Fic: "Catch You When You Fall" - Honeydew Syndrome
Title: Catch You When You Fall
Pairing: Josh/Metis
Rating: Hard R - NC-17
Word Count: 2,541
Notes: Thank you so much to my darling mjules for the awesome beta! :)
Summary: Josh convinces Metis to come on a snowboarding trip with him. Metis (and his sore muscles) are not amused.
It was beautiful up here in the mountains; so peaceful, the air so fresh and clean, the pine trees so vivid against the majestic, snowy slopes.
It figured, then, that some brainless yuppie had plunked a ski resort right down into the middle of it.
And Metis felt like kind of a hypocrite, here with one of the offending breed, who was at that moment trying hard not to laugh as Metis fell on his ass once again.
“Don’t look at me like that, you bastard. I meant to do it this time. I’m tired.” Metis made a tired shooing motion with one hand from his position on the ground. “Go circle around a couple times, I’ll probably still be here. Because I want to be.”
Josh just chuckled and looked at him. Weirdly, it was in that way he did sometimes that usually meant he was about to kiss Metis. Except this time he was ten feet away down the slope.
Why are you looking at me like that? Why now when I’m making an ass of myself? When I have snow in my hair and I can’t even stand up on this stupid board thing without wobbling around like a retarded baby deer? God, Metis wished he could get his brain to shut up once in awhile.
Josh bent down and un-strapped one foot from his own board, then started making his weird, leg-dragging way up the short bit of slope to where Metis was sprawled.
“What are you doing?” Metis couldn’t quite summon the energy for full-on annoyance, so it came out as more “weary exasperation.” “I told you to go. Go do your thing, go tear up the slopes, shred the pow, whatever it is you do.”
Josh burst out laughing. “Shred the pow? What does that even mean?” He had reached Metis now and was blocking out the sun. Metis couldn’t see his face; he looked like a black blob wearing a beanie, little spikes of hair sticking out in silhouette around his face.
“I don’t know, I heard it from a very reliable source on snowboarding.”
“Uh huh. And was that very reliable source X-Games Snowboarding for the PS2?”
“Hey, those games are highly realistic! Whoa, what-”
Josh was grabbing Metis’s arm and pulling him gently to his feet. Then there was a hand dusting the melting snow out of Metis’s hair while another one held him steady by the elbow.
“You really need a hat. Your ears are bright red.”
“I hate hats. They’re too constricting.” And now Metis was afraid that his face may have been turning crimson to match, because Josh was still gazing at him with that half amused, half intense look in his eyes that Metis could see even through goggles, and Metis didn’t know what to do besides try not to look directly into it.
“You’d look cute in little fuzzy earmuffs, maybe we should get you some of those. Pink is cool. It’d up your cred out here.”
Metis ripped his arm free of Josh’s grasp and used it to whack his stupid, laughing friend on the sleeve of his puffy, brown coat. (The one that was the same deep color as his eyes, a fact that Metis had not noticed at all.) Unfortunately, this action sent him wobbling around, windmilling his arms to try to keep from planting his ass right back where it had started.
Josh caught one of Metis’s wrists and put an arm around his waist to steady him. Metis forcibly kept himself from grabbing the front of the brown coat. He was not helpless, damnit.
“How did you even convince me to come on this damn trip, anyway?” Metis muttered rather than actually acknowledge his appalling lack of balance.
“Because my parents’ cabin has a granny flat, remember?” And to Metis’s faint horror, the arm around his waist tightened slightly, making his board slide a bit as he was pulled closer to Josh. “A whole separate little building, all to ourselves for two nights?”
Oh yeah. That. Okay, now his face had to be embarrassingly red.
Metis shoved at Josh’s shoulder with the heel of one hand, refusing to look at the face above it. “You damn yuppies. Are you going to, you know, go down the mountain any time soon, or are we just gonna stand here all day?”
“Neither. Come over here.” And Josh, before Metis had even figured out how he was doing it, was maneuvering them over to a flatter part of the “easy level” trail they were on. The baby trail, as Metis had called it. Josh hadn’t said anything. Smug bastard.
When they stopped at the flat part, Josh dragged himself around quickly so he was standing behind Metis, their boards parallel to each other. Then he put his hands on Metis’s hips.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” Metis’s hands flew to Josh’s as he glanced around in alarm, looking for other skiers.
“Relax, there’s no one here. Baby trail, remember?” He was right. Metis relaxed a little. “Okay, I don’t know if this will help or not, but we’ll see. We’re gonna go really slow.”
“Wait, Josh- okay, we’re moving.”
“That’s right, just really slow. I’ll hang on to you if you think you’re gonna fall, and either you stay up or we both go down.” Josh’s hands tightened momentarily on Metis’s hips, which was really stupidly distracting of them. “Think of it as punishment for me for bringing you out here.”
“Hm, I like the sound of that.” Metis started to laugh, but the tiny movement made him wobble a little. Josh gripped his waist, hands sliding around a little to his stomach so he wouldn’t fall forward. And miraculously, it worked.
Josh let out a small breath of relief that actually stirred the hair on the back of Metis’s head. He hadn’t realized how close they were.
“Hey, don’t tangle our boards up.”
“It’s okay, I’ve got control. We’re only going about two miles per hour.”
“Hey, shut up, man. Not all of us can be all athletic and graceful.”
“Sorry.” They slid ponderously yet smoothly down the gradual slope for a couple more seconds. “But you know, you are graceful.”
“What? No I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. You walk like a cat, for one thing, all flow-y. And sometimes when you push your hair out of your eyes, you’re all smooth and…well, graceful.” Josh was practically talking into Metis’s ear now, and his fingers were pressing lightly onto Metis’s stomach, and Metis caught his particular scent above the sharpness of the snow, and-
And now he was back on the ground. Correction: Josh was on the ground. He was on top of Josh. Luckily, he hadn’t landed on anything vital, as Josh wasn’t making any sounds of horrible agony. However, their boards were sort of tangled now, and Metis wasn’t sure what to do. So he kind of…flopped himself over to the side and off of Josh.
“God…stupid…get off…” He struggled around until he managed to unstrap both of his boots from the board, then fell back onto the snow, staring up at the blue sky through the branches of a pine tree.
After a couple of seconds, he rolled his head to the side to look at Josh, and was a little startled to see Josh looking right back at him. He was propped up on one elbow, his head on his hand. He’d pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, and his eyes may or may not have been glittering in the sunlight. Metis was far too annoyed with him to care. Really.
“Some day, I shall enact my revenge for this. And it shall be glorious.”
Josh laughed, his teeth flashing in the sun. “Deal.”
***
“Oh my God, I think my muscles have actually turned into water. I think I might actually be dying.”
“Wimp.” But despite Josh’s oh-so-witty comeback, he was clearly not feeling much less watery than Metis. They were both sprawled on the twin couches in the granny flat’s living room; neither had had enough energy to take off more than their outer coats before collapsing.
“Psh. One of us’ll have to get food soon, and I think it should be you, since you’re the athletic one.”
“Whatever, it’s my house, the guest should have to do that stuff.”
“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? And it’s your parents’ house, you mean. Speaking of which, who even has something like a granny flat? Or a cabin on a ski resort, for that matter? And why the hell is it called a granny flat? I can’t even say that without wanting to laugh.”
“You talk too much. Get me food, guest.”
“You get food.”
“No, you.”
“You.”
Metis gathered up the energy to lift a hand up, reach across the small space between the ends of the couches, and whack Josh on the head.
“Ow! Bitch.”
“Argh.” Metis stretched and dragged himself up off the couch. “You’re lucky this time, I’m too hungry to argue. But next time - augh -“
As he passed Josh’s couch, Josh reached out, grabbed his arm, and with strength that was always surprising even though Metis knew intellectually how strong he was, pulled Metis down on top of him.
“What the hell are you…?” Metis broke off as he propped himself up on Josh’s chest and looked up into his friend’s face. Into eyes that were looking really…intense. Oh man.
“I thought you were -“ Metis began, but Josh suddenly reached up a hand to the back of his head and pulled him down until their lips met. Metis was startled, and didn’t open his mouth until Josh’s tongue licked at his closed lips. For a full minute or so, they just lay there, kissing languidly, tongues exploring each other’s mouths slowly and deeply. Finally, Josh broke off and looked up at Metis, lips a little swollen and breath coming a little fast.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all day.”
Metis just stared. “What? Me making an ass of myself was somehow attractive to you?”
“Yeah.” Josh chuckled, low and husky. “You’re just so, I don’t know, real. It was all I could do not to jump you right there in the snow.”
“Heh. That would have been…painful.”
“Which is the only thing that held me back, believe me.” Josh wasn’t laughing anymore. Metis all but gulped at the look in those brown eyes.
Josh’s hands had been moving up and down Metis’s arms, but suddenly one of them moved to his ass. Holding their hips together, Josh pushed up against him so he could feel how hard they both were. Metis’s breath caught in his throat. And then he yelped as Josh’s hand tightened on his ass.
“Ow, Josh, I’m freaking sore there!”
“Oh shit, sorry!”
“God, I can barely move. I even hurt in my armpits, how is that even possible?”
Josh pressed his nose into the crook of Metis’s neck and laughed softly. His breath tickled. That definitely wasn’t helping to deter them from not hurting themselves.
“Man, there are so many things I wanna do to you. But I’m pretty damn sore myself. Shit.”
Metis sighed. He was really going to regret this in the morning, he could tell.
“Oh, I’m not that pathetic.” And, with little hisses of pain that totally called him on that lie, reached down between them to undo the buttons and Velcro of Josh’s swank snow pants.
“Metis, no, you don’t have to - oh God.” Josh’s hips pushed up as Metis suddenly got a hand under his underwear and wrapped it around his cock.
Ever since they’d started doing stuff like this a few months ago, Metis had been surprised at himself. He’d never really done anything with anyone before Josh, so he hadn’t known what to expect. He’d always kind of figured, though, that he’d be shy, or at least that he’d take a long time to get used to it.
But with Josh, it wasn’t embarrassing, somehow. Just like snowboarding with him (or attempting to snowboard, at least) hadn’t been nearly as mortifying as it would have been with most everyone else. Josh just made him feel at ease, like he was doing okay.
And right now, judging from Josh’s little gasps and moans, he was doing more than okay. He raised his head to swallow one of those moans with his own mouth, even though his neck muscles screamed in protest. This seemed to goad Josh into action, because he suddenly reached down to reciprocate, fumbling with snaps and more Velcro and cloth until he got to hot skin.
They lay there on the couch, just two teenagers jerking each other off, and yet it was one of the hottest things Metis had ever experienced. They could barely move, their arms were already getting tired, their hips and leg muscles were so not in the mood for this, but they just. Couldn’t. Stop.
Metis surrendered to the protests of the arm that had been holding him up and sank down onto Josh’s chest, nipping at his neck and then licking to soothe the sting. Josh moaned and rolled his hips more violently into Metis’s, then swore in slight pain. So Metis tried to help, pushing down until something in his back twinged.
They’d probably look funny if any freaky voyeur were watching them, Metis thought, alternating between sounds of pleasure and gasps of pain. But then the friction and heat from Josh’s hand and the pressure of his hips was too much, and the building feeling in his cock made all other sensation seem irrelevant.
Josh suddenly gasped into his ear. “Metis, ah!” Then he tensed beneath Metis and came all over their stomachs where their shirts had been half-pushed up. And that was it for Metis, too, about ten seconds later.
He had a fleeting thought that if he flopped down onto Josh right now, he’d probably never get back up. But he couldn’t seem to care.
They lay there panting for a few seconds. Then awareness came flooding back, in the form of very unhappy muscles.
“Oh God, I think I sprained something. I’ll never stand straight again.”
Josh chuckled, gasped in pain himself, and bent his head to kiss the top of Metis’s. “And someone still has to get food.”
“I don’t even have the energy to eat anymore. I’d choke to death. You can’t make me move from this spot unless you throw me off.”
“You know, I think I can deal with that for now.”
“Good. Monster. This whole day was all your fault.”
“Yeah, yeah. But you have to admit that last part was pretty cool, right?”
“Hmph.”
They lay there, Metis still on top of Josh with his head on Josh’s chest, their stomachs probably a little stuck-together by now, until Metis had almost drifted off to sleep. Then he had an idea.
“I think I know what form my revenge will take.”
“What?” Josh mumbled from above him.
“A convention.”
“Oh man, you’ve gotta be kidding. You’re too cruel.”
Metis just chuckled evilly. He slipped into oblivion with images of Josh in a Robin costume floating through his head.
Pairing: Josh/Metis
Rating: Hard R - NC-17
Word Count: 2,541
Notes: Thank you so much to my darling mjules for the awesome beta! :)
Summary: Josh convinces Metis to come on a snowboarding trip with him. Metis (and his sore muscles) are not amused.
It was beautiful up here in the mountains; so peaceful, the air so fresh and clean, the pine trees so vivid against the majestic, snowy slopes.
It figured, then, that some brainless yuppie had plunked a ski resort right down into the middle of it.
And Metis felt like kind of a hypocrite, here with one of the offending breed, who was at that moment trying hard not to laugh as Metis fell on his ass once again.
“Don’t look at me like that, you bastard. I meant to do it this time. I’m tired.” Metis made a tired shooing motion with one hand from his position on the ground. “Go circle around a couple times, I’ll probably still be here. Because I want to be.”
Josh just chuckled and looked at him. Weirdly, it was in that way he did sometimes that usually meant he was about to kiss Metis. Except this time he was ten feet away down the slope.
Why are you looking at me like that? Why now when I’m making an ass of myself? When I have snow in my hair and I can’t even stand up on this stupid board thing without wobbling around like a retarded baby deer? God, Metis wished he could get his brain to shut up once in awhile.
Josh bent down and un-strapped one foot from his own board, then started making his weird, leg-dragging way up the short bit of slope to where Metis was sprawled.
“What are you doing?” Metis couldn’t quite summon the energy for full-on annoyance, so it came out as more “weary exasperation.” “I told you to go. Go do your thing, go tear up the slopes, shred the pow, whatever it is you do.”
Josh burst out laughing. “Shred the pow? What does that even mean?” He had reached Metis now and was blocking out the sun. Metis couldn’t see his face; he looked like a black blob wearing a beanie, little spikes of hair sticking out in silhouette around his face.
“I don’t know, I heard it from a very reliable source on snowboarding.”
“Uh huh. And was that very reliable source X-Games Snowboarding for the PS2?”
“Hey, those games are highly realistic! Whoa, what-”
Josh was grabbing Metis’s arm and pulling him gently to his feet. Then there was a hand dusting the melting snow out of Metis’s hair while another one held him steady by the elbow.
“You really need a hat. Your ears are bright red.”
“I hate hats. They’re too constricting.” And now Metis was afraid that his face may have been turning crimson to match, because Josh was still gazing at him with that half amused, half intense look in his eyes that Metis could see even through goggles, and Metis didn’t know what to do besides try not to look directly into it.
“You’d look cute in little fuzzy earmuffs, maybe we should get you some of those. Pink is cool. It’d up your cred out here.”
Metis ripped his arm free of Josh’s grasp and used it to whack his stupid, laughing friend on the sleeve of his puffy, brown coat. (The one that was the same deep color as his eyes, a fact that Metis had not noticed at all.) Unfortunately, this action sent him wobbling around, windmilling his arms to try to keep from planting his ass right back where it had started.
Josh caught one of Metis’s wrists and put an arm around his waist to steady him. Metis forcibly kept himself from grabbing the front of the brown coat. He was not helpless, damnit.
“How did you even convince me to come on this damn trip, anyway?” Metis muttered rather than actually acknowledge his appalling lack of balance.
“Because my parents’ cabin has a granny flat, remember?” And to Metis’s faint horror, the arm around his waist tightened slightly, making his board slide a bit as he was pulled closer to Josh. “A whole separate little building, all to ourselves for two nights?”
Oh yeah. That. Okay, now his face had to be embarrassingly red.
Metis shoved at Josh’s shoulder with the heel of one hand, refusing to look at the face above it. “You damn yuppies. Are you going to, you know, go down the mountain any time soon, or are we just gonna stand here all day?”
“Neither. Come over here.” And Josh, before Metis had even figured out how he was doing it, was maneuvering them over to a flatter part of the “easy level” trail they were on. The baby trail, as Metis had called it. Josh hadn’t said anything. Smug bastard.
When they stopped at the flat part, Josh dragged himself around quickly so he was standing behind Metis, their boards parallel to each other. Then he put his hands on Metis’s hips.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” Metis’s hands flew to Josh’s as he glanced around in alarm, looking for other skiers.
“Relax, there’s no one here. Baby trail, remember?” He was right. Metis relaxed a little. “Okay, I don’t know if this will help or not, but we’ll see. We’re gonna go really slow.”
“Wait, Josh- okay, we’re moving.”
“That’s right, just really slow. I’ll hang on to you if you think you’re gonna fall, and either you stay up or we both go down.” Josh’s hands tightened momentarily on Metis’s hips, which was really stupidly distracting of them. “Think of it as punishment for me for bringing you out here.”
“Hm, I like the sound of that.” Metis started to laugh, but the tiny movement made him wobble a little. Josh gripped his waist, hands sliding around a little to his stomach so he wouldn’t fall forward. And miraculously, it worked.
Josh let out a small breath of relief that actually stirred the hair on the back of Metis’s head. He hadn’t realized how close they were.
“Hey, don’t tangle our boards up.”
“It’s okay, I’ve got control. We’re only going about two miles per hour.”
“Hey, shut up, man. Not all of us can be all athletic and graceful.”
“Sorry.” They slid ponderously yet smoothly down the gradual slope for a couple more seconds. “But you know, you are graceful.”
“What? No I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. You walk like a cat, for one thing, all flow-y. And sometimes when you push your hair out of your eyes, you’re all smooth and…well, graceful.” Josh was practically talking into Metis’s ear now, and his fingers were pressing lightly onto Metis’s stomach, and Metis caught his particular scent above the sharpness of the snow, and-
And now he was back on the ground. Correction: Josh was on the ground. He was on top of Josh. Luckily, he hadn’t landed on anything vital, as Josh wasn’t making any sounds of horrible agony. However, their boards were sort of tangled now, and Metis wasn’t sure what to do. So he kind of…flopped himself over to the side and off of Josh.
“God…stupid…get off…” He struggled around until he managed to unstrap both of his boots from the board, then fell back onto the snow, staring up at the blue sky through the branches of a pine tree.
After a couple of seconds, he rolled his head to the side to look at Josh, and was a little startled to see Josh looking right back at him. He was propped up on one elbow, his head on his hand. He’d pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, and his eyes may or may not have been glittering in the sunlight. Metis was far too annoyed with him to care. Really.
“Some day, I shall enact my revenge for this. And it shall be glorious.”
Josh laughed, his teeth flashing in the sun. “Deal.”
***
“Oh my God, I think my muscles have actually turned into water. I think I might actually be dying.”
“Wimp.” But despite Josh’s oh-so-witty comeback, he was clearly not feeling much less watery than Metis. They were both sprawled on the twin couches in the granny flat’s living room; neither had had enough energy to take off more than their outer coats before collapsing.
“Psh. One of us’ll have to get food soon, and I think it should be you, since you’re the athletic one.”
“Whatever, it’s my house, the guest should have to do that stuff.”
“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? And it’s your parents’ house, you mean. Speaking of which, who even has something like a granny flat? Or a cabin on a ski resort, for that matter? And why the hell is it called a granny flat? I can’t even say that without wanting to laugh.”
“You talk too much. Get me food, guest.”
“You get food.”
“No, you.”
“You.”
Metis gathered up the energy to lift a hand up, reach across the small space between the ends of the couches, and whack Josh on the head.
“Ow! Bitch.”
“Argh.” Metis stretched and dragged himself up off the couch. “You’re lucky this time, I’m too hungry to argue. But next time - augh -“
As he passed Josh’s couch, Josh reached out, grabbed his arm, and with strength that was always surprising even though Metis knew intellectually how strong he was, pulled Metis down on top of him.
“What the hell are you…?” Metis broke off as he propped himself up on Josh’s chest and looked up into his friend’s face. Into eyes that were looking really…intense. Oh man.
“I thought you were -“ Metis began, but Josh suddenly reached up a hand to the back of his head and pulled him down until their lips met. Metis was startled, and didn’t open his mouth until Josh’s tongue licked at his closed lips. For a full minute or so, they just lay there, kissing languidly, tongues exploring each other’s mouths slowly and deeply. Finally, Josh broke off and looked up at Metis, lips a little swollen and breath coming a little fast.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all day.”
Metis just stared. “What? Me making an ass of myself was somehow attractive to you?”
“Yeah.” Josh chuckled, low and husky. “You’re just so, I don’t know, real. It was all I could do not to jump you right there in the snow.”
“Heh. That would have been…painful.”
“Which is the only thing that held me back, believe me.” Josh wasn’t laughing anymore. Metis all but gulped at the look in those brown eyes.
Josh’s hands had been moving up and down Metis’s arms, but suddenly one of them moved to his ass. Holding their hips together, Josh pushed up against him so he could feel how hard they both were. Metis’s breath caught in his throat. And then he yelped as Josh’s hand tightened on his ass.
“Ow, Josh, I’m freaking sore there!”
“Oh shit, sorry!”
“God, I can barely move. I even hurt in my armpits, how is that even possible?”
Josh pressed his nose into the crook of Metis’s neck and laughed softly. His breath tickled. That definitely wasn’t helping to deter them from not hurting themselves.
“Man, there are so many things I wanna do to you. But I’m pretty damn sore myself. Shit.”
Metis sighed. He was really going to regret this in the morning, he could tell.
“Oh, I’m not that pathetic.” And, with little hisses of pain that totally called him on that lie, reached down between them to undo the buttons and Velcro of Josh’s swank snow pants.
“Metis, no, you don’t have to - oh God.” Josh’s hips pushed up as Metis suddenly got a hand under his underwear and wrapped it around his cock.
Ever since they’d started doing stuff like this a few months ago, Metis had been surprised at himself. He’d never really done anything with anyone before Josh, so he hadn’t known what to expect. He’d always kind of figured, though, that he’d be shy, or at least that he’d take a long time to get used to it.
But with Josh, it wasn’t embarrassing, somehow. Just like snowboarding with him (or attempting to snowboard, at least) hadn’t been nearly as mortifying as it would have been with most everyone else. Josh just made him feel at ease, like he was doing okay.
And right now, judging from Josh’s little gasps and moans, he was doing more than okay. He raised his head to swallow one of those moans with his own mouth, even though his neck muscles screamed in protest. This seemed to goad Josh into action, because he suddenly reached down to reciprocate, fumbling with snaps and more Velcro and cloth until he got to hot skin.
They lay there on the couch, just two teenagers jerking each other off, and yet it was one of the hottest things Metis had ever experienced. They could barely move, their arms were already getting tired, their hips and leg muscles were so not in the mood for this, but they just. Couldn’t. Stop.
Metis surrendered to the protests of the arm that had been holding him up and sank down onto Josh’s chest, nipping at his neck and then licking to soothe the sting. Josh moaned and rolled his hips more violently into Metis’s, then swore in slight pain. So Metis tried to help, pushing down until something in his back twinged.
They’d probably look funny if any freaky voyeur were watching them, Metis thought, alternating between sounds of pleasure and gasps of pain. But then the friction and heat from Josh’s hand and the pressure of his hips was too much, and the building feeling in his cock made all other sensation seem irrelevant.
Josh suddenly gasped into his ear. “Metis, ah!” Then he tensed beneath Metis and came all over their stomachs where their shirts had been half-pushed up. And that was it for Metis, too, about ten seconds later.
He had a fleeting thought that if he flopped down onto Josh right now, he’d probably never get back up. But he couldn’t seem to care.
They lay there panting for a few seconds. Then awareness came flooding back, in the form of very unhappy muscles.
“Oh God, I think I sprained something. I’ll never stand straight again.”
Josh chuckled, gasped in pain himself, and bent his head to kiss the top of Metis’s. “And someone still has to get food.”
“I don’t even have the energy to eat anymore. I’d choke to death. You can’t make me move from this spot unless you throw me off.”
“You know, I think I can deal with that for now.”
“Good. Monster. This whole day was all your fault.”
“Yeah, yeah. But you have to admit that last part was pretty cool, right?”
“Hmph.”
They lay there, Metis still on top of Josh with his head on Josh’s chest, their stomachs probably a little stuck-together by now, until Metis had almost drifted off to sleep. Then he had an idea.
“I think I know what form my revenge will take.”
“What?” Josh mumbled from above him.
“A convention.”
“Oh man, you’ve gotta be kidding. You’re too cruel.”
Metis just chuckled evilly. He slipped into oblivion with images of Josh in a Robin costume floating through his head.