Quentin Coldwater (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sadkingquentin) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} chances_rpg,@ 2025-04-17 21:40:00 |
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| Entry tags: | dc: jason todd (comics), the magicians: quentin coldwater |
WHO: Jason Todd & Quentin Coldwater
WHAT: Quentin has something to tell Jason, who may be a little worried.
WHEN: 3/16, early morning hours
WHERE: Quentin's apartment
WARNINGS: Fade to Black at the end, but otherwise nah
Jason had meant to get to Quentin's as soon as possible like he'd said he would. Legitimately, he had. He'd even told the rest of the family that when they'd headed out for the night, that he'd be cutting out early if he could manage it. No one had even questioned it because that was the life that they lived here. It wasn't all hands on deck all the time. They could have nights off. They could leave early and know that everything would be fine.
The night had even been pretty calm, calm enough that Jason should have been able to head out in plenty of time. Except, the problem was, the night was also calm enough that he could start to think about what it was that Quentin might have wanted to tell him that was serious enough that he wanted to do it in person. He'd said it wasn't bad, but... how many things were there that you needed to say in person, honestly? How many serious things could they have to talk about still?
So yeah, he'd found excuses to wait a little longer, and a little longer. Something that the others could have handled without him, he'd used as an excuse to stall just a little bit longer. It was probably pretty obvious but he couldn't help it.
It was past two by the time he slipped through the balcony door in Quentin's apartment; he spotted his boyfriend on the couch pretty much immediately, eyes drawn toward Quentin like a compass to true north. The feeling that thumped in his chest was a little painful, but it was a good pain. A clean kind of pain, the kind that meant something was healing right.
Quentin had said this was good. They'd already planned a date for the morning. Jason probably wasn't getting dumped, but he knelt by the couch where Quentin was asleep anyway, looking at him for a moment before leaning in to wake him with a soft kiss.
All of Q's very excellent intentions to stay up so he could see Jason ultimately came to naught. He'd made book lists. He'd done the dishes and taken an inventory of the food stores in case he needed to squeeze in a store run at some point the next day. He'd even cleaned some, although there wasn't much to do. Neither he, nor Tim were particularly messy.
In the end, it was his decision to take a book to the couch that had been his wakefulness undoing.
Still, there were far worse ways of being pulled from an accidental nap/sleep. Quentin started to smile just as soon as the fog of vanishing and unremembered dreams lifted. His eyes slowly followed as he blinked them open and his boyfriend's face swam into focus. "Hi," he half-whispered, sleep clinging to the sound. "I love you."
Jason and Enid had talked about this, about whether he'd ever been in love. Whether he was in love right then. At the time Jason hadn't been sure, hadn't known how he was even supposed to know when he was in love. It seemed like such a foreign concept, something that he'd never had quite enough experience with in his life.
He'd told Enid he wasn't sure. That he thought he was, but wasn't positive. And then he'd told Enid that he wouldn't overthink it, which he'd thought would be the most challenging part of the whole thing. It turned out that honestly? It wasn't so hard after all, because as soon as he heard those words from Quentin?
It lit him up inside and he knew beyond any doubt. "Hi. I love you too."
Just because he'd been half-asleep when he'd said it didn't mean Quentin hadn't meant every single word. Hell, they'd been banging around in his chest for a long while before. Only his storied (ha-ha) past with those three-little-bombshells kept him from blurting it out. Right after Jason came back from his rom-com romp, Q nearly said it then.
But they were still processing everything, and the last thing he wanted was to have it seem like he'd only finally let them out into the world out of desperation. Out of a sense that he'd almost lost Jason to whatever crazy magic this place had going on.
Now he said it because he wanted to, and he'd prepared himself for not hearing it back. Sure, they'd been together for a year now, but that was no guarantee for reciprocity.
Hearing it echoed back, though?
Quentin beamed, fully awake and pulling at Jason's shoulders so he'd join him on the couch. "That was it. What I wanted to tell you. I just didn't want to do it over the network first. Did I— Did I make you worry? Shit, I probably did. Good job, me."
"I was preparing for the worst," Jason admitted with a laugh. "I'm glad I was wrong."
It took a little scrambling to get himself onto the couch, but he was perched there soon enough, looking down at Quentin with his heart in his eyes. Knowing that Quentin loved him was effervescent, bubbling through his veins and making his heart flutter. Knowing for sure that he loved Quentin back, that this was what being in love was supposed to feel like? Jason felt kind of stupid for not realizing that he was stupidly in love with his boyfriend before this.
"I want to kiss you again," he admitted, a little breathless, "but you know, Tim's got those rules about where we're allowed to be naked, and I can't promise I'll stop once I start."
A pang of guilt threatened to ruin the moment, but Quentin shoved it aside. They'd had a happy misunderstanding, and now they could look back on it and laugh. He did so now, in a small giggle he might have otherwise been embarrassed by, but now it served as a reflection of his effervescent happiness. How could he feel ashamed of that?
He reached up and ran his fingers through Jason's helmet hair, gently teasing the curls apart like he had countless times before. It didn't matter what kind of shape his boyfriend was in at the end of his patrols, Q just wanted to see him, make sure he was okay with all his senses. His grin was syrup slow and just as sweet. It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, not with this big feeling finally out in the world, not with this big feeling finally out in the world.
"Well"—Q dragged the word out to ridiculous proportions—"there's nothing actually keeping me here on this couch, since you're finally here. Except you right now, which was my own doing."
"Mm, I think we could probably fix that though," Jason pointed out. "This couch isn't really big enough for both of us anyway."
Jason. The couch wasn't big enough for Jason to fit comfortably on there at the same time as Quentin. He'd own up to it, he was the problem here. But Quentin didn't have any objections to Jason being built like a brick house, which was really what was important here. "Besides, your bed is way more comfortable."
And then they could talk and make out as much as they wanted to before they crashed; they weren't on any set schedule in the morning, and the bakery didn't even open until nine, the bookstore until ten... so Jason thought it was probably okay if he planned on keeping Quentin up a little later, just until he felt a little less giddy about everything.
He hadn't let himself before, but now? He could see a future where maybe this was an every night thing. Where, as much as he loved being Dick's roommate? Maybe he came home to Quentin after patrol instead, not just sometimes but every night, because it was his place too. Not any time soon, they had too many moving pieces to start shuffling it all around, what with Tim and Damian and guardianship to consider, but...
Someday.
A sly smile slid across Q's face, the bubbles of joy inside his chest making everything light and effervescent. Life was always going to have its share of complications, but some things were just as simple as Quentin loving Jason, and Jason loving him right back. Anything else could shake out as it needed. He had to believe that more than anything, despite what life had handed him in the past.
This wasn't Brakebills.
This wasn't Fillory.
His arms wound around Jason's neck, secure in the knowledge of what they had together. "We could do the dignified thing of simply getting off the couch and heading that direction, or"—Q paused for effect—"you could indulge in the ridiculous fairy tale fantasy of carrying me there?"
He eyed the broad shoulders to either side of his own rather noodly arms, and grinned sharply when he looked up into Jason's face again. "I know which one I'd prefer tonight."
Jason's grin was a little wicked; he rearranged his arms to support Quentin before he stood, lifting his boyfriend up against his chest into a princess carry. "We're pretty good at the whole fairy tale thing, aren't we?"
They'd kicked the ass of that one they'd been stuck in what seemed like forever ago now, when Jason had ventured east of the sun and west of the moon to rescue Quentin from a fate that was Jason's fault to begin with. Didn't matter; they'd outsmarted the trolls and he'd managed to bring his bear husband back with him just like he'd been determined to.
Maybe he should have known then that this was going to be the kind of thing that lasted. It was okay though, he was a little slow about this kind of thing.
The best part about carrying Quentin, though, was that he was at a great angle for Jason to tilt his head and claim another kiss.
"As you wish," he said, pretty sure Quentin would get the reference. Jason couldn't help it. Now that they'd said the words, he wanted to say them every way possible.
A deep, but extremely pleased blush lit up Quentin's cheeks. Even with the low light of the single lamp still on in the living room, he was sure it was easily visible. It wasn't like Jay hadn't seen it before. There were a hundred faces Q had made by now, and so many he'd catalogued on Jason's. Sometimes he still couldn't read them, but it was okay. They were in a constant state of figuring each other out. It made the journey they were taking together that much more interesting.
He shivered, but not hard enough to make Jason have to put him down or—god forbid—accidentally drop him. The last thing either of them needed was to accidentally pull Tim out of his bed. Or desk. Or wherever his insomnia may have put him. Hell, Quentin wasn't even a hundred percent sure his charge was even home. Some guardian he was.
Down that particular mental path, no good could come.
So Quentin set it aside and instead reveled in the easy strength in his boyfriend's arms. "You not so secret nerd. One of many, many things I love about you."
He twisted just enough to get the door so Jay didn't have to fiddle with it. Considerate, that was his middle name. (So much better than his actual middle name.) They made it to the side of the bed without incident, which was where Quentin slid out of his arms and got to his feet again so he could turn to his boyfriend. "You know, as much I absolutely find this body armor of yours unbearably hot, I'm going to insist on its removal before we continue, good sir. Turns out, I really want to feel you against me tonight. Want help?"
Jason could peel out of his body armor in record time, but he told Quentin, "Yes please."
Any excuse to feel Quentin's fingers on him. Any excuse for touch, Jason would take it. He'd spent so long being starved of it before he'd come here, before he'd been met with easy affection. The brotherly tussling with Dick was satisfying in its own way, but the way that Quentin touched him was something altogether different. Something that sent his pulse racing every time he felt it, those fingers against whatever part of him Q could reach at the moment.
Even more than touch though, Jason felt starved for the love that Quentin was offering so freely now. He started working on buckles, on snaps, on all the things that held his body armor in place as quickly as his hands could manage, though he left plenty of room for Quentin to get started on the other side of it.
He wanted to make Quentin blush like that again. He wanted to examine for himself how far down the pink of his cheeks went, even though he'd done it many times before. Just in case something had changed, he really ought to check it out again.
And again. And again. For as long as Quentin would keep letting him.
"Fair's fair though," he warned Q. "You're next."
"I—yeah, I can live with 'next'." The flash of heat in his belly made Q's fingers fumble on one of the buckles. Silly, really, since he'd done this more times than he could count. It's just—none of those times before had it been with the certainty of reciprocated feelings. Quentin found himself continuously getting distracted by looking up at Jason's face and those startlingly blue eyes which never seemed to be the same shade from moment to moment. He liked the barometric nature of them, like he could get a hint of what lay beneath without having the answer outright.
Finally, though, the tac vest came away, the weapons safely stored away, and Jason was shirtless. A good start, if yet another source of distraction. Magic had done away with the worst of Quentin's scars—not much could be done about the emotional ones, but they both had plenty of those in spades. Maybe that was why Q always paid at least a little attention to them, like he was now.
His touch was reverential as he traced the Y leading down from the edges of Jason's collarbone and went down in a pale white line down to his belly. He leaned in and kissed the diagonal crossing over Jay's heart, lips resting there a moment just to feel the beat of his heart. The origins were something out of nightmares, but it was only a piece of the man who held his heart. The glorious whole of Jason Todd still sometimes struck Quentin as something… someone he'd yet to deserve.
How he'd gotten so lucky was a wonder he tried not to examine too closely, lest the whole thing unravel.
He'd been the instrument of destruction in many a relationship in his past. No way was it going to happen again. Not like before.
His hands came to rest curling around Jason's ribs. "I don't know about you, but I'm wide awake now."
Jason's eyes crinkled at the corners with the force of his grin at that. "Oh? I guess I'm just going to have to wear you out, then, aren't I?"
Stealthy, his fingers slid up the back of Quentin's shirt, palm spreading flat to span the plane of his back once he'd successfully invaded that territory. Then, with a small, satisfied noise, he yanked his boyfriend even closer to him.
Damn, he loved this man. Being allowed to think it was the kind of blessing that Jason had never expected to somehow earn. The thing was though, he hadn't earned it at all. Quentin had given Jason the gift of himself so unselfishly, and he still wondered how he'd gotten this lucky to find the sweet, nerdy bookworm of his dreams.
He braced his forehead against Quentin's before tilting his head to kiss him again, deep and melting and very much aware that this time? They didn't have to stop.
The night had even been pretty calm, calm enough that Jason should have been able to head out in plenty of time. Except, the problem was, the night was also calm enough that he could start to think about what it was that Quentin might have wanted to tell him that was serious enough that he wanted to do it in person. He'd said it wasn't bad, but... how many things were there that you needed to say in person, honestly? How many serious things could they have to talk about still?
So yeah, he'd found excuses to wait a little longer, and a little longer. Something that the others could have handled without him, he'd used as an excuse to stall just a little bit longer. It was probably pretty obvious but he couldn't help it.
It was past two by the time he slipped through the balcony door in Quentin's apartment; he spotted his boyfriend on the couch pretty much immediately, eyes drawn toward Quentin like a compass to true north. The feeling that thumped in his chest was a little painful, but it was a good pain. A clean kind of pain, the kind that meant something was healing right.
Quentin had said this was good. They'd already planned a date for the morning. Jason probably wasn't getting dumped, but he knelt by the couch where Quentin was asleep anyway, looking at him for a moment before leaning in to wake him with a soft kiss.
All of Q's very excellent intentions to stay up so he could see Jason ultimately came to naught. He'd made book lists. He'd done the dishes and taken an inventory of the food stores in case he needed to squeeze in a store run at some point the next day. He'd even cleaned some, although there wasn't much to do. Neither he, nor Tim were particularly messy.
In the end, it was his decision to take a book to the couch that had been his wakefulness undoing.
Still, there were far worse ways of being pulled from an accidental nap/sleep. Quentin started to smile just as soon as the fog of vanishing and unremembered dreams lifted. His eyes slowly followed as he blinked them open and his boyfriend's face swam into focus. "Hi," he half-whispered, sleep clinging to the sound. "I love you."
Jason and Enid had talked about this, about whether he'd ever been in love. Whether he was in love right then. At the time Jason hadn't been sure, hadn't known how he was even supposed to know when he was in love. It seemed like such a foreign concept, something that he'd never had quite enough experience with in his life.
He'd told Enid he wasn't sure. That he thought he was, but wasn't positive. And then he'd told Enid that he wouldn't overthink it, which he'd thought would be the most challenging part of the whole thing. It turned out that honestly? It wasn't so hard after all, because as soon as he heard those words from Quentin?
It lit him up inside and he knew beyond any doubt. "Hi. I love you too."
Just because he'd been half-asleep when he'd said it didn't mean Quentin hadn't meant every single word. Hell, they'd been banging around in his chest for a long while before. Only his storied (ha-ha) past with those three-little-bombshells kept him from blurting it out. Right after Jason came back from his rom-com romp, Q nearly said it then.
But they were still processing everything, and the last thing he wanted was to have it seem like he'd only finally let them out into the world out of desperation. Out of a sense that he'd almost lost Jason to whatever crazy magic this place had going on.
Now he said it because he wanted to, and he'd prepared himself for not hearing it back. Sure, they'd been together for a year now, but that was no guarantee for reciprocity.
Hearing it echoed back, though?
Quentin beamed, fully awake and pulling at Jason's shoulders so he'd join him on the couch. "That was it. What I wanted to tell you. I just didn't want to do it over the network first. Did I— Did I make you worry? Shit, I probably did. Good job, me."
"I was preparing for the worst," Jason admitted with a laugh. "I'm glad I was wrong."
It took a little scrambling to get himself onto the couch, but he was perched there soon enough, looking down at Quentin with his heart in his eyes. Knowing that Quentin loved him was effervescent, bubbling through his veins and making his heart flutter. Knowing for sure that he loved Quentin back, that this was what being in love was supposed to feel like? Jason felt kind of stupid for not realizing that he was stupidly in love with his boyfriend before this.
"I want to kiss you again," he admitted, a little breathless, "but you know, Tim's got those rules about where we're allowed to be naked, and I can't promise I'll stop once I start."
A pang of guilt threatened to ruin the moment, but Quentin shoved it aside. They'd had a happy misunderstanding, and now they could look back on it and laugh. He did so now, in a small giggle he might have otherwise been embarrassed by, but now it served as a reflection of his effervescent happiness. How could he feel ashamed of that?
He reached up and ran his fingers through Jason's helmet hair, gently teasing the curls apart like he had countless times before. It didn't matter what kind of shape his boyfriend was in at the end of his patrols, Q just wanted to see him, make sure he was okay with all his senses. His grin was syrup slow and just as sweet. It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, not with this big feeling finally out in the world, not with this big feeling finally out in the world.
"Well"—Q dragged the word out to ridiculous proportions—"there's nothing actually keeping me here on this couch, since you're finally here. Except you right now, which was my own doing."
"Mm, I think we could probably fix that though," Jason pointed out. "This couch isn't really big enough for both of us anyway."
Jason. The couch wasn't big enough for Jason to fit comfortably on there at the same time as Quentin. He'd own up to it, he was the problem here. But Quentin didn't have any objections to Jason being built like a brick house, which was really what was important here. "Besides, your bed is way more comfortable."
And then they could talk and make out as much as they wanted to before they crashed; they weren't on any set schedule in the morning, and the bakery didn't even open until nine, the bookstore until ten... so Jason thought it was probably okay if he planned on keeping Quentin up a little later, just until he felt a little less giddy about everything.
He hadn't let himself before, but now? He could see a future where maybe this was an every night thing. Where, as much as he loved being Dick's roommate? Maybe he came home to Quentin after patrol instead, not just sometimes but every night, because it was his place too. Not any time soon, they had too many moving pieces to start shuffling it all around, what with Tim and Damian and guardianship to consider, but...
Someday.
A sly smile slid across Q's face, the bubbles of joy inside his chest making everything light and effervescent. Life was always going to have its share of complications, but some things were just as simple as Quentin loving Jason, and Jason loving him right back. Anything else could shake out as it needed. He had to believe that more than anything, despite what life had handed him in the past.
This wasn't Brakebills.
This wasn't Fillory.
His arms wound around Jason's neck, secure in the knowledge of what they had together. "We could do the dignified thing of simply getting off the couch and heading that direction, or"—Q paused for effect—"you could indulge in the ridiculous fairy tale fantasy of carrying me there?"
He eyed the broad shoulders to either side of his own rather noodly arms, and grinned sharply when he looked up into Jason's face again. "I know which one I'd prefer tonight."
Jason's grin was a little wicked; he rearranged his arms to support Quentin before he stood, lifting his boyfriend up against his chest into a princess carry. "We're pretty good at the whole fairy tale thing, aren't we?"
They'd kicked the ass of that one they'd been stuck in what seemed like forever ago now, when Jason had ventured east of the sun and west of the moon to rescue Quentin from a fate that was Jason's fault to begin with. Didn't matter; they'd outsmarted the trolls and he'd managed to bring his bear husband back with him just like he'd been determined to.
Maybe he should have known then that this was going to be the kind of thing that lasted. It was okay though, he was a little slow about this kind of thing.
The best part about carrying Quentin, though, was that he was at a great angle for Jason to tilt his head and claim another kiss.
"As you wish," he said, pretty sure Quentin would get the reference. Jason couldn't help it. Now that they'd said the words, he wanted to say them every way possible.
A deep, but extremely pleased blush lit up Quentin's cheeks. Even with the low light of the single lamp still on in the living room, he was sure it was easily visible. It wasn't like Jay hadn't seen it before. There were a hundred faces Q had made by now, and so many he'd catalogued on Jason's. Sometimes he still couldn't read them, but it was okay. They were in a constant state of figuring each other out. It made the journey they were taking together that much more interesting.
He shivered, but not hard enough to make Jason have to put him down or—god forbid—accidentally drop him. The last thing either of them needed was to accidentally pull Tim out of his bed. Or desk. Or wherever his insomnia may have put him. Hell, Quentin wasn't even a hundred percent sure his charge was even home. Some guardian he was.
Down that particular mental path, no good could come.
So Quentin set it aside and instead reveled in the easy strength in his boyfriend's arms. "You not so secret nerd. One of many, many things I love about you."
He twisted just enough to get the door so Jay didn't have to fiddle with it. Considerate, that was his middle name. (So much better than his actual middle name.) They made it to the side of the bed without incident, which was where Quentin slid out of his arms and got to his feet again so he could turn to his boyfriend. "You know, as much I absolutely find this body armor of yours unbearably hot, I'm going to insist on its removal before we continue, good sir. Turns out, I really want to feel you against me tonight. Want help?"
Jason could peel out of his body armor in record time, but he told Quentin, "Yes please."
Any excuse to feel Quentin's fingers on him. Any excuse for touch, Jason would take it. He'd spent so long being starved of it before he'd come here, before he'd been met with easy affection. The brotherly tussling with Dick was satisfying in its own way, but the way that Quentin touched him was something altogether different. Something that sent his pulse racing every time he felt it, those fingers against whatever part of him Q could reach at the moment.
Even more than touch though, Jason felt starved for the love that Quentin was offering so freely now. He started working on buckles, on snaps, on all the things that held his body armor in place as quickly as his hands could manage, though he left plenty of room for Quentin to get started on the other side of it.
He wanted to make Quentin blush like that again. He wanted to examine for himself how far down the pink of his cheeks went, even though he'd done it many times before. Just in case something had changed, he really ought to check it out again.
And again. And again. For as long as Quentin would keep letting him.
"Fair's fair though," he warned Q. "You're next."
"I—yeah, I can live with 'next'." The flash of heat in his belly made Q's fingers fumble on one of the buckles. Silly, really, since he'd done this more times than he could count. It's just—none of those times before had it been with the certainty of reciprocated feelings. Quentin found himself continuously getting distracted by looking up at Jason's face and those startlingly blue eyes which never seemed to be the same shade from moment to moment. He liked the barometric nature of them, like he could get a hint of what lay beneath without having the answer outright.
Finally, though, the tac vest came away, the weapons safely stored away, and Jason was shirtless. A good start, if yet another source of distraction. Magic had done away with the worst of Quentin's scars—not much could be done about the emotional ones, but they both had plenty of those in spades. Maybe that was why Q always paid at least a little attention to them, like he was now.
His touch was reverential as he traced the Y leading down from the edges of Jason's collarbone and went down in a pale white line down to his belly. He leaned in and kissed the diagonal crossing over Jay's heart, lips resting there a moment just to feel the beat of his heart. The origins were something out of nightmares, but it was only a piece of the man who held his heart. The glorious whole of Jason Todd still sometimes struck Quentin as something… someone he'd yet to deserve.
How he'd gotten so lucky was a wonder he tried not to examine too closely, lest the whole thing unravel.
He'd been the instrument of destruction in many a relationship in his past. No way was it going to happen again. Not like before.
His hands came to rest curling around Jason's ribs. "I don't know about you, but I'm wide awake now."
Jason's eyes crinkled at the corners with the force of his grin at that. "Oh? I guess I'm just going to have to wear you out, then, aren't I?"
Stealthy, his fingers slid up the back of Quentin's shirt, palm spreading flat to span the plane of his back once he'd successfully invaded that territory. Then, with a small, satisfied noise, he yanked his boyfriend even closer to him.
Damn, he loved this man. Being allowed to think it was the kind of blessing that Jason had never expected to somehow earn. The thing was though, he hadn't earned it at all. Quentin had given Jason the gift of himself so unselfishly, and he still wondered how he'd gotten this lucky to find the sweet, nerdy bookworm of his dreams.
He braced his forehead against Quentin's before tilting his head to kiss him again, deep and melting and very much aware that this time? They didn't have to stop.