Chapter Text
"You've been on Earth a lot more than usual, Kyle," Hal said.
Kyle hummed, focused on trying to cut through the food he'd ordered. He always tried different things when he was on Oa, he wasn't a particularly picky eater and he didn't see a point in ignoring an entire galaxy of cuisine, but the meat he'd ordered this time was tougher than he was used to.
"Is your mom okay?" John asked. "I saw her last time I was on Earth and she seemed fine, but-"
"My mom's fine," Kyle said. He frowned a bit, looking up and across the table at John. "Why have you been visiting her?"
"We're friends," John said. "We grew close when you were spending most of your time here."
Kyle narrowed his eyes, suspicious. John was leagues better than Hal, but Kyle wasn't particularly pleased with the idea of either of them 'getting close' to his mother. John just stared back, amusement in his eyes and the tilt of his lips.
"If you're not visiting your mom then what are you doing on Earth?" Guy asked. He shoved some of his own food, something vaguely like pasta but made of a sweet blue dough, in his mouth before continuing, "Like it doesn't matter because you always do your shit before taking off, but I'm kinda curious. Practically your entire life is here, so I can't imagine what you're doing on Earth."
"Stop talking until your done chewing," Hal said, pulling a face.
Guy responded by sticking his tongue out at Hal, giving him a good look at the chewed up pasta and sauce in his mouth.
Kyle chose that moment to think about the fact that these were the men he'd chosen to admire, that these were the men who he had looked to for guidance and advice since he was fifteen.
"I haven't really been doing anything exciting," Kyle said, looking away from the display before he got a glimpse inside of Guy's mouth as well. There was nothing that sounded less appetizing to him than seeing Guy's half-chewed food. "Just hanging out with Jason."
"Jason....?" Guy said, drawing out the name in a question.
"Todd," Kyle said. Then he looked back up, feeling a little confused, "Was that not obvious? It's not like there are that many Jason's in our community, much less any other Jason's that I actually have an interest in being around."
There was a moment where Guy, Hal, and John seemed to have a silent conversation before John said, "We didn't know that you were talking to Jason again."
"Why wouldn't I be talking to Jason? He's my best friend."
"He's not exactly...playing for our team anymore," Hal said.
Jason's resurrection had become common knowledge in the league after Jason, Donna, and Kyle's search for Ray Palmer. Kyle had been away from the Tower when it happened, but he'd heard there had been a big argument between Diana, Clark, and Bruce about Bruce having kept something that important from them. Kyle didn't know exactly how things had gone, but by the next time Kyle visited the tower the three of them were on speaking terms and Jason was logged in the league's databases. The only reason Kyle hadn't thrown a fit about that was because Jason was simply in there as someone to keep an eye on, rather than a villain.
"That's not true," Kyle said. "Jason might have done some stuff that Bruce doesn't approve of, but I've talked to him about it. I know for a fact that he never did anything that he doesn't think was good."
"Didn't he send the police eight heads in a dufflebag?" Hal said.
"Yes, but they were all drug dealers and gang leaders." Noticing the looks his companions were sending him, Kyle said, "I don't think that that was good, okay? I don't think that he's a hero. But I also....I also know how people like that effect people in Gotham. So I can't bring myself to think that it was...completely terrible either. I don't approve. I just understand."
There was another moment of quiet conversation, of glances exchanged as if Kyle wasn't sitting right in front of them, as if Kyle couldn't tell that the Lanterns disapproved of his friendship with Jason or that the only reason they weren't saying that was because they knew what the consequences of saying something like that to Kyle's face would be.
"Okay," John said at last, turning away from Hal and Guy to focus on Kyle instead. "I can't say I understand or agree, but I trust your judgement. You know Jason better than any of us do."
"Thank you," Kyle said.
The last thing he wanted was to choose between his fellow Lanterns and Jason, to choose between losing the men who had taught him to be a man or losing his first love for a second time.
He was glad that John wasn't making him choose.
Kyle stood in front of Jason, throwing his arms open and spinning a bit. "How do I look?"
"Absurd," Jason said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.
"Really?" Kyle asked as he looked down at his outfit. Though it was late April, Gotham still clung to it's spring chill rather than warming as it usually did this time of the year, so Kyle had opted for a black and white baseball tee with a pair of tan shorts. He didn't live in Gotham so he didn't have any Gotham Knights merchandise, but he'd gone out and bought a team hat which rested on his head now. In an attempt to get in the spirit, he'd swiped some body paint on under his eyes as well - one strip of yellow and one strip of black under each. "I thought this was what people wore to baseball games?"
"That's what thirty year old men wear when they're coaching their son's little league team," Jason responded. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jean shorts with a Gotham Knight's jersey that he'd left unbuttoned, showing off the black undershirt beneath it. Kyle found it kind of interesting that Jason had a Knight's jersey now. He didn't know much about baseball, but he knew that an authentic jersey was close to two hundred dollars. He thought it said something about Jason's attachment to Gotham - even if he refused to reside there currently - that Jason had spent that kind of money on something so frivolous. It wasn't an absurd amount given how much Jason had nowadays, crime boss was a lucrative career, but Jason rarely spent money on things like that. "But I suppose you're pulling it off well enough."
"You think? I don't look like a thirty year old dad?"
"I don't think anyone could look at your baby face and think you're thirty years old."
Kyle opened his mouth to argue that he didn't have a baby face, but closed it upon remembering that he got carded twice as much as Jason did even though Jason was two years younger.
"Alright," Kyle said instead. He stepped closer to Jason, fought down the urge to link their fingers together and looped his arm through Jason's instead. It wasn't the most platonic touch, but it wasn't inherently romantic either. It let Kyle enjoy the feeling of Jason's arm wrapped around his. "Lead the way!"
Jason looked at Kyle for a moment, amusement in his eyes and the turn of his lips.
It sent a sharp rush of affection through Kyle. It might have thrown him off guard if he hadn't gotten so used to feeling this way around him.
"Okay," Jason said. He started walking towards the ball park. Kyle followed, trusting Jason to guide him to wherever they needed to go. "Come on. Security's always a shitshow in Gotham. If we don't get in line now, we're going to end up missing half the game."
When Jason had first suggested going to the game on the anniversary of his death, Kyle had been a little unsure. Ultimately he'd agreed because it was Jason's death. If he wanted to be in Gotham watching a baseball game then Kyle wasn't going to tell him no. But Kyle had spent the last several years being miserable every time the anniversary rolled around, locking himself in somewhere where he could cry and scream and think about all the times in the last year when he had wanted to speak to Jason but couldn't. It felt strange to be spending that day at a ball park surrounded by a cheering crowd instead.
Kyle had fun at the game, though, despite his initial reservations. He found himself relieved that he had agreed to come. Instead of wallowing, he spent his day pouting whenever Jason didn't get carded by one of the beer vendors and exacting revenge by making Jason pay for the ridiculous amount of food Kyle wanted. Instead of isolating himself, he spent the day with his knee pressed against Jason's or leaning against Jason's arms so that Jason could explain something to him. Instead of spending the day thinking about life without Jason, Kyle got to spend the day with Jason, remembering that Jason was alive now.
And when the two of them split up later that day, Kyle left feeling a warm happiness that he had thought he'd never feel again. Not on this day.
May brought Kyle's 23rd birthday.
It was the first birthday in years that he was willing to celebrate, the first time that he hadn't avoided celebrating it because Jason would never get to have another birthday.
He spent the morning with his mother. She made him chocolate pancakes with chocolate chips and didn't so much as blink at him when he covered them with whipped cream. Afterwards she sat across from him and the two of them talked until the second half of Kyle's pancakes had gone cold. They talked about Kyle's childhood birthday parties and the teenage years when he'd spent his birthdays out on adventures with Jason and the Lanterns. His mother told him stories about her own childhood birthdays and a few about birthdays she spent with his father before he abandoned her. When their time together started nearing it's end, his mother rested one of her hands over his. She told him how proud she was of the man he'd become.
Kyle didn't even try to hide how much that made him cry.
Kyle had asked Jason the weekend before his birthday if he would mind spending sometime with him the day of. Jason had agreed easily. At the time he'd cracked a joke about how spending time with Kyle was cheaper than getting a gift for him, but when the two of them met at a small restaurant near Kyle's mothers house, Jason handed him a large gift bag. When they sat down, Kyle dug into it to find a large sketchbook and a high quality pencil box, one made of a light-colored wood with an intricate design carved on the lid.
After lunch the two of them walked along the beach for a while before ending up at the boardwalk. They spent the day there, riding rickety rides and playing the games set up. Jason was unfairly good at anything that involved aiming, something that came with all of the training he'd done, and he won Kyle several stuffed animals before they were banned from playing any.
Kyle hadn't really had anything in mind when he asked Jason to spend time with him on his birthday, but he definitely hadn't been expecting this and he found that it was even better than anything he would have set up himself. It was fun and casual and neither of them were feeling pressured to do anything other than be in each other's company.
That was honestly the only thing he'd wanted out of his birthday, to have a good time with Jason.
A large pink bowl dropped into Kyle's lap.
Kyle peered down at the popcorn inside of it before tilting his head back to see Jason, asking, "How much butter did you put in this?"
"A lot," Jason said, shrugging a bit. "It's better that way."
"I mean....I like butter on my popcorn but I think you overdid it a bit."
"More for me then." Jason set his palms down on the back of the couch, using the grasp to push himself into the air and then flop onto the couch beside Kyle. It jostled the bowl in Kyle's lap, but he placed a protective hand over the top to keep any from spilling out. "Did you pick something to watch while I was making it?"
The two of them were inside Jason's apartment in Gotham, sprawled out on the couch for a movie night. They'd made plans last week to go out for dinner together, but Jason had a rough week and Kyle had suggested a change in plans as soon as he'd seen him. Jason had been visibly exhausted and beaten up, in need of a night in on his couch, not a night out on the town.
Kyle knew that even though Jason had been primarily staying out of Jersey, he had several safehouses all over Gotham and it's surrounding area. He also knew that this apartment was the only one Jason actually lived in rather than just hiding out for a few days while he waited for the heat to die down before moving somewhere else.
The fact that Jason had brought Kyle to his apartment instead of a hotel or one of his more comfortable safehouses said a lot about how much faith Jason had in him, how much trust Jason had that Kyle wouldn't harm him or tell anyone where his apartment was. It was something that Kyle couldn't help but be flattered about.
"I found a couple of things," Kyle said, grabbing the remote from where he'd set it. "I figured you could look at my choices and find something you want to watch as well."
"Sounds good," Jason agreed. "What are we looking at?"
"Skyfall, Goon, 10 Things I Hate About You, or Kung Fu Panda."
"I know you added it to the list as a joke, but I am absolutely choosing 10 Things I Hate About You," Jason said. He shifted a bit, stretching himself out along the couch. Kyle found himself acutely aware of it when Jason rested his arm behind him. "Because I am bisexual as fuck and would bang the hell out of Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in that movie."
"That is absolutely true and totally fair," Kyle said, nodding a little as he went to select the movie. "10 Things I Hate About You it is then."
"Kyle!"
Kyle was in the middle of gathering his things, having gone to the Justice League meeting since John was in deep space and one of Hal's nephews had ended up in the hospital and needed Hal to sit with them until his parents could get out of work, but he stopped with his hand on his sketchbook.
Looking up from the doodle he'd done that day, he'd been sketching Jason a lot lately and he'd taken the meeting as an opportunity to sketch the softer features of some of the League's female members while he took notes, he found Dick was coming around the table and towards him.
"Dick, hey," Kyle greeted, giving him a small smile.
He noticed that Bruce was still standing at the head of the table and that he was watching the two of them, but he dismissed it as Bruce simply watching over Dick. He knew that their relationship had improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years, the tragedy of Jason's death bringing the entire Bat Family together in a way they hadn't been in years.
"I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?" Dick asked.
"Sure," Kyle said, easy in his agreement. If Dick needed someone to talk to then Kyle was happy to be there for him. He and Dick might not have been the closest of friends, but Kyle figured that the distance between them was probably what made Dick comfortable talking to him. "What's up?" He didn't know if Dick wanted to talk here or if he'd want to go somewhere, but he figured Dick would tell him instead of answering if that was the case.
"I've noticed that you've been spending a lot of time in Gotham lately."
"Yeah," Kyle said, confusion settling over him. He'd assumed Dick wanted to talk to him about something that was bothering Dick, but now it seemed more like something Kyle was doing was bothering Dick. "I haven't been doing anything hero related there, though? I didn't think I was breaking Bruce's no outsiders rule?"
"I know," Dick said. "That's kind of why I'm concerned?"
Kyle stared for a moment, trying to figure out why Dick would be concerned with him being in Gotham when he wasn't doing anything.
Then he realized that this wasn't about what he was doing in Gotham, it was about who he was doing it with.
"This is about Jason." All traces of goodwill and friendliness had left his tone, replaced with a cold unhappiness.
Dick winced, but didn't try to argue. "Yes. We're just worried because-"
"We?" He thought about Bruce, watching them. "Ah. Bruce put you up to this."
"No," Dick said, shaking his head. "He and I are both worried about you."
"About me? Not about your brother? Not about his son?" Kyle questioned. He didn't give Dick time to say anything. He knew that Dick would only use it to attack Jason and Kyle wasn't willing to sit here listening to that. "You know what? Never mind. You and Bruce don't need to be worried about Jason or me."
"Kyle-"
"No," Kyle interrupted, shaking his head. "You knew he was alive and kept it from me even though you could see how miserable I was without him. You knew he was alive and you just...watched me walking around haunted by his memory. You didn't want to interfere back then? You don't get to interfere now that I have him back. I'm not letting you make me unhappy anymore. I'm not letting you stick your nose in now that I'm happy!"
He didn't wait for Dick to say anything else, just scooped his sketchbook up and walked out without so much as a glance back.