Chapter 2 –

Some things can be communicated with just a look. Dick Grayson knew he had the talent to convey things in such a manner. But working with Damian had a tendency to make him doubt even his best skills. This would not be easy. Though the beginnings of trust were there, just now starting to bud, he knew that with Damian, you were always walking on eggshells.

Damian was not used to intimacy; his chief method of displaying emotion was via violence and skilled martial artistry. This was how he dealt with frustration, sadness, and happiness. To him, it had all been the same. But don't tell Dick that he hadn't seen cracks in the boy's armour here and there. He could see them now, muted light of the lamp casting shadows upon the boy's face but catching the subtlety of his blue eyes. Possibly even the desire that he hoped smoldered beneath his steely surface, his outer shell of defense that was almost always engaged.

He resituated a hand on Damian's shoulder, tentatively. "Grayson…" Damian began in a warning tone.

"Don't tell me you haven't… wanted to…"

Damian made a thinking noise, frowned, and looked at the ground "Don't make me say it." This was Damian's ultimatum. Still human, still not without needs and desires, it only took the action to sway him.

A tip of the chin and Dick resumed kissing him, amazed at how soft lips could be on a boy equipped with such a steely exterior. There was hesitation but Damian's hands found their way to Dick's hips, settled there, flexed. Years of repressed feelings for his sidekick seemed to flood to the surface. There were never words for it; just a sort of entity that had grown and been nurtured by the working relationship… by the bond forged after Bruce's death, when they both lost their father.

Damian pulled back suddenly, acutely aware of drifting hands seeking lower on his own hips.

"Don't worry…" Dick reassured.

"I'm not… worried." Damian looked up at him. Then, with a ferocity catching Dick completely off guard, he initiated the kiss, stumbling them backwards onto the bed in a heap. In everything Damian ever did in the field, he was straightforward and fearless. This sudden turn of events was no exception and Dick sort of liked being on the receiving end instead of the one in control, the one giving the commands. In any partnership, there is give and take. Dick was happy to see Damian learning this. Especially since he always wondered if sometimes Damian only acted brave; he was certainly good at hiding any misgivings, any true fears. But Dick wanted honesty, wanted bared-soul candor.

After what seemed an eternity spent getting to know the curves of each others lips, collarbones and necklines, Damian leaned up on one arm. "You're not bad at this, Grayson."

"You neither, little D."

"Little?" Damian growled. "Not so anymore, eh", he boasted, flexing his other arm. Dick caught sigh of the bulge of his bicep in that soft light, accentuating the build and slope, making him want to know more of the boy's body.

"Well, I'm Big D so you can't have that nickname." Dick gave him a goofy sort of grin.

"Stroking your own ego, as usual, Grayson." Damian scoffed, sitting up and removing his shirt, revealing sculpted abs, golden and beautiful. He then began unbuttoning his jeans, pushing them down past boxer briefs. "Well?" he asked, intimating with a nod that Dick was falling behind.

"Hmm, one sec." Dick had a glint in his eye, something wily, as he hopped from the bed. Damian followed his movement to the closet where he held something behind his back before turning off the light. "What are you…?" Damian wondered aloud before Dick hopped back onto the bed and sought, with fingers alone, another kiss.

As their eyes adjusted, both men felt the excitement in not being able to see, only feel. Dick removed his own boxers before tending to Damian's, hands slowly gliding back up his legs.

"You're kind of a procrastinator, Grayson." Damian half-whispered, arching up in the older man's touch.

"And you need to learn some patience. Now, turn over."

"What are you planning?" Damian asked warily.

Dick shushed him and reached out to make sure the boy was flat on his stomach.

"A lesson in obedience. You could use it."

Damian spat out a –Ttt - right before his entire body shuddered as a smooth, somewhat wet metal object traced the curves of his back and downward. That did explain the fumbling Grayson was doing near the nightstand, he supposed. At first, he had no idea what was going on but expected this to be, after all, some kind of punishment for his previous transgression. That's when he figured out what was now parting his cheeks, slowly, seductively. Taking away the sense of sight changed the sensation immensely and Damian instinctively tensed right before the object was removed.

"Dick?" he questioned.

"Hang on…" An arm snaked underneath Damian's midsection, raising him up onto his knees. "Stay." Dick commanded. Soon, something replaced the former object – definitely a finger - upon Damian's ass, spreading him open and entering him, eliciting a slight moan from the younger man. Though only one mere digit, Damian was inexperienced and tight. Pulling out, Damian whimpered but his tune changed when something larger and much colder was pushing inside him. A feral sort of instinctual growl left his lips as Dick slowly worked the escrima stick in and out of him, working in time with the rhythm Damian's hips had found. He muttered, through clenched teeth, "Goddamn."

"Is it good?"

"Mmm hmmm…" And Damian leaned back with much deliberation, yearning, needing more.

"Fitting though…" Dick whispered, slowly, torturously removing the stick almost until it slipped out, hesitating, then sliding it back in. Damian was panting now, his arms slightly shaky – Dick could tell – and he knew the boy was over stimulated. He leaned into Damian, brushing his lips against his ear, the tiny hairs that just barely grazed the top. "How long do you think you can hold out?"

"Nnngh, not… long." Damian leaned into the breathy whisper, wantonly giving himself over to the assault on his senses. In the darkness, Dick found Damien's hard cock and gave it a couple strokes. "Come for me."

"Dammit, Grayson," Damian cursed as he let go, then, as Dick's hands continued to work him from both sides. Spent, Damian fell to the bed on his stomach in a heap, realizing that Dick still held him, even as he fell to the boy's side. After a few silent moments, he rolled to be free of Dick's arm and spat angrily, "Now I kind of feel like I should be punished." With that, he shoved himself off the bed and left the room as silently as he'd entered.