Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Thanks Kiplington the III. While I have nothing to offer for the enclave, I bestow upon you one of those nifty Star Trek lapel pins that they would touch to transport (I think?). Live long and prosper, sucka!
Here is my addition to The Chronicles of Sexy Bruce. Are you guys sensing a theme here?
Chapter Two: Wet and Glistening
The warm sun beat down on the reclining Amazon, causing Diana to turn over to her stomach on the lounge chair. She tried reading some more of her book, but gave up five minutes later. The breeze had disappeared, and the heat was getting to the point of discomfort.
Standing up, Diana grabbed her towel and book. Adjusting her bathing suit top, she wandered into the Manor. She and J'onn had been staying there ever since Bruce had decided the Watchtower made a good space to earth missile. While some of her day was spent in League planning and meetings, whatever down time she had, she spent wandering the mansion. There were certain places she kept away from, not wanting to upset Bruce, especially while he was recuperating from his brush with death.
But the invasion had been over two weeks ago, and Bruce was already going out on patrol. She saw him occasionally, mostly at lunch, sometimes as he was on his way out at night. The limited contact was making her impatient, because she fully intended to resolve some issues between her and the owner of the house. While she didn't expect a discussion about that kiss in the restaurant, she certainly wasn't going to allow it to be a one-time occurrence. And now that he was healthy enough to go patrolling at night, she figured he could handle some alone time with her.
Now if only she could find him.
She strolled into the kitchen, where Alfred was busy preparing for lunch. Looking up from his work, he smiled in greeting. "Ready for an afternoon dip, Miss Diana?"
Feeling slightly under dressed, Diana wrapped her towel around her body. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, but I was actually looking for Bruce."
"Ah. Unfortunately, Master Bruce is in physical therapy. I will make sure to let him know you are looking for him."
Diana let out a irritated sigh as she turned to leave. "Thanks, Alfred."
"And Miss Diana, if you are still wanting to take a swim, the indoor pool is located on the first floor in the east wing, next to the sauna."
Instantly brightening at the idea of a refreshing swim, Diana waved goodbye to the butler and headed towards the east wing.
Once she passed what she recognized as the sauna, she saw the clear glass door. Opening it, she stared longingly at the serene waters of the rectangular shaped pool. The cold tile bit at her feet as she walked over to the ledge, and she realized that she didn't felt quite as warm or sticky as she had moments ago. In fact, the air conditioning of the house was giving her goosebumps.
Towel still wrapped around her, she cautiously stuck in her toe. The water was a smidge on the cool side, so Diana decided to just soak her legs. Careful not to get her towel wet, Diana sat down, dangling her feet in the pool as she read some more.
Not even through the first paragraph, she heard a sound to her right. Looking over her shoulder, she saw what was making the noise.
It was Bruce.
In a speedo.
And apparently he didn't know she was there. He was too busy adjusting the strap on his goggles.
Her eyes traveled from his feet to the curve of his calves, slowly moving up to his knees, admiring how his quadriceps flared out. Knowing a bit about languages, she briefly tried looking for four distinct sections of muscle, but she didn't get far. She was too busy admiring how powerful his thighs looked.
Out of feminine delicacy, her gaze jumped to his neck, and she could feel her jaw grow slack as she poured over his chest and shoulders. When she got to his stomach she couldn't keep from wanting to run her fingers in the indentations made by the rise of his obliques over his hips. She hadn't even looked at his arms yet.
Sweet Aphrodite..
She could literally feel her whole body melt.
Her enjoyment was interrupted by a loud splash.
Horrified, Diana looked as her book slowly sank to the bottom of the pool.
Her eyes darted back over to him, and she could feel her cheeks burn at the knowing smirk pulling at his pouty lips.
Pouty? Did I just think that?
Diana shook her head, hoping to clear the cobwebs of her mind.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked.
Diana blinked in confusion. "…Yes?"
"About what?" he clarified.
"Oh." Um. "I wanted to talk to you about…" Trouble was, she couldn't remember what it was.
He continued to walk towards her, and her eyes moved wildly from side to side, trying to look away as he loomed larger in the periphery of her vision.
Diana took a calming breath, chanting a refrain over and over in her mind. I will not look at his speedo, I will not look at his speedo, I will not…
He finally stopped a few inches from her. Depending on your point of view, it was a most advantageous or disadvantageous…point of view.
She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, but was too afraid to look over. A slight breeze fanned across her skin, and she realized his arms were windmilling and flexing across his chest as he warmed up.
Diana scrambled to her feet, and the towel fell. She glanced down, fearful that it too had fallen in the pool. Seeing that the cloth was safe and dry, she took a deep breath and tried to calm down, running her fingers through her hair. The hand dropped when she felt his eyes on her.
She stared down her front, and somehow managed to force herself not to fold her arms across her chest. Her uniform was admittedly tiny, but even he had never seen her in so little.
Bruce's arms stopped moving, and she turned on him. He quickly looked over at the pool.
Diana smiled. At least she wasn't the only one afraid of nylon covered body parts.
"Alfred told me you were in physical therapy," she said, taking a step closer. "Why are you out here?"
"This is my physical therapy. It's low impact, and the water resistance and movements are great for building the muscles of the back, chest, and stomach."
She glanced down at the place where his right arm met his neck. There was a scar from the Thanagarian invasion. It was fading, but still a bright shade of pink. Her fingers twitched at her side.
"I see…I mean, that makes sense…since you are using your arms.." Diana felt her eyes begin to bug out at her stupidity. Dear Athena, please give me back my mind.
"Exactly. Do you swim?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm not very good at it. Usually, I just power through the water."
"Not blessed by Poseidon, I take it."
"I guess not."
Bruce stepped over the side of the pool, and the small splash licked at Diana's toes and ankles.
He resurfaced a few seconds later, soggy book in hand. She leaned over to get it, and through his goggles, she could see him close his eyes. When he opened them, they were locked on her forehead.
"Are you coming in?"
Diana weighed it over in her mind for a second, all the while watching him float on his back. She immediately set the book aside and took the plunge.
"Want to race?" Bruce asked.
She didn't answer him immediately. Instead, she treaded the water, waiting for her body to acclimatize to the cool liquid. As she waited, she began to notice the droplets of water making their trek from Bruce's hair to his skin. With the sunlight coming in through the windows, he almost sparkled.
Like a merman.
He gave her an odd look. "What was that?"
Trying to salvage the situation, Diana remembered she still hadn't told him if she wanted to race. "I don't really know the different kinds of swimming styles."
"I can teach you. It's not difficult."
Giving up on words, Diana just nodded her head..
He swam close to her, and the two bobbed up and down in the water for a few seconds.
"Maybe we should move to the shallow end."
Diana giggled. She was already there.
Bruce raised a brow, and moved his goggles up on his head. Flipping over onto his back, he watched as she followed him. The contrast in styles was marked. She had to keep in constant movement to keep from sinking.
Their feet now planted firmly on the pool floor, they both stood. The water only came up to their waist, and it was taking all of her goddess given strength to keep looking at his face. Which said an awful lot about his body, considering how ridiculously good looking he was.
But she had seen his face all the time. His body on the other hand…she still had yet to decide what his best feature was, and now without the hindrance of Kevlar and tights, she wanted to scrutinize every last bit.
She had to take her chances. This opportunity to chart out and memorize his undiscovered territories might never present itself again.
"Where would you like to start?" he asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Which swimming style would you like to learn first?"
"Which ones are there?"
"There's the breast stroke, the backstroke, the butterfly, and the freestyle." Trying not to picture the mental images some of the names conjured or to allow those mental images to influence her decision, Diana blurted out, "Backstroke."
"Alright, lay back."
"What?"
Bruce laughed a little, moving his hand up to his hair. The sight of his biceps and triceps made Diana's heart beat faster. And when he placed his hand on her lower back, she couldn't suppress a shiver.
He noticed. "Maybe I should have Alfred adjust the temperature of the pool."
Diana just shrugged.
"Now, just lean back," he said at her ear..
Following his promptings, Diana tilted back, highly aware of the placement of his hand on her back. Bruce's other hand rested on her stomach. "You don't need to arch your back so much."
When they had corrected that problem, his hand moved to support the back of her head.
"I feel like I'm floating," she sighed happily.
"Not quite. I'd have to actually let go…Now I want you to put the arm closest to me in the air."
He peered down into her face, and said, "I'm going to let go of your head, so make sure you don't let it fall back too far. Otherwise, you'll be inhaling water." Diana nodded, fiercely focused on learning all the right moves.
Her concentration was broken the instant he moved his hand to her arm. "This should be stretched out, like this." His fingers trailed along the length of her skin, until his hand was grasped around hers.
"As your hand falls back into the water, you are going to rotate your shoulder and your body is going to tilt towards me." He watched as she slowly performed the motion. "Good. Now notice how your hand rotates before it plunges into the water again." He guided her through the motion, but rather than following their arms as they disappeared behind her head into the water, Diana watched his face.
She bit her lip, waiting for his next words.
By now her hand was submerged behind her head. "Now you need to bring your hand towards your hip, keeping it straight, so you can start the cycle over again. Of course, your other hand is supposed to be moving too, but we'll work on that a little later."
Diana was moving her straight arm in an underwater semi-circle when Bruce asked, "So what did you want to talk with me about?"
The image of them kissing in the restaurant flashed through her mind, and Diana unconsciously hurried through her motion. Incorrectly. Rather than just passing through the water, her fingers rubbed against Bruce's thighs. Or something down there that belonged to him. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Even if she did, she didn't get time to think about it.
His reaction was instantaneous. She could just hear his sharp intake of breath before the hand on her back disappeared and she sank like a stone in the water, gulping down a large mouthful of chlorinated water in the process.
She came up for air, spluttering and choking on the water, her hair a bedraggled mess covering her face.
"Sorry about that," Bruce said apologetically.
Diana was still coughing too hard to say anything. Bruce began patting her back, but when the fit had passed, he started rubbing slow circles instead. Needless to say, she preferred this back stroke much more than the other one.
"Maybe we started off with too hard a stroke."
Too embarrassed to do anything but nod miserably, Diana tried to hide behind her hair, but Bruce wouldn't let her. As he brushed the black strands out of her eyes, she stared down into the water.
Even with the refraction of the water, she still had a pretty good look at what was underneath.
"It wasn't that bad for your first time."
Underserved compliments from Bruce were a rarity. They were also a lie. Diana raised a skeptical brow.
"What? I thought you looked good."
"Really?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Well, your swimming was terrible, but everything else looked…" His eyes dropped for just a brief moment to her mouth before they were back at her eyes. "Beautiful."
"I have a very dedicated teacher."
Bruce tilted his head down close to hers, this time his eyes unmistakably trained on her lips. "Those are the best kind."
She could almost taste the glistening drops of water on his mouth when the dulcet tones of J'onn J'onnz echoed in her mind. "Batman and Wonder Woman, I hate to interrupt your physical…therapy, but Superman is asking that we meet in the dining room in ten minutes."
Somehow the magic was lost, and reality came crashing down around her. Unfortunately, that came with the realization that her eyes, nose, and throat burned from swallowing the chlorine.
"Looks like we have a League meeting." Bruce released her. "We'll need to finish your lesson later."
"Sounds good." Hopefully by then her throat passages would be sufficiently recuperated for the other activities she had planned.
Together they swam over to the side of the pool closest to the door.
"After you, Princess." Bruce gestured to the door.
"No, after you.. I insist."
Stealing one more glance at the muscles of his back and arms as he pushed himself out of the water, Diana had trouble making a decision. Having now seen him from the front and back, she couldn't decide which end she liked more.
"Need some help?"
"Uh, no." Diana scrambled out of the pool, fully aware that he was ogling her just as much as she had done him.
He handed her a towel, and they both started drying off.
"Do you have any plans after the meeting?" she asked.
"Just some more physical therapy."
"Going swimming again?" Diana tried but couldn't keep from sounding hopeful.
"No…How do you feel about saunas?"
A hot enclosed space with Bruce in nothing more than a robe?
"I can't think of anything better."
Points to those who can point out the Zoolander references. =D
