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Interwoven With You ch 3.

The chapter in which nothing goes wrong Chapter 1 || Chapter 2

Tim covered up his mouth to avoid breathing in the dust kicked up by the horses, and was able to identify the newer soldiers simply by the fact that they didn’t think to do the same. He stepped inside, Barbara falling just behind in lockstep. A show of respect that she provides more out of duty than anything. Barbara didn’t trust anyone in their family the same way she’d seemed to trust Jason before everything happened. What Jason did when he came back certainly hadn't helped in the slightest.

The tavern wasn’t loud, but there was a buzz of noise that didn’t stop when they came in. The drunkard Tim had seen on the path wasn’t here and a lesser mind might have let doubt creep in, except Tim saw the astute look in the bar keeper's eyes. He noticed the way too many patrons maintained their conversations like they expected an interruption. Like they knew guards would be arriving. He took a seat at the bar, it had been recently wiped down. Barbara organized her men with only a few short orders, and Tim waved her off to talk to the patrons while he focused on the barkeep. Beatrice Bennett. He’d come across her name a few times, she was allegedly a pirate though there was no evidence to actually convict her of anything. Aside that she didn’t seem too bad, had worked with Red Hood for a time and had her good character vouched for. Unfortunately that good character also meant Jason hadn’t seen fit to provide any particular leverage over her either. He watches her, showing his impatience won’t do him any good, and the longer he stays the higher the chances become of one of her more nervous patrons lashing out. Tim didn't have high hopes of her cracking easily or quickly, but keeping her attention on him instead of the bar would be a boon for Barbara. “You’re too young to drink sire.” She offers an almost polite greeting, but the dismissal is clear. Tim suppresses his vicious satisfaction at being right, she broke the silence first. “Not looking to drink Miss Bea.” He leans on the bar, and Bea picks up a glass Tim is quite sure had already been cleaned. “You’re welcome to order whatever you’d like to eat, but I can’t promise I’ll meet royal standards.” She indicates a menu, but she’s not watching Tim. She’s watching her patrons, the low level conversations they’re having with Barbara and the guards. Her eyes narrow when money gets placed on the table. “Not here for food either.” Tim doesn’t take offense at her lack of attention, nor does he flinch when that sharp focus is turned back to him.

“Then why are you here, sire?” Bea keeps a polite customer service tone, but Tim has known Steph long enough clock when someone is flipping him off internally. Tim leans over his arms where they rest on the table. Her jaw is clenched, and her arm keeps twitching like she wants a weapon in hand. Jason and Damian both have the same habit. Tim has little doubt she’d have thrown anyone else out by now, hence why he had to be the one at the bar. “Why do you think I’m here?” He stands, moving around the edge of the bar, he’s a good bit shorter than her, but making the difference clear is worth the distasteful sneer that crosses her expression as he enters the space behind the counter. “You want me to guess?” She finally sets the glass down with a soft clink, long fingers lingering on the stem. “Indulge me, if you don’t mind.” He responds cheerfully, but doesn’t take his eyes off her. Royals are supposed to get what they want, and he can play the role of expectant prince well enough. It was expected of him when he was the son of a Marquis. “I’d wager it has something to do with the fuss someone kicked up in Gotham earlier today. Everyone’s on edge but no one seems to know the facts.” She grabs a bottle of whiskey and starts preparing a strong looking drink. “No one, really? I’m disappointed, I thought news traveled quickly in the nest.” Tim grabs a random bottle, examining it clinically. “Sorry to disappoint.” Bea cuts a lemon with more force than necessary “That all you came to say sire?” “Oh you haven’t disappointed at all, in fact I think we’ve just gotten started.” Tim grins when Bea sighs, clearly sick of him already. “Then why don’t we begin, I do have customers to attend to.” Bea takes a sip of the cocktail she just made, forcing her expression to fall flat. “I happen to have heard tell of two thieves passing through here, happen to ring any bells?” “Nope” She takes another sip. “No? Are you sure-” Tim takes a step forward, excitement sparking as he meets a brick wall, a challenge to tear apart. He’s interrupted by Barbara clearing her throat.

“Pardon me, but may we investigate your storage room?” Barbara gives him an apologetic glance, if nothing else she understood that a good interrogation was enrichment for people like them. Tim isn’t upset, because sees Bea freeze in the careful manner that only people with a great deal of secrets to keep ever do. The smallest moment of tension before the mask is back in place. Anyone other than the two people watching her would have missed it, but they grew up learning to read Bruce who hides things on instinct, as second nature. “Well I can’t exactly stop you can I? If you tear up my shop or steal anything I’ll be filing a complaint.” Bea shrugs, handing Barbara a key from her belt and going to one of her tables. Notably not the table that Barbara had bribed, but Tim is sure she'll make her way there the second no one is paying enough attention to her.

“Don’t worry, we’re very professional.” Tim says drolly as she leaves, relishing in the eye roll she definitely let him catch. She’d been watching him too, then. Barbara walks into the storage room first, carefully examining the floorboards and shelves for wires or pressure plates, or any other sign of a trap. Tim decided to take the approach of touching everything; tilting bottles, tapping his foot on the floor boards, opening barrels, even moving random items on shelves.

“This is where she took Flash and Arsenal, according to one of the patrons.” Barbara informed him, she didn’t seem inclined to touch anything directly as they moved towards the back. “Did you pay him enough for it to be worth the fall-out with Bennett?” Tim can’t help but to laugh at the snitches prospective misfortune, it was hard to find sympathy for the guy. “Definitely not. Did you get anything useful out of her?” Barbara scowls at the back wall, no evident hiding places present in the room. “Nope. Was working up to the whole brother’s missing crown sympathy play. Figured I’d have to be at least a little genuine for it to work.” Tim shrugs, pausing as one of the floorboards sounds ever so slightly more hollow than the others.

“Oh, hidden exit. Clever.” Barbara taps the floor with her halberd a few times to confirm the sound while Tim looks around for anything that would open it. Eventually his eye catches on the faintest gleam of grease, which had been on a few of the bottles upfront. The inevitable consequence of being the bartender and cook. He reaches up and pulls it, the bottle tipping until he hears a satisfying click, and Barbara has to jump away from the floor dropping open. “Why that one?” She sounds more curious than offended. Something he’d always liked about Barbara. “Finger grease!” Tim can’t help his excitement, almost bolting into the passage, only to have his collar grabbed by his companion.

“Of course you saw that. Wait for the guards this time though, I don’t want either of our dads to kill me.”

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The cave is cramped and muggy, water dripping from the ceilings as Flash carries the lantern ahead of Dick and Arsenal. The space looks largely hand carved tunnels crossing into old mine shafts. Escape routes added to existing tunnels decades long past. Dick is more comfortable in the cramped space than Arsenal seems to be, but maybe he's twitchy due to being a wanted felon. Dick isn't sure he'd be able to tell the difference. “So, Robin?” Arsenal prods, holding a bundle of Dick's hair as they make their way over damp, uneven stones. “Oh! I just didn’t really want to tell her my name.” Dick shrugs, then tucking his hair behind his ear and stepping closer to Arsenal’s space. “But you seemed to know her, you from the same place?” They obviously had a history together, and Dick wants to know everything about them. “Woah there sunshine, I’m not the sappy backstory type. That’s more Flash’s thing.” Arsenal brushes the question off seemingly out of habit, like it truly doesn't matter to him. “It’s not a good story anyways, no point boring you with it.” Flash is more defensive, shoulders creeping in and turning away from them. “What does sound like a good story is whatever you said to Bea that got her to help you” Arsenal steps tactfully between Dick and the skeleton on the wall, blocking his view even though Dick frankly prefers it to someone alive and actively dangerous.

“I didn’t really say anything special. We mostly talked about you two really?” Dick shrugs, watching Arsenal closely enough that he sees the man wince. “And what did you say about us?” Flash falls into line with them, curiosity and interest rather apparent. Dick can’t help but look at the way the torchlight highlights how long his eyelashes are. “Ah, that I understood you well enough to trust you?” Dick responds honestly despite knowing that the two will more than likely want to press him on that answer. He reaches and threads his fingers through the Flash’s, just to see if it distracts him from his curiosity. Flash is touchy, but doesn’t seem to be very used to reciprocation.

“Well I, uhm.” Flash turns a flattering pink, and Dick giggles at the warm feeling it causes to bloom in his chest. His reaction was much cuter than Dick had anticipated. Before Arsenal can intervene, the metal clanking of boots echoes down the cave. Flash’s hand tightens around Dick’s and suddenly they’re moving. Flash runs faster than Dick has ever gone in his life, not that there’s many places to run in the tower. Arsenal lights some sort of fuse with a flint stone around his neck, and moments after Dick hears loud popping and shouting behind them.

The late afternoon light is blinding after the darkness of the cave. They’re on a tiny overlook that looks horribly unstable with a sheer drop into a full yellow-brown canyon. A leaking, algae covered dam wall looms behind them, stretching out to the left and a massive water wheel worn smooth and covered in moss protesting each turn with an ominous creaking. The whole structure is beyond dubious. Flash comes to a stop at the edge of the overlook, only a scraggly wooden rope ladder available to help them down.

One of the lower entrances cracks open, a man with bright blond hair and scale-mail stepping out into the canyon with a vicious scowl and a crossbow, he spots them immediately and wastes no time leveling the crossbow at their heads. They stand out starkly against the drab, but lightly colored environment, most especially Dick. Flash shouts a clipped warning, shoving Dick to the ground, the bolt slicing open his cheek instead of lodging itself directly into Dick’s forehead. Arsenal steps forward into the space left, firing three arrows in quick succession. The first misses, but causes the man to flinch such that the second arrow finds its mark in the gap of armor between his shoulder and chest. The third arrow pierces into the crossbow, knocking it from his hands. Arsenal is completely focused and competent in a way that settles Dick into a greater focus. Flash sits up, pulling them both to their feet as the man in the canyon howls in pain.

“Who is that?” Dick turns to look at Flash, distantly noticing that they’re still holding hands. “Ravager, he doesn’t like us much.” Flash replies, letting go of Dick to step between him and the exit of the mine shaft. Just in time for four guards to pour out, led by a woman with a purple gambeson under her armor and a fierce scowl on her face. The scowl melts away when she sees Dick and she clearly recognizes him. The longer he looks at her the more his head hurts. He sees her mouth his name soundlessly, grip going slack on her halberd just long enough to give Flash an opening to knock it from her hands into the canyon below. None of them are expecting the frail young man to vault right over her and hit Flash in the sternum with a bo staff. It knocks both Dick and the woman out of whatever strange moment they’d found themselves in. The boy would have followed his first hit with a quick succession of stunning strikes, except for Dick blocking with his escrima sticks. Dick wraps his hair around the boy's wrists, dragging his chosen opponent with him to a different shelf of the canyon. Certainly not to escape the burgeoning migraine he got every time he looked at those guards. Certainly not to avoid whatever that woman might say.

“And who are you?” Dick asks the boy, letting him slip free to meet his bo staff blow for blow. There’s something fun about the fight, exhilarating in a way fighting Slade never had been. Like dancing instead of surviving. “I could ask you the same thing!” The boy seems to be enjoying this too, for all that there is an anger burning in his eyes. “Are you aware that you’re working with thieves?” “Who better to steal me away?” Dick responds lightly, bopping the kid lightly on top of the head before stepping back. He can’t bring himself to get too aggressive with him. “What? Steal you from who-?” The boy’s stormy eyes light up, consuming the information like it fuels him entirely. “Again, who are you?” He moves back in with his staff and Dick laughs. This kid is great.

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Flash and Arsenal fight back to back with long won experience. Lieutenant Gordon is a fierce opponent and though the other guards are manageable neither of them are well suited to confined combat. Their only edge is being more familiar with each other than the guards are with their unit. Nothing illustrates this exact point better than Gordon knocking Flash down with a hard left hook and easily hauling Arsenal over her shoulder shortly after- oh and did Roy mention that Gordon also threw him off the cliff as well? Because Lieutenant Gordon threw him bodily off the cliff. He respects it, despises her a little but respects it. Fortunately Dick seemed to notice, and a strand of hair wrapped its way around his wrist and pulled taut before he could really start to fall. Roy doesn’t even have time to process that because Flash is calling out his name, and he’s reaching out to catch his friend who stupidly jumped after him.

“We’re gonna die” Roy mutters repeatedly as they swing over Ravager, the bastard trying to stab them with the lieutenant's halberd. Wally is quicker, and simply kicks it to the side wrenching Ravager’s bad arm, sending him to his knees and them spinning in the air. Roy will later use the spinning as justification for not catching them before he collided with the wooden lip of the tail channel and caused both of them to make a hasty, rough landing on the rickety wooden platform.

Roy hears the Lieutenant yelling something about idiotic ideas before a bang and a loud cracking noise from the dam echoes across the canyon. He sees Dick drop down to the canyon floor from wherever he’d been up above, dragging the third prince along with him as he sprints towards the exit. Roy and Wally jump down along the collapsing waterway, barely keeping their footing on slippery wood and falling beams as they catch up to Dick and the prince. Water and stone rumble and crash in a tumult of chaos just behind them as the dam fully breaks and lets loose a tidal wave that sweeps up everything in its path. The group just barely makes it through the exit when the water hits them, the tumbling rocks blocking them in not long after.

The cave they end up trapped in is wide but enclosed, and water is leaking in from the blocked entrance at a steady pace. Dick loses his grasp on the prince, diving down and searching for him in a panic. Arsenal tries to get at the rocks with an arrow, and a knife, and any tool he has, but none of it seems to work. “Kid! Oh god, the kid, where is he?” Dick dives in again, but Flash pulls him back up, fingers digging into wet cloth, catching at the buttons and tearing some of the seams.

“Dick, its pitch black down there, if your hair gets caught we’d never be able to find you” Flash’s arms are strong but shaking around his torso and Dick shoves him off, tearing his clothes, adrenaline feeding his frenzied search. “Kid!” He makes several more desperate dives, but the more the water rises the more hopeless he feels, until Arsenal catches him and is able to haul Dick against his chest and keep him from diving again. A sob shudders through Dick’s frame as Flash gently touches his face. He can hear Robin chirping nearby. Stuck with them in this place. “Dick, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have done anything, okay?” Flash’s voice is so gentle, but Dick doesn’t feel like he deserves it anymore.

“No, this is all my fault Flash! I should've listened to my Father. I was never going to make it out here. I was never going to survive and now because of me some kid is dead and soon we’ll be too.” Dick grabs Flash’s hands to shove them away, but can’t bring himself to let go. Holding onto the lifeline of human contact while he cries. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry Flash-” “Wally” Flash interrupts. “What?” It’s random enough to startle Dick out of his tears entirely. “My name. It’s Wally, not Flash. Figured you may as well know before we. Well, you know.” Wally sounds sheepish even in the dark. Dick wants to kiss him. Dick wants to start crying again. This wonderful man was going to die, and not even his hair could fix dead.

Dick stops, the panic had been so mind numbing he’d somehow failed to make the logical leap from glowing hair to lighting the way. “My hair glows!” He exclaimed a little too happily, and definitely without necessary context for the men next to him. Not that there’s time for it, given that the water was up to his neck by the time he started singing. He’d only finished one verse of that ancient song before the cave filled enough to force them all completely under, but one verse was enough. The familiar teal-blue glow of his childhood lit up the water bright enough for Dick to see their gobsmacked faces, and Robin panicking nearby. The saturated sapphire light made obvious the air escaping between manageably small rocks, so Dick swam down quickly, scrabbling at whichever stones he could gain purchase on, tearing them free until the water pressure sent the rest tumbling down into a river. Dick surfaced, hacking up the water he’d accidentally inhaled, checking to make sure all his companions were okay, finding Robin, Wally, and Arsenal but not the kid. He tiredly moves to go look for him but Arsenal, who had hauled himself out of the water, picks Dick up by the arms and tosses him onto the grass. They’re all soaked through, Wally breathing heavily where he’s tossed on the bank as well. Dick slips his heavy, ruined shirt off, sitting up to watch Arsenal strip off most of his equipment.

“Listen, I know you’re worried, but you don’t need to stay in the water looking for him.” Arsenal sighs, looking worn and drained. “I’ll check for him. You stay with Wally.” Arsenal clambers back up towards the exit they’d tumbled out from, sparing Dick one last look before heading in. “I’m Roy, by the way. Kid’s name is Timothy.”

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Slade hadn’t expected them to leave Grant mostly unattended, but he wasn’t the sort of man to question the gifts of incompetence. He let Grant see him, enough to follow his lead when Slade cut the throat of one unsuspecting soldier such that Grant could take down the other. Grant was suspicious, always remembering every slight done against him. “What are you doing here old man?” Grant spit out, all venom and no bite. “Don’t you have other kids to mind?” “At the moment it seems that you are the sole child in need of my attention.” Slade’s response was cool and even, disinterested enough to make him seek approval and loving enough to make him feel special. “What, did you actually come to help me?” Grant looks surprised, which is good, but his suspicion is slipping away. Always a disappointment.

“Heard you were in the area” Slade breaks Grant’s chains, stepping back enough to see through the window. It seems all the guards inside have gone down the back pathway. Grant follows his eye. The barkeep, named Blüd as far as Slade cared to remember, was bitching out one of the patrons. He wonders if she has the guts to draw blood, but not enough to stay around and find out. “You gonna stop me from chasing them?” Grant sneers in a half-challenge. As though he could actually win if he fought back. Slade never could understand why Grant always assumed Salde carried about the petty things. “No.” Is the only response Slade gives, and that’s all Grant needs to hear before he’s grabbing one of the fallen guard’s weapons and sprinting into the tavern. Slade follows, just long enough to catch Blüd’s blade as it chases after Grant. He needed Dick scared, needed him hopeless. Grant would be a useful tool in ensuring that happens. “Let the kids play, hm?”

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Slade waits around the exit to the secret tunnel, tucked in a hideaway of rock that lends a good view of the exit without itself being all that noticeable. Getting out of the tavern hadn’t been altogether difficult, given that the pirate hadn’t been terribly interested in following him. He’s not entirely certain who will come out the other end of the tunnels, but most ideally it will be Dick, alone and ready to go home. Of course, that’s why it had to be Grant that made his way out of the tunnel. Pathetically sopping wet and hacking out water. He punches the tree with a strangled shout, screeching curses about Flash and Arsenal. He’s a simple boy, convenient as he is annoying, reckless, and petty.

“Ready to listen to me now, boy?” Slade steps into the open, pleased from the way Grant goes silent and still by the sound of his voice. “Listen to you about what, exactly?” Grant scowls, crouched low and ready for a fight he’d always lose. Especially in his current state, arrow stuck from his shoulder, chest heaving from exertion.

“My advice. You want revenge on those thieves, you want your bounty?” Slade rips the arrow from his son’s shoulder, covering his mouth to quiet him. “The only way any of that happens is if you do exactly what I say.” Slade’s plans solidify in his mind, as Grant writhes on the ground. Slade steading him to tend to the wound. Grant swears for quite some time before finally settling. “Fine. What’s your damn plan?” He grits out, Slade is sure his bared teeth are supposed to be intimidating, but Grant will always remind him of the fussy child he used to be.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They weren’t able to find the kid, but they also didn’t find a body and Roy did find a trail that suggested he ran away on the opposite bank from where they had dragged themselves back to land. Roy was too tired to give any sort of chase, and Dick is relieved enough by the possibility of Timothy surviving that he finds it easy to accept the idea that the boy slipped away. They didn’t speak much while Roy and Wally set up camp. Wally had only told him to give them both a minute, so Dick had just been waiting. Since then the sun has set and a summer coolness has set into the formerly clammy air. The cicadas began to sing along with the background thrum of the forest inhabitants. Dick tries to name as many sounds as he can while he waits, but finds that he doesn’t know the source of most. He wanted to ask very badly as red bled away from the sky, the silence leaving him uncomfortable.

Once Roy finishes lighting the fire they finally deign to speak to him. “So. Magic glowing hair?” The question is as expected as it is jarring Dick can’t help but to flinch, even though he’s fairly certain by now that Roy wouldn’t hurt him. Dick glances at Wally for support, but Roy just waits for him to turn back. Wally doesn’t acknowledge him. “He’s not sure how to take it, yet. He’s not upset, but he says stupid things when he doesn’t know what to do with information. Talks without thinking.” Roy takes out a whetstone, and starts sharpening his tools. The familiar scrape of metal as it sluices through the water is a strange comfort. It reminds him of more peaceful nights in the tower. Dick finds the affirmation soothes his hurt before it can truly begin to set in.

“And you don’t? Say stupid things?” Dick fidgets with his hair, and in his mind's eye all he can see is the sluggishly bleeding cut on Wally’s cheek. His fault. “Oh no, I definitely do, especially when I’m upset, or not thinking. I’m neither of those right now though so you should be safe Sunshine.” Roy’s voice is a lot softer than Dick had heard it. Here, without looking at him nor giving any indication that he might, it seems that Roy has let his walls down. Dick shifts close enough that their legs touch. A sliver of warmth shared between them that feels bigger than either man.

“My hair is magic. That’s why my father didn’t want me to leave. I was hunted for it when I was little, but I don’t remember anything before I was 11. Basically half my life completely gone all because I wanted to go out. To see a circus” Dick reminds himself to take a deep breath, smelling the woodsmoke in the air, feeling the moss underfoot and lays his hand on Roy’s leg. He’s not alone, he’s not inside. “That makes a lot of things make a lot of sense. If it's any comfort we’ve got our ear to the ground in a fair few criminal circuits, and I’ve never heard of hair like yours or magic hair at all. Whatever it is, isn’t well known.” Roy doesn’t tense at the contact, but doesn’t lean into it nor stop sharpening his arrowheads.

“That’s… the world isn’t the way my father told me it would be. It feels awful but I’m a lot more willing to believe you than him right now” Dick feels a miserable guilt encroach like a noose. He’s such an ungrateful child. Roy flicks his nose. “Listen, I know it isn’t really my place to say anything about your dad…” Roy trails off, letting Dick decide if he wants to hear whatever comes next. “It isn’t. Say it anyway.” Dick gently takes the arrowhead and stone from where Roy’s hands have paused as he thinks and continues the work. Dick is good at this, has done it hundreds of times before. “He shouldn’t have done or said any of what he did to you. A dad should never be the reason his kid is scared” Roy places his hand over Dick’s wrist to prompt him to look up. “He should never have laid his hands on you like that.” Wally comes to sit down and Dick pulls away from Roy entirely. “My Father. He isn’t always the best man, but he tries. Isn’t that what matters? That he loves me and he wants to keep me safe?”

“I can’t imagine ever grabbing someone I care about like that, but I can tell you my own dad did things like that all the time. I don’t know if I can say his love was anything other than twisted. If you can call it love at all.” Wally admits into the open air, and his voice is almost drowned out by the crying insects. It may as well have been though because Dick has no idea what to say to that, feels faintly hysterical as he tries to wrap his head around the concept that his relationship with his Father is anything other than normal. He tries to find something wholesome to grasp onto, something humanizing.

“I, no. He always caves when I call him dad. He- he does love me. He just doesn’t always know how to express it.” Dick starts to feel cornered, bristling and ready to fight. “He doesn’t seem the type.” Roy and Wally are both watching him carefully now. Frantically Dick wonders if they’d chase him if he ran right now. He tries to remember a time Slade caved for him, a time that unyielding man gave in to something just because his son asked. He knows that his father did. It is a fact, an immutable fact so why can’t he remember a single instance clearly? “Hey, breathe. We don’t have to talk about this anymore. It’s okay.” Wally grabs one of Dick’s hands painfully carefully, bringing it to his chest. “Breathe with me. In, count to four, out count to four…” Wally becomes background noise as the world fizzes back into existence. Dick hadn’t even noticed when everything became white noise.

“Sorry.” He misses having a place to hide. “Don’t be. Happens to everyone at some point.” Roy is relaxing against a tree, hat tipped down over his face and Wally… Wally still has that cut on his cheek. “My hair doesn’t just glow.” Is as good of a subject change as any. A refuge of sorts. Wally just blinks and Roy lifts his hat with a finger, befuddled. Dick wraps his hair around his hand, pressing it over the cut on Wally’s cheek. “Trust me?” “Always.” Wally is as earnest as he always has been. Puppyish disposition comforting and sweet. So Dick starts to sing, gentle and ancient and the part of him that had become twisted and cynical now unfurling and happy to help. When he pulls his hand away Roy has leaned in, curious. “Don’t freak out.” Dick hurries to say when Wally inhales sharply, hand on his cheek. “Freak out? Me? Why would I freak out, your hair healed me that’s…cool” Wally is brought to a slow stop by Roy making a sharp ‘cut it out motion’ with his hand.

“I figure that’s why people were after you then?” Roy asks, over exaggerated glare at Wally dropping into seriousness. Dick nods, pulling back a curtain of hair to show the inky black strand his Father always kept short. The blue hue of his hair became more obvious against the void color of the cut hair. “When I was 11, I insisted on going to the circus. People took me, and cut my hair and did…” Dick waves his hand with a scowl “Did something to my memory, as I said. I can’t recall any of it, but I know that when my hair is cut it loses its power. A gift to be protected, but that I must always fear having because of what people would be willing to do for it.” Dick can’t help the instinctual rise of fear that wells up, but Wally still has his hand trapped against his steady chest so Dick can match his breathing again. Focusing on keeping pace keeps his mind steady. “So you never left that tower.” Roy groans, covering his eyes again and sporting wry smile “hell of a backstory sunshine.” “Are you still going to go back?” Wally isn’t wry. Wally sounds heartbroken.

“No!” Dick hurries to assure him, before cringing “Yes? I don’t know.” He pulls Wally’s hands, clasped in his own, up to rest his forehead on. “I’ll figure that out when I get to it.” Dick strings together his composure, deciding to land on a more safe topic -- anything not about himself. He lifts his head to rest his lips on their joined hands, smiling as Wally’s eyes widen. “So, Wally and Roy huh?” Dick is rewarded by hints of red blooming on Wally’s cheeks. “Oh god. Yeah, that’s kind of a lame story, so you don’t…” Wally cringed, but when Dick only scooted closer with big pleading eyes he sighed like a man defeated.

“Yeah okay. So, Wally and Roy were just two runaways from shitty or absent fathers, us against the world. No money, no home, drifting from one orphanage to the next. There were these books. Tales of different heroes, there were tons of them, but our favorites were, well…” “Arsenal the Archer” Roy salutes, he’s moved to be laying back on the moss, hat conveniently covering his face. The hat can’t hide how red his ears are though.

“And Flash the Fastest Man Alive.” Wally squeezes Dick’s hand in his own, still clearly ashamed, but unable to hide his fondness for those stories. The saccharine memories of those days long past. Dick thinks he might have had someone he was that close to. Someone scrappy, someone cheerful and brighter than the sun. “Were they thieves too?” Dick smiles at the cozy air that settled around them, the moment crystallizing in his memory. Dick thinks this might be his favorite. “Nope, they were stacked with cash.” Roy quips from the ground. “They could do anything they wanted, go anywhere at all. They…” Wally looks at Roy, as though asking permission. Roy gives him a thumbs up. “They could take care of a kid, give her whatever she needed. Whatever she wanted.” “You have a kid?” Dick is genuinely caught off guard.. Wally shakes his head, inclining a nod towards Roy. ��He does. We got caught up in a bad crowd, and from that came her and also a whole lot of debts to pay. That crown, it’ll pay off the rest of what we owe. We can get her back, and have enough for whatever she wants.” Wally swallows, tears brimming but never falling “She’s a really good kid.”

“I believe it, if she’s anything like the two of you.” Dick pulls Wally into a hug. It’s awkward, limbs not really aligning correctly from where they’re sitting, but they both need it. He rubs Wally’s back, the bony knobs of his spine reminding Dick, for a moment, of someone else. Someone forgotten. “Don’t tell anyone, you hear me? It’s not safe to go talkin about.” Roy says gruffly. He hasn’t moved from the mossy ground, and hasn’t uncovered his face. He’s not relaxed despite his position, every line of his body tense. “Plus it would totally ruin our suave reputation” Wally adds, and Dick laughs, holding him closer.

“Can’t have that, either of those things, can we?” Dick presses their foreheads together, and for a moment he thinks they’re going to kiss. But Wally pulls away, and they don’t. Dick doesn’t know why, but he’s embarrassed enough to stand and brush himself off. As though he can wipe the building heat of the moment off his skin. “I should get some more firewood.” He says awkwardly, even though the fire isn’t all that low, hurrying into the safety of the dark woods the moment he gets an indulgent nod from Wally and a comment from Roy about not going too far. He pauses at the threshold just long enough to turn and speak.

“For the record, I like Wally and Roy a lot more than Flash and Arsenal.” He doesn’t wait long enough to hear the response. He hopes they know what he meant. He turns it over in his head as he walks into the trees. He’d met Arsenal, cold, competent, and practical. Always a sarcastic response ready and always someone to be relied upon. Underneath that he’d seen kind, perceptive, caring Roy. Always finding a way to meet the needs of the people around him, taking the fall without complaint, or carrying the burden no one even realizes needs to be taken up. He’s met the Flash, confident, boisterous, and dexterous. An adept thief, and a clever ally. He sees the way Flash turns problems over in his mind three times as quick as everyone else, never lagging when you need him. He’s seen Wally too. Earnest, well meaning, and as fast to care as he is to do anything else. Wally, who can pick up on something wrong the moment it’s in front of him and will without fail go to fix it the next. Strange how quickly the monsters from the stories his Father always told him became the lights that guided him. Dick doesn’t fully understand the feelings forming, all the reasons that his heart beats a little faster and his face gets a little warm. All that matters is that he gets to spend as much time with them as possible. He barely sees the firelight in the distance when he stops to collect wood. It doesn’t take Slade long to find him.

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“He’s pretty, isn’t he?” Roy finally sits up, leveling Wally with the same skepticism he usually reserved for when he’s plying people for information. “You know he is.” Wally snaps back, the day was draining and he was tired. “Just ask what you want instead of playing games Roy.” “You like him.” Roy doesn’t ask, just states what he knows. The certainty would be offensive were it anyone else. “I do. Don’t you?” Wally knows Roy well enough to catch his lingering eye, to catch the softer hand he deals towards people he likes. Experienced it often enough first hand as teenagers.

“You still want me? If there’s ever a day we don’t have to run anymore?” Roy won’t look at him. He’s bracing for rejection, has been hurt more than enough to have learned to expect it. It isn’t the first time he’s asked something similar, but Roy has never been so direct. When one of them almost dies Roy gets antsy, wants Wally to cut and run. There’s a new element now though, the beginnings of jealousy. “You’re the only one who has ever stopped me from wanting you.” Wally can’t help his own bitterness. He didn’t need to wait for some hypothetical day that may never come, he’d have taken Roy through any of the things they’d gone through. Everytime he almost lost him, Wally’s first instinct was to hold on for dear life, and Roy’s was to push him away. Often it felt like Roy was the only piece of his life he’d managed to clutch onto when it all broke apart. “Sorry to disappoint.” Roy rolls to turn away, but Wally snarls, grabbing his shoulder and pushing him flat on his back, hovering over him. He’s tired of running in circles. Tired of not having what’s right in front of him, of Roy not taking for himself. Now with Dick in the mix, Wally couldn’t go after what they both wanted without risking Roy. Not until they solve this. “That’s not what I meant and you know it Roy. You were the one who got it in your head that I needed some picture perfect love story. Just because I wanted what I did with Linda doesn’t mean I need it with you.” Wally barely manages to say her name without feeling the lingering ache she had left behind. That was a long time ago now. Those days would never come back.

“You expect me to believe that isn’t what you want? You were going to leave me for it, leave everything for her and I wouldn’t have even blamed you. You deserve to settle down with him the same way you did with her. It’s my fuck ups, my mistakes, my responsibilities that keep you in a life I know you hate as much as I hate doing it to you.” Roy doesn’t back down, flipping Wally and userping his position, keeping Wally down with his larger stature. “Yes! I expect you to believe me when I say I want to be by your side. Maybe if you’d admit for once that I had my own part to play in the road that got us here you’d realize that I never even blamed you to begin with. It wasn’t your fault Roy, we were kids.” Wally wraps his arms around Roy, pulling him down into a crushing hug. “It wasn’t our fault.” “I’m sorry” Roy mumbles into Wally’s neck, lifting his head enough to make eye contact. Braced on his forearms as Wally’s hand rests on the back of his head, threading through mussed up hair. “Me too. I want you still, I’ll always want you however you are. Whatever life that means.” Wally pulls a leaf out of Roy’s hair. He’d never said it that directly. He’d been to young before, and too hurt by poorly handled fights after.

“I want you. I want him too, but he deserves better than me. You deserve better than me.” Roy scowls, but lets Wally pull him into a soft kiss all the same. It had been a long time since they’d almost lost one another. It was harder to justify losing more chances. “Maybe you should let other people decide what they deserve, hm? We could have been doing this for years.” Wally kisses Roy again, because he can, because he’s not certain Roy won’t end it again for everyone’s sake but his own. There’s a new element to their dynamic now though. “He really is so pretty.” Wally sighs, thinking of Dick, and the sweet, joyful, intelligent way he approaches everything. Shockingly shrewd for someone so sheltered. Roy’s gravelly chuckle as he goes boneless on top of Wally just to spite him is enough of an answer for now. They could be happy together, Dick fit in with them well enough. Wally will have to thank Dick for finally getting Roy to have a conversation he’s been avoiding for 2 years.

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“I thought you’d never part from them, little bird.” Father’s voice is ominous and far more terrifying than Dick remembered. “Father?” Is all Dick manages to pick out of his non-stop internal dialogue of ‘He shouldn’t be here’. Did Slade see Roy and Wally? Are they okay? Would Dick have even heard them die? “Richard.” His father responded almost kindly, wrapping him in a suffocating hug. Dick doesn’t ask how Slade found him, if his Father was looking then it wouldn’t have been all that hard. Dick hasn’t exactly blended in. Why he decided to cut his trip short is a mystery though. “You could have gotten hurt. This past day must have been terrifying.” Father grabs his upper arms, beseeching. “Father, I’m okay. This journey has been incredible, I know you think I’m being reckless, but so far there hasn’t been anything I couldn’t handle. Dick very carefully removes himself from Slade’s grasp. “So we should wait until you find something you can’t deal with? Until you get hurt, or tortured, or die?” He growls “Those thieves are taking advantage of you and your naivete” “If I’m naive then you only have yourself to blame. Besides, I don't think they are. They’re good people Dad, kind people who have looked after and helped me.” “This is why you never should have left, getting all these demented ideas caught up in your head. You’re a child, you have no idea how easily some people lie.” Slade stalks through the gloom of the forest like a nightmare. “You’re wrong. I know who they are, better than you.” Dick argues back, emboldened when no weapon is drawn to correct him. “You think so? You’re so sure you know who they are? Fine then” He snarls, throwing the satchel Dick had been certain just a moment ago would never be found. “Give them this, see how quickly they turn on you then. See how fast they decide you’re not worth it” “I will. You’ll see they’re different then.” Dick hooks the satchel over his shoulder standing as tall as he can against the greatest horror of his childhood, defying his Father. “I’ll keep nearby, and when they turn on you I will be there to help you. I will always be there for you, even when you betray me Richard.” Father leaves a lingering pat on Dick’s head. “Don’t bother. I won’t ever need to come back.” Dick snarls after the darkness, surprised when it doesn’t bite back twice as hard. He feels strange in the absence of the anger, stepping to chase after a reaction, after the familiar, when a small hand around his wrist stops him. “Stop. Whatever you were going to do, don’t.” Prince Timothy is looking up at him and truly Dick has no clue where the kid came from. He abruptly realizes that he’d almost gone running after his Father just to seek out a fight he didn’t even want. He’s not even sure why. Instead of assessing that, Dick elects to express his gratitude by wrapping the kid up in his arms with an overabundance of concern and relief.

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Tim recognized Dick pretty quickly all things considered, not that it was hard at this point, but Tim had known since Barbara froze up. He had only been 5 when Dick disappeared, but he had a good memory. His hair was bluer now, but he had the right face, looked to be in his early 20s. That paired with what he was certain now was the Stranger in the forest all led to one conclusion. So Tim let Dick tell him a fake name, and didn’t even try to fight when he pulled Tim along with him into the mine shaft. Now, Tim definitely could have said something when they thought he was drowning, but then they started talking about personal things. Tim wanted to know everything about this tower, this stranger that had Dick convinced he was his father. And well, if they died anyway what difference did it make if he said anything?

Then when they got dumped into the river, he could have said something instead of disappearing into the underbrush. He’d probably only managed to avoid Arsenal purely due to the man’s exhaustion anyway. However, if Arsenal found him then he’d either have to go back with him and risk stunting the conversation, or find a way to Not do that and risk losing them in the forest. So Tim hid, and just listened to them talk. Maybe that was a little creepy. But its rude to interrupt! It seemed like an important conversation that needed to happen anyhow.

When Dick went to get firewood, he followed his brother. His brother! The missing piece in their lives. Then the Stranger showed up, and Tim rightly hates the man. He stole his brother, and worse is a terrible father to him. Tim hopes the man’s awful behavior will make it easy to trick Dick into staying in Gotham long enough for him to run into Bruce. Then the King will do all the work of making his brother stay home. Everything will be fine. Tim hadn’t planned to show himself until the morning. To wake up the thieves with an arrow pointed at their chest and take Dick to Gotham himself. Sure he understood now why they took the crown, but maybe Tim wasn’t over the whole falling down a cliff and being knocked out thing. Then Dick started to step after the Stranger and Tim had stepped forward and grabbed his arm before he’d even thought about it.

Now he was here, sitting next to his brother across from two thieves with the very crown they stole hidden in his bag. This is gonna be fine. Probably.

#wally west x dick grayson #amountofspidersfic #birdflash #tangled au #roy harper x wally west #roy harper x dick grayson

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 1 month ago

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Reading my own fic to write the third chapter like- why is this SO loooong lmao

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 2 months ago

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Drabble Prompts! (and request template)

Here's a massive list of prompts (from this) under the cut, feel free to put in whatever characters you like. I'm not actually picky about format, but here's a template for those that would like one, fill out as many or as few as you like: Pick one: Request/Drabble Ship/Gen: Characters: Prompt: Rating: G/T/M/E Tags/Additional wants: *Non drabbles are first come first serve, over 1.5k words and edited. Drabbles are written immediately, but only get a once over before being posted and will likely be shorter. *Ship is two or more characters in a romantic relationship, Gen is characters in a platonic relationship Characters: Aside from the Ship/Gen relationship do you want other characters worked in?

Angst/Emotional:

“All I’ve ever wanted is for you to see me.”

“When did you stop loving me?”

“Just please open your eyes.”

“Wake up. You have to wake up. Please. For me.”

“Just please, don’t leave me.”

“When was the last time you said you loved me, and meant it?”

“Why does everyone always leave?”

“It hurts so much. Why does it hurt so much? I just want it to stop.”

“Forget it. Just like you forget everything else.”

“I never ask for help because I’m not sure I know how.”

“It’s alright to feel broken every once and a while. And it’s alright to take time to heal.”

“I feel like I’m falling apart.”

“What is it about me that isn’t good enough?”

“I wish I was brave.”

“Whats the point in trying if only one of us is willing to?”

“You almost died and you’re making jokes?”

“I’m scared.”

“I don’t need you to tell me who I am!”

“I don’t miss you. I miss us.”

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I can’t lose you.” “You already did.”

“Don’t look at me like that.” “Like what?” “Like you still love me.”

“Will you even miss me at all?”

‘“You weren’t there…why weren’t you there? I needed you! I needed you! And you weren’t there!”

“I would give up everything for the chance to hear your laugh again. To see you smile. To see you happy.“

“If I never see you again, just know that I love you so, so much.”

“All I wanted was a happy ending.”

"Whatever you do, don’t let go.”

“You don’t have to hide your tears from me.”

“What happened to their happily ever after?” “Not all love stories get a happily ever after, sometimes it’s just once upon a time.”

“You said we’d be together forever, but I guess forever really isn’t that long.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“You left without saying goodbye.”

“For once in your life, do what you want! Be selfish!”

“Being strong doesn’t mean never asking for help or admitting you’re in pain.”

“Whatever you do, do not turn around.”

“No matter what they made you think, you are worth saving. You are worth loving.”

“You said you wouldn’t leave, and then you did.”

“I’m a fool for believing you meant what you said.”

“For what it’s worth, I never gave up on you.”

“You are not your past.”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“This is the third time you’ve broken a promise to me, I’m starting to think you are doing it on purpose.”

“Whatever you do, do not close your eyes.”

“I know you’re tired, but you have to stay awake.”

“I’ll come back for you, I promise.”

“You would risk letting all those people die for one person? Why?” “Because it’s not just one person…it’s you.”

“I’m just tired of being tired.”

“Whatever you do, do not make a sound.”

“I always said I’d die for you.” “I didn’t think you meant literally.”

Fluff/Romantic:

“I just cant see myself ever living without you.”

“If there was ever anybody meant for me, it’s you.”

“The closest thing to love at first sight I’ve ever experienced happened when I first laid eyes on you.”

“I didn’t believe in soulmates until I met you.”

“Did you just tell the person I was gonna go out with that we’re dating?”

“You owe me a kiss.”

“Go with me?” “Only if you hold my hand.”

“I’d feel much better if you’d let me walk you home.”

“If I asked you to stay, would you?”

“You make me feel alive. For the first time ever, I feel like I can breathe.”

“I’ve never felt this way before, and truthfully it scares me. But, the idea of never trying scares me even more.”

“You’re telling me you believe in love at first sight?” “I’m starting too.”

“I promised to love you forever, and that is a promise I intend to keep.”

“Is that my shirt?” “You mean our shirt?”

“You give me a reason to be better, to do better.”

"All I’ve ever wanted was a place to belong. Somewhere I could call home. And you gave me that. Because you are my home.”

“They don’t compare to you. No one does.”

“I thought I had the worst luck, until I met you.”

“No matter how much time we’ve spent apart, I never stopped loving you.”

“I could see the worst parts of you and still think you are the most beautiful person I’ve met.”

“I think I’m in love with you.”

“You brought me breakfast?” “Well you said you always forget to eat before you go to work, so I thought I’d make sure you ate something.”

“Everything feels right when you are with me.”

“I don’t care what others say, I want to be with you and that’s all that matters to me.”

“You bought me flowers?” “Yeah, well I noticed you’d seemed kinda down, so I wanted to cheer you up.”

“I’ll be damned if anyone makes you feel like you aren’t worthy of being loved.”

“I wasn’t sure what love really felt like until I met you.”

“You owe me.” “I owe you $20 not a day of pretending to be your partner to get your parents off you’re back.”

“I can braid your hair for you- I mean, only if you want.”

“Maybe if you stopped staring at them and actually talked to them, you might have a chance.”

“You said you wouldn’t fall in love with me.�� “I lied.”

“I want you. All of you, and not just halfheartedly, but wholly. And maybe that’s selfish, but I don’t care.”

“Can you stay? Just for tonight, please. I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.” “'l’ll stay for as long as you need.”

“You are my family.”

“We’ve been by each other’s sides for years, you think I’m gonna leave now?”

“Take my jacket, I don’t want you catching a cold.”

“I’d wait a thousand lifetimes for you, because you are worth waiting for. So when you are ready. I’ll be right here.”

“I will never stop fighting for you. I will never stop protecting you.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you. No matter how hard I try, you’re always on my mind”

“Don’t go on that date.” “Why?” “You know why.” “Say it.”

“Can I kiss you?”

“I don’t want you to die for me, I want you to live for me.”

“I can’t remember the last time I laughed like this.”

“How long have you had this planned?” “Since the moment I fell in love with you.”

“You came all the way here for me?”

“Why are you staring at me?” “Because I think you’re beautiful.”

“I think I’m falling in love with you.” “I think I’m okay with that.”

“What are you doing here?” “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“The world gets a little brighter when your around.”

“They say we wont last.” “Then lets prove them wrong.”

Miscellaneous:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone screw something up that fast before.”

“I’ve never told you that before.”

“You come here often?” “Well, I work here. So I think I’d have to say ‘yes’.”

“At least it couldn’t get any worse.” “I really wish you hadn’t said that.”

“I’m too sober for this.” “You don’t even drink.” “Maybe I should start.”

“I’m telling you, I’m haunted.”

“You couldn’t handle me even if i came with instructions.”

“Wake me up when it’s over.”

“Next problem… we might die.“

"Where have you been all my life?” “Hiding from you”

“I think… everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves.”

"Abort mission, I repeat abort mission.” “What? Abort what mission? All you were doing was introducing yourself to your neighbor?” “Yeah, and they’re too attractive. I can never speak to them again.”

“At least I kept my promise.”

“I saw you looking at it last time we were in the store together, so I got it for you.”

“…Did you just sniff me?”

“I hope you find it someday.” “Find what?” “Whatever it is you’re looking for.”

“Of course I noticed, I notice everything about you.”

“Are you alright?” “Yeah, why?” “You look mad.” “That’s just my face…”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“You don’t actually have to like me, you just need to pretend you do.”

“Since when did you open a bakery in your house?” “Since I got bored.”

“Can someone explain to me, in not so many words, why they are here?”

“I don’t think I’m alone in here.”

“This place creeps me out.”

“I thought I saw something.”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” “Why didn’t you text?”

“You’re bleeding.” “No shit.”

“In case you haven’t heard, there is a bounty on your head.” “Is that why you’re here? To kill me and take the bounty?” “No. I’m here to protect you.”

“For the most part, I am, in fact, an idiot. But I fully admit to it, which should count for something.”

“Stop grumbling and just tell me where your medicine cabinet is.”

“Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”

“I hate that I let you convince me to do this”

“We really need to stop meeting like this. "Then stop breaking into my house!”

“Why are you creeping outside my bedroom window?!” “I thought it would be romantic if I climbed up here.” “You gave me a heart-attack!”

“What are you doing here?” “I got locked out of my house.” “Again?”

“Run.”

“I can’t stand you!” “Then sit down.”

“Where are we going?” “It’s a surprise.” “I hope the surprise involves food.”

“You wont regret it!” “Already am.”

“I like being wanted.” “You should NOT like be wanted by the police!”

“I am nothing if not consistent.” “Yeah, a consistent pain in my ass.”

“What happened?” “Do you want the long version or the short version?” “Uh, short?” “I made a mistake.” “Okay, long version.” “I made a very very big mistake.”

“Do you take constructive criticism?” “Not without crying.”

“Are we all on the same page?” “Yes. Just of different books.”

“Why did you break up with them?” My dog didn’t like them, and that is never a good sign.“

"I’m sorry were you talking to me? I tend to zone out whenever you stark speaking.”

“What happened to your hand?” “I hit my hand on something.” “On what?” “Your ex’s face.”

“I heard that!” “You were supposed to!”

“I’ve been thinking-” “Uh-oh”

“If I survive this, I’m killing you.”

Scenario Prompts: *For prompts with Characters A and B; you can choose who is who in your request (who is reader and/or character)

Huddled together to keep warm.

Fall asleep in same bed, on opposite sides, wake up in each others arms.

Character A comes to talk to Character B, pretending to be B’s s/o when a stranger is making B uncomfortable. Leads to them asking B out on an actual date.

Running from dangerous person or monster.

Hunting down dangerous person or monster.

Separated forcefully or for reasons you can’t control, run into each other again years later on accident.

Get locked in somewhere together.

Continuously running into one another for days after having a meet cute.

Hands brush as you stand next to each other, you think it’s on accident until their hands gentle wrap around yours.

Shielding the other with their body to save/protect them.

Caught staring too many times for it to be a coincidence.

Size difference hug; they engulf you.

You refuse to leave so they pick you up and throw you over their shoulder.

Character A can tell Character B is getting nervous in a big crowd, so A slips their hand into theirs to help them calm down.

The panic between thinking you lost them and the relief of seeing they are okay.

Character A teaching B to ice skate/roller skate.

B taking care of A when they are sick.

Holding hands underneath the table.

Bandaging the other and then kissing the injury gently.

A surprises B with a picnic.

Getting stuck at the top of the Ferris Wheel.

B sitting/standing behind A and leaning into them as they show/teach them how to do something.

A kisses B, but A can tell there is no feeling behind it anymore.

As you begin to fall asleep, you feel a gentle kiss pressed to your temple and a blanket draped over you.

B comforting A as they wake up from a nightmare.

A realizing that they have feelings for B when they see them with someone else.

B bringing A hand-picked flowers.

Thinking you are alone in the house but you hear a noise upstairs.

B buys A’s dream house and surprises them.

Cliff/floor breaks out beneath A and as they fall B manages to grab their hand at the last second.

A leaves baked goods for B anonymously, but B already knows that it’s A.

B surprises A with a cake for their birthday even though A forgot what day it was/or didn’t know B knew it was their birthday.

Sharing an umbrella.

Walking together and it starts to rain, so they grab your hand and you start running until you can find somewhere to escape getting wet.

A and B meet randomly, B finds out A is on an important mission or quest and decides to go with them to protect them/watch over them.

Fake date to a wedding; leads to confession.

A game of 20 questions that ends with “Can I kiss you?”

There’s a big storm going on outside while A is at B’s house, so B insists they sleep over.

A hears that B got hurt and rushes over in a panic to see if they are okay.

B just moved to town and really only knows A (just met). B is being followed or is lost and calls A for help. Of course they come to help and it turns into a date of sorts.

A falling asleep while sitting next to B, as there head falls onto B’s shoulder, B stays as still as they can, afraid to wake A.

Cloudgazing or Stargazing together, as you lie next to each other, their hand slips into yours.

Looking around for the shirt you left at your s/o’s house; only to find it in a drawer with other clothes and items you’ve left.

B get’s so nervous about their dinner date with A that they accidentally make enough food to feed ten people.

A hand written love lover left at your doorstep.

B dancing to music as their cooking or cleaning, and as they spin around A suddenly appears, grabbing onto B and continuing to dance with them.

A grabs B’s hand instinctively out of surprise or fear, and continues to hold it.

A keeps catching B (a stranger) staring at them from across the room and feels self conscious, until B finds them later and tells them that they couldn’t stop staring out of awe/attraction.

A and B realizing they were holding hands the entire time the moment they had to let go. (after getting scared, nervous, frightened, etc.)

A buying B groceries because they knew they forgot to buy themselves food again.

B is sad because they accidentally threw something important away. A shows up later with said thing, smelling like trash.

A finding a hand-sketched photo of them on B’s desk.

B hearing A sing for the first time (due to karaoke, or walking in on them, etc.) and being surprised at how good they sound.

B helping A step down from a high place by taking their hand, and then not letting go as they continue to walk.

Comparing hand sizes, then linking fingers together.

Dancing around the living room of the first home you’ve bought together.

Long distance relationship; receiving a good morning text every morning, until one day you don’t. You are worried, but then there is a knock at your door.

B is sunshine, rainbows and kindness. A is night, rain-clouds and anger. But when A meets B, they bask in the sunshine and never want to leave.

A asking B on a date until they say yes.

B asking A to attend a wedding with them, to get out of going with someone their parents tried to set them up with.

#amountofspidersfic #ask me anything

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 2 months ago

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Hahhhh this took me so long to get to! But I think I'm back on top of things (kind of) For the time being. I have 7 requests to get through before I start on the new ones, but I've been working on most of them on and off. Content warning for the premise, but this is primarily Hurt/Comfort so don't be too scared! 18+!

Request: A passionate, steamy night between Wally & Dick goes wrong when Wally unintentionally hurts Dick, causing Dick to yell in pain, but Wally mishear it as a yell of pleasure, so he doesn't stop until it's too late. Uwaaaa this took awhile to get to! I’ve been turning this over in my head for ages, but I think I’ve finally figured out how to approach it! Normally Dick preferred to be on top, riding or topping didn’t particularly matter, he enjoyed both well enough. But Wally had really wanted to try something different, to have a little more control. This is what had them in the position where things went wrong. Dick was face-down, head resting on a pillow and ass in the air. Mostly it had been good, Wally had taken his time, insofar as any speedster was capable, playing with Dick’s chest, holding him close, sprinkling kisses down his spine, eating him out with a vibrating tongue. Dick was already on the cusp of overstimulation, squirming and even begging a bit for Wally to just get on with it. Unfortunately, Wally was also wrapped up in dizzying pleasure, mind a touch hazy and control on the wrong side of lacking. So when he fucks into Dick too fast, too much for an unenhanced man, he doesn’t immediately realize his mistake. Dick had always had a fair measure of control over the pace, even when Wally was in the lead, he’d always been very good about correcting Wally’s impatience with strong thighs and steady hands pressing him down into the bed. But when Wally all but slammed into him, right as Dick was adjusting his balance, he slipped and fell face first into the pillow with a sharp yelp. He often whimpers and whines through his pleasure, so the sound wasn’t any cause for alarm, especially when he’s never had any trouble just telling Wally what he needed. So Wally kept going, not able to hear the muffled protests over the blood roaring in his ears, too focused on placing open mouthed kisses across scared shoulder blades to see that Dick hadn’t managed to recover his balance under the relentless pace that had been set. To set in the moment to notice the squirming turn to scrambling.

When Wally finishes, pulling back to make sure Dick is able to follow, he realizes that Dick is shaking, but otherwise far too still. It hadn’t lasted very long. That was scarcely even a small mercy though. When Dick turns over he shoves Wally back by the shoulder, eyes wild and face set into a grim mask that hid what kind of upset he was. “You didn’t stop” Dick’s voice is almost accusing. Wally stares blankly at first, gooey pleasure turning sharp and sour. Then he stumbles over himself apologizing, zipping in and out of the room to bring every aftercare item he could possibly recall the location of. “I’m so, so sorry Dick. I didn’t hear you, I swear I didn’t. I would never ignore you saying that you have to know that I wouldn’t-” Wally can’t stop talking, can’t stop trembling until his mouth is covered by a calloused hand. “Wally, I know. I know you wouldn’t.” Dick is still shaking, but the jagged edges of hurt have smoothed slightly. “But that was terrifying, I didn’t know how long it was. I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t stop you till it was over” Dick swallows, stormy blue eyes looking at nothing at all, wet with tears that will never be shed. Wally never wants to touch another person again, he hugs himself, fingernails digging in too deeply. Dick gently take’s Wally’s hands into his own. ALways faster to recover, always quick to put himself aside. “It was an accident” He says softly. “I hurt you.” Wally’s voice is rough. He’s also forgotten how to cry. “You did.” Dick nods. “But you didn’t mean to.” His nimble fingers run along the freckles dotting Wally’s arms and hands. Tracing constellations he memorized through a hundred different windows and thousand little moments. “Does it matter if I meant to? How can you trust me again? I’m supposed to be safe for you, I don’t know how to fix this, Dick. I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry.” Wally can’t sit still, getting up and pacing and running from one spot to the next. Dick seems to be calming down more and more, but instead of doing it for himself he seems to be drifting into crisis management mode instead, into Nightwing’s mindset. “It matters. I can’t…” Dick trails off, before beginning again. “I don’t want to try anything like that again for a while, but I still love you, I still trust you. Making a mistake doesn’t make you a monster, it doesn’t make you unsafe.”

“Can I hold you?” Wally blinks back his self hatred, Dick was the one who got hurt, why is he doing the comforting? “Not right now, I still feel-” Dick pulls the blanket up around his waist “pretty overstimulated, but you can in a little bit.”

“What do you need me to do?” Wally pulls his legs under him, confining himself to as small of an area as he can. He has to wrench his emotions into place, to step back from his own head. He can feel awful later, but right now isn’t the time for his emotions to take stage. He knows Dick, and knows that once the moment passes he’ll never bring it up again. That he’ll brush aside his hurt with a smile and a shrug and a “what can you do?”. He can see the traces of bleariness around Dick’s composure, now that he’s looking. The tiredness.

“Do you want anything to clean up with?” Wally asks, instead of waiting for an answer. Narrowing a general question into a more direct, easier to answer one. “Yeah. Uh,” Dick catches the change, but clearly isn’t prepared for it, still looking for Wally’s distress. “Towel, wet wipe, or shower?” Wally lists off the options easily enough, resisting the temptation to let out his nerves on cleaning, keeping still, keeping calm.

“Towel. That’ll be fine.” Dick answers, leaning back into the pillows, taking the washcloth and dry towel from where they’re set on the bedside table. He hesitates at first, not able to split his focus given his headspace, but also unwilling to take his focus off of Wally. Wally just smiles, and waits the moment out, even though he feels like his heart is going to fall right out of his chest. Even though anxiety is creeping thorns in his veins picking him to pieces. Dick cleans himself off, harder than necessary but not so rough that Wally needs to intervene. “Thanks” He mutters, rolling off the sheet placed down to keep the bed clean, and handing Wally the now dirty towels. “Clothes?” Wally doesn’t soften his tone, sometimes speaking to people like they’re a cornered animal turns them into one. Dick has never liked coddling. “Yeah.” Dick takes a deep breath, walls breaking back down from their hasty construction. “Clothes are good.” He pulls their blankets over himself, and Wally grabs Donna’s sweater from their kitchen, a shirt, and oversized sweats that had drifted through so many wardrobes in titan’s tower no one really knew who owned them to begin with. Donna’s sweater was soft cashmere, and still smelled like her. Dick presses his face into the garment before Wally has even let it go. Wally drifts into the kitchen to give him some space. Gets a bowl of cereal and his laptop. He knocks on the door before entering. “Come in.” Dick sounds more like himself, and Donna’s sweater is still pulled towards his face, hiding half a smile. “You brought cereal?” “For you, if you want it. For me if you don’t. I don’t have to stay.” Wally would fall apart the second he left, but that didn’t have to be Dick’s problem. There were plenty of people he could go to that weren’t the person he hurt. He’d probably go to Donna though, because she wouldn’t side with him unless he truly hadn’t done something wrong. “No, stay. I want you to stay.” Dick sinks down further into the pillows, a puppyish hope on his face. “Did you bring that so we can watch something?” “I- yeah.” Wally slowly slides into his side of the bed, and Dick wraps around him. “I’m really okay, you know. It was an accident, a horrible accident that cannot happen again, but an accident.” Dick leans into Wally’s tentative touch, accepting the hand in his hair with the same enthusiasm as he always has. “I believe you” Mostly. “I just hate that I did that to you. I hate that I was the one to hurt you like that.” Wally pulls up the new robin hood show, the millionth adaptation they’d watched together. “I hate that it happened too.” Dick admits, like making space for his emotions is some devastating secret. “But I forgive you. I know we’re gonna be okay. Sometimes we hurt the people we love by accident and it’s awful and it lingers for way too long.” Dick tilts his head up to make eye contact, grabbing Wally’s hand to intertwine their fingers. “But that doesn’t mean it won’t fade, that we won’t be just like before.” “I love you, so much.” Wally kisses his forehead, adoration cleaning out the hurt from his system for the time being. “I love you too Walls. More than I know what to do with.”

#amountofspidersfic #birdflash #ask me anything #wally west x dick grayson

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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Promise We'll be okay pt 2

18+. Might revise the ending but we'll see~ Part 1--- Roy's POV

Roy had made sure to keep good on his word. Despite the lingering side effects, he knew Dick was experiencing they’d had a remarkably chaste relationship over the past week. Roy had told Dick in no uncertain terms that he would not initiate, that he really wouldn’t be able to after how things had started. Dick had quietly elaborated on some of his past experiences under the unjudging blanket of stars on a quiet hill. They’d had a picnic there. Roy knew about most of them, but instead of the heart wrenching venting that had come with previous knowledge, this had been a long and exhaustive discussion of boundaries. Roy was honestly just glad to have rules, clear parameters for when and how to avoid fucking up. Aside from that, they’d gone on two dates- three including tonight. The first had just been them watching Robin Hood, talking about the book as well. Dick was more focused on the story and Roy on the archery. The second had been with Lian, she adored Dick and seemed distraught when he went home at the end, well as distraught as any kid gets when they don’t get their way. Dating had been fun, learning little details about an old friend he’d never really seen before. They’d never had cause to dress up for one another, or intentionally fluster each other without pretending that doing so wasn’t the point of the teasing. He felt like he was reclaiming a piece of his childhood that he lost when the Titans fell apart. A piece of his heart that he’d left forgotten when he stopped dating to focus on raising his kid.

Tonight had been a surprise, he’d taken Dick to a circus. Had to have an incredibly stilted conversation about it with Jason, and then Babs, and then for some godawful reason Steph and Damian at the same time. He hadn’t realized the remotely got along, but he supposes they got close when Dick was Batman. Jason hadn’t ever asked, Babs refused to be the ex that gave advice, and he’d gotten the most difficult shovel talk of his life before finally an answer. The shovel talk was two parts trying not to laugh at Steph’s jokes and a twelve year old threatening him and three parts trying not to come off as a bastard to the people who could most easily set his new relationship on fire. Damian as the lighter fluid and Steph as the fire.

All that to say- he’d checked to make sure Dick still actually felt comfortable under the big top, felt comfortable watching acrobatics. The answer boiled down to make sure there’s a net. Dick had been absolutely delighted, a childlike wonder that increased tenfold in getting to talk to the performers after the show. Roy felt the heavy, but not oppressive atmosphere, the thick buttery smell of caramelized popcorn mixing somewhat unpleasantly with smoke, sweat, and the unmistakable musk of exotic animals. Dick breathed it in deep, and embraced the magic of the glowing lights and hodgepodge of people and talents. The brightness of people who preserved wonder for a living and adored every second of it. A core aspect of Dick Grayson, who he was and who he became. A man that saves the soul as much as he saves everything else. Roy was helpless to his own affection. Dick was explaining all the little things he’d missed, about the showmanship or the tricks they’d pulled. All things Roy normally wouldn’t have even thought to appreciate. There was a spark to him, an unfettered happiness that Roy wanted to hang around to see more of. He’d walked him home, mostly just to spend more time together. Dick was still flush with excitement by the time they reached the front door, Roy couldn’t even find the disappointment that usually came with parting as he watched Dick unlock and open his apartment. “I had a really good time.” Roy starts, ready to exchange a chaste kiss a make his way home with a skip in his step, but Dick grabs him by the collar and hauls him through the entryway into a blindingly hot kiss. Roy groans, hands moving to grip Dick’s waist, rubbing circles into the vee of his hips. Dick pulls away with a heady sound that sends heat pulsing through Roy’s veins, and he moves to kiss down Roy’s neck, nipping in a way that makes his breath catch. “F-fuck” Roy’s head thunks against the door as he pulls Dick closer, rewarded by a lithe leg hooking around the back of his thigh, tugging Roy’s leg between his own in away that’s reminiscent of the first time they’d done this. “This okay?” Dick breathes into his ear, and Roy shudders, but keeps his hands still despite the strong impulse to get a better hold. “Yes. Yes regardless, but what is ‘this’? What are we doing sweetheart?” He kisses Dick’s neck back, the pretty tan column he’d refused to touch before.

“I want you” Dick presses closer to him “This is me initiating, I’m good with touching. I want you too. Please Roy” He whines his name in his ear and Roy knows it’s on purpose, but knowing that doesn’t make the spike of arousal any less intense, and Roy grabs Dick by the ass, squeezing and actually feeling this time, instead of just moving him. He rocks Dick against his thigh, but he’s paying the most attention to his face. Those clear, lucid ocean eyes are even more beautiful because they mean Dick is fully with him, fully into the situation. Dick licks up his neck and Roy’s hips cant into him before he can really process it. “You taste like cedar too” Dick mutters, and Roy has to chuckle, because- “Sweetheart, what does that mean?” He uses his head to nudge Dick’s face away from his neck so he can look at his pretty lover. Dick just grins, never the sort to have the good grace to be even a little embarrassed of himself. “You smell like a piece of the forest. Taste like it too” Is the only explanation Dick gives before leaning in and biting the junction of Roy’s shoulder. He tightens his grip and picks Dick up, pleased at the feeling of powerful legs wrapping tight around his waist, to move him towards the bedroom. He wanted to press Dick up into the wall, but wasn’t sure if that qualified as ‘being on his back’ and it wasn’t a discussion he wanted to have right now. He sits down on Dick’s bed, pulling him into his lap. Dick starts squirming against him almost immediately until Roy grabs him by the throat. “Stop being a brat” He drops his voice, a deep rumble in his chest so he can see the way Dick’s eyes dilate. He lets go when Dick taps his fingers, and Dick slips down onto his knees, face pressed into Roy’s slacks all vulnerable and puppyish.

“Can I put my mouth on you?” Dick toys with his belt, grinning at the quick nod. Dick is gorgeous between his legs, face open and wanting. That he chooses to be vulnerable has a potent appeal that steals the air from Roy’s lungs. Dick runs his tongue along the underside, watching Roy’s face intently. Roy’s sure he looks idiotically awestruck but can’t find any shame for it.

“Sweetheart, you can do whatever you want to me.” He mutters as he strokes Dick’s cheek. Dick’s mouth on him steals away all his thoughts though, leaving him panting, legs held apart by a firm grip. He chews on his lower lip, taking whatever Dick wants to get him. When he gets close, he gently tugs Dick off of him, tugging down his pants and boxers, and pulling the lithe man up into his lap. Dick is warm, hard, and writhing in Roy’s lap, refusing to be still for a single moment as Roy readjusts to lean back against the headboard. “You’re so beautiful Dickie” Roy pours lube onto his fingers, slowly breaching his lover. “So sweet and perfect just for me.” He bites up Dick’s neck and Dick lets out a loud keen, unable to be quiet, little whimpers filling any silence Roy leaves between them. “Roy, please hurry up. I want you so bad, I want-” Dick’s nails leave long red lines where they dig into Roy’s back.

“Yeah? Want me to fuck you sweetheart? Want me to take care of you?” Roy’s fingers are clever and he knows it. Large and thick, two of his the size of three of Dicks. He can’t help the sly, shit eating grin as Dick falls apart on his fingers.

“Yes, fuck me, come on, come on” Dick urges, pressing his face into Roy’s chest to nip at a pink nipple. Roy startles, choking on his own words at the unexpected shot of pleasure.

“Jesus Christ- you’re such an imp” He growls, removing his hand to help Dick sink down on him. He guides but doesn’t press, letting Dick set the pace.

“Is that so surprising?” Dick is breathtaking. Roy feels like he’s losing his mind watching him bounce on his cock.

“It’s always hard to tell if you’re going to be good, or absolutely devious?” Roy settles into the frankly brutal pace set by Dick, fucking him until he’s begging and breathless. They kiss like it’s a particularly friendly smile, wrapped up in each other tightly. Dick even comes pretty, eyes fluttering and face lax to the sound of punched out gasps. Roy hardly lasts any longer, eager to bask in the afterglow. And bask they do- something resolved and settle between them.

“Hold me a little longer?” Dick asks, so content and happy like even if Roy could, or ever would, say no that he’d still feel okay. Still feel loved. Roy tucks Dick in close, kissing the crown of his head.

“Always”

#amountofspidersfic #dickroy #dick grayson x roy harper #roydick

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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For a birdflash AU set in the DV vs vampires world:

#birdflash

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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You’re married to your phone background/lockscreen how fucked are you

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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@willow-the-sleepy

Nightwing polycule ok?

You’re married to your phone background/lockscreen how fucked are you

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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Release Schedule (will be edited and changed, these are estimations:

May 11th Next week: Birdflash vampire!Dick), DickRoy(Vampire), and a reader x Roy

Also next week: Into the Night is getting an update next After: a Dick/Kori/Roy/Donna as well as likely a poison ivy request Interwoven is set to update May 10th.

And then Learning How to Breath Again and Speak to Me Between the lines will get their first chapters after that!

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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Requests Master List

Here are all my request fills, somewhat organized! (currently being edited) 18+ Below the cut AO3 Batsibs as strangers on a long flight Dick learns the hard way that even the best intentions can leave the deepest wounds.

BirdFlash: DickRoy: Dick struggles between following what his heart wants & what his body needs. ----- Roy's POV------ Part Two A passionate, steamy night between Wally & Dick goes wrong when Wally unintentionally hurts Dick, causing Dick to yell in pain, but Wally mishear it as a yell of pleasure, so he doesn't stop until it's too late. DickKori: Breeding Kink x Reader: Dick Grayson- Blood kink/Split Lip Tim Drake Spit Kink

#amountofspidersfic

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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Anyone else on ao3 read a summary, check the author and think “oh of *course* it was you”?

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a-regular-amount-of-spiders · 3 months ago

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Promise me we'll be okay 1.5

Okay! Let me know if there's any errors in this bc i genuinely had so much trouble getting tumblr to post it- Roy’s POV of this The sequel and other requests are going to be all done within the next two weeks if things don't get insane for me again :D @empressyu123 figured you'd want the notif! 18+!!

Roy considers himself a reasonable man most of the time. He doesn’t feel reasonable right now, holding his sleeping friend curled up his arms, having been awake all night. He doesn’t want to let go, Dick fits so comfortably against him, but the circumstances prevent him from enjoying it. Dick had cried more than Roy had ever seen, and had hated what had happened. Roy feels gross, and dirty. He doesn’t regret it- it was necessary. He knows that he didn’t cross any lines, that he did the right thing. But the memory of Dick sobbing about how much he didn’t want to be in the situation lingered. It wasn’t either of their faults. Still, Roy doesn’t want to look into a mirror ever again. He runs his fingers through soft raven hair as he stares at the dust floating lazily in the morning light peeking through the window. Last night had been….

He’d only been in Gotham because Jason wanted to hang out. He had just crossed the bridge into Gotham when Jason called him, asking him to check on Dick’s location before heading over to hang out. Roy had felt an all too familiar spark of concern and heart pounding fear that always came with the potential risk of losing someone. He’d felt that fear for Dick in particular with a concerning frequency over the years. Jason explaining the situation only helped marginally, and explained well enough why he was even asking Roy instead of going himself in the first place. He’d moved slower than he could have, a choice he’d feel guilty for shortly, because honestly Roy did not want to see the man he’d been hopelessly in love with for years having sex with someone else. He was surprised to see Dick alone and then horrified because Dick looked beyond distressed, hand between his legs and eyes squeezed shut, breaths heavy and gasping. Roy’s skin prickled as he thinks on what may have happened if someone unsavory had managed to stumble across him. He knows Dick never responded well to direct concern, the more genuine the worry was the more suspicious or guilty it made him feel. Dick doesn’t even look at him as Roy walks up, saying the first thing he could think of: “Jesus, Jason was being serious.” Roy didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but seeing Dick so unaware was unusual and unsettling. Roy hated seeing those clever eyes tearful and hazy like this, in a place so unsafe and a situation so vulnerable. “If you’re here to make fun of me, please just go.” Dick’s voice was thin, weak, and resentful. It pissed Roy off, he’d made his mistakes but he never has and never will belittle someone for something like this. He was honest in his retort, but not due to his own hurt feelings. Rather, Roy figured that Dick could use something to take his anger out on until whichever asshole was taking their sweet time in getting here was present to help. Whoever Dick trusted more than him for this. “Wow. You sure think highly of me.” Roy bit out the words, but instead of firing back a snippy response, Dick only gasped. His mouth falling open and long lashes fluttering. His fingers flexed between his legs and Roy felt a warm bush from his ears down to his chest, that just wasn’t fair. He’d never heard such a pretty sound before. Roy moved close before he could second guess himself, unable to resist looking Dick over. Desperate looked good on him, and for a moment Roy was able to imagine that Dick reacted that way just because it was Roy that was talking. “Well that’s an interesting response” He gives a cocky grin, keeping it light and giving an opening for Dick to crush his foolish hope. Roy needed the reality check. “Wh-what do you want?” Dick whined, low and needy, instead of swiftly shutting Roy down and calling him a creep. It took more self control than Roy would ever admit to not reach down and grab Dick where he was squirming against the wall. It was awful to want him so much when Dick couldn't help his reactions. Guilt wasn’t enough to stop Roy from committing every bit of the scene before him to memory though. He needed to solve things quickly so he could get to Jason’s and be a pathetic weepy mess on his friend’s living room floor. “Listen I get why you wouldn’t want your family to see this, trust me-” Roy would seriously consider shooting himself to avoid it were the roles reversed- “but Jay said you had someone to go to. Where are they?” Because Dick didn’t want Roy or worse didn’t trust him, so whoever Dick actually wanted had to get here yesterday so Roy could get gone. He pulled out his phone, ready to call whoever it was and bitch them out, maybe it’d have made him feel better. Probably not. Then Dick was shaking his head, and Roy wanted to tear his hair out. He could barely accept not being the person Dick reached out to, but to not even be trusted with a name?

“Dude, seriously? We’ve had our falling outs, but I thought you trusted me.” He huffs, and it stung so badly that Roy couldn’t even begin to clear his head enough to guess who it’d be. Dick starts rolling his hips, and Roy tucked his phone away for something to do with his hands, looking out at the muggy Gotham streets far below them.

“If you don’t want me to know who it is, can you at least tell me when they’re getting here? Or that they’re aware that if they don’t hurry their ass up, you could die?” The more time that passed the angrier he felt. Did they even know how lucky they are to be gifted with Dick’s vulnerability? To receive that faith is rare and precious and they’re failing him. “I don’t- there’s no one. I’ll be fine. Just g-go home. I’ll be fine” Dick babbles, not even looking at Roy. “Wh- no one?! Are you fucking serious?” Roy snaped before he could help himself, because what the fuck? Dick slammed his head into the concrete before Roy could stop him, and his anger transitioned lightning quick into a mix of resignation and a bittersweet respect. He should have figured that Dick is the sort of man to try to avoid obligating someone for this. When Dick nodded, Roy stepped back, he couldn’t look at the squirming hero and have clear, reasonable thoughts. He called Jason, and it picked up before the first ring.

“He okay?” Jason’s voice is gruff and worried though it’d have sounded furious to most. “No. He didn’t call anyone. There’s no one! He’ll die like this Jay.” Roy shouted, worry coiled tightly in his chest, pacing as he kept an ear out for the sounds Dick is making, he could almost convince himself it’s just to make sure he’s still relatively alright if not for the way each sound looped endlessly in his hind brain. Yelling at Jason was at least a good way to off-load some tension. “Wh- he-” Jason sputters out a series of half-started sentences before cursing loudly. “Fuckin course he didn’t.” Jason’s voice becomes muffled, like he’s covering the phone “Tim, who’s on the back-up list for…” Roy waits for the indistinct mumbling to end and Jason to sigh heavily into the receiver before asking what their contingency is. “Given the effectiveness of this vile shit, he doesn’t have a ton of time. The only people who we know of who can get there that Dick would actually let near him are Flash and Superboy-” A muffled shout cuts him off “Oracle said she’s willing as a fail-safe, in which case you’ll have to haul Goldie to the Belfry.” Jason huffs “Replacement is adamant that you should be on the list as well.” He sounded deeply uncomfortable with the entire conversation, and Roy almost felt bad for him, but he felt worse for himself. “Alright. I can handle it from here. He’ll be okay Jaybird.” Roy hung up before he could hear the full response, steeling himself to go back to Dick. The sight is no easier to take in the second time, but he still crouched in front of his friend. Just a friend, nothing more. When Dick didn’t even seem to register his presence, he tapped the man’s cheek gently. Dick’s hand shot up to grab his wrist with startling speed, and Roy watched in a daze as Dick pressed his face into the captured hand, kissing his calloused palm. Roy’s heart was beating out of his chest and he had to beat back the urge to scoop Dick up and hold him forever. “Oh-kay” He regulated his breathing before telling Dick his options. He barely kept a neutral expression. He couldn’t bring himself to pull his hand away. Dick shook his head violently, and Roy’s heart broke for him, who so rarely cries but is falling apart right on a grimy rooftop in the middle of gotham.

“No. They don’t- no. I don’t want it.” He sounded so distressed. Roy wanted to kill whoever did this with extreme prejudice. He hated every aspect of the situation. He wished there was any other solution.

“They don’t what, Dickie?” Roy gave into impulse, scooping him up, pulling his arms around his neck and propping him against his hip as Dick’s legs moved to wrap tight around Roy’s waist. Roy kept his voice soft and careful, only years of practice enabling him to keep his composure as he navigated to the nearest safehouse from the list Jason had texted. If Dick didn’t pick someone, then he’d make sure he stayed alive. Then Roy would tell Jason, and get rightfully shot. He would never forgive himself. Dick’s face was pressed tight against Roy’s neck, his hips rolling against Roy’s as he locked the safehouse door. Navigating there hadn’t taken long, but it had been a nerve-wracking three minutes, especially as he tried to ignore the press of flexible hips. Dick finally muttered a response, seeming unaware of the gap between question and answer.

“They don’t love me. None of you- not like that. I don’t want it if you don’t.” He started sobbing in earnest, clutching at Roy, tears soaking into the cotton shirt he wore. Roy hadn’t been pleased to be proved wrong in his assumption that things couldn’t get worse from where they started.

He’d barely made a few steps when Dick made a choked noise and shoved himself back. Roy let go faster than if he'd been stabbed, cringing as Dick landed awkwardly on the concrete and scrambled away from him. He felt like a monster, but maybe this wasn’t going to end in Jason shooting him.

“Dick. I really-“ Roy’s jaw tightened, he’d never intended to say anything, let alone at a time like that. “I love you. I have for ages. if that’s the problem here then-“ Roy couldn’t finish the sentence because he was pressed against the wall with surprising force, a mouth sealed over his with clumsy, unco-ordinated aggression. It took a few seconds for Roy’s brain to come back online, and thread his fingers through downy hair and guide the kiss into a more gentle thing, kiss Dick the way he’d wanted to for so long. Roy supposed the choice had been made and was extremely grateful he hadn’t been the one to make it.

“Where’re the catches on your suit?” He whispered, as he nipped down Dick’s neck and relished in each sound it drew from him. Dick shoved down his own suit in response, fumbling at tight fabric with trembling hands. Roy grabbed him by the ass to pull him up onto his thigh so he could grind more effectively. The pollen would make him weaker over time so the easier the movement the better. Dick’s precum soaked into his jeans and Roy groaned, closing his eyes and ignoring the painful tightness of his own pants. It wasn’t about him, it wasn't for him. Despite knowing that every single thing Dick did was a shot of arousal straight to-

He carried the trembling man to the clean safehouse bed, glad that it was already made, and laid him down almost reverently. He carefully striped off the rest of his clothes, hands lingering more than they should’ve. He needed to focus, but that felt impossible with Dick whimpering right in his ear.

“Hey, what do I need to do for you?” He ran his hands over Dick’s chest, memorizing the contours despite himself. All he got in return is a garbled mess, so he pulled Dick’s hair, hoping to ground him. Certainly not to see if he liked it. Roy used to be better at denial.

“Focus.” He used the same tone he would on the field, but despite his attempted apathy the long, loud keen he gets in return goes straight to his cock. He bit back the rumbling moan building in his chest. Dick asked him what he meant, and Roy had to take a deep breath to have enough composure to actually answer.

“To help you get through this okay, what do you need?” He asked, thumb resting on Dick’s plush bottom lip.

“J-just need to get off. I-it-” Dick tries to explain further, but Roy already knew that much, but realized Dick wasn’t coherent enough to ask for specifics.

“Hm.” He hummed lightly , before kissing down Dick’s torso, Dick wanted it to be done in a loving way, and so that’s exactly what Roy was going to give him.

“You okay if I put my mouth on you sweetheart?” Roy rests his head on Dick’s stomach, effectively pinning him down. He let his carefully contained adoration for the man below seep into his tone. Roy wondered if Dick loved him back, or just needed a loving touch to get off. He hates himself a bit even now for the thought.

“Please, please Roy I need you-” Dick pressed his hips up into Roy’s chest smearing precum into the smattering of hair there and Roy pressed him back into the bed so he didn’t lose his mind, as he continued his path down to Dick’s cock, and wasted no time taking it into his mouth. Loving, but not drawn out. Roy could do that, even if it was tempting him to imagine different circumstances. A different reality where they’ve been together for much longer, and the consent is far more enthusiastic.

Dick’s back bowed, when Roy swallowed him down to the hilt successfully getting Dick off within minutes. He’s good with his tongue, and he’d thought about doing this for years. He kept his focus on keeping himself still. He couldn’t help being turned on, but he could at least respect Dick enough to not do anything about it. Dick didn’t soften, so Roy kept going, because it only ended for Dick when his arousal did. His jaw ached by the time Dick slapped at his shoulder with zero coordination.

“Too much, too much Roy.” He whines, and Roy pulled off, spitting what remained in his mouth into a cloth at the bedside before he moved up the bed to sit with his back to the headboard, and pulled Dick to rest atop his chest.

“Do I need to keep going?” He asks gently even though he knows the answer. He needed to hear Dick tell him this was okay or he’d have lost all sanity. Dick pulled Roy's arms around himself and it made Roy’s heart melt, such a sweet and tender gesture. Roy loved it.. Dick nodded, but-

“C-can you hold me first?” Dick sounded so hesitant, and Roy almost wanted to cry with him, were he to remember how. He never wanted to hear Dick sound so ashamed of such a reasonable, small request.

“Yeah, God. Of course.” His voice broke on the words. His heart ached so badly, he wanted to stay like this forever and he wanted this ordeal to be years behind them. He pulled Dick close to him, pressing his face into his neck, dropping light and tender kisses to soothe whatever shame the other man felt. He hooked a leg over Dick’s waist. It was warm and pleasant. He’d missed holding him, like they did when they were young and no bitterness had formed between the Titans.

“Ready?” They couldn’t delay much longer. “Yes.” Dick’s voice wavered in a concerning manner, but he pressed his sweaty face into Roy’s neck and tears disappeared into the fabric of his shirt.

Roy jerked him off nearly clinically, though it didn’t seem to matter much. It worked, even as Dick started babbling. “I don’t like this. I don’t want to feel this way. Make it stop, please make it stop Roy.” He switched between that and pleased little sounds; “You feel so good, I love your hand, you’re so warm…” By the end Roy wants to tear his own hand off, but also to hold Dick close to him. It took a few hours, and Dick seems to drift in the afterglow of it all. Hardly responsive even as he was cleaned off in the tub, even as Roy helps him into the oversized nightclothes he’d brought for himself. When he tucked Dick into bed, a shaky hand desperately grabbed at his wrist, and Roy froze in place. Dick asked him to stay so sweetly. Roy was, as always, helpless against those ocean eyes, watery and desperate. He got into bed, pulled Dick close as carefully as he could. He hoped that in the morning Dick would let him take care of him. That he could take the time to make sure he was completely okay before they had a much needed talk. He texts a quick ‘all clear’ to Jason, and stares at the ceiling, absently rubbing Dick’s back. Tomorrow he was going to clear the air, Roy had let too many misunderstandings destroy too many relationships, and he’s not losing Dick to this one. If Dick hated him, that was okay. He’d understand, but he wouldn’t let Dick hate himself for this. He wouldn’t give Dick the space to blame himself for something he couldn’t help, not ever again.

Master-List

#amountofspidersfic #dickroy #roydick #smut

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