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Tim had no reason to be so nervous. It was just Jason. Every Tuesday night he stops by Tim’s apartment for a while. Tim is certain it’s not a date-date, it’s just free food and conversation with someone intelligent. The only problem is that Tim has had this embarrassing crush on Jason pretty much forever, he refuses to let himself project his stupid unrequited feelings onto Jason. If Jason was interested, he would have done something years ago.
All the being said, something feels weird about tonight though. Jason isn’t coming straight from work, he had the night off. If feels different, more special, like he really wants something with Tim, but that is most definitely Tim projecting.
That doesn’t change the fact that he had spent all morning obsessively cleaning the mess he and Steph had made this weekend. Well, mostly Steph, the girl was a hot mess on a good day, and so much worse when drunk. Also, she had the very uncomfortable habit of climbing into bed with Tim to cuddle in the middle of the night.
Speak of the devil, “Hey, boyfriend.” Steph greeted, both too loud and cheerful for Tim‘s current inner turmoil.
Tim just sighed, long since having given up on trying to get her to stop calling him that, despite how awkward it was since they’d broken up so long ago. “I love you. You know this. But I have plans that I will not be canceling for any reason other than life-threatening emergency.”
Steph giggled, “I know. Netflix and chill with the boyfriend!”
“Steph,” Tim groaned.
“I know, I know. He’s not your boyfriend, and, Netflix and chill is sex and we do not have sex, which is a huge mistake on your part. A man that strong, that big,” she hummed suggestively, “I bet the sex would be fantastic.”
Tim spluttered, blushing fiercely as Steph cackled in his ear. “Anyway, I’m not calling for plans. I’m calling because I left my favorite, lucky eggplant bra and panties there. So I’ll be by tomorrow to grab, or more likely find—knowing your cleaning habits—them.”
“Hey!” Tim squawked indignantly. “I’ve cleaned, and I—“
“In that case, I’m sure you’ve found them, so no wearing them! I know how you like the feeling of the lace against you skin.”
Tim spluttered again, flushing even brighter and hiding his face despite Stephanie not being here to see him. He tried to say something, but decided it would be better to just hang up on his still cackling best friend.
Jason was due to arrive in less than an hour—it’s not that they have a specific meeting time, they just tend to meet at almost the same time every week—and he still has so much to do.
Jason, timely as always, arrives at exactly a quarter past eleven wearing a dopey grin and exclaiming, “Timmy, I brought sustenance!” while gently shaking a brown paper bag, with the logo of a Japanese restaurant down the street, in his face—it’s one of Tim’s favorite restaurants, which he told Jason once a long time ago.
Tim blushes at the insinuation that Jason remembers such insignificant details about him, taking the bag and heading towards the kitchen. He hears Jason chuckle as the front door closes and locks, Jason’s surprisingly quiet, now bootless, footsteps padding after him, the lack of noise also implying the removal of his signature leather jacket.
“So,” Jason starts, causing irrational anxiety to bubble in Tim’s stomach, “don’t know if you’ve been outside recently, but it’s fucking cold. I think my hands are going to fall off.”
Tim mindlessly “tsks” at the curse, immediately yelping—and nearly dropping the plates he was pulling out for the food—as said cold hands find their way under his sweater and blushing as the rest of Jason presses right up against his back. He sets the plates down, intent on pushing Jason’s now wandering hands away, but find himself too distracted to anything more than shiver as Jason whispers, warm and rough, into his ear. “Don’t worry about plates, Babybird. Just grab silverware and come cuddle me warm.”
Tim starts to stutter out a response, but as Jason’s big hands slide off his tight—and now cold—stomach he decides he’d rather just listen: cuddling seems like the perfect idea.
Tim grabs the food, a fork for him, and an extra for Jason, though he knows Jason will use the chopsticks from the restaurant. He turns, heading back to his living room and stops short, gaping at Jason, who was bent over at the waist, digging through the closet that usually held all his spare blankets.
Usually being the key word. He’d thrown all the ones from his bed in the wash this morning, and taken the extras out of the closet to sleep with tonight.
“Hey Timbers,” Jason calls, turning and forcing Tim to snaps his eyes to Jason’s face rather than continuing his trek down the hard lines of his thick-muscled thighs. Jason smiles indulgently, though Tim misses the look, trying to appear as if he’s meeting Jason’s eyes without actually doing so. “So, where are all the blankets?”
“O-Oh,” Tim stuttered, silently cursing his nerves and finally putting the food down to hide the bright red splotches no doubt obvious on his pale skin. “I, um, I’m washing them. Steph kind of made a huge mess of the ones that were on my bed.”
Tim, still fiddling with the food now on his coffee table, misses the slight flinch and the way Jason’s smile turns forced at the mention of Steph in his bed. However, he looks up at the slight edge now in Jason’s voice. “So,” Jason hums, clearing his throat, though the usual warmth doesn’t fully return, “proper cuddles need blankets, and I’m still freezing.”
“Right, ummm…. We could go to my room?”
Jason narrows his eyes, tone suspicious when he asks “You sure that’s okay?”
Tim doesn’t really understand his caution, but confidently blurts out, “Yeah! I mean, yes. As long as we don’t spill anything it’ll be fine. And I have Netflix in there, too, so it’s all good.” The idea of Jason in his bed, no matter how innocent, is too exciting and tempting an option to refuse, despite the weird look Jason has.
“Whatever you say, Timbers.” Jason’s tone is still off, but he’s picking up the food and gesturing, “lead the way.”
Tim shrugs, leading them down the hallway that opens to the master bedroom. This isn’t the first time Jason has acted weird around him—in fact, the entire first year of their friendship was them awkwardly getting over misunderstanding that caused them to dislike each other—so, maybe he just had a weird day.
They even been watching all the occult and sci-fi movies that they could find. They finished the Underworld series in them for the new movie and Tim dragged Jason out to see it. They only have two more Resident Evil movies to go, and then Tim will have to convince Jason to go see that in theaters, too.
He let’s Jason settle the food on the nightstands and rearrange the blankets while he sets up Netflix and finds the appropriate movie. The settle in the bed, their food in their laps as Tim leans slightly against Jason; by the time they finish their food, the tension is gone, replaced with Jason’s sarcastic comments about weapons and Tim’s snide comments about movie science.
Nearing the end of the their first movie of the night, Tim is practically in Jason’s lap, with one hand braced on those spectacular thighs and the other rest against his overstuffed stomach. Jason sits with one leg bent at the knee and the other outstretched, one arm behind his head in the headboard and the other rubbing hypnotic circles into the sweater over Tim’s hip.
Tim wiggles a little, turning his head to look at Jason. He wasn’t expecting Jason’s piercing teal eyes to already be looking at him, the intensity and proximity leave him breathless. Tim ducks his eyes, feeling fidgety under Jason’s gaze, but he gets caught on Jason’s plump, soft looking lips. He really can’t help himself, and licks his lips and can’t help but imagine how warm those lips would feel on his.
Tim can’t really think past his desire and the desire he can see clearly coming off Jason. He spins around, so he’s kneeling between Jason’s legs, and reaches out slide his hand along the rough stumbled sprouting from Jason’s jaw.
Suddenly, Jason lurches forward, pressing surprisingly soft lips against Tim’s. They shift and tug at shirts and bedding, only breaking when Tim needs to breathe. Jason flips them, so Tim arched underneath Jason and the mouth locked onto his throat. Just as suddenly, Jason is pulling away with a careful blank looks that is at odds with the attractive flush on his lightly tanned cheeks.
Tim makes a protesting noise and pushes back towards Jason’s mouth, only to freeze as Jason lifts up a suspicious purple lingerie set, bra clinging to the lacy panties in a way that is sure to annoy Steph.
Tim pulled them off Jason’s hand and tossed them off to the side, smiling sweetly as he once again tried to return to kissing. This time, however, Jason pushed himself up into a sitting position. Tim made a question noise and tried to meet the gaze hovering studiously to the left if his face. “It’s, uhh, it’s getting late, Tim. I think I should get going.”
“But, Jay… It’s not that… We haven’t even finished the last movie.” The confusion was evident in his tone, he just didn’t know how to voice the question he really wanted to ask. It’s not that late, why are you leaving? and what did I do wrong? or maybe just everything was good, what just happened?
“I know. And I’m sorry, Tim. It’s just, uhh, I’m really tired. It’s just been kind of a long, and disappointing day, is all.” Jason sighed, “ we can totally finish this up another time.”
“Oh, um, okay.” Tim scrambled off the bed, following Jason as he all but marched to the front door. He yanked his boots on and didn’t even finish putting his jacket on before he opened the front door. The blast of cold air jolted Tim out of his temporary stupor, “So, umm, I’ll see you next week? Hope you feel better?” Tim was still so confused about what was happening here, and Jason leaving kind of felt like rejection—like maybe Tim shouldn’t have kissed him—which makes no sense because Jason kissed him.
It’s been almost three weeks since Jason left, and he hasn’t been back. He sends exactly one text every Tuesday morning with a less believable excuse for why he can’t show up this week. Tim would be worried, anxious to check on him, except Dick frequents the coffee shop Jay writes at when he has time or is feeling inspired; and apparently he’s been there often. Maybe his excuses are true, but Tim can’t help but feel as if Jason is purposely avoiding him.
Which explains how he let Steph talk him into getting sloppy drunk and telling her all about it—“and then we made out. For a—hic—while. I mean it was like ten min—hic—utes, thats a while, right?”
Steph, curse her, wasn’t drinking, well not drinking to get drunk, citing an important interview tomorrow. “Yeah, Timmy, that’s a while. So he just left?”
“Y-yeah.” Tim sniffled.
Steph hummed, “I mean, I know I’ve barely ever met the guy, but he doesn’t really seem like the type to ditch. Especially since he is clearly interested.”
“He’s not—“
“I mean, he kissed you, he’s totally interested. You don’t just kiss people you aren’t at least a little interested in. So it just seems weird that he’d just leave and not come back.”
“But-hic-but that’s exactly what happ—ppened!” Tim whined, pretending he doesn’t sound as pathetic as he feels.
“Exactly?” Steph hummed. “So you were making out and then he just got up and left. No arguing or anything. I know you’re not the best as social cues—you make up for it with how cute you are when you’re flustered—but are you sure you didn’t miss anything?”
“No. Kissing. He found your purple thong. Said he was tired. Left.” Tim garbled out, most of the words unintelligible from the shots he was downing.
“And you didn’t think to explain to your boyfriend why there was a thong in your bed?” Steph shrieks.
“No?” Tim pouts, completely lost. Jason knows Steph, well, he knows about her. He was around for their entire relationship and knows that Tim still loves her even though he’s no longer in love with her.
“You idiot.” Steph sighs, slumping onto the table and muttering to herself. “Okay, here’s what is going to happen. You are going to go sleep off the alcohol, then you’re going to call your brother and get his help to find Jason. Then, you’re going to talk to Jason, and explain to him that we are not now or ever going to date again.”
The hangover is mostly gone by the time Dick calls back and says that Jason is at the coffee shop. He still feels like retching after running down the street to get there. For some reason, he’s nervous—which makes no sense, it’s Jason. And probably going to be a good moment for their relationship.
Tim pauses outside the door, quietly following an elderly couple through the glass door, and silently cursing the jingly bell overhead that announces someone’s entrance. He sees Dick in the corner and makes his way over when he starts waving.
“Hey, Dick. Where’s Jay?” He feels a little bad about the lack of interest in his brother, but they all know that Tim is in this hole-in-the-wall coffee shop, on the other side of Gotham, because he wants to see Jason.
Dick points off to the corner, where Tim can see a head of dark, slightly curly, hair with a strange white streak. Now that he’s looking, he can also see the minute twitching in his shoulders that signifies rapid typing.
He takes a deep, steadying breath, says “Thanks, Dick” and marches off towards Jason.
“Jay? Umm, are you busy? Can I…umm…talk to you for a few minutes.” He resolutely ignores Jason’s tiny twitch and keeps looking at him.
Jason turns towards him, “Tim…” his tone is almost warning, “look, I don’t think is a good—“
Tim made a promise to Steph. He’s going to stick it out. And maybe Steph is right. Maybe it’ll all work out for him.
“Steph said—I mean, it had come to my attention that I need to explain some things.”
“You don’t need to explain. I’m pretty sure I figured everything out.” The rapid flash of hurt across his face made Tim’s heart ache and a hot ball of guilt form in his chest. “I get it, you know. Blondie, she’s—she’s pretty amazing. Gorgeous. Smart. Been your best friend for a long time. I’m fine with being someone’s experimentation—I happily support experimentation—but I’m not okay with being someone’s dirty little secret.”
“You’re not—“
“You should’ve told me. And you definitely shouldn’t have let me kiss you. I think it’s best if we stay away from each other for a while. I don’t want—“
“We aren’t dating!” Tim can feel his cheeks flaring. But he had to get Jason to stop talking. “I mean… Steph and I. We aren’t dating. We broke up, like a year ago, remember? Right. Ummm, so it was actually dating Steph that made me realize I was more into men. Not that Steph isn’t amazing! And beautiful. But… umm. I was—am more interested in you, actually.” Tim was simultaneously hoping Jason did and didn’t understand the mumbles of his last sentence.
“Oh, umm.” Watching Jason stutter and flush softly was well worth the embarrassment of this conversation in such a public place. “I guess I shouldn’t have—I’m pretty interested in you, too.” The usual, smugly smirk was more than comforting after so long. “I’d even—“
Tim still doesn’t know what possessed him to do it, but he flung himself forward, clumsily pressing lips and tongue and teeth against Jason, silencing whatever he was about to say.
Tim pulled back, only somewhat embarrassed about being in Jason’s lap, and not at all willing to move. He smiled up shyly, peppering kisses across Jason’s face and lips. “I’m sorry I’m such an idiot.”
Jason’s warm laugh and soft, crooked smile was, hands-down, the best part of Tim’s month.