Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. Wish I did.

Author Note: This is my first slash story. Pairing - Dick/Roy. No graphic sex. If you don't like slash, pleased don't read. If you do, I'd love feedback.

Left With Your Best Friend

Roy frowned and turned the television down, straining to detect the sound that had disturbed his evening of beer and baseball. Lian was spending a night with Dinah and while that had provided the perfect opportunity for some intimate liaisons, he hadn't felt like company.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Roy spotted movement at the window, smiled and casually strolled toward it. Then again, maybe his company was just what he needed. There was only one person who used the window sixteen stories up to enter Roy Harper's apartment.

Roy glanced at the time. It was almost 11 p.m. "Make my day and be here for my body, Nightwing," Roy chuckled, pushing the window open. The figure balanced on the wall outside tumbled though the opening, Harper catching him before he collapsed to the carpet.

"Nightwing!" Arsenal cried, horrified.

"Roy. Sorry. I had…nowhere else..." He was panting, his face flushed and covered in a fine layer of perspiration. His body was trembling and with each release of breath there was a soft moan.

"Easy, Dick," Roy soothed, lifting his friend to his feet and guiding him across to the couch. "What the hell happened? Where are you hurt?" Harper demanded, lowering Nightwing and running his eyes over his friend's torn costume. There were some bruises evident and some scratches, but no sign of anything major.

"I'm not injured." Dick's chest heaved.

"You could have fooled me," Roy argued, kneeling in front of him.

"Poison Ivy injected me with pheromones. I'm…" he paused, licked his lips and looked at the other man with wide blue eyes.

"You're as horny as hell," Roy chuckled, suddenly understanding. "And you decided to come and see me? I'm flattered."

Dick's breath grabbed and the trembling became shuddering.

The smile fell from Roy's face. "Shit." Okay, so it wasn't funny. Harper reached for Grayson's brow. "You're burning up. She obviously gave you more than just an aphrodisiac."

"Yeah. Something to slow me down as well. So I couldn't fight back."

Roy's mouth turned further down. So he couldn't fight back? The worst possible scenario formed in Roy's mind. "God, Dick, she didn't…?"

Nightwing shook his head. "I took her down before she could, but had to run. Hide. Didn't want Robin or Batgirl to see me… I..." His face contorted in agony and he squeezed his eyes shut tight. He'd been battling against the drug for almost forty minutes and he honestly didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to keep nature at bay. His body was responding to the pure fervent hormones Poison Ivy had injected into him so she could 'tame that wild spirit'. His fingers twitched uncontrollably, his hips started to rise and fall and his eyes snapped open as Roy touched his arm.

"Tell me what I need to do?" Arsenal ordered, leaning over his friend and examining his glazed eyes.

"Right now, I need…" Dick swallowed. He blushed beautifully and Roy winked.

"You horny hunk of man, you," Harper cooed. "What will you say next?"

There was so much vulnerability in Dick's face. He was losing control. His mind was beginning to cloud completely as his body overrode all sensible thought. "If you want to, I'm not going to argue tonight. God, I need you to."

Roy's breath caught in his throat. It was all he'd ever dreamed of hearing. Dick asking him to… but the request was from the drugs, not the man Roy had loved almost all his life.

"I need… ohhhh helllllll."

He was in agony -- trying to stop himself from giving in to the drugs. Roy grabbed his friend's shoulders. "Let it happen, damn it. Don't be embarrassed, Dick!"

"Roy I…. Goooodddd!" Grayson climaxed, unable to control himself any longer. His body shuddered and then went limp.

Roy held him upright and then gently eased him back into the chair. As he looked down on his friend, he knew there was more to this than just the aphrodisiac. Dick looked ill. "Dick? Come on, Robbie, stay with me."

Grayson stirred and his breathing rate instantly started to build again. Already, the sex stimulating hormone in his system has surging again.

"Easy, big fella," Roy soothed, squeezing his shoulder. "I don't know what she used, but I want the name of it," he stated, trying to distract his friend.

This was cruel. Another man would have let himself be captured by the pleasure of being so sexually stimulated but Dick Grayson was the Bat's kid, through and through. His training had taken over and he no longer had the ability to simply give in. He would die before he would do so. "How long will it last?" Roy asked.

"I… I don't know. I'm sorry, Roy." Dick gritted his teeth, trying to regain control. "I didn't know where else to go to sleep it off."

He was self-conscious, Arsenal realized. God, he was beautiful. "Robbie, relax. You're reacting physically to a drug… which is a pity. I'm mean, I'd do anything to get you into this state." He squeezed his friend's shoulder and Dick swallowed. "It isn't weakness and he isn't here. There's no one here but me. Lian's visiting Dinah. You're safe." Roy watched as Dick tried to cover himself as his groin area began to swell again. "Do you want me to leave the room, or something? I can." Dick's head shook slightly and clenched his jaw. "Christ, Dick! You're just hurting yourself. For once in your life, let go!" But Nightwing couldn't and Roy found himself becoming aroused. "God, you're infuriating, Dick Grayson," he whispered, lifting Dick's legs up onto the couch to make him more comfortable. "There's got to be something I can give you to help counteract the effects," he murmured.

"I can't concentrate or think… can only think of one way to…," Dick whispered. His blue eyes flashed and Roy felt his own pants becoming tighter. Grayson's badly dilated pupils advertised the fact that he basically had no idea of what he was saying. He was drugged and reacting, Roy reminded himself. "I can't hold it much longer," Grayson gasped in a slurred voice. "I've never… with a man but…"

Roy smirked. "Nothing would make me happier, hot pants, but I don't think so. Man, this drug is something else. Talk about losing your inhabitations. You must have something on you to counter something like this. You Batguys carry everything."

He yanked off one of Dick's gloves and began searching the different compartments. Locating the medical pouch, he discovered several vials of pills and two syringes. "Dick?" Grayson was starting to writhe on the couch. "Come on, Robbie. Focus for me. I need some help here. Which one will knock you out?"

"The smaller of the syringes has a powerful an..an…" His jaw clenched.

"It won't react with whatever she's given you?"

"No. God, hurry."

Roy took his wrist, rolled the sleeve up and then injected the drug. "Okay, that should help. Give it a few seconds."

Dick groaned. "Thanks, Roy. Thanks. I… thanks. I'm sorry about this."

"Easy, Robbie," Roy whispered, putting the needle on the table and taking Dick's hand. "Squeeze hard until the drug starts taking effect." They were the exact words Dick had said to Roy many years earlier when he'd been kicking a thousand dollar a day drug habit. Words that were imprinted on Roy's soul. Grayson had sat beside him night after night, holding him, taking both physical and verbal abuse and he hadn't moved a muscle.

Dick gripped his friend's hand and Roy yelped. "Shiiiittttt, Grayson! I need to be able to use that hand later."

As the sedative took effect, Nightwing lost the battle and climaxed again, but within sixty seconds his breathing became more even. "Come on, let's get you into bed before that anaesthetic fully takes effect and I end up having to carry your heavy ass in there."

"I thought you said no." Nightwing forced a smile, his face twitching from the effort of still trying to override his body.

"You're going to bed, I'm not."

"I'm sorry about this," Dick panted as Roy threaded his arm over his shoulder and lifted him to his feet.

"Hell, don't keep apologising. I've been trying to get you into my bed for years," Roy laughed easily. He more or less carried Nightwing into the room, lowered him onto the bed and yanked his boots off.

Roy adjusted Dick's head so it was resting comfortably on the pillow. The powerful sedative had well and truly started taking effect. Harper's hand bushed Grayson's brow and he shook his head. "You're hot."

"Thanks." A coy smile shaped his ashen lips.

"Down, tiger. I'm serious, Dick," Roy stated, turning his hand over and laying it on Dick's cheek in an effort to double check his temperature.

Grayson's eyes closed and he swallowed. "It's the poison." Finally, Nightwing's voice sounded disciplined, if not a little slow.

"Poison! You didn't say anything about poison!"

"It isn't strong," Grayson assured. He appeared to have won his battle and was in command again. "Just enough to weaken me a little so that the other drug could take greater effect. A bit of a fever is all. My own defences will be able to deal with the poison. I just need to sleep this off." He blinked twice and then reached his hand up and laid it on Roy's arm. "Thanks." It was sincere.

Roy smiled and removed Dick's mask. "Any time. You rest. You're safe here."

"I know," Dick whispered. His eyes met Roy's briefly and then closed. He drew in a deeper breath and moaned as he released it. This time, the pain was a result of fever, not stimulation. The smile on Roy's face faded. He took Dick's hand from his arm and laid it on the bed, at the same time checking his best friend's pulse. Grayson's heart was still racing, perspiration beading on his furrowed brow.

Roy shook his head at the irony. The man he dreamt about every night was in his bed and had actually been saying the words he'd longed years to hear, and yet, it was his love for Dick that was preventing him from doing anything. "The price I pay for falling in love with my best friend," Harper murmured.

Roy cupped the side of Dick's face in his hand. For several moments he was lost, staring at all he'd ever wanted, but the heat rising off Dick's body brought him back to Earth. There was an inferno inside the ill man. "You never could pick the right adjectives, could you. Little? You call this a little fever?"

Grayson tried to answer but groaned.

"Easy, Robbie. I'll get some water and we'll see about getting that temperature down." Roy turned for the hall and froze. Standing in the doorway, watching his every move, was Robin. "Shit! Don't any of you Bat guys ever knock?" The youth didn't move and Roy swallowed. "How long have you been here?"

"Since he arrived." Tim's voice was thin and sounded very small.

"Oh." Roy instantly reviewed everything he and Dick had said. Had they shared anything that may reveal Roy's secret? Could he explain it away as jokes?

"Poison Ivy injected him with…"

"I know. I followed so I could protect him until it wears off."

"He's going to be okay. I've given him a shot to knock him out," Roy explained, shouldering past the teenager and heading for the bathroom. Roy bit down on his bottom lip. Robin had looked like a stunned mullet. The boy wasn't stupid, for Batman didn't work with stupid people so that meant he had already put two and two together. "Damn."

Roy returned to the bedroom and laid the folded damp cloth on Dick's brow.

Tim was standing beside the bed, still looking shell shocked. "He'll be okay," Roy repeated. Dick moaned. "See, he's agreeing with me," Harper stated, trying to alleviate some of the tension.

Tim dragged his gaze from Dick and let it fall on Roy. "You're gay."

The words were so hushed that Roy basically read the teenager's lips. "Not exactly."

"Bi then," Tim accused with some aggression.

"Chill, kiddo. Sit down."

"I can't leave him here. I'm going to have to take him somewhere else."

"No, you won't. Sit down."

Robin stood defiantly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Fine, stand." Roy glanced at Dick. "You with us, Robbie?" He waited. When there was no response, Roy sighed and sat down on the end of the bed. "He stays. And yeah, Tim. Technically, I guess you'd have to consider me bi. You got a problem with that?"

The teenage blinked several times and his arms dropped. "No."

"Sure looks like it, kiddo."

Tim shrugged. "I just… it was a bit of a shock."

"Why? What business is it of yours?"

Tim's eyes widened. "I… none, I guess. I just…"

"Don't worry, Dick's quite safe. I'm not a predator."

The accusation caused Tim to shift uncomfortably. "Sorry."

Roy indicated the chair against the wall. "Sit down, kid. We've got a long night ahead."

Tim obeyed. "Does Dick know that you're bisexual?"

"Hell, yes. He's known since we were eighteen."

Again, Tim's eyes grew wide. "We? Dick's not… is he?"

"Relax, junior. Unfortunately, Dick's the straightest guy I've ever met."

Tim studied Roy carefully, reviewing what he'd seen and heard in the past few minutes. "You're in love with him."

Harper sucked in a lung full of air, and deciding that jokes and lies weren't going to work, he nodded. "Yeah. I am."

Tim snapped his jaw closed and looked down at Dick. "Does he know?"

"Yeah. He's known for years."

"I don't… " The boy was at a loss.

"You don't understand why someone as mentally gifted and over cautious as Nightwing would choose to come here for help when hyped up on pheromones knowing that making love to him is my greatest desire?" Roy guessed. Tim blinked. Roy was so direct. "I'm his best friend, Tim, and he knows he can trust me. Did I want to rip his clothes off and ravage that perfect body when he offered? You better believe it, junior." The look on Tim's face left Roy laughing.

Dick stirred. Roy rose, walked around the bed, picked up the damp cloth and sponged Dick's face and neck, peeling the top part of his uniform down. "But, I love him and no, I'm not just talking romantically when I say that, Tim. I love him like a brother, just like you do. And I would no more take advantage of him or betray his trust, than pick up a gun and shoot my own daughter."

Tim sat back in the chair. "How do you… I mean, it must hurt to be around him all of the time and to know that your love will never be returned."

Roy laid the cloth back in place and sat down on the edge of the bed beside Dick. "But my love is returned, Tim. I couldn't ask for a lover to love me more than he does. He just doesn't love me romantically. He isn't gay or bi. I didn't really understand when I was fourteen and it hurt like hell that he wasn't interested in me," he admitted, quietly. "Even more when I was sixteen. It took me a long time to come to terms with things and begin to look at everything the way I do now."

"And how's that?"

"He's in my life. If I leave or walk away, then he isn't and I need him. I read somewhere that once passion and romance disappear from a relationship you should be left staring at your best friend. That's the course that love is supposed to take. If that's true, I missed the first part of the journey and he never felt it, but we're certainly left with our best friend. He loves me and I love him. It's just that my love has an extra dimension. I can live with that and so can he."

Tim was shaking his head. "I've never heard of anyone being able to… you could write a book."

Roy smirked. "Oh, Dick would love that."

"How did you tell him?" Roy's brow furrowed and Tim apologised immediately. "Sorry. I'm just curious."

Roy shrugged. He'd never spoken to anyone about it. As a matter of fact, outside of Dick, Ollie and Dinah, no one knew.

"When did you know you were in love with him?"

Harper smiled. "You're a curious one, aren't you?" He sighed. Crazy as it may seem, he wanted to talk about it and he knew he could trust Tim. "Dick and I met when we were thirteen. I had just hit puberty and discovered girls and I was getting my share already."

Tim grinned. "You were an early starter."

"You better believe it. Anyway, without sounding cliché, I fell in love with him the first time we met. He was completely oblivious. Hell, he's completely oblivious to the effect he has on females as well."

Tim nodded and started to relax. "They're all half in love with him and I never know if he just ignores it or doesn't actually see it."

"A bit of both, kid."

"Go on," Tim encouraged.

"Isn't much else to tell." Roy turned back to Dick, picked up the cloth and started to sponging him again. "As we spent more time together, it became harder to hide my feelings."

"Were you still seeing girls?" Tim asked as Roy disappeared back into the bathroom to rewet the cloth.

"Yeah," Roy replied, reappearing. "Hey, kid, basically I'm heterosexual. I love woman. Always have. Haven't slept with a man since my drug days. But, I've been in love with Dick since I was thirteen. Just another of the minor hiccups in my life. Ollie knew and he suggested that we stop seeing each other, so I left the Teen Titans and picked up a drug addiction."

"Because of losing Dick?"

"No," Roy chuckled, folding the cloth and laying on Dick's brow. "I still thought about him a lot, but no, I can't blame Dick for that. Ollie and Dinah tried to help me, but I was too far gone. To finance my habit, I started selling my body to anyone who would pay. Women, men, it didn't matter as long as they had money. You're amazed by how casual I am about it all?" Roy asked, reading Tim's face.

"Well, yeah."

"It happened, kid. I've learned not to hide from my past. Anyway, Dick turned up and dragged my sorry ass into rehab. I ran away, he tracked me down, locked us in a room together and we went cold turkey. He held my hand, bathed me, wiped up the vomit and turned the other cheek each time I started throwing punches, but he didn't leave my side. We were sixteen. At the end of the two weeks I went back to the rehab centre and spent several months there. When I came out, I left for a while and then re-entered his life on the sidelines. I finally told him that I was in love with him when we were eighteen"

"And he didn't believe you and told you it was just because you were feeling dependant on him?" Tim guessed, getting caught up in the story.

Roy shook his head. "No. We'd been through enough by then for him to know that wasn't true."

"What happened?"

Continued in part 2 of 2 parts