FIC: Forsaking All Others
Title: Forsaking All Others
Characters/Pairings: Kal/Bruce
Rating: PG
Summary: Kal and Bruce prepare to be Nightwing and Flamebird and Bruce teaches Kal something he didn't know about Kryptonian society. A continuation of the From This Day Forward series.
Word count: 3000
Notes: For rai_daydreamer 's birthday and as a thank you for all the inspiration.
Kal-El watched his husband working across the room. Dressed in the elaborate layers of silk and brocade that marked him as the adopted heir of one of the most powerful Families of Krypton, he was a breathtaking sight. The dark blue jewel tones shot through with silver thread shimmered when he moved and reminded Kal of the grace and beauty hidden underneath them.
He swallowed as a surge of lust stabbed through him and looked back down at his book. The weeks since their honeymoon ended had been...difficult. Re-integrating into the El household after a blissful month wallowing in the total perversion of touch, the hedonistic thrill of penetrative sex, had been something of a shock. Kal would catch Bruce staring at him from across the room and know that Bruce was thinking about stroking Kal's body until he arched with pleasure, tasting and biting and gripping in an orgy of touch. The new English words Bruce was teaching him would drift into his head unbidden, words like suck and cock, ass and fuck, and it would be all Kal could do to keep from doing something shocking, like reaching out to touch Bruce's shoulder, right there in front of his parents!
He was truly becoming perverted.
So far he had managed to restrain himself, though their lovemaking in the evenings was sometimes frantic to the point of violence. Other times it was languid, tender; long strokes of infinitely warm skin, a blissful dream of sensation. Kal loved all of it.
At the moment, unfortunately, Bruce's body language spoke of frustration. He was making marks on a piece of paper and toying with two pieces of metal, a Kryptonian alloy that had caught his attention immediately. His eyes, however, kept drifting to the door. Finally he put down one of the metal tubes with a sharp clank.
"This is no good," he muttered. "I can't concentrate when I know your parents might come walking in at any time." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "For a touch-phobic culture, Kryptonians certainly don't have much of a sense of privacy."
Kal sighed. This was becoming a definite source of tension between them. Apparently on Earth when people closed doors--even in full daylight!--it was polite to knock before entering. Who would have expected a culture with such lax taboos on touching would have such strict boundaries about personal space? "What are you working on?"
Another glance at the door. "Anti-grav units. From your descriptions of the legends, it's clear Nightwing and Flamebird have to be able to fly, somehow. If I can make us personal anti-grav belts we'll have a huge psychological advantage. Tactical, too." He placed the two metal tubes about a hands-breadth from each other; for a moment they hovered in the air unassisted.
Kal tried to resist the urge to beam at his husband. Tensions about personal space aside, this partnership was working out very well. Kal was responsible for researching the nearly limitless fables and myths about the legendary Kryptonian heroes and distilling their most important qualities; Bruce was responsible for finding some way to make those legends into reality. "On Earth, you would have had that whole huge mansion to yourself to work in."
Bruce frowned down at the metal. "I wasn't going to be able to use the Manor. Too much chance of being discovered."
"You were going to have a secret lair or something?"
"Actually...there were caves under my house. I was thinking about basing my work out of there."
Excitement rose up in Kal. "But there's a huge network of caves running right under the compound here! I used to sneak down there as a boy sometimes."
Bruce's eyebrows lifted. "Really?"
"I can show you this evening if you'd like."
"I'd like that." Bruce smiled, as if at a private joke. "But later in the evening. I have plans for us for the early parts."
Kal started to ask what, but at that moment his mother came bustling into the room. Bruce hastily swept the diagrams aside for some fabric swatches, looking somewhat annoyed.
Lara looked rather annoyed as well. "Brucie, is it true?"
Bruce looked a little flustered, and Kal wasn't sure it was entirely an act; the matron of the El household could be an intimidating figure. "Is what true?"
Lara put her hands on her hips and frowned severely. "Were you seen in public without gloves?"
Bruce grimaced. "I forgot. I turned right around and came back--"
"--But not before Thala Mo-Zor saw you!" Lara made a tsking noise, then abruptly turned on Kal. "But really it's you I should be scolding, Kal. Honestly! Bruce at least has the excuse of being an alien. You know perfectly well such indecent exposure will be remarked on."
Kal hung his head. "I'm sorry, mother."
"Well, see it doesn't happen again, dear." She cast Kal an indulgent smile, apparently mollified. "You know we're a very tolerant household--I mean, I even go gloveless now and then in the house! But that's indoors behavior."
Kal gave Bruce a sheepish glance as Lara swept from the room. "I'm sorry I didn't remind you to wear the gloves."
Bruce snorted. "Oh, I know you. You just subconsciously wanted me to go out in public shamefully bare-handed so you could revel in knowing I was lewdly exposing myself before everyone--" He broke off. "Kal, you're blushing!"
"I--maybe I did, a little." There was no denying the erotic shock he had felt when he had looked down to see Bruce's hands bare, right there on the public street; to know that at any time Bruce could reach out and put that bare hand to his face, skin to skin, under the sun and sky and in front of everyone... "Rao, you've got such sexy hands," Kal said, staring at them. They clenched into fists as he watched and he bit back a moan of desire. It was so long until sunset, when they'd be safe behind doors again, free to touch and be touched...
"We definitely need to find a secret lair as soon as possible," Bruce said.
: : :
It was useless to sit in the room and lust after each other in vain, so they decided to take the dogs for a run in the park. Ace, of course, was heeling perfectly, trotting alongside Bruce with an almost regimental precision, muzzle held high and ears lifted.
Kal was suddenly pulled almost off his feet as Krypto took off after a floating bit of paper. Bounding wildly over the grass barking, Krypto halted so suddenly Kal almost fell on top of him, then scratched himself amiably and licked Kal's face before charging back at the rather bemused Ace.
"I--uh--sorry," Kal muttered as he tried to disentangle the two dogs without ending up tangled up with Bruce as well. Even with his hands carefully gloved, Bruce was a tempting sight. "I never gave him much discipline as a puppy, I guess."
"I think he's charming," Bruce said with a small smile. "I value enthusiasm. I find it very...pettable."
"Uh," said Kal. He was still wondering what to say that didn't involve various filthy words in English when Bruce's smile dropped away as he looked over Kal's shoulder.
Kal turned to see a man walking a huge black mastiff, wearing traditional Kryptonian robes. Kal recognized him from the wedding photos--Lex Luthor, another of Earth's millionaire-hostages. "Why, Bruce Wayne," the man said in English as he approached. "Fancy running into you here."
Bruce nodded politely. "Lex."
Krypto danced up to the new canine arrival and dropped into "let's play" position, front legs extended. The mastiff growled.
"It's all right, Prudence," Lex said, stroking her head, and the dog subsided. Confused, Krypto returned to Kal's side, casting sorrowful glances at the other dog. "You'll have to forgive Prudence," Lex continued. "Your creature there may look like the same species, but she can tell he's actually alien."
"Ace seems to have no problem with him," Bruce noted, nodding at the German Shepherd, whose tail thumped gently against Krypto's side at hearing his name.
Lex's voice was silky. "Some dogs have no sense at all, I suppose." He nodded politely and moved past them, the mastiff following.
Krypto whined and Ace licked his ear.
"He's going to be a problem," Bruce muttered. "There's no way he's letting this alliance hold."
"Are humans really that xenophobic?"
Bruce looked at him sideways. "Not all of us. But enough."
"But not all of you."
Bruce looked over to where Ace was now rolling in the grass next to Krypto. "Not all of us."
: : :
The thick evening fog of Kryptonopolis was starting to gather as Kal and Bruce moved through the city streets. Bruce wouldn't tell him where they were going, just smiled enigmatically. "Make sure not to wear anything with the El symbol on it," he had said. The streets were awash with hazy, mist-soaked light as the blazing illuminations of the city came to life, but Bruce turned down a darkened alley and Kal followed him, bewildered. Bruce paused in front of an unmarked door and tapped at it rhythmically. A small square opened in the middle of the door and a gloved hand was extended, palm up. Kal waited for Bruce to place something in it--money, a token--but instead he was startled when Bruce reached out and lightly touched the palm with his own gloved fingers.
At the touch, the hand retreated into darkness and after a moment the door swung open. "Let's go," said Bruce, moving inside.
The room they entered was small and empty of people, but masks hung from hooks on the walls in bewildering profusion. Bruce picked one off the wall--a dark blue half-domino--and put it on with a last meaningful glance at Kal, who followed suit with a deep crimson mask of his own. Another complicated series of knocks and a new door opened..
Kal followed Bruce into a large room, a bar where various masked couples were sitting and drinking. The room was fairly well-lit, but silent except for low music from speakers. Other than the masks, it looked like any ordinary bar at first glance--
And then Kal looked again.
At one end of the bar, two women were sitting, gazing intently at each other. As Kal looked, one of them reached out and stroked the long cascade of golden tresses, sliding her fingers into the fall of curls slowly, luxuriously, her fingers--bare fingers!--slipping to touch her partner's chin. The blonde woman arched into the touch, head flung back in pleasure, and Kal's mouth went dry in shock.
Face flaming to match the mask hiding it, he looked around the room. Most of the other inhabitants of the bar were also watching the two women, silent and intent, masked faces expressionless but body language speaking of total absorption. As Kal watched, another couple shifted slightly to allow their arms and shoulders to press against each other, and the woman rested her hand on the man's.
For a panicked second, Kal almost bolted from this den of iniquity. He had never imagined--never even dreamed--that there were places like this, that there were even other Kryptonians who might...enjoy touching each other. In public. His mind reeled. But Bruce was already taking a seat at the bar and Kal forced his feet to move, follow his husband and sit down beside him.
Bruce slid him a drink and took a careful sip of his own. "Would you like to go home?" he murmured under the music.
Right next to Kal, there were two men sitting side-by-side. One was touching the other's calf with his foot, lightly but deliberately, and his partner wasn't moving away. The foot slid up and down the silk-clad leg, up and down--Kal tore his eyes away and saw the man watching him, a small smile curving the mouth under the mask.
Kal looked back at Bruce and shook his head slightly.
Bruce's smile was even more dizzying.
They just sat near each other for ten or fifteen minutes, nursing their drinks, watching the other couples as they brushed against each other. Few were as brazen as the blonde and her partner, who were still attracting a lot of attention. The blonde was tracing her partner's lips lightly with a finger, following the contours of her smile. It was insane. It was exhilarating.
Krypton was a whole new world to Kal tonight.
Bruce set down his drink with a deliberate air, then held his hand out in front of him. As Kal watched, he pulled off his glove--slowly, finger by finger, exposing bare skin bit by bit. Then the other glove, until both his hands were bare. Kal stared at them: the manicured nails, the dusting of hairs on the knuckles, the little brown birthmark just above his wedding ring. His pulse thundered in his veins, even as he tried to remind himself that he'd seen these hands hundreds of times, they held no secrets for him. But other people in the bar were looking at those bare hands, and Kal felt like standing up and saying, Look at these hands, these hands that touch my body and bring me pleasure. Look at how beautiful they are. Am I not to be envied indeed?
He was still blushing under the mask when Bruce reached out and began, with infinite delicacy, to remove his gloves in turn.
Kal froze with shock for a moment, going tense, and Bruce stopped as well, looking at him, waiting. Kal took a deep breath and nodded slightly, and Bruce inched the gloves off his hands very slowly. Once Kal's hands were bare, Bruce carefully twined their fingers together, skin against skin, an interlacing of pure sensuousness. Kal's breath came short at the touch, every bit of skin tingling. There were masks turned to face them--most of the bar seemed to be watching them now--but Kal was drowning in bliss, lost in touch. He flexed his fingers to stroke the back of Bruce's hands.
And then Bruce lifted Kal's hand to his mouth and kissed it, lingeringly.
The room went completely still, but Kal's vision was narrowed to only Bruce's smile around his fingers, his world nothing but Bruce's touch, nothing but the need for more of it. He pulled Bruce off his bar stool and into a full embrace, pressing his body against him, stroking his hands down his husband's back, feeling the broad shoulderblades beneath the silk.
The Kryptonians had touched each other with a clumsy but earnest deliberateness; but Bruce was a living flame in his arms, all grace and beauty, completely artless and natural, swaying into his touch and touching in turn. Kal wrapped his arms around his husband and held on, breathing the scent of his hair, the strange and delicious alien nuances of it. He felt whole, he felt right. For a long time they merely held each other, letting their bodies fit together, his hands on Bruce's hips, Bruce's arms twined around his neck.
And then Bruce's lips grazed his neck, his breath hot, and Kal's touch-drunken daze shifted abruptly into something else, something completely imperative and undeniable. "Time to go," he muttered, standing up, taking Bruce's arm to steer him toward the door as a sigh of mixed approval and disappointment rustled around the room.
They careened out into the alley together, Kal refusing to let go of Bruce, pulling him close. They stumbled homeward, the fog swirling around them, protecting them from prying eyes as they touched and kissed and walked hand-in-hand, shameless and joyous.
: : :
"Can't we light the lamp?" Bruce voice grumbled behind him in the pitch-blackness of the cave.
"Not yet," Kal said as they picked their way along. "Don't worry, the way should be clear. I used to come here as a kid, I know the way by heart," he said, his voice echoing and resounding off the walls.
"It's definitely big," Bruce said.
"We're almost to the center of the room," Kal said, skirting a rock. "I always used to come here in the dark and then just wait for a moment in the darkness before I turned on the lamp." He stopped and stood still, taking a deep breath; after a moment Bruce's arms slipped around him and in the perfect, waiting darkness they simply held each other. "All right," Kal said. "I'm lighting the lamp. It's going to be bright for a moment."
He had the lamp set very low because he knew what would happen, but it took his breath away as always when the light first touched the walls of the cave.
The brilliant crystalline stalagmites caught and reflected and flung the light in a thousand infinite prisms: sapphire, ruby, emerald, topaz. Refracted light danced off of the rainbow-hued stones of the walls: viridian, carnelian, lapis. Countless colors in endless shades, an explosion of pastel and neon and deep jewel tones cascading around them, endlessly changing.
Kal stared in wonder, caught up in a web of trembling lights, blue and green and gold, orange and pink and violet. He turned to Bruce to share the moment--and stopped in confusion.
Bruce was laughing.
His shoulders were shaking as he stared around the cave, hand clamped over his mouth in an attempt to muffle his mirth, a look of disbelief in his eyes. "It's...not exactly what I imagined," he said after a moment, his voice trembling with laughter.
"Is there...is there a problem?" Kal asked, feeling uneasy. What were caves like on Terra?
Bruce was looking around the glittering cave, his laughter fading away to a smile that was slightly wry, turned inward. He met Kal's eyes and the smile warmed.
"No," Bruce said. "I think it's perfect for Nightwing and Flamebird." He looked around the vast cavern again, appraising, nodding slightly. "Perfect for us."
Characters/Pairings: Kal/Bruce
Rating: PG
Summary: Kal and Bruce prepare to be Nightwing and Flamebird and Bruce teaches Kal something he didn't know about Kryptonian society. A continuation of the From This Day Forward series.
Word count: 3000
Notes: For rai_daydreamer 's birthday and as a thank you for all the inspiration.
Kal-El watched his husband working across the room. Dressed in the elaborate layers of silk and brocade that marked him as the adopted heir of one of the most powerful Families of Krypton, he was a breathtaking sight. The dark blue jewel tones shot through with silver thread shimmered when he moved and reminded Kal of the grace and beauty hidden underneath them.
He swallowed as a surge of lust stabbed through him and looked back down at his book. The weeks since their honeymoon ended had been...difficult. Re-integrating into the El household after a blissful month wallowing in the total perversion of touch, the hedonistic thrill of penetrative sex, had been something of a shock. Kal would catch Bruce staring at him from across the room and know that Bruce was thinking about stroking Kal's body until he arched with pleasure, tasting and biting and gripping in an orgy of touch. The new English words Bruce was teaching him would drift into his head unbidden, words like suck and cock, ass and fuck, and it would be all Kal could do to keep from doing something shocking, like reaching out to touch Bruce's shoulder, right there in front of his parents!
He was truly becoming perverted.
So far he had managed to restrain himself, though their lovemaking in the evenings was sometimes frantic to the point of violence. Other times it was languid, tender; long strokes of infinitely warm skin, a blissful dream of sensation. Kal loved all of it.
At the moment, unfortunately, Bruce's body language spoke of frustration. He was making marks on a piece of paper and toying with two pieces of metal, a Kryptonian alloy that had caught his attention immediately. His eyes, however, kept drifting to the door. Finally he put down one of the metal tubes with a sharp clank.
"This is no good," he muttered. "I can't concentrate when I know your parents might come walking in at any time." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "For a touch-phobic culture, Kryptonians certainly don't have much of a sense of privacy."
Kal sighed. This was becoming a definite source of tension between them. Apparently on Earth when people closed doors--even in full daylight!--it was polite to knock before entering. Who would have expected a culture with such lax taboos on touching would have such strict boundaries about personal space? "What are you working on?"
Another glance at the door. "Anti-grav units. From your descriptions of the legends, it's clear Nightwing and Flamebird have to be able to fly, somehow. If I can make us personal anti-grav belts we'll have a huge psychological advantage. Tactical, too." He placed the two metal tubes about a hands-breadth from each other; for a moment they hovered in the air unassisted.
Kal tried to resist the urge to beam at his husband. Tensions about personal space aside, this partnership was working out very well. Kal was responsible for researching the nearly limitless fables and myths about the legendary Kryptonian heroes and distilling their most important qualities; Bruce was responsible for finding some way to make those legends into reality. "On Earth, you would have had that whole huge mansion to yourself to work in."
Bruce frowned down at the metal. "I wasn't going to be able to use the Manor. Too much chance of being discovered."
"You were going to have a secret lair or something?"
"Actually...there were caves under my house. I was thinking about basing my work out of there."
Excitement rose up in Kal. "But there's a huge network of caves running right under the compound here! I used to sneak down there as a boy sometimes."
Bruce's eyebrows lifted. "Really?"
"I can show you this evening if you'd like."
"I'd like that." Bruce smiled, as if at a private joke. "But later in the evening. I have plans for us for the early parts."
Kal started to ask what, but at that moment his mother came bustling into the room. Bruce hastily swept the diagrams aside for some fabric swatches, looking somewhat annoyed.
Lara looked rather annoyed as well. "Brucie, is it true?"
Bruce looked a little flustered, and Kal wasn't sure it was entirely an act; the matron of the El household could be an intimidating figure. "Is what true?"
Lara put her hands on her hips and frowned severely. "Were you seen in public without gloves?"
Bruce grimaced. "I forgot. I turned right around and came back--"
"--But not before Thala Mo-Zor saw you!" Lara made a tsking noise, then abruptly turned on Kal. "But really it's you I should be scolding, Kal. Honestly! Bruce at least has the excuse of being an alien. You know perfectly well such indecent exposure will be remarked on."
Kal hung his head. "I'm sorry, mother."
"Well, see it doesn't happen again, dear." She cast Kal an indulgent smile, apparently mollified. "You know we're a very tolerant household--I mean, I even go gloveless now and then in the house! But that's indoors behavior."
Kal gave Bruce a sheepish glance as Lara swept from the room. "I'm sorry I didn't remind you to wear the gloves."
Bruce snorted. "Oh, I know you. You just subconsciously wanted me to go out in public shamefully bare-handed so you could revel in knowing I was lewdly exposing myself before everyone--" He broke off. "Kal, you're blushing!"
"I--maybe I did, a little." There was no denying the erotic shock he had felt when he had looked down to see Bruce's hands bare, right there on the public street; to know that at any time Bruce could reach out and put that bare hand to his face, skin to skin, under the sun and sky and in front of everyone... "Rao, you've got such sexy hands," Kal said, staring at them. They clenched into fists as he watched and he bit back a moan of desire. It was so long until sunset, when they'd be safe behind doors again, free to touch and be touched...
"We definitely need to find a secret lair as soon as possible," Bruce said.
: : :
It was useless to sit in the room and lust after each other in vain, so they decided to take the dogs for a run in the park. Ace, of course, was heeling perfectly, trotting alongside Bruce with an almost regimental precision, muzzle held high and ears lifted.
Kal was suddenly pulled almost off his feet as Krypto took off after a floating bit of paper. Bounding wildly over the grass barking, Krypto halted so suddenly Kal almost fell on top of him, then scratched himself amiably and licked Kal's face before charging back at the rather bemused Ace.
"I--uh--sorry," Kal muttered as he tried to disentangle the two dogs without ending up tangled up with Bruce as well. Even with his hands carefully gloved, Bruce was a tempting sight. "I never gave him much discipline as a puppy, I guess."
"I think he's charming," Bruce said with a small smile. "I value enthusiasm. I find it very...pettable."
"Uh," said Kal. He was still wondering what to say that didn't involve various filthy words in English when Bruce's smile dropped away as he looked over Kal's shoulder.
Kal turned to see a man walking a huge black mastiff, wearing traditional Kryptonian robes. Kal recognized him from the wedding photos--Lex Luthor, another of Earth's millionaire-hostages. "Why, Bruce Wayne," the man said in English as he approached. "Fancy running into you here."
Bruce nodded politely. "Lex."
Krypto danced up to the new canine arrival and dropped into "let's play" position, front legs extended. The mastiff growled.
"It's all right, Prudence," Lex said, stroking her head, and the dog subsided. Confused, Krypto returned to Kal's side, casting sorrowful glances at the other dog. "You'll have to forgive Prudence," Lex continued. "Your creature there may look like the same species, but she can tell he's actually alien."
"Ace seems to have no problem with him," Bruce noted, nodding at the German Shepherd, whose tail thumped gently against Krypto's side at hearing his name.
Lex's voice was silky. "Some dogs have no sense at all, I suppose." He nodded politely and moved past them, the mastiff following.
Krypto whined and Ace licked his ear.
"He's going to be a problem," Bruce muttered. "There's no way he's letting this alliance hold."
"Are humans really that xenophobic?"
Bruce looked at him sideways. "Not all of us. But enough."
"But not all of you."
Bruce looked over to where Ace was now rolling in the grass next to Krypto. "Not all of us."
: : :
The thick evening fog of Kryptonopolis was starting to gather as Kal and Bruce moved through the city streets. Bruce wouldn't tell him where they were going, just smiled enigmatically. "Make sure not to wear anything with the El symbol on it," he had said. The streets were awash with hazy, mist-soaked light as the blazing illuminations of the city came to life, but Bruce turned down a darkened alley and Kal followed him, bewildered. Bruce paused in front of an unmarked door and tapped at it rhythmically. A small square opened in the middle of the door and a gloved hand was extended, palm up. Kal waited for Bruce to place something in it--money, a token--but instead he was startled when Bruce reached out and lightly touched the palm with his own gloved fingers.
At the touch, the hand retreated into darkness and after a moment the door swung open. "Let's go," said Bruce, moving inside.
The room they entered was small and empty of people, but masks hung from hooks on the walls in bewildering profusion. Bruce picked one off the wall--a dark blue half-domino--and put it on with a last meaningful glance at Kal, who followed suit with a deep crimson mask of his own. Another complicated series of knocks and a new door opened..
Kal followed Bruce into a large room, a bar where various masked couples were sitting and drinking. The room was fairly well-lit, but silent except for low music from speakers. Other than the masks, it looked like any ordinary bar at first glance--
And then Kal looked again.
At one end of the bar, two women were sitting, gazing intently at each other. As Kal looked, one of them reached out and stroked the long cascade of golden tresses, sliding her fingers into the fall of curls slowly, luxuriously, her fingers--bare fingers!--slipping to touch her partner's chin. The blonde woman arched into the touch, head flung back in pleasure, and Kal's mouth went dry in shock.
Face flaming to match the mask hiding it, he looked around the room. Most of the other inhabitants of the bar were also watching the two women, silent and intent, masked faces expressionless but body language speaking of total absorption. As Kal watched, another couple shifted slightly to allow their arms and shoulders to press against each other, and the woman rested her hand on the man's.
For a panicked second, Kal almost bolted from this den of iniquity. He had never imagined--never even dreamed--that there were places like this, that there were even other Kryptonians who might...enjoy touching each other. In public. His mind reeled. But Bruce was already taking a seat at the bar and Kal forced his feet to move, follow his husband and sit down beside him.
Bruce slid him a drink and took a careful sip of his own. "Would you like to go home?" he murmured under the music.
Right next to Kal, there were two men sitting side-by-side. One was touching the other's calf with his foot, lightly but deliberately, and his partner wasn't moving away. The foot slid up and down the silk-clad leg, up and down--Kal tore his eyes away and saw the man watching him, a small smile curving the mouth under the mask.
Kal looked back at Bruce and shook his head slightly.
Bruce's smile was even more dizzying.
They just sat near each other for ten or fifteen minutes, nursing their drinks, watching the other couples as they brushed against each other. Few were as brazen as the blonde and her partner, who were still attracting a lot of attention. The blonde was tracing her partner's lips lightly with a finger, following the contours of her smile. It was insane. It was exhilarating.
Krypton was a whole new world to Kal tonight.
Bruce set down his drink with a deliberate air, then held his hand out in front of him. As Kal watched, he pulled off his glove--slowly, finger by finger, exposing bare skin bit by bit. Then the other glove, until both his hands were bare. Kal stared at them: the manicured nails, the dusting of hairs on the knuckles, the little brown birthmark just above his wedding ring. His pulse thundered in his veins, even as he tried to remind himself that he'd seen these hands hundreds of times, they held no secrets for him. But other people in the bar were looking at those bare hands, and Kal felt like standing up and saying, Look at these hands, these hands that touch my body and bring me pleasure. Look at how beautiful they are. Am I not to be envied indeed?
He was still blushing under the mask when Bruce reached out and began, with infinite delicacy, to remove his gloves in turn.
Kal froze with shock for a moment, going tense, and Bruce stopped as well, looking at him, waiting. Kal took a deep breath and nodded slightly, and Bruce inched the gloves off his hands very slowly. Once Kal's hands were bare, Bruce carefully twined their fingers together, skin against skin, an interlacing of pure sensuousness. Kal's breath came short at the touch, every bit of skin tingling. There were masks turned to face them--most of the bar seemed to be watching them now--but Kal was drowning in bliss, lost in touch. He flexed his fingers to stroke the back of Bruce's hands.
And then Bruce lifted Kal's hand to his mouth and kissed it, lingeringly.
The room went completely still, but Kal's vision was narrowed to only Bruce's smile around his fingers, his world nothing but Bruce's touch, nothing but the need for more of it. He pulled Bruce off his bar stool and into a full embrace, pressing his body against him, stroking his hands down his husband's back, feeling the broad shoulderblades beneath the silk.
The Kryptonians had touched each other with a clumsy but earnest deliberateness; but Bruce was a living flame in his arms, all grace and beauty, completely artless and natural, swaying into his touch and touching in turn. Kal wrapped his arms around his husband and held on, breathing the scent of his hair, the strange and delicious alien nuances of it. He felt whole, he felt right. For a long time they merely held each other, letting their bodies fit together, his hands on Bruce's hips, Bruce's arms twined around his neck.
And then Bruce's lips grazed his neck, his breath hot, and Kal's touch-drunken daze shifted abruptly into something else, something completely imperative and undeniable. "Time to go," he muttered, standing up, taking Bruce's arm to steer him toward the door as a sigh of mixed approval and disappointment rustled around the room.
They careened out into the alley together, Kal refusing to let go of Bruce, pulling him close. They stumbled homeward, the fog swirling around them, protecting them from prying eyes as they touched and kissed and walked hand-in-hand, shameless and joyous.
: : :
"Can't we light the lamp?" Bruce voice grumbled behind him in the pitch-blackness of the cave.
"Not yet," Kal said as they picked their way along. "Don't worry, the way should be clear. I used to come here as a kid, I know the way by heart," he said, his voice echoing and resounding off the walls.
"It's definitely big," Bruce said.
"We're almost to the center of the room," Kal said, skirting a rock. "I always used to come here in the dark and then just wait for a moment in the darkness before I turned on the lamp." He stopped and stood still, taking a deep breath; after a moment Bruce's arms slipped around him and in the perfect, waiting darkness they simply held each other. "All right," Kal said. "I'm lighting the lamp. It's going to be bright for a moment."
He had the lamp set very low because he knew what would happen, but it took his breath away as always when the light first touched the walls of the cave.
The brilliant crystalline stalagmites caught and reflected and flung the light in a thousand infinite prisms: sapphire, ruby, emerald, topaz. Refracted light danced off of the rainbow-hued stones of the walls: viridian, carnelian, lapis. Countless colors in endless shades, an explosion of pastel and neon and deep jewel tones cascading around them, endlessly changing.
Kal stared in wonder, caught up in a web of trembling lights, blue and green and gold, orange and pink and violet. He turned to Bruce to share the moment--and stopped in confusion.
Bruce was laughing.
His shoulders were shaking as he stared around the cave, hand clamped over his mouth in an attempt to muffle his mirth, a look of disbelief in his eyes. "It's...not exactly what I imagined," he said after a moment, his voice trembling with laughter.
"Is there...is there a problem?" Kal asked, feeling uneasy. What were caves like on Terra?
Bruce was looking around the glittering cave, his laughter fading away to a smile that was slightly wry, turned inward. He met Kal's eyes and the smile warmed.
"No," Bruce said. "I think it's perfect for Nightwing and Flamebird." He looked around the vast cavern again, appraising, nodding slightly. "Perfect for us."