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( the extent of cooking that bruce would do would be heating leftovers up in the microwave after ordering in. which, he could very well do in the morning. maybe. that implies hanging around longer than he maybe should, though. for now, he can claim it's due to exhaustion, but. come the morning, what excuse does he have then? things he'll figure out then.

for now, a breath leaves him — fingers pushing back dark strands of hair and settling there on the crown of his head. quiet. something familiar when around bruce; how often he ends up lost in his head. )

Chinese works.

( when's the last time he had that? he's not sure. a lot of the times, nights simply blur together for him. feeling as if they're one never ending long night. but the thought of food is enough to get himself to push himself up onto his elbows. pausing. taking a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose. his body still feels lazy after all of that. )

Where's the shower?

[In general, Dick understands that what's here is a moment to moment thing. He knows that Bruce is there for the night, and that's all he can count on for now. It's more than enough. He gets the rest of the night, and he will take it and use it to enjoy everything they shared and expand on it in the little ways he can. He likes Bruce, and that goes beyond having sex with him once, even if he knows and heard every word that Bruce said about how it was all a bad idea, and how it would end up hurting Dick.

Still, he's willing to live moment by moment, especially for tonight.

Rolling over, Dick pulls out his phone and puts in an order for various things from an all night Chinese restaurant that delivers. He likes the fact that he can do it all through the phone and never have to speak to a soul, and they'll drop it off at his front door when it's ready.

Looking back at Bruce, who's now up on his elbows, Dick sits up. Taking a breath, he nods towards the open door in the bedroom. ]

It's in there. Give me a second and I'll get out towels and get it started. Do you want to shower alone, or is company okay.

( slender fingers card through dark strands of hair, slowly falling away between them which bruce takes a quiet moment to stare at as he mulls over dick's question. he doesn't even need to say it. he knows dick would like to join him despite his giving him the option to shower alone. this is where his overthinking slowly starts to creep in after the gentle descent he's currently in from the high he'd felt with fucking dick. it's a strange sort of limbo to be in, he thinks. where his brain is beginning to analyze this to hell and back, while his body still feels content and satisfied with something it's been denied for too long.

a slow turn of his head, blue eyes stare to the naked man there beside him in bed and he takes a moment to consider. he knows it has to make dick feel some sort of way whenever he does that. whenever he falls silent. overthinks. because dick has to know how [any] bruce is with his quirks.

licking over his lips, he looks down to the crumpled sheets. )

Saves water with company.

( letting himself look over to dick again, a one shoulder shrug is given. )

If that concerns you.

[Privacy is always an option for anyone after Dick has sex with them. He's never one to force himself on a person, no matter his feelings or non-feelings. He does what is prudent and right by his standards. The silence settles over the room, and Dick knows that Bruce has gone back to his prior self, the one that thinks and overthinks things.

Then there's the heavy weight of those eyes on him once again. They feel about twenty times heavier after all that they've been through now, now that Dick's seen the sheen of desire flame through them, and the burden of want and need flash lightning through blue iris. A sigh breaks Dick's own silence and he moves towards the side of the bed, taking a bottle of water to drink from.

He hands it over to Bruce. The last thing that Dick is worried about is conservation of water, but it's an easy way for Bruce to say yes, Dick realizes. ]

Then I guess we can save the planet a little.

[Moving into his large en-suite, Dick spins the two dials on the shower and turns on both shower heads. Their spray meets in the middle, for a complete experience. Letting it grow warm, Dick turns and moves to the cabinet and pulls out a few towels to hang on the warming rod as well. ]

You can start out, and I'll join you once I've stripped the bed.

( he follows dick only after a moment of staying back, looking to the mess that is the other man's bed and already replaying everything over in his head. intoxicating. that's how it felt — how dick felt both around him and beneath him. the way it felt to be buried so deeply inside the other man and feel the way muscles moved against his own. part of him wonders if it's been wrong to deny himself such a feeling — such an intimacy with another for as long as he has, but. more often than not, the things he wants aren't necessarily things he can have. or so he believes.

standing there in the doorway of the en-suite, he nods to the other man when the shower starts up — when he says he intends to fix the bed first. )

Thanks.

( a word soft on his lips, it's with a gentle tilt of his head in dick's direction as he goes. he's trying to think of ways to not have this be awkward between them, but. he's slipping back into the socially inept bruce wayne now that his cock isn't buried inside the other man. again, he lets himself think about that for just a moment before he takes it upon himself to step into the shower and leave dick to tending to the bed.

maybe he can wash those nagging thoughts away under the warmth of the water that cascades down his pale, scarred skin. )

[The more Dick moves, the more he can feel the stretch from Bruce's cock having been inside him. There's still a trail of wetness down his thigh, that's another reminder. Dick knows that he'll be sore in the morning, and he's living for how it feels to know this high, to recall over and over those moments that Bruce had him on the bed, the thickness of Bruce's breath on his neck as he pushed so deeply into Dick's body. The feeling is one that will stay with him for a long time to come. Maybe that will bring awkwardness, or maybe it will draw out some form of intention eventually.

Humming softly, Dick quickly moves around his bed. He's been through the routine so many times that it takes no time at all to change everything, including the mattress pad, and have it military neat for them both to retire to after the showers. Stepping into the bathroom, steam rolls out from the glass doors surrounding the place where Bruce stands letting hot water do it's job.

Not for the first time tonight, it robs Dick of breath. The pale scarred skin is only a sign of hardwork, a masterpiece of imperfections to study for nights on end in Dick's mind. He knows his own skin is much like that, knife & sword marks, even bullet wounds here and there. He watches Bruce for a little bit before opening the door and stepping in.

Moving into Bruce's space, he reaches around him for the soap and places a kiss on his shoulder, tasting the water there. He runs a soapy hand along the other male's midsection, and then around to his back. He doesn't say a word, but works his hands with a practiced ease, massaging muscles where he finds tension, soaping every inch of space, all the way down to the curve of Bruce's cheeks. ]

( he feels dick's presence even before he steps into the shower with him. maybe it's because of tonight. or maybe it's because he's batman. either way, he isn't caught by surprise when he feels the gentle brush of a hand over him. if anything, it's enough to quietly pull him from the thoughts that circle within his mind as the water does around the drain. to right here. right now. another moment that will be seen as fleeting and has all too soon slipped through wet fingers.

dick's touch is grounding in a way bruce didn't know he needed. much like before, on the couch. where lips and fingers brushed over each other and touched him in ways that made him sigh in something other than exhaustion for once... he finds himself leaning back ever so gently into the other man, letting hands and fingers roam over him as they so please with soap and water.

it's only after a moment — of water cascading down the slope of his shoulder, that he slowly turns to face the other man and, so gentle like the water falling on them, lips brush over dick's for a kiss that has such a sweetness to it, it feels almost fragile.

fleeting, eyes slipped shut, bruce lets his forehead press to dick's then and he sighs as he stands there. quiet. simply letting himself feel not only the water, but this moment. for whatever it may be. however long it may last. until it disappears into the shadows of this night and is left there. like so many things of his are. )

[the moment for whatever it was worth, a million stars on a lonely night cast across a galaxy held within the arms of infinity, or maybe only the lone sound of a saxaphone playing through a dirty crime filled city to minions that will never care-- whatever it was worth, it lingered and bred a seed of something deeper within Dick, a something he didn't care to look at or really even want. And yet, it curled like the steam around them as lip tasted lip in that soft, sympathetic touch.

Inhaling deeply, Dick curled his fingers around Bruce's hips and held him near while their foreheads met in quiet contemplation. It settled, and Dick tipped his head forward, brushing their lips together again, and once more, measuring a compassion he hadn't thought to offer before when his mouth parted this time. It wasn't as needy or desperate, merely warm and inviting.

It was as if the spray of water that surrounded them had opened up another set of arms, and recreated it in the form of a body that tenderly wrapped itself around Bruce inch by inch, in a terribly slow fashion. Nothing was hurried, and nothing gained momentum other than the sighs and weighted feelings that came undone in that small glass cage that held them in a tenuous exchange as the physical evidence of their earlier pleasures washed away.

( a moment like this feels dangerous, almost. it's one thing to be physically close to another — to indulge in desires that are carnal at the very root of it. but this... these touches, soft as they are, and the way he finds himself leaning into the warmth of the other man there with him beneath the water falling down around them... it might hurt to lose this. if he lets himself fall into it too much. fall into dick.

fall into this.

he noses at dick. slow and soft. lips barely there over his again before he tilts his head away from the other man. pad of a thumb slowly brushing over a scar dick wears across his skin. blue eyes watching the way he gently drags his thumb down. he's like him in this way. wearing scars so few get to see across skin... and the ones beneath, angry and deep across the soul, even fewer get to see. )

How late do you usually get up?

( because lord knows they're not always up at the crack of dawn when they're constantly working nights. )

[Lingering tides that come in from the shore, captured and kept. Dick knows what is and what was shared between them is impossibly dangerous, and it's the kind of thing that can easily be taken at any moment's notice. Before the night started, Dick did his best to guard against the searing pain that would eventually come and mark another scar somewhere deep inside him. It was an eventuality, and he'd figured that it would come one day, especially once Bruce had taken him, had filled him. Dick knew there was no coming back from that.

Now is no different. He took watches as Bruce traces a thumb down his scar, thinking about how similar they are. Dick takes his own index finger and marks a wound on Bruce's shoulder, shorter, more distinct and fresher, he's certain. It's still there, they both know the marks from blade and loss. Everyone hurts them, and they all leave. Inevitability, all of it.

The question brings his head up.]

I don't have anything important in the morning, so it'll happen when it does. It's not late now, so it won't be late morning. Maybe eight? I can get up earlier if you wish.

I was just wondering.

( words soft under the shower spray, there's the gentle nosing between them that comes again, lashes dark and thick with eyes falling shut. he'll hate to leave this — this warmth from both the shower and the man with him, but. eventually, they'll need to get out. eventually, they'll fall asleep. eventually, he'll leave in the morning.

it's partly why he'd asked when dick was going to be getting up. thinking... maybe it might be better for him to leave before the other wakes. that it would be easier for the both of them, but. what does he know? it's not as if he's routinely found in such a situation that he has it down to a science with how to go about it. maybe he won't. maybe he will. he'll figure it out whenever he wakes.

letting himself pull back some, he swipes his tongue over his bottom lip — a flick of his head as a means to get the water out of his face. hair sticking wet to his forehead and temples. )

Food should be here soon.

It's no trouble.

[Inhale and then exhale. There's got to be a strategy to this, to intimacy to this desire to keep someone near even when Dick doesn't know how long he gets it for. There's more. Dick wants to continue to talk, to keep their bodies naked and alive, touching here and there -- so that it doesn't stop for as long as he can.

Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned food, but the truth was they had to eat. Even now his stomach turns over and announces its presence. He chuckles and runs a hand along Bruce's hip and along the curve of his ass. He noses a last lingering kiss to the base of the other man's neck, right there at the crease, far below his ear. ]

Yeah, I guess I should throw on a robe and go to the front door to get it. We can eat it naked in bed if you want. It would make Alfred throw a fit, but he's not here. It's just us. Or, you can get the other robe hanging on the rack next to the towels.

[Cupping Bruce's face one final time, Dick leans over and kisses him lightly and then leaves the shower. He uses one of the warm towels to dry off and then dresses in the robe and heads off to get the Chinese from the front door, and some bottles of water from the kitchen.

Reappearing, he sets it all on the bed, plates, silverware and the like as well, in case they want to be formal and not just dig all the food out of the containers like Dick normally does.]

( this moment was sure to end. bruce knows it. he knows dick knows it, too. regardless of how much time spent here — together — in the warmth they've found within both each other and the confines of the shower, it'll never be enough.

bruce opts for the robe when the suggestion is made and takes his time to dry himself off after dick leaves him to address the food situation. he stands there. alone. staring to the blurred reflection of himself in the fogged mirror he stands in front of. there's that part of him that wonders what he's doing— it would make alfred throw a fit dick had said in regards to food, but bruce tacks it onto if he knew about this. about them. what had transpired above sheets that have now been changed.

tying the robe at his waist, he joins the other man there in the bedroom and stands for a moment. quiet. thinking. if one knows bruce, they know that expression he gets on his face when he's slipping into whatever thought is nagging at him. granted, he's not liable to talk about it, but. that's bruce wayne for you. )

Silverware?

( the word comes out soft as he pads his way to the bed. )

Getting fancy on me.

[No matter what Dick knows, he's still going to expand on a hope that one day their shared experiences will bring them back to this and to the space where they find a common ground that doesn't continue to break with a myriad of spiraling thoughts upon the morning light, which is always far, far too bright for them both. Dick may be better aquainted with it than Bruce is currently, but that doesn't mean he always was.

It certainly doesn't mean he still doesn't see better in the dark. In fact when the food is brought in, the only light that Dick leaves on is one in the hall that casts a dim shadow across the room allowing them a slightly better vantage of the bed and the various types of food. It's really only on out there even in case a grain of rice gets wildly out of hand, obviously.

Dick takes his time to watch Bruce gather himself, enjoying the view of the wet man tying a robe around himself. It leaves bits partially exposed, and bits of chest showing-- and is rather enticing all in itself. Dick smirks, and then laughs at the thought of Chinese ever being fancy. ]

Oh yes. I broke out the fancy dishwear. You see these paper plates, and yes, silverware. I thought the wonton soup might go better with a spoon than fingers. I mean, we could pour it down our gullets, but we might choke on the bigger pieces, and I'm not up for lifesaving measures tonight. All that stuff is in the other room.

[What's funny, is he really does have everything needed to preform minor surgery in a room down the hall, even if he only needed a heimlich maneuver. ]

What do you want first, Eggroll or sweet and sour chicken. I also have lomein, and some spicy shrimp stuff. Crab rangoons, and I think there's even chow mein too. Then two boxes of white rice. I planned for left overs, obviously.

( ultimately, he comes to sit down on one side of the bed, leg pressed to the bed while the other dangles off the side. hair damp, he brushes a few strands out of his face as he lets himself take a look at what dick went and ordered for them. )

Sounds like you ordered more than enough.

( given their extensive workout, he knows an appetite has been built, but. still. he finds it... funny. if even to himself. )

Eggroll. ( a beat. ) And sweet and sour chicken.

( even as he makes his decision, he reaches for a paper plate. more than willing to dish himself out some of the dinner that's laid out before them on the bed. what would alfred think? indeed. )

You know that saying about eyes being bigger than the stomach? I think it might have been a case of that. My stomach was starting to eat itself. I feel like I could eat most of this, but I imagine that once I get started I'll wear out once I get a little in me.

[Normally Dick eats ridiculously healthy and it drove the rest of the younger Titans nuts, but tonight was all about splurging. He reaches for a beer he got out, now that all the rest of the alcohol had been pushed from his system. He had water standing by too. He knows that he'll go through a few more bottles of that in between. He can feel the natural dehydration from alcoholic and physical depletion settle in.

Having moved up to the headboard, Dick has a pillow propped up and leans against it as he plates himself some lomein, rice, and an eggroll. He also grabs a few sauce packets to squeeze out. Nothing like a little hot mustard to dip the eggroll into. Grabbing a set of chopsticks, Dick smiles and takes a deep breath.]

Do you have any big plans brewing? Charity or Bat-wise. I know that things haven't been easy for you lately.

[He tips his head, because there's a small disconnect between the past and present and how the wayne fortune that dick handles is different than the one that Bruce currently commands. The current regime doesn't have nearly the reach or the funding yet. He has faith that Bruce will find his stride, but also knows that he needs a lot more time.]

Not really.

( the words are soft, bruce taking a moment to help himself to some of the food he has there on his plate. when he remembers to eat — when alfred makes sure he eats, he does. sometimes he just gets too busy to. or sometimes he's not in the mood to, strange as it sounds. still. he's eating now. on the bed. with dick. something he can't ever say he thought would ever happen. then again... this entire night is not anything he thought would ever happen.

and here they are.

he reaches for the water — helps himself to a slow gulp before he's looking over to dick for a moment. )

Still trying to figure that out.

( how to be bruce wayne again, rather than just the batman as he tends to easily slip into. much to alfred's dismay. )

[Took Dick years to realize all the different roles that his mentor actually played, and the work that he put into the portrait of the man he'd become. He was there for some of the earlier years, the darker ones. He'd often see it when his mentor would sequester himself for a month or more on end, never leaving the cave-- going out night after night on some tortured hunt. Some of the biggest fell during those times, and Gotham was saved repeatedly.

More would always come, and come back. If recent events had shown anything, it would show that death was never permanent and the darkest haunts always slipped back in the shadows to rise again. Taking a bite of rice, Dick nodded.]

It's not easy. I'm happy to be taking a short break from anything earth shattering right now. I had too much happen in a row. I don't know how much you caught of the Red Hood incident, but it was a mess. It'll be nice to work by your side when the newest threat shows up.

[Slipping his hand over, he reaches out and slides it along Bruce's leg. He knows that whatever Bruce's next mission is, Dick will make it his as well. ]

I can help with... business and household things. If you want. I don't like a lot of it, hate it, really, but I know how to play the roles. I was.. trained well.

( the thing is... bruce still isn't used to working with others. aside from alfred and gordon, though neither of them are typically out in the field with him. gordon, sure. but not always in the ways bruce recklessly does. so when dick goes and shows a sort of eagerness in being there by his side, bruce gently eyes him for a long moment before he goes back to eating. staring at the plate rather than dick or his hand on his leg.

after a moment, he huffs — faint stifle of what could be considered laughter there on his lips as he takes a sip of water. )

I don't make for a great roommate. Even temporarily.

[Dick laughs, truly laughs then. They may have had hot sex and perhaps Dick feels a connection, but he would hardly offer to move back to the mansion or have Bruce live here. He likes his life the way that it is. Dick is only now learning how to live in a world where he's not beholden to someone, living with someone or trying to impress. He's finally his own person, and while he's happy to help to do what needs to be done to further along the life that brought him here. He's not moving backward.

He piles a long stringy bit of lomein into his mouth and shakes his head.]

That's really the last thing I'd want. I don't need any roommates. You can stay over on nights, or visa versa and when missions happen, sometimes it's always easier to crash at the manor, but our rooms are wings apart. No matter what does or doesn't happen with us, I'm not moving backward. I paid all my dues.

[He glances over again.]

I want to help, but that doesn't mean I want more than that. When I said business and household, I meant keeping things running ... nothing more than that.

( no matter what does or doesn't happen with us. that's something bruce will have to mull over. or, the more likely scenario, ignore and repress while busying himself with work and whatever else. because that's what bruce does when he doesn't want to really think about — or deal with — anything concerning his own wants and feelings outside of being batman.

the smile he wears is as faint as the laughter that left him and he pokes at his food a bit before he shoves some in his mouth. a means to give him a bit of pause. )

We'll see.

( he finally says and, after a moment, he looks over to the other man there on the bed — lets his gaze soften some as a telltale sign of slipping into thoughts that are currently overtaking him before he snaps himself out of them. )

Come here?

( closer to him, he means. )

That's good enough for me.

[ Dick knows that We'll see is a fairly concrete answer from Bruce and he's content with it. Besides, he made his offer and placed on the ruminating board inside Bruce's overly complex mind. While Dick does a lot of wasting away hours whittling over his own thoughts, he knows he's probably an amateur compared to the other man.

Still, he watches him poke at his food before taking a bite. Dick wears a simple smile as he does, trying to regain control of the emotions that have been trickling out this way and that all night. He's not quite sure he's got a chance of reigning them all back in any longer, and he'll have to figure a way to sit with that, but right now it's not such a great problem.

There's another scoop of noodles that he lets dangle into his mouth, before sipping at water. He's got his head tilted back and mouth around the lip of the bottle when Bruce speaks.]

Sure.

[Moving from the head of the bed, Dick slides up behind Bruce, bending one knee behind him and leaving the other folded along the one that hangs off the bed. It lets their bodies touch in all sorts of ways. Dick lays his chin on Bruce's shoulder, anchoring it forward to dot a kiss on the white fabric of the robe.]

( the closeness is not anything he's used to... and not anything he's sure he should get used to, but. that's bruce for you. denying himself even the smallest of things — the smallest of pleasures in life in favor of his mission. of being gotham's dark knight. of being the batman.

the drop of lips to the white fabric is a sweetness that burns him. that makes him feel guilty for having it. not necessarily because of who it comes from. but because there's some part of him that wants this and he knows it.

eyes fall shut. a slight turn of his head towards dick, and a quiet breath leaves him that could be taken for a huff of laughter. )

I was going to kiss you.

( he murmurs, soft. eyes still closed. )

But now I'm not sure.

[Sitting this close, Dick can smell the soap from their shared shower and when he lowers his head to the robe, the enormity of this entire evening engulfs him for a second. A practiced stillness takes over as he sits there and ponders the words that Bruce speaks.

It's a weight that Dick now wonders how he will handle. He asked for this, he wanted this-- he still wants this and he can feel the that small tug of desire that wanders around Bruce, a battle that Dick knows he will fight.

Wondering over the answer for several beats of his heart, he shakes it off and once more hardens his resolve. This is more than worth fighting for. Turning his head towards Bruce, he slides his fingers along a rough jawline and tips it towards him. Leaning in close, Dick's lips graze gently across the ones in front of him, barely touching. ]

How about I start then, and you can figure out if you want to keep going.

( he wants to pull away. wants to thank him for the food and for... whatever all this was tonight and disappear into the night as he's known to do. that's what his mind keeps landing on for an outcome of this. for the best outcome of this, but. every time he thinks he starts toward it, he doesn't. it's not so much hesitation as it is lingering within this. reluctant, despite his own resolve, to pull away from... this.

gently, he noses at dick, hum soft there on his lips as he feels the other's touch running across him. )

As long as you don't make a mess on the bed.

( it'd be a shame after he'd just changed the sheets and all. )

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