Work Text:
The smell of the permanent smog barrier that existed around Gotham always struck Bart first. Sometimes he’d hold his breath for a few moments just to avoid it, but eventually always gave in. It was Tim’s home after all.
It took 5 laps of the city (in which he saw several other Bats including the Bat, but not his Bat before Bart paused on a rooftop to try calling Tim instead. He hadn’t managed to dial his boyfriend before a distorted voice interrupted.
“What are you doing here, tiny Flash?”
By the time the sentence finished, Bart had snatched Jason’s pistol out of its holster, dumped the live rounds, replaced with rubber bullets, stolen the one round of electric rounds he’d found (Jason probably had more, Bats were prepared after all), and returned to his position to face the man.
“What the fuck did you just do!?” Red Hood demanded as he patted himself down. Bart watched as he pulled out another round of ammo from a pocket he hadn’t tried (well he tried but it zapped him so he didn’t try twice) and pressed a button that made his suit hum. Bart knew that hum… Red Hood just electrified his suit to prevent Bart pilfering further.
“I’m looking for T–”
“Code names, you little speedy little thief.”
“It’s Impulse, thanks, Have you seen T–”
“God damn it- No I haven’t seen Red Robin tonight.”
“Oh…” Bart slumped, even the Bats didn’t know where his Timmy was.
“What’s with that face?” Hood crossed his arms as his stance relaxed and his suit stopped humming. “Missing out on your date night together or something?”
“Yeah, it’s Star Trek night.” Bart looked up as Red Hood froze, or at least seemed to stiffen? He definitely reacted. “Oh, did you like Star Trek too?”
“Date night?”
“Yes? That’s what you call movie night with a boyfriend right? Or did I get my names mixed up again?” Bart didn’t think so, but he took a spin around the roof to clear his head while he thought about it. He returned to his previous position to listen to Hood’s next question though.
“You and T- Red are dating?” The voice distorter sounded more distorted than normal.
Bart tilted his head as he studied the vigilante in front of him. He couldn’t see Red Hood’s face of course, thanks to the Hood-Helmet thing, but his body language was still apparent. He was confused? Shocked?
“Yes,” Bart answered slowly, trying to see what the other was actually getting at. Red Hood wasn’t homophobic or even straight according to Tim. In fact according to Tim the other had a lot of interesting faucets to him… Like amazing thighs, sexy pecs, plenty of ingenuity… Actually Tim enjoyed talking about and working with Hood more than any of the other Bats now that Bart really reflected on the situation. Tim was always finding excuses to hang out with Jason and telling Bart about their conversations.
“I thought– I–,” Hood shook his head.
“Oh!” It all clicked. Bart could easily fix this misunderstanding. “You should definitely join us then!”
“What?”
“Join us! For Star Trek!” Bart patted himself on the back. Tim would be so excited that Bart brought home a Jason. Tim obviously enjoyed time with Jason, Tim loved time with Bart, Bart wanted to try Jason’s brownies that Tim always raved about and maybe Jason would talk with him about movies and books that Tim didn’t like and maybe Tim would talk with Jason about things Bart found boring and Bart and Tim could still do all the things they liked to do but with Jason too!
“You are inviting me to crash your date?”
Bart slowed down to focus and waved his hand in a see-saw manner at a speed Jason could see. “More like asking you out on a date?”
“You are asking me on a date to a date with your boyfriend?”
“Yes! That’s it!” Bart gave a mini zoomie around the rooftop and ended up against Hood’s chest. It was a very nice chest, so he gave it a small pat. “We just need to locate T–”
“Names.”
“OH! That’s what you meant! Yes, we just need to find Red Robin then and it’s Star Trek time baby!”
Hood considered him for another moment, so Bart used the break to make a lap of the neighborhood to see if Tim– Red Robin– had appeared. No luck.
“Alright, let me make some calls and see if we can locate your boyfriend.”
*****
Tim was already at his apartment. He cast a judging look as he opened the window to let the two inside. “Why did you contact Oracle to locate me?”
“We couldn’t find you on patrol!” Bart threw his arms around Tim’s strong shoulders and pressed a kiss against his cheek.
“It’s date night. Why would I be patrolling?” Tim returned the embrace even as he shook his head at his boyfriend before directing a curious glance over at Jason. “Are you a Star Trek fan too?”
Jason finished removing his helmet before looking up and meeting Tim’s gaze. “Not really, I prefer Star Wars,” Jason ran a hand through his hair to fluff out the helmet hair, before placing a hand on his hip and using the other to gesticulate wildly at Bart. “Your boyfriend though, asked me on a date, so I thought it polite to tell his boyfriend that.”
“You only came to tattle on me?” Bart appeared between them, a burger in one hand, a milkshake in the other, and a huge pout on his face. “I thought you were seduced by my skills!”
“You shouted ‘Join us’. How is that ‘skills’?”
Bart blurred and appeared again with a bouquet of roughed up flowers that at one time might have been a dozen roses. After the speedy trip, most of the petals were knocked off, leaving bare stems.
Tim sighed and stepped away for a moment, but Jason was too shocked to process. “Are you giving me flowers in front of your boyfriend?”
“Bart,” Tim reached for his boyfriend’s shoulder to capture his attention, “you weren’t gone long enough to pay for those. Go give the flower booth money, and pick up another. This time make sure the plastic covers the flowers so they stay in one piece,” Tim instructed as he placed a bit of folded cash in Bart’s hand.
Bart shot a wink at Jason, a salute towards Tim, and was gone again.
“What is happening right now?” Jason was honestly baffled.
“Bart asked you on a date–” Tim began, but Bart appeared again, this time with a new bouquet of intact flowers.
“Jason, I am asking you on a date. Star Trek, pizza, can you make some brownies, and a Timmy are my offerings.”
That was the final straw. Jason burst out laughing at the absurdity, unable to catch his breath as tears sprang in his eyes. He slumped down on the floor after a moment, hoping to catch his breath. As he breathed, Tim appeared. He knelt down beside Jason with a bemused look and a glass of water.
“He’s a lot– a lot of fun and a lot of love,” Tim smiled softly at Jason’s expression, “but I was also planning on inviting you to our movie nights.”
“I just don’t understand. You have each other, why are you asking me?”
Tim’s face scrunched and he pulled Jason upright and towards the kitchen. “You’ve surely heard the phrase ‘I have two hands’ right? We are dating each other and we are interested in dating you.”
Bart had various pieces of kitchen equipment set around and the ingredients for Jason’s homemade brownies. “And I really want to try the brownies that Tim is always talking about. I’ll give you the first round of Tim’s lap time. He gives great head scratches. It’s the pianist fingers. Or maybe grapnel fingers? Keyboard warrior fingers? He’s great with them you’ll see. Totally worth a brownie trade. Promise!”
Jason exhaled loudly, looking from one to the other. Maybe he did inhale a toxin while out on patrol, but maybe that just didn’t matter right now either. “Sure, why the fuck not. Let’s make some brownies.”
Everything else could be figured out later.