(no subject)
So Dick's waiting for company yet again, same as last time. He's quite dressed this time; he knows better than to risk it. Roy could either be very early or very late, and either way? Dick doesn't want to be caught in a towel again. (Even if that might be interesting.)
He's sitting in his apartment, trying not to be nervous, and not even getting why he possibly -could- be nervous about it.
Roy wanders over using the bar again. He's not sure how long they're going to be social but if it's anything like last time, Harper is so going out afterwards and getting laid. That being the case, he's in a green dress shirt and black leather pants. If nothing else, Grace'll be glad to see him later on. He tries to convince himself he's not actually hoping Dick will have been showering when he arrives.
But he totally is hoping for it as he knocks on the door.
Roy isn't so lucky this time, as has been previously established. Dick's completely clothed when he answers the door; a little nicer than usual, and... okay. The fact they've both chosen to dress nicer than usual doesn't escape Dick, and it's yet another hint at something that's been confusing him the past few days. Something he's started to figure out.
"Roy." He says with a grin. "You're here at the right time this time."
"I am?" Roy asks wondering why he's vaguely nervous. He's never on time. What the -heck-?
"Um...anyway...hi."
"Well... on time enough," Dick concedes. What was five minutes or so between friends? "Hi."
He steps out of the doorway so that Roy can come in.
Roy brushes past him and heads for the couch.
Dick follows. What else is he going to do, after all? "So how's Lian?" He asks, by way of making small talk. Well, that, and he actually does want to know.
"Great. She's anxious for Robin to get better so he can visit."
"Robin's going to visit?" Dick has honestly no idea what to say about that. Except maybe to ask for pictures, because Tim around that little girl was probably going to be incredibly cute. Hell, that girl would make being around Batman cute.
Roy grins. "She wants him to. I have to ask him next time I see him. Or next time I'll probably be being her in so she can ask him. And how can he refuse?"
Dick laughs. "Yeah, the girl has more charm than any of us put together."
"Maybe she'll be president someday."
"I actually wouldn't mind that." Dick really wouldn't. Girl made more sense right now than a lot of people, and that counted for something, didn't it?
"I'll be glad." Roy stretches out on the couch. "So...what are we going to do?"
"-Not- patrol," Dick says dryly, and pushes at Roy a bit. "Scoot over and let me sit down."
Roy pouts.
"I'll sit on you if you don't."
Roy...debates and then just pouts some more.
Dick eyes him and then pushes again. "Come on." Is Roy really going to make him go through with that threat? That would be... interesting. Er.
Roy moves an inch. "There."
"...if you think I'm that small, you need your eyes checked." Dick sticks his tongue out at Roy, and then sits down on the guy's legs. Take that?
Roy blinks and...doesn't mind at all. "I don't think you're small."
"And yet you only give an inch? Come on." Too bad Dick knows better than to think it was all a ploy to get him to really sit on Roy. Except, hmm...
"I like hogging the couch."
"Possibly."
"And it has nothing at all to do with my threat, huh?" Because if it didn't, then Roy would have moved.
Roy just offers up a charismatic smile and shrugs.
"Hmm." It's quite possible that the only way Dick will get an answer to that question is either by getting up or moving closer. He knows what he -wants- to do; but has no idea what's the best idea at the moment. So he covers up the lack of decision with some sort of snark. But there's honesty within it. "If you wanted me on you, all you had to do was ask."
Roy blinks quickly and debates even quicker. Eh, what the hell. Two can play this game. He eyes Dick with interest. "That's all I'd have to do?"
Hmm. That was possibly promising. But Dick won't read too much into it yet; they've joked around like this before. It's unclear where the line between joking and serious is. "Exactly."
"And what would that lead to? In your opinion," Roy asks seriously.
"What would you want it to lead to?" Someday, honestly, Dick has to stop turning these things around on Roy, and just spit out his own opinion.
"Uh..." Roy has no idea what's he's supposed to say. He suddenly has horrible visions of Batman breaking his kneecaps.
And maybe that time to force himself to talk was now. "Roy..." Except that that's all he can get out, and he... he knows exactly what he could say, but it all feels like such a risk. Making them talk about the fact they've seem to have some sort of tension lately, or that he's been feeling something, did Roy too?
Putting it to words seems like saying it's not a joke, and maybe he's not ready to go that far yet. But hesitation never got anyone anywhere, did it? So Dick closes his eyes for a moment, then decides to go for physical action. That can always be written off as a joke. That is only as signifcant as you want to make it. Right?
He reaches out and grabs ahold of Roy's shirt, tugging. "Sit up." Because there's no way in hell he's doing this while Roy is sprawled out. That's too much.
Uh oh. They're going to talk now, aren't they? Roy's hoping this isn't where Dick points out there he notices how Roy's been acting and he's not gay.
He sits up feeling somewhat like a badly trained dog. "Okay. Sitting up now."
Nope. No talking. Dick needs to test the waters, and if he does it this way, and it goes wrong? It'll be okay. No admitting of anything.
Which, really, is complete bullshit, but believeing it is the only way he'll get up the nerve to kiss Roy. So he does.
But Dick misjudges the fact that Roy just allows it as... well... not being receptive. He flushes a little and backs off. "Sorry."
"Oh. Right. Uh...it's not...umm...I am...damnit." Roy gives up on talking and kissing Dick back before brushing his hair back. Mostly as an excuse to touch Dick's hair.
...okay. Maybe Dick had been right to go with action rather than talking. He was still confused as hell, and... maybe that wouldn't change... but this was as good a way as any to find out what was going on. He continues the kiss, not intending on ending it until Roy does.
Roy stops once he um, hopefully, has clued Dick into the fact that he's interested. Because like it or not they have to talk.
That was... definately an interesting result to testing the waters. Dick's not complaining at all, but it really didn't help with the fact he was confused... it'd just made the confusion worse. Great. "That was..." He trails off, not sure what to say.
"Good, right?"
"Oh yeah." There's really no denying that.
Roy makes no effort not to look terribly relieved. "Phew."
"So... you've been..." Just spit it out, Dick. "Wanting that, too?"
"Yeah but I kept thinking you'd kill me. Or Batman would."
"Batman..." Dick trails off and laughs. "I don't try to input on his relationships, and he doesn't try to input on mine." Okay, that was a lie.
Roy stares at Dick.
"...he wouldn't here." Dick finally settles for.
I hope not." Roy wonders how the heck he's explaining this to Ollie.
"But is that... what we want...?" Confusion or not, DIck can't say he'd mind. Except that it wouldn't be very fair to Roy. At all.
"You first." Roy's tired of going first.
There's a long silence, before Dick laughs nervously. "Do you want me to be honest...?"
"Yeah."
Honesty. Right. Dick tried to make a policy out of it whenever he could, but sometimes it was just so hard... "I'm messed up, Roy. You shouldn't have to deal with that."
Roy blinks. "Wha?"
"With everything that's been happening." And the fact he was planning on turning himself in... "I'm not baggage free."
But really, who was?
"What the hell ever," Roy replies. Maybe this is something they learn in the Bat-family but in the Arrow Family, they stop beating themselves up after awhile.
Dick blinks and raises an eyebrow. "What?"
"Just... I'm not going to agree with you about you being stupid or worthless or damaged. Ever. "
Dick really doesn't know what to say to that. "You don't know everything."
"I don't really care. I mean, I do because you do but I don't because you blame yourself for everything."
"I do not!" Dick protests.
"Well, just learn to deal with me not agreeing."
Dick... thinks he can handle that. "You never have before, so it's nothing new."
Roy smirks. "So what else is happening besides me ignoring your pit of dark darkness?"
"Well, you haven't told me what -you- think about this yet." No, Dick isn't letting that pass by.
"I think...er...well, you haven't told me anything yet."
"I haven't?" He hadn't. Damn. "I... well..." Oh, goddamnit. Screw the issues. "I want to try."
"To try to?"
Roy's going to make him spell it out, isn't he? "Haev a relationship."
Only until he gets a complete sentence.
"I see."
'I see'. That... wasn't very encouraging, was it? If Dick's put himself out there just to mess up a friendship, he... he doesn't know what he'll do. Damnit. "And?"
"Well...umm...." Roy debates. Because he does like Dick but he wrecked things with Donna. But it probably would make Dick happy and him happy. Although he's horrible at commitments. "I think...I do too."
"You do?" Even though Dick knows he's probably going to end up screwing this up, he can't help grinning at that.
Roy chuckles. "Well, duh."
"'Duh'." Dick repeats, raising an eyebrow. "You act like I should have known it all along."
Maybe he was a damn good detective, but when it came to stuff like this? His abilities kind of shorted themselves out.
Roy's embarrassed. "Well...I spent like the better half of one night with my hand in your hair..."
"And I was freaking out at the time," Dick points out. "I'd thought you were just being a good friend." Although, really, if he'd taken the time to think about it? He'd have realized Roy hadn't really done that before.
"I oogled you when you were mostly naked."
"...well, yes, there is that." Dick admits.
"Way to figure it out."
"I kissed you, didn't I?"
"Only once."
"-Only- once, huh?" Dick smirks a little. "Well.. I could fix that."
"Please do."
Dick kisses him again, and this time, there's no hesitation about it at all.
Roy kisses back though he's not sure how fast they plan on going.
Yeah, that's probably something they need to discuss, too. But right now, Dick's not in the mood for more talking. So unless Roy brings it up... Dick's just going to keep kissing him.
Roy moves back slightly. "Okay, we're both clearly interested but uh...we should think this through." Which...huh...Roy's never done before.
...and maybe Dick was being a stupid detective about all this before, but it's easy to recognize that this is rare for Roy to do. And that's startling. "I... okay."
"So um...start thinking."
"Well... what is it you want to think about?" Because Dick is not a mind reader.
"How this is going to work?" Roy figures Dick knows more about actual relationships than he does.
Dick pauses at the question, and then frowns at a realization. "Roy..." He trails off, not sure how to ask this. "What were your last relationships like?" Because he doesn't know all the details, but what he's gathered? They hadn't exactly walked the same paths when it came to that.
"Sex in various places."
...yeah. Definately not the same paths. "I can't do that." But Dick is pretty sure that Roy already knew that. Why else would he be asking them to talk about it?
Roy nods.
"And I'm betting you can't do it my way either." At least not right away. So they'd have to... compromise.
"Not until I learn what that is..."
"I guess I'm a lot more traditional. You know. Dinner, a movie, sharing your feelings." Dick makes a bit of a face at that last one.
"Those things sound cool. In theory."
"But not in practice, huh?"
"Not really... Cheshire...I thought about it after Lian...but..."
"But?" Dick has the feeling he knows the answer to that question. Most varieties on it seem to involve 'she's a crazy criminal!'. But, uh, he's not going to say that.
"I couldn't put myself through that. Or Lian."
Dick nods. "Is Lian the issue here?" Because, well, he adores that kid. But he's sure Roy knows that.
Roy shakes his head. "Unless you're a psychotic assassin woman."
Dick snickers a bit at that. "Sorry, no. That's not my deep hidden secret."
"There's a relief."
"Do we just want to... take things as they come? And not worry so much about the how or why?" A bit dangerous, but maybe it'd work better than either of them trying to adapt to the other's usual type of relationship.
Roy shakes his head.
"Then what...?" Dick needs some help out here.
"What do you want? Out of a relationship?" Roy's not very worried about getting what he wants. Not really.
"What does anyone want...?" It's really not something Dick's tried to put to words before. "To know that someone's there, no matter what."
"Well, we can do that eventually...I mean...although it's not like you can give up Bludhaven." And Roy's not sure how great it would be for Lian to live in Bludhaven.
"...yeah. I can't do that." Oh, look at Dick's overwhelming enthusiasm.
Ugh. This isn't fun. Maybe they should just take things as they go but...that's probably going to result in a very bad break-up. He's not exactly sure what he's agreeing to do instead of that though.
"Well, I think we shouldn't have sex right away...maybe."
"I agree." Because in Dick's world, that was an important milestone. Couldn't just throw that away at the drop of a hat. And, okay... "You asked me, so I'll ask you: what do you want out of a relationship?"
Because it'd be helpful if they both answered the question.
Roy has...no idea...er...so he goes with what seems to be what he wants.
"You."
Dick smiles at that. "Well, you've got me."
This is hm...uncomfortable because it's new. Roy takes a deep breath and nods. "Okay."
"Would it help you if we set some terms right now?" Because that really seems to be what Roy's asking for. And it makes sense, if he's never... dealt with any of this before.
"Yeah," he admits.
"Well... what terms do you think you can handle?" Because, well. For one thing, while Dick isn't planning on even looking that way at someone else now, Roy might not be able to handle that. "Do you want to be exclusive...?"
Roy blinks. Oh right... Although...he hasn't gotten to do much with Columbia...but then again...and then again again, he doesn't want to be celibate. "Uh..."
Dick just looks at him, waiting for the answer.
"I don't know? I guess...well...Do you?"
"I'm not going to be doing anything with anyone else." Dick says seriously. "But that's not what matters here. You're not used to this, Roy. If you can't handle that yet... that's okay."
"I think I can. I mean, Grace and Columbia won't really mind...hopefully."
Damn. Did he just tell Dick he was sleeping with two other people? Good job.
Columbia? ...never mind. He probably really didn't want to know about that. Dick raises an eyebrow, but says nothing about that. "Alright."
"She's a dead woman I met at the bar...umm..."
Roy just sort of grins like an idiot. "She won't mind if we're just friends. She has a pet squirrel."
"Pet squirrel? Do they allow that?" Actually, that really wasn't a surprise. It wasn't more strange than her or Barry being dead and still there. Right. "I'm glad she'll be okay with it."
He'll break it to her genty. She'll be cool as long as they're still friends. "So, I'll call it off...it's fine. What else?"
"Are you going to tell Lian?" That's not really a term, but... Dick's curious. He might as well ask it.
"Probably. Otherwise she'll be pouty that I didn't tell her when she figures it out."
"I wouldn't be surprised if she already knows something." Kid probably figured it out before either of them. She was good like that.
Roy nods.
...that does lead to a good question, though. "Who else are we telling?" Dick... is so not telling Bruce. No matter what he said before, he really doesn't want to see the possible reaction.
"Well, I have to tell my family. If it comes up." His family being mostly Dinah and Connor.
Ollie...heh...he's not sure.
"Yeah, me too." Mostly. "Babs'll probably make comments at you," Dick warns.
Roy makes a face. "What sort of comments?"
"Dunno. Depends on her mood. Could be anything from well wishings to dirty advice about bed."
Roy looks nervous.
"Ya know, it occurs to me that if you mess things up, my people will get over it, but if I mess up with you, your people are going to kill me."
"...we're trained never to kill." Yeah, that's all Dick can say. He really can't downplay the possible creepiness of the bats. Especially since he's one of them.
"And they're all going to find out and put up video cameras..."
"Not if I ask them not to." Er.... at least they'd make sure he didn't know about them. Or try, anyway.
Great. He's given up sex with Grace so Babs can spy on him.
"There's places without video cameras, anyway." Dick finally says.
Roy facepalms.
"Fine...we're totally only doing things at my place."
Dick laughs. "Alright." Gives him a chance to get out of Bludhaven too... gotta grab that anywhere he can.
"You had so better be worth the aggravation of dealing with Tim, Babs and Bruce."
"Hey, if they like you enough, they'll be on your side when it comes to other people."
"If they like me. And they probably won't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not rich or smart or crazy."
"They don't care about money. And you are too smart."
"Eh."
"They'll like you." Not like Dick would do anything different if they didn't, anyway. One of the rare situations where he wouldn't.
"Maybe they like me as a human being but they're certainly not going to like me dating you."
"Well, then they can just deal with it."
"Huh." Roy smiles a little. "So you're not going to ditch me if they get pissy then?"
"No." Dick says firmly. "I'm not going to let them decide my relationships for me."
"Cool."
Dick just smiles at him, not sure what else there is to say.
"So..."
"So... are we done with the talking part now?" Because, yeah. Dick might not want to go as far as sex yet, but? He could kiss Roy now, he was allowed, and he darn well wanted to exploit this fact.
"I guess...was there anything else?"
"Not that I can think of." Of course, Dick had never really talked this much about a relationship before starting it, either. But he's not complaining. It meant a lot that Roy was this worried about getting it right.
"Can we go get food soon?" Not that he's feels much like eating but...heh...jumping Dick would be bad.
Dick laughs. "Alright." He pauses and tries to think about what's in his kitchen. "Probably better out... my stuff is crap."
"Italian?"
"I know the -perfect- place." Hey, he could actually show Roy the not crime related side of Bludhaven. Cool.
"You paying?" Roy asks hopefully but not very seriously.
"Sure." It wasn't like Dick was tapped for cash, anyway.
"Sweet." Roy stretches then starts to get up. Er, but Dick's still on him. "You have to get off me first. Unless you want me to carry you."
Dick snickers and gets up. "You see stuck on that an awful lot. Is this something you really want to do?" Not that he'd let him. It just seemed weird.
Roy grins. "It's a thing." Which might have been the result of being carried around by Grace one time too many.
Remind Dick to thank Grace later. Not. "We'll see."
"Dude. Since we're dating does that mean I get to play with your hair whenever I want?"
"Hmm." Dick pretends to be debating that for a moment. "I guess so."
"Score."
"Heh."
Roy pulls Dick into a kiss because well, because he can. Then he walks to the door. "You have a car, right?"
"Yeah. It doesn't hold a candle to my motorcycle, but what can you do?" He couldn't exactly ride that when his leg was like this. "It's in the parking garage."
"Hey, I offered to carry you." He winks though.
"All the way to the restaurant? You're not that strong."
"Sure I am."
"Maybe I'll give you the chance to prove it sometime," Dick says as he opens the door to leave.
"You better," Roy mutters following Dick out.
Dick just smiles as they leave, and has to wonder how he got so lucky for the night to turn out like this.