Nightwing
surveyed his city. It was raining so heavily, he could
barely see
three feet in front of himself, even with his
night-vision
lenses.
"Nightwing to Oracle," he activated his commlink, "you there, babe?"
"Oracle
to Nightwing. I'm here. Over," the mechanized voice
usually
reserved for outsiders answered.
"It's raining
cats and dogs here. If Two-Face is in Bludhaven, he's
staying in
for the night. I'm gonna crash here in the meantime.
Over."
"I'll let Batman know. Over."
"Alright. Night, babe."
Nightwing took off in the direction of his
apartment. He finally
arrived there ten blocks later, hesitating
before opening the window
to enter. He hadn't stepped foot in the
apartment in three months
and was not sure what to expect. When he
finally stepped into the
apartment, all he could hear was the rain
pounding outside, until he
closed the window. Then he heard the
distinct sound of an old Cowboy-
Indian movie and a voice say,
"There you are." Dick turned around to
see Roy, wearing
only a pair of old, tattered jeans, drinking a beer
on his couch.
"I was wondering when you'd get home," the
redhead
continued.
"Roy?" Dick removed his mask,
shook the water from his hair and out
of his eyes, and looked
again. It was indeed Roy Harper. "Roy, how
did you get in
here? I don't even have a key anymore."
Roy chuckled.
"Dick," he began. The archer stood up and swaggered
over
to Dick. "You know how I got here. Why I'm here." Roy
was
barely inches away from Dick now, his broad shoulders and
chest
making Dick feel small and powerless. He could smell the
beer on
Roy's breath, and that smell of salt and earth that was
uniquely
Roy. "You're all wet," Roy smirked.
"Huh?"
Roy
chuckled. Effortlessly, he slipped his hands under
Dick's shirt,
peeling it upward, feeling every inch of Dick's perfect
body.
Dick gasped, "Roy?"
"Shh." Dick felt himself
being pushed against the window and Roy's
lips on his, kissing him
roughly.
*
Dick sat up in bed, breathing sharply.
"Dick?" Barbara rubbed her eyes. "What
is it?" Dick turned to look
at his fiancée and found himself
speechless. The guilt and confusion
he felt was too much Rather
than answer her, he bolted out of bed
and began pacing about the
room. Barbara fumbled around on her
nightstand, finding her
glasses and putting them on. "Dick! What's
gotten into
you?"
"Gotta get out of here. Gotta get out of
here," Dick started
chanting. In a matter of seconds he
grabbed a pair of pants and a
jacket and bolted out the bedroom
door.
Unable to go after him, Barbara grabbed her bedside
phone and
dialed. After a few rings, the other party picked up.
"Alfred? It's
Barbara."
*
Roy
sighed and turned to look at his alarm clock. 3:45 A.M. the
blaring
red numbers read. The closer Dick's wedding got, the less
sleep
Roy got. The closer Dick's wedding got, the more convinced Roy
was
that he would die alone. He had his daughter, of course, whom
he
loved more than anything in the world, but spending time with a
three-
year-old was not the same as having a peer, an equal, to
share his
life with.
Resolved that he wasn't going to get
any sleep tonight, Roy got up
out of bed and made his way to the
kitchen to make some coffee.
After setting up his coffee maker to
percolate, he padded out to the
living room where he noticed a
shadow outside his window.
Immediately sensing a threat, Roy
grabbed the closest thing to him
and approached the window. That's
when he noticed the familiar shape
and stance of the would-be
intruder and sighed a breath of relief.
"Dick," he
opened the window, "what the hell are you doing here?
Shouldn't
you be terrorizing the streets of Gotham?"
"I needed to see you," was all Dick said.
"Okaaaaay? You wanna
come in, or do you prefer to have all your
conversations on the
ledges of tall buildings?"
"Okay," was the only
answer he got, but then Dick hopped into the
apartment.
"Nice
outfit," Roy chuckled at Dick's chosen attire of pajama
pants,
slippers and open leather jacket. "How'd you get
here?"
"Bike."
"In that?!"
"Needed to see you," Dick shrugged.
"Okay, so now you're here. What's up?"
"Am I doing the right thing? Marrying Babs?"
"Of course," Roy lied, giving
Dick the best smile he could
summon. "You're just getting
cold feet now the wedding's just a week
away."
Dick
let out a sharp breath. "I... I don't know, Roy. I keep
having
these dreams about... this person, and I think I'm in
love
with...this person."
Roy felt a surge of jealousy. "Anyone I know?" he asked coldly.
"Yeah,"
Dick looked up and saw Roy's face. Mistaking the jealousy
for
disgust, though, he continued, "but it's not important.
You're
probably right. It's just cold feet."
Roy shrugged, "Yeah, sure."
"Geez," Dick moaned. "I can't believe I woke you up for this."
"Don't worry about it. I was awake anyway. Coffee?"
Dick was
finally feeling the night hit him. "Nah, I should
just,
um..."
Seeing Dick's eyes start to droop, Roy
cut in, "You can crash here,
man. It's no
problem."
"Thanks," Dick was already nodding off.
Roy rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just lie down,
Dick?" Dick just
nodded wordlessly and lay down on the couch.
Roy padded over to the
hall closet, grabbed a spare blanket and
pillow, and came back over
to the couch. Dick was out cold. Roy
smiled softly at the sight.
What a strange few months it has been.
First, he and Dick get into a
terrible fight, and now the man was
sleeping on his couch, not
looking much older than Lian, well,
except bigger.
Roy lay the blanket down for a moment and took
the time to take
Dick's slippers off. He then lay the blanket over
Dick, tucking him
in, then leaned in close to gently lift Dick's
head up so he could
put the pillow underneath him. Dick muttered,
"Love you," in his
sleep. Roy turned bright red, but
stayed there a moment. He knew
Dick wasn't talking to him; he was
probably dreaming about Barbara,
or whoever this other girl was.
Still, he was mere inches from Dick,
so close that Roy's breath
was rustling the hair on Dick's head.
"I love you too,
Dick," he whispered in the other man's ear. The
sleeping man
responded with a snore, at which Roy chuckled.
Roy finally got
up from the couch and made his way into the kitchen
for that cup
of coffee. After a few sips, he picked up the kitchen
phone and
dialed. After a few rings, "Donna, it's Roy. Call me when
you
get this."
