Instant


Despite what a lot of people thought, Tim had never had a thing for Dick. Robin, sure, but that was more hero worship than anything. Plus he was Robin now, so…

And jokes about his flexibility aside, Dick was straighter than an arrow (and still hung up on Barbara, even though she hooked up with Dinah months ago). Roy Harper, however…

And Tim knew he had a bad boy fixation, but he didn't care. What he did care about was making sure that, whenever the Titans and the Outsiders worked together (which was a lot more often than most capes counted on) he didn't get anyone hurt and/or killed because he was ogling Arsenal's ass.

That was what the after-battle celebrations were for. When Roy was too drunk to notice him, and he was too tipsy to care if Roy did.

For a moment, upon waking, Tim almost thought that that was what had happened: he'd had too much of the 'No, it's not spiked; no, really, we wouldn't do that with minors around' junkyard punch that Grace was so proud of (and that was probably two-hundred proof, if such a thing existed in this galaxy), had gotten drunk, and had crashed upon whatever flat surface was nearest.

Considering the way his head was hammering, the taste of dust in his mouth, the feel of some sort of mold growing on his tongue, and the fact that his body ached all over…Tim wasn't entirely sure that that wasn't what had happened. But the surface he was lying on wasn't flat – it was the velvet-glove-over-iron-fist silken steel of a muscular body – and what he remembered from the previous day was that his memories showed no sign of a Titans/Outsiders battle against badness…and every sign of one of Poison Ivy's more amorous and kinky attacks.

It was probably a very bad thing, waking up somewhere – he didn't know where – naked. Naked, with Roy Harper underneath him. But considering how long Tim had been wanting to be in that position with that very same archer…he really couldn't bring himself to care, or to give a fuck.

A quick sweep of his surroundings revealed that they were in the back room of Dinah's flower shop, sprawled across her foldout couch in the back. Convenient, that.

He sat up carefully, trying not to disturb his couchmate, and winced despite himself. Apparently 'fuck' had figured into the equation at some point the previous night. Tim did a few testing stretches, and nodded in satisfaction; a few extra katas in his morning workout, and he'd be street-worthy that evening, if a little achy. They'd actually been more careful in their passion than he would have given the two of them credit for, considering how potent Ivy's pollen had been. He hadn't even been able to think beyond, 'Yes, need more of him now!' until Roy had tried to make him stop.

Tim bit his lip and eyed the still sleeping archer; maybe he should have listened to Roy. It wasn't exactly the most auspicious beginning to a relationship. But what was done was done; he couldn't change that, and wasn't sure he would even if he wanted to.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Tim started looking around for answers to fill in the blanks of his memory. Another quick glance around the back room revealed a couple of condoms among the detritus scattered around, and since Tim knew he didn't carry any in his civilian guise (and he'd recently switched to Ziploc bags as Robin, because they made much better evidence bags, thank you very much, Hornywing) he knew they had to be Roy's. His estimation of the archer's sense of responsibility ratcheted up a notch; not that it had ever exactly been low to begin with.

Though it was most probably years of lack of responsibility on Roy's part that lead to him being able to think of protection even when drugged out of his rational, coherent mind.

Spying his pants, and what had to be Roy's boxers – he'd never owned a pair of silk purple ones with yellow smiley faces on them in his life, despite the weird gag gifts Dick gave him – on the floor next to the couch, Tim decided he should probably get dressed. Ignoring his pounding head, he followed the trail of clothing and brought the bundle back to their impromptu bed. He was only halfway through buttoning his pants when he heard Roy groan.

Start as you mean to go, came his dad's voice in his head, and for once Tim decided that the late Jack Drake had, for once, given some good advice there. "Good morning, Roy," he said, opting for pleasant contentment over overdone cheerfulness. Even if a rather-more-large-than-small part of him was jumping up and down in glee at finally having Roy Harper mostly where he wanted him.

Roy tensed at his words, and turned over on his back, eyes widening once they caught sight of him. "Hell," he croaked, head thumping back against the couch cushions. "It wasn't a dream."

"No, most people think of Bludhaven as a nightmare," Tim quipped, then mentally smacked himself. Levity wasn't the way to calm Roy down; not right now.

Roy winced, frowned at him, and simultaneously levered himself up with his left arm, while using his right to rub some feeling back into his face. Once he was in a sitting position, he snagged the rather moth-eaten afghan that they had apparently covered themselves up with and tugged it up over himself. He then eyed Tim up and down, before demanding, finger stabbing at him in seeming accusation, "Why are you not freaking out?"

Tim shrugged, conveying a nonchalance he didn't really feel. "I'm not upset." At the moment; whatever Roy said could change that.

Roy blinked, obviously startled. "You're not upset?"

Tim nodded.

Roy's face scrunched up in skepticism as he asked, "How can that be? You just had sex, against your will–"

"–against my inhibitions," Tim corrected, because really? His better judgment had already judged Roy as worthy.

Roy flushed, but continued, "–with someone you barely even know–"

"–I know more about you than you think, Roy," Tim interjected. And you know him biblically now, a snarky little voice that sounded like a mix of Dinah and Babs added. "And I'd like to know you even better."

"–because of some crazy Plant Princess's sex pollen, and you're okay with that?" Roy finished his question, hands waving in the air as if to illustrate his point – but they only succeeded in underlining how much he was freaking out. "You – we wouldn't have done this if Ivy hadn't–"

Tim caught the slip; maybe telling Roy the truth would only make things worse, but Roy seemed to be feeling more guilty than freaked out. Maybe, just maybe… "Maybe you wouldn't have, but I would," Tim replied with all seriousness. He was unable to keep his cheeks from coloring, however; there was only so much nonchalance even he could project when he was half-dressed with a naked man. A very sexy naked man, one whom he'd wanted for months.

Roy took a moment to digest that, his own face flushing red as his hair as realization dawned. "Oh."

Tim allowed the moment of silence to stretch to Plasticman proportions before he finally snapped it like a rubber band. "Look, I realize this…was a surprising situation, and it happened very suddenly, but that doesn't mean we have to pretend it was a momentary aberration and act like it never happened." Which is what he wants to do, I'm sure, a dry voice that sounded like a mix of Dick and Steph added.

Roy eyed him doubtfully. "Oh?"

"Oh," Tim replied dryly. "I think we could make this work."

"'This'?" Roy asked, so off-kilter he actually made air quotes. And consequently dropping the musty blanket half-draped over his chest, giving Tim a very nice view of his…lower abdomen.

Good thing he was a master at multi-tasking; he could strategize and ogle at the same time. "A relationship, Roy. Don't try to snow me; I know you know what they are." Roy tried to pretend that he'd do anything on two legs, but he had Lian to think about – and future siblings to be careful of – and Tim knew that he was very selective in his conquests.

Possibly he shouldn't have used his Bat-training for stalking his not-secret-anymore crush, but since he didn't exactly know how to go about things the normal way, it seemed his only recourse.

Licking his lips, Roy's eyes flickered around the room like a firefly, looking anywhere but at Tim. Finally, he allowed, "We could give it a shot."

Tim felt a smile spread slowly across his face. "Yeah?"

Roy's smile wasn't his usual self-assured brilliant grin – but it was sincere. "Yeah."