peanut peanut peanut peanut

you’ve asked for a girl dad ! lee board before so i hope giving this more pinky / fem themes was okay ! pls tell me if not !!

Roy sighed heavily and hit the man in front of him on the side of the head, hard enough to knock him out. The man went slack, the ropes surrounding him the only reason that he didn’t fall off the chair and onto the floor.

Another dead end.

Roy left him there for the police to find. He had places to be.

It had been weeks, and they were still only inching along in their search for Lian. Roy had even started crashing at Jason's place in order to save on hotel costs, and to be a little closer to where they’re actually looking.

Jason said it might take a while. Alley kids were crafty, doubly so when they knew someone was trying to find them, but Roy couldn’t help but be impatient. His daughter was here, so close that he could almost reach her, and yet she was nowhere to be found. He felt like a dog, anxiously digging holes and tearing up the woods only to come up with nothing.

Another empty alley, another dead end, another night wasted. Dinah probably wouldn’t approve of that kind of thinking, but she’s a hypocrite anyway.

It’s late enough that he doesn’t bother to fix his facial expression before entering Jason’s apartment building. No one is awake right now, except for him, and probably Jason.

He studied the cracks in the stairwell walls for the millionth time, barely avoided stepping on the broken stair, and absentmindedly shook the loose railing as he went up.

“Johnson was a bust,” he announced when he opened the apartment door.

He’s already crossing him off of Jason’s murder board (”Evidence board,” Jason had insisted,) as he registers the lack of a response. A quick glance behind him confirmed that Jason wasn’t in the living room, and the apartment was silent. His shoes were still by the door, though, so he had to be home.

Roy smiled to himself. Good. He’d told the kid to take a break, but he hadn’t expected it to actually happen.

He took a moment to tidy up a little, grabbing some of the random things left lying about and putting them back in their proper places. It makes him feel useful, especially after coming back with nothing yet again.

Stretching his arms above his head, he started to trudge through a nighttime routine of putting his gear away, locking it up, changing into what can pass as pajamas, etcetera, etcetera. He was shuffling out of the bathroom when he heard… crying?

He stopped. The noise was coming from Jason’s room, who would definitely not appreciate being seen during a moment like that.

He really should just ignore it and go to bed.

Who was he kidding? He couldn't just leave Jason to cry alone. He creaked the door open quietly, taking a quick peek inside. There Jason was, kneeling on his bedroom floor, hunched over a… spilled sippy cup?

“Jaybird?” Roy prompted softly.

Jason startled, whipping his head back to stare wide-eyed at Roy. tear tracks evident on his cheeks. He angled his body to cover up the sippy cup behind him. “F-fuck. Roy. Hi.”

Roy made his way over and kneeled in front of Jason on instinct. “Hey, what’s wrong? What happed?” he asked.

Jason sniffled and wiped his eyes. “Shoot. M’fine- jus’ spilled it. M’okay. You should- bye.”

Pause. Assess. This is familiar… why?

Back in his Titans days, sometimes some of the members would act… younger than usual, usually during the time they took to rest or after dealing with a lot of stress. Roy knew the proper term- age regression. He did it himself a few times, but he’d always liked to take care of the others more.

…Is that what was happening? The signs all matched up- different speaking patterns and tone, less emotional control, not to mention the sippy cup.

“You spilled it?” Roy repeated gently.

Jason hiccupped and nodded. “Mhm. Is- is okay, though. I got it.”

Roy hummed sympathetically. “I’m sure you do, bud, but can I go get you a towel to help you clean it up? It’d make me feel better.”

“It’d make you feel better?” Jason asked, his voice filled with childish innocence.

“Sure would.” Roy nodded. “I like to help, you know that.”

Jason obviously considered it for a few seconds before nodding reluctantly. Roy patted his shoulder with a smile and left the room, off to go find a towel. He grabbed a random one from the bathroom and came back quickly, since he didn’t want to leave Jason alone with his thoughts for too long.

“Here,” he murmured, already starting to wipe up the water that was all over the floor.

Once the spill was all cleaned up, he grabbed the sippy and held out a hand to help Jason up. “C’mon, let’s go refill this, huh?”

Jason seemed a little confused, but took Roy’s hand anyway. Roy didn’t let go as he helped the boy up and led him to the kitchen. “Alright,” he mused, “What do you want in this? Water, milk, juice?”

“Um. Jus’ water, please,” Jason mumbled.

“One cup of water coming right up,” Roy said, already falling into an old, but familiar routine. He filled the sippy and handed it to Jason, automatically ruffling his hair afterwards. Luckily Jason barely even seemed to register it, and instead just took a drink from his cup.

What else…

Jason doesn’t usually have problems with forgetting to eat, not any more than anyone else in their ‘profession,’ but Roy does remember that people who are regressed (and kids in general, sometimes) need a little reminder every once in a while. It wouldn’t hurt to just ask.

“Hey, have you eaten dinner today, Jay?”

Jason just shuffled awkwardly in response and took another sip. So that’s a no.

“That’s alright,” Roy assured him, already turning around and rooting through the kitchen cabinets, “I’m pretty sure there’s some box mac n’ cheese in here somewhere…”

“Y’need a vegetable too,” Jason said quietly.

Roy found the mac n’ cheese with a quiet, ‘Aha!’ and placed it on the counter. “Oh yeah?” he responded, “What kinda veggie are you thinkin’?”

“...Corn?”

Roy huffed a laugh. “Corn isn’t a vegetable, bud.”

Jason grumbled under his breath for a moment at that, but eventually conceded with a, “Fine. Peas, please.”

Roy gave him a cheerful salute and set himself to his task. Boil the noodles, drain, add milk, butter, and the cheese packet. Mix. Put some frozen peas in a bowl and cover them before microwaving them for a few minutes. Scoop each onto some plates (making sure they don’t touch) and boom! Dinner for two complete.

“Order up!” Roy announced, placing Jason’s plate in front of him and taking a seat at the counter.

“Thanks,” Jason replied, and they both dug in. Neither of them spoke, but the silence was comfortable enough anyway.

They finished their food and Roy took both of their plates, placing them in the sink for him to clean after he put Jason to bed.

“Alright,” he said, “I think it’s time for bed, don’t you?”

Jason’s face scrunched up at that. “No. I’m not tired.”

“You sure?” Roy asked skeptically, “It’s four in the morning, and we have to wake up early tomorrow.”

Jason pouted about it, but let Roy lead him down the hallway, back to his room. They’re standing at his door when he remembered, “Wait, I gotta do the dishes, ‘cause you cooked.”

“It’s alright, Daddy can take care of it,” Roy promised without thinking, and Jason froze.

Oh, shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.

“Good night!” Jason hurriedly exclaimed before bolting into his room and shutting the door, leaving Roy cursing himself and whatever higher power was out there just outside of it.

They didn’t acknowledge it the next day.

—

Roy trudged into his kitchen one early morning, going through the motions of preparing himself a coffee and figuring out what to make for breakfast. Would Jason want scrambled eggs and bacon?

Well. Roy did, so he turned the stove on and started cooking. Jason could get himself something else if he doesn't like it.

It'd been almost a year since he got Lian back, the love and light of his life. The last time he'd seen her, she was so young, and now she's a fully-fledged teenager. It'd been a big adjustment, but he wouldn't trade it for the world. He has his daughter back.

Said light of his life was with Oliver for the week, out camping for some “granddad-granddaughter bonding,” as Ollie put it. Roy was a little hesitant, not wanting to let Lian out of his sight for so long, but after Dinah told him she was going too (and mostly after Lian guilt-tripped him by talking about missed opportunities and all that), he finally caved, and has been focused on watching over Star City in Ollie's absence.

There was just one case that was giving him trouble, a human trafficking ring with connections to Gotham. When he reached out to Jason about it, they compared notes and realized they were both dealing with the same organization at the same time.

With Connor, Mia, and anyone else Roy could call for backup from busy with their own cases, Jason decided to let some other Bats bust the ones in Gotham while he went to Star to help Roy out.

Which, thank god. Honestly, Roy’s lucky Jason didn’t run for the hills after his monumental fuckup last time. Obviously Jason never regressed in front of Roy since, but that's okay, really! Jason probably doesn't trust anyone enough to regress with them anyway, so Roy shouldn't take it to heart.

And he doesn’t.

Anyway. Roy prepared two plates of scrambled eggs and bacon (dumping an "obscene" amount of hot sauce on his) and trudged out to the living room, ready to wake Jason up with a nice breakfast.

…Except Jason was already awake. And watching Thomas & Friends. And sucking his thumb.

Okay. Stop. Maybe this meant something? Maybe this meant he felt safe with him? Or maybe it was just involuntary? He didn’t know. What was he supposed to do?

Slowly, like approaching a bird in the wild, he walked over and set Jason’s plate on the coffee table.

Apparently Jason spotted him because he jumped, wrenching his thumb out of his mouth and turning terrified eyes to Roy.

"Roy! Sorry- I wasn't-"

"Woah, woah, it's okay!" Roy rushed to assure him, "You're okay, bud. I promise I don't mind. Do you want some eggs and bacon?"

Jason didn’t say anything for a moment, and Roy started worrying that he'd fucked up again.

"You… don't mind?" Jason asked hesitantly.

"No. Why would I?"

"But- it's weird, and it's not just watching cartoons and stuff, I act like a baby sometimes," argued Jason.

"Jaybird, I know," Roy replied, "Age regression, right? Some of the Titans used to do it. Hell, so did I. It's okay."

Jason took a moment to process that. "...You really don't think it’s weird?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh. I thought I was gonna scare you off," Jason mumbled, awkwardly looking away.

Roy chuckled. "Jason, I thought I scared you off last time. I mean, obviously you can regress with whoever you want, but I thought that since you never did around me that you didn't trust me enough to take care of you."

"I don't regress with anybody," Jason told him, "No one knew."

"Well, now you've got me, buddy," Roy responded, "I mean. If you want."

"I- what? You'd do that?"

"Jay, you are my best friend. I love you, and I'd love to take care of you."

Jason looked like he was about to melt from embarrassment, and it was adorable. "I guess that's okay, then."

"Great!" Roy exclaimed. "Now, want some eggs and bacon?"

—

"Roy! Roy! Roy!"

"What? What? What?" Roy teased, reaching down to boop Jason's nose.

Roy had been Jason's caregiver for a while now, but it was rare for them to be able to hang out in person. Thankfully, Jason was in Star City for the week, and Lian had begged to go to a friend's house, so they decided it was the perfect night for a regression night.

"I drew a picture! D'ya wanna see?" Jason told him, almost vibrating with excitement.

"Uh, yeah!" Roy said, "Lemme see!"

Jason grinned even wider and held up the paper he was coloring. It was of two stick figures standing on what looked to be a rooftop, with a city behind them.

The smaller stick figure was labeled "Me," and had Jason's favorite plushie in its arms along with a red hoodie and Jason’s signature white stripe in its hair. The larger stick figure had Roy's orange hair and was holding the smaller stick figure's hand, and it was labelled "Roy."

"Oh my gosh!" Roy gently grabbed the picture and held it up. "This is amazing! Can I put it on the fridge?"

Jason blushed fiercely. "Um, I don' want anyone else t'a see it."

"That's alright," Roy assured, ruffling Jason’s hair affectionately, "How about I put it somewhere safe? That way I can still look at it, and no one else will find it."

Jason hummed and then nodded seriously.

Roy grinned and put the drawing down before scooping Jason off the couch and spinning him around, while Jason shrieked with laughter. "You are just too cute," he said, affectionately bumping his forehead against Jason's.

Jason giggled wildly. "Roy, put me down!"

"Are you sure?" Roy asked mischievously.

"Yes!"

"Okay!"

Then Roy swung Jason in his arms for a moment before tossing Jason back onto the couch, much to Jason's amusement.

Jason scrambled back up quickly, reaching for Roy. "Again!"

Roy chuckled and picked Jason up again. "No, no, it's time for bed, kiddo."

"Nooooo," Jason whined, "I don't wanna!"

"Well, you gotta. Sorry buddy," Roy replied, already carrying Jason to his room.

Jason grumbled in his arms the entire way until Roy set him on the bed and started looking for some pajamas for him. "Want the Wonder Woman one," he muttered.

"Alright," Roy agreed, "You wanna put it on yourself or do you want help?"

"I got it!"

"Remember to brush your teeth!" Roy called, after he handed the onesie off to Jason and watched him dart into the bathroom to change.

Jason came out a few minutes later, grinning widely in order to show Roy that he did, in fact, brush his teeth.

Roy smiled back. "Good job, Jay. Now, go grab Gary and clean up your coloring stuff, and if you’re quick then maybe I'll let you watch Sesame Street before you go to sleep."

That gave Jason the motivation he needed, and he rushed off to get everything in order. Roy huffed a laugh and turned the bedroom TV on, getting Sesame Street ready for when Jason came back.

Basically as soon as the first few notes of the cartoon's opening theme came on, Jason was running back into the room and jumping onto the bed. Roy watched amusedly as Jason scrambled to get comfortable under the covers with his gargoyle stuffie, Gary, clutched in his arms.

Roy got under the covers as well, pulling Jason close.

Jason watched the TV with the single-minded focus only a toddler could achieve, while Roy watched Jason. He felt so lucky to be able to share this with Jason, to be trusted enough to watch over him in such a vulnerable moment.

They only made it through three episodes before Jason was visibly trying not to fall asleep, so Roy turned the TV off.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Roy murmured, pushing Jason’s hair back and giving him a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"G'night…" Jason replied softly, eyes falling shut.