A/N: This is a walking cliche. The plot is cliche, the lines are cliche, their actions are cliche... super, super cheesy.
(it ignores the last comic of YJ because it wouldn't fit the plot)
She knocks on his door and tries to think of how it's funny and not wrong that they always fall back to this routine. She's not sure what draws them together. Maybe it's because they're best friends. Maybe it's because they're physically attractive – and attracted to each other. Maybe it's because they're both good at it and it's never been anything other than amazing. And maybe… maybe it's because they feel…
No. She can't let herself wander down that path. Their feelings are confusing because they had intimacy long before they had physical intimacy, but that's it. They're best friends. Best friends who sleep with each other. That's all there is to it.
He opens the door, then. He's wearing a pair of boxers only and has a bad case of bed hair. "Babs?" He asks sleepily when he focus on her figure.
"Uh, hey. I know it's late… do you have someone over?" He looks like he'd had sex before sleeping – she sure knows how he looks on situations like that – and his apartment is a little messy.
"No, no. Come in." He opens the door further and steps away to give her some space.
"Thanks. Sorry to bother you at this hour, but I figured… I don't know, going home alone didn't seem very enticing."
"It's fine, you know you can always come here." He gets closer to her, but they don't touch. "But you do have a key, so I'm not sure why you knocked."
Ever since he gave her that key, she's been pretending he didn't. It feels too much and their relationship – her feelings – is already too messy without it.
"Didn't take it with me when I left home. Also, didn't want to barge in on you having sex with someone." She says lightly.
He smirks. "Jealous, much?"
She rolls her eyes. "You wish, Boy Wonder." She takes a step closer and touches his waist. "Besides, which one of us was in a date tonight?"
"Just because there isn't anyone here it doesn't mean that I didn't go out or that there wasn't at some point."
She shrugs and lets go of him. "Fair enough."
He moves to the kitchen. "Do you want something? You always complain that Brandon – it's Brandon, right? – chooses the worst restaurants."
"No, thanks. And yes, it's Brandon. Well, was. We broke up."
He looks at her from over the counter, eyebrows raised. "Why?"
She hesitates. Dick has been the cause of many of her breakups since they were in high school. Even though they always assured that there was nothing between them and they really never did anything when the other was in a relationship, their partners always seemed bothered by their close friendship.
"Oh." He says when he gets it. "Sorry, Babs."
"It's fine." She says because it is. She liked Brandon, but she knew it wouldn't last. "I need a guy that believes me when I say that I'm not cheating on him with my best friend. Anyone that doesn't believe it isn't worth my time."
They're quiet for a moment and she knows Dick feels a little guilt every time her relationships end because of him. He's had his fair share of women leaving because of her, but he's never been one to have long term relationships, so it never affects his life as much as it does hers.
"I'm still sorry, though. I suppose we do act a little… close when we're together." He says eventually.
"It shouldn't matter." She says a little angry. "Even if it seems like it, if I tell them I'm not cheating then they should believe me. They should know me better than that. I'm not like that."
"I know you're not." He shakes his head and gets closer again. "And it's their loss, anyway, because you're amazing. You're right, you deserve someone better."
She smiles thankfully at him and wonders for the millionth time if they shouldn't try being more. And then she remembers that he's been her best friends for over ten years and that it's the solidest things she has in her life and she can't lose it for anything.
She remembers how weird they acted out for weeks after the first time they slept together. They both had drunk alcohol that night, but she knew – and she knows that he did too – that both of them were pretending to be drunker than they were. They wanted to be sober, to remember everything, but drunk sleeping with your best friend is way easier to let go. They never addressed that.
"So, think you can make some space in your bed for me?" She decides to break the uncomfortable silence that took over.
"For a pretty woman like you? Obviously."
She rolls her eyes and hits his arm playfully, and he smiles and throws her over his shoulder to head to the bedroom. She yelps and laughs and takes the opportunity to squeeze his ass.
Soon she's in one of his loose T-shirts and they're both lying down, ready to sleep. They won't do anything tonight – she just broke up with her boyfriend and neither of them would feel comfortable with it. She really just wanted some company when she decided to visit.
"I didn't go out nor had anyone over, though." He says after a few minutes of silence. "I mean, I know it doesn't matter. But I didn't. Thought you'd like to know."
And it's somehow soothing, even though it shouldn't be. And she's a hypocrite, because he had every right to have been with someone. Not only because they had nothing, not only because it was just for fun, but because even if there was a weird atmosphere between them, she was literally dating someone until a couple of hours ago.
"I can imagine how hard it must be finding someone that can measure up to me." She teases as she turns to look at him.
He smirks. "Well, better than you that says that your boyfriends want to break up because of me when you and I both know they're just not as good in bed as I am."
And that is absolutely not the reason she's ever broke up with anyone, but she'd be lying if she said he's wrong.
"If I'm being honest, most times I just come here because I really like your bed sheets."
He tackles her then, tickling her sides. She's not ready for the attack and can't retaliate immediately. Her laughs fill the room as well as his and eventually they both stop and are left breathlessly on the mattress.
He's close and their eyes are locked together, their hard breathing meeting each other's faces.
He moves his hand slowly from the place it had been on her waist until it touches her face.
"You know I love you, right?" He asks sincerely and her heart stops. They've said it before, but it's always when they're drunk, or in the middle of sex, or in a friendly way. It's never like this, never this intense. And it's just unfair because she can't not say it back. The words hurt her throat from not being said.
"I love you, too."
His blue eyes are shining too bright, but she can't turn away.
They've had intimate moments like this, intimacy that isn't just sex, sex that isn't just sex. But it's always when they're tired and about to collapse and it's easy to just sleep and pretend that it didn't happen the next day. But right now they're both wide awake and they know it.
She takes a deep breath and hopes courage made its way into her as well. "Dick, we can't." Her voice is just a whisper, afraid to say it out loud and make it all just too real.
"Why not, Babs? Give me one good reason."
She doesn't know what to say. Because you're my best friend is something he could easily turn into a reason why theyshould.
"Tell me that when we have sex there's nothing more. Tell me that and I'll turn to the other side and sleep and never speak of this again."
She can't say that because it's a lie and he knows it. And she can't lie to him, not on something like this, not staring directly at his eyes. "Dick…"
He kisses her, then. Slowly and calm and so very different from how they usually kiss.
"Babs, this is ridiculous. " He says as they part, but they're still so close that their lips are almost touching. "You know how I feel about you. And I know how you feel about me. And we keep pretending that we don't feel it and finding excuses to sleep together and spend time together and even cuddle and it's just… we're more of a couple than we've ever been with anyone else. Why can't we just make it official?"
He can't keep saying stuff like that. "Dick, you're not ready for me. You're not ready for an exclusive, long relationship."
"Did you hear anything I said? We are in a relationship, we just don't say it." She opens her mouth again, because he doesn't get it. "Barbara. Do you know why it's been so long since we've been together?"
"Brandon." She says immediately. Like she said earlier, she'd never sleep with anyone else while being in a relationship.
"Yeah. You were the one who had someone. Barb, it's been weeks since I've last slept with anyone else. Am I not ready for this, or is it you that isn't ready?"
She considers this and once again is met with the awkwardness that happened after their first time. And it's suddenly clear as day the fact that she's terrified of losing him, that every time they could have been, they weren't because of her fear.
"You're my best friend." She murmurs.
"Barbara. Nothing is goona change that."
And she knows he means it. Dick is the most caring person she knows, he'd never let anything happen between them. He'd never hurt her or let her get hurt, not intentionally. And she does love him, she has for a long time.
"You sure you can handle being exclusive?" She needs to be sure. He'd never do that to her, but she doesn't want him to be unhappy because he's with her.
"With you? Forever."
And it's cheese, so cheesy she feels a little like crying. Instead she smiles and kisses him again, more passionate this time.
"So… you're my girlfriend now?"
"Well, I could be by morning, if you're lucky." She jokes.
He looks at her, really looks. She sees his eyes travelling her face and even going down her body once. His eyes meet het one more time in the end, and he gives a genuine content smile.
"Believe me, Babs, I am."