Archive: Ask first, please.
Fandom/Warnings: Nightwing/Arsenal. Nonexplicit m/m. Quasi-sequel to "Taking Aim."
Disclaimer: All characters property of DC Comics. What I have done with them is mine.
Picture this. Roy and Dick, in the gym. (See "Taking Aim" for all the smutariffic details.) Meanwhile...the internal sensors in Titans Tower are merrily humming away. And a Titan wanders past the monitor board.
Pure silliness. But let's play, "what if...?"
She'd known *exactly* what Roy was planning, and approved. She might have done the same herself except that Dick had always considered her like a sister. Donna treasured that relationship. Dick had always been an anchor for her, and his friendship remained one of the most important things in her life. No matter how much she'd changed.
Not that his feelings stopped her from looking, though. You'd have to be dead not to watch Dick Grayson's ass in spandex.
Now the others had been safely diverted and Lian was enwrapped in "The Little Mermaid" and knowing what was going on below was like an itch in the back of her brain. And then she realized, the monitors--
Well, she had to go and make sure no one *else* saw what was happening, right? So Donna told Lian she'd be right back, sweetie, I'm just going to make us some popcorn for the movie, and on the way she stopped in the monitor room. There, oh there as beautiful as she'd imagined, but if she didn't turn it off quickly she wouldn't be able to at all. And she did.
But *before* she did, without more than a smidgen of sly guilt, Donna set one very specific set of sensors to record and send the video to the computer in her own room. For later.
Because it would be a crime to lose those images forever. And also just because.
The situation was unbelievably frustrating, that's what it was.
Yes. She knew that what she and Dick had shared was over. Done. Finished with no chance of reprieve. He'd changed too much, she'd changed too much, and everything that had happened was just too much weight of *history* to move past. So she bore it with as much grace as she could, and tried not to be bitter. Earth still had a lot to offer.
But Kory could never look at Dick, and not regret.
Restless she wandered the Tower, and when she reached the monitor room--
Oh.
My.
Greedily she stared at the image on the screen. So. Dick would accept comfort from Roy, but not from *her*? Were they not still friends, despite everything?
She missed not being able to touch her friends. Things here were so much more constrained. It wasn't that they meant to hurt her, of course not, but none of them understood just how intertwined friendship and sex were for her people. She'd adapted to life on Terra, she'd had to, but that particular aspect of human culture still galled her.
And she had been bereft of simple *touch* for too long. If Roy could do this--
Thought translated into action and the fiery trail of her power burned behind her only briefly as she took flight.
<< Scene shift: The gym. Kory comes in. Without a word she begins touching Dick, staring at Roy in challenge. Perhaps there is a moment of annoyance on his face but Roy is nothing if not flexible and Kory is, well, always has been a pin-up wet dream. The purpose here *is* to make Dick feel better, after all. It's not difficult to be gracious. And between them, they make Dick not care about anything well into the night. >>
zzzzippppppppp around the Tower and whoa, back up, what the heck was *that?!*
Dick.
With *Roy.*
And they were--
Wally's hand blurred and hit the monitor's off switch before he'd even finished processing what he'd seen. There were a lot of things Wally loved about his best friend Dick Grayson, but his bare ass wasn't one of them. Just *not* his thing. And he even more especially didn't want to see Roy Harper's.
But...but....
The afterimage speed-raced around his brain, thoughts trailing after. *ohman Ican'tbelieveI*saw*that Ireallydidn'tneedtoand whatthehellisgoingonwiththemanyway they'resupposedtobestraight andDickneversaidawordabout--*
Aloud, Wally complained to the universe at large: "Why doesn't anyone ever *tell* me these things?"
Dick, he thought, had some explaining to do. Later.
Much, much later.
...well, that just figured.
After how much he'd grown in the pain of Tula's death and the transformation from Aqualad to Tempest, Garth thought, you'd think he would have learned something about taking the initiative. Seizing the moment. But all this time he'd still said not a *word* to anyone about his long-standing attraction to Dick Grayson, a near-infatuation that went all the way back to the team's founding moments.
And here Roy had grabbed an opportunity Garth hadn't even considered possible.
But watching would be...crude. If he ever *were* to see Dick like that, he wanted it to be at his own hands, resulting from his own touch.
He turned the monitor off with envy in his purple eyes.
Although on consideration....
He knew both Dick and Roy well enough to guess that this was...casual. At best. Which was something he *hadn't* realized Dick might be interested in. If he were--well, "casual" didn't always remain so, did it? Not with *those* two, there was too much tension between Dick and Roy to allow anything more. Too much jealousy on Roy's part and not enough patience on Dick's to put up with Harper's constant biting wit.
Whereas he and Dick might be-- Garth shook his head, sighed, and resolved not to build his hopes up too high.
But he also made a promise to himself not to lose another chance.
His reactions were odd these days, and he was still discovering how much of the old Vic lay under the shiny gold of his shifting Omegadrome body. Linked into the Tower's computers, he knew everything that happened within its walls almost immediately.
So while the scene in the gym wasn't really his kind of thing, he could appreciate the need for comfort. Especially since most of his adult life Vic had struggled with the "man in a monster's body" problem, not that any of his friends had really believed he was a monster. Now he'd exchanged a steel encasing frame for a completely alien body and somehow he felt more *human* than he had in years. Perhaps someday he might even....
That hope was almost an alien thing itself, after so long. But welcome. Vic chuckled softly, watched for just a moment more and then switched off the monitor, deleting the tape as well.
She should have gone back to QuickStart to take care of business, a CEO's work was never done, but there was some information she wanted to dig out of the Titans' database and *blink* oh, my *God!*
Jesse Quick might be the fastest woman alive, but she felt her brain stutter and freeze on the monitor image. She didn't *know*-- She'd never *imagined*--
Not that they'd discussed their sex lives with her, she was still new to the team, but she hadn't gotten those signals at *all!* And she'd been attracted to Nightwing too (who wasn't?!), even knowing they were probably too much alike for compatibility, workaholics both, and that's probably why Roy was, uh, he was totally opposite....
Jesse realized she was still staring.
She blushed. If anyone had been there, she would have stammered upon speaking. She reached out a trembling hand and turned off the monitor. Remembered only barely to erase the log. Wandered out of the Tower in a daze. Forgot about work. Went home and stared at the walls for awhile, trying not to *see.*
Failed miserably, swore, gave up and went to bed; and despite herself, dreamed.
The Tower had practically cleared out, how weird, and Toni was bored. Well, there was always online shopping....
But ick, she didn't feel like sitting in her bedroom. In the monitor room she could have the TV on, and the radio too, and a whole bunch of screens. Time to warm up daddy's credit card, she thought, then forgot all about *that.*
Mouth open, Toni watched with growing excitement. Oh, yeah! This was better than a tape, both Nightwing and Arsenal were as hot as she'd thought, and together they were even *better.* Without taking her eyes from the monitor she dragged over a chair and settled in front of the screen, not wanting to miss a moment. She'd be playing this one over in her head for *months.*
Her hand drifted downward, keeping time.
Grant really, really didn't want to disappoint his team.
They'd saved him from jail or worse after his little, uh, accident in Atlanta, it wasn't *his* fault his powers sometimes flared out of control, and that was the whole point of his being in the Titans anyway. To learn to use them better. And just having somewhere to *be,* that was great too.
So he figured, might as well use his free time to catch up on Titans history. You never know when information about old villains or old missions might come in handy, and he wanted to be *useful.*
The last thing he expected to see on the monitor was *that.* They...they.... Oh, jeez! Paralyzed, he stared for another minute before he flipped the monitor off, flushing bright red with embarrassment. But...but it didn't make *sense.* He'd heard about Roy and Donna and Dick and Kory, and never even seen anything to suggest...*that*....
Abruptly he realized he was breathing hard. He felt his body react--
No, no, he *wasn't,* he wasn't interested in guys, he always thought about Kory or Donna or Toni when he, he, uh, and he *wasn't interested in guys like that.* He knew that for a fact. He wasn't in denial or repressed or anything. So why was he--why did he--
Confused, Grant stumbled out of the monitor room, desperately determined not to think about it. Not. Ever. Again.
He might not be a Titan right now but the Tower was his home, it'd always be, and the others always seemed glad of his visits. The Titans were his family. Gar held that close to his heart.
Even just hanging out here was cool, sitting at the board watching the world go by and Nightwing and Arsenal in the gym, kissing, naked.
Gar sat up in shock and couldn't tear his gaze away. Could that really be *Dick?!* He wasn't surprised about Roy, Roy Harper was a horndog who'd probably jump anything that moved, but Dick?! Who always seemed surrounded by a horde of women lusting after his perfect body?!
But then...Gar had wondered about Joey...and he and Nightwing had been close--
Cheeks burning under his green skin Gar reached to turn the monitor off--and dropped his hand. Caught, he watched in twitching, wide-eyed and guilty fascination. And undeniable arousal.
Somewhere in the back of his head, wishing.
Lazy, drained, not wanting to move....
"Roy."
"Hm?"
"The *monitors.* Did you--"
Helplessly, Harper began to laugh. "Think somebody got an eyeful?"
"That's not--Roy, it's not funny! What if--"
Roy snickered. "Let 'em watch, I do my best work with an audience. Besides, it'd be a crime not to share that ass."
Dick started to get up, then paused. "'Share'?"
With an exaggerated smirk Roy stretched and eyed Dick from head to toe. "Sure, why not? I'm not possessive, I don't mind sharing my toys...."
Dick's eyebrow went way, way up. "'Toy'?!" He moved faster than Roy could react, straddling Roy and pinning his arms to the mat. His voice went low and dangerous, one shade away from the Bat. "Is that what I am?"
Anyone else might have backed off. But it'd always been in Roy's nature to tempt fate. "Ohhh, yeah. I always thought you had potential, Robbie. Titans' sex toy."
Dick's mouth fell open in utter shock. And then the only possible response, the old team refrain: "Shut UP, Roy."
Roy grinned agreeably. "Okay. I'll just have to find something else to do with my mouth."
An unwilling smile spread across Dick's face. "Perhaps you'd better."
"Hey, your wish is my command."
"As long as it's something you want to do anyway."
"Well, yeah. Kinda thought that went without saying."
"Oh, shut up and kiss me, Harper."
Beta and miscellaneous lines (and nearly all the dialogue in the last segment) from Carmen, of course. :)
In the category of "things that get put in my head during a 2 a.m. chat...." Thank you, Carmen. My Bitch!Muse.
Troia (Donna Troy):
Starfire (Koriand'r of Tamaran):
The Flash (Wally West):
Tempest (Garth of Shayeris):
Cyborg (Victor Stone):
Jesse Quick (Jesse Chambers):
Argent (Toni Monetti):
Damage (Grant Emerson):
Changeling (Garfield Logan):
Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Arsenal (Roy Harper):
{end}
APOLOGIES to Lianne, whose line "I would have to be dead to miss *your* ass in spandex," from her great Roy/Kyle fic "Sometimes Good Guys Finish First" stuck in my head and worked its way in here. *facepalm* I couldn’t *help* it. Forgive me?