Fic: At the End of the Tunnel; Tim Drake/Jaime Reyes; NC-17
Title: At the End of the Tunnel
Series: Takes place directly after After the Dust Settles
Author: Aravis Tarkheena
Pairing: Tim Drake (Robin III)/Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle III)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: angst, sex
Disclaimer: Not mine, everyone's legal
Word Count: 8,000 words
Author's Notes: Ready guys? Written for darthbatgirl's Tim's Virginity Challenge. Also, for my dcu_freeforall table, prompt #3 sunrise. Also the dcu_freeforall Summer Challenge; T:11, P:04 Light.
At the End of the Tunnel
Cassie was trying to salvage what was left of her manicure when Tim called. She was invulnerable to most things, unfortunately, nail polish was not. She was sitting on her bed, toes spread by cotton balls and her favorite bottle of polish on the bedside table next to her. Her entire room smelled like acetone and she cringed at the feel of wet cotton rubbing over the top of her nails.
She wondered briefly why she even bothered with polish when it invariably ended up chipped within a few hours as he reached for her phone and flicked it open
Cassie was still grimacing slightly when she answered, pressing her cell between her cheek and shoulder.
“Hello?” she answered distractedly, rubbing hard at a bit of polish along her cuticle.
“It’s me,” Tim’s tired voice came over the line.
“What’s new Wonder Boy?” she asked and examined the nail of her right index finger for any trace evidence of polish.
“Two Face is wrecking havoc in Gotham City. I think he and I are going to end up having a show down sometime this week,” he sighed Cassie sat up straighter.
Tim had a thing about Two Face. Cassie wasn’t sure if it was fear, per se. She figured it was something a little more complicated. Whatever it was, Tim avoided confrontations with that particular villain at all costs. He tended to gather information, give it to the Batman or the cops and let them do the take down.
“Alone?” she asked sharply.
“Nah, I think I’m going to call Jaime for backup,” he told her but there was a catch in his voice that Cassie couldn’t ignore.
“Hasn’t Jaime become something of a permanent fixture in Gotham these days? You guys team up at least twice a week. Why wouldn’t you call him in for this?”
“I-“ Tim started and then hesitated as if trying to figure out how, exactly, he wanted the explanation to go. “Things have gotten weird between the two of us.”
“Weird how?” Cassie asked moved on to her middle finger.
“Jaime kissed me the other night,” Tim responded quickly, his voice flat and even. The cotton ball Cassie had been using dropped with a wet plop onto her bare thigh.
“You’re kidding me,” she said disbelievingly as she picked up the pink soggy cotton ball and tossed it into the trash.
“I am not,” Tim answered coolly.
“Was he mind controlled?” she asked, trying to come up with a reason Jaime would kiss Tim.
“No,” Tim sighed.
“Was he sex pollened?” she tried again.
“No,” Tim answered.
“Magic?” Cassie asked.
“No!” Tim was annoyed this time. “He was fine. We were at my place watching a movie and-“
Cassie cut him off.
“Since when do you two watch movies together?” she asked, feeling very ill informed all of the sudden.
“Since he brought one over and asked to watch it with me,” Tim explained, clearly impatient with the direction this conversation was going.
“What movie was it?” she put in, thinking fast.
“Does it matter?” Tim was clearly exasperated now.
“It does. I want to know if it was a make out movie or not,” she explained and she could practically hear Tim rolling his eyes on the other end of the line.
“Make out movie… Never mind, I don’t even want you to explain that to me,” he sighed and Cassie stuck her tongue out at the phone.
“Spill, Bi-curious Wonder,” she prodded.
Tim explained to her about Jaime bringing Lord of the Rings over to watch. She tried to stifle her shock when he explained to her about telling Jaime his real name but she couldn’t manage to completely when he said he had told Jaime about his dad.
“Then I sort of started to cry…” Tim went on and Cassie had to cut him off.
“You cried?” Cassie heard her voice go shrill and a little pang of jealousy shot through her chest despite herself.
It had been a long time since Tim had opened up to her and she could count the number of times she had seen him cry on one hand. It had taken Tim several years and a near death experience to even tell her his name and he goes off and tells the new guy at the drop of a hat. Not to mention that he cried.
“Like a fourteen year old girl,” Tim confirmed. “Jaime said he didn’t mind as he had a great deal of experience dealing with weeping fourteen year olds.”
“No kidding?” Cassie replied dryly.
“No kidding,” Tim repeated and it sounded like there was a smile in his voice.
“Jaime has a thing for you?” it was more of a question than a statement.
“I think he does,” Tim answered, sounding serious again. “I thought, at first, it was just a mentor thing but it’s not panning out that way.”
“What way?” Cassie asked, curious.
“He’s interested in me as an individual. Not the me he thinks he knows,” Tim answered.
“I’m not sure I understand…” Cassie replied, thinking hard about what Tim had said.
“He’s trying to find out more about me but not for the sake of just knowing. He’s doing it because he seems genuinely concerned about me as a person. And when he finds out the information, he tries to do things to make me feel better,” Tim clarified and Cassie nodded.
“So he finds out you’re living alone with a couple of guinea pigs and decides to have a movie night,” Cassie ventured as the full meaning of what Tim had said dawned on her.
“Leg and Gim are hamsters but yeah, you’ve got the idea,” Tim agreed.
“What about you?” Cassie asked, curiously.
“What about me?” Tim replied.
“Are you into Jaime?” she clarified and waited as he went silent on the other end of the line.
“He’s a good guy,” Tim started but Cassie cut him off before he could get into any serious prevaricating.
“Answer the question: yes or no,” she demanded and she could almost hear Tim’s jaw clenching.
“Maybe… I don’t know,” he finally answered and sounded pained.
“Well, what’s wrong? He’s into you. He’s sweet to you. Was the kiss good?”
“It was nice and soft and the scruff on his chin isn’t nearly as scratchy as I had imagined,” Tim answered.
“You imagined it?” Cassie latched on to that. “Kissing him I mean.”
“Yeah, maybe, once or twice,” Tim sounded pained.
“So you are into him,” Cassie confirmed.
“It’s not that simple,” Tim put in.
“He likes you, you like him, he’s a decent kisser and his scruffle doesn’t give you a rash. How is this complicated?” she asked with exasperation. Tim had a bad habit of making things much more complicated than they were.
“I don’t know if I have the emotional energy to handle a relationship right now,” Tim admitted and Cassie swallowed hard. Tim rarely spoke about how Bruce’s disappearance and his father’s death were affecting him. Cassie was glad he was doing it now. It made he seem more like he was facing his issues rather than just trying to look past them, which was a major relief to Cassie.
“Well, you told him about your dad. He knows about Bruce. He’s seen you cry like a little girl and he’s still there watching movies with your and your guinea pigs. Sounds like he’s up for it,” Cassie pointed out gently.
“They’re hamsters, Cassie. And he doesn’t know what he’s getting into,” Tim grumped.
“Don’t be stupid, yes he does. You know that he and Paco have been dealing Brenda losing her dad. He knows what you’re going through. He knew even before you cried on him,” Cassie said.
“I just don’t know if it would be good for either of us,” Tim sighed with frustration and Cassie could hear him fiddling with something on the other end of the line.
“I don’t know Tim. I think you should give it a shot. I mean, we’ve only known him for about a year but he seems like a great guy,” Cassie told him and was surprised to find that she believed every word she was saying. She might be a little jealous at the sudden closeness of their relationship but maybe something new to focus on, something new to look forward to, was just what Tim needed.
“It’s just… Look what happened with Zoanne,” Tim started but Cassie cut him off.
“Zoanne was self centered and had the emotional intelligence of a walnut,” she pointed out wryly and cut Tim off before he had a chance to defend Zoanne. “I mean, she’s a nice girl, don’t get me wrong, and you seem to like them a little obtuse for various reasons. However, right now, I think you need someone a little more in tune with your needs. Or at least someone who tries to figure out what, exactly, those needs are. Who knows, Jaime could be exactly what you need: your light at the end of a long dark tunnel, so to speak.”
Tim was quite for a few long moments before he replied caustically.
“You’re right. He is probably the light at the end of my tunnel. My only problem is that I don’t know if he’s sunlight or a runaway train filled with dynamite careening towards me at breakneck speed.”
^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Jaime was three hundred words into a three page essay on Lord of the Flies when his communicator blinked. He sighed in relief and stretched his sore back muscles as he reached back behind him to grab the small device off of the mess on his night stand.
He glanced at the read out and hesitated when he saw Tim’s call sign.
Tim hadn’t exactly been the most communicative of people since their ‘movie night’. To his credit, he didn’t freak out immediately after the kiss. He waited until just before he was about to head out for patrol. Jaime had assumed that he would join Tim on patrol that night but Tim had assured Jaime that he was fine solo in a way that made it clear he did not want Jaime around.
Jaime had gone home hurt and upset. Something his mother had sensed the minute he stepped through the kitchen door.
“You’re home well before curfew. I thought you were working with Robin tonight,” his mother ventured as she filled her tea kettle at the sink. Her voice was a mix between surprise and disapproving resignation.
Jaime always missed curfew when he was out with Robin.
Jaime just shrugged wordlessly and slipped onto one of the kitchen chairs. He reached for a banana in the fruit bowl and began to peel is disconsolately.
His mother watched him with deep consideration for a few moments before putting the kettle on the stove and turning on the burner. Then she sat down at the table across from Jaime and looked him directly in the eye.
“What is it, mi’jo?” his mother asked with the bracing manner parents assumed when they realized it was time to impart some serious life wisdom to their children.
Jaime hesitated, trying to decide how to explain things between himself and Tim to his mother.
Jaime had decided a long time ago that he would not lie to his mother about his activities within the Caped Community. However, as time went on, he found himself omitting certain details. Minor things, like how close he had come to losing a finger or that time he spent an entire afternoon as a chick. This thing with Tim wasn’t minor, though. At least it did not feel that way to Jaime.
The other problem was that he could not lie to his mother. She always knew. She was magic like that. Her eyes got all sharp and she gave him a look that said ‘I didn’t raise you lie Jaime Reyes’ and he eventually caved.
She could probably teach Batman a few things about interrogation.
If he were still alive.
Jaime blew out a frustrated breath and fiddled with the banana peel.
“It’s just-“ he started but stopped himself again still not sure how to explain things.
“Is it girl troubles?” his mother asked with a knowing smile and Jaime felt his stomach drop out.
He had never given his sexuality much thought in the past. He had always assumed that the things he felt were exactly what other people felt. Jaime had assumed that he was straight. The fact that he sometimes thought about boys hadn’t really registered as anything less than normal to Jaime.
He had just assumed that all guys thought about other guys sometimes.
The idea that he was bisexual had not even occurred to him until Kara had mentioned that she was one. There was a label for what he was and that label had certain implications.
One of those implications was that he was separate, different from everybody else. Another was that he would eventually have to tell people that he was different from them.
It wasn’t that he was worried about how his family would take it. His parents might be shocked and Paco might be a little weirded out, but they loved him and they wouldn’t disown him or anything. It was more that he was worried that now people would assume things about him. Things that weren’t necessarily true.
“Not girls, mami,” Jaime finally admitted with a sigh and his mother gave him a curious look.
“What then?” she asked and fiddled with the fruit bowl.
It was probably best to just get it over and done with.
“Boy troubles,” Jaime replied and his mother tilted her head questioningly. “I like a boy,” he admitted and took a big bit of his banana as he waited for his mother to respond.
His mother sat up straighter in her chair and looked him directly in the eye.
“You mean ‘like’ like?” she asked and her voice had gone a little shrill.
Jaime’s stomach was roiling and he really didn’t want to have to swallow his mouthful of banana but he had to answer his mother. So he swallowed and thanked god the banana was too mushy to choke him.
“Yeah,” he admitted and looked up at his mother. “You mad?”
She smiled nervously. “No hijo, I couldn’t be mad at you for something like that.”
“You don’t seem as surprised as I thought you would be,” he ventured tentatively and swallowed around the lump in his throat.
“A mother knows,” she said with a shrug. “It’s Robin, right?”
“You knew?” Jaime asked and his voice cracked over the syllables.
“I suspected,” his mother nodded and stood up as her kettle started to whistle.
“Does dad know?” Jaime asked.
His mother shrugged as she took the kettle off the stove and flipped the spout cover open to stop the whistling.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. Your father is more observant than we give him credit for,” she answered and put the kettle on the counter before reaching for a mug. “So what’s the trouble with you and Robin?”
Jaime’s gut was still roiling with anxiety and worry but he swallowed around the dryness in his mouth and answered.
“I kissed him.”
His mother stopped pouring hot water into her mug to spin around and give him a sharp look.
“On the mouth?” she asked and Jaime felt himself smile.
“No, on the elbow. Yeah Ma, on the mouth,” he answered and she smiled back at him.
“What did he do?” she asked and grabbed a tea bag from the jar on the counter.
“He kissed me back,” Jaime told her and eyed the rest of the half eaten banana.
“So what’s the problem?” his mother sat back down at the table next to him, dipping her tea bag into the steaming mug as she let it steep.
“He made me leave, like, right after,” Jaime explained. “He wouldn’t even let me patrol with him.”
“Oh that’s all?” his mother said casually. “He’s probably just nervous. Give him time, he’ll come around.”
“You think?” Jaime asked skeptically. It couldn’t be that simple.
“Yeah, he’s your age right?” she asked and continued when Jaime nodded. “He’s probably just uncertain. How many people has he dated?”
“I have no idea,” Jaime admitted.
His mother tossed her tea bag into the trash can and stood up.
“Probably not many, he seemed shy to me. Just give him a few days to calm down and then try again. Trust me, it’ll be fine.” She walked around the table and leaned over to give him a kiss on the head before heading upstairs for bed.
That had been a little more than a week ago and neither Tim nor Robin had not contacted him since.
Jaime gazed at the communicator for a few more seconds until it beeped again. Then he flicked it open.
“BB here,” he answered and tried to keep his voice neutral.
“It’s R, you busy?” the sound of Tim’s voice, deep and Robinly, coming over the com line made Jaime’s stomach clench.
“Depends, what did you need?” he answered succinctly.
“Back up. You in?” he asked and Jaime realized that Tim wasn’t being curt with him, he was distracted.
“When and for what?” Jaime asked curiously and saved his Word Document.
“Now and for taking out Two Face. I would leave it up to the cops but we need to document the crime. I don’t have enough him otherwise,” Tim, no Robin, clarified. There was an edge of tension to his voice that Jaime wasn’t sure he liked.
“I’ll be there in an hour. Where do you want to meet?” he asked, standing up and reaching for a duffle.
“Checkpoint three. R out,” Tim signed off and Jaime sighed before throwing some clean underwear into the duffle and shouting a goodbye to his mother.
He let the suit engulf him as he kicked up into the air, hoping that maybe tonight Robin would be a little more communicative.
^*^*^*^*^
The R shaped shurikan that Robin threw struck home and Two Face’s gun hit the floor with a clatter. It skidded out across the hard cement of the warehouse and slid under a pallet. A flash of triumph shot through Robin and as he stepped out of the shadows to confront Two Face. Hopefully, now that he was unarmed, he would surrender easily.
“It’s over Harvey,” Robin said in his best Robin voice. He straightened his shoulders and tried hard to look as tall and imposing as possible.
Robin didn’t look at Two Face. He kept his eyes unfocused, widely panning the room. It was a technique that Shiva had taught him to keep himself aware of his surroundings. Right now it served a dual purpose: to keep an eye out for any hench men Blue Beetle might have missed before he went tearing off after the runners and to keep Robin from having to look directly at Two Face.
It wasn’t that Two Face was a particularly scary; it was more that he brought to mind a time when he was young, inexperienced and very vulnerable. Sometimes Robin thought back to when he first started out and he had to suppress a shudder of terror. He was so lucky to be alive. He had been so stupid and unskilled.
The one thing that saved him time and time again was that he had Batman at his back to watch him, help him guide him and rescue him when things got bad.
Robin didn’t have that now.
Two Face was a harsh reminder of that. It made it hard for Robin to focus.
Robin hadn’t expected Two Face to surrender when he was disarmed. He had expected Two Face to run. He had expected to tackle Two Face in a dark alley in a way that would bash the man’s disfigured face against brick or cement or metal and stun him long enough for Robin to get him tied up.
What he hadn’t expected was for Harvey to launch himself at Robin with a sneer on his face and blood lust in his eyes.
As the saying went, a plan never survives the battlefield.
A thrill of terror went though Robin and he was frozen for a split second in time. Harvey caught him around the waist and they were both knocked off their feet. Robin’s body moved instinctively.
There were various stages of martial arts. The first stage was knowing how a technique worked cognitively. Once a person understood how the technique worked, where it could be applied and the best situations in which to use it, then they could move on the next stage. The next was knowing the technique with your body. Practicing it so many times that every muscle, every sinew of the person’s being knew how to move and how to react to any given situation.
Robin had trained his punches until his knuckles were bloody and broken. Robin had trained his kicks until his legs were too weak to stand. Robin had trained his locks until his joints ached and protested. Robin had trained his throws until his back ached and his muscles twitched. Robin had trained his falls until his vision blurred, his head ached and his balls were too battered and sore to take another impact.
Shiva had made sure that Robin knew his technique with not just his mind but his body as well.
So while Robin’s mind was stunned, numbed with fear, surprise and uncertainty, his body moved for him.
Robin’s fingers wrapped around the lapels of Two Face’s suit jacket, he let all the air out of his lungs in a long quick exhalation. He kicked his foot up, planting it firmly on Two Face’s sternum. He used Two Face’s forward momentum to his advantage as he hit the ground and immediately went into a backwards roll, taking Two Face with him and kicking up hard and fast as he let go with his hands. Two Face flew off of him and hit the floor with a thud three feet away as Robin rolled through the throw and came up on his knees.
He knee walked quickly over to where Two Face was laying on the ground, trying hard to draw air into his lungs. Knocking the wind out of an opponent was less about hurting them and more about stunning them. It took about three minutes to fully recover and just over thirty seconds for them to get back up on their feet. Either way they were breathless throughout the rest of the fight and that was a distinct advantage.
Robin’s fear was melting under his instinctual impulse to focus on the fight at hand.
He came up right along side of Two Face and when Harvey reached out a hand to weakly grasp towards Robin’s throat, Robin grabbed the hand by the fingers. He locked Harvey’s fingers, then his wrist, then his elbow, working the lock up the arm and back down to the spine. He used the lock to flip Harvey onto his back. Then twisted Harvey’s shoulder in his socket and braced it against the floor. Harvey would either have to dislocate his shoulder or break his arm to get up.
It had taken Robin years to even manage the most rudimentary of the hands free locks but he had grown to appreciate them. It was a great way to incapacitate a person while he fumbled in his belt for some zip strips. The other guy couldn’t figure out why, if Robin wasn’t touching them, that their arm hurt so badly or why the hell they could not move it.
There was a way to reverse the lock, but it was not something that someone would figure out on their own while breathless and battered. Robin could do it but only after years of practice and his shoulder ached for days afterward.
Robin took the time to call Detective Harper in for a pickup.
Harvey’s face was a mask of pain and confusion by the time Robin finally pulled the zip strips from his belt. He reached down and wrapped one around Harvey’s free hand, then he did Harvey’s locked arm. He unlocked the arm long enough to zip to the two wrists together.
When Harvey realized his arm was unlocked he made to get up and bolt. Robin grabbed him by the ankle and the back of the knee and collapsed his leg. Harvy cussed at him and Robin grabbed him by the hair and smashed Harvey’s head into the floor just hard enough to stun.
Then he went to work zip stripping Harvey’s legs.
Blue Beetle showed up, thugs in hand, while Robin was lacing Harvey’s ankles together. He dropped them in a heap next to Two Face who flinched and looked up when his unconscious compatriots hit the ground next to them.
“Harper will be here soon. I’ll give her the footage and then we can take off,” Robin told Blue Beetle shortly.
“Got it, boss,” Blue Beetle chirruped and Robin could tell he was smiling behind the mask.
It took Harper about three minutes before she showed up at the warehouse. Robin was feeling a little numb as he handed her the flash drive he had with the incriminating evidence she would need to convict Two Face and his gang. He waved a hollow good bye to her as she loaded the men into the paddy wagon.
Blue Beetle followed him to the alley where he had stashed the Red Bike.
“I’ll meet you at the nest on Thirteenth Street,” he said and Blue Beetled nodded in agreement. He gave Robin a curious look as Robin straddled his bike and turned the key.
Robin tossed him what he hoped was a reassuring smile before he pulled his feet off the ground and accelerated his bike towards the mouth of the alley. He saw Blue Beetle kick up off the ground and head towards his nest in his rearview mirror as Robin turned on to the main street.
It took him about ten minutes to get back to his nest. Blue Beetle was already waiting for him when he arrived. He was back in Jaime mode. His suit was gone and he was wearing a pair of sweats from the drawer in the dresser in the back room. They were a touch too small for him because Tim was almost two inches shorter but it did not stop Jaime from borrowing his clothes anyway.
“Victory is ours!” Jaime called and grinned at Tim as he padded barefoot into the kitchen area and stuck his head in the small fridge.
Tim threw him a weak smile and grabbed the solvent from his belt to remove his mask. As he did he walked into the back room to grab some sweats for himself.
Jaime was chattering something or other at him and he tried to keep the thread of the conversation going as he disarmed and removed his suit. He was pulling a pair of sweat pants on over a change of underwear when Jaime walked in with a concerned expression on his face.
“What’s wrong? You went quite all of the sudden,” Jaime said softly and that’s when Tim realized he was shivering and this teeth were chattering.
The very small section of his brain that was still working informed him that he was in shock but all Tim had the forethought to do was wrap his arms around his bare chest. He felt goosebumps under his fingers and he began to shiver violently.
“Tim, are you ok? Tim!” Jaime was calling to him and his voice was getting louder and more panicked by the second. The small part of Tim’s brain that was still working wanted to tell Jaime he was fine. That it was just shock and he would be ok in a few minutes but his mouth wasn’t listening to his brain and all he could do was shake his head back and forth.
“What’s wrong? Tim, tell me what’s wrong?” Jaime stalked across the room and grabbed Tim by the shoulders and all he could do was keep shaking his head back and forth and rubbing his hands over his bare arms.
“The scarab said you’re going into shock. What happened? Did he hurt you?” Jaime asked and he looked worried and scared.
Tim shook his head even more violently this time and managed to choke out a ‘no’.
“It’s just Two Face. I don’t like Two Face. I don’t like him. He’s… He’s… He’s awful…” Tim stammered and he knew what he was saying didn’t make sense but he couldn’t seem to form any more cohesive thought patterns. His mind was blank and numb, a deep black hole that he couldn’t see his way out of.
He would probably be scared if he could manage to feel anything right now.
Jaime pursed his lips and wrapped his arms around Tim, he drew him over towards the bed.
“You’re pale. Paler than usual, I mean. Like, you’re frickin’ white, dude. You need to lay down before you faint,” Jaime told him and Tim fought down a hysterical laugh.
Jaime lay down on the small bed and pulled Tim down on top of him. He wrapped his arms around Tim’s back and rubbed soothing circles over Tim’s bare skin.
The goosebumps were gone and his shivering had mostly subsided by this point but he still felt cold. His mind didn’t seem to want to kick back into gear either. So he rubbed his face into Jaime’s shoulder and breathed in deeply, snuggling in close to his warmth and trying hard not to think too much.
The most dangerous thing about going into shock wasn’t the shaking, or the nausea or even the lack of coherence. It was the exhaustion that hit after all the rest of the symptoms had passed.
It was why going into shock around anyone who might want to do you harm was such a terrible idea.
As Tim’s shivers subsided and muscles relaxed and his mind came back in focus he felt himself dimly slipping into a deep sleep, the low thud of Jaime’s heartbeat echoing comfortingly in his ears.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The early morning sunlight that shone through the bedroom window hit Tim directly in the face and he blinked his eyes open. He spent a minute in lazy contemplation as he figured out where he was and who he was in bed with.
Tim rolled his eyes upwards to find Jaime still fast asleep. Jaime’s mouth was wide open and his arm was thrown across his eyes, blocking out the sunlight that had awoken Tim.
Jaime was laying flat on his back and Tim was curled up against Jaime’s side, his arm around Jaime’s chest. Jaime had stolen the pillow, no doubt to drool all over it again, so Tim had used Jaime’s shoulder to support his head while he slept.
They were cramped and there was a crick in Tim’s neck and while Jaime was a great guy, Tim was a little to close to his armpit to fully appreciate it at the moment.
Tim was starting to remember why he never fell asleep in his nests. All of the bedrooms in Wayne Manor had large heavy drapes that covered the window so it didn’t matter whether or not the room faced the east or the west. Conversely, he tended to furnish his nests sparsely. A few pieces of furniture from Ikea, a twin bed and a few hiding spots for his equipment.
They all looked mostly the same, like a young college student lived there. So if anyone stopped by to inspect the place or check the meter, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
So black out drapes were a tactical no-no.
Tim yawned deeply and resisted the urge to roll over and stretch. The bed was narrow and there was no way the movement would not wake Jaime. Armpit smell aside, Tim still wanted a few minutes to himself before he had to face the day.
The two of them were ending up in bed together with alarming frequency. Though, Tim was having a hard time working up the concern this developing habit of theirs probably warranted.
The thing was that when ever he fell asleep on Jaime Reyes he slept better than he had since long before his mother died. Certainly better than he had slept since Bruce died.
It was true that the first time he was heavily drugged and this time it was probably because of the emotional exhaustion that always followed shock but a pattern was a pattern.
Tim maintained that he could not help what his brain and body internalized.
Finally, Tim could no longer resist the demands of his cramped muscles and stretched out his legs, pointing his toes to extend his muscles the best he could in the confined space.
Jaime suddenly sat up straight in the bed and Tim fell back against the mattress. Confusion was written clearly on Jaime’s face.
“¿Que hora es?” he asked looking around the room with a slightly panicked expression on his face.
Tim shrugged and stretched, arching his back and locking his arms over his head.
“English please. My Spanish is appalling,” Tim instructed before adding, “and it’s just after sunrise. Maybe five thirtyish.”
Jaime fell back against the pillows with a relieved sigh.
“Mmmm temprano,” Jaime mumbled and Tim nodded sleepily in agreement.
Jaime cut his eyes to Tim and looked at him speculatively.
“Feeling better?” he asked tentatively sounding a little more awake now.
Tim hummed a yes and gave Jaime a sheepish smile.
“You must think I’m the most unstable person in the history of the universe,” Tim said conversationally and Jaime laughed.
“First off, I think Brenda gives you a run for your money. Come to think of it, so does Rose. Besides I think, maybe, you have a very complicated life,” Jaime responded and smiled at Tim.
“Run away while you still can,” Tim lilted with what he hoped was humor in his eyes.
Judging by the serious look Jaime gave him in return, he did not quite manage the humor.
“Why do I get the feeling that wasn’t a joke?” Jaime asked softly and lifted a hand to brush the bangs gently off of Tim’s forehead.
Tim sighed and broke eye contact with Jaime.
“Because it wasn’t, not really,” Tim answered, feeling a little too mellow to face the stress of lying at this point.
Jaime braced his elbow on the bed just over Tim’s shoulder and used it to prop his chin on his hand. Jaime smiled affectionately down at Tim and Tim felt a warm soothing heat pool in his belly.
Tim had learned the best survival skills starting at the age twelve from the most skilled combatants in the world. Batman, Batgirl, Lady Shiva and a whole host of others whose names he either didn’t learn or couldn’t remember. But before that, Tim had learned a different set of survival skills.
High Society circles and boarding schools were much like Hobbes’ hypothetical State of Nature. Humans preyed upon humans only, in boarding school and High Society, it wasn’t for food, shelter or mating rights, it was just to be cruel. One had to learn early on how to hide everything. Every thought that passes though a person’s head, every flash of emotion or hunger pang had to be painstakingly concealed because the slightest hint of weakness brought out the dogs.
Bruce had told him, when he first insinuated himself among the Bat family, that he had an excellent instinct for detective work. None of it was instinct. It was just another carefully cultivated set of survival skills.
While, at the age of ten, his life did not necessarily depend on knowing fifty seven different ways to maim a man without the use of his hands, he did need to know how to spot emotional instability.
He also needed to learn how to hide it and he learned well.
Tim tended to compartmentalize his emotions. He learned to hold them back and wait to express them until he was in a place, both physically and mentally, where he could properly express them. Like an empty shower, an abandoned building, or the Bat Cave when no one was around.
Tim rarely broke down around other people. The last time he did was years ago, just after he found his father’s body and it was in front Bruce, so he figured it mostly didn’t count.
Now he had broken down in front of Jaime twice in one month. Either his mental state was worse off than he realized or he trusted Jaime about as much as he trusted Bruce. The trust idea was not so far fetched now that he considered it. Jaime, unlike Bruce, lacked any measure of guile.
He was and easy person to trust.
“I thought I should give you fair warning,” Tim teased and watched Jaime for a response.
Jaime’s nose crinkled slightly as his smile widened.
“The crying jag the other night was warning enough,” Jaime replied Tim pulled a wry look.
“Did I apologize for that?” he asked contemplatively and Jaime shook his head.
“You didn’t need to,” Jaime assured Tim and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead before rolling back onto the bed and pulling Tim on top of him.
Tim allowed himself to manhandled and settled himself on top of Jaime, adjusting his limbs and torso into a more comfortable position. The soothing warmth that had settled into his stomach when Jaime had started speaking to him shifted into a frisson of sexual awareness when his thigh pressed into Jaime’s groin.
“You’re hard,” Tim said, startled into what was probably rudeness. He wasn’t sure. They didn’t cover how to handle erections in Mr. Freedle’s etiquette classes back at Brentwood Academy.
“It’s morning, you’re warm. Sue me,” Jaime replied, his eyes closed and his face carefully neutral.
“Even discussions of my questionable mental health didn’t help matters? Impressive,” Tim smirked and Jaime smiled back.
“Turns out, I want to bone you even when you’re crazy,” Jaime drawled. He lifted a hand to run up and down Tim’s bare back and that small frisson of pleasure turned into a hot electric shock that coursed through Tim’s chest and belly before settling in his groin and stiffening his cock.
Tim was starting to feel like maybe there was not enough air in his lungs and he couldn’t think of anything to say in reply. His mind was consumed with the sudden image of Jaime naked and hard in his bed and Tim’s mouth went dry. After a few seconds of his silence, Jaime cracked an eye open and looked up at Tim.
“Tim?” he ventured, looking nervous.
“Mmm?” Tim hummed a question in response, his mind still completely focused on the feel of Jaime’s erection pressed against his hip.
“Is it-I mean… What’s going on, man?” Jaime asked and he sounded worried and unsure.
Tim locked eyes with Jaime and decided to go for truth. Jaime bore up under well all the other times. Besides, he wasn’t sure he had the brain power to come up with a decent lie at this point.
“I’m thinking about jerking you off,” Tim answered and licked his lips.
Jaime’s face went slack with surprise and Tim could feel his abs and quads tense under him.
“Dios mio,” Jaime whispered and looked a little breathless.
“I don’t-- I mean… Yes.” Jaime stammered and Tim swallowed hard as he watched him.
Jaime didn’t look scared, he mostly just looked uncertain.
Tim thought back to all the times he was in this exact same position. The night with Adriana, all those times Steph suggested that maybe it was the right time for them, that one mission with Squire and the ducks and that weekend at the monastery with Connor. Tim remembered how scared he was, how tense and anxious and apprehensive.
He didn’t feel any of those things now. Now he felt this liberating mixture of relaxed and turned on.
Tim opened his mouth to ask Jaime if he was sure. To tell him that Tim didn’t want to pressure him into anything but the question died on his lips when he saw the expression on Jaime’s face.
Jaime’s soft brown eyes had darkened with arousal, his brow furrowed in intense concentration as he looked up at Tim. His mouth was quirked in an inviting manner and Tim couldn’t help but dip his head and kiss him.
Jaime responded immediately, his mouth softening and opening under Tim’s. The kiss was firm and eager and Jaime’s tongue and lips were quick and ardent on Tim’s. Jaime lifted an arm to wrap around Tim shoulders and neck, pulling him into their kiss.
Jaime’s other hand trailed down Tim’s back to grasp him by the hip as he shifted under Tim. The breath went out of Tim’s lungs as Jaime’s thigh brushed up against his erection. Tim’s mind when blank and his mouth went numb as Jaime sucked little kisses against his lips.
Tim closed his eyes for a few long moments, trying to remember how to breathe. He opened them again when Jaime stopped kissing him. Jaime’s mouth was wet and slack and he ran his teeth over his bottom lip as he trailed his hand down over Tim’s back and slid it under his sweats and boxers. Long fingers played gently and the small of his back before dipping to grasp Tim’s glutes.
Tim braced himself on one arm and came up onto his knees between Jaime’s legs. He grabbed the hem of Jaime’s shirt, rucking it up under his arm pits and trailing his fingers over the smooth expanse of skin. Jaime was slim but not scrawny in the way Tim had been before he became Robin. He had some muscle but, as he could rely on the scarab and his suit, he didn’t really need to work on developing it. His belly was flat and unscarred and his skin felt so warm and soft under Tim’s hands.
Tim traced the small trail of hair from Jaime’s belly button to the waist band of Jaime’s sweats. Jaime lifted his hips and let Tim pull the pants down around his thighs. A thrill of heat surged through Tim at the sight of Jaime’s naked erection. It was hard and flushed a bright red, pre come dripped from the tip and it was so stiff it barely moved as Jaime squirmed under Tim’s intense scrutiny.
Jaime’s dick twitched as Tim watched and Tim flicked his eyes up to look at Jaime’s face. Jaime’s brows were furrowed and his mouth was pursed in a long line, he was watching Tim and he swallowed hard when Tim’s eyes met his. He let go of Tim’s neck long enough to drop his hand to his crotch and grip the base of his erection.
Tim followed the movement with his eyes and felt himself go a little dizzy when Jaime’s hand wrapped around his own erection.
“Do you-- Do you think about me? When you jerk off?” Tim found himself asking around a dry mouth. He looked back up at Jaime and Jaime’s chest expanded as he took a deep breath.
“Yeah, yeah I do,” he admitted hoarsely before narrowing his eyes questioningly. “Do you?”
“Yeah I-“ Tim started and then broke off with a breathless laugh. “I think about you, not me.”
Jaime ignored the weak joke and licked his lips.
“What do you think about?” he asked roughly and Tim had to clench his teeth to keep from groaning.
“I-I can’t remember right now,” he admitted distractedly. “I’m having trouble thinking about anything but jerking you off right now.”
Jaime tilted back his head and moaned low in his throat. His hips arched up off the bed slightly and while the gesture was, no doubt, involuntary, Tim still took it as an invitation. He wrapped his hand around Jaime’s erection and squeezed. Jaime’s moan went a little breathless and hips jerked again, this time more violently as he thrust himself into Tim’s fist.
Tim was too distracted with the sight of Jaime clutched in his hand that he wasn’t even startled when hands started fumbling at the waist band of his sweats. Jaime pulled them, and his underwear, down around his thighs before grabbing Tim by the shoulders and pulling at him.
Tim, far too distracted to be anything close to graceful, lost his balance. He let go of Jaime, to try to catch himself, but Jaime didn’t give him the chance. Jaime wrapped his arms around Tim’s shoulders and pulled them close together.
Tim gasped in shock as the hot press of Jaime’s erection against his own registered in Tim’s mind. His gasp shifted into a low moan when Jaime arched his hips up under Tim’s and rubbed them together.
Jaime made a high, hurt noise in the back of his throat and his arms tightened around Tim’s neck.
They fell into a rhythm, moving their hips together as sweat and pre-come slicked their bellies and erections.
Tim buried his face in Jaime’s neck, trying hard to muffle the sounds he knew he was making. He knew he should be saying something, doing something other than moving his hips and whimpering into the pillow. But Tim couldn’t get his hands to move or his mouth to work and all he could focus on was the perfect friction against his dick and the breathy little gasps Jaime was making in his ear.
Hot jolts of pleasure flowed through him with every slight movement of their hips. When Jaime choked on a gasp and slick come flooded over their bellies, Tim’s vision whited out. He moaned and shivered and came, pulsing hotly between them both.
They both lay there gasping for air and trying to catch their breath for a few long moments as they both shivered and tried to calm down.
“Holy crap,” Jaime murmured and lifted a hand to bury in the hair at the back of Tim’s head.
Tim hummed an agreement and pressed his face into Jaime’s neck.
“We just had sex,” Jaime stated in an awed tone of voice and Tim couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes we did,” he agreed smugly.
“What do we do now?” Jaime asked curiously.
“Mmmm, now we go rinse off and in about ten minutes or so I’m going to blow you in the shower,” Tim answered and propped himself up on his arms so he could look down at Jaime. “Sound like a plan?”
“Have I ever mentioned that you are an excellent planner?” Jaime asked and sat up slightly to kiss Tim.
“No, but don’t worry. It goes without saying,” Tim assured him and slipped off the bed to pad towards the bathroom. Jaime levered himself off the bed and grabbed Tim by the arm before he stepped into the bathroom.
“So what does this mean, then?” Jaime asked and gave Tim a measuring look.
“Why, do you want to go steady? Should I make plans to ask you to the prom? Maybe you want to wear my varsity tennis jacket?” Tim asked with an amused smile.
“Maybe I do,” Jaime teased back and Tim’s smile widened.
“It’s powder blue. Not remotely manly,” Tim warned.
“I’m comfortable with my masculinity,” Jaime shot back and pressed a quick kiss to Tim’s cheek before making his way towards the bathroom.
Tim watched him go, his skin painted gold in the early morning sunlight. Jaime paused just outside the door and turned back to smile invitingly at Tim. He almost blended into the beams of bright light streaming through the windows as he stood and waited for Tim with a smile.
Fanart by lyanth: NSFW She has no idea where Tim's clothes went and frankly I couldn't be happier. :DD
NEXT PART: After the Game
Series: Takes place directly after After the Dust Settles
Author: Aravis Tarkheena
Pairing: Tim Drake (Robin III)/Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle III)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: angst, sex
Disclaimer: Not mine, everyone's legal
Word Count: 8,000 words
Author's Notes: Ready guys? Written for darthbatgirl's Tim's Virginity Challenge. Also, for my dcu_freeforall table, prompt #3 sunrise. Also the dcu_freeforall Summer Challenge; T:11, P:04 Light.
At the End of the Tunnel
Cassie was trying to salvage what was left of her manicure when Tim called. She was invulnerable to most things, unfortunately, nail polish was not. She was sitting on her bed, toes spread by cotton balls and her favorite bottle of polish on the bedside table next to her. Her entire room smelled like acetone and she cringed at the feel of wet cotton rubbing over the top of her nails.
She wondered briefly why she even bothered with polish when it invariably ended up chipped within a few hours as he reached for her phone and flicked it open
Cassie was still grimacing slightly when she answered, pressing her cell between her cheek and shoulder.
“Hello?” she answered distractedly, rubbing hard at a bit of polish along her cuticle.
“It’s me,” Tim’s tired voice came over the line.
“What’s new Wonder Boy?” she asked and examined the nail of her right index finger for any trace evidence of polish.
“Two Face is wrecking havoc in Gotham City. I think he and I are going to end up having a show down sometime this week,” he sighed Cassie sat up straighter.
Tim had a thing about Two Face. Cassie wasn’t sure if it was fear, per se. She figured it was something a little more complicated. Whatever it was, Tim avoided confrontations with that particular villain at all costs. He tended to gather information, give it to the Batman or the cops and let them do the take down.
“Alone?” she asked sharply.
“Nah, I think I’m going to call Jaime for backup,” he told her but there was a catch in his voice that Cassie couldn’t ignore.
“Hasn’t Jaime become something of a permanent fixture in Gotham these days? You guys team up at least twice a week. Why wouldn’t you call him in for this?”
“I-“ Tim started and then hesitated as if trying to figure out how, exactly, he wanted the explanation to go. “Things have gotten weird between the two of us.”
“Weird how?” Cassie asked moved on to her middle finger.
“Jaime kissed me the other night,” Tim responded quickly, his voice flat and even. The cotton ball Cassie had been using dropped with a wet plop onto her bare thigh.
“You’re kidding me,” she said disbelievingly as she picked up the pink soggy cotton ball and tossed it into the trash.
“I am not,” Tim answered coolly.
“Was he mind controlled?” she asked, trying to come up with a reason Jaime would kiss Tim.
“No,” Tim sighed.
“Was he sex pollened?” she tried again.
“No,” Tim answered.
“Magic?” Cassie asked.
“No!” Tim was annoyed this time. “He was fine. We were at my place watching a movie and-“
Cassie cut him off.
“Since when do you two watch movies together?” she asked, feeling very ill informed all of the sudden.
“Since he brought one over and asked to watch it with me,” Tim explained, clearly impatient with the direction this conversation was going.
“What movie was it?” she put in, thinking fast.
“Does it matter?” Tim was clearly exasperated now.
“It does. I want to know if it was a make out movie or not,” she explained and she could practically hear Tim rolling his eyes on the other end of the line.
“Make out movie… Never mind, I don’t even want you to explain that to me,” he sighed and Cassie stuck her tongue out at the phone.
“Spill, Bi-curious Wonder,” she prodded.
Tim explained to her about Jaime bringing Lord of the Rings over to watch. She tried to stifle her shock when he explained to her about telling Jaime his real name but she couldn’t manage to completely when he said he had told Jaime about his dad.
“Then I sort of started to cry…” Tim went on and Cassie had to cut him off.
“You cried?” Cassie heard her voice go shrill and a little pang of jealousy shot through her chest despite herself.
It had been a long time since Tim had opened up to her and she could count the number of times she had seen him cry on one hand. It had taken Tim several years and a near death experience to even tell her his name and he goes off and tells the new guy at the drop of a hat. Not to mention that he cried.
“Like a fourteen year old girl,” Tim confirmed. “Jaime said he didn’t mind as he had a great deal of experience dealing with weeping fourteen year olds.”
“No kidding?” Cassie replied dryly.
“No kidding,” Tim repeated and it sounded like there was a smile in his voice.
“Jaime has a thing for you?” it was more of a question than a statement.
“I think he does,” Tim answered, sounding serious again. “I thought, at first, it was just a mentor thing but it’s not panning out that way.”
“What way?” Cassie asked, curious.
“He’s interested in me as an individual. Not the me he thinks he knows,” Tim answered.
“I’m not sure I understand…” Cassie replied, thinking hard about what Tim had said.
“He’s trying to find out more about me but not for the sake of just knowing. He’s doing it because he seems genuinely concerned about me as a person. And when he finds out the information, he tries to do things to make me feel better,” Tim clarified and Cassie nodded.
“So he finds out you’re living alone with a couple of guinea pigs and decides to have a movie night,” Cassie ventured as the full meaning of what Tim had said dawned on her.
“Leg and Gim are hamsters but yeah, you’ve got the idea,” Tim agreed.
“What about you?” Cassie asked, curiously.
“What about me?” Tim replied.
“Are you into Jaime?” she clarified and waited as he went silent on the other end of the line.
“He’s a good guy,” Tim started but Cassie cut him off before he could get into any serious prevaricating.
“Answer the question: yes or no,” she demanded and she could almost hear Tim’s jaw clenching.
“Maybe… I don’t know,” he finally answered and sounded pained.
“Well, what’s wrong? He’s into you. He’s sweet to you. Was the kiss good?”
“It was nice and soft and the scruff on his chin isn’t nearly as scratchy as I had imagined,” Tim answered.
“You imagined it?” Cassie latched on to that. “Kissing him I mean.”
“Yeah, maybe, once or twice,” Tim sounded pained.
“So you are into him,” Cassie confirmed.
“It’s not that simple,” Tim put in.
“He likes you, you like him, he’s a decent kisser and his scruffle doesn’t give you a rash. How is this complicated?” she asked with exasperation. Tim had a bad habit of making things much more complicated than they were.
“I don’t know if I have the emotional energy to handle a relationship right now,” Tim admitted and Cassie swallowed hard. Tim rarely spoke about how Bruce’s disappearance and his father’s death were affecting him. Cassie was glad he was doing it now. It made he seem more like he was facing his issues rather than just trying to look past them, which was a major relief to Cassie.
“Well, you told him about your dad. He knows about Bruce. He’s seen you cry like a little girl and he’s still there watching movies with your and your guinea pigs. Sounds like he’s up for it,” Cassie pointed out gently.
“They’re hamsters, Cassie. And he doesn’t know what he’s getting into,” Tim grumped.
“Don’t be stupid, yes he does. You know that he and Paco have been dealing Brenda losing her dad. He knows what you’re going through. He knew even before you cried on him,” Cassie said.
“I just don’t know if it would be good for either of us,” Tim sighed with frustration and Cassie could hear him fiddling with something on the other end of the line.
“I don’t know Tim. I think you should give it a shot. I mean, we’ve only known him for about a year but he seems like a great guy,” Cassie told him and was surprised to find that she believed every word she was saying. She might be a little jealous at the sudden closeness of their relationship but maybe something new to focus on, something new to look forward to, was just what Tim needed.
“It’s just… Look what happened with Zoanne,” Tim started but Cassie cut him off.
“Zoanne was self centered and had the emotional intelligence of a walnut,” she pointed out wryly and cut Tim off before he had a chance to defend Zoanne. “I mean, she’s a nice girl, don’t get me wrong, and you seem to like them a little obtuse for various reasons. However, right now, I think you need someone a little more in tune with your needs. Or at least someone who tries to figure out what, exactly, those needs are. Who knows, Jaime could be exactly what you need: your light at the end of a long dark tunnel, so to speak.”
Tim was quite for a few long moments before he replied caustically.
“You’re right. He is probably the light at the end of my tunnel. My only problem is that I don’t know if he’s sunlight or a runaway train filled with dynamite careening towards me at breakneck speed.”
^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Jaime was three hundred words into a three page essay on Lord of the Flies when his communicator blinked. He sighed in relief and stretched his sore back muscles as he reached back behind him to grab the small device off of the mess on his night stand.
He glanced at the read out and hesitated when he saw Tim’s call sign.
Tim hadn’t exactly been the most communicative of people since their ‘movie night’. To his credit, he didn’t freak out immediately after the kiss. He waited until just before he was about to head out for patrol. Jaime had assumed that he would join Tim on patrol that night but Tim had assured Jaime that he was fine solo in a way that made it clear he did not want Jaime around.
Jaime had gone home hurt and upset. Something his mother had sensed the minute he stepped through the kitchen door.
“You’re home well before curfew. I thought you were working with Robin tonight,” his mother ventured as she filled her tea kettle at the sink. Her voice was a mix between surprise and disapproving resignation.
Jaime always missed curfew when he was out with Robin.
Jaime just shrugged wordlessly and slipped onto one of the kitchen chairs. He reached for a banana in the fruit bowl and began to peel is disconsolately.
His mother watched him with deep consideration for a few moments before putting the kettle on the stove and turning on the burner. Then she sat down at the table across from Jaime and looked him directly in the eye.
“What is it, mi’jo?” his mother asked with the bracing manner parents assumed when they realized it was time to impart some serious life wisdom to their children.
Jaime hesitated, trying to decide how to explain things between himself and Tim to his mother.
Jaime had decided a long time ago that he would not lie to his mother about his activities within the Caped Community. However, as time went on, he found himself omitting certain details. Minor things, like how close he had come to losing a finger or that time he spent an entire afternoon as a chick. This thing with Tim wasn’t minor, though. At least it did not feel that way to Jaime.
The other problem was that he could not lie to his mother. She always knew. She was magic like that. Her eyes got all sharp and she gave him a look that said ‘I didn’t raise you lie Jaime Reyes’ and he eventually caved.
She could probably teach Batman a few things about interrogation.
If he were still alive.
Jaime blew out a frustrated breath and fiddled with the banana peel.
“It’s just-“ he started but stopped himself again still not sure how to explain things.
“Is it girl troubles?” his mother asked with a knowing smile and Jaime felt his stomach drop out.
He had never given his sexuality much thought in the past. He had always assumed that the things he felt were exactly what other people felt. Jaime had assumed that he was straight. The fact that he sometimes thought about boys hadn’t really registered as anything less than normal to Jaime.
He had just assumed that all guys thought about other guys sometimes.
The idea that he was bisexual had not even occurred to him until Kara had mentioned that she was one. There was a label for what he was and that label had certain implications.
One of those implications was that he was separate, different from everybody else. Another was that he would eventually have to tell people that he was different from them.
It wasn’t that he was worried about how his family would take it. His parents might be shocked and Paco might be a little weirded out, but they loved him and they wouldn’t disown him or anything. It was more that he was worried that now people would assume things about him. Things that weren’t necessarily true.
“Not girls, mami,” Jaime finally admitted with a sigh and his mother gave him a curious look.
“What then?” she asked and fiddled with the fruit bowl.
It was probably best to just get it over and done with.
“Boy troubles,” Jaime replied and his mother tilted her head questioningly. “I like a boy,” he admitted and took a big bit of his banana as he waited for his mother to respond.
His mother sat up straighter in her chair and looked him directly in the eye.
“You mean ‘like’ like?” she asked and her voice had gone a little shrill.
Jaime’s stomach was roiling and he really didn’t want to have to swallow his mouthful of banana but he had to answer his mother. So he swallowed and thanked god the banana was too mushy to choke him.
“Yeah,” he admitted and looked up at his mother. “You mad?”
She smiled nervously. “No hijo, I couldn’t be mad at you for something like that.”
“You don’t seem as surprised as I thought you would be,” he ventured tentatively and swallowed around the lump in his throat.
“A mother knows,” she said with a shrug. “It’s Robin, right?”
“You knew?” Jaime asked and his voice cracked over the syllables.
“I suspected,” his mother nodded and stood up as her kettle started to whistle.
“Does dad know?” Jaime asked.
His mother shrugged as she took the kettle off the stove and flipped the spout cover open to stop the whistling.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. Your father is more observant than we give him credit for,” she answered and put the kettle on the counter before reaching for a mug. “So what’s the trouble with you and Robin?”
Jaime’s gut was still roiling with anxiety and worry but he swallowed around the dryness in his mouth and answered.
“I kissed him.”
His mother stopped pouring hot water into her mug to spin around and give him a sharp look.
“On the mouth?” she asked and Jaime felt himself smile.
“No, on the elbow. Yeah Ma, on the mouth,” he answered and she smiled back at him.
“What did he do?” she asked and grabbed a tea bag from the jar on the counter.
“He kissed me back,” Jaime told her and eyed the rest of the half eaten banana.
“So what’s the problem?” his mother sat back down at the table next to him, dipping her tea bag into the steaming mug as she let it steep.
“He made me leave, like, right after,” Jaime explained. “He wouldn’t even let me patrol with him.”
“Oh that’s all?” his mother said casually. “He’s probably just nervous. Give him time, he’ll come around.”
“You think?” Jaime asked skeptically. It couldn’t be that simple.
“Yeah, he’s your age right?” she asked and continued when Jaime nodded. “He’s probably just uncertain. How many people has he dated?”
“I have no idea,” Jaime admitted.
His mother tossed her tea bag into the trash can and stood up.
“Probably not many, he seemed shy to me. Just give him a few days to calm down and then try again. Trust me, it’ll be fine.” She walked around the table and leaned over to give him a kiss on the head before heading upstairs for bed.
That had been a little more than a week ago and neither Tim nor Robin had not contacted him since.
Jaime gazed at the communicator for a few more seconds until it beeped again. Then he flicked it open.
“BB here,” he answered and tried to keep his voice neutral.
“It’s R, you busy?” the sound of Tim’s voice, deep and Robinly, coming over the com line made Jaime’s stomach clench.
“Depends, what did you need?” he answered succinctly.
“Back up. You in?” he asked and Jaime realized that Tim wasn’t being curt with him, he was distracted.
“When and for what?” Jaime asked curiously and saved his Word Document.
“Now and for taking out Two Face. I would leave it up to the cops but we need to document the crime. I don’t have enough him otherwise,” Tim, no Robin, clarified. There was an edge of tension to his voice that Jaime wasn’t sure he liked.
“I’ll be there in an hour. Where do you want to meet?” he asked, standing up and reaching for a duffle.
“Checkpoint three. R out,” Tim signed off and Jaime sighed before throwing some clean underwear into the duffle and shouting a goodbye to his mother.
He let the suit engulf him as he kicked up into the air, hoping that maybe tonight Robin would be a little more communicative.
^*^*^*^*^
The R shaped shurikan that Robin threw struck home and Two Face’s gun hit the floor with a clatter. It skidded out across the hard cement of the warehouse and slid under a pallet. A flash of triumph shot through Robin and as he stepped out of the shadows to confront Two Face. Hopefully, now that he was unarmed, he would surrender easily.
“It’s over Harvey,” Robin said in his best Robin voice. He straightened his shoulders and tried hard to look as tall and imposing as possible.
Robin didn’t look at Two Face. He kept his eyes unfocused, widely panning the room. It was a technique that Shiva had taught him to keep himself aware of his surroundings. Right now it served a dual purpose: to keep an eye out for any hench men Blue Beetle might have missed before he went tearing off after the runners and to keep Robin from having to look directly at Two Face.
It wasn’t that Two Face was a particularly scary; it was more that he brought to mind a time when he was young, inexperienced and very vulnerable. Sometimes Robin thought back to when he first started out and he had to suppress a shudder of terror. He was so lucky to be alive. He had been so stupid and unskilled.
The one thing that saved him time and time again was that he had Batman at his back to watch him, help him guide him and rescue him when things got bad.
Robin didn’t have that now.
Two Face was a harsh reminder of that. It made it hard for Robin to focus.
Robin hadn’t expected Two Face to surrender when he was disarmed. He had expected Two Face to run. He had expected to tackle Two Face in a dark alley in a way that would bash the man’s disfigured face against brick or cement or metal and stun him long enough for Robin to get him tied up.
What he hadn’t expected was for Harvey to launch himself at Robin with a sneer on his face and blood lust in his eyes.
As the saying went, a plan never survives the battlefield.
A thrill of terror went though Robin and he was frozen for a split second in time. Harvey caught him around the waist and they were both knocked off their feet. Robin’s body moved instinctively.
There were various stages of martial arts. The first stage was knowing how a technique worked cognitively. Once a person understood how the technique worked, where it could be applied and the best situations in which to use it, then they could move on the next stage. The next was knowing the technique with your body. Practicing it so many times that every muscle, every sinew of the person’s being knew how to move and how to react to any given situation.
Robin had trained his punches until his knuckles were bloody and broken. Robin had trained his kicks until his legs were too weak to stand. Robin had trained his locks until his joints ached and protested. Robin had trained his throws until his back ached and his muscles twitched. Robin had trained his falls until his vision blurred, his head ached and his balls were too battered and sore to take another impact.
Shiva had made sure that Robin knew his technique with not just his mind but his body as well.
So while Robin’s mind was stunned, numbed with fear, surprise and uncertainty, his body moved for him.
Robin’s fingers wrapped around the lapels of Two Face’s suit jacket, he let all the air out of his lungs in a long quick exhalation. He kicked his foot up, planting it firmly on Two Face’s sternum. He used Two Face’s forward momentum to his advantage as he hit the ground and immediately went into a backwards roll, taking Two Face with him and kicking up hard and fast as he let go with his hands. Two Face flew off of him and hit the floor with a thud three feet away as Robin rolled through the throw and came up on his knees.
He knee walked quickly over to where Two Face was laying on the ground, trying hard to draw air into his lungs. Knocking the wind out of an opponent was less about hurting them and more about stunning them. It took about three minutes to fully recover and just over thirty seconds for them to get back up on their feet. Either way they were breathless throughout the rest of the fight and that was a distinct advantage.
Robin’s fear was melting under his instinctual impulse to focus on the fight at hand.
He came up right along side of Two Face and when Harvey reached out a hand to weakly grasp towards Robin’s throat, Robin grabbed the hand by the fingers. He locked Harvey’s fingers, then his wrist, then his elbow, working the lock up the arm and back down to the spine. He used the lock to flip Harvey onto his back. Then twisted Harvey’s shoulder in his socket and braced it against the floor. Harvey would either have to dislocate his shoulder or break his arm to get up.
It had taken Robin years to even manage the most rudimentary of the hands free locks but he had grown to appreciate them. It was a great way to incapacitate a person while he fumbled in his belt for some zip strips. The other guy couldn’t figure out why, if Robin wasn’t touching them, that their arm hurt so badly or why the hell they could not move it.
There was a way to reverse the lock, but it was not something that someone would figure out on their own while breathless and battered. Robin could do it but only after years of practice and his shoulder ached for days afterward.
Robin took the time to call Detective Harper in for a pickup.
Harvey’s face was a mask of pain and confusion by the time Robin finally pulled the zip strips from his belt. He reached down and wrapped one around Harvey’s free hand, then he did Harvey’s locked arm. He unlocked the arm long enough to zip to the two wrists together.
When Harvey realized his arm was unlocked he made to get up and bolt. Robin grabbed him by the ankle and the back of the knee and collapsed his leg. Harvy cussed at him and Robin grabbed him by the hair and smashed Harvey’s head into the floor just hard enough to stun.
Then he went to work zip stripping Harvey’s legs.
Blue Beetle showed up, thugs in hand, while Robin was lacing Harvey’s ankles together. He dropped them in a heap next to Two Face who flinched and looked up when his unconscious compatriots hit the ground next to them.
“Harper will be here soon. I’ll give her the footage and then we can take off,” Robin told Blue Beetle shortly.
“Got it, boss,” Blue Beetle chirruped and Robin could tell he was smiling behind the mask.
It took Harper about three minutes before she showed up at the warehouse. Robin was feeling a little numb as he handed her the flash drive he had with the incriminating evidence she would need to convict Two Face and his gang. He waved a hollow good bye to her as she loaded the men into the paddy wagon.
Blue Beetle followed him to the alley where he had stashed the Red Bike.
“I’ll meet you at the nest on Thirteenth Street,” he said and Blue Beetled nodded in agreement. He gave Robin a curious look as Robin straddled his bike and turned the key.
Robin tossed him what he hoped was a reassuring smile before he pulled his feet off the ground and accelerated his bike towards the mouth of the alley. He saw Blue Beetle kick up off the ground and head towards his nest in his rearview mirror as Robin turned on to the main street.
It took him about ten minutes to get back to his nest. Blue Beetle was already waiting for him when he arrived. He was back in Jaime mode. His suit was gone and he was wearing a pair of sweats from the drawer in the dresser in the back room. They were a touch too small for him because Tim was almost two inches shorter but it did not stop Jaime from borrowing his clothes anyway.
“Victory is ours!” Jaime called and grinned at Tim as he padded barefoot into the kitchen area and stuck his head in the small fridge.
Tim threw him a weak smile and grabbed the solvent from his belt to remove his mask. As he did he walked into the back room to grab some sweats for himself.
Jaime was chattering something or other at him and he tried to keep the thread of the conversation going as he disarmed and removed his suit. He was pulling a pair of sweat pants on over a change of underwear when Jaime walked in with a concerned expression on his face.
“What’s wrong? You went quite all of the sudden,” Jaime said softly and that’s when Tim realized he was shivering and this teeth were chattering.
The very small section of his brain that was still working informed him that he was in shock but all Tim had the forethought to do was wrap his arms around his bare chest. He felt goosebumps under his fingers and he began to shiver violently.
“Tim, are you ok? Tim!” Jaime was calling to him and his voice was getting louder and more panicked by the second. The small part of Tim’s brain that was still working wanted to tell Jaime he was fine. That it was just shock and he would be ok in a few minutes but his mouth wasn’t listening to his brain and all he could do was shake his head back and forth.
“What’s wrong? Tim, tell me what’s wrong?” Jaime stalked across the room and grabbed Tim by the shoulders and all he could do was keep shaking his head back and forth and rubbing his hands over his bare arms.
“The scarab said you’re going into shock. What happened? Did he hurt you?” Jaime asked and he looked worried and scared.
Tim shook his head even more violently this time and managed to choke out a ‘no’.
“It’s just Two Face. I don’t like Two Face. I don’t like him. He’s… He’s… He’s awful…” Tim stammered and he knew what he was saying didn’t make sense but he couldn’t seem to form any more cohesive thought patterns. His mind was blank and numb, a deep black hole that he couldn’t see his way out of.
He would probably be scared if he could manage to feel anything right now.
Jaime pursed his lips and wrapped his arms around Tim, he drew him over towards the bed.
“You’re pale. Paler than usual, I mean. Like, you’re frickin’ white, dude. You need to lay down before you faint,” Jaime told him and Tim fought down a hysterical laugh.
Jaime lay down on the small bed and pulled Tim down on top of him. He wrapped his arms around Tim’s back and rubbed soothing circles over Tim’s bare skin.
The goosebumps were gone and his shivering had mostly subsided by this point but he still felt cold. His mind didn’t seem to want to kick back into gear either. So he rubbed his face into Jaime’s shoulder and breathed in deeply, snuggling in close to his warmth and trying hard not to think too much.
The most dangerous thing about going into shock wasn’t the shaking, or the nausea or even the lack of coherence. It was the exhaustion that hit after all the rest of the symptoms had passed.
It was why going into shock around anyone who might want to do you harm was such a terrible idea.
As Tim’s shivers subsided and muscles relaxed and his mind came back in focus he felt himself dimly slipping into a deep sleep, the low thud of Jaime’s heartbeat echoing comfortingly in his ears.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
The early morning sunlight that shone through the bedroom window hit Tim directly in the face and he blinked his eyes open. He spent a minute in lazy contemplation as he figured out where he was and who he was in bed with.
Tim rolled his eyes upwards to find Jaime still fast asleep. Jaime’s mouth was wide open and his arm was thrown across his eyes, blocking out the sunlight that had awoken Tim.
Jaime was laying flat on his back and Tim was curled up against Jaime’s side, his arm around Jaime’s chest. Jaime had stolen the pillow, no doubt to drool all over it again, so Tim had used Jaime’s shoulder to support his head while he slept.
They were cramped and there was a crick in Tim’s neck and while Jaime was a great guy, Tim was a little to close to his armpit to fully appreciate it at the moment.
Tim was starting to remember why he never fell asleep in his nests. All of the bedrooms in Wayne Manor had large heavy drapes that covered the window so it didn’t matter whether or not the room faced the east or the west. Conversely, he tended to furnish his nests sparsely. A few pieces of furniture from Ikea, a twin bed and a few hiding spots for his equipment.
They all looked mostly the same, like a young college student lived there. So if anyone stopped by to inspect the place or check the meter, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
So black out drapes were a tactical no-no.
Tim yawned deeply and resisted the urge to roll over and stretch. The bed was narrow and there was no way the movement would not wake Jaime. Armpit smell aside, Tim still wanted a few minutes to himself before he had to face the day.
The two of them were ending up in bed together with alarming frequency. Though, Tim was having a hard time working up the concern this developing habit of theirs probably warranted.
The thing was that when ever he fell asleep on Jaime Reyes he slept better than he had since long before his mother died. Certainly better than he had slept since Bruce died.
It was true that the first time he was heavily drugged and this time it was probably because of the emotional exhaustion that always followed shock but a pattern was a pattern.
Tim maintained that he could not help what his brain and body internalized.
Finally, Tim could no longer resist the demands of his cramped muscles and stretched out his legs, pointing his toes to extend his muscles the best he could in the confined space.
Jaime suddenly sat up straight in the bed and Tim fell back against the mattress. Confusion was written clearly on Jaime’s face.
“¿Que hora es?” he asked looking around the room with a slightly panicked expression on his face.
Tim shrugged and stretched, arching his back and locking his arms over his head.
“English please. My Spanish is appalling,” Tim instructed before adding, “and it’s just after sunrise. Maybe five thirtyish.”
Jaime fell back against the pillows with a relieved sigh.
“Mmmm temprano,” Jaime mumbled and Tim nodded sleepily in agreement.
Jaime cut his eyes to Tim and looked at him speculatively.
“Feeling better?” he asked tentatively sounding a little more awake now.
Tim hummed a yes and gave Jaime a sheepish smile.
“You must think I’m the most unstable person in the history of the universe,” Tim said conversationally and Jaime laughed.
“First off, I think Brenda gives you a run for your money. Come to think of it, so does Rose. Besides I think, maybe, you have a very complicated life,” Jaime responded and smiled at Tim.
“Run away while you still can,” Tim lilted with what he hoped was humor in his eyes.
Judging by the serious look Jaime gave him in return, he did not quite manage the humor.
“Why do I get the feeling that wasn’t a joke?” Jaime asked softly and lifted a hand to brush the bangs gently off of Tim’s forehead.
Tim sighed and broke eye contact with Jaime.
“Because it wasn’t, not really,” Tim answered, feeling a little too mellow to face the stress of lying at this point.
Jaime braced his elbow on the bed just over Tim’s shoulder and used it to prop his chin on his hand. Jaime smiled affectionately down at Tim and Tim felt a warm soothing heat pool in his belly.
Tim had learned the best survival skills starting at the age twelve from the most skilled combatants in the world. Batman, Batgirl, Lady Shiva and a whole host of others whose names he either didn’t learn or couldn’t remember. But before that, Tim had learned a different set of survival skills.
High Society circles and boarding schools were much like Hobbes’ hypothetical State of Nature. Humans preyed upon humans only, in boarding school and High Society, it wasn’t for food, shelter or mating rights, it was just to be cruel. One had to learn early on how to hide everything. Every thought that passes though a person’s head, every flash of emotion or hunger pang had to be painstakingly concealed because the slightest hint of weakness brought out the dogs.
Bruce had told him, when he first insinuated himself among the Bat family, that he had an excellent instinct for detective work. None of it was instinct. It was just another carefully cultivated set of survival skills.
While, at the age of ten, his life did not necessarily depend on knowing fifty seven different ways to maim a man without the use of his hands, he did need to know how to spot emotional instability.
He also needed to learn how to hide it and he learned well.
Tim tended to compartmentalize his emotions. He learned to hold them back and wait to express them until he was in a place, both physically and mentally, where he could properly express them. Like an empty shower, an abandoned building, or the Bat Cave when no one was around.
Tim rarely broke down around other people. The last time he did was years ago, just after he found his father’s body and it was in front Bruce, so he figured it mostly didn’t count.
Now he had broken down in front of Jaime twice in one month. Either his mental state was worse off than he realized or he trusted Jaime about as much as he trusted Bruce. The trust idea was not so far fetched now that he considered it. Jaime, unlike Bruce, lacked any measure of guile.
He was and easy person to trust.
“I thought I should give you fair warning,” Tim teased and watched Jaime for a response.
Jaime’s nose crinkled slightly as his smile widened.
“The crying jag the other night was warning enough,” Jaime replied Tim pulled a wry look.
“Did I apologize for that?” he asked contemplatively and Jaime shook his head.
“You didn’t need to,” Jaime assured Tim and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead before rolling back onto the bed and pulling Tim on top of him.
Tim allowed himself to manhandled and settled himself on top of Jaime, adjusting his limbs and torso into a more comfortable position. The soothing warmth that had settled into his stomach when Jaime had started speaking to him shifted into a frisson of sexual awareness when his thigh pressed into Jaime’s groin.
“You’re hard,” Tim said, startled into what was probably rudeness. He wasn’t sure. They didn’t cover how to handle erections in Mr. Freedle’s etiquette classes back at Brentwood Academy.
“It’s morning, you’re warm. Sue me,” Jaime replied, his eyes closed and his face carefully neutral.
“Even discussions of my questionable mental health didn’t help matters? Impressive,” Tim smirked and Jaime smiled back.
“Turns out, I want to bone you even when you’re crazy,” Jaime drawled. He lifted a hand to run up and down Tim’s bare back and that small frisson of pleasure turned into a hot electric shock that coursed through Tim’s chest and belly before settling in his groin and stiffening his cock.
Tim was starting to feel like maybe there was not enough air in his lungs and he couldn’t think of anything to say in reply. His mind was consumed with the sudden image of Jaime naked and hard in his bed and Tim’s mouth went dry. After a few seconds of his silence, Jaime cracked an eye open and looked up at Tim.
“Tim?” he ventured, looking nervous.
“Mmm?” Tim hummed a question in response, his mind still completely focused on the feel of Jaime’s erection pressed against his hip.
“Is it-I mean… What’s going on, man?” Jaime asked and he sounded worried and unsure.
Tim locked eyes with Jaime and decided to go for truth. Jaime bore up under well all the other times. Besides, he wasn’t sure he had the brain power to come up with a decent lie at this point.
“I’m thinking about jerking you off,” Tim answered and licked his lips.
Jaime’s face went slack with surprise and Tim could feel his abs and quads tense under him.
“Dios mio,” Jaime whispered and looked a little breathless.
“I don’t-- I mean… Yes.” Jaime stammered and Tim swallowed hard as he watched him.
Jaime didn’t look scared, he mostly just looked uncertain.
Tim thought back to all the times he was in this exact same position. The night with Adriana, all those times Steph suggested that maybe it was the right time for them, that one mission with Squire and the ducks and that weekend at the monastery with Connor. Tim remembered how scared he was, how tense and anxious and apprehensive.
He didn’t feel any of those things now. Now he felt this liberating mixture of relaxed and turned on.
Tim opened his mouth to ask Jaime if he was sure. To tell him that Tim didn’t want to pressure him into anything but the question died on his lips when he saw the expression on Jaime’s face.
Jaime’s soft brown eyes had darkened with arousal, his brow furrowed in intense concentration as he looked up at Tim. His mouth was quirked in an inviting manner and Tim couldn’t help but dip his head and kiss him.
Jaime responded immediately, his mouth softening and opening under Tim’s. The kiss was firm and eager and Jaime’s tongue and lips were quick and ardent on Tim’s. Jaime lifted an arm to wrap around Tim shoulders and neck, pulling him into their kiss.
Jaime’s other hand trailed down Tim’s back to grasp him by the hip as he shifted under Tim. The breath went out of Tim’s lungs as Jaime’s thigh brushed up against his erection. Tim’s mind when blank and his mouth went numb as Jaime sucked little kisses against his lips.
Tim closed his eyes for a few long moments, trying to remember how to breathe. He opened them again when Jaime stopped kissing him. Jaime’s mouth was wet and slack and he ran his teeth over his bottom lip as he trailed his hand down over Tim’s back and slid it under his sweats and boxers. Long fingers played gently and the small of his back before dipping to grasp Tim’s glutes.
Tim braced himself on one arm and came up onto his knees between Jaime’s legs. He grabbed the hem of Jaime’s shirt, rucking it up under his arm pits and trailing his fingers over the smooth expanse of skin. Jaime was slim but not scrawny in the way Tim had been before he became Robin. He had some muscle but, as he could rely on the scarab and his suit, he didn’t really need to work on developing it. His belly was flat and unscarred and his skin felt so warm and soft under Tim’s hands.
Tim traced the small trail of hair from Jaime’s belly button to the waist band of Jaime’s sweats. Jaime lifted his hips and let Tim pull the pants down around his thighs. A thrill of heat surged through Tim at the sight of Jaime’s naked erection. It was hard and flushed a bright red, pre come dripped from the tip and it was so stiff it barely moved as Jaime squirmed under Tim’s intense scrutiny.
Jaime’s dick twitched as Tim watched and Tim flicked his eyes up to look at Jaime’s face. Jaime’s brows were furrowed and his mouth was pursed in a long line, he was watching Tim and he swallowed hard when Tim’s eyes met his. He let go of Tim’s neck long enough to drop his hand to his crotch and grip the base of his erection.
Tim followed the movement with his eyes and felt himself go a little dizzy when Jaime’s hand wrapped around his own erection.
“Do you-- Do you think about me? When you jerk off?” Tim found himself asking around a dry mouth. He looked back up at Jaime and Jaime’s chest expanded as he took a deep breath.
“Yeah, yeah I do,” he admitted hoarsely before narrowing his eyes questioningly. “Do you?”
“Yeah I-“ Tim started and then broke off with a breathless laugh. “I think about you, not me.”
Jaime ignored the weak joke and licked his lips.
“What do you think about?” he asked roughly and Tim had to clench his teeth to keep from groaning.
“I-I can’t remember right now,” he admitted distractedly. “I’m having trouble thinking about anything but jerking you off right now.”
Jaime tilted back his head and moaned low in his throat. His hips arched up off the bed slightly and while the gesture was, no doubt, involuntary, Tim still took it as an invitation. He wrapped his hand around Jaime’s erection and squeezed. Jaime’s moan went a little breathless and hips jerked again, this time more violently as he thrust himself into Tim’s fist.
Tim was too distracted with the sight of Jaime clutched in his hand that he wasn’t even startled when hands started fumbling at the waist band of his sweats. Jaime pulled them, and his underwear, down around his thighs before grabbing Tim by the shoulders and pulling at him.
Tim, far too distracted to be anything close to graceful, lost his balance. He let go of Jaime, to try to catch himself, but Jaime didn’t give him the chance. Jaime wrapped his arms around Tim’s shoulders and pulled them close together.
Tim gasped in shock as the hot press of Jaime’s erection against his own registered in Tim’s mind. His gasp shifted into a low moan when Jaime arched his hips up under Tim’s and rubbed them together.
Jaime made a high, hurt noise in the back of his throat and his arms tightened around Tim’s neck.
They fell into a rhythm, moving their hips together as sweat and pre-come slicked their bellies and erections.
Tim buried his face in Jaime’s neck, trying hard to muffle the sounds he knew he was making. He knew he should be saying something, doing something other than moving his hips and whimpering into the pillow. But Tim couldn’t get his hands to move or his mouth to work and all he could focus on was the perfect friction against his dick and the breathy little gasps Jaime was making in his ear.
Hot jolts of pleasure flowed through him with every slight movement of their hips. When Jaime choked on a gasp and slick come flooded over their bellies, Tim’s vision whited out. He moaned and shivered and came, pulsing hotly between them both.
They both lay there gasping for air and trying to catch their breath for a few long moments as they both shivered and tried to calm down.
“Holy crap,” Jaime murmured and lifted a hand to bury in the hair at the back of Tim’s head.
Tim hummed an agreement and pressed his face into Jaime’s neck.
“We just had sex,” Jaime stated in an awed tone of voice and Tim couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes we did,” he agreed smugly.
“What do we do now?” Jaime asked curiously.
“Mmmm, now we go rinse off and in about ten minutes or so I’m going to blow you in the shower,” Tim answered and propped himself up on his arms so he could look down at Jaime. “Sound like a plan?”
“Have I ever mentioned that you are an excellent planner?” Jaime asked and sat up slightly to kiss Tim.
“No, but don’t worry. It goes without saying,” Tim assured him and slipped off the bed to pad towards the bathroom. Jaime levered himself off the bed and grabbed Tim by the arm before he stepped into the bathroom.
“So what does this mean, then?” Jaime asked and gave Tim a measuring look.
“Why, do you want to go steady? Should I make plans to ask you to the prom? Maybe you want to wear my varsity tennis jacket?” Tim asked with an amused smile.
“Maybe I do,” Jaime teased back and Tim’s smile widened.
“It’s powder blue. Not remotely manly,” Tim warned.
“I’m comfortable with my masculinity,” Jaime shot back and pressed a quick kiss to Tim’s cheek before making his way towards the bathroom.
Tim watched him go, his skin painted gold in the early morning sunlight. Jaime paused just outside the door and turned back to smile invitingly at Tim. He almost blended into the beams of bright light streaming through the windows as he stood and waited for Tim with a smile.
Fanart by lyanth: NSFW She has no idea where Tim's clothes went and frankly I couldn't be happier. :DD
NEXT PART: After the Game