DCU Fanfic: Good Intentions and All That
Title: Good Intentions and All That
Fandom: DCU
Character(s): Grant Emerson, Courtney Whitmore, Maxine Hunkel, Todd Rice, Roy Harper, Steph Brown, Jesse Chambers, Rick Tyler
Pairing(s): Roy/Steph, Roy/Steph/Grant, implied Rick/Jesse and Rick/Jesse/???
Word Count: 3175
Genre: general/drama
Rating: PG-13/T
Notes: Pitch hitting for my DCU Remix. This for pervyficgirl! ...is it completely self-indulgent I chose the fic she wrote me for my birthday last year? XD Eh, probably. <3 This is a remix of The Road to Hell and All That. Grant's POV and expanded. Holy fuck, this got long on me. And Grant!muse is almost as ambitious as Jason! What the hell. @_@ (AKA he wanted Roy/Steph/Grant AND Rick/Jesse/Grant. No, Grant, you do NOT get two threesomes in one fic, stop that!) ALSO, first time writing the following characters: Maxine, Courtney, Todd (though, not really, but he's there), Jesse, and Rick. @_@ All written this morning. Hell.
Link: N/A
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Grant hated going out in public; Courtney and the rest knew that, but here he was, out in public with only hoodie as protection to hide his face. Unfortunately, Courtney slyly told him they were meeting Roy for lunch. Grant couldn’t say no to that, and she knew it. Apparently she said it was something how he may have been looking at Red Arrow a little too long from a distance during the last JSA-JLA team up.
That meant nothing, Grant swore, but Courtney didn’t believe him and then she had to drag Todd and Maxine into the equation. Not that he hated either of them, but he couldn’t get a word in edgewise with Maxine around and having Todd around was meant to be a way of saying being gay was okay.
He knew that, and he wasn’t gay. He liked Sonia just fine, but Roy was Roy, and he had helped Grant a lot back during their Titan days. It wasn’t just gratitude, and Grant knew it wasn’t, so at least to himself, he would admit to being bisexual, but to no one else. He still had issues with guys because of his bad experiences as a kid, but Roy was different; he knew everything and didn’t condemn or pity him.
“-and then- Oh, look it’s Roy. He’s over there, guys!” Maxine blurted midway through her babble with a little flush, pointing to the table Roy was sitting at with a pretty blonde.
Grant’s heart sank because this girl was obviously Roy’s latest girlfriend. Any stupid little thoughts of maybe really talking to Roy went out the window; he was not good around new people, and the blonde would probably ask about his face, why he was hiding it, and now that was going to be fun.
Courtney beamed and grabbed Grant’s hand, dragging him over. He grunted, following reluctantly with Maxine and Todd close behind. “Hey, guys,” Roy greeted when they got to the table. “This is Stephanie Brown. She’s from Gotham.”
That was enough of a clue for any of them that this girl was a Bat, and that kind of soured Grant’s mood a bit. From his experience with Bats, his experience being on the same team with Nightwing, Grant didn’t like Bats much. Stephanie gave them a smile, and dammit, Grant just wondered if all the Bats were so damned gorgeous.
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Somehow, the conversation deteriorated into which Bat had Steph dated. Grant muttered something about Nightwing then Todd took the opening to comment on Nightwing’s ass. When Roy made the comment about being bisexual and seeing that ass just fine, Grant was very grateful for his hoodie. He knew he was blushing at thoughts of Roy and Nightwing together followed by the fact Roy was bisexual.
Sure, he had heard Roy played for both teams back in their Titan days, but he didn’t get his hopes up, especially after seeing how Donna breaking up with him had hurt him. Grant didn’t want to take the risk back then, and now, he was pretty sure he was too late. Steph wasn’t just a dumb blonde like he had assumed, and he liked her already, even though he was being and ass and wouldn’t even give her his name.
And she was definitely pretty. He may have even stared at her more than he had Roy, which he hadn’t really thought possible, and it didn’t help that Steph was clever and funny too. She smoothed over the conversation with ease when Maxine’s babbling went a little too far, and not once had she asked about Grant’s hoodie. Maybe it was a good thing she was a Bat, he thought as they parted ways with her and Roy. It meant she knew all about wanting to keep yourself hidden.
As they headed back to the brownstone, Courtney was giving Grant a sly look, and Grant narrowed his eyes under his hoodie. “What,” he stated suspiciously, not even making it a question.
Courtney put her hands up in the air a sign of peace, but Grant didn’t believe her for a second. “You know, I was wrong,” she admitted, but Grant’s suspicions didn’t waver. “Not about you being gay for Roy because that still holds true, but I will admit to you being bisexual, with the looks you were giving Steph.”
Maxine made a little sound behind them that sounded like a squeak, making them both turn around. “I- uh... I lost Todd!” she exclaimed, her face flushed as red as her hair.
Grant caught a glimpse of Todd slipping away into the shadows as Maxine said that, but he kept quiet. “We should probably look for him,” Courtney said with a frown before looking to Grant. “We’ll see you back at the brownstone.”
“Fine by me,” Grant replied as he headed off, relieved.
The girls went to backtrack while Grant quickly made it back to JSA headquarters, just relieved that this particular adventure in socializing was over. He sneaked into his room, so he could avoid questions on how everything went. For some reason, the whole JSA was invested in him making friends outside of the team and getting out more.
“So, how’d lunch go?” Jesse asked from her place perched on Grant’s dresser.
He hadn’t even seen her come in, which meant she used her superspeed to vibrate in. “Jesse, don’t you have something better to do?” he questioned as she gave him a smile
She hopped off the dresser and put a hand on Grant’s shoulder, giving a little squeeze. “Nope,” she replied. “Nothing more important than seeing how you are, Grant.”
Grant almost smiled at that because Jesse was one of the few people he trusted in the world, really trusted. He trusted the team as a team, but not always personally. Only few people on the team got that privilege, and Jesse, along with her husband, was definitely one of them.
“All right,” Grant conceded. “We met Roy’s new girlfriend. Her name’s Steph, and she’s gorgeous.”
Jesse gave him an understanding look. “I’m guessing that was difficult then,” she stated. “You’ve clearly had a crush on Roy since we were all Titans together.”
Grant frowned. “...was I that obvious?” he asked, concerned that Roy already knew.
“Nah,” Jesse replied with a shake of her head, squeezing his shoulder again. “Roy is usually a little more perceptive, but a lot happened around then, right? He probably missed it completely.”
“Oh,” he said quietly. “I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “You wouldn’t have wanted him to notice during the Donna drama. There’s no way that could have ended well.”
Grant nodded. “Yeah...” he murmured, wanting to take off his hoodie and flop into bed, but even though Jesse had seen his face, he wasn’t up for sharing the sight again.
“So, how open is this new girlfriend?” Jesse questioned as she took her hand off Grant’s shoulder.
“What do you mean?” he asked, a bit confused.
“I mean, she’s gorgeous, right? You don’t admit that about many people. You’re not about looks,” she stated. “Which means not only is she gorgeous, she has a personality to match.”
Grant rubbed at his face under his hoodie irritably. “Yeah, keep rubbing in that I don’t have a chance, Jesse,” he muttered. “And she’s a Bat. No chance.”
“That’s not what I meant, Grant,” Jesse stated firmly, cocking her hip and tilting her head.
“And what do you mean then?” he bit out.
“I mean,” she began, “that maybe she’s the open type.”
Grant blinked. “Wait, what? Open type?”
Jesse gave a little snort. “Well, you said she’s a Bat, right? Is she the closed off type, or is she more like Nightwing in a good mood?”
“Nightwing was ever in a good mood?” Grant joked weakly before pausing. “Okay, she’s the latter and not broody at all, so what?”
“So,” Jesse said with a smirk, “she’d probably be open to a threesome, if you played your cards right.”
Grant choked, knowing if his face could still flush with all the scarring, he’d be bright red. “Jesse!” he finally choked out.
“Oh, c’mon, Roy’s totally the type,” she told him, nudging him a bit. “Okay, how about this. Start hanging out with Steph to see how comfortable you are around her. If you think you can handle being around her like you are with Roy or me or Rick, then you can see about asking about a threesome.”
“Are you sure about this?” Grant asked skeptically, still rather embarrassed.
“Yes,” Jesse stated firmly. “Don’t worry. If you need any help, Rick and I will be glad to help.”
With that, Jesse left the room, and Grant’s mind started to think about what Jesse had just implied about herself and her husband.
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He still wasn’t telling Steph his name. For some reason, it felt like a safety net to have her only call him Damage. It was silly, but it made him feel safe in a situation he wasn’t usually comfortable in. He was awkward around girls before Zoom messed up his face, but at the moment, things were okay.
“I have pictures, if you don’t believe me,” he told her.
Steph giggled. “Oh? I think I wanna see these pictures,” she said with a grin. “Please, Damage~?”
At that moment, he almost told her his name, but Grant kept his mouth shut as he grabbed the pictures from his room. “Here,” he said as he passed her the pictures.
She flipped through them, and when she started laughing, Grant thought it was nicest sound he had heard in a while.
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After about a month of hanging with Steph and Roy, together and separately, Grant started to notice Steph hanging around the Brownstone, more often than not, and not only with Grant. She, Maxine, and Courtney would have girls’ nights, and she got along with most of the other. Somehow, she had even broken Tom of his smoking habit with a few casual comments.
“You should join the JSA,” Rick said offhandedly as he passed by the room they were in.
“Huh?” Grant and Steph questioned in unison.
Rick leaned against the doorway of the den. “Steph, you’re here almost all the time,” he pointed out. “You’ve made with friends with more than half the team, and Wildcat thinks you have spunk.”
“He said that?” Steph asked, almost in awe, and Grant knew it was because Steph idolized Dinah, and she had been trained by Ted.
“Now, would I lie about that?” Rick asked teasingly. “Plus, you’ve gotten on Damage’s good side. He’s usually all prickly with new people.”
Grant glared at Rick, but it didn’t do a thing. “So, you guys would want me to join your team...?” Steph asked quietly.
“Yes!” Maxine’s voice came from the hallway, and Courtney shushing her soon followed.
Grant snorted and looked over at Steph. “How much do you wanna bet most, if not all, of the team is out in the hall?”
Steph grinned. “I’d take that bet,” she said slyly. “Okay, I’ll join the Justice Society.”
A gust of wind blew into the room and with it Maxine, who hugged Steph tightly, going on and on happily about how awesome it would be to have her on the team. Everyone spilled into the room, and an impromptu party began.
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Grant didn’t know who called Roy and some of the other Justice Leaguers, but the party had officially gotten too big for Grant’s liking. Yes, all the people there were heroes, but not all of them were people Grant knew well enough. Even some of the now Teen Titans had shown up, and with all the people he couldn’t even find Steph and Roy anymore. With a sigh, he slinked out of the party without a word to anyone, making a beeline for his room.
Once he opened the door, he saw Steph sitting on his bed. “Steph?”
She waved before just falling back onto his bed. “I like people and partying, but all those people. I don’t even know half of them,” she began to babble. “Before I moved to New York, I barely had any team ups outside of Gotham! I don’t know these people, and-”
“It’s okay, Steph” he soothed, cutting her off as he sat on the bed next to her, but not too close. “I get the feeling.”
Steph looked up at him and smiled a little. “I guess you do, Damage,” she murmured.
“Grant,” he stated, getting confused look from her. “My name. It’s Grant Emerson.”
After the words tumbled from his mouth, Steph beamed. “I wondered if you’d ever tell me,” she said quietly. “I’m glad you did. It means you trust me, right?”
“Yeah, I do,” he mumbled.
Steph’s grin got a little wider as she sat up and gave Grant a hug that surprised him, knocking him down to the bed. She hugged him tight, and he awkwardly hugged back, feeling really warm with her sprawled on top of him like this.
“Should I be worried?” Roy’s voice came from the doorway.
Grant jolted up, pushing Steph off him. “No!” he exclaimed, flushed under his mask.
Steph giggled as she stood up and walked over to place a kiss on Roy’s lips. “Of course not,” she said against his lips as she shut the door behind him.
That should have sent some warning bells off in Grant’s head, but he was too dazed from the combination of Roy and Steph both being in his room and just having had Steph sprawled on top of him. “That’s good,” Roy replied, wrapping an arm around her before looking over at Grant. “So, I ran into Jesse while I was looking for Steph.”
The mention of Jesse definitely set off those warning bells, but it was a little too late to do anything about it. “Yeah...?” Grant questioned as nonchalantly as possible as he cursed Jesse in his head. “What'd she say?”
“Only something Steph was already thinking about,” Roy stated as he nuzzled Steph’s neck, getting a little squeak of surprise from her.
“Oh?” Steph questioned, locking eyes with Roy, which told her all she needed to know. “Oh! That thought, huh?”
Roy nodded, and Grant frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Steph disentangled herself with Roy then made herself comfortable in Grant’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You. Me. Roy,” she stated before nodding her head to Grant’s spacious bed. “Your bed.”
Grant flushed when it finally hit him that Jesse telling Roy about the threesome idea that she had planted in his head hadn’t been a bad thing at all; actually, it was shaping up to be the best thing anyone had done behind his back. “Really?” he questioned, trying not to sound too hopeful, but he knew he failed miserably at hiding it.
“Does Steph ever say anything she doesn’t mean?” Roy questioned as he sat on the bed next to Grant, leaving next to no space between them. “It’s up to you, Grant. We don’t want to pressure you-”
“Are you kidding me?” Grant blurted out. “I’ve wanted you since you sent me to the Rez.”
Roy’s confidence broke for a moment, a bit startled by the revelation. “Really?”
Grant bumped his shoulder with Roy’s. “Yeah, really,” he said, a little embarrassed for blurting it out. “Jesse was right. You were oblivious.”
Steph giggled. “It happens,” she agreed, nuzzling Grant’s neck. “He’s not so oblivious now, and I’m definitely not oblivious to the looks I get from you, even with that mask.”
Grant looked at her, pausing for a moment, then, he moved to take off his mask; Steph’s hand grabs his wrist to stop him. “You don’t have to yet,” she murmured. “I want to see you, no matter how you look, but I don’t want to rush you.”
“Neither of us do,” Roy agreed, wrapping an arm around Grant’s shoulder. “We’ll take it as slow as you need.”
Grant smiled under his mask at that before shifting enough to lift his mask, just so his lips would show. The scarring wasn’t as terrible there, but it was still pretty bad. He shifted and pulled Steph into a kiss. His scarred lips were such a contrast to her full, soft ones, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Roy didn’t seem to mind either since Grant could feel his eyes watching him and Steph kiss attentively. Once the kiss broke, Grant only got a moment to catch his breath before Roy leaned in for a kiss of his own while Steph kiss and nibbled at Grant’s neck.
Kissing Roy was completely different from kissing Steph. His lips weren’t as soft or full, but there was a bit more of a need behind the kiss. Something that reminded of that night when they slept under the star in the desert, and Roy comforted him after making sure he didn’t explode too badly. It was a familiarity, even though kissing Roy was never something he did before outside of his dreams.
Grant pulled away for air, panting a bit as Roy and Steph watched him for a long. “I’m not going to break,” he stated. “And I trust you, both of you. Enough to take off the mask.”
Steph smiled at that, kissing him lightly on the lips as Roy squeezed his shoulder. “Whenever you’re ready,” Roy told him.
He nodded and shifted so he could pull off the mask. It dropped to the floor, and part of him waited for the gasps of shock, and his worst fear, one of revulsion. None came. He met Steph’s eyes first and just saw, not pity, but something. She carefully placed a hand on his cheek. Grant then glanced to Roy, and he could definitely tell that Roy definitely wasn’t pitying him, but he knew Roy wanted to put an arrow in Zoom now.
“I’m so glad you trust us,” Steph said quietly, not pulling her eyes away from his face, proving this didn’t scare her.
“Me too,” Grant mumbled, glancing at Roy. “So, are we just gonna sit here or are we going to...”
Roy chuckled when Grant trailed off. “Stephie, we shouldn’t leave the man hanging,” he teased. “He’s gotta be wanting since you’re sitting in his lap. No man can resist that.”
Steph giggled as she pushed Grant back down onto the bed. “Hey, maybe he has more self-control than you do, Roy~!” she teased back as she ran her hands down Grant’s chest.
“I bet I do,” Grant quipped, “but Roy’s right, you are hard to resist.”
Steph and Roy had matching grins, and at that moment, Grant knew the rest of the night was going to be a whole hell of a lot more fun than the party raging downstairs for the girl in his lap who definitely wasn’t going to rejoin them anytime soon.
Fandom: DCU
Character(s): Grant Emerson, Courtney Whitmore, Maxine Hunkel, Todd Rice, Roy Harper, Steph Brown, Jesse Chambers, Rick Tyler
Pairing(s): Roy/Steph, Roy/Steph/Grant, implied Rick/Jesse and Rick/Jesse/???
Word Count: 3175
Genre: general/drama
Rating: PG-13/T
Notes: Pitch hitting for my DCU Remix. This for pervyficgirl! ...is it completely self-indulgent I chose the fic she wrote me for my birthday last year? XD Eh, probably. <3 This is a remix of The Road to Hell and All That. Grant's POV and expanded. Holy fuck, this got long on me. And Grant!muse is almost as ambitious as Jason! What the hell. @_@ (AKA he wanted Roy/Steph/Grant AND Rick/Jesse/Grant. No, Grant, you do NOT get two threesomes in one fic, stop that!) ALSO, first time writing the following characters: Maxine, Courtney, Todd (though, not really, but he's there), Jesse, and Rick. @_@ All written this morning. Hell.
Link: N/A
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Grant hated going out in public; Courtney and the rest knew that, but here he was, out in public with only hoodie as protection to hide his face. Unfortunately, Courtney slyly told him they were meeting Roy for lunch. Grant couldn’t say no to that, and she knew it. Apparently she said it was something how he may have been looking at Red Arrow a little too long from a distance during the last JSA-JLA team up.
That meant nothing, Grant swore, but Courtney didn’t believe him and then she had to drag Todd and Maxine into the equation. Not that he hated either of them, but he couldn’t get a word in edgewise with Maxine around and having Todd around was meant to be a way of saying being gay was okay.
He knew that, and he wasn’t gay. He liked Sonia just fine, but Roy was Roy, and he had helped Grant a lot back during their Titan days. It wasn’t just gratitude, and Grant knew it wasn’t, so at least to himself, he would admit to being bisexual, but to no one else. He still had issues with guys because of his bad experiences as a kid, but Roy was different; he knew everything and didn’t condemn or pity him.
“-and then- Oh, look it’s Roy. He’s over there, guys!” Maxine blurted midway through her babble with a little flush, pointing to the table Roy was sitting at with a pretty blonde.
Grant’s heart sank because this girl was obviously Roy’s latest girlfriend. Any stupid little thoughts of maybe really talking to Roy went out the window; he was not good around new people, and the blonde would probably ask about his face, why he was hiding it, and now that was going to be fun.
Courtney beamed and grabbed Grant’s hand, dragging him over. He grunted, following reluctantly with Maxine and Todd close behind. “Hey, guys,” Roy greeted when they got to the table. “This is Stephanie Brown. She’s from Gotham.”
That was enough of a clue for any of them that this girl was a Bat, and that kind of soured Grant’s mood a bit. From his experience with Bats, his experience being on the same team with Nightwing, Grant didn’t like Bats much. Stephanie gave them a smile, and dammit, Grant just wondered if all the Bats were so damned gorgeous.
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Somehow, the conversation deteriorated into which Bat had Steph dated. Grant muttered something about Nightwing then Todd took the opening to comment on Nightwing’s ass. When Roy made the comment about being bisexual and seeing that ass just fine, Grant was very grateful for his hoodie. He knew he was blushing at thoughts of Roy and Nightwing together followed by the fact Roy was bisexual.
Sure, he had heard Roy played for both teams back in their Titan days, but he didn’t get his hopes up, especially after seeing how Donna breaking up with him had hurt him. Grant didn’t want to take the risk back then, and now, he was pretty sure he was too late. Steph wasn’t just a dumb blonde like he had assumed, and he liked her already, even though he was being and ass and wouldn’t even give her his name.
And she was definitely pretty. He may have even stared at her more than he had Roy, which he hadn’t really thought possible, and it didn’t help that Steph was clever and funny too. She smoothed over the conversation with ease when Maxine’s babbling went a little too far, and not once had she asked about Grant’s hoodie. Maybe it was a good thing she was a Bat, he thought as they parted ways with her and Roy. It meant she knew all about wanting to keep yourself hidden.
As they headed back to the brownstone, Courtney was giving Grant a sly look, and Grant narrowed his eyes under his hoodie. “What,” he stated suspiciously, not even making it a question.
Courtney put her hands up in the air a sign of peace, but Grant didn’t believe her for a second. “You know, I was wrong,” she admitted, but Grant’s suspicions didn’t waver. “Not about you being gay for Roy because that still holds true, but I will admit to you being bisexual, with the looks you were giving Steph.”
Maxine made a little sound behind them that sounded like a squeak, making them both turn around. “I- uh... I lost Todd!” she exclaimed, her face flushed as red as her hair.
Grant caught a glimpse of Todd slipping away into the shadows as Maxine said that, but he kept quiet. “We should probably look for him,” Courtney said with a frown before looking to Grant. “We’ll see you back at the brownstone.”
“Fine by me,” Grant replied as he headed off, relieved.
The girls went to backtrack while Grant quickly made it back to JSA headquarters, just relieved that this particular adventure in socializing was over. He sneaked into his room, so he could avoid questions on how everything went. For some reason, the whole JSA was invested in him making friends outside of the team and getting out more.
“So, how’d lunch go?” Jesse asked from her place perched on Grant’s dresser.
He hadn’t even seen her come in, which meant she used her superspeed to vibrate in. “Jesse, don’t you have something better to do?” he questioned as she gave him a smile
She hopped off the dresser and put a hand on Grant’s shoulder, giving a little squeeze. “Nope,” she replied. “Nothing more important than seeing how you are, Grant.”
Grant almost smiled at that because Jesse was one of the few people he trusted in the world, really trusted. He trusted the team as a team, but not always personally. Only few people on the team got that privilege, and Jesse, along with her husband, was definitely one of them.
“All right,” Grant conceded. “We met Roy’s new girlfriend. Her name’s Steph, and she’s gorgeous.”
Jesse gave him an understanding look. “I’m guessing that was difficult then,” she stated. “You’ve clearly had a crush on Roy since we were all Titans together.”
Grant frowned. “...was I that obvious?” he asked, concerned that Roy already knew.
“Nah,” Jesse replied with a shake of her head, squeezing his shoulder again. “Roy is usually a little more perceptive, but a lot happened around then, right? He probably missed it completely.”
“Oh,” he said quietly. “I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “You wouldn’t have wanted him to notice during the Donna drama. There’s no way that could have ended well.”
Grant nodded. “Yeah...” he murmured, wanting to take off his hoodie and flop into bed, but even though Jesse had seen his face, he wasn’t up for sharing the sight again.
“So, how open is this new girlfriend?” Jesse questioned as she took her hand off Grant’s shoulder.
“What do you mean?” he asked, a bit confused.
“I mean, she’s gorgeous, right? You don’t admit that about many people. You’re not about looks,” she stated. “Which means not only is she gorgeous, she has a personality to match.”
Grant rubbed at his face under his hoodie irritably. “Yeah, keep rubbing in that I don’t have a chance, Jesse,” he muttered. “And she’s a Bat. No chance.”
“That’s not what I meant, Grant,” Jesse stated firmly, cocking her hip and tilting her head.
“And what do you mean then?” he bit out.
“I mean,” she began, “that maybe she’s the open type.”
Grant blinked. “Wait, what? Open type?”
Jesse gave a little snort. “Well, you said she’s a Bat, right? Is she the closed off type, or is she more like Nightwing in a good mood?”
“Nightwing was ever in a good mood?” Grant joked weakly before pausing. “Okay, she’s the latter and not broody at all, so what?”
“So,” Jesse said with a smirk, “she’d probably be open to a threesome, if you played your cards right.”
Grant choked, knowing if his face could still flush with all the scarring, he’d be bright red. “Jesse!” he finally choked out.
“Oh, c’mon, Roy’s totally the type,” she told him, nudging him a bit. “Okay, how about this. Start hanging out with Steph to see how comfortable you are around her. If you think you can handle being around her like you are with Roy or me or Rick, then you can see about asking about a threesome.”
“Are you sure about this?” Grant asked skeptically, still rather embarrassed.
“Yes,” Jesse stated firmly. “Don’t worry. If you need any help, Rick and I will be glad to help.”
With that, Jesse left the room, and Grant’s mind started to think about what Jesse had just implied about herself and her husband.
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He still wasn’t telling Steph his name. For some reason, it felt like a safety net to have her only call him Damage. It was silly, but it made him feel safe in a situation he wasn’t usually comfortable in. He was awkward around girls before Zoom messed up his face, but at the moment, things were okay.
“I have pictures, if you don’t believe me,” he told her.
Steph giggled. “Oh? I think I wanna see these pictures,” she said with a grin. “Please, Damage~?”
At that moment, he almost told her his name, but Grant kept his mouth shut as he grabbed the pictures from his room. “Here,” he said as he passed her the pictures.
She flipped through them, and when she started laughing, Grant thought it was nicest sound he had heard in a while.
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After about a month of hanging with Steph and Roy, together and separately, Grant started to notice Steph hanging around the Brownstone, more often than not, and not only with Grant. She, Maxine, and Courtney would have girls’ nights, and she got along with most of the other. Somehow, she had even broken Tom of his smoking habit with a few casual comments.
“You should join the JSA,” Rick said offhandedly as he passed by the room they were in.
“Huh?” Grant and Steph questioned in unison.
Rick leaned against the doorway of the den. “Steph, you’re here almost all the time,” he pointed out. “You’ve made with friends with more than half the team, and Wildcat thinks you have spunk.”
“He said that?” Steph asked, almost in awe, and Grant knew it was because Steph idolized Dinah, and she had been trained by Ted.
“Now, would I lie about that?” Rick asked teasingly. “Plus, you’ve gotten on Damage’s good side. He’s usually all prickly with new people.”
Grant glared at Rick, but it didn’t do a thing. “So, you guys would want me to join your team...?” Steph asked quietly.
“Yes!” Maxine’s voice came from the hallway, and Courtney shushing her soon followed.
Grant snorted and looked over at Steph. “How much do you wanna bet most, if not all, of the team is out in the hall?”
Steph grinned. “I’d take that bet,” she said slyly. “Okay, I’ll join the Justice Society.”
A gust of wind blew into the room and with it Maxine, who hugged Steph tightly, going on and on happily about how awesome it would be to have her on the team. Everyone spilled into the room, and an impromptu party began.
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Grant didn’t know who called Roy and some of the other Justice Leaguers, but the party had officially gotten too big for Grant’s liking. Yes, all the people there were heroes, but not all of them were people Grant knew well enough. Even some of the now Teen Titans had shown up, and with all the people he couldn’t even find Steph and Roy anymore. With a sigh, he slinked out of the party without a word to anyone, making a beeline for his room.
Once he opened the door, he saw Steph sitting on his bed. “Steph?”
She waved before just falling back onto his bed. “I like people and partying, but all those people. I don’t even know half of them,” she began to babble. “Before I moved to New York, I barely had any team ups outside of Gotham! I don’t know these people, and-”
“It’s okay, Steph” he soothed, cutting her off as he sat on the bed next to her, but not too close. “I get the feeling.”
Steph looked up at him and smiled a little. “I guess you do, Damage,” she murmured.
“Grant,” he stated, getting confused look from her. “My name. It’s Grant Emerson.”
After the words tumbled from his mouth, Steph beamed. “I wondered if you’d ever tell me,” she said quietly. “I’m glad you did. It means you trust me, right?”
“Yeah, I do,” he mumbled.
Steph’s grin got a little wider as she sat up and gave Grant a hug that surprised him, knocking him down to the bed. She hugged him tight, and he awkwardly hugged back, feeling really warm with her sprawled on top of him like this.
“Should I be worried?” Roy’s voice came from the doorway.
Grant jolted up, pushing Steph off him. “No!” he exclaimed, flushed under his mask.
Steph giggled as she stood up and walked over to place a kiss on Roy’s lips. “Of course not,” she said against his lips as she shut the door behind him.
That should have sent some warning bells off in Grant’s head, but he was too dazed from the combination of Roy and Steph both being in his room and just having had Steph sprawled on top of him. “That’s good,” Roy replied, wrapping an arm around her before looking over at Grant. “So, I ran into Jesse while I was looking for Steph.”
The mention of Jesse definitely set off those warning bells, but it was a little too late to do anything about it. “Yeah...?” Grant questioned as nonchalantly as possible as he cursed Jesse in his head. “What'd she say?”
“Only something Steph was already thinking about,” Roy stated as he nuzzled Steph’s neck, getting a little squeak of surprise from her.
“Oh?” Steph questioned, locking eyes with Roy, which told her all she needed to know. “Oh! That thought, huh?”
Roy nodded, and Grant frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Steph disentangled herself with Roy then made herself comfortable in Grant’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You. Me. Roy,” she stated before nodding her head to Grant’s spacious bed. “Your bed.”
Grant flushed when it finally hit him that Jesse telling Roy about the threesome idea that she had planted in his head hadn’t been a bad thing at all; actually, it was shaping up to be the best thing anyone had done behind his back. “Really?” he questioned, trying not to sound too hopeful, but he knew he failed miserably at hiding it.
“Does Steph ever say anything she doesn’t mean?” Roy questioned as he sat on the bed next to Grant, leaving next to no space between them. “It’s up to you, Grant. We don’t want to pressure you-”
“Are you kidding me?” Grant blurted out. “I’ve wanted you since you sent me to the Rez.”
Roy’s confidence broke for a moment, a bit startled by the revelation. “Really?”
Grant bumped his shoulder with Roy’s. “Yeah, really,” he said, a little embarrassed for blurting it out. “Jesse was right. You were oblivious.”
Steph giggled. “It happens,” she agreed, nuzzling Grant’s neck. “He’s not so oblivious now, and I’m definitely not oblivious to the looks I get from you, even with that mask.”
Grant looked at her, pausing for a moment, then, he moved to take off his mask; Steph’s hand grabs his wrist to stop him. “You don’t have to yet,” she murmured. “I want to see you, no matter how you look, but I don’t want to rush you.”
“Neither of us do,” Roy agreed, wrapping an arm around Grant’s shoulder. “We’ll take it as slow as you need.”
Grant smiled under his mask at that before shifting enough to lift his mask, just so his lips would show. The scarring wasn’t as terrible there, but it was still pretty bad. He shifted and pulled Steph into a kiss. His scarred lips were such a contrast to her full, soft ones, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Roy didn’t seem to mind either since Grant could feel his eyes watching him and Steph kiss attentively. Once the kiss broke, Grant only got a moment to catch his breath before Roy leaned in for a kiss of his own while Steph kiss and nibbled at Grant’s neck.
Kissing Roy was completely different from kissing Steph. His lips weren’t as soft or full, but there was a bit more of a need behind the kiss. Something that reminded of that night when they slept under the star in the desert, and Roy comforted him after making sure he didn’t explode too badly. It was a familiarity, even though kissing Roy was never something he did before outside of his dreams.
Grant pulled away for air, panting a bit as Roy and Steph watched him for a long. “I’m not going to break,” he stated. “And I trust you, both of you. Enough to take off the mask.”
Steph smiled at that, kissing him lightly on the lips as Roy squeezed his shoulder. “Whenever you’re ready,” Roy told him.
He nodded and shifted so he could pull off the mask. It dropped to the floor, and part of him waited for the gasps of shock, and his worst fear, one of revulsion. None came. He met Steph’s eyes first and just saw, not pity, but something. She carefully placed a hand on his cheek. Grant then glanced to Roy, and he could definitely tell that Roy definitely wasn’t pitying him, but he knew Roy wanted to put an arrow in Zoom now.
“I’m so glad you trust us,” Steph said quietly, not pulling her eyes away from his face, proving this didn’t scare her.
“Me too,” Grant mumbled, glancing at Roy. “So, are we just gonna sit here or are we going to...”
Roy chuckled when Grant trailed off. “Stephie, we shouldn’t leave the man hanging,” he teased. “He’s gotta be wanting since you’re sitting in his lap. No man can resist that.”
Steph giggled as she pushed Grant back down onto the bed. “Hey, maybe he has more self-control than you do, Roy~!” she teased back as she ran her hands down Grant’s chest.
“I bet I do,” Grant quipped, “but Roy’s right, you are hard to resist.”
Steph and Roy had matching grins, and at that moment, Grant knew the rest of the night was going to be a whole hell of a lot more fun than the party raging downstairs for the girl in his lap who definitely wasn’t going to rejoin them anytime soon.