, but he was fidgeting with his hands. It was a nervous tactic Dick knew that Jason never got rid of.
"Jaybird, you know it's okay to tell me things, right?"
Jason nodded and looked at Dick, his eyes a little glassy from unshed tears. "You... you'd accept me for who I am, right?" Jason said, slowly.
That took Dick off guard. "Of course, Little Wimg. What brought this up?"
"It's just that... I saw some stuff today. And it all made sense, but it's scary."
Dick nodded slowly, encouraging Jason to continue.
"And... and you know about gay stuff, right? The LGBTQ thing? I mean, like, you're familiar with the terms," Jason continued.
Dick now had an idea of where this was coming from. "Yeah, I do. But you know that we won't judge you for that. It would be kinda hypocritical of me to hate you for being attracted to the same gender," he said.
"It's... I'm not. Attracted to men, that is. Or in general," Jason admitted. Then suddenly, the words wouldn't stop coming out. "And I know that sounds weird, but it's what I've always felt since I was a kid. I know I also read a lot of romantic shit, but I never really relate to them. And I know people can be attractive and I think some people really are, but I couldn't ever picture myself doing it with them and—"
"Jay. Hey, Jason, shh. Calm down, Little Wing," Dick said, voice still gentle as ever. "It's okay, I understand. It's okay."
Jason didn't notice it immediately, but he was slightly heaving from talking too long without stopping. And as if a dam had broken, hot tears fell from his eyes as Dick reached over to hug him.
"Oh, Jay. I'm so sorry if we ever made you feel like you couldn't confide in us. I'm so proud of you, Jason. And I'm grateful you trusted me enough to tell me," Dick consoled Jason, petting his brother's hair to soothe him.
Between sniffles, Jason spoke up. "You guys didn't do anything bad. I was just too scared. It's not your fault."
Dick reassured him again that Jason didn't have to be scared, not with them. Jason just cried harder, but now it was because he was pleasantly overwhelmed with the support his brother gave him.
Once Jason stopped crying, he quietly said to Dick, "Thank you, Dickie. And... I'd like this to be something just between us. I... I'm not really ready to tell anyone else."
Dick nodded in agreement. "Of course, Jay. You don't need to come out if you're not ready yet. You don't owe people that. I'm still so very thankful that you trusted me enough to tell me."
Jason would probably still be scared of telling people of his sexuality, but if he had doubts of whether his family would shame him for who he really was, it had already went out of the window.