damisupporter

When his brain kicked into operation again, he saw that Damian had come too, striping the sheets and Tim’s hand with white. He lay with his hands spread over his face, concealing his expression from Tim's gaze and maybe his own. His breath rattled the slightest bit on each unsteady exhalation.

Tim held Damian tight to his chest and kissed his shoulder blades, his ribcage, the nape of his neck. He petted Damian like a cat, stroking from his chest down to his thighs. He whispered, "You did so well for me," and "you're amazing," and "so beautiful," and all the other things he could think of to reassure him without acknowledging he knew how exposed Damian must be feeling at the moment.

Damian's body began to relax beneath his ministrations within a minute or two. By the time Tim had to pull out or risk losing the condom, his breathing had slowed to the very edge of sleep's pattern.

Tim went to the bathroom and cleaned up, then went back to give Damian's shoulder a gentle poke. "Hey, Dami. I know you're so tired you wanna kill me, but you'll hate it in the morning if you wake up with this mess all over you."

Damian groaned in protest, but got up and went into the bathroom himself. Sure enough, a second later the shower sputtered on. Tim spread the top sheet over the mess and fell asleep waiting for his return. 

When he woke up, his cell's screen read 12:18 PM. Damian had adhered himself to his body, every inch of Tim's back in contact with some part of Damian's front. Tim's head rested on his arm beneath Tim's pillow, and his other arm was clamped around Tim's waist, holding him fast.

Tim smiled and overlay the arm circling his torso with his own. "How long have you been awake?"

"Almost half an hour." Damian kissed his neck.

"That must've been boring." Tim burrowed deeper into Damian's embrace.

"Not at all. I was doing precisely as I liked." Damian kept kissing him: his temple, his ear, the top of his head.

Tim rotated in the circle of his arms, and Damian lay on his back to give him more room. Tim caressed his chin to turn it so he could check Damian's expression. "How are you feeling?"

Damian lifted his brows in imperious dismissal. "I am in peak physical condition, as usual. How are you feeling?"

Tim knew it was going to come out as unbearably cheesy even before he said it, but he did it anyway. "Lucky."

Damian cradled his face in the palm of his hand. "I think I'm lucky, too," he said, eyes alight with fondness.

Tim kissed his fingers and rested his head on Damian's chest.

He had almost fallen back asleep when Damian's voice vibrated beneath his ear. "Timothy."

The mild shock of hearing it echoed down his backbone. He craned his head back to look at Damian again. "Yeah?"

Damian frowned pensively. "Last night . . . you said you . . ."

"I said I'm in love with you," Tim finished for him, with an ease he didn't feel. Saying it out loud still felt like offering his chest up to Jason for target practice.

"Yes." Damian rubbed Tim's back as he spoke. "I don't like it." Tim froze, but Damian kept going as if he didn't notice. "It feels unequal."

Tim relaxed again. "Oh. Well, you don't have to worry about it."

"Tt. I'm not worried, I'm merely objecting to you having made your position more assailable through ill-advised exposure. The stability of our relationship depends on being in an equitable stalemate." Damian lifted the hand Tim had rested on his chest and kissed his fingers, one by one. When he'd finished, he added, "It was reckless of you."

Tim couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry, are you objecting to me having confessed before being sure you felt the same because it was a bad tactical move?"

Damian gave him a faint smile. "You're a brilliant strategist, but your impulsivity does occasionally take over."

Tim wrinkled his brow. "I'm not sure how to respond to that. Are you insulting or complimenting me?"

"Neither. It's a statement of fact." Damian's grip tightened on Tim's fingers where they rested on his sternum.

"Okay." Tim rolled to straddle his hips, hands planted in the mattress on either side of his head. He dropped a kiss onto Damian's forehead. "Well, so's this. You listening?"

Damian took a deep breath as if he were bracing himself, though his expression remained unchanged. He nodded.

Tim had to kiss his nose, too. "Good. I don't mean to burden you with the facts. But I do love you, and I want you in all the ways you'll let me have you."

Damian lifted his hands to Tim's thighs. When he spoke, after a long pause, his tone was tentative in a way he rarely allowed others to hear. "May I ask why? What's the incentive?"

Tim couldn't stop one corner of his mouth from pulling up, though the question sent a pang through his heart. "The incentive is that I want to. Now are you going to let me, or not?"

He wasn't sure Damian would catch the reference, but a quick flash of recognition and amusement lit the serious features beneath his gaze. "Ya 'amar, you can have all of me if that's what you want."

Tim's breath caught at the endearment. He lowered his body to press his face to the soft skin beneath Damian's jaw. "I do," he said, words hushed by Damian's neck and his own nerves. "I do want all of you."

Damian held him close, arms steady and sure. "Then that is what you've got."

"And . . ." Tim swallowed. "And is that what you want, too? Me, I mean?"

Damian put his hands on either side of Tim's face to lift him up so they could make eye contact. "Why want what I already have? Rather, I will keep what you've given, and protect your heart with far more care than you have shown for it. You cannot have it back." He pulled Tim’s mouth down to kiss it, one brief press like punctuation. “Will you agree?”

Tim nodded and hoped his face didn't look as stupid-stunned as he felt. “I agree.” 

“Very well.” Damian released his grip. “Then it's settled. I won't entertain any further equivocation. You’re mine.” 

Tim laughed, and kissed him, and let himself be owned.