I spent the next couple days half in a high from having kissed Dickie and once that wore off I started kicking myself for leaving him with Slade. All these terrible scenarios went through my head, most involving abuse and some kinky BDSM scene. I hadn't seen or heard from him since that night. So, yeah I ended up panicking a bit…and broke into the tower. Not to check up and made sure Dick-head was okay or anything, but to make sure he wasn't dead. 'Cause then Bats would get involved and it was just too much hassle. It was late by the time I got to the tower and I scaled all the way up to the window I knew was Dickie's. Naturally, it was locked but I managed to rig it to open so I could slide in.
I thought I was some sly and sneaky tough shit as I slithered to the floor. That was until I looked up to see Dickhead in uniform sitting in a chair and watching me, arms crossed. We stared at each other before I offered a weak wave.
"Hey." I greeted. Dickie watched me for a long moment before slowly shaking his head.
"I watched you come in around the tower. You nearly tripped one of Cy's alarms." Dickie responded from where he sat in his chair. I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head.
"Did I look good?" I asked as I stood.
"Why are you here, Red?" Dickie asked, ignoring my question. I considered making something up just to get a rise out of him. Why was he even awake? It was two in the morning. He needed to get some sleep.
"He didn't hurt you did he? When I left?" I asked before Dick could speak again. Dick stared at me in surprise before seeming to come back to himself, knowing who I was talking about.
"No," He shook his head and I relaxed. "He didn't hurt me."
"Good…I mean…I'd hate for him to have messed up that face of yours even more than it already was." Nice save Red. Nice save. Dick snorted, still watching me in interest.
"Of course." He conceded. I shuffled, feeling awkward.
"You're not upset are you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and standing on the balls of my feet. "About me kissing you?"
"I was surprised." Dick admitted, slowly standing. "But I kissed back."
"Yeah…you did." That had been a shock, but I didn't bother questioning Dickie on it. He always had his weird little reasons for things. I knew better than to try to get into that brain of his. We stood in silence for a moment and I could feel Dick studying me.
"So, uhhh…you and Starfire?" I finally asked in an attempt at small talk. Dick snorted.
"We decided we worked better as friends…I'm not sure she'd go for you though." Ah, so he was bringing up my little flirtation with her. I waved my hand dismissively.
"A shame, but I've got my eyes elsewhere." Dickie cocked his head at this and I swooned a bit.
"Oh? Like what?" He asked, tone taking on a painfully familiar light tease. He was flirting with me. My heart hammered in my chest. My Dickie was coming back.
"On a certain pretty bird." I teased back.
"I'm hardly pretty." Dick argued and I sniggered again.
"Modesty will get you anywhere." Flirting with Dickie-bird was like going to therapy. But the therapist was hot and you wanted to stick your tongue down their throat. I turned the lights off, allowing my eyes to adjust to the dark as I took my mask off. Dickie made a surprised noise at the dark, but didn't try to stop me.
"This isn't a smart idea." He commented, sounding more amused than anything. I ripped off my mask.
"Which makes it all the more fun, kid." I reached for Dickie, taking his hands in mine as I slowly pulled his gloves off. Dickie allowed me, barely seeming to breathe. I couldn't make out his face in the dark as I allowed my hand to move up his chest to reach his face. Dickie jerked in surprise and I quietly shushed him.
"Is this okay?" I asked, fingers brushing his mask. I knew he was debating his response. This was going against everything Batman had taught us, but he was curious and Dickie's curiosity was insatiable. He nodded and I peeled the mask off his face, setting it aside. I didn't kiss him, just quietly touched his face ran my fingers over his eyelashes. He followed suit, tracing my lips and nose.
No matter how much like the Bat he pretended to be, he was still Dick Grayson and he was still more interested in the mystery I presented rather than the danger. He moved his fingers through my hair and over my eyebrow. For a second I was afraid he would recognize me just my touching me, but there was no recognition, only curiosity.
I moved forward and gently pressed my lips against his. Goldie allowed it, slowly kissing back. My hand moved to cup the back of his neck, running my tongue over his bottom lip. His mouth slowly opened and I dove in. Kissing Dickie was…well it was obvious I was in love with the little shit. I had wanted to kiss him for so long and it was bittersweet now that I was doing it. I was finally kissing him, but he had no idea who I really was. That alone had this whole thing I was doing seem wrong. But I was never one to just stop, and Dickie always kissed back.
It was a stupid idea, one I would have never made in the future, but I was young and dumb enough to think it would work. I wanted to 'seduce' Dickie, to make him fall in love with me and ease him to me revealing who I really was. The attraction was already there. I just needed to offer a final push. He'd be so surprised to see I was alive, but too in love to care who I was.
I started sneaking into the tower more…or more like, Dick started sneaking me into the tower. We'd watch movies in his room, both masked and both considering each step carefully. Dickie wasn't willing to share his identity with a thief and I wasn't willing to give away my only advantage. Dickie liked marital arts movies. I could remember watching them with him back in Gotham. We had both loved sitting together on the couch and eating cereal early in the morning while we watched old films.
It was sort of like old times. We'd spend the night watching movies, sometimes talking. We didn't speak about anything personal. It was just time for us to hang out. Not as thieves vs heroes. Just two teenage boys that occasionally made out.
"This movie blows." I commented as the next one came on screen and Dick sniggered in glee.
"You're just not feeling the aster." Dick commented and I turned to him in surprise. He looked shocked that he had even said it. I hadn't expected to hear that word from him and now I wanted to keep him on track.
"Aster? What does that mean?" I pressed and for a second I thought Goldie wasn't gonna tell me. That he was horrified with what he just said. Then he slowly smiled, stretching back against the bed.
"It's the opposite of disaster." He finally admitted and I grinned behind my mask. I knew there was some of the old Dickie in there. This new Robin was just as fun, but it lacked what Dick had back in Gotham. Even glimpses like this were amazing.
"You made it up?"
"Sometimes the English language needs a bit of spice." Dickie argued and I laughed.
"I like it." I assured him and Dickie offered me a small smile.
"Got anymore words?" I asked and I swear if I had seen Dickie's eyes they would have been lit up in excitement.
Wally West was a little shit, and not the good kind of little shit like Goldie. He was always there. Always at Goldie's side when the Justice League and JV Justice would meet up. Batman was finally bringing me along on these meetings and I stuck to Dick's side like glue. He didn't mind, always grinning at me and playfully shoving me. The team wasn't all horrible. Aqualad seemed okay, even if he was a bit holier than thou. Miss Martian was actually kind of funny and her crush on Superboy, even funnier. Superboy was like an angstier version of Superman. Artemis was okay. Friendly enough, but sort of suspicious of me. Then there was Roy…or Speedy. The guy always seemed peeved, but he was friendly with me. West could just fuck off.
West obviously had feelings for the Artemis girl, and I think she liked him back. That would have been fine. Two annoying teenagers making eyes at each other was nothing. It was the other set of eyes that bugged me. Dickie looked at Wally when no one else was paying attention. I think Dickie liked Wally. Like liked him. West never noticed, and if he did he never said anything on it.
I'm sure he just saw them as the best of friends. It was always those two, sniggering and fucking around. Wally had taken on the role of big brother, while Dickie kept his feelings to himself. Kind of like what I did. But I think, Wally actually had an idea that Dickie liked him. He'd always throw an arm around his shoulder and nudge him around even though Dickie's face would become redder than a tomato. I wondered if Wally was just doing it all to fuck with Dick.
Wally obvious thought about as much of me as I did with him. We'd sort of scowl in each other's directions, not willing to talk. I had nothing to say to the asshole. He monopolized all of Goldie's time during these missions. His uniform was ugly too. Dickie could do better.
"I think it will soon be time for Robin II to begin his training." Superman commented after he returned from his meeting with the rest of the league. I had been lounging around with the rest of the JV League. We had all agreed to a poker game. Dickie had been perched on the arm of the couch next to me. West and Artemis had been sitting across from us, all of us waiting as Aqualad finished passing out the poker cards. Batman fixed me with a long stare and I shifted, almost pushing Dickie off the couch if he hadn't had such quick reflexes.
"It will take sometime before he can go onto the field." Wonder Woman pointed out. "He's still young. Perhaps once he turns thirteen we can test him on his ability with the team. None of the Young Justice kids said anything, but Dickie was beaming at me so it was okay.
"It will take more training, but he certainly has potential." Batman admitted, observing me. Super Woman seemed happy with the admission. Batman muttered something to himself and the Justice League all moved to continue talking in private.
"We already have a Robin." West complained as soon as they were out of the room, glaring at me and I sneered. Dickie shot him a withering glare before looking to me and smiling.
"I think it's a great idea." He assured me. I might have puffed out a bit in satisfaction. Wally rolled his eyes.
"He's still going to need more training but there is no reason he shouldn't be allowed to join." Aqualad piped up in that calm voice of his. I was still surprised that they even wanted me on the team.
"He's too young." Wally argued and Roy snorted.
"You heard Wonder Woman. They'd wait to see how he is by thirteen. It'll give him a bit of time to train up." West waved off the comment in annoyance. I wanted to throw something at him.
"He's too violent." He argued and I almost had to agree with that. I mean, come on. I liked punching things. I tended to go overboard, but fuck Wally's opinion.
"That's why he's going to be trained," Superboy softly pointed out. "He'll be able to learn that way."
"Plus I don't think it's a good idea if all he does is make googly eyes at you every time we're on the field. The last thing we want to happen is for someone to get hurt because he's too busy staring at Rob." He said this to Dickie. Dead silence answered. I nearly sank into the couch in horror. This fucking asshole actually had the fucking nerve to say that out loud.
"Kid Flash!" Miss Martian gasped, scandalized. I heard Artemis hiss something at Wally. I didn't look up but I felt Dickie move off the edge of the couch. Away from me…Kid Flash had just ruined everything. Now Dickie would never speak to me.
"What a hypocrite you are." Dickie suddenly said and my head shot up. He was glaring at West, arms crossed. "If that really was such an issue to you than maybe you should stop doing the same thing every time Artemis breathes." Dickie sounded pissed. I heard Aqualad intake of breath.
"Robin, that's not fair." Artemis tried to gently argue, but she seemed to be considering it too.
"Listen, Robin-" Wally tried to speak up but Dickie swiftly cut him off.
"Furthermore, since we're on the subject, I've been making googly eyes at you for months, but that never seemed to bother you any. So enlighten us, what's the difference?" No one spoke. Wally's mouth was hanging open and I think mine was too. Dickie had just angrily outed his crush on Wally and didn't even seem to give a shit.
"That's what I thought." Dickie coldly stated. "Don't you ever talk about him like that again." He coldly glared at everyone in the room, doing a great impression of Batman. He was daring them all to bring up what he had admitted. None of them dared.
"C'mon," Dickie turned to me, suddenly beaming. "Let's go." Without looking at any of those assholes, I stood and followed Dickie out of the room. We walked for a bit, just exploring the various rooms. Dickie was waiting for me to speak up. It would have been a perfect opportunity. I could have told him how I felt. Even if he didn't like me back, it would have been good to let go of. Dickie looked to me and I shifted awkwardly. This building suddenly felt to small, like I was being squeezed to death.
"Kid Flash is an asshole." I finally muttered and Dickie smiled slightly, nodding.
"Yeah, he is," He agreed. I knew they'd end up making up. They always did, but right now Dickie was on my side. I hope Kid Flash groveled. It was the least he deserved. Dickie shifted from one foot to another. "And what he said-"
"It's not true," I suddenly snapped. "It's not like I like you or anything. You're the closest thing I have to a brother, so I'm a bit protective." The argument was half true, but it still sucked to say. I forced myself to look at Dick. "Can we just drop it?" I nearly begged. Dickie smiled at me and nodded.
"Okay."