Author: ferretgirl1124
Title: Coping Mechanisms
Genres: Romance, Humor
Warnings/Disclaimers: denial, teasing, fluff
Pairing: SpeedyxAqualad
Rating: pg-13
Summary: Speedy gets bored, and learns the importance of denial.
A/N: Yes, that's right, I'm not dead. Just amazingly busy with RL. Hoping to post some more stuff this weekend. And before you ask...no, I don't know where this came from. It's 3:00 AM; gimme a break. Oh, and to those of you wondering, the story about their first kiss from a few chapters back will be continued, so have no fear.
Speedy was really, really bored. The boy lay flopped on his back, arm thrown over his face to cover his face, taking up the entire couch. He had been this way for three hours, and Aqualad was almost convinced he was dead. Bored as well, and with no one else in the tower to talk to, the Atlantean plopped down and poked his teammate. The archer muttered and twitched, but didn't respond.
Aqualad smirked, and poked him again. "C'mon, Robin."
"Don't call me that, Unitard guy!" Speedy sat up and glared at his friend, finally giving up his masquerade.
"I knew that would get you moving."
Speedy sunk back against the couch and scowled, barely able to restrain the urge to put his hands over his ears. "Go away!"
"Oh, that's real mature."
"You're one to talk!"
Aqualad snorted and smirked, leaning over the archer. "Better me then you."
Never one to stand – or in this case, sit – by idly and let himself be mocked, Speedy sat and gave Aqualad a dark look. "Dammit fish boy –"
"You're way cuter when you're not talking." The Atlantean hid another smirk as Speedy blushed and faltered, unsure of how to respond. Finally, he ended up resorting to an old favorite.
"You're really being a pain in the ass, gill head!"
Of course, no sane 17 year old could give up that kind of chance at innuendo. "Pain in the ass? Nope, not yet. But I could be."
That froze Speedy in his tracks again, like a not-overly-bright deer in headlights. He fumbled, blushed, and slouched against the back of the couch. He almost wished to be bored again. "Go to hell."
"Only if you're going." The reply was quick and overly sweet, and Speedy could only stare. Unresolved sexual tension was one thing, but this blatant flirting was weird, and unexpected. However, it wasn't until Aqualad pinned him that he was sure it was a dream. And because it was a dream, he could play along with no consequences.
The archer smirked and twisted his body, easily switching places with the Atlantean. "Nice try, fish boy."
Aqualad smirked up at him, not seeming at all upset by the fact that he was currently being pinned to the couch by another guy. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it. Still, he didn't say anything, and Speedy couldn't help but make a smart-ass comment.
"Cat got your tongue?"
"You wish."
"Me?" The archer smirked and leaned down till they were noise to noise, floating happily in his little cloud of 'this is just a dream' denial. "Nope. You're the one that should be wishing for something."
Aqualad's eyebrow arched slightly and he smirked yet again. "Why? I'm happy." He turned his head slightly, looking cool as a cucumber and nonchalant as can be.
Speedy snorted and in one swift motion had the Atlantean's wrists pinned over his head with one hand, the other gripping Aqualad's chin gently. "Sure you are." With that, their lips were not so much pressed as mashed together, the Archer's tongue playing along his teammates lips.
The kiss wasn't much of a surprise, but the tongue was, and after straining up and holding it out as long as he could, they broke apart. Aqualad scowled playfully and struggled. "Stop being such a tease!"
"Nope. I like the way this worked out."
Aqualad laughed, and smirked up at him. "So am I. I didn't think you'd be willing to play."
"Play what? This is a dream."
"You really like that river in Egypt, don't you?"
Halfway through a comment, Speedy paused and scowled. So many things he could do; deny this ever happened, kiss him again (which was the best option so far), or argue that he wasn't gay despite the fact that he was currently pining a boy to the couch and would soon have blue balls from hell if he didn't do something. Finally, he decided to ignore all implications of denial, enjoy the boy while he had a chance, and hope that Bee would be home late.
His last conscious decision of the day was to listen to Aqualad, and stop being a tease. They would have time for that later; now it was time to have fun.