#jaybeetle

It was cute.

Definitely not something one of his brothers would make him. Jason had muttered something like “don’t touch that” when Bruce opened the fridge later, which immediately ensured Bruce would pay attention.

After that, it was impossible not to see the pattern.

Jason’s comm line would stay open later and later on nights he patrolled alone. Quiet chatter. A soft laugh that didn’t belong to any of the family. Sometimes Bruce would walk past the training area at midnight and hear Jason talking, not in his usual gruff, defensive way, but in that distracted, almost content tone he used to have before.

Before everything.

Once, Bruce caught him half-asleep on the couch, headset still in his ear, phone lit up beside him. A faint voice on the other end said,

“You’re gonna fall asleep there again, aren’t you?”

and Jason just mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like,

“Maybe. You sound so nice.”

Bruce shut the door quietly. It wasn’t his business who his son was dating. But he was happy that Jason was happy.

The clincher came two weeks later, during post-mission cleanup. Bruce was reviewing intel when he heard Jason grumble into his comms,

“You didn’t have to do that, Blue.”

and a chipper reply came through the static,

“You say that every time I bring you food, and yet you keep eating it, mi amor.”

Jaime Reyes. Blue Beetle. Reliable, talented, relentlessly kind. Bruce researched him up before. (As he keeps tabs on everyone he knows.) He was a brave, kind boy.

And apparently courting Jason Todd with takeout and late-night calls.

Bruce leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t know whether to intervene or send the kid a fruit basket.

From his perspective, Jason was whipped.

Or bet yet domesticated.

He let it go again, observation was, after all, part of his skill set. The Reyes situation became something like background noise: Jason answering calls with a half-smile, disappearing for “team missions” that were suspiciously near El Paso, or muttering “Blue’s gonna kill me if I forget his movie night again.”

It wasn’t… bad. In fact, Bruce noticed Jason’s temper had evened out. Less edge, more quiet energy. Sometimes he came back from patrol with leftover food. Once he even whistled.

Whistled.

That’s when Bruce realized it wasn’t just a passing thing.

It took months for the conversation to happen.

It wasn’t planned, nothing ever was, in this family. Bruce was reading reports in the kitchen one morning when Jason wandered in, yawning, scrolling through his phone. There was a faint grin on his face, the kind that slipped through before he remembered to scowl again.

Bruce, without looking up, asked, “When are you introducing me to your boyfriend?” It was about time. Five months of this and you’d assumed maybe it was time.

Jason nearly dropped his mug.

“My—what?”

“Jaime,” Bruce said simply, still reading. “The one who calls you every night. The one who sends food. The one you’ve been… smiling at your phone for.”

Silence. Then a long, stunned pause.

“He’s not…wait. Oh my god. Has he been flirting?” Bruce could only describe Jason’s face as horrifyingly pleased.

He finally looked up, expression blank. “You’re just realizing this now?”

Jason blinked like a man seeing daylight for the first time. “Holy shit, he’s been flirting.”

Bruce set his paper down, very calmly. So, they weren’t dating. “He’s a nice boy. Don’t be stupid.”

Then he walked out of the room, leaving Jason standing there, phone buzzing in his hand with a new text.

Jaime: You eat yet, Jay? I made too much. Want me to drop it off? 💙

Jason groaned into his hands. “Oh my god, he’s been flirting this entire time.”

Later that night, Bruce passed by the manor balcony and saw Jason sitting outside, phone pressed to his ear.

He wasn’t saying much, just listening, quietly smiling at whatever Jaime was saying on the other end. The expression was soft, vulnerable but smitten.

Bruce paused in the doorway, unseen, and allowed himself a small, rare smile. He didn’t need to say anything. He didn’t need to interfere.

Jason had finally found something, someone, who brought him calm instead of chaos. And for once, Bruce was content to let it be.

As long as he was properly introduced to him, of course.