#dicktigerweek

“Not this one, no.” Dick shot him a grin before focusing back on the road. They'd been driving for a few hours and didn't have much longer left. Somehow, they hadn't killed each other, which boded well for their marriage. “We rescued a moderately famous band when I was Robin, so they wrote a song for us. It charted for a few weeks, actually. The local radio station still plays it sometimes.”

“I pity everyone who lives in Gotham City.”

“Just for the music?”

“Yes. Gotham City is a perfectly safe place otherwise.”

Dick snorted. “Can you believe I used to think you had no sense of humour?”

“My sense of humour is simply more refined than yours,” Tiger replied.

“That's just a fancy way of saying you don't find as many things funny.”

“Yes.”

Light was fading by the time they drove into town and reached the hotel. Dick and Tiger had alternated driving, so both were tired and strung-out and ready to sleep. It took a herculean effort to strip off their clothes before falling into bed. The mattress was hard, but that would just mean more leverage... when they weren't exhausted.

“At least we already knew we could get through a trip like that without killing each other,” Dick said, staring at the darkened ceiling. “Going on the run from Spyral is still paying off a year later.”

Tiger grunted into his pillow. Dick flopped across his back. They'd spent their wedding night in Gotham so they wouldn't keel over from exhaustion. Just as well, because they both fell asleep like this.

Of course, Tiger always rose early to pray, so Dick woke to find himself rolling gently across the bed, a whispered apology in his ear. It was Dick's own fault, really.

When Dick woke properly some time later, thin cracks of light lined the edges of the curtains and birdsong drifted in from outside the window. Tiger snored against his back, their legs tangled together under the warm covers.

Dick wanted to wake up like this for the rest of his life. Hell, if he had anything to say about it, he would... or as often as possible. Tiger still had his duties as Patron calling him away at times. This week, though? It was just for them.

Tiger shifted awake, rubbing his beard against Dick's bare shoulder. Dick rolled onto his back. Tiger settled against his chest, letting out a sigh as Dick stroked his hair.

“Morning, sunshine,” Dick said, his consonants still loose and lazy from sleep.

Tiger huffed. “Sunshine.”

“Shh. Let me call you things.”

“Hmph.” But he wasn't complaining.

Dick rubbed a hand over his face, yawning. “We should have breakfast.” They'd gone to bed early the previous night, and he was waking up faster than usual. That was nice. More time to spend hanging out with his BFF-slash-husband.

Tiger rolled out of bed, hunting for clothes. “Wash up. I will find you something to wear.”

“Should I be worried?”

“Yes. Fear me.”

Dick stripped off and stepped into the shower. Tiger had washed up earlier, so he wasn’t surprised when he didn’t join him. The alone time gave Dick a moment to think. He’d been in touch with the hotel beforehand and had gotten some advice for what to do in the area. They’d also agreed to help him source a few items to help things along. He’d spent a few minutes on the phone at a rest stop the previous day confirming that everything would be ready.

But first: a light breakfast.

Fortunately, the clothing Tiger had picked out for Dick was inoffensive. Probably less awful than what Dick would’ve chosen for himself. They’d mostly packed light, given the weather forecast, with a coat or two just in case. Dick tied his sweater around his neck like an asshole, mostly because Tiger hated it.

They had breakfast out on the patio, feet nudging together under the table. Tiger had taken his suggestion to eat lightly to heart, and he hadn’t questioned why.

“Aren’t you a little bit curious?” Dick asked him, spoonful of cereal forgotten in his half-raised hand. Tiger had that effect on him.

“I am,” Tiger admitted, reaching over to guide the spoon into Dick’s mouth. “Now eat, you child.”

Dick swallowed his mouthful. “Come on, man. You normally complain a lot more than this.”

“I am biding my time.” Tiger gave him a sharp, toothy smile. “You enjoy my complaints too much.”

“True. You’re cute when you’re grumpy.”

Tiger’s cheeks coloured a little, and he seized on the sudden chattering of birds in flight above them to look somewhere else. Dick rested his cheek in his hand, watching him. He could stare at Tiger for hours and not get bored. For a spy, he was rather emotive once you knew what to look for, mostly in the eyes and eyebrows. A single raised eyebrow could tell stories that Dick needed hundreds of words to tell.

Tiger caught him staring. “What?”

“Oh, nothing.” That all-too-familiar feeling of affection rose in Dick’s chest so quickly he had to let it out. “I just love you.”

Tiger’s eyes darted downwards for a moment, but then he reached out and slotted his fingers between Dick’s hand and his cheek. “I love you, too.”

They could’ve happily gone back to the hotel room and spent the whole day in there, but Dick had put a lot of planning into today and he was going to use it. The hotel had come through and sent what he requested to the nearby state park, where they’d pick it up from the ranger station. Dick wanted to keep Tiger in the dark until the last minute.

They borrowed a pair of bikes and set out. The roads were quiet today, and they were on a bike track in no time. There was just enough room to ride side-by-side, with good visibility in case someone needed to get past.

“Do you intend to tell me where we are going?” Tiger asked. There was something funny about seeing him on an ordinary bicycle after seeing him on motorcycles and tanks. It did great things for his thighs, though.

“Soon,” Dick promised. “I wanted to surprise you.”

The trail turned out back to the road soon enough, and they had to ride single file the rest of the way. They left the bikes chained up outside the park and walked inside, hands linked together. Tiger was observing the rolling green lawns around them with a little frown. Dick wanted to kiss the crease between his eyebrows.

They reached the ranger station and Dick finally grabbed the important piece of today’s outing: a picnic basket full of goodies from the local shops around town. Tiger watched him silently, a peculiar look on his face.

Dick opened the basket to check that everything was in order. “Everything okay, T?”

“I…” Tiger cleared his throat. “Yes.”

Dick grabbed his hand, leading him along the winding paths towards a spot the hotel staff had promised they would love. “Come on. What’s going on?”

Tiger kept his eyes on the greenery around them. “I do not know how to… no one has ever…”

“This your first picnic?”

“Yes.”

“Nervous?”

“I suppose.” The fact Tiger could admit something it spoke volumes of how far their relationship had come since those first days of trading barbs and trying not to kill each other out of frustration.

“You don’t have to be super cool and knowledgeable about everything, you know.” Dick looped his arm around Tiger’s, leaning against his shoulder as they walked. “It’s okay to feel out of your depth sometimes.”

“I always feel out of my depth with you.”

“That’s love, T.”

Tiger made a soft, possibly amused, possibly rueful, noise. “You know I am not used to people… doing things for me.”

“I’ll give you plenty of practice.”

His frown eased off the tiniest bit, which was the equivalent of a relieved sigh in Tiger-language. Dick nuzzled his shoulder and caught the corner of Tiger’s mouth lifting a little.

They finally reached the spot and Dick laid out the blanket. There was an open-air chapel nearby that was apparently popular for small weddings. It was just an archway and some white benches, but it still made Dick feel emotional as he laid out their spread for lunch. Dick and Tiger had married in Alfred’s rose garden. Bruce had enlisted the batkids’ help to build an archway and decorate it with the roses Alfred was willing to pluck from the garden. The park’s setup here was much simpler, but it still had Dick a little choked up.

Two men in suits were under the archway, with a small handful of people looking on. The men were wrapped up in each other, as if nobody around them existed. Dick knew that feeling well.

Tiger fed Dick a ribbon sandwich, capturing his attention once again. Eating from Tiger’s hands always went one of two ways: either the food tasted infinitely better, or he’d get so distracted that he no longer tasted the food at all. Tiger’s fingers caressing his cheek put him into that second camp.

They fed each other sandwiches, keeping an eye on the ceremony nearby. The men were crying, their foreheads pressed together.

“Do not start,” Tiger warned Dick. “Please.”

“As if you’re not getting a little misty-eyed over there,” Dick teased. They’d already finished the sandwiches without really tasting them. Then came bread and cheeses and grapes and figs.

The couple under the arch kissed. Dick leaned back against Tiger. He could almost smell the sweetness of those roses again. Their first kiss as a married couple had been tender. Tiger had cradled the back of his head like glass and dipped him like a princess. Dick didn’t mind feeling like a princess sometimes, especially when it came to the romantic stuff.

Tiger wrapped his arms around Dick’s shoulders, kissing the top of his head. “They look happy.”

“Yeah.” Dick still felt teary; he’d always had an overabundance of empathy. Couple that with memories of one of the happiest days of his life, and he had no chance. “I’m happy, too.”

“As am I.” Tiger rested his cheek where he’d kissed. He wasn’t normally this affectionate in public.

“Would you kill me if I took a selfie right now?”

“No,” Tiger said warmly. Dick got the impression he wanted to remember this moment, too.

Dick wrestled out his phone and snapped a picture of them cuddled up like this against a backdrop of green grass and distant sea. The sky was bright blue and clear. It looked exactly how Dick felt. He texted a copy of the photo to Alfred and then put his phone away. Tiger held his attention far more easily than anything else in the world.

Dick rested the platter on his lap and fed Tiger grapes over his head. Tiger would sometimes grab one and shove it into Dick’s mouth instead. Lying here, being lazy and shoving food in each other’s faces was such a stark contrast to their usual panicked running-around-trying-to-save-the-world-from-burning-down lifestyle that Dick realised this had been the right decision. Anything more elaborate than this would’ve been exhausting. They needed to relax for once.

And maybe cry over other people’s weddings.

Soft music floated over from someone’s phone at the ceremony and the two men were slow-dancing in a circle. Tiger gave Dick a squeeze. They’d felt too awkward to dance in front of the handful of people that had been at their wedding, which had been Dick’s family plus Helena, but they’d swayed together in their room afterwards.

Dick rested his head against Tiger’s chest, closing his eyes. He could feel the rise and fall of his husband’s breaths. It was one of the most comforting things he’d ever experienced. Sometimes he just liked to lie on top of him with his ear pressed against Tiger’s chest, listening to the beat of his heart and the gentle rushing of air.

The wedding party was gone when he opened his eyes; he must’ve fallen asleep. Tiger’s lovely green eyes watched him with amusement as he sat up and stretched. Dick threw a grape at him.

They quietly packed up the remnants of the picnic, nibbling on leftover bits and pieces as they went. Tiger shook the blanket and folded it away. There was still plenty of time in the day, though, and Dick didn’t want to leave yet.

He rested the basket on one of the chapel benches and led Tiger to the arch. It was a pretty lattice design, pure white. The grass had been worn down to dirt beneath it, and there was something beautiful in that, in the fact so many people had stood there with the one they loved and said the words to tie their souls together. So many hearts poured out in this one spot.

“We are already married, Dick,” Tiger reminded him, but he was smiling a little.

Dick gently swung their joined hands side-to-side. “I want to live in that moment a while longer.”

“It is a good moment,” Tiger agreed, tugging Dick towards him. He slid an arm around Dick’s waist, keeping the other hand firmly clasped in his. “Our first dance was an afterthought. We should do another.”

Dick let Tiger lead their swaying. It was less awkward doing this in front of random people walking by than a small group of people he knew well. The birdsong was their music, their hearts the rhythm.

Tiger rested his forehead against Dick’s and they both closed their eyes. Tiger freed his hand from Dick’s and slid it into his hair. They kissed slowly. Dick could almost smell the roses again. Wherever they ended up in the future, he’d have to plant some.

Dick lost track of time. He laid his head on Tiger’s shoulder and their swaying turned to gentle rocking on the spot, their arms wrapped around each other.

“I love this,” Dick whispered. “We should do this every day.” He felt Tiger smile against the side of his face.

“We should.” Tiger didn’t bring up the fact he would likely be absent for weeks, if not months, at a time. They’d deal with that later. This week was for them. No worrying allowed.

It was almost dark by the time they returned to the hotel. Tiger headed upstairs to pray while Dick spoke to the hotel staff to thank them for their help organising the picnic.

Tiger was sitting cross-legged in the of the bed when Dick returned. His fingers reverently traced the edges of his Quran as he gently closed it.

“I enjoyed our picnic,” he said quietly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, babe.” Dick climbed onto the bed beside him. “Did you want to read for a bit longer?”

Tiger shook his head. “One moment.” He slid off the bed to put the book away, and then lay down in the middle of the bed. Dick couldn’t help but trace the bridge of his nose with the tip of his finger. Tiger just smiled up at him. He smiled so freely with Dick these days. Dick loved that smile, so he kissed him.

Tiger slid his fingers down Dick’s neck and shoulders, coaxing him closer. Dick lay on top of him, and Tiger pressed his hands his back, fingers digging in. He pressed his thigh against Dick’s hip and Dick held him there.

They shed their clothes clumsily, unwilling to spend more than a few moments with their lips apart from each other.

“What do you want, babe?” Dick said, nipping Tiger’s ear.

Tiger snorted at the nickname, his legs wrapping around Dick’s waist. Dick got the message and reached for the lube he’d thrown on the nightstand at some point.

Tiger sighed when Dick slipped a finger inside him. “Finally.”

Dick kissed his stomach, grinning as his muscles shuddered. They were more than capable of going days without sex if necessary, but they didn’t like it… especially now. If they hadn’t been dead tired last night, they probably would’ve been up all night.

Dick pressed his tongue to the tip of Tiger’s cock. Tiger swore under his breath, grabbing fistfuls of bedcovers. So Dick licked him from base to tip, wrapping his lips around him and sliding back down. Tiger grabbed his hair, biting down on the pillow.

Dick pulled off, replacing his mouth with his free hand. “Sensitive tonight?”

“Do not stop. Please.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” Dick busied his mouth with things other than talking. Tiger grabbed the headboard, groaning. He didn’t take long to come into Dick’s mouth. Then he silently beckoned Dick towards him. Dick straddled his torso and Tiger grabbed his cock, twisting his wrist just so, enough that Dick had to put his hands down on the bed before he lost his balance.

“Fuck me,” Tiger said, his voice already rough.

“Won’t you be too sensitive?”

“You are a clever man, Dick. Find a solution.”

Tiger got so bossy when he bottomed. Well, he was bossy during sex in general, but he took that to impressive heights at times like this. Dick didn’t waste any time, grabbing the condom from the nightstand.

He settled between Tiger’s legs and gently pressed inside. Tiger let out a long breath and relaxed around him. His cock twitched, but it wasn’t quite ready to get hard again. Dick was going to have a hard time keeping himself together for long enough, but he’d always relished a challenge. At least Tiger had a short refractory period compared to some other (non-metahuman) guys Dick had slept with in the past. He could usually be coaxed into getting hard again with a few minutes, at least the first time.

Until then, though, Dick had to be gentle. Every movement brought out a reaction in Tiger, such a stark difference from the man he’d thought Tiger was when they first met.

Tiger caressed Dick’s cheek. “You can go faster.”

“You’ll tell me if it hurts, right?”

Tiger rolled his eyes. “Yes, Dick. We have established this.”

“My blood really isn’t in my brain right now, T. Cut me some slack.”

Tiger chuckled, which reverberated through his whole body, including his ass. Both of them had to take a breath.

“That was interesting,” said Dick.

“Mm.” Tiger nudged Dick with his thigh. “That was not an invitation to stop.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tiger grumbled about that, but Dick’s slow thrusts didn’t let him stay coherent for long. He was getting hard again, so Dick moved faster. Tiger jerked himself, breaths coming in pants, until he threw his hand away, grabbing more blankets in his fist instead.

Dick brushed his hand across Tiger’s nipples and down his chest. He trailed his fingers across his hips, barely touching the hair around his cock. Tiger grabbed Dick’s ass, pushing him in deeper. Dick was not going to last much longer. He changed his angle, and Tiger moaned, arching off the bed.

“Dick. I need… ngh… more. Roll over.”

If there was anything hotter than Tiger splayed out beneath Dick, panting for his cock, it absolutely was Tiger on top, riding his cock until they both saw stars.

Dick’s back hit the mattress and Tiger sank down on top of him. He set a punishing pace that Dick absolutely needed right now, his cock rubbing against Dick’s stomach. Dick grabbed Tiger’s hips and thrusted upwards to meet him.

Tiger leaned down and kissed him, all tongue and teeth. They had to break apart every few seconds to breathe, but fuck it was hot. Dick dug his fingers into Tiger’s hips. Their rhythm stuttered, breaths tearing out of their throats. Tiger grabbed the headboard for leverage, eyes squeezed shut, face screwed up as he moaned.

“Fuck, Tiger. I’m gonna… ahh.” Dick couldn’t take it anymore. He came inside Tiger.

Tiger grabbed his cock and fucked into his hand, spilling over onto Dick’s stomach. He was beyond sound, breaths coming out in short puffs. Dick caressed his thighs until he collapsed on top of him.

They lay there for a while, listening to each other’s breathing. Tiger shoved his face into the pillow for a moment, until he could find the energy to slide off and curl up against Dick’s side. His eyes were already closed.

Dick cupped his chin. “Tired?”

“Mm-hm.”

He kissed the man’s forehead. “Good day, huh?”

“Mm.” Tiger opened his eyes. “Thank you for everything. And fuck you.”

“Wow, man. I just made you come twice and that’s the thanks I get?”

“Now I have to take you on a date just as good as this one,” Tiger replied.

Dick snorted. “Well, if it makes you feel better, we’re married now. You can do that whenever you want. Hell, bring me donuts on patrol and blow me in an alley to the dulcet tones of a police siren and I’ll call it even.”

Tiger barked out a laugh, shoving a hand over his mouth as if hadn’t realised how loud it was. “I will do it, Dick.”

“Looking forward to it.” It was nowhere near the weirdest sex thing either of them had done, together or with others. “So, you definitely liked it?”

“Dick. I loved it.” Tiger ran a light finger down Dick’s throat. Dick wouldn’t normally let anyone touch him there—did anyone?—but it was somehow sweet when Tiger did.

“Okay. Good.”

“You know I loved it.” Tiger cuddled closer, planting a kiss on Dick’s lips.

“Maybe I wanted to hear you say it again.” Dick tangled his legs with Tiger’s. “I love you lots.”

“I love you too.” Tiger touched his forehead to Dick’s and they both closed their eyes.

Dick was going to make sure they had more days like this. The look Tiger had given him when he learned they were having a picnic was hard to forget. He wanted Tiger to experience more amazing new things he’d never had the chance to try before. He was going to spoil him rotten, just like Tiger loved to spoil him.

They’d had to fight to get here at all. Dick was not about to take that for granted. Every day with Tiger was full of laughter and wonder and so much love Dick felt like he was going to burst from it sometimes.

Tiger relaxed into sleep and Dick watched him. His breaths were slow and calm, his beard lightly scratching Dick’s shoulder. Dick wanted more of this, too, and he knew he was going to get it.

They were married now. The thought still made Dick want to do somersaults, but right now he was content to grab the blankets and cosy up to his wonderful husband. He was going to kiss him senseless in the morning.

Whatever happened in the future, however much Tiger had to travel as Patron, they would always have this. They would always come back together.

They would always be Tiger and Dick: partners, lovers…

He jolted, a flash of worry like lightning making him bolt upright. He almost threw himself out of bed and into his gear when halfway through the action he spotted the handwritten note on the bedside table.

Wait here.

Dick frowned. So Tiger had just left with only those instructions, not telling Dick that he was going, when he would be back or what he was doing? They were supposed to be a team. You were supposed to communicate with your teammates.

Look, he knew that Tiger didn’t like working with him. Fine, Dick didn’t need him to like working with him. But they still needed to work together.

He sighed and pushed himself out of bed anyway, knowing he probably wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep after that shot of adrenaline.

First thing Dick did was open up their med kit and dig around, looking for a painkiller. He’d woken up with another headache. It seemed like he was constantly having headaches lately, of various degrees of pain, but he kept smiling through it.

Being on the run was not fun. It never is fun. He could act like he was having fun and make jokes and poke the bear that was Tiger’s temper until he lost a finger all through it, but really, it was not fun. Between the fights and the car chases, and the bouts of banter, in the quiet moments when all they could do is keep running or try and get as much rest as they could before they start running again… everything caught up to him.

Too much had happened in the last… year? Two years? He didn’t know, his grasp on time was slipping— too much had happened that he hadn’t processed and he was paying for it now.

And moments alone were the worst of all.

Suddenly having to go off all his meds all at once because there wasn’t time to pack anything or bring anything with them other than the clothes on their backs did not help either.

Seriously did not help. In fact, Dick felt like shit.

He found a little bottle of pain meds. He shook it. It was mostly empty. He sighed again and took one. Dry. Just to spite himself.

Dick wished Tiger had told him he was going somewhere— he would have asked him to grab some Advil if he got the chance. He’d even have thrown in some puppy dog eyes and a ‘pretty please’.

Luckily, he didn’t actually have to wait that long before the door to their room unlocked from the outside and creaked open.

Tiger walked in, stone faced, but in a way that looked like he was trying hard to keep his expression blank. Even still, there was a slight furrow to his brow, that seemed to stick through his every waking moment. He was holding a box.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” the other spy said upon seeing Dick sitting at the flimsy table. He walked over and set the box down on the table in front of him, then took a step back and folded his arms. “Here.”

Dick looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Is this some sort of prank box? A spring-loaded clown doll isn’t going to jump out at me if I open it, right?”

Tiger scoffed. “Of course not. Just open it.”

So Dick opened it.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, exactly, but it wasn’t a birthday cake.

It was a pretty typical store bought cake, with white icing and red, blue and yellow little fondant balloons decorating the top, around the fancy cursive letters that read ‘joyeux anniversaire’.

He blinked first down at the cake, then up at Tiger, a look of obvious confusion on his face. “Huh?” He said, quite intelligently if you asked him.

“It is a birthday cake.” Tiger grunted. There was a hint of red in his cheeks. He probably wasn’t expecting to have to explain himself.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Dick deadpanned. “But what for?”

Tiger frowned. “It is your birthday.”

Dick blinked again. “It is? Shit, I didn’t even notice the date. Wait, how do you know my birthday?”

“It was in your file. I read it when we first were assigned partners.”

“And you remembered?” Dick smiled, and Tiger blushed harder and looked away. “And you— you got me a cake?”

“It’s customary.” Tiger grumbled. “If you don’t like it—“

“No, no! I do like it! I love it!” Dick looked back down at the cake, then at Tiger again. “I— I mean— you—“

His smile started to crack and crumble as he stammered. “You… care…?”

Tiger frowned as Dick’s whole expression started to dissolve and his eyes went distinctly glassy. Dick quickly started to wipe at the tears that pooled there, though yet to fall. “Sorry— Sorry.” He muttered. “I just— I should say thank you. This is… really nice.”

But for some reason speaking those last few words just made things worse for himself, and Dick turned away with a single, gasping sob, before Tiger could see him fall apart. Why now, he internally lamented, why do I have to have a break down now?

“Uh—“ He heard from behind him, and Dick could easily imagine the confused expression that must be on Tiger’s face. The man wasn’t exactly the emotionally supportive type, that was Dick’s job. He felt bad for making Tiger witness this mess— especially after the other spy went out of his way to do something so nice for him. Tiger didn’t deserve this.

The chair across from him scraped across the floor as Tiger pulled it out from the table, and creaked loudly when he sat down. “Richard,” he said, and Dick turned further away, hiccuping a little. “Are you… okay?”

No. Dick wanted to say. I’m not okay.

(Well if you wanted honesty that’s all you had to sayy I never want to let you down or have you go it’s BETTER OFF THIS WAY for all the dirty looks the photographs your boyfriend took remember when you Broke Your Foot from Jumping Out the Second floor I’m NOOOTTT OOOOKAYYY IM NOT—)

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, I’m fine, Dick also wanted to say. He didn’t know why, but he was always hesitant to tell people when he wasn’t doing alright. He never liked to burden people with his load of shit, especially not when they needed his help more.

But Tiger wouldn’t buy it for a second, and while he may not have been the emotionally supportive type Tiger also didn’t take any bullshit and wouldn’t appreciate Dick just lying to his face like that.

Though Dick was sure that absolutely no one would be convinced if they were in Tiger’s place, watching him cry his eyes out because of a birthday cake, and he tried to tell them nothing was wrong, literally through tears.

“No,” Dick said. “I’m not okay.”

(Well if you wanted honesty that’s all you had to sayy I never want to let you down or have you go it’s BETTER OFF THIS WAY for all the dirty looks the photographs your boyfriend took remember when you Broke Your Foot from Jumping Out the Second floor I’m NOOOTTT OOOOKAYYY IM NOT—)

Okay okay, enough of that.

“I can see that.” Tiger retorted, even though he was the one who asked in the first place. Dick decided to cut the guy some slack. He sniffed, wiped the tracks of tears off his cheeks as his (fucking annoying) crying slowed to a stop. He looked at Tiger over his shoulder.

“I… sorry, it’s just been… a rough year. A rough couple of years, actually.”

He didn’t elaborate any further. He probably didn’t need to. Tiger didn’t prompt him to elaborate. He probably didn’t need to, either. Dick suspected Tiger knew already about (most of) the shit that had made these last few years so rough. Dick didn’t know how Tiger knew, but Tiger had this way of knowing pretty much everything.

Maybe he was secretly a meta. Probably not, but maybe.

Dick turned more fully in his chair to sit in it the right way, except he pulled a foot up onto the seat to tuck his knee into his chest. He looked at the cake again. It looked, in all honesty, pretty good.

He just… wouldn’t think about the calories. He could do that much, pretty simple— eat some cake and not stress about the calories.

And if the sugar made him break out, then whatever. He didn’t care if Tiger saw him in an aesthetically imperfect state. And he knew that Tiger didn’t care about it— they’d been on the run for a hot minute and had only just a few days ago managed to get a hold of some toothbrushes. Tiger’s beard was scragglier than it usually was. Neither of their hygiene or grooming habits were exactly peak at the moment.

Besides, Dick thought with a smirk— despite the lingering wateryness of his eyes—, Tiger was into him regardless of poor hygiene and unwashed clothes, and regardless of how much Tiger insisted he hated him. Dick had caught him practically gazing longingly at his collarbones the other day— his collarbones! Dude was on a whole other level of both repression and desire if he was looking at Dick’s collarbones as opposed to his more popular assets.

But Dick appreciated that. He’d made a comment once on how frustrating it was that everyone was more focused on his ass than anything else about him, and Tiger hadn’t even glanced at his backside since. So he was a man with taste who also respected boundaries.

Also, he got me a birthday cake. He went out of his way to get me a birthday cake. That’s not really something you do for someone you hate. Dick thought, and smiled back up at Tiger, wiping away the last traces of his tears. Tiger eyed him suspiciously.

“What?”

Dick smiled wider. “You like me.”

Tiger coughed suddenly, looking away. He glared down at the floor. “I do not! I told you before, I can’t stand you, and— and I cannot wait until I no longer have to spend even a second in your infuriating presence.”

“Yeah, yeah, blah blah you’re going to kill me someday yada yada. Why’d you get me a cake, then?” Dick teased him.

“It— well—“ Tiger stammered, something that Dick had never ever seen before. “I… wanted… I thought you would like it.” He admitted. Dick’s smile softened.

“I do like it.” He said, “Thank you.”

Then he sniffed, for some reason the tightness in his throat came back and his eyes once more looked suspiciously dewy. Tiger got a slightly constipated look.

“Don’t start crying again. Please.”

Dick laughed. “I won’t, I won’t.” He said, hoping he wouldn’t. “It’s just… been a while since anyone did something so nice for me without an ulterior motive.”

He shot Tiger a look, but it was still teasing. “You haven’t got an ulterior motive, right?” Tiger sighed.

“I wish I did. Now are you going to eat that thing or not?”

“Oh, right.”

Tiger handed him a travel fork from one of their packs, then reached back down into the pack and started rummaging around. Dick wasted no time in plunging the bamboo fork right into the cake, breaking through the icing and pulling away a generous bite of what was revealed to be chocolate cake. Tiger looked back up as Dick brought his fork up to his mouth, and stared at him incredulously, with no small amount of disgust. Dick paused.

“What?”

“You’re just going to… eat the… and not even…” Tiger searched for words. Dick shrugged with a pout.

“It’s my birthday cake, I’ll eat it however I want to.” He pushed the cake box more towards the center of the small, round table. “Want some?”

The other spy looked between Dick, the cake with the one bite taken out of it, the fork in his hand, and back at Dick.

“You can just eat from the other side. I promise you won’t catch any cooties.” Dick offered, nudging the cake forward a little more. Tiger huffed and didn’t say anything, but still took out the other fork and stabbed it almost violently into the side of the cake closest to him. Dick finally ate his bite of cake, grinning around the fork. (Wow, this is good cake.) (Just don’t think about the calories.)

‘Cooties… ridiculous.’ He heard Tiger mutter under his breath. He ate another bite of the cake, his qualms about Dick’s lack of table manners seemingly behind him. “I shouldn’t have done this. If I had known you had forgotten it was your birthday I would have just let the day pass quietly without any fuss.”

“No, you wouldn’t have.” Dick said it like he was teasing, but he and Tiger both now knew it was true. “Hey, you know what would make a great birthday gift?”

Tiger raised an eyebrow at him. “What, the cake wasn’t enough for you?”

“Nope,” Dick smirked. “The only thing that can satisfy me…” he paused for dramatic effect, “is a hug.”

Tiger groaned. “Absolutely not.”

Dick didn’t mean to let his face fall. He meant to brush it off with a laugh, but then his smile slipped and he couldn’t catch it before it was simply gone. Tiger noticed. Dick cringed.

It would be nice if some cake and a little bit of banter were enough to fully lift his spirits, but unfortunately it just wasn’t cutting it.

He was still cold.

Tiger sighed and stood up. Dick looked away, chewing at his lip.

(Yeah, so maybe Tiger did care, but that didn’t necessarily mean he would never exploit Dick’s moments of weakness. He was still a spy, Dick had to remind himself. He was still a spy and everything Bruce ever instilled in him was telling him not to trust him.)

(But he trusted Tiger anyway. So maybe he was an idiot, he didn’t care. He just needed to be not so all encompassingly alone in this world right now.)

Tiger rounded the table so that he was standing next to Dick’s chair, positively towering over him. “Stand up.”

“What?” Dick blinked.

“Stand up.”

Dick stood up. Tiger had been standing so close to his chair that when he did he was nearly chest to chest with the taller man, and Dick felt his heart speed up involuntarily at the proximity.

Almost as soon as Dick was on his feet, Tiger was uncrossing his arms and wrapping them around Dick instead— one arm around his back pulling him close and one hand cupping the back of his neck, and if Dick didn’t know better he’d describe it as tender. Gentle.

Tiger didn’t do tender or gentle.

So how could you explain this, then?

Dick couldn’t see Tiger’s face like this, and he couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of sour expression he might have right now. Dick didn’t care. Tiger was— Tiger was warm, he was so warm, the heat seeping through Dick’s clothes and skin and all the way down to his bones.

He stifled a gasp and snapped his arms shut around Tiger’s back, clinging way tighter than was called for, but Tiger didn’t say anything.

Everything was going to be okay. Things sucked right now, but Dick wasn’t alone. Tiger was there, and he cared, and that was all Dick needed.

Helena, of course, was suspicious, due to Dick’s quiet and stormy mood when they returned from the mission, but then, she was always suspicious. He refused to say anything about it, though.

He just did not know what to do. He didn’t know how to act, especially around Tiger.

Like, okay, Dick could easily admit he had already been quite attracted to Tiger. He was handsome, and smart and cool, and fun to tease, and Dick just knew he had a soft centre, under all those hard layers of bitterness and short temper, even if he had yet to actually show it.

But that kiss had been a game changer.

Now, every time Dick thought of Tiger, his guts would twist up in a weird way, weird but not bad, and his heart would flutter, sometimes a little bit, sometimes so much he thought his chest might explode. And he’d liked— really liked— being touched by Tiger. Tiger’s hand on his waist while they were dancing, on the small of his back as they were leaving… even if it was just for show, it was a level of intimate that usually put spiders under Dick’s skin, but it hadn’t.

There were only two other people in the whole world that could do that, and those were people Dick had believed at one point or another to be his soulmate.

That scared him.

Dick was not in a position where he could pursue this… whatever it was. He just couldn’t. Not to mention Bruce would be livid if he ever found out Dick had gotten, ahem, involved, with a spy. Especially a spy that was literally Spyral’s top agent. And that wasn’t even taking into account Dick’s mess of a mental state in general right now. He was almost certain he wouldn’t be able to maintain a relationship like that, in an environment like this, in the state he was in.

So, no. Dick would just have to deal, and try as hard as he could to not think about Tiger in that way. But, if this past week had proven anything, it was that that would be nearly impossible.

But he couldn’t take this any further. It was one kiss. No matter how mind blowing it was. He couldn’t take it any further.

…

But damn, he wanted to. To hell with reason, to hell with what Bruce would think.

He could… indulge, just a little bit, right? It didn’t have to be that serious. His whole life was pretty shit right now, he could have just this one thing, right? He deserved to feel good every once in a while, right?

They didn’t even have to get feelings involved, it didn’t have to be a relationship. It could be… casual.

Dick was terrible at being casual. He was incapable of separating sex from feelings, it just wasn’t something he did or could ever do. This was a bad idea.

Fuck it. It was a bad idea, it was probably going to blow up and end in tears eventually, but that was a problem for future Dick.

Present Dick was going to indulge. Just a little. As a treat.

Provided Tiger was on board, of course.

Another week passed, and Dick was starting to think it was Tiger that was avoiding him, now. Everywhere he went where he thought Tiger might be, the man was nowhere to be seen. Dick couldn’t find him in the gym, or the dining hall, or where he usually prayed, or anywhere around St. Hadrian’s. And he didn’t know where Tiger’s room was, so that was a bust, too.

It was like the man had just vanished into thin air. It didn’t make any sense.

Unless, of course, Tiger actually was avoiding him.

The thought didn’t make Dick feel very good. What if Tiger didn’t actually want Dick in the same way Dick wanted Tiger? Did Tiger regret kissing him? Did Dick just get his hopes up for nothing?

If that were the case then Dick figured he might as well just fling himself into the sun.

So, he felt pretty silly when he learned Tiger had been sent on a solo mission a few days ago.

Dick was there at the landing pad when Tiger’s shuttle touched down, practically bouncing on his toes like an eager schoolboy with a crush. When he saw the spy emerge into the bright afternoon sun, Dick felt a sense of rightness come over him, and suddenly he was there before Tiger could even get both feet on the tarmac.

“Tiger!” Dick all but yelled, and Tiger looked at him with no small amount of puzzlement. “You’re back!”

“Yes, I am…?” Tiger raised an eyebrow at him, and Dick did his best to compose himself, trying to put on a straight, serious face.

“Can we talk? Uh, in private?”

Tiger still looked reticent. “I have to debrief with Matron,” he said.

“That can wait.”

“Can you wait?”

“No, I can’t wait.” Dick insisted. He was worried that if he got in his head any more, if he could overthink this any more, he would chicken out, and then he would be left wondering for the rest of his life.

Tiger sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.”

He shouldered past Dick towards the academy without another word, and Dick trailed behind him. Tiger led them inside to where the agent’s boarding was, and down a hall Dick had never seen before.

Dick didn’t bother to ask where they were going; it was pretty clear already.

They came to a door. Tiger unlocked it and waved Dick inside. He locked it again behind them. Dick looked around.

It was a pretty standard looking Spyral agent bedroom, pretty much identical to his. Completely undecorated. Like him, the occupant of this room probably didn’t consider this place their home, and so never put any effort into making the space feel like such.

‘If Tiger doesn’t think of this place as home, then what does he think of as home?’ Dick thought. He turned back to face Tiger, who was leaning back against the door, arms crossed over his chest.

Before Dick could even open his mouth to say his piece, the other man spoke.

“If you want to put in a request to Matron for a new partner, I won’t object. In fact, that might be for the best.”

“What?” Dick frowned, confused dread twisting suddenly in his gut. Tiger kept talking.

“If you don’t want to be around me anymore after what happened, I understand. I may admittedly have looser morals than you and your crowd do, but there are some things even I would never do. Assaulting someone is at the top of that list. So—“

“Wait, wait wait,” Dick cut him off. “Tiger, that is not it. If I wasn’t on board I wouldn’t have dragged it out longer than was strictly necessary. I really appreciate your concern, more than you know, but seriously, that’s not what happened. Trust me.”

Tiger looked confused. “But—“

“Besides, didn’t I say in the car that that wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but… you just seemed very uncomfortable and I assumed—“

“I really was just confused. I didn’t just say that to try and make you feel better.”

Tiger frowned, looking even more confused. “Wait,” he said, “now this is me assuming again, but I thought you were… not straight.”

Dick laughed. “No, not gay panic confused, I was confused because of— something else.” He sighed.

“Look, I have… issues. Many issues, that I may or may not tell you about later. Basically, I don’t usually like sexual contact, or most contact that usually leads to sexual contact— I mean, well, just kissing is usually fine, but, like, okay, wait, I’m getting off track.” Dick cleared his throat, then looked Tiger in the eyes, determined to convey his sincerity as much as he possibly could. “What happened between us on that mission… I liked it. I really, really liked it. And I was wondering if… maybe… you’d like to… do it again? Maybe even, you know, do a little more?”

When Tiger didn’t answer right away, Dick coughed and shrugged, looking down. “Or, you know, if you don’t then that’s fine, we can just pretend none of this ever happened and keep on being partners and nothing more, or—“

“Dick.” Tiger was the one to cut him off, this time, and Dick blinked at the use of his first name. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Tiger call him by just his first name before. “What exactly are you suggesting?”

Dick smiled tentatively. “Sort of a… well, you keep insisting we are not friends, even though you’re totally wrong and we totally are, I guess a… coworkers-with-benefits type of arrangement?”

A moment passed where Tiger just looked at him, and Dick could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he considered Dick’s offer. Finally:

“Okay.”

Dick grinned, excitement pushing his heartbeat into overdrive already. “Yeah?”

“Yes.” Tiger finally uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. “I would be lying if I said I had never thought about this.”

He took another step towards Dick, and, the room already being fairly small, this put them very close together. Tiger lightly touched the inside of Dick’s wrist, and Dick trailed his other hand up Tiger’s arm to his shoulder. “You wanna do this right now?” Dick asked, his voice pitched down a little, desperately hoping the answer was yes and Tiger wasn’t just teasing him.

“If you’d like.” Tiger’s voice was also a little deeper than usual, a little lower, not quite a whisper… and his eyes had this glint in them, that made them seem darker than their usual brown. Seductive was the word he was looking for. Dick shivered.

Yeah, this was a great idea. Well, it still was a bad idea, but it was also a good idea, if that made sense. A good bad idea.

“I’d like that very much,” Dick said, but then he blinked, coming back down to earth a little. “Wait, what about your debrief with Matron?”

Tiger’s arms slid around Dick’s waist and pulled him closer. “It can wait,” he said, “May I kiss you?”

Dick shivered. “Please do.”

Over an hour later, Dick laid back against the pillows on Tiger’s bed, flushed and sweaty and gasping for air and feeling like he’d just witnessed the creation of the universe. Tiger all but collapsed next to him, equally dishevelled, and Dick felt a thrill at knowing he’d managed to get the ever cool, aloof, great Tiger King Of Kandahar into that state.

“I’ll have you know,” Dick said, chest still heaving like he’d ran a marathon, as Tiger pulled the blanket up over them. “I don’t usually do this kind of thing. You know, the whole casual thing. You’re just special.”

Tiger hummed and propped himself up on one elbow to hover over Dick. “Lucky me,” he all but purred, stroking a thumb across Dick’s cheek, and Dick felt his heart flutter in a way that had nothing to do with the amount of activity he’d just done for the past hour.

They moved in silently, surrounding the lab on all sides. Tiger gave the signal, and the agents moved again, slipping in past the alarms and security, following Dick’s lead inside

As much as there were many aspects of being a spy that Dick did not enjoy at all, this was pretty firmly in his comfort zone. Stealth missions were familiar territory.

Of course, the next phase wasn’t very stealthy at all, but the former vigilante would cross that bridge when he got to it.

Until then, Dick snuck through the facility towards the main security office, tailed by four more agents backing him up.

Neutralizing the security guards in the office and taking control of the building was easy. They hardwired the distress alarm so it wouldn’t go off when they destroyed the lab, and Dick sent the all clear signal to Tiger and his team.

Then he was out the door and making his way to the main lab, this time not caring for stealth— now, time was of the essence. He took down security guards as he went. He left the unconscious bodies like a trail of breadcrumbs behind him, knowing Tiger’s team would be sweeping the halls and clearing everyone out of the building.

He hadn’t even needed to pull his gun yet, instead continuing to use his signature escrima sticks— he was glad Spyral let him use them.

Dick slid down the ramp leading underground towards the lab and took a running head start once the door was in sight. He aimed a flying kick and busted the door right in off its hinges with a thunderous bang.

“Sorry to crash the party,” Dick smirked even though he knew none of the shocked software engineers inside could see his facial expression, brandishing his escrimas, “but—“

He was cut off by Tiger and his team coming in behind him.

“Enough of your quips, 37.” Tiger said, then, to the room at large, “You’re all under arrest. I suggest you come quietly— struggling will be futile and no one is going to come for you if you scream.”

Tiger barely even had to point his gun at the room of scientists for them to immediately drop what they were doing and raise their hands in surrender. The other agents started filing them out of the room, and Dick went over to the main computer to get to work just as a large metal crate was wheeled in.

This lab had way more thorough security measures than Guillespe’s desktop did, that was for sure-- for one, getting into the main computer was a little more complicated than a simple password. And surely there would be more roadblocks and traps to come-- but Dick was prepared for those.

Dick focused on getting into the computer while Tiger directed his agents to wheel the crate over to near the computer system where Dick was working and open it up. Inside was one of the three bombs they were going to use to blow up the facility. He watched out of the corner of his eye as they got it set up and ready to go. Tiger walked over and watched over Dick’s shoulder as he kept working at the computer.

“You’re confident you’ll get out with the plans in time?”

To the untrained ear it just sounded like Tiger was reaffirming the mission was set to go smoothly, but Dick was no untrained ear. He smiled up at his partner.

“Aw, don’t you worry ‘bout lil’ ol’ me, Tony,” He said, saccharinely sweet, even reaching up to pat Tiger on the cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

“Ugh,” Tiger pulled back with a groan of disgust. “Don’t call me that. Just keep your comm in and don’t do anything stupid, you idiot.”

“How could I?” Dick gestured to the computer. Beside them, the other agents finished setting up the bomb and got it online. “What could I fuck up from here?”

“I’m sure you could find plenty.” Tiger retorted, then pressed a finger to his comm to check in with the rest of his team and the bombs. “Is everything synced up?”

He must have gotten affirmatives, because then he nodded at the other agents, and they all left the room, probably to finish clearing the building while they still had time. Tiger made to follow them out, then turned back to Dick.

“Remember--” Tiger pointed a stern, bordering on menacing finger at him, “The mission protocol. If you do not have enough time to download the plans and get out, then evacuate immediately. Don’t be a self-sacrificing idiot. Understand?”

Dick laughed. “Aw, Agent 1,” he crooned. “Careful. I might start to think you care about me.”

Tiger scoffed and turned away once more. “Of course not. I am not attached to you, we are partners, not friends.”

“Partners with benefits,” Dick reminded him, just to be annoying. Tiger smacked him upside the head.

“You’re wasting time,” he grumbled, and left without another word.

As soon as Dick was alone in the room he spun around in the chair, the smile falling from his face and replaced with a more somber one.

You cared about your last partner, he thought bitterly. And look how badly I managed to fuck that up for you.

There had been too many variables, too many unknowns for him to have been able to form a solid plan on how to destroy the tech plans and make it seem like he hadn’t done it on purpose, so he was going to have to do a lot of improvising.

He glanced at the clock on the bomb. It had started counting down already-- they were on a tight schedule, Spyral could only hang around here for so long before someone noticed-- but there was still plenty of time. There should have still been plenty of time.

Dick went back to work on hacking into the computer. He had to make it seem like he at least tried, after all.

Things had been going perfectly well, everyone had been arrested and cleared out of the building on time, the bombs had been set up and were set to go off on time, all the other agents had gotten out on time, and according to Dick’s last update he would also be done and out on time. But still, a sense of unease followed Tiger as he paced just outside the blast zone at the entrance to the facility. He checked the remote detonator in his hand-- there were only two and a half minutes left on the timer before the bombs would go off. He frowned and looked back at the open entrance, then back down at the timer.

He didn’t want to admit it, not even to himself, but he thought having Dick alone in there was a glaring flaw in the plan-- not even for logistical reasons. It was exactly as Dick teased him about earlier-- he was worried.

Dick should be out by now-- down to two minutes, and it would take that long, even running at top speed, for Dick to make it from the main lab to the entrance and out of the blast zone.

Something wasn’t right. He activated his comm and was about to demand another update when suddenly a blast door slid shut over the entrance to the facility, inside, through the quickly closing gap, a red light was flashing that had not been before, and they could distantly hear an alarm. Tiger and the other agents yelled out, running back to the entrance, but it shut before they got there.

Damnit, Tiger thought, gritting his teeth. “Damnit!” He repeated out loud. Then into his comm, “Agent 37, what is going on down there! Agent 37, respond!”

“Okay, that should be about it…” Dick muttered to himself. “Just gotta plug in and…”

He’d managed to get through all the different layers and levels of security right on schedule, all while brainstorming stories of failsafes and corrupted files, and was finally ready to enact the final step of the plan. He pulled the USB out of his pocket and plugged it into the computer-- and that was where things went wrong.

All of a sudden every screen in the whole lab turned red-- and the lights overhead turned red and started flashing, and an alarm started blaring so loud Dick had to cover his ears.

“Shit, what the fuck!” Dick yelled over the blaring siren, looking back at the main screen-- there was a message displayed in large black text over the red background. ‘UNAUTHORIZED DATA READER INSERTED. INITIATING FAILSAFE 22B-1’

“Fuck!” Dick heard a sudden heavy metal thunk behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see a secondary blast door had closed over the entrance to the lab. “Fuck!”

He ran over and started looking for a way to get the door open just as his comm crackled to life.

“Agent 37, what is going on down there! Agent 37, respond!” Tiger roared in his ear. Dick could barely hear him over the alarm.

“Uh,” Dick shouted back, still scrutinizing every inch on the seal of the door. “I think I’m trapped inside!”

“Inside the building?”

“Inside the main lab! There was a second emergency door that closed over the doorway, and I can’t get it open and I don’t have anything to break it open with!”

“Fuck!” Dick heard Tiger yell through the comms.

“Fuck!” Tiger yelled. He reared on the agent closest to him. “Get this door open!”

“Agent 1, with all due respect--” the agent replied, “There’s only one minute left before the bombs go off. Even if we could get the door open, we wouldn’t be able to get Agent 37 out in time.”

Another agent pitched in-- extremely unhelpfully, in Tiger’s opinion. “We need to clear out of the blast zone.”

Tiger snarled, and spun away from the door, following the rest of the team back out of the blast zone towards the shuttle. Blood was roaring in his ears, he could feel the tips of his fingers tingling with oncoming numbness. Dick is going to die, he thought helplessly, trying not to choke on it. He’s going to die.

“Agent-- Grays-- Dick,” Tiger said into his comm. “I-- I’m sorry… we--”

Well, Dick thought to himself with a sort of detached humour, this is one fine pickle I’ve gotten myself into.

The seconds on the bomb kept ticking down closer to zero. Dick looked back at the computer, the flashing screen, and back at the bomb. He sighed, far calmer than someone in his situation ought to be. But, if this was the end… well, this was the end.

Resigned to the knowledge he wasn’t getting out of there, Dick walked away from the door and slipped under the desk furthest from the main computer, tucking himself into a neat little ball in the tight space.

“Agent-- Grays-- Dick. I-- I’m sorry… we--”

“I know, Tiger.” Dick said. “It’s okay.”

He couldn’t see the timer on the bomb from there, but he knew there were only seconds left. He closed his eyes. “I--”

The first thing Dick felt when he woke up was confused. The second thing he felt was pain.

He cracked one eye open against the bright white lights above him, trying and probably failing to stifle a groan of extreme discomfort. It took a second for him to realize someone was there, and that someone was talking to him. He slowly, slowly and painfully, turned his head-- his neck was in some kind of semi-brace-- to the side.

Helena was standing to his right, looking over some kind of clipboard in her hand. “You sustained severe internal and external damage from both the blast and the whole building falling down on top of you,” she was saying. “Some burns, mostly lacerations, broken bones and damaged organs. Both your legs are broken-- your right tibia and your left femur, and so is your collarbone and your left humerus. Several ribs. We had to do extensive surgery on your knee, it was all kinds of messed up. Your lungs were severely damaged, one punctured by a rib. Your stomach was also damaged, but not punctured, and you can thank God that your spine is still completely intact.”

She finished her speech, setting the clipboard aside and finally actually looking Dick in the eye. “But despite all that, somehow, you’re expected to make a full recovery. Welcome back to the land of the living, 37.”

There was a hint of a smile in her eye. Dick squinted at her, still struggling to comprehend pretty much everything. All of that went completely unprocessed. “...Huh?” His throat and tongue both felt like sandpaper.

Helena blinked, and looked at her watch. “Oh, your painkillers are probably worn off by now,” She said. “I’ll give you another dose.”

“N--no, I don’t need--” Dick tried to protest on instinct, but the second he tried to move sparks of pain went rocketing up and down his entire body, and he couldn’t stifle his cry of pain this time. Helena nodded.

“I’m giving you another dose.”

Dick watched, detached and still confused, as she administered the painkillers. “So… I’m not dead?”

Helena couldn’t help her smile this time. “No, you’re not dead,” she laughed. “You have the big guy over here to thank for that.”

She pointed towards the other side of the bed, (Dick only just then registered he was in a hospital bed in a private room in the medbay) and Dick-- slowly-- turned his head to look. To his shock, slumped over in the hard plastic chair and fast asleep, was Tiger.

“You have no idea how many agents’ heads he almost bit off demanding we dig you out of there.” Helena continued. “He yelled at me, too, when you got back. A lot. The man has balls of steel. And a soft spot for you, it would seem.”

This time her smile was a little softer, a little indulgent. “I understand the feeling. He refused to go and rest pretty much the entire time you were in surgery-- we could hardly even get him to sit down. He didn’t crash until it was confirmed, with certainty, that you were stable and going to pull through.”

Dick looked back at Tiger with no small amount of wonderment in his eyes. Helena reached down and patted his undamaged shoulder. “Get some more rest, now. I’ll save your debriefing for until you’re a little more lucid.”

With that she turned on her sharp heel and stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Dick watched her go and then turned his head again (moving was easier now that the meds were kicking in) to rest his gaze on Tiger’s sleeping form. He tried to remember if he had ever actually seen Tiger sleep before.

Tiger ducked and sheilded his eyes on instinct when the building exploded, despite knowing they were out of range of debris. He stared at the site as the explosions continued to light up the night sky and tear the building apart, the ground around it ripping up and caving in on itself, knowing and not caring about the openly distraught expression that was surely on his face.

Everyone else watched in silence, and Tiger fought the urge to fall to his knees in the sand.

Dick… no…

No.

Suddenly Tiger face hardened and he clenched his fists, turning back to his team before the dust had even settled.

“Agent 14,” He snapped. “Call in backup, we’re going to need debris removal hardware and a full search team.”

Lucky for everyone around, the agent didn’t protest or question him, just ducked immediately into the shuttle to contact HQ. Tiger turned back to the destroyed facility, determination pulling the lines of his body stiff like stone.

I’m not losing another partner tonight, he thought. I refuse.

I am not losing him.

Tiger jolted awake, jerking in the chair and almost punching himself in the face when the hand he’d propped his cheek on slipped. He shook his head, trying to clear it of lingering bad memories that had chased him into sleep, and caught his eye on movement from the hospital bed before him.

Dick was awake, eyes wide open and slowly trying to reach towards him with his-- mostly-- uninjured arm--

Dick was awake!!!

He almost fell out of his chair, spared a second to feel embarrassed by his displays of clumsiness, and grabbed Dick’s hand out of the air, placing it back at the man’s side on the bed.

“Grayson--” Tiger resisted stuttering when Dick didn’t let him retract his hand, his grip surprisingly strong for someone who had just survived an explosion. “You-- you… idiot.”

He seethed suddenly. “Didn’t I tell you not to do anything stupid! Didn’t I give you clear and strict orders not to--” He cut himself off when he saw Dick start to smile, then smile wider, then start to laugh.

It was a soft and raspy thing, Dick’s voice rough from lack of use in the days he had remained unconscious and sedated, by no objective terms should it have been beautiful in any way--

And yet--

And yet…

Tiger looked away. “Stop that,” He muttered. “Stop it. You could have died. You were going to die. You-- I--”

Words failed him, and Dick’s expression softened. “Sorry,” he said. Not teasing. Not poking fun at anything. Just genuinely apologetic for making Tiger worried, for making Tiger upset. Tch. As if it had actually been his fault at all… no one had predicted the lab would seal itself.

“Idiot,” Tiger said, squeezing Dick’s hand before he could think better of it. It was the only thing he could think to say. Dick grinned again.

“Pretty badass that you yelled at Helena,” he said, and Tiger blinked-- how did he know about that?-- “And you… well, you saved my life. Again. That’s two I owe you now, right? I should say thank you.”

Tiger looked down, finally tuggung his hand free of Dick’s-- and immediately missed the contact. “Idiot,” he muttered again. “You don’t owe me anything. Now get some more rest.” He stood from the chair, and Dick obediently settled back into the pillows.

Tiger walked around the bed towards the door, and made to leave, but paused despite himself in the open doorway. “I’m… glad you’re alright, Dick.” He whispered, unsure if Dick would even hear it. Then he flicked the light off and left, closing the door behind him. He didn’t look back.

And with that he let go, dropping the screaming merchant down into the sea. He fell in the water with a splash, his head re-appearing above the surface once, twice, before he bobbed down and did not come back up.

Not one thread of remorse tugged at Tiger’s heart as he walked to the captain’s cabin, whistling a little on his way down the stairs. This sort of thing was normal for him. Killing, stealing... that was simply what his life had become. He did not regret it-- he couldn't.

If Tiger ever let himself regret, he knew it would consume him. His mistakes were irreparable.

The door was locked, as the merchant said it would be, but Tiger was far from discouraged. He aimed a mighty kick at the door and it collapsed with a bang, falling into the room in splintered pieces. He walked into the room, feeling quite satisfied with himself. He only made it maybe about two steps before he stopped dead and the feeling dropped, as he spotted what could have only been what the merchant meant as his greatest treasure.

In the middle of the room sat a small glass box, with no top and filled with water. Sitting inside, scrunched up and visibly uncomfortable in his confines, was a merman.

Tiger could do nothing but stare. The merman was looking at him with wide, shocked eyes, eyes that were an unnaturally bright shade of blue, shining even in the dim light of the captain’s cabin. The top of the glass box came up to just under his arms, which were draped over and holding on to the edge of the case. His hair was sleek and black like coal and curled around the base of his skull and his pointed ears, which looked as though they’d at one point had many piercings in them, though the merman wore no jewelry.

He was also covered in bruises, cuts, and scrapes along the back of his arms, his torso and gilled neck. Two nasty looking bruises marred his face at the right corner of his mouth and just underneath his left eye. What looked like rope burns criss-crossed his otherwise smooth, cinnamon-brown skin, and there were places on his tail, curled up and stuffed in the box as it was, where it looked like some of his scales had been torn off, leaving patches of swollen red muscle exposed. That, and the pain clear in the merman’s eyes, made it all a terrible sight, and Tiger felt sick to think that the merchant’s most valuable possession was a sentient, living being obviously kept here against his will.

He was glad he’d killed him.

Suddenly the merman extended a hand to him, reaching out as far as he could from the glass case, and Tiger nearly jumped back in surprise.

“Can you help me?” said the merman, and Tiger was taken aback by how clear and strong his voice was, contrary to his posture. “Please, help me.”

Tiger stood frozen in place. The merman leaned out of the case, reaching harder towards him, extending his arm as far as it could go. “Please.” There was an almost desperate edge to the word. Something in the merman’s eyes drew Tiger forward, as if in a trance. He approached the case, and the merman grabbed him by the hand, tugging him closer. Tiger was pretty sure he himself was still in a state of shock as he was pulled down to his knees on the floor next to the merman.

Of course, he knew, in theory, that merpeople existed, but he had never seen one before, even in all his years at sea. They hardly ever came up to the surface. Rare, elusive creatures, merpeople were.

“How did you get here?” Tiger asked. The merman looked away as if in shame.

“I... was exploring, too close to the shore. I got caught in a fisherman’s net and I tried to get away but-- then the fisherman brought me onto land and sold me to the man who owns this ship. And now I’m so far from home, and I don’t know how to get back, I don’t think I could make the trip on my own anyway, injured as I am…” The merman looked at him again imploringly. “Please, help me get back to my family. I can promise you a great reward if you do.”

Tiger regarded the merman curiously. “What kind of reward?”

“Riches beyond your wildest dreams,” Said the merman, looking Tiger in the eye, in such a way that Tiger couldn’t help but believe him. “My father is a king, and I am his eldest son. He will pay you so handsomely if you were to bring me home.”

Tiger’s eyebrows raised. This merman was a prince? Then helping him really would be in Tiger’s best interest.

“Alright, I will help you.” He said, and the merman’s face lit up with a smile. “Where is your home?”

“West, very far west.” The merman squeezed Tiger’s hand. “It is quite the journey. Thank you.”

Tiger frowned at his expression of gratitude. “I have not helped you yet.”

The merman smiled at him. “True.” He said. “Why don’t you start by getting me out of this damn box?”

He lifted his arms up in a way that made Tiger think of a small child demanding to be carried. He huffed, grabbing the merman under his arms and lifting him up into the air. Tiger let out an involuntary wheeze. The merman was far heavier than he had expected him to be— and he even had the audacity to snicker at Tiger’s struggle.

“What’s your name?” The merman said, unbothered as he flopped about while Tiger struggled to lift and get a proper hold on him-- not only was he heavy, he was slippery too. He wrapped his arms around Tiger’s neck.

“Tiger.” Tiger grunted. The merman smiled.

“My name is Dick.”

Tiger hefted Dick up so the merman’s torso was draped over his shoulders like a fine scarf, his tail looped loosely around his arm and hanging down towards the floor, but not dragging. He mumbled an apology when Dick hissed in pain at the sudden pressure on his bruised ribs.

He started walking towards the door now that he was balanced properly, but Dick stopped him.

“Wait,” he said, pointing at an ornate coffer on the desk. “My crown.”

Tiger redirected his steps to the desk. He clicked the coffer open, and Dick reached down to retrieve it contents.

First he pulled out a pair of earrings— three fat, shimmering blue pearls (Tiger didn’t know pearls could be that colour, or size, but maybe it was a bottom-of-the-ocean thing) on a sharp hook that he put carefully through the holes in his earlobes.

Next was a long, complicated, looping strand of pearls that matched the earrings. Tiger didn’t find out what they were for, because instead of putting them on Dick handed the tangled strand to Tiger, who shoved it in his pocket.

Last was a crown unlike any Tiger had seen or heard of before. It looked like thin, twining vines made of pure gold, decorated in some of the empty spaces between with smaller versions of the rest of the merman’s pearls. It was magnificent, and Tiger was sure, then, that Dick would make good on his promise of a reward.

They left that evening. Tiger told Helena what he had to do, and she gave him her blessing to go on the journey with a twinkle in her eye that Tiger could not explain if he tried. Unfortunately Helena-- and her ship-- were going in the opposite direction Dick and Tiger wanted, so Tiger placed the merman in a lifeboat, poured only just enough water into the bottom to keep Dick from drying out, and off they went.

Dick could not simply swim across the ocean, just as Tiger could not simply walk across Asia, especially not injured. So Tiger planned to make their way to the coast, claim a ship for their own by whatever means they deemed fit, one large enough to safely sail across the Atlantic, and get to Dick’s home that way.

“Does the salt not hurt you?” Tiger asked in the middle of his rowing (he would have made Dick row as well, so he wouldn’t have to do all the work himself, if not for the fact that Dick did not have the limbs necessary to brace himself in the boat to do so). Dick looked up from where he was trailing his arm along in the water, feeling the current as their little lifeboat moved through the blessedly calm waves.

“What do you mean?” He said.

“The salt of the water, in your cuts. Doesn’t it hurt?”

Dick frowned at him. “No? Why? Does salt hurt humans?”

“Of course. It stings wickedly, when it gets in an open wound.”

Dick hummed, considering this. “Humans are very strange.”

Tiger scoffed. Perhaps that was true, and the human body was, in fact, quite strange, but Tiger didn’t think it could be any stranger than that of a merperson. He did not voice that thought, though, only continued to row through the small waves. Dick turned his attention back down to the water, watching it ripple around his arm. He leaned down to rest his chin on the back of his hand on the edge of the boat. He had a serene look on his face, like all his troubles had disappeared with his newfound proximity to the ocean.

Tiger was not as happy about it. He’d discovered within seconds that the water they’d placed in the bottom of the boat would very quickly soak through his boots, and so he was barefoot, feet wet. At least this lifeboat had seats, so he was not soaking his pants as well.

It was while the sun was starting to set and he was starting to feel the ache in his arms that it fully struck Tiger just how much he was doing for this strange creature he’d just met.

The thought came to him along with a strong sense of unease. While Tiger had never met a merperson before that day, he had heard plenty, including stories of merpeople putting sailors under spells, luring them to a watery death with their sweet voices and wicked smiles. Could this merman have put Tiger under his will?

But no, Tiger shook the notion away almost as soon as it occurred to him. He was just being paranoid.

If Dick had wanted to drown him, he’d had ample time to do it already.

But still, Tiger thought as he eyed the curve of Dick’s spine and the way his full, soft-looking lips parted slightly around a quiet sigh, maybe there was another reason he was so eager to help him. Aside from the promise of a reward, that is. He felt his gaze wander as if of its own accord across the merman’s figure, lingering, examining the way the setting sun reflected off Dick’s eyes, and glinted on the pearls draped over his body. (He found out what that other mess of pearls was for-- it was almost like a necklace, with strands that hung around his neck, shoulders and torso, and connected at various places, including over his sternum, the nape of his neck, and the small of his back.)

Tiger would have to be completely blind not to notice Dick’s beauty, regardless of his injuries. He could almost understand why the merchant had wanted to put him on display-- but as soon as the thought occurred to him he banished it, a dark feeling coiling in his gut at the prospect of relating on any level to the scum that had kept this person, prefix of mer irrelevant, captive. He redoubled his rowing efforts as if he could run from the shame, and kept his eyes from then on fixed on the horizon.

He thought of Dick’s injuries-- and did not look-- and felt sick at the idea of objectifying him like the ones who had done that to him had.