Fandom: DC Comics/Red Hood and the Outlaws

Characters/Pairing: Roy Harper, Jason Todd, Koriand'r (Jason/Roy/Koriand'r, if you squint)

Genre: General

Rating: PG

Summary: It's not very often that his partners laugh … but when they do, it feels like victory.

Word count: 672

Disclaimer: I own none (and make no profit off) of the characters and the Universe/stories they're from, they belong solely to their creator/s and the publishing company.

Notes: Okay. I admit it: I'm a romantic sap, and these three hit all of my inner romantic buttons all at once.

It's not very often that his partners laugh. Oh sure, they chuckle sometimes, mostly at him, but it's always a pretty quick and quiet sound, something that you missed completely if you weren't paying attention or looking for it.

… Which he always is.

(Don't laugh! What's the point in cracking puns and being a smart-ass if there isn't anyone around to laugh with you? Or at you, as the case usually is).

And it's not that his partners are humourless, either. Oh, they've definitely got a sense of humour. It's just not one that calls for throaty, breath-stealing laughter, not like his admittedly boisterous laughter. Or at least not often. Nah, Jason and Kori are the type to smirk at anything that amuses them, make a sardonic comment, and then go about their daily business.

(If by daily business, you mean rapidly firing bullets or firing start bolts at an attacking enemy's vital points. Same thing really, at least if you're in their line of work.)

But sometimes, they honest-to-God laugh. It requires certain conditions – okay, a lot of conditions – for it to happen. Both Jason and Kori need to have their guards down, which is hard enough to do as it is. But it happens occasionally, usually late at night when they've had a pretty easy day – easy by their standards, anyway – and they've cracked back a few beers each and are watching an old rerun of 90s sitcoms.

They usually make mild complaints about the fact that they're watching a crappy sitcom, mostly directed at him for putting the damn show on in the first place, but none of them ever reach for the remote to change the channel. After that, they also need full bellies, just stuffed with good food and maybe dessert if they're in content enough a mood. They also need to be lounging around on a bed or couch, sometimes even on the floor on top of a small pile of blankets and pillows, in front of the TV, their legs crossing over each other, shoulders touching, close enough to simply bask in each others natural body heat.

And then, if those conditions and the timing is just right, sometimes when he brings up something that happened earlier that day, or if he attempts to crack a joke about whatever's on the TV, it happens. It's always sudden, but always wanted. Kori almost always throws her head back, her long hair fanning out across the bed or couch or floor as her shoulders shake with her full-body laugh. And Jason? The exact opposite. He folds into himself, head down, a hand usually covering his mouth. Maybe it's out of self-consciousness, or maybe he just doesn't want either of them to see him with an expression other than "serious business" ones. (Why, Roy will never get, not with the way a smile or laugh brightens up Jason's face in a way Roy can't help but think hasn't regularly happened since before … well, just before their current lives). But the proof is in the pudding, and he's still laughing, whether he wants either of them to see it or not.

Sometimes it feels like he'd have way more luck getting it to rain in the middle of a sunny, warm day with some wild rain dance, but hey, it legitimately happens, and it's feels like a fucking victory when it does. And it's worth all the stares, all the "Shut up, Roy"'s, worth every ounce of effort it takes to wedge himself into their lives just a little more to see all of that hard work pay off in one beautiful moment of unbridled mirth. To see two honestly beautiful (yet often miserable) people just let go and share something so pure with him.

It's worth everything and more, and Roy wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Boy, if you think that's bad, wait until you hear how much it takes to get even just one of them to giggle.