Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jason set his backpack down on the ground before he flopped on the bed with a groan. He was dead tired, feet aching, mind numb. Every lecture was brutal, and with finals right around the corner, he’d had to carve more and more time to study and sleep was the first to go. Rolling over onto his back he stared up at the speckled ceiling of his room.

“Hey man, you got a show tonight?” An easy going voice came from the doorway.

Jason groaned and covered his face with his hands before he let them fall down to the side and nodded.

“Need any help getting set up?”

Jason sat up and looked his roommate right in the eyes. He was dressed like he was about to head out for the night, backpack on his shoulder, hat keeping his shoulder length red hair back, with a hand shoved in his pocket. “Don’t tempt me, Roy. Now go on and study, you’re the one needing extra help this semester.”

“Alright, but if you change your mind, just hit me up. I’ll be at the library.”

“Yah, yah,” Jason replied easily as he got to his feet. While Roy had been awesome not to care about his side hustles, it still made him a little self conscious if he stuck around on a cam night.

“See ya!” Roy gave a little wave before he headed out.

It wasn’t until the front door of the apartment shut, lock engaged, that Jason shut his own bedroom door and began to get ready. He didn’t keep the space decorated with anything that would identify him. There were no family photos, though his mom gave him hell about it. There were no school banners or posters, especially since he didn’t have time to go to sporting events. And most importantly of all, the bed frame was one of the most genericly owned frame and a bedspread that was so plain and blood red, that he only threw over his bed for his shows.

Jason wasn’t too big a fan of dancing in person, but online? He loved it. Not just a great way to stay in shape and stay flexible, it earned him enough money to pay for what his scholarships and work study program wouldn’t cover. It wasn’t like he had a lot of expenses, he just didn’t like to put any of it on others, especially the woman who’d adopted him only 6 years ago, and he felt certain he’d do everything he could to stay out of debt. He’d spent enough evenings over chinese takeout learning about all the ways the poor get poorer, something he was trying to break free from. His biological parents were dead at this point, and aside from the drug use and prison time, they hadn’t offered him much education when they were sober even when they were alive.

After putting his backpack away by the back dresser where his camera was set up, Jason began first by hanging up with a pole system. With two bars set to either side of the bed T’ing a long bar that ran through wall to wall, Jason decided he’d try a hanging ring routine and set the horizontal bar to its highest setting. Though the room wasn’t very big in square footage, the old factory converted to apartment building had really high ceilings. It made dancing in a variety of ways possible, and so far landlords had ever come in to check the apartments to find the minor hardware renovations.

He decided to change the angle of the bed to the side for the shot to make it dramatic from the corner of the room and surveyed how the shot would come together. After a few adjustments to make just a small bit of the foot board to hide a little more bed space, Jason opened his closet. Luckily the college they were going to was upstate from Gotham and in far more spacious quarters for buck price range, where walk-in closets were even normal for the extra bedrooms. His daily wardrobe was pretty limited to t-shirts and jeans and a few sets of shoes, all of which served their purpose and took up very little room. His dance wardrobe on the other hand was vibrant and colorful, impractical and flamboyant as the next thing, and because it sold the best, skin tight.

Today’s ensemble was a tribute.

It was his 100th day streaming, a milestone he wanted to celebrate with style, and what better than an outfit inspired by his mom. While admittedly it sounded weirder the more he thought about it too much, Jason couldn't think of any other way to pay respect to the dance teacher who taught him all her tricks, to the thief that gave him a bit more of a step up in life. And though he found he didn’t want to follow in those footsteps, he couldn’t deny the alter identity completely. He brought out the black platform shoes and black shiny pleather clothes before looking over the wigs hanging from their hooks. With a last minute contemplation, Jason decided to grab the long red haired wig and made his way to his dresser.

He’d gotten pretty good with makeup now that he’d been diligently working at it for half a year, and he liked to shape his face so that it would help hide his identity even better. Though he wore masks from time to time for theatrics, Jason loved the process. So after he’d freshly shaved and rejuvenated his face, he wig capped his hair and set to making a masterpiece.

If there was anything that he’d learned from his mom it was that anything worth doing was worth doing well and smart, and when she’d caught him playing with her makeup she simply sat him down and taught him how to make it flawless. At first it had been something of a curiosity, how the makeup had felt on his skin, how it made him look different, could make his eyes pop. It was like he could become someone else or bring out what was the best in him and then it became a form of expression, something he really leaned into when he decided to start doing cam work. Tonight was no different, with cat-eye makeup, lips matching the red of hair and his bedspread to invoke what they’d be capable of, and a framed face that made him look androgynous.

Jason could hardly disguise his muscularity, and between the dancing and his school work program having him turn wrenches they were well defined and he liked them, so rather than pretending they didn’t exist, leaned into them. He’d gotten enough compliments, and aside from hiding a few telling scars of his childhood, he usually put on all sorts of things like body glitter, but today, he opted out, deciding to let the sleek polished look speak for itself.

When at last he was shimmied into the clothes and looking running a systems test, he couldn’t help but feel good about his outfit, tight black pants that would come off later to booty shorts, a cropped top with a hood that sported crisp cat ears in the fabric over cat ear headband that would go miles to keep the wig in place, he looked like a very slutty harmless version of his old Catlad outfit. An homage that no one was going to likely recognize, and yet, he couldn’t stop grinning about how good it looked.

With a quick warmup out of the way, Jason checked the time and turned on the account to the cam site. With the recording software in place to capture the dance for his only fans account, he backed up enough to be in frame and pulled up the chat window onto the monitor that was set up to the side so he could more or less talk while being on camera, though he stayed close for now, only allowing his chest shoulders and lips to show, essentially keeping the outfit a surprise.

The stream of hellos flooded in, the chat already busy with initial chatter and Jason began to move and run his fingers along his clothes, wishing others a good evening. It didn’t take long for the questions about his outfit to start and he ran his finger over his lips, knowing that they only were seeing him provocatively shushing them.

“Thought I’d try something a little different for everyone tonight…” With every step back, tilting his hips as he went, Jason began to dance more and more to the music that began to stream on its delayed que. He let the music guide him, losing himself in the rhythm of his body and put on a show that was already quite alluring. His hands pressed down and over the bulges of his body, accenting just how his body could feel to his viewers hands. It was freeing, fun, and occasionally he couldn’t help but give a little giggle and twirl the little cat tail attached to the pants. He wanted to come across playful and sensual, and soon he began to use the bed to bend over, hands pushing and pulling him up to show off his ass and imitate a few thrusts. While the music built he swayed his hips until the moment he grabbed and ripped away the tight leggings one fell swoop to display the short black pleather booty shorts with its own ribbon tail.

Immediately when the music began to change, Jason hoisted himself up onto the bed and spread his legs wide to the side, running his hands up along the inside of his calves to his thighs before he looked up at the camera and bit his lips. In one way it was nice to see the comments, but it wasn’t as if he’d know if it landed well or not till he went back and read them. Honestly though, he was enjoying himself a bit too much to care, which was exactly what his biggest patron liked about him.

In seconds he swung his leg around, twisting up onto the bed and pulled himself up into the ring. It slowly began to twirl as he moved and swung his body. He was no gymnast, but he knew how to move gracefully and began to unzip the front of the top crop as he let his upper body fall down and hang. His arms opened, wig still securely on as the fibers hung down and draped over the bed, his legs shifted so he nearly fell on the bed.

With a fucked out expression on his face, he whipped himself up as though he were being fucked a few times before he let one of his legs come down and he let his fingertips and head barely graze the bedspread, mouth opened just enough before he flipped back up and began to peel off his top slowly. He was sweating, heart pounding, but he did everything he could to make it look effortless and sexy, regulating his breathing as he’d done on countless of missions his mom had sent him on.

With a toss of the top he blew the camera a kiss with the exposure of his cat ears and began to dance more provocatively again, using the hoop to twirl, the bed for leverage or balance from time to time, until at last the 25 minute routine was over with the grand finale of a hanging split. The little ribbon of a tail dragged against the bed, and he lowered himself down and kept the pose for a few more seconds before he crawled towards the camera and got off the bed.

“Hope you all liked my little 100th show,” Jason said in a low sultry tone, making sure to really live it up for the camera. He noticed he’d gotten a few bookings for a private show but one in particular had a really large offer and leaned down, the mass of his chest front and center and began to suck on his finger and give a little hum in thought.

“Sounds like someone in particular really liked my purrfect routine, so this little cat is going to stray off for the night and I’ll see you all on the next one. Bye now,” Jason said, giving a little wave of his fingers before he shut down the stream. He glanced at the big offer, and though it had been set up for a different time, the heading read that they wanted to immediately speak with them. He considered it for a moment more, going back and forth between thinking it was a good idea and thinking it was a bad one, but really, the sum alone would pay for enough that he could stop taking up random jobs for a little while and focus on his upcoming finals. He sent the user a private dm with a room link and loosened up a little with a roll of his shoulders before the user showed up.

“Hey there, what’s the rush, baby? Did you like the show so much you needed an encore sans the shorts?” Jason teased, turning as he ran his fingertips down his neck and over to his shoulder.

[I have an offer for you.]

Jason hid the way the words made him tense with annoyance. It wasn’t like Johns hadn't propositioned him for all number of things before, but big spenders usually acted like they were entitled to a yes. “And what’s that?”

[Would you like to be my sugar baby, Jason?]

Jason’s heart thudded in his ears. It made the room pulse in his vision as he tried to play if off, “is that the name you want me to have, baby? Jason’s as good as any other.”

[I know who you are. You go to College in up-state, but you’re from Gotham.]

Jason straightened up, a sickening feeling coiling up in his stomach. It wasn’t that he was afraid people would find out he was an exotic dancer, he was more or less worried about someone taking things too far and harassing him. His tone switched, serious, putting all the power he could into sounding intimidating. “Are you trying to blackmail me?”

[Maybe just a little.]

“I don’t take being blackmailed well. What do you want?” he warned, nearly glaring at the screen.

[Meet up with me. I want you to be my sugar baby, and if you don’t like what you see, you can bow out with a delicious meal, same rate as this meetup for your time.]

“I’m not a prostitute,” Jason replied with a shake of his head. He’d been there and done that, and he wasn’t that desperate. He had options now.

[I don’t want a prostitute. I want a sugar baby. Don’t you just wanna be pretty and hang off my arm for a while? Let me take you places, and give you luxury. Let me lighten your load.]

“Hah! My load, huh?” Crossing his arms, Jason wondered just what kind of shit a sugar baby did. Everything he’d heard about it was that it was just gentrified prostitution, but he’d google it afterwards. The least he needed to do was figure out who the hell this person was so that he could file a restraining order.

[If it ever came to that, it wouldn’t be because of money, it’d be because you’d want me to pound you so hard you’d call me Daddy and then beg for more.]

Jason flushed, the red seeping all the way down to his chest. He’d given enough shows calling out to non-existing Daddy’s that it told him this person had watched enough of his shows to figure out the obvious kink. He looked away with a quick hard sigh, trying to decide if it was worth the risk to find out who the hell they were, and finally he looked back at the chat with a steely gaze. “No tricks. I’m not fucking you.”

[No tricks.]

“Public.”

[Of course. I said I’d wine and dine you. How’s Petite Bouchée sound? Name the day and time and I’ll reserve a table under your name.]

Jason had heard of the pretentious French cuisine restaurant that had a poor reputation but to be fair, he’d never been there to know if the food was any good, and most of the people calling it shit were poor college students like himself anyways. It also meant that they could afford a menu where prices weren’t listed. It’d likely not be an opportunity he’d have again any time soon and he did love to cook and expand his pallet. ‘Damn…are they really getting me over food.’

“Fine, alright. Saturday night, 7pm.”

[Oh, and don't forget to dress up. I hope you put on something special for such an occasion, something that reflects who you are on streams. Here…]

A large donation was submitted and Jason couldn’t believe the number he was staring at. It was more than a month's worth of streams and private dances had ever gotten him.

[Spend it frivolously. See you Saturday night at 7pm, Jason.]

The room was empty and Jason turned off the camera and the connection to the site flabbergasted. He could stand them up, rent and bills paid for nearly 4 months, or he could go and tell them no to their face after they paid him and he’d be set even longer and have a name for a restraining order.

Putting aside the idea for now, he made quick work to edit his dance into a couple of insta reels to drive traffic, the full routine to his only fans, and added a few clips to his own personal website of shots he liked the most for his portfolio. Before he’d even started he’d long since decided to get the most bang for buck and while some would never be caught on a site like Dancerbate, many would easily sign up for an Only Fans. He let out a sigh as he capped the camera and began to break down and put away his set up, getting his room back into order and clothes and accessories back into his closet. Never knew when some rando drunk Roy or Kori brought in would stumble into his room, and if someone already knew who he was, he needed to be diligent. The town was miniscule compared to the city, but college kids came and went a dozen a second, so he wasn’t too worried about blowing any kind of reputation in town wearing exactly the kind of outfit his pseudo date likely had in mind.

After a shower, face cleaned and moisturized, Jason found himself leaning over the counter in the kitchen deep in thought with a plate of near cold food in front of him. He really couldn’t decide if it was worth the risk of confirming who he was. Couldn’t it be that they still just think that it’s him, but he was pretty certain he kept himself looking different enough that no one would know, but if he did go meet them in person, dressed to the nines, makeup and all, they could easily expose him that way.

Did they want him coming there more like a guy or more like a girl, he wondered and sighed when he remembered his patron had said to dress like he did on stream. He sure as hell wasn’t going to dress in stripper clothing but in terms of gender, he didn’t come across as either only in his streams but rather a mixture of gender expressions. It really was the embodiment he felt, that neither one or the other were necessarily just him at any given point. He loved his muscles just as much as he loved how extra his pecs were, how they could almost look like a pair of tits, how he could wear things that were normally feminine alongside things that were traditionally masculine and feel right at home, how in the end of the day, he didn’t like being regulated to only a certain number of behaviors and ways of being.

He ran his fingers into his hair and hung his head in more annoyance. The guy he was meeting wasn’t hitting a mark he was familiar with. Wouldn’t they want some twink as a sugar baby; wouldn’t they want someone some typical looking sub? He groaned harder, realizing that he still didn’t know anything about sugar babies, or their sugar daddies for that matter.

“Bad tips?” Roy asked, causing Jason to nearly jump out of his skin. “Whoaa!”

“Fuck! You startled the shit out of me!”

“Wow that’s a rare one,” Roy said with a laugh before he tossed his books down on the couch and came back to the kitchen bar and looked down at the pathetic attempt at eating so far. “And that’s rarer. What’s up?”

“The dance went great, just saying, but at the end I’d gotten a request for an immediate private dance and it was a big offer so I took it up.”

“mmhmm,” Roy mumbled, following along as he reached over and grabbed up a reheated egg roll.

“They called me by my first name, and I’m not sure if they were blackmailing me or not, they said maybe, anyways, they want me to meet them at that French uppity place dressed to the nines. Even gave me a big ass donation and told me to spend it like crazy and it was all because they wanted to convince me to be their sugar baby or some shit.”

Jason watched as Roy took a bite of the egg roll, shell crackling under the weight of his teeth, before he’d nearly spat it out in shock.

“What?! They knew who you were?”

“Yah, even said the name of our town-”

“That’s fucking creepy! Did they cyber stalk you?” Roy coughed down the rest of the food in his mouth and looked at Jason with a hard furrowed brow. “Did they act like they knew were you lived or anything specific? Like our apartment?”

“No,” Jason replied with a small shake of his head, looking out and away. “I’m pretty certain I covered my digital tracks, but if they’d figured out who I was from school, then they could have just followed me home one day easy enough. It’s not like we’ve been cautious about who knows where we live. Its not like we’re running around at night up to shit anymore.”

Roy looked a little uncomfortable and turned away to lean against the counter backwards as he looked out across the living room. “So…a sugar baby huh? Sounds like you’re contemplating it.”

“I told them I wasn’t having sex for money. They didn’t seem to care enough to be particular about it after that. Like…only if I wanted to have sex, sex could be apart of it.”

“Isn’t that what they all say?”

“Hell if I know, I don’t even know what it is,” Jason pulled out his phone and started searching it up as he came to lean against the counter at Roy’s side. “Seems like its just…an agreed upon transactional relationship.”

“Wow. How romantic.”

“I read Pride and Prejudice for a living. You don’t have to convince me of shit.”

“Oh, think you’re running into a Darcy?”

“Hah! All my luck I’d run into a fucking Mr. Collins.”

“Then why are you going?”

“Who said I’m going?”

“Please, you have free meal written all over you.”

“Dude, you are not fucking implying this is a foodie call.”

“Oh shit, they’re paying you just to go eat dinner with them for real?” Roy looked Jason over a few times. “Must feel so damn nice to be beautiful. Paid to just show up and eat. Damn.”

“Yah, seems too good to be true.” Jason sighed as he flicked through people’s supposed tell-alls, reading about how some treat it like prostitution and others treat it like mutual benefit.

“Are you going to do it? Dinner at least?”

Jason looked up, hearing something in his voice that made him feel like there was more to it than just an inquiry, but Roy’s face looked neutral enough he simply shrugged. “Yah, I think I am. Worse case, I’ll have something fancy to wear, put the rest into bills, feel emotionally like shit for a while, and have to deal with a blackmailer. At best, I can tell them to fuck off after getting a free meal and another payday, and I’ll know who they are.”

“Want me to look into it?” Roy asked, a momentary worry in his eyes before he changed position and went into the kitchen to grab himself some food instead before hastily adding, “I still got old contacts.”

“Nah, I’ll just go ahead and meet them in person rather than waste time trying to hack random systems.”

“Are you thinking about doing it though? For real, the whole sugar baby thing?”

Jason shrugged and grabbed his plate to lift it to the higher level and picked up the other spring roll. “Maybe. I don’t like the idea of blurring the lines between employer and employee. How can I know I’m not taking advantage of them if they’re expecting something, or them take advantage over me?”

“You wont even let me help you,” Roy said a little angrily. More than he’d planned by the look on his face when he set the take out down. “You could just rely on your friends more, you know. Kori and I can easily cover rent.”

“I don’t want to rely on others.”

“And being a sugar baby isn’t?”

“Well if shit goes sideways, I could tell a sugar daddy to kick it! I wouldn’t want to tell you to kick it over something that started off as stupid as fucking money.”

“What the hell man, you are constantly helping others out all the time, but you never let us do anything back for you. It feels one-sided, it feels like you don’t trust us to help you,” Roy said, voice full of weight. “We’ve been living together for a year and a half, and I know you’re my friend, got my back and all that, but it’s like you never let any of us in. Even Kori feels that way, and you know how she is.”

Jason grabbed his plate up and looked Roy in the eye. “This is something I have to do myself,” he said flatly and went into his room. It wasn’t like he wanted the others to feel excluded, but after all the hard knocks that had come his way, he knew it was just him at the end of the day no matter what anyone said.

When Saturday night had arrived, Jason stood in front of the restaurant with a sense of apprehension. School and work had kept him busy enough, but between shopping for the outfit and getting preened, it’d left him to sit and stew about the nature of the meetup. He’d read enough articles to see that just like with everything of this nature, the way people acted and did was just as varied as the people in it, so he had no idea how it was going to go. Babies with the biggest paydays apparently just didn’t talk much about it, and who could blame them, it was still frowned down upon.

Knowing the restaurant was likely to bar him if he didn’t dress appropriately, he found a nice black suit, though feminine in cut and material, loose on his legs, cinched at the waist with a jacket. The red shirt underneath was buttoned up and flared at the top in a spill of soft cotton, just casual enough looking that he didn’t feel stuffy, but giving off elegance that he paired well with silver bangles and a more classic makeup style.

It didn’t surprise him when the maître d raised an eyebrow at him and greeted him disparagingly, certainly not dressed in a way the sleepy college town would expect in such a pricey place, but he got seated nonetheless as soon as he dropped his name and he almost wondered exactly how much more he could have gotten away with given how suddenly hospitable the staff began to act.

Supplied with a top shelf champagne, compliments of the house, Jason sipped on his fruity sweet beverage and waited for his nearly late date to arrive. He’d just tilted his head to the side a little when he caught sight of the black pointed shoes that made their way towards him. His eyes lifted up the long thin legs that were framed deliciously by a black evening dress where the top panel was sheer black with a color that left her arms completely bare. Even her long silver hair had been loosely braided with strands hanging here and there giving her an overall ethereal look.

“Well now, look what the cat dragged in,” Jason muttered to himself with a raised brow. Rose Wilson was walking towards his table with that classic smirk on her face. It was the most known secret in the underground world that he was staring at Slade Wilson’s daughter, Ravager, and he couldn’t help but wonder how the hell she of all people had booked a table in his little college town. And when she was seated by the maître d, he couldn’t help but feel his jaw drop down a little, confused as could be.

“Oh, I’m waiting for someone but I don’t mind a chat if you’d like,” Jason said, flashing a smile. Mom always said ‘don’t piss off the psychopaths’.

“Is that so? And just who are you waiting on?” Rose replied, her velvet voice full of confidence. She knew she looked good, even if one of her eyes was covered with a black patch, and Jason couldn’t fault the logic especially when he’d heard so many stories of her kicking ass. Her question however made him pause. He didn’t have a single name to offer.

“Oh, just a man about a thing,” he said casually, taking another sip of his drink.

“I see, and here I thought you were meeting a person about becoming something special, baby.”

“But I thought-” Jason started, sitting up straight as he really took in the fact that Rose was implying that she was the one who set this all up.

“Was a man?” She asked, looking pleased as pudding when Jason slowly worked out in his head that Rose was not a man but had clearly stated what kind of sex she was into. He lifted his glass and relaxed back in his chair while he eyed her, letting the silence build between them naturally.

A waiter arrived shortly thereafter and handed them their menus, but neither of them were quite paying attention as they continued to measure each other up until at last Jason turned to the waiter and gave him the sweetest smile.

“Please have the chef prepare me the best they can make of any given course.”

“Ah, yes…sir,” the waiter replied, looking a little worriedly at Jason’s attire before his eyes came to Rose’s and stopped dead in their tracks.

“The same, but give me dessert first. Show me you’re worth our time of day and I’ll tip you well.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the waiter said quickly, taking up their menus and hurrying off. Jason couldn’t be sure if he was intimidated by Rose’s beauty or the lethal look in her eye and chuckled.

“You’ll scare them all at that rate,” he commented out loud when he brought his gaze back to her with a smirk on his face.

“You know you haven’t yet asked me for my name.”

“That’s because two can play at that game, Rose Wilson.”

“Oh, you know me?” She said, face lighting up. It softened her features and Jason knew he was in trouble.

“I know of you, yah. But the question is, how do you know me? I’m a nobody.”

“Since you know of me, does that mean you’re aware of who my father is?”

“Never met the man, only heard what his day job is, the type of clients he gets,” he replied with a shrug.

“Well, my father is a fan of yours. I just happened upon his computer one day and wouldn’t you know it of all the damnable things that man has done, he’d gotten a dossier written up of you and everything.”

Jason watched as Rose delivered the news as though it was the sanest thing ever, and not extremely weird that not just any assassin in the world, but one of the most notorious and dangerous ones, had been stalking him. He definitely hadn’t thought it’d be that bad and he could only wonder if he’d fucked up bringing the CatLad inspo into his run, but Rose didn’t seem to think it was all that strange. It only made him wonder what other strange shit her old man got up to, or if this might actually be some elaborate plot to get at his mom, to get at that stupid playboy she’d been dating recently.

“Did it upset you that much? He’s harmless, I promise. Well,” Rose grinned and ran a finger around the top of her champagne glass before looking back up at him, “he’s harmless in this case. I just beat him to the punch. Be my sugar baby?”

Jason couldn’t help but laugh, wondering if he’d had a death wish even meeting Rose at the restaurant, and took a sip of his champagne before he could finally respond. “Would you have me believe that your dad isn’t going to get pissed about this?”

“Oh I want him to be pissed. I meant what I said before Jason. This isn’t about sex, it's about you looking cute, hanging off my arm, spending time with me, and I’ll compensate you for your effort and energy. For all the clothes and makeup and accessories, and should you wanna have your mind blown, well, we can always cross that bridge when we get there.”

“You want me to pretend to date you to piss off your father?”

“Not pretend. I want you to date me.”

“To piss off your father. For Money.”

“Yes,” Rose said, her smile sweetening. “I love to piss him off, and you’re delicious. What makes you think you’re not worth every penny? If I ask you to stop working to hang out, you’ll say no because you obviously want the money. It’s a win win.”

Their meal went pretty well, though Jason still couldn’t quite figure out if Rose knew that he used to be Catlad or not. If she knew it, it never came up, and she didn’t seem to have any idea that he lived with an ex-vigilante and an alien, so by the end of the meal, he almost felt like he might say yes. The food he was getting to taste just for the meet up alone had been worth the ridiculousness of sitting through her offer.

It wasn’t until there was an uproar coming from the front of the restaurant that Jason made the sign of the cross and wondered if it was time to kiss his ass goodbye, that no meal or payday was worth having a fucking assassin on his heels and he stood to his feet in time to see Roy bursting past a few disgruntled waiters.

“Jason!”

“Roy?” He looked to Rose for a moment and back to his roommate who had stormed close enough to grab him by the wrist.

“He’s not interested!” Roy said loudly over the fuss of a waiter trying to get him to leave and began to drag Jason along after him with a surprisingly tight grip.

“Hey! I’m a big girl, I didn’t need any saving!” He nearly hissed at him, until he’d found himself pulled out in front of the restaurant to the side where Kori waited nearby, eyes trained on him. “Seriously, what's the big deal?”

“What’s the big deal? Maybe it's the fact that you’re having dinner with an assassin!” Roy started off, looking angrier than Jason had ever seen him before.

“It’s just dinner. It’s not like she’s asking me to shoot some people in the head or something.”

“So you know?”

“Of course, I know who she is,” Jason looked Roy over again before he nodded in greeting to Kori.

“If you want to exchange time for money, then I will hire you,” Kori said, taking Jason’s hand in hers. “If you see no reason in jeopardizing your life with an assassin, then you should see no objection to us.”

“Okay, well, I do see a difference. This was going to be more than just paying for my time,” Jason admitted out loud. He hadn’t really thought it was a factor, but the more he’d been talking with Rose, he’d realized that he hadn’t dated anyone in a long time and it was kind of nice. Before he could explain Roy took his hand. He looked over at him surprised, considering both were now held tighetly by a room mate.

“I’ll hire you too.”

“I don’t want anyone’s fucking pity!” Jason replied angrily, pulling his hands free from them both.

“Its not pity,” Roy persisted, standing his ground.

“Roy is correct, this time.”

“Hey,” Roy said with a half grin before he looked back at Jason, “look, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

"I know you’re banging each other.”

“Oh, well, even still, I haven’t been completely honest with you,” Roy continued, eyeing the two of them before he sighed. “If you’re going to date someone for such a shitty reason, then fucking date me. I want to date you. There, be my sugar baby, if you gotta be a baby. I want to spend more time with you, take you places. So if it means paying your rent, then so fucking be it.”

“He cannot afford this place,” Kori said thoughtfully, though the comment didn’t seem to make Roy happy he didn’t comment back. She chuckled lightly before she ran a finger down the inside of his suit jacket lapel, “but we can offer more rewards than that of a fancy dinner.”

“Wait, are you both…” Jason felt like his head was reeling when the door to the restaurant opened and Rose walked up to them all. She handed Jason a slip of paper with her number on it and gave a little wave to them all.

“Just let me know what you think, baby,” She said with a wink and got into the car that had just pulled up for her. Jason knew she was a big payday, a big willing fat payday, but he couldn’t help but feel blindsided and a little hopeful. He’d been living with them for a long time and he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he hadn’t noticed them crushing on him, together.

He bit his lip seeing their expectant gazes wanted, no need, some kind of answer, and couldn’t deny that he always wanted more, but couldn’t trust himself not to mess it up.

“No pressure,” Roy suddenly said, clearly not wanting to upset him, “day by day if you want.”

“What about this,” Jason asked, indicating his look. They had supported him, but maybe they didn’t understand it was a part of him too and not just a persona he wore to dance in.

“What about it? You’re you, that’s all that matters.”

“You know your human traditions of clothing mean nothing to me, Jason. I’m more interested in your body.”

Jason began to laugh, feeling at ease suddenly, “alright, alright. If you’re insistent, but…I’m still not sure about the baby thing. Let's just start by grabbing some drinks.”

It wasn’t until he was stumbling into the apartment between his new partners, laughing and drunk and kicking off his high heels, that it hit him. He’d come home and this was where he belonged, and he pulled Roy into his arms and kissed him hard. It was everything he’d been hoping for, igniting him with desire and making his insides feel hot and mushy and when Kori came behind him, kissing hot lips against his neck, he couldn’t wait to see just what his partners had been fantasizing about for months.