Chapter Text
“Red Hood, what a surprise.”
Jason jumped half out of his skin at the purr. He’d wheeled around to point a gun at the voice before he recognized it.
Fucking hell. The gun was probably an overreaction, but now he was committed to it.
“Sorry, sorry,” breathed Stray. He splayed his palms to show they were empty. He looked like he was laughing even with the gun dangerously close to his head. His eyes were shut when he laughed and he looked totally relaxed. “You should put a bell on me. I’m too quiet.”
His face was bright red under his helmet. Thank god he had his face fully covered so Stray couldn’t see the way his shiny latex outfit hit like a brick to the face. He was way too eighteen and horny for this shit. He didn’t want to be tested this way.
He’d heard that Catwoman had a little devote, but this was still a lot. He swallowed and tried not to look too much at the latex bodysuit. Christ, he could see Stray’s chest move with each breath. Was he into that? Fuck, no, he didn’t have time to be into that.
Stray tilted his face upwards and blinked at him through tinted goggles. It was meant to be cute and Jason hated that it was. Shit. He hadn’t responded yet. “Stray,” he said. The sound software made his voice sound harsher than it was. Christ, there were cat ears on the top of the goggles. Jason needed help.
Stray perked up. “You know me?” A smile played around his lips, pulling one side up. “And you’re… happy to see me.” Jason didn’t realize why Stray was leaning forward until it was too late to do anything about it. He watched in disbelief as a pink tongue darted out and licked a stripe up the gun, holding eye contact with Jason the whole time.
“Fuck!” Jason yelped. He’d pulled the gun back before he’d thought about it. His face was burning.
Stray laughed and laced his fingers behind his head. He gave a long, luxurious stretch while Jason tried to come to terms with how his night had gone off the rails. This was supposed to be a big night for him. He was watching for a shipment of drugs that Black Mask was moving out of the city. This was a big chance to piss off Maskie and move up his timeline to get the Joker busted out of his paper prison cell, and he couldn’t get distracted by a cat boy. “Only if you’re very bad,” Stray teased. What? What? Jason took a moment to run his words back and realize that the last thing he’d said had been ‘fuck.’
Cats. Cats were the worst.
He told his pounding heart to get with the program. The easiest way to deal with this would be to follow through with his threat and shoot the flirtacious little fucker. That would cut off the sugar real quick.
‘I can’t shoot him. He’s not breaking any of my rules or working for anyone who does.’
It wasn’t really an option. Not unless he was willing to lie to himself that he felt threatened by a twink in latex. He had some strong feelings at the moment, but he couldn’t really say he feared for his life.
Regretfully, he put the gun away and tried to look busy. “Go away, cat,” Jason said. It came out gruff. “I don’t have time to play with you.”
“Oh no,” Stray whined. He slunk forward-motherfucker, how was he doing that? How was a grown ass man slinking? Jason took a step backwards before he realized he was on the back foot, and then he had 130lbs of athletic but trim thief hanging off of his arm. Why was this fucker so small? His heart was pounding. Fuck, was he into that? “That’s a shame. There was something I wanted to tell you.” Stray performed a darting maneuver that had him under Jason’s arm and pressed up against his chest before he knew what was happening.
He had a terrifying moment of empathy for Bruce. Then his focus was back on the cat burglar in his personal space. Stray tugged on the front of Jason’s leather jacket to make him bend over.
Jason stood his ground and didn’t bend, like that was going to be the bit of resistance that somehow saved his dignity in this. “Mask isn’t coming,” Stray whispered. His voice was so quiet that Jason leaned in closer to hear. “He’s awfully worried about you.” Clever fingers traced up and down Jason’s chest, pressing up against leather. Jason wasn’t breathing. “He’s sending a mercenary here instead. Someone sold you out, baby boy.”
Baby boy? Jason came back to his senses enough to push the cat away. Stray went with a laugh and flashed another grin at him. “Stay safe, lover,” Stray chirped, like they’d been having an entirely different conversation. And then he was gone, off into the shadows before Jason could finish processing. He was half hard in his pants, trying to calm down from that fucking revelation of an encounter, and then the penny dropped.
Shit. He had a leak? He had a leak and this was a set up.
If Stray knew what he was talking about, Jason might owe the slinky little motherfucker. He told himself that was just good business sense and not looking for an excuse to find the guy.