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Jason sat on a roof in his Red Hood gear, watching the skyline. His gaze flicked across the HUD in his helmet, stats and reminders staring back at him and standing in between him and Gotham.
Jaime went back to his hometown after college, their relationship turning long distance. He went dark for a few days, no contact. Probably to reconnect with his family.
That's what he thought until he saw news about a new Blue Beetle, about explosions and fights.
Jaime had called him a day after that, breathless and scared and grieving and all these things that should have never happened to him.
His dad died from a heart attack. His home was destroyed.
Jaime talked and Jason listened.
Jason squinted into the distance, a blue figure coming into view. They seemed to be Blue Beetle, upon comparison to blurry images and videos.
He scrambled back when Blue Beetle landed on the rooftop, narrowly avoiding crashing into him.
Blue Beetle was a Texas hero now, right? Why would they come to a dump like Gotham?
Red Hood stepped closer to them, noting how they looked to be about Jaime's height and build.
"What'cha doing here?"
Blue Beetle got up and turned, the face covering pulling back to reveal Jaime. His grinning face, his splitting lips, bruises all over. His hair was curling more from the sweat on his forehead and it was still that mid length cut that he did right before going onto the plane.
Horror filled Jason's bones.
No.
No.
No.
"Hey, Jay!"
Jason shushed him, looking around at the cameras that Oracle had control over and the alleyways beneath.
"Names, Paian." He advised him, barely hearing his own words. "How the hell did you become a hero in a week?"
Jaime chuckled and the mask rematerialized around his face.
"You know how Joker keeps saying it only takes one bad day?" He mimicked Joker's voice mockingly. "Turns out it takes two to become a hero." He shrugged, the armour plates moving like liquid around him to accomodate his movements.
"You had years of bad here." Jason pointed out, confused. "Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Joker. Why not then?"
Jaime tilted his head towards him.
"I had you." He reminded, knocking his hip against Jason's.
He knew where this was going.
"I love you too," Red Hood bonked his helmet gently against Blue Beetle's head covering. "But you are not going on patrols with me right now."
Jaime reeled back, looking up at him and he could tell that his face had twisted under the mask.
"Khaji protects me!" Jaime protested and Jason held up a hand.
Whoever the hell Khaji was, they clearly weren't doing a good enough job. Jaime shouldn't be hurt at all.
"You are a baby hero, I've been doing this since I was twelve." He gestured to Gotham. "I still died when I was fourteen. I still got scared each and every time you were reckless in college. Please, Blue." The new nickname was weird in his mouth. It was like the syllable was foreign to him.
Blue Beetle nodded after a moment.
"We can train together, then? I need to get better."
Jason held his hand.
"Deal."