Archive: Fine, but if you want it, please ask first.
Feedback: Hell, yes.
Meeting
"Okay, I know it's getting late and everyone has things to do, but before everyone goes, Speedy and I have something we want to say. Okay, Roy?"
There was a general relaxing in the main lounge at Titan's Tower and some whispers between the members here and there, some laughter and some movement to leave; they'd gotten back from a group patrol about two hours ago then decided to watch a movie which had just ended. As far as everyone as concerned, the evening was pretty much over but evidently it was about to get a little longer. Donna got up from where she'd been sitting between Dick and Roy on the central couch but stopped, standing in front of the two boys as soon as Dick started talking.
"C'mon, Robin, this isn't a meeting, y'know, you can lighten up a little for once—you won't hurt yourself." Wally was in a mood and it wasn't the kind of mood to sit around and listen to his friends' deepest confessions, not that he knew what was coming or anything.
Roy gave him a dirty look that shut him up and started. "Sure. Might as well get it over with." Roy shifted a little on the couch as he and Dick exchanged a look. This was something different and everyone focused on the two, having no idea what this was about. He gave Robin a nod and started. "It's like this, Robin—Dick and I are friends. I mean we're friends."
It took a few moments before anyone reacted or even got what they were talking about and Donna was the first to grasp what they were saying. The look on her face wasn't unhappy; more confused than anything. "You mean…like you're together 'friends'? Like you're dating 'friends'?"
Dick gave her a neutral look. "Like we live together at the Manor and share a room 'friends'."
"But the Manor has like 700 rooms, why would you two have to squeeze into the same one? It's not like Bruce would care about the light bill or anything."
Roy smiled, Dick bit the inside of his cheek and Donna gave Wally an incredulous look while Garth just shrugged. "About time." He put a hand on Wally's shoulder, leaned over and whispered in his ear as Wally's eyes went wide and his face went white.
"No way." He stared at Robin and Speedy in shock. "You mean you're, you're—you know. You're like, God—you're like…that way?"
Speedy tried to help, he really did. "You mean like 'gay'?" It was too easy; he turned his head and fulfilled a fantasy he'd had a while ago. Putting his hand on the back f Dick's head, he pulled him closer and planted a major kiss on the lips, tongue and everything. Then he did it again. By the time they broke Roy's arm was around Dick's shoulders and they were pressed together so closely you couldn't have gotten a piece of tissue paper between them.
"Great Hera, when did all this start?" Donna seemed happy for them, thank God—with any luck the others would be okay with it, too.
"Maybe six months ago?" Dick looked at Roy who nodded agreement.
Wally managed to close his mouth enough to sputter, "Holy crap…Six months? But…how? I mean, when did you…? And how…Jesus!"
"We've only been living together at the Manor for the last two months; before that we were just sort of …dating for q while." Dick knew this would be hard for Wally, he just hadn't thought it would be quite this hard.
"Yeah but…I mean…God!"
Garth was so okay with this that he was ready to move on. "Wally, get over it—they're living together, no big deal."
"But they're…"
"Having sex. We know, we get it. Good for them. Now was that it or is there more because I have to be getting back to Poseidonis or Arthur with pitch another a fit." Garth was even more cool with this than Donna was and she had less than no problem, other than her ideas of maybe hooking up with Roy at some point seemed likely to fail, at least for now, anyway. "Okay, congratulations, guys and I'll see you in a couple of weeks unless I hear from you before that. Later." That was it; Garth was out the door and headed down to the Titan's dock and home. Talk about easy.
Donna gave them each a kiss on the cheek, said something about how they could have said something sooner then suddenly remembered a dinner date, leaving just Dick, Roy and Wally still around the table.
"Hey, Roy? Why don't you go get some Chinese food for us, okay? Wally—you like beef and broccoli, right? And an egg roll?" Roy knew what was going on, nodded and left to let the other two talk this out. Dick watched Wally sitting with a table between them, using it as a shield. "Wally? You going to be okay with this?"
"That's a hell of a question—what do you think? I mean, damnit, you and Roy? Roy? First I had no clue about either of you being gay and then I find out you two are screwing—living with each other. I mean, it's a lot to take in…" He stopped, turning red at what he'd just said. "I mean…ah, shit."
Dick knew he'd be upset, but for him to swear meant his world was seriously rocked. "It's not as big a deal as you're making it, it really isn't. Okay, maybe it's not what any of us expected—including me and Roy, but it's really good. Can't you just take it for what it is?"
"Oh don't even try that 'we're still the same people and if you're our real friend you'll be happy for us' garbage. Don't even go there."
"But it's true. We are the same people and we are happy together."
Wally got up; pacing so fast Dick was starting to get nauseous. "Wally, c'mon, slow down or I'll throw up here." He did, slightly and Dick softened his voice. He knew Wally would have the hardest time with this, so did Roy and they both wanted to help him understand but Wally was closer to Dick and so he was the one to have this talk. "What's the real problem—the gay thing or because you didn't know about it before hand?"
"Try all of the above. When did this start? How did you two…you know. How did it…?"
"How did we hook up?" Funny, no one had asked them that. Probably no one wanted to intrude or something. He shrugged; it had seemed so simple at the time, almost like it was there all along, inevitable and just waiting to happen. "About a year ago I started noticing that Roy and I were getting closer—no, not like lovers or anything like that, just that we were becoming closer as friends. It was all completely straight but if I had a problem or something was bothering me I always seemed to end up talking with him about it and he was doing the same, especially after the thing with the drugs. It was still just as friends tough, nothing else, for a long time. I don't think either of us even thought about taking it any further or that there was any place even to take it." Robin walked over to the small fridge in the corner and pulled out a bottle or water, handing Wally one as well. Opening the cap, he went on. "One night—do you remember the night we all got back from Japan last fall? Everyone went home almost as soon as we walked in here because they were tired but I had to finish the report and Roy didn't have anywhere to go because Ollie was out with Canary again. He helped me get it done then we got talking and decided to just stay here because we were both too tired to drive home."
Wally's eyes went wide. "And…?"
"And neither of us meant anything by it—Christ, how many nights have we slept here? It was late, we were tired and there was no reason to leave. We talked for a while then around two-thirty or three I decided to turn in. Roy did the same and that, I thought, was that."
"But you said this was when you hooked up."
"Right. Maybe half an hour later, I was almost asleep, my door opened, he came in and sat on the edge of my mattress and said his ceiling had a leak in it right over his bed and could he bunk in with me." He took a drink, a long pull on his water, gave Wally a look and went on. "Okay, I knew a leak wasn't the reason he was there—hell, we have five guest rooms so I figured out what he wanted but the thing was…" he trailed off a little, as if he was lost in the memory or maybe didn't have the words.
"The thing was…?"
"The thing was I realized I wanted him to get in the bed with me, that I didn't want to be alone and I wanted him, not like for sex but—specifically I wanted Roy to be with me. I think I just pulled the blanket aside and he got in."
"And that was it? Just like that—friends one second, 'sleeping together' the next?"
Dick smiled; Wally could be pretty literal sometimes. "No, we just slept together, barely touched and if one of us accidentally moved a leg or something we apologized. None of the rest started for a few weeks. At first we really did just sleep together."
Wally muttered under his breath, "Yeah, right."
"That's the truth. We just talked and then fell asleep for like the first six weeks or two months. Nothing else happened except we were getting closer and I doubt if there's anything we didn't talk about those nights." Another sip of water, "I think we were both afraid of taking it any further or being the one to make the first move."
"And then?" Wally was so not believing this.
"And then one night I was here and I was waiting for Roy to come into my room and he didn't and that was strange because we'd really gotten into the habit every night. I knew he was in the Tower because I'd checked the monitor but he hadn't even stopped by to say hello so I got worried and went looking. I found him down in the garage; just sitting in his car with all the lights and the engine off so I asked him what was going on. He said he and Ollie had another fight because Ollie didn't believe he was still clean and they ended up throwing punches. Roy ran and ended up here. Months later he said he had come looking for me."
"How did he know you'd be here? You usually stay at the Manor."
"He called, Alfred told him where I was. Anyway, he wasn't hurt too badly, at least not physically so I got him cleaned up and put him to bed. Yes, in my bed." Dick took another sip of his water, stalling for time. "He was upset about Ollie not believing he was clean and I ended up, you know…he was upset and so I just held him and he cried it out. And if you tell him you know about that you're dead meat, West." He gave Wally a hard look. "I mean it; you didn't hear that."
"Yeah, sure. So you're in bed and you're the big strong white knight and you rescued him from the big bad Arrow and he looked up at you with damp eyes and a runny nose and bells rang—that about what happened, Robin? You got to play hero and he fell for it?"
That seriously annoyed Dick, Wally wasn't getting this. "He was hurting and I helped him so call it whatever you want, but that night we turned a corner and after that we, you know, we…"
"You 'moved your friendship to a new plane', right?" Wally was giving him a look like he was listening to some kid explaining why he took the package of gum from the store.
"You don't believe this, do you? That we're taking this seriously and it's real. What, you think this is just some kind of experiment or fling or something? Is that what you think?"
"What I think is that you two guys have something that's easy and convenient and which evidently Bruce is letting you get away with for some reason and that it's going to fall apart either when you're outted—as you know damn well is going to happen—or when one of you wakes up and sees what you're doing." He stood up, ready to walk out. "Maybe that's way the Bat hasn't put a stop to it yet; he knows it will burn out on it's own." He got his jacket to leave but paused for a moment. "What I want to know is what happens to the Titans when you two implode. Any ideas on that one, Robin?" And he was gone, doors slamming as he went.
"Well, that went well." Roy was leaning against the jam of the other doorway. "'Think he'll come around on his own or should one of us talk to him?"
"Shit." He shook his head, it had gone even worse than he thought it would and he knew he'd mishandled it. "I think we should give him a day then talk to him again." Dick finished his water and looked at Roy now standing beside him, "Do you mind my telling him about how we got together?"
Roy shrugged. "No matter. Besides, you gave him the G rated version—you didn't tell him about the shower or the pommel horse."
"And watch his eyes bleed? No thanks…and speaking of the pommel horse, have I ever shown you some of the things you can do with a vaulting table?"
Roy crossed over and was beside Dick. "I thought you wanted Chinese."
"Damn, I forgot that's where I sent you—you got it? Food first, vaulting table later."
"Damn Grayson, remind me to explain priorities to you one of these days, will you?"
Late the next night, around midnight, Dick called and asked Wally if he would be willing to meet with them at the Manor. With what seemed like a combination of reluctance and anger, he agreed, showing up about two minutes later. "Well?"
"'C'mon, take a walk with us." They were out back by the big pool but took off down a well-maintained garden path that lead down to the private lake. The three strolled the paths, taking the long way, no one touching anyone and after about twenty minutes or so, Wally seemed to relax a little.
"So you two were serious yesterday, weren't you?" The other two looked at him. Wally was in the middle, Roy and Dick flanking him on either side. "You're not taking me down to the lake to kill me, are you?"
"Yes."
Wally turned his head towards Roy as he tripped, barely catching himself before he landed on his face and turned angrily to Wally. "You did that on purpose you bastard." Wally was smiling.
"Roy, you know what they say about never assuming." Of course he'd tripped Roy, moving too fast to be seen. Even Dick was hiding a smile. "Have you had some time to think about our announcement yesterday, Wal?"
"Like I've thought about anything else…you two really were serious, weren't you? I mean, this is real."
"About as real as it gets. I'm graduating in June and Roy is going to move to wherever I end up going to school—he'll get a job and I'll go to classes."
"And you'll live in a vine covered cottage. Yeah, I get it but—Jesus—c'mon, we've known each other since we were like twelve and I know you both like girls so what's this about?"
"We do like girls, but we like each other more." When Dick said it seemed so simple. "I know it sounds stupid, but gender really doesn't have anything to do with it. We just want to be together as much as we can. We know it's not going to be easy and we both have all kinds of stuff getting in the way, but that's what we want."
"And you're telling me Bruce and Ollie are okay with this?"
"Ollie has basically checked out and Bruce thinks it will blow over on it's own—oh shut up, Harper."
They were sitting on the dock connected to the boathouse, feet hanging over the edge but above the water line. They were quiet for a few minutes, listening to an occasional fish jump and simply enjoying the setting and the peace of the moment and the croaking of the frogs.
"So is it weird?" Wally was speaking quietly and without any edge to his voice, all the other two could hear was curiosity. "Being with another guy; is it weird?"
Dick smiled and nodded. "At first, yeah, really strange but that didn't last too long and now it's just comfortable. Right?"
Roy's voice was as subdued as the others. "Yeah. I know this is going to sound sappy, West, but it's incredible to wake up with someone and know they want you to be there."
"…So you're telling me this is the real deal." He was still having trouble with this.
"Yeah, it's real." Dick tossed a stick in the water, causing some fish to swirl around seeing if it was something they could eat. "'You okay with it? 'You still going to be able to work with us?"
"You're not going to get gross or anything, are you? I mean, you're gonna keep it behind closed doors because if I have to watch you guys swap spit I'm gonna spew."
"Of course, man—what do you take us for anyway?" Roy was indignant, close to insulted and turned to Wally, grabbing him by both shoulders and pulling him in for a hard kiss on the mouth. "We're the friggin souls of discretion, you got that? The Bat demands it of us."
Roy's hands dropped, releasing him and Wally wiped his mouth as he turned to Dick over on his right—"Will you put him on a damn leash? Jesus!"
"Stoppit Roy. Sorry, Wal; won't happen again." Dick leaned over a few inches and kissed his gently on the cheek. "I promise."
"Jerk."
Jimmy was thinking about all that money—ten million dollars and it was right in his hand. All he'd had to do was turn over a couple copies of that tape and he was living the life of Riley forever. Friggin' JLA do-gooders. Protecting their own, taking care of the kids my ass. They just wanted to make sure their damn halos stayed in place, all nice and shiny the way they liked them. Well, bullshit to that. Okay, maybe the tapes were gone and all the copies, but he had a few choice stills he'd kept for himself just in case and no one, not a damn soul, knew about them. He could still cut some good deals and that's all there was to it.
Damn heroes—think they're so damn special, wanting everyone to go around thanking them and all grateful thinking we all have these guardian angels hovering over us, well, it wasn't his fault if a couple of the heroes in training were dancing on the other side of the damn ballroom, was it? Just because he was smart enough to score a little security because two teenagers were horny, hell—it wasn't like he had a camera in their damn bedroom, was it? Hell no—he was in a public place, at his place of business and he sees this kinda thing. Well, those kids were going learn that sometimes even they had to pay the piper.
"Master Bruce, forgive my interrupting, but there are some pictures just coming over on the Internet I think you should be aware of."
6/3/06
9