Fic: The Sound of Solace; Tim Drake (Red Robin II)/Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle III); R Part 6/6
Title: The Sound Of Solace
Author: Aravis Tarkheena
Part: 6/6
Pairing: Tim Drake (Red Robin II)/Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle III)
Rating: R
Warnings: Angst
Disclaimer: Not mine, everyone is more than legal
Word Count: 2,000 words this part; 13,000 total
Author's Notes: We interrupt your regularly scheduled Jewel of Sakar for something that has a happy ending. Sixthof six vignettes about Tim and Jaime. Written for prompt #1: cleanse for my Tim/Jaime claim on dcu_freeforall.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part Six
The campfire had banked down to little more than glowing red coals when Tim pulled the pot from the hot rock upon which it had been resting. Reaching for the wash cloth he kept in one of the saddle bags of his Ducati, Tim soaked it with the hot water, shivering with pleasure as steam from the rag rose up into the chilly night air.
While the temperature in Egypt rarely went below fifty degrees, even in the middle of the winter, the sun made it feel much warmer during the day. Tim felt the lack of sunlight rather keenly and was more than grateful for the warm cloth to wash the dust, dirt and sand from his face.
Tim set the pot back on the warm rock to keep it heated and pulled the collar of his jacket down, exposing his neck and throat to the cool desert night. Tim inhaled a breath of hedonistic pleasure as he ran the warm, wet rag over his dusty face. He hadn’t had a hot shower in days and this was the closest he had gotten to one in longer than he cared to think about. Tim hadn’t wanted to advertise his presence at night but now he felt himself far enough into the desert that he did not need to worry about wandering sneak thieves. He had not caught a glimpse of anyone following him either but Tim’s suspicious nature kept him on guard.
He had another two days of travel before he made it to the oasis where he was scheduled to meet with an old friend of Bruce’s. Well, not Bruce’s, exactly, but a friend of one of Bruce’s many personas. Tim had found him after much digging and research, and it took him almost three hours to find the man’s location on a map. He could not even find GPS coordinates.
Tim was removing his sweat stained shirt so he could move on to washing the rest of his body when the panel on his bike chirruped at him familiarly. Tim didn’t even bother to check it this time. He already knew who it was the chime heralded.
It was the only person in the world who could find Tim in the middle of a desert. Or, more to the point, it was the only person in the world who both could find him and had the inclination to do so.
Tim had already washed his hair and was rinsing it of soap when Jaime Reyes touched down behind him. He was just outside the circle of light cast by the dying campfire and all Tim could make out was his silhouette as he retracted his suit and went back into Jaime-mode.
“Tim,” Jaime’s voice called out to him, somewhat hesitantly, from the shadows, clearly reluctant to intrude if Tim wasn’t in the mood for company.
“Here,” Tim called back, his voice thick from too much dust and not enough conversation.
“What are you doing?” Jaime asked as he walked into the light.
“Mmmm, getting clean,” Tim answered simply and turned his gaze on Jaime.
Jaime was watching him with an expression on his face that Tim would have thought belonged only on a man watching animals at a zoo. It was not flattering.
“Man, I don’t know how you do it. I think I would probably kill myself if I couldn’t shower for weeks,” Jaime said to him in an awed sort of voice.
“It’s actually rather liberating,” Tim informed Jaime, reaching for his towel to wipe excess water from his face. “Civilization has its advantages but it also has its drawbacks. Keep in mind, Jaime, that more rural areas have their advantages too. Here, I have no obligations or duties. Here, I can just lose myself in my thoughts. If the price I have to pay for that is a few days of dirty hair? Well, I’m learning to deal.”
“More rural? Tim, this is the middle of nowhere,” Jaime said in a tone of voice that made it clear he thought Tim was crazy.
“You need to go through the middle of nowhere to eventually get somewhere,” Tim said with a shrug and reached for his pot of water again.
“You could just fly. I wouldn’t mind taking you where you need to go,” Jaime told him softly. “I really wouldn’t.”
“I appreciate the gesture,” Tim said to Jaime with a smile, rinsing out his rag. “However, you are many things, Jaime Reyes, but subtle is not one of them. Sometimes these things need a little more finesse.”
Jaime made a face at him and Tim gave him a small smile in return.
“So what brings you to the middle of nowhere?” Tim asked Jaime, amused. “Your mother chase you out of the house, again?”
Jaime laughed. “Yes, she’s getting ready for the party tonight and didn’t want Milagro and me under foot. So, I figured I’d take advantage of the seven hour time difference and celebrate twice in one day,” he told Tim, looking very sly and more than a little pleased with himself.
“Celebrate what?” Tim asked blankly, as he paused in the middle of re-wetting his washcloth.
“New Years, man,” Jaime said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You need to pay more attention to your calendar.”
Still feeling vaguely perplexed and slightly unnerved, Tim decided to do just that. He grabbed his electronic organizer and palmed it open. It had been more than a week since he had even glanced at the thing. Tim hadn’t had a very full calendar of late. The day highlighted was, in fact, New Years Eve and Jaime was correct.
“Hm, you’re right,” Tim said in a mildly surprised tone of voice and tossed his organizer back into the saddle bag.
“Don’t you…” Jaime began hesitantly before continuing in a soft voice. “Don’t you want to see your family? I mean, you clearly didn’t go home for Christmas or anything. Don’t you miss them?”
“Not right now,” Tim admitted hesitantly. “Maybe that makes me a bad person but there’s just too much between us all, right now. I can’t just put it all aside and pretend to be happy. Until I feel a little more human, I just don’t really want to be around anyone, especially not them.”
Jaime was silent for a few long minutes as he gazed into the fire. Then he abruptly turned back to Tim, looking him straight in the eye.
“Did you want me to leave too?” he asked. “I could go home…”
Tim smiled at him. “No, you’re ‘somebody’ so you don’t, actually, count as an ‘anybody’. Besides, if you left who would wash my back?” Tim asked sweetly, tossing Jaime the wash cloth and turning to present a stunned Mr. Reyes with his back.
“Seriously?” Jaime asked incredulously.
“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve showered?” Tim shot back. “Do me a favor, ok?”
Tim could almost hear Jaime’s comical grimace. “I think I’ll be doing us both a favor,” he said dramatically and Tim laughed softly.
Jaime went quiet as he began and Tim wrapped his arms around his knees, looking up. As his eyes adjusted from the firelight to the dark night sky, more and more stars appeared. He watched them as they came into focus, deeply enjoying the feel of the hot cloth on his dirty back. This time it wasn’t just the warmth or the water that seemed luxurious to Tim. He could feel Jaime’s fingers under the cloth running over the bumps of his spine and carefully skirting the sensitive skin of his scars.
Tim couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched him. He avoided touch as a rule, even the causal touch that was normal to everyday life. He didn’t shake hands or brush shoulders, he didn’t sit close enough to anyone to press a thigh or a foot to theirs. Even things that were as simple as a brush of a hand as he walked down the street could be deadly and Tim rarely let down his guard around anyone.
Anyone but Jaime Reyes.
Almost a year ago he had told Jaime his name. Months ago, he had let Jaime, and his family, see Tim without his mask. Now, he let Jaime touch him, alone in the desert with no help for hundreds of miles.
And Tim wasn’t afraid.
He was happy.
He felt warm and at ease. A trail of curling pleasure fanned out along the nerve endings of his back, beginning where the tips of Jaime’s fingers touched him. Something heavy and thick grew in the pit of Tim’s stomach and every inch of him grew hot and hypersensitive.
He heard a wet plop as Jaime dropped his wet wash cloth into the pot of water. Long arms came around Tim and held him firmly. Jaime pulled Tim back against him until Tim was sitting between Jaime’s splayed legs. Jaime tightened his grip on Tim slightly; pressing Tim’s still damp back against the soft material of Jaime’s t-shirt.
Tim could feel Jaime’s soft, uneven breaths ghosting across the wet hair above Tim’s ear. He could smell Jaime, all around him and the scents of soap, cinnamon and coffee inundated Tim’s senses. He shivered slightly in Jaime’s arms and did not say a word. They sat like for long moments, Tim looking up at the stars and just feeling Jaime.
It was nice. Soothing. Serene.
It was everything that Tim needed and he basked in it.
He was startled out of his peaceful contemplations by the sound of a small beep on Jaime’s watch. He lolled his head back on Jaime’s shoulder so he could look up at him, with a question in his eyes.
He didn’t find an answer in Jaime’s.
Jaime was gazing at him with a deep, serious expression on his face. He lifted one hand from around Tim’s middle to cup his jaw. He used it to tilt Tim’s head back at an angle before softly pressing his mouth to Tim’s.
Tim just let the kiss happen. He did not respond and he did not pull back, he just concentrated on the feel of Jaime’s lips pressed to his own. They were soft and warm and perfect. Jaime’s hand on his jaw was firm and confident.
Jaime broke the kiss slowly and reluctantly. He pressed his forehead intimately against Tim’s and sighed with pleasure.
“Happy New Year, Tim,” he whispered against Tim’s mouth.
“Happy New Year, Jaime,” Tim responded and kissed him back.
In retrospect, Jaime did have a great deal more finesse and subtlety than Tim had given him credit for. While Tim still would not even dream of taking Jaime on an undercover job, he certainly would not mind a few more late night back washings, just to test and re-test Jaime’s skills.
After all, Tim Drake was nothing if not a meticulous mentor and Jaime Reyes was nothing if not an eager pupil.
When they broke the kiss again, Jaime was smiling at Tim and the sight made something warm stir in the pit of Tim’s belly. He leaned back against Jaime, resting his head on Jaime’s shoulder and listening to the sound of Jaime’s heart beating steadily in his chest.
It was a soft sound but a reassuring one. It was a sound of life. It was a sound of certainty. It was a sound of promise and of security and of hope.
It was a sound of solace and Tim reveled in it.
The End.
Author: Aravis Tarkheena
Part: 6/6
Pairing: Tim Drake (Red Robin II)/Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle III)
Rating: R
Warnings: Angst
Disclaimer: Not mine, everyone is more than legal
Word Count: 2,000 words this part; 13,000 total
Author's Notes: We interrupt your regularly scheduled Jewel of Sakar for something that has a happy ending. Sixthof six vignettes about Tim and Jaime. Written for prompt #1: cleanse for my Tim/Jaime claim on dcu_freeforall.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part Six
The campfire had banked down to little more than glowing red coals when Tim pulled the pot from the hot rock upon which it had been resting. Reaching for the wash cloth he kept in one of the saddle bags of his Ducati, Tim soaked it with the hot water, shivering with pleasure as steam from the rag rose up into the chilly night air.
While the temperature in Egypt rarely went below fifty degrees, even in the middle of the winter, the sun made it feel much warmer during the day. Tim felt the lack of sunlight rather keenly and was more than grateful for the warm cloth to wash the dust, dirt and sand from his face.
Tim set the pot back on the warm rock to keep it heated and pulled the collar of his jacket down, exposing his neck and throat to the cool desert night. Tim inhaled a breath of hedonistic pleasure as he ran the warm, wet rag over his dusty face. He hadn’t had a hot shower in days and this was the closest he had gotten to one in longer than he cared to think about. Tim hadn’t wanted to advertise his presence at night but now he felt himself far enough into the desert that he did not need to worry about wandering sneak thieves. He had not caught a glimpse of anyone following him either but Tim’s suspicious nature kept him on guard.
He had another two days of travel before he made it to the oasis where he was scheduled to meet with an old friend of Bruce’s. Well, not Bruce’s, exactly, but a friend of one of Bruce’s many personas. Tim had found him after much digging and research, and it took him almost three hours to find the man’s location on a map. He could not even find GPS coordinates.
Tim was removing his sweat stained shirt so he could move on to washing the rest of his body when the panel on his bike chirruped at him familiarly. Tim didn’t even bother to check it this time. He already knew who it was the chime heralded.
It was the only person in the world who could find Tim in the middle of a desert. Or, more to the point, it was the only person in the world who both could find him and had the inclination to do so.
Tim had already washed his hair and was rinsing it of soap when Jaime Reyes touched down behind him. He was just outside the circle of light cast by the dying campfire and all Tim could make out was his silhouette as he retracted his suit and went back into Jaime-mode.
“Tim,” Jaime’s voice called out to him, somewhat hesitantly, from the shadows, clearly reluctant to intrude if Tim wasn’t in the mood for company.
“Here,” Tim called back, his voice thick from too much dust and not enough conversation.
“What are you doing?” Jaime asked as he walked into the light.
“Mmmm, getting clean,” Tim answered simply and turned his gaze on Jaime.
Jaime was watching him with an expression on his face that Tim would have thought belonged only on a man watching animals at a zoo. It was not flattering.
“Man, I don’t know how you do it. I think I would probably kill myself if I couldn’t shower for weeks,” Jaime said to him in an awed sort of voice.
“It’s actually rather liberating,” Tim informed Jaime, reaching for his towel to wipe excess water from his face. “Civilization has its advantages but it also has its drawbacks. Keep in mind, Jaime, that more rural areas have their advantages too. Here, I have no obligations or duties. Here, I can just lose myself in my thoughts. If the price I have to pay for that is a few days of dirty hair? Well, I’m learning to deal.”
“More rural? Tim, this is the middle of nowhere,” Jaime said in a tone of voice that made it clear he thought Tim was crazy.
“You need to go through the middle of nowhere to eventually get somewhere,” Tim said with a shrug and reached for his pot of water again.
“You could just fly. I wouldn’t mind taking you where you need to go,” Jaime told him softly. “I really wouldn’t.”
“I appreciate the gesture,” Tim said to Jaime with a smile, rinsing out his rag. “However, you are many things, Jaime Reyes, but subtle is not one of them. Sometimes these things need a little more finesse.”
Jaime made a face at him and Tim gave him a small smile in return.
“So what brings you to the middle of nowhere?” Tim asked Jaime, amused. “Your mother chase you out of the house, again?”
Jaime laughed. “Yes, she’s getting ready for the party tonight and didn’t want Milagro and me under foot. So, I figured I’d take advantage of the seven hour time difference and celebrate twice in one day,” he told Tim, looking very sly and more than a little pleased with himself.
“Celebrate what?” Tim asked blankly, as he paused in the middle of re-wetting his washcloth.
“New Years, man,” Jaime said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You need to pay more attention to your calendar.”
Still feeling vaguely perplexed and slightly unnerved, Tim decided to do just that. He grabbed his electronic organizer and palmed it open. It had been more than a week since he had even glanced at the thing. Tim hadn’t had a very full calendar of late. The day highlighted was, in fact, New Years Eve and Jaime was correct.
“Hm, you’re right,” Tim said in a mildly surprised tone of voice and tossed his organizer back into the saddle bag.
“Don’t you…” Jaime began hesitantly before continuing in a soft voice. “Don’t you want to see your family? I mean, you clearly didn’t go home for Christmas or anything. Don’t you miss them?”
“Not right now,” Tim admitted hesitantly. “Maybe that makes me a bad person but there’s just too much between us all, right now. I can’t just put it all aside and pretend to be happy. Until I feel a little more human, I just don’t really want to be around anyone, especially not them.”
Jaime was silent for a few long minutes as he gazed into the fire. Then he abruptly turned back to Tim, looking him straight in the eye.
“Did you want me to leave too?” he asked. “I could go home…”
Tim smiled at him. “No, you’re ‘somebody’ so you don’t, actually, count as an ‘anybody’. Besides, if you left who would wash my back?” Tim asked sweetly, tossing Jaime the wash cloth and turning to present a stunned Mr. Reyes with his back.
“Seriously?” Jaime asked incredulously.
“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve showered?” Tim shot back. “Do me a favor, ok?”
Tim could almost hear Jaime’s comical grimace. “I think I’ll be doing us both a favor,” he said dramatically and Tim laughed softly.
Jaime went quiet as he began and Tim wrapped his arms around his knees, looking up. As his eyes adjusted from the firelight to the dark night sky, more and more stars appeared. He watched them as they came into focus, deeply enjoying the feel of the hot cloth on his dirty back. This time it wasn’t just the warmth or the water that seemed luxurious to Tim. He could feel Jaime’s fingers under the cloth running over the bumps of his spine and carefully skirting the sensitive skin of his scars.
Tim couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched him. He avoided touch as a rule, even the causal touch that was normal to everyday life. He didn’t shake hands or brush shoulders, he didn’t sit close enough to anyone to press a thigh or a foot to theirs. Even things that were as simple as a brush of a hand as he walked down the street could be deadly and Tim rarely let down his guard around anyone.
Anyone but Jaime Reyes.
Almost a year ago he had told Jaime his name. Months ago, he had let Jaime, and his family, see Tim without his mask. Now, he let Jaime touch him, alone in the desert with no help for hundreds of miles.
And Tim wasn’t afraid.
He was happy.
He felt warm and at ease. A trail of curling pleasure fanned out along the nerve endings of his back, beginning where the tips of Jaime’s fingers touched him. Something heavy and thick grew in the pit of Tim’s stomach and every inch of him grew hot and hypersensitive.
He heard a wet plop as Jaime dropped his wet wash cloth into the pot of water. Long arms came around Tim and held him firmly. Jaime pulled Tim back against him until Tim was sitting between Jaime’s splayed legs. Jaime tightened his grip on Tim slightly; pressing Tim’s still damp back against the soft material of Jaime’s t-shirt.
Tim could feel Jaime’s soft, uneven breaths ghosting across the wet hair above Tim’s ear. He could smell Jaime, all around him and the scents of soap, cinnamon and coffee inundated Tim’s senses. He shivered slightly in Jaime’s arms and did not say a word. They sat like for long moments, Tim looking up at the stars and just feeling Jaime.
It was nice. Soothing. Serene.
It was everything that Tim needed and he basked in it.
He was startled out of his peaceful contemplations by the sound of a small beep on Jaime’s watch. He lolled his head back on Jaime’s shoulder so he could look up at him, with a question in his eyes.
He didn’t find an answer in Jaime’s.
Jaime was gazing at him with a deep, serious expression on his face. He lifted one hand from around Tim’s middle to cup his jaw. He used it to tilt Tim’s head back at an angle before softly pressing his mouth to Tim’s.
Tim just let the kiss happen. He did not respond and he did not pull back, he just concentrated on the feel of Jaime’s lips pressed to his own. They were soft and warm and perfect. Jaime’s hand on his jaw was firm and confident.
Jaime broke the kiss slowly and reluctantly. He pressed his forehead intimately against Tim’s and sighed with pleasure.
“Happy New Year, Tim,” he whispered against Tim’s mouth.
“Happy New Year, Jaime,” Tim responded and kissed him back.
In retrospect, Jaime did have a great deal more finesse and subtlety than Tim had given him credit for. While Tim still would not even dream of taking Jaime on an undercover job, he certainly would not mind a few more late night back washings, just to test and re-test Jaime’s skills.
After all, Tim Drake was nothing if not a meticulous mentor and Jaime Reyes was nothing if not an eager pupil.
When they broke the kiss again, Jaime was smiling at Tim and the sight made something warm stir in the pit of Tim’s belly. He leaned back against Jaime, resting his head on Jaime’s shoulder and listening to the sound of Jaime’s heart beating steadily in his chest.
It was a soft sound but a reassuring one. It was a sound of life. It was a sound of certainty. It was a sound of promise and of security and of hope.
It was a sound of solace and Tim reveled in it.
The End.