A Love Like No Other
SUMMARY: "Why am I dating you again?" "Because I'm hot and you can't resist all this?" Jason smirks. Wally sighs. Now he knows why the girls always laughed at him whenever he tried to flirt with them back in high school.
Their love isn't like any other, or so Dick would tell him.
Wally begs to differ. It's the classic "save the damsel from the dragon" situation—or, in this case, "save Robin from the Joker." Or "save Robin from the Joker and try to avoid to brat because Wally wasn't friggin interested."
Or "Robin refuses to be the damsel, so he works out until he's a macho 6'0 tall man—bulging muscles and hairy chest and everything—and tries to woo."
And the five year difference did nothing to deter Jason, but it certainly did to Wally. Oh, and it wasn't just the age difference that made him steer clear away—Jason was a menace, a punk! He had an awful temper and was defiant to every order given. Even Dick and Batman had trouble keeping him in check. He just loved making things hard for everyone.
And Wally especially didn't forgive him for that scarlet speedster comment. The perverted little delinquent.
Nonetheless, despite the rejections and explanations and threats (done by Barry), Jason still pursued. It was getting to the point where Wally finally gave in and agreed to go out on one date. Which later turned out to be two, and then three, and then five, and then nine…
And then to the point where Jason and Wally had been going out on dates (and totally not dating) for a whole year. (Artemis never got tired of poking fun at him.)
Of course, Wally didn't think much about their relationship (if there was one). Jason, at that time, was thirteen whereas he was eighteen. Dick talked to him about breaking things off even if he was simply humoring the kid, and Wally agreed. Besides, he was planning on retiring the superhero business to concentrate on college, and having a baby boyfriend would definitely hold him back from meeting his future girlfriend.
Predictably, Jason didn't take it so well. Dick promised to distract his younger brother long enough for Wally to run away to California and hide his tracks. However, being the second protégé of Batman, Jason was able to locate where he was despite Dick's best efforts. Wally got an earful of Jason screaming at him for dumping him (even though they weren't dating in the first place).
He really should have told him the truth; really, he should have. But, on whim, Wally told him that they would get back together again only if Jason graduated college. It didn't seem plausible at the time, what with Jason recently getting kicked out of school the fourth time and him falling his classes.
Underestimating him was foolish (and to think that Wally learned that lesson after that year). Jason actually applied himself in his academics, despite the duration of his falling out with Batman and him never really relinquishing his grudge against the Joker so he became a belligerent (more than usual) gun-toting vigilante with a propensity to resort to questionable methods who deem it as his justice. And there was that thing when Tim became the third Robin, but that's not something to talk about.
Jason pulled through with average grades—which was stupid, as Dick had consistently complained to Wally, because Jason was smarter than that (he just didn't bother trying)—and graduated at the age of twenty-four (hard life for a high school dropout retaking classes).
Apparently, Jason lost interest in courting Wally again, becoming more absorbed in his activities as Red Hood. In one of Dick's regular updates, Wally learned that Red Hood's inclination to violence was getting out of hand. Wally just found it to be unfortunate how his supposed best friend didn't think to mention that the Bat family was going to send Jason over to his place as a last ditch effort as a form of therapy (to get rid of him).
Why him, Wally didn't understand. M'gaan mentioned something about him being a calming influence to him before (as ironic as it is), so it could be that.
He muses this as he pours coffee into two mugs—one black and the other one with cream and thirty-seven sugars—and then carries them over to the garage. There, tinkering with his motorcycle, is Jason, wonderfully demonstrating those grease monkey skills of his (and by wonderfully, Wally means being might as well taking a dip in a tub full of engine oil and sweat that he liked to lather himself in daily). Still, he supposes to himself appreciatively, if he got to get a view of those bare, strong arms every day, then he could put up with the grease monkey.
He clears his throat, causing the younger man to look up. Jason grins and got up, and in four long strides he is able to wrap his arms around Wally's waist and pull him flush against his chest.
"I didn't get to see you this mornin'," he hums, giving a light kiss at the base of his throat.
"Yeah, well, they wanted me at the lab to do some testing. It's an important case."
"Could have left me a note."
"Right, like you would've bothered to notice it." Wally shoves the mug in the other man's hands. "Drink your coffee."
"Thanks, babe." Jason's fingers skim across Wally's right arm—Wally's prosthetic arm. That night when Kid Flash found the second Robin battered and broken with a ticking bomb in that empty warehouse, the first thing he did was grab the bomb, vibrate through the walls a second time, and get to a reasonable distance where he could throw the bomb out without anyone getting hurt by the blast.
Unfortunately, trying to manipulate his molecules to phase through objects twice was extremely enervating for Wally, thus causing him to slow down drastically. If it was Barry or Jay, if would have no affect on them whatsoever; however, Wally was never as fast or strong as them. The second the bomb flew from his fingertips, the timer had hit zero and exploded. He was knocked out in that instant, but, according to Barry, the explosion literally ripped off his arm. He was also found with second-degree burns, shredded uniform, and broken ribs.
He didn't have any scars—his speed healing took care of that. But having his whole arm gone was hard.
It was the main reason why Jason had chased after him all those years ago. Pity that it never was the fact that he was in awe of Wally's heroics, but that it all stemmed from guilt. The kid felt obligated to cater to Wally's whims, and in the process of only receiving the speedster's assurances of never regretting in saving his life and dismissals of having any favors done, Jason was smitten. He converted the intention of his pursuit and, the next thing Wally knew, Jason was asking him out to go to the movies.
"So I'm assuming that you're all done with your repairs?" Wally asks, taking a sip of his own drink.
"I've finished Smith's car earlier this day. Figured I'd get that heap of junk outta the way before I go patrolling."
The first two months that Jason was here, Wally had to put up with the man's antsy behavior. It was entirely unpleasant listening to the younger fulminate about being kept away from Gotham and raving on about Batman's antiquated morality, Nightwing's lack of discernment, and Tim's incompetence. It was then that Wally forced Jason to get out and put his bachelor's degree into good use.
In which he didn't. He ended up getting a job as a mechanic. But Wally couldn't find himself to be disappointed; if Jason was occupied and stopped whining about his estranged his family, then he couldn't complain. Besides, the income wasn't so bad; rent was easier to pay now, and Jason usually ate out so grocery money wasn't much of a concern.
But it was starting to when Jason started teasing him for being a nerdy scientist, when Jason stopped sleeping in and drank coffee with him in the mornings, when the distance between them shortened whenever they were watching the TV on the couch, when their fingers would brush and nobody would pull back, when Jason would roll his eyes at his jokes… When he stopped eating out and started having his meals with him.
Wally began the habit of cutting out coupons.
This familiarity, this relaxed atmosphere—it was just like that year when Jason kept pestering Wally to go out with him. Their relationship may not have evolved to something more—at least, not on Wally's part—but it was undeniable that they had grown close. Not quite as friends and definitely not as lovers, but they had been close. Nevertheless, Jason was just a kid back then, and now…he's a man. It took Wally a while sort out his feelings, but he understood now. Wally was—is—reciprocating thirteen-year-old Jason's affections and he didn't know how twenty-five-year-old Jason felt.
It was when Jason had returned to Gotham that everything changed. Jason didn't need to stay with Wally anymore—Batman and Dick found him to be calmer, less bloodthirsty, and so they allowed him to return home. Wally tried to suppress the pangs of hurt and emptiness in seeing the younger man pack away his things, and forced himself to laugh at Jason's snark towards his former mentor and predecessor.
After one week, Wally came back to his apartment from work, discovering Red Hood bleeding on his couch. Wally remembers dropping his bag and rushing to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit (and only to remember that he didn't have one because, hello, the fast healing factor?). Wally instead used an old T-shirt to stop the bleeding and proceeded lamenting about the stains on the couch.
"What? You aren't worried about my wellbeing?" complained Jason.
"Of course I am, stupid! But blood is really hard to get out of fabric."
"Yeah, real worried alright," he muttered.
Wally, exasperated, huffed out, "Why did you decide to break into my home instead going to Bats?"
"You don't want me here?"
He meant to say, "That's not what I asked," but he didn't. Rather, the truth forced itself from his lips, making him say, "I do." And before Wally registered what he just said, Jason leaned forward and pressed his lips against his.
Wally smothers a bubble of laughter at the memory, but it didn't go unnoticed by the younger man.
"Me going patrolling is funny?" Jason raises an eyebrow.
"I'm imagining you dying on my couch again." For the umpteenth time.
He scoffs. "Please. I'm not like the replacement."
"You're right. Tim's never as reckless as you are."
"Not as tough, you mean." He takes a slurp from his coffee before setting down his and Wally's mugs and slinging the older man's arms around his neck. "Don't miss me too much while I'm off to Gotham."
"I still don't see why you can't work here in Keystone." Wally still plays hero—stopping a burglary, saving a family from a burning building, getting a cat down from a tree, playing darts with Trickster— but only from time to time; he is hardly as active as Dick or Artemis or the rest of his friends. And it's not like Gotham doesn't have enough heroes already; he even got wind that there is going to be another Robin after Tim became Red Robin.
"We talked about this, Walls. You know why," he says, nuzzling his red hair.
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and abuse the zeta tubes privilege. Don't pay mind when the Justice League sends me a notification saying how I'm doing a bad job at keeping you in check."
Jason's smile is absolutely filthy. "I know a way for you to keep me in check," he growls softly in his ear.
Wally tugs a lock of his hair at the back of his head. "Why am I dating you again?"
"Because I'm hot and you can't resist all this?" Jason smirks.
Wally sighs. Now he knows why the girls always laughed at him whenever he tried to flirt with them back in high school.
"I'm only dating you because you're a good kisser, Jay," he jibes.
He shrugs. "I'm down with it." And he tilts Wally's chin up and kisses him.
Maybe Dick is right. Their love isn't like any other, and that's fine. Wally wouldn't have it any other way.