Heroes II
Shadows and Skyscrapers

Angyl and Rina

October 2002

Disclaimer: DC owns them both; WB has their hand in the pot too! - we just long for them is all!

Dick looked around the well-appointed penthouse with something akin to dismay. Hopefully Clark wouldn't mind or get upset. Dick sighed and shook his head. He really only had himself to blame for this... fiasco. Next time he'd be a helluva lot more specific.

ONE MONTH EARLIER

"Clark, don't, GAWD! Will you stop, I'm trying to talk to Bruce! Who'd have thought that Clark Kent, superhero in training would be a tickle monster," Dick gasped into the phone, muttering something to the younger man, his hand muffling the phone for a moment. "Sorry about that Bruce. No you don't have to call back, Clark was just saying goodbye before he headed out to do some grocery shopping. Hey, he likes to do it - and we share the chores, he cooks, I clean up. Awh, c'mon Bruce, you've tasted my cooking, you really want me to subject the person I love more than life to that form of slow poisoning? I didn't think so!"

Dick bantered with his father for a few more minutes, giving Clark ample time to get out of hearing range, the little (well okay big) sneak! "Okay, it should be safe now, gotta watch out for super ears and all that. I tell ya, Bruce, it's damned hard to plan surprises for a guy who can hear what you say blocks away! Anyhow, here's the thing. Clark's got a full scholarship to Met U. and you know how he feels about being beholden to anyone. Doesn't matter if I want to give stuff to him, he's a proud and honorable man. God I adore him.

"Anyway, I've talked it over with Babs and Dinah and, well, I'm moving to Metropolis to be with him. I figure I'll even give college another try. I've already submitted my grades and been accepted into Met U's criminology program. Figured I'd try my hand at criminal psychology. I also decided to double major in, and don't you dare laugh!, Environmental Science. I figure the criminology will be a cakewalk and I can concentrate on the Science. I thought that I could go on afterwards and get my Masters in Environmental Biology or something. I told you not to laugh. I am not! Okay yes I am besotted but it makes sense.

"Luthor's education is biochemistry and Clark is going to need all the back up he can get when they finally collide. No, Bruce, I'm afraid it is going to happen sooner or later. Clark is determined to stop him from hurting anyone else. The way I figure it, I've already had the experience of Robin to your Batman, and Clark's abilities are only getting more pronounced as time goes by so I'm gonna do whatever it takes to support him, even if it means being a sidekick again. Just a very smart sidekick," Dick grinned into the phone.

"Anyway to get to the point. Dinah is taking over my apartment and my other activities in Bludhaven. I'm moving to Metropolis with Clark and am going to be a late-blooming university student by day. It's the night I need some help with. Does Wayne Enterprises have any buildings in Metropolis that can be converted for my... other activities? Well I'd kinda like something with a view considering it's Metropolis and I'd want it near campus for Clark but other than that," Dick listened for a few moments longer, a smile breaking out on his face. "Thanks, Bruce, that'd be awesome! Do you need me to do any... okay I'll leave it up to you. Yeah, me too Bruce, bye!" And with that Dick promptly forgot about the conversation, leaving everything in Bruce Wayne's capable hands in order to concentrate of his lover.

PRESENT

Dick had to admit the view was spectacular. Penthouse apartment, 96th through 99th floors, thumbprint activated main elevator, plus a hidden elevator to a subterranean 'cave' of his very own. One that was big enough to house Clark's other activities when the younger man finally figured out how he would approach it.

The cave had all the latest equipment, direct linkage to Gotham and the Batcave and Oracle as well as uplinks to Telsat, the Justice Department, Justice League America and the Titans Towers. Dick had to admit that it was definitely a sweet deal - even if Bruce had let Timmy talk him into putting a bed in down there for when he and Clark couldn't wait to get upstairs. He really was going to let Clark blast that kid in the ass with an instant 'hotfoot' one of these days!

Bruce had even set up the same deal in Metropolis for Dick that he had in Gotham. Buildings and parking garages scattered around Metropolis with spare costumes and gadgets for when Nightwing needed to make an appearance and didn't have enough time to make it home first. The buildings were owned by numbered companies and subsidiaries and buried under so much paperwork that it would take forever to figure out who the real owners were - another safeguard to identity.

But the penthouse was huge. It was bigger than the entire Kent homestead and barn and Dick's place in Bludhaven combined! The place was a designer showcase of post modern art, floor to ceiling glass windows, Olympic sized pool, rooftop garden, foyer, living room, dining room, parlor, family room, fireplaces in every room, and a truly gigantic master bedroom as well as four guestrooms. Damn thing even had a heli-pad for Bruce when the Gotham family came to visit.

It looked like it belonged to a very rich man. Well Dick was a rich man and the heir to an even bigger fortune but he didn't want Clark to ever think that... he was kept was what it boiled down to. And it had already been suggested that Richard Grayson, heir to Wayne Enterprises, had recently acquired a boy-toy of his very own in both Gotham rags and the Metropolis Inquisitor - a Luthorcorp paper, the bastard!

Dick knew Bruce had done it in order to make their lives easier. Had done it out of love but... Dick sighed. There was nothing to be done about it now but to wait for Clark and the Kent's to arrive from Smallville with Clark's things and see the neo-classic nightmare that was now their home. "Geez, Bruce, did you have to decorate it too?" Dick moaned, burying his head in his hands even as he contemplated the liquor cabinet.

 "Are you sure this is the right address?" Jonathan Kent looked out of the windshield to the truck and up at the huge high-rise, then over at his wife and son. "Looks more like something L-" 

"Jonathan." Martha said sharply as Clark winced.

"That's the address Dick gave me, Dad," Clark said, though inwardly he winced a bit himself as he looked up at the building. His parents had enough misgivings about this without having Dick's money thrown in their faces, even if it wasn't intentionally. "He said just pull in the garage and give them my name, it should be on the list." Inside he was shaking, wondering if indeed he should have just moved into the dorms and let things progress that way, but what was the point? They'd lived together for a month in Bludhaven and that, if anything had made him want to be with Dick more, not less. Add to that the fact that he was giving up his life there and his career for Clark and now... Clark shook his head, then had to smile, wondering what the citizens of Metropolis would think the first time Nightwing showed up to stop a crime in the city.

They were moving again, Clark's name obviously having been enough to get them past the security guard and into the cool dimness of the underground garage. Jonathan circled the ramps until he found the numbered spot the guard had indicated and pulled to a stop between the painted lines. Clark opened the door and got out, offering his mother a hand as she slid over the seat and got to the ground. In the distance, an elevator pinged, and he turned his head to catch sight of Dick emerging into the garage, and all his doubts and worries fell away. This was right, it was what he was meant to do.

"Clark, god I am so sorry. I asked Bruce to find us a place and then completely forgot that his idea of a place tends to be a little more... grandiose than mine. If I had any idea he was going to do this, hell I don't even know how he managed to do it other than buying the entire building. I love him to death and all but he's so over the top at times it isn't...

"Oh hi, Mr. and Mrs. Kent. This is bad. This is so bad!" Dick mumbled, feeling like he was treading on quicksand. Shit the last thing he wanted was to be associated with bald boy and he had the sinking feeling from the look on Jonathan Kent's face that he already had. Damn!

"Well, I bet the bathroom will be bigger than the dorm's," Clark smiled, stepping forward to give Dick a hug, even the few days they'd been apart feeling too long. Jonathan didn't say a word, though he nodded to Dick before beginning to unload Clark's belongings from the truck's bed. "It's good to see you again, Dick," Martha said, waiting until Clark let go of his boyfriend to give the young man a hug herself.

Dick smiled and returned Martha's hug. "You too, Mrs. Kent, and may I say you're looking even prettier than you did last time I saw you? Ouch, what was that for, Kent? Your mom is a babe, no word of a lie. But you are mine, okay? I missed you, Kansas," Dick admitted, turning back to his lover and tugging his head down for a long, hungry, kiss. "Couldn't sleep without you, kept waking up cold," the older man admitted quietly, before releasing his lover to give Jonathan a hand.

"I, umm, I gotta warn you guys. Bruce decorated too. It's like being back in Wayne Manor again," Dick shuddered, "and it is so not my taste. Honest to god, Mr. & Mrs. Kent, my entire apartment in Bludhaven would have fit into the master bedroom. Bruce has this size thing happening," Dick sighed and shook his head with fond exasperation.

"My current plan is to rent a cube van and a storage locker somewhere and dump the gothic in the park look there then redecorate it. I mean what was Bruce thinking? I'm only 24 and Clark's 18 - we're college students not... Bruce Wayne," Dick rolled his eyes. "Bruce is just a little too dark at times - I mean Gothic furniture? Bad, very bad!!"

"Can you and Mrs. Kent stay the night, sir?" Dick asked as he hefted one of Clark's suitcases out in one hand and snagged a milk crate full of books with the other. "We've got plenty of room, if you can handle gargoyles in the bedrooms," Dick sighed, shaking his head.

"Thank you for the offer, Dick, but no," Jonathan answered, stepping back to let Clark take a load of his things before handing his carefully boxed telescope to Martha and gathering the last remaining boxes. It didn't seem to be much of a collection, not after eighteen years, but Clark's true legacy was in his heart.

"We need to get back tonight, once we get Clark settled."

"Maybe you could stay for dinner?" Though he was excited about this new stage in his life, Clark also felt butterflies in his stomach at where he was heading and sad because it was away from his parents.

"We'd love to," Martha answered before Jonathan could speak. "It will be our treat since I doubt you have much in the way of food here." She looked at Dick at the last.

Not wanting to ruin things for any of the Kent's Dick wisely kept his mouth shut and smiled. "Sounds great, Mrs. Kent. There's this campus pub not too far from here. I wandered over there yesterday and they have the most amazing burgers that you can imagine. The pub's called the Sharktank, maybe you've heard of it?"

Heading towards the private elevator, Dick put his load of things in the corner and then waited for Clark and the Kent's to join him before pressing the up button for the 96th floor. "Umm, I should warn you. It's three floors. There's another elevator in the apartment that goes up to the 99th floor, that's where the bedrooms are," Dick replied, looking anywhere but at his lover or the Kent's even as he grabbed Clark's hand.

"I've really missed you, Kansas, and not only because I've spent the last week alone in the mausoleum we now call home," he half grinned.

Three floors? Clark's eyes widened, and he stared at Dick and then at his parents when the older man wouldn't look at him. His father looked vaguely disapproving while his mother appeared impressed, though at what, Clark wasn't sure of.

"I missed you too," he said weakly, wondering if they'd even be able to find each other in this place. The doors then opened out into a hallway leading toward a sturdy looking door, and Clark swallowed. This was it.

"Okay, this is no good. This is really bad. My vote is we just pack up my stuff and go to a hotel until we can find a place that suits us better," Dick suddenly burst out, panicking. "I mean, who am I kidding? This place is so... so... sorry Clark but it's just so Luthor like it gives me the creeps. I am so not used to living off of Bruce's money that it just feels strange, you know?"

There were questions Clark had, but he couldn't ask them until he and Dick were alone, so he opted for the stalling tactic. "I - I think I like that idea, but, I mean we could camp out here until we found someplace a little more..." He looked around, wide-eyed, "normal?"

"It's your decision, boys, though make it one way or the other before some of our arms fall off," Jonathan commented.

Dick put on a show of thinking about it but the truth was that this place was perfect for Nightwing if not for Dick and Clark. He couldn't forget there was a third 'person' in the equation, no matter how much he wanted too. "The thing is, it's the first thing I've asked Bruce to do for me since he officially adopted me. He set up a trust fund for me years ago, long before the adoption came through and I really don't want to hurt him you know? He really liked the fact that his son was asking 'dad' for help. I...

"I know it's pretentious, Mr. & Mrs. Kent, and I know it might remind all of you of... but Clark, would you mind if we at least gave it a shot? A month or something maybe redecorate and stuff? I just don't want to hurt Bruce when he tried so hard to be my dad," Dick requested quietly.

Hearing that, Clark knew there would be no way he'd ever ask Dick to move, and, from the look on his mother's face after hearing that story, she'd tan his hide but good if he did. Setting the boxes he was carrying on the floor, he moved over and relieved his father of his load as well.

"Looks like we're staying then," he smiled, adding his mom's and Dick's loads to the pile on the floor and hoisting it all up. "Where should I put all this, then?"

"Well the books can go into your office on the second floor - just pick the one you like better - and the rest of it can," Dick coughed slightly, "go in the bedroom. You can't miss it, really you can't" Dick sighed and then smiled. "Thanks, sweetheart, I know it's asking a lot, hell I'm not even fond of this place but Bruce tried real hard to make sure all our needs were met so that we could be happy so..."

Letting Clark take his things up, knowing that he'd be faster than all of them put together, Dick turned back to the Kent's. "Can I give you a tour? Or offer you a glass of water, maybe?"

"My god, does Bruce Wayne own a museum or two that he uses to furnish places?" Jonathan asked, frowning slightly. He was thankful that Dick was talking about redecorating, but even that spoke of more money than he was comfortable with and he wasn't sure of the effect of such casual luxury on Clark. "Are both included in the offer," Martha asked. "I'd love to see the rest of the place, but it was a long drive so I'm not sure which I'd rather have first.

"Mr. Kent," Dick sighed and glanced apologetically at Martha Kent, "I'm sorry if my father's wealth offends or intimidates you but Bruce is a good man. He believes, and has taught me to believe, that a person's worth isn't determined by monetary means but by the contents of their heart. Not that he doesn't make use of his money, or allow me to, neither of us are fools.

"Look, I spent the first ten years of my life growing up in a circus, Mr. Kent, and I know only too well about how to live hand to mouth. Yes I'm damn lucky for having someone like Bruce save me from life in an orphanage or worse, because I was heading towards the worse when Bruce took me in, but I'll be damned if I'm going to allow anyone to make me feel ashamed of being fortunate. Bruce and I are not the Lionel and Lex Luthor and the chances of us ever being like them are about as slim as you finding out its all been a big mistake and Clark really is human. I love your son and therefore would do anything to make his life less difficult, but I'm not gonna play sugar daddy for him.

"That said, I'll understand if you'd rather not be here but to be perfectly honest you're being just as snobbish as Luthor can be. I mean, really, my having money makes me not good enough for your son?" Dick smiled and shook his head. "Nothing in life is black and white, Mr. Kent, it's all just varying shades of gray.

"The kitchen is this way Mrs. Kent, and although I'm an atrocious cook and wouldn't know a skillet from a sauce pan I do know where the glasses are kept and how to use the water filter, so if you'll allow me? After all it would be really bad form to let my lover's mother die of thirst, now wouldn't it?" Dick continued, offering Martha his arm with a wink and a wide grin.

Jonathan looked troubled, and didn't follow when Dick led Martha out of the room toward the back of the apartment. "Does it, Dad?" Clark asked, appearing out of the shadows and moving to stand in front of his father. "Does the fact that Dick has money bother you, or is it that he's a guy, an older guy. I know he's got that in common with Lex, but that's where it ends. You should see what he does for people, not because he has to or because he wants them to owe him, but because he wants to." He turned and waved a hand at the vast penthouse. "This isn't Dick, it's just something his father did because he loves him, like you love me. His place in Bludhaven was hardly bigger than this room, and he was happy there. He did this; he moved here, gave up his life there, for me. Can't you see that? Can't you understand that?" 

Jonathan shook his head, sighing. "I'm trying, son. It's not his fault that the circumstances are so close to the past and I'm trying to remember that. It's," he looked around. "It's damn hard sometimes, but you're an adult and all I can do is try to give you advice and hope you listen." 

"I do, Dad," Clark said quietly. "You may not believe it sometimes, but I do." His expression was solemn as he spoke, before he turned his head to where he could hear Martha and Dick. "Do you want that tour or are you going to go wait in the truck?" 

Closing his eyes, Jonathan took a deep breath. "Let's take that tour."

Dick waited until the lights of the Kent's truck left the parking garage before tangling his fingers through Clark's and leading him back towards the elevator. "Well that actually went better than I expected," the older man stated, smiling at his lover.

"So, apart from the fact that we live in a gothic monstrosity, are you okay with all of this?" Dick continued, leaning against the side of the elevator and casually examining their conjoined hands.

"You've been kind of quiet since the tour today. I take it you heard me and your father blow off a little steam?" the older man continued gently. "He means well, Clark, and he's acting like this because he loves you and wants to keep you safe. I like him. A lot. Jon Kent is a good man, a very good man."

"I know." Clark's voice was low and defeated. "And I understand why he does things like that, but I'm so tired of having to justify myself and my choices. He's scared for me and I guess he has a right to be for more reasons then the age thing, but..."

He sighed again and leaned into Dick's side, resting his head against Dick's shoulder. "Mind if we skip whatever it was you had planned and just go curl up in bed? I'm just really tired right now."

"I think that can be arranged," Dick replied softly, his fingers already moving to Clark's faded denim shirt, undoing the buttons and tugging it out of the younger man's matching jeans. The elevator chimed open and Dick tugged his lover inside by looping a finger underneath his jeans and pulling gently. Once the door was locked, the shirt was lost somewhere between the front foyer and the apartment elevator.

Dick had Clark's jeans undone by the time they reached the third floor and his own shirt off and in his hand. The shirt was dropped and his shoes toed off as he continued to coax Clark forward into the massive bedroom. Stripping the younger man completely, Dick quickly shimmied out of his own clothes and guided Clark under the covers, wrapping himself over, under and around Clark as best he could. "Welcome home, my beautiful lover," he whispered, kissing first one then the other eyelid before trailing kisses over Clark's nose and down to his lush, mobile lips. "Welcome to our home."

Closing his eyes, Clark tangled his fingers in Dick's hair, rubbing his face against the other man's cheek and feeling the rasp of stubble as he filled his senses with Dick's presence. "God, I've missed you," he whispered, squirming impossibly closer as if trying to crawl into Dick's skin. "Sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad I'm here." He was also nervous, about this and about school, but it was a good nervous.

"Babe, it was a cakewalk and look what I get for my prize, you!" Dick replied, kissing the pads of each of Clark's fingers before placing the younger man's hand over his heart. "You are the most important part of my life, Clark. You are my family, my heart, and I don't mind the little hiccups if it means I get to keep you. So," Dick's hand came up and smoothed through Clark's hair, "don't worry about it. Your dad and I will work things out in the end; we'll make it work because we both love you. Sleep, baby, and let me guard your dreams, okay?"

Clark nodded. "Dad used to tell me something like that when I was little and had bad dreams," he murmured, snuggling back into the bed, but holding Dick close. "Guess the two of you are more alike then he thinks."

He smiled, and turned his head to kiss Dick's wrist. "Night, Dick. I - " a loud yawn split his sentence. "Love you."

"I love you too, Clark," Dick replied, bussing a kiss across the younger man's forehead. "Now get some sleep. We have four days before class starts and an apartment to strip bare and refurbish with real furniture," the older man laughed, "not to mention more than a few rooms to christen. That island in the kitchen looked very promising to me."

For the first time since they'd started living together, Dick woke first. Last night's emotional turbulence must have really hit the younger man hard, Dick thought with a soft smile. It wasn't often that he got to see this Clark Kent - soft, sweet and so little boyish that it did something to Dick's heart. Tracing his lover's features with light fingers, Dick began to map out Clark's face, memorizing with touch what was already burned into his brain.

Slipping downwards, Dick continued to map out with feathery fingers the contours of Clark's body, wanting to learn but not arouse, at least not yet. Pushing the blankets off them completely, Dick traced circles around the younger man's nipples then continued to slide his fingers down the well-muscled chest, across washboard abs and through the black silk curls between Clark's legs.

Watching Clark's quiescent phallus twitch slightly, Dick couldn't help but appreciate his lover's beauty. Adonis brought to life, Michelangelo's David, a Greek God - all those terms applied to Clark. Taking Clark into his mouth, Dick began to suckle and play with his new favorite toy, his lover's foreskin. Having never had an uncut lover before Dick was finding it absolutely arousing to explore this 'new' piece of a lover's body and it only made it that much better that it was Clark.

A soft moan had the older man's electric blue eyes shooting upwards even as he continued to lick and suck and nibble and mouth. He wanted to see awareness flood Clark as those gorgeous green eyes flickered open and he realized that this wasn't a wet dream but a morning wake up call, courtesy of Dick Grayson.

If this was a dream, Clark didn't want to wake up. Keeping his eyes closed, he reached out, and, when his hands encountered silky hair and warm skin, he groaned, arching upward into Dick's mouth.

Opening eyes gone dark with desire, Clark smiled. "God, Dick... what a way to wake up." He arched his back when his lover ran his tongue around the head of his erection, his chest hitching as he tried to keep from grabbing Dick and kissing him senseless.

Humming in agreement, Dick cupped Clark's balls in one free hand, rolling and tugging and kneading them as he continued to suck, his tongue lashing the growing flesh in his mouth. His other hand crept up and pressed against Clark's lips until the younger man sucked it into his mouth, laving at the digit and wetting it thoroughly.

Dragging it from Clark's mouth, Dick slid the wet finger down the crevice of his lover's ass and pressed inside lightly, wanting to give Clark the maximum pleasure he could, wanting to give his love a heated memory of their first morning together in their new home.

Clark's legs spread wider, and he whimpered, his lower body twisting between the heat of Dick's mouth and the pressure of his finger, craving more. "Please... Need you in me. Been too long," he groaned, gasping for breath as he stroked whatever parts of Dick's body he could reach.

Dick moaned around Clark's phallus, the sound of his lover's hunger shooting straight to his groin. Pulling off, he laid his head on the younger man's thigh, breathing deeply and sending gusts of breath against Clark's now wet erection. "God, what you do to me, Clark Kent," he sighed, his hands falling away from his lover's body to rest lightly on Clark's shivering abdomen.

"You can probably make me come from your pretty pleading alone." Normally vivid blue eyes, now turned midnight, turned to look up at Clark even as Dick's hair brushed against the younger man's skin. "You make me want to do things to you, Kansas, such things that you'd blush from the roots of your hair down to your sexy little toes. You bring out the devil in me," Dick confessed quietly.

"Sometimes I want nothing more than to shock you, debauch you, corrupt and defile you. Other times I want to worship you, adore you and treat you with such reverence," Dick sighed before surging up the taller man's body to devour Clark's mouth even as a hand scrabbled for the bedside table and the pump bottle of lube he had waiting.

"No worshipping," Clark rasped, reaching for the bottle and catching hold of it, pumping out a stream of cool gel into Dick's palm. "That's one of the things that I'm most scared of; that if people found out, they'd think I was something to place on a pedestal." Dick's hips ground against his, and Clark groaned. "As for the rest..." he chuckled, and it was almost a pained sound. "Do your worst, masked-man. You can't hurt me, and if you want to do it, it'll only feel good."

"Masked man?" Dick chuckled. "So does that make you Tonto or Bullet, kemosabe?" he teased the younger man with a grin. "And don't be worrying about being put on a pedestal. I may worship this hot, buff, delectable, lush, absolutely decadent body but you're always gonna be Hooterville to me, Clark," Dick continued. "I know you and don't worry that gorgeous head of yours, I'll be sure to keep you humble. I may not be able to kick your ass but I can prick a ballooning ego something fierce."

Slicking the lube over his cock, Dick maneuvered Clark's legs around to rest on his shoulders and then gently pressed inside his lover's tight heat. "To the rest of the world you're going to be something fantastic - you're going to be a champion for justice and goodness, of that I have no doubt. You'll protect and defend the weak, right wrongs and help teach mankind to be better than what they are now. But you'll always be Clark Kent, sweet, innocent boy from Smallville, Kansas and the love of my life to me," Dick promised as he slid all the way inside his mate.

Lost in the sensations, Clark could only nod and whimper, his whole being focused on Dick and how good and right this all felt. "All I want to be," he husked, stretching out a hand to catch's Dick's and bring it to his mouth, sucking each finger and laving it while their bodies rocked together, creating a rhythm of their own.

Taking his time, keeping it slow and sensual, Dick just let the feelings glide through him, his arousal floating higher in gentle increments instead of taking hold of him and making him crazy with need. Dick's hand wrapped around Clark's cock and began to pump the younger man in the same lazy rhythm of his hips, his soft sighs and groans mirroring the sounds that Clark was making around his fingers. "So beautiful, so generous, so very mine," Dick sighed, watching Clark's every expression with hunger.

"Always," Clark breathed, letting Dick's fingers slip from between his lips, licking them to get the last of the flavor. A bolt of pleasure shot through him as Dick rubbed his prostate, the sharp spike a contrast to the slow build up as their bodies came together.

The feel of his hand on Clark's cock was heaven, and Clark shuddered, running his fingers over Dick's thighs and arms, touching him everywhere he could reach. Another thrust and sensation overwhelmed him, making him cry out hungrily. "God, Dick, going..."

"God, I hope so," Dick replied with a grin, watching as Clark's body tightened under his and arched impossibly as the younger man's orgasm drew near. It was enough to trigger Dick's own orgasm and with a soft groan his hips snapped forward faster and faster as he pumped his release into his lover's body.

Shifting Clark's legs to rest around his hips, Dick continued to pleasure the younger man, wanting to watch Clark's face as he too found his release, wanting to see his come splatter between them before kissing Clark senseless.

The sight of Dick's hungry gaze on him as much as anything tipped Clark over the edge, and he came, his body tightening around Dick's cock as his seed splattered over his stomach and Dick's still-moving hand.

"Missed you so much..." he whispered in between pressing long kisses against Dick's lips, their bodies still undulating against each other as they both recovered from their climaxes. "Missed being with you, holding you, just sitting around doing nothing with you..."

"I missed that too, but you might get sick of me now, since I'm going to be around a lot more now that I don't have to pull 12 hour shifts at the precinct, just my day's worth of classes and some patrol time," Dick responded, returning the hungry kisses with those of his own.

"Speaking of, when we get the energy to move I'll have to take you to the 4th floor of our place - Bruce built us a cave of our very own. Unfortunately Tim helped with a few ideas of his own that Bruce just had to incorporate. You really need to give him a hot seat the next time we go to Gotham!" Dick groused.

"You mean he didn't learn from the last one he got?" he asked, amusement coloring his tone as he remembered the expression on Tim's face when he felt his pants smoldering and couldn't find the source.

"And I'm sure, I'll get sick of you all right - maybe after a century or two," Clark snorted, stretching luxuriously under Dick's solid weight and smiling up at him before arching his eyebrows, wondering just what Tim had had installed in the 'cave'.

"Apparently not since he talked Bruce into installing a bed in the cave for those nights when we're too horny and testosterone driven to wait for the elevator to get us upstairs," Dick groaned. "That kid is enjoying our sex life almost as much as we are!

"On the plus side though, we can disappear down into the cave when we want a mini vacation or to avoid humanity and just leave the world on autopilot while we fuck like bunnies," Dick laughed as he finally rolled over onto his side, letting them slip apart.

"That could be useful," Clark mused, raking his hands through his hands before needing to have them on Dick again. "And as for Timmy, I think he needs to get a sex life so he stops obsessing about ours!"

"It's new, it's different and the parts go in places that are unusual enough to make it morbidly fascinating for him. The kid is definitely without a doubt 100% het but is curious enough to want to know more," Dick sighed. "Al told me he caught Tim surfing a gay porn site the other night and that he had this look on his face, the kind you see people get when they slow down to look at a car crash or a train wreck, kinda like he couldn't help but keep looking," Dick chuckled. "I'm almost tempted to ask him if he wants a demonstration but I'm terrified he might say yes!"

Clark groaned. "We can buy him a video then, no live demonstrations - for anyone!" Though horrified at the idea, just the idea of what Tim's expression must have been was enough to make Clark chuckle and attempt to sit up even though Dick groaned and tried to keep him in the bed. "I want to stay too, but I'm starving!" he explained pitifully. "Please tell me you at least bought milk and cereal while you were here."

"Nope, sorry babe, haven't had time to do any shopping," Dick lied shamelessly, wanting to see what his lover would do when he went downstairs and realized the prank Dick had pulled. "There may be some left over Chinese and a couple of bottles of mineral water in the fridge from when I ordered in though. You'll have to check because I can't remember if I saved them or tossed them down the garbage chute."

Truth was the freezer and fridge were full to bursting, the cupboards packed to the gills and the industrial sized deep freeze was ready to come apart at the seams as Dick hadn't wanted his lover to go hungry when he arrived.

"God, Dick, how do you stay alive?" Groaning and growling about boyfriends who should know better, Clark climbed out of the bed, looking around the room before finally finding his boxers tangled with the jeans he'd been wearing last night. After making a few swipes at his body with his shirt, he pulled on his underwear and headed for the elevator.

"If there's any left, do you want some?"

"Sure, if it's not green and moldy by now," Dick shouted back, stuffing a pillow corner in his mouth to muffle his laughter. God, Clark was gonna kill him. It would almost be worth getting out of bed just to see the look on the younger man's face but Dick had a feeling that the bellow would suffice.

He'd missed being able to play with Clark in the week they'd been apart. Who'd have thought that seven short days would leave him feeling so miserable? Damn but he was besotted, and wouldn't change it for the world.

Settling himself in bed, arms tucked behind his head and an ever growing smirk on his face, Dick calmly waited for Clark's reaction.

Moldy Chinese food... Making a face, Clark hit the button for the elevator and trudged through the doors, wondering if maybe he shouldn't have taken his mother up on her offer to pack some food for them.

"First thing we're doing is going grocery shopping," he muttered, following the vaguely remembered path to the kitchen, all the while wondering what the hell they were going to do with this much space. Well, at least christening each room would be fun.

Smiling a bit at that, Clark pulled open the refrigerator door, expecting to see only some cartons of food, and maybe a water bottle. What he found was just the opposite, and his jaw dropped before he broke into a foolish grin.

"I'm going to kick your butt for lying to me, Richard!" he yelled, hoping that the sound would carry upstairs. "And for that, I'm just going to eat down here; you can starve up there in your lonely bed!"

Sticking his tongue out in the general direction of the bedroom, Clark dug around in the fridge, pulling out the makings for Denver omelets, automatically setting up and turning on the coffee maker as he did so.

Laughing as Clark's bellow reached him, Dick hopped out of bed and headed for the ensuite bathroom. Four showerheads in one shower - now that was bliss. He'd have to get Clark in here to share it next time. Dick showered in what was actually record time for him, in and out in 10 minutes squeaky clean from hair to toes.

Pulling out a pair of old and very worn denim cut-offs after foregoing a pair of briefs, Dick jogged down the stairs, a towel around his neck for his still damp hair. He didn't see the sense of briefs when he knew they'd be naked again as soon as possible. Damn, life could be rough at times, he grinned to himself.

Padding into the kitchen, Dick hopped up onto the island next to where Clark was cooking, stealing bits of the omelet preparations as he watched his lover. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a sexy beast in the kitchen, Kent?" Dick asked casually, grinning at the look the other man had shot him when he'd finally deigned to notice Dick's existence. "You really, really are!"

"Anyone ever tell you you're a wise-ass, Grayson?" Clark shot back, plucking a piece of green pepper from Dick's hand and eating it himself. "Tell me, what army are you planning to feed with everything you've got in here? Is your family coming to visit to see if we're settled in all right?"

"God I hope they're not coming - I really couldn't stand any more of Tim's questions right now and the little sneak is still way too curious about what we do together," Dick shuddered.

"I didn't know what you liked and I figured we'd be staying in a lot and needing to keep up our energy - lots of red meat in the freezer - so I kind of bought everything," the older man admitted, blushing slightly. "You saw my fridge when you first got to the 'haven, that should have given you an indication of just how often I actually go grocery shopping. I don't know the first thing about it.

"As for what's in the house, well there's this wonderful invention called the internet and on the internet there's this equally amazing place called Groceryworld.com and all you need to do is click on what you want and add it to your 'shopping cart' and then other people pick it up and deliver it to your door! Great idea, hunh?"

"Internet grocery shopping?" Clark's expression was incredulous. "But what's the fun in that? You don't get to touch things or smell them or anything!"

Shaking his head at the strangeness of 'big city' life, Clark poured the eggs into the pan he'd had heating on the stove, glancing back at Dick before looking at the omelet in the making, watching it firm up.

"Clark I am not standing in the grocery store fondling melons and cucumbers when I can put my time to better use by fondling you," Dick laughed, "besides a melon smells like a melon, how else is it supposed to smell?" the older man asked, not getting it at all. "You, my boy, are strange!

"Even with that being the case," Clark continued, grinning, "you did a really good job. We're going to eat like kings if I can find the time to cook all that. Did you get your class schedule yet?"

"It's already in your outlook calendar in your office. The pc's password is Hooterville for now, but you can change it all you want. Mine is fortress, as in the place where you made love to me for the first time," Dick's eyes darkened to a deep midnight blue as the memory of that night sent shivers down his spine. "If you have things that you really want to keep private there's another computer 'downstairs' for you as well. Bruce kinda went a little overboard since he's now got two boys who live away from home to spoil.

"Oh yeah and he said that if the Kent's wouldn't mind he wanted us to spend Christmas in Gotham because there's a big Wayne to-do that he puts on every year. But I already told him we'd probably spend Thanksgiving in Smallville. God, its still August and we've already got commitments!"

Still unable to believe that Dick would rather order food from some unknown warehouse then pick it out himself, Clark sighed. It looked like he was going to be doing the grocery shopping - though that meant he could get his favorites. His grin turned evil at that.

"Think I'll keep that password, the name has grown on me," he chuckled, adding ham, peppers and tomatoes to the omelet and flipping half of the eggs over the rest. "As for privacy, you know all my secrets, Dick, why would I have anything to hide unless you want to copy whatever reports I do for class."

Shaking his head, Clark slid the omelet from the pan to a plate and set it in front of Dick before starting making his own. "I'll talk to my folks about Christmas." Man, it would be weird not being at the farm for the holiday, but he supposed this is what people went through with their 'in-laws' all the time. Still... "Do you think it would be a problem if I asked Bruce if they could come to Gotham too? I mean, that way they could meet and I - it wouldn't be Christmas without them."

Dick smacked his forehead lightly. "Of course they can come, Clark. Sorry, I should have said Bruce expects us all, Martha and Jonathan included, for Christmas. If they can have someone look after the farm for a few days that would be great, if not Bruce planned on sending the jet to get them Christmas Eve and take them back the twenty-sixth and he'd have someone look after the place in the interim. I'm sorry, Clark, I guess I just figured that at Christmas the Kent's would be a package deal," the older man admitted, chagrinned, as he tucked into his breakfast.

"I already told Bruce we'd have to do the alternating thing and he was surprisingly cool about it all... said he understood that when you had in-laws you had to take things in turn and that eventually he and the Kent's would be coming here for Christmas, especially when we start adding to the Kent-Grayson household.

"If you could have seen the expression on his face when I sprang that on him, that maybe one day we'd make him a grandfather. It was priceless. Al, on the other hand, looked like he wanted us to add to the family now so he could have a child to spoil again, like he doesn't have enough on his plate looking after Bruce and Tim," Dick laughed, offering Clark a forkful of omelet.

"Anyhow, most of my classes are afternoon ones. I've got one morning class, groan, and a night class I couldn't get out of but other than that my schedule worked out pretty well for sleeping in and my nighttime activities. How 'bout you?"

Chewing reflexively, Clark grinned, hoping that he wasn't going to wind up with egg on his chin and look even more like a fool. He should have known that the mention of the holidays hadn't been designed to force him to make a choice, but to bring them all together.

"I've got mostly morning stuff. I think I'm out by two on my late days, but I've got an evening bio lab on Wednesday from six to nine." He stopped and chuckled. "At least its not Tuesday night; this way I won't miss Buffy."

"Buffy?" Dick's voice actually rose two octaves. "You're gonna make me watch Buffy?" the older man whimpered. "Shoot me now, please? I mean its so... so... they have a female vengeance demon who's deathly afraid of bunnies for cryin' out loud. And I know this because Tim made me sit through that and that horrible singing episode, although that Watcher guy has a great set of pipes on him and I have to admit that he's damned sexy in a bookish Professor Higgins sort of way but still," Dick sighed morosely. "The things I have to endure for love!"

"Hrmmm, now I know why you had 'important' things to do every Tuesday. Funny how crime was always on the upswing that night."

Clark tilted Dick's head so that he could kiss him, then started fixing his own breakfast. "And if you won't watch with me, maybe I'll invite Tim down for a marathon. He can drool over Buffy and I'll drool over Spike."

"And you can answer all of his questions about how rod a goes into slot b and why gay men usually think rimming feels good," Dick replied with a smirk.

"You sure he won't want me to demonstrate?" Clark asked blandly. "He might not believe me from descriptions alone."

Dick growled and reached across the island to pull Clark half way across the marble before kissing him senseless. "No demonstrations, remember? That tongue is mine Kent, got it?" the older man retorted possessively before letting go of the younger man and returning to his breakfast. "I cannot believe you'd even suggest that," he continued, glaring at the younger man.

Clark's grin was one of pure self-satisfaction. "Considering the reaction it gets me, I can't believe I didn't suggest it before."

Dick simply growled louder and went and poured himself a latte mug of coffee, spooning the required sugar and stirring before turning and glaring at the smug looking puppy seated on a stool smirking at him. "Brat," he retorted, "I'm gonna go check email. It's safer than putting up with your more than loopy thought processes this morning!"

Dick gulped his coffee down fast, put the cup on a table and headed upstairs. When he reached the second floor landing, he continued speaking, knowing Clark could hear him. "And then I'm going to log on to one or two of the kinkier online sex stores I know and buy you a ball gag as well as a few other 'presents' to keep you in line. Care to help me shop?"

"Gee, Dick, I thought you wanted me to help you shop?" Clark's tone was all innocence as they pushed a cart down the crowded aisles of the cavernous Ikea store. "You didn't mean normal furniture by that? Sorry, my mistake."

Muttering under his breath though loud enough for Clark to hear, Dick began to recite what he was going to buy when he got home and have shipped overnight express delivery. "Nipple clamps, ben wah balls, leg spreaders, gates of hell, super charged vibrators, massive butt plugs, cinnamon lube so you'll squirm all day, heat lotion, cock rings, leather swings, harnesses, get a St. Andrew's cross in one of the spare rooms," Dick listed, glaring at Clark out of the corner of his eye. "Teach you to be a pushy little bottom brat, even if I can't leave a mark on you dammit!"

Plastering a bright smile on his face, Dick stopped to speak to the clerk. "Could you tell me where I can find reinforced ceiling mounts? I need to hang something of considerable weight from the ceiling in my penthouse and I really wouldn't want it to come tumbling down at an inopportune moment. Oh and I'm going to need leather cleaner. Lots of it, our furniture gets splattered in all sorts of stuff, hot liquid, beer, oil... you name it!"

Clark shook his head, giving his best put upon look. "My friend can be a bit messy as you can tell, but what we're looking for is more along the lines of something simple in the way of furniture." He swallowed, not wanting to think of what this was going to cost. "For a whole apartment."

"Yeah, dad's idea of decorating is Gothic meets Transylvania. How can a hot, happening, gay couple like me and my boy toy here have a swinging lifestyle in a mausoleum, I ask you?" Dick asked the blushing and speechless clerk who hastily made excuses to run away from them. Baring his teeth at the blonde bimbette's retreating back he smiled dangerously.

"That'll teach ya to check out my man's ass...ets. C'mon, Clark, Ikea is so last year, we need something more modern!"

Clark groaned and looked for somewhere to hide though he was fighting to hide a grin. Shopping with Dick was certainly... interesting! "You're the one who suggested we come here," he said mildly, continuing to push the empty cart in the direction of the traffic flow, not letting Dick turn them around and go in the opposite way.

"I liked that second-hand store we saw on the way over."

"Umm, no. I love you to death and I know shabby chic is in but I want leather in the living room, dammit! I like leather. It feels good against naked skin, trust me on this," Dick expounded and then grew sober.

"Clark, I know the money is a lot to get used to, even with your past... relationship and all, but please, let me do this and after that... our bills are split 50/50 no questions, no arguments although I do reserve the right to spoil the most important person in my life with small gifts from time to time. No trying to lord over the trust fund, no buying you Hilfiger, Versace or Hugo Boss unless you really don't have a problem with it, just little things like dinner out, a movie, a 1962 Harley Davidson road warrior," he tried to slip in.

Clark couldn't help but grin at the last, though it vanished quickly. "It wasn't like that..." he started before stopping himself. The past was the past and he wasn't going to dredge it up again. "Buying me a bike, eh? Actually, considering the traffic here, I'll take a subway pass, thanks."

"Fair enough, but can I at least get a second set of keys made for my bike and my cars in case you need to use them?" Dick pleaded, employing the puppy dog eyes.

"Not the eyes, not the eyes! All right, all right, extra keys are fine, and did you say cars?"

"Unh, yeah, well there's the Redbird to go with the Redbird - my old sidekick bike, and then there's the Jag that Bruce gave me when I graduated from High school and the Vincent black knight, and my Harley and... but a lot of them are still in Gotham. I've got the Jag and the Harley and the Redbird and... a Ferrari Testarosa," the older man blushed. "Hey, I'm a speed junkie, I admit it."

"Speed is good." Clark could understand that, he supposed; it was like the desire he had sometimes to just run and run until there was nothing but himself and the wind, and if you couldn't get there by yourself, a car was an adequate substitute. "I think I'd be paranoid to drive any of them though, cars die around me - very violently at times."

"Cars are just metal and leather and plastic, babe. Just so long as you don't die in them I really don't give a shit, you know?" Dick replied seriously and then his face lit up like a 12 year old boys in a room full of firecrackers. "Eureka! We've found our way out of this Euro-Scandinavian Deathtrap! C'mon. I know just the store to go to, cool, hip, trendy and modern not a painted daisy or a scrap of pickled bleached wood in sight!"

To Clark, modern meant chrome and plastic and too little padding to be comfortable, and he couldn't hide a grimace. "Is this going to change the place from a neo-gothic haunt to a Museum of Modern Art showplace?"

"Clark, c'mon, this is me. The guy who likes leather and silk and sprawling on furniture. I'm not gonna make you sit on some weird pincushion chair thing. And you've got full veto rights, all you gotta say is I don't like it and we'll look for something else. I promise!"

Later that afternoon after managing to get everything they needed at least for the rooms they'd use the most, and lunch at a little restaurant near the store, Dick closed the penthouse door with a happy sigh. "There, now that wasn't so bad, was it? You survived and we didn't spend all that much on furniture when you think about it."

'All that much' was probably more than his parents brought home in half a year, but Clark wasn't going to bring that point up - it sounded too much like something his dad would say. "It was... interesting," he allowed before grinning and leaning over to kiss Dick. "And I like that bed we found, and my desk."

"Our first bed bought as a couple. We'll need to christen proper when it gets here. So, think you can handle living in a mausoleum for a couple more days or should we start moving this stuff down to the other apartment... oops." 

"Oops?" Clark's expression turned inquisitive, and he studied Dick closely. "Does this 'oops' have something to do with this mystery 'other' apartment you just mentioned?"

"Well I wasn't gonna bring it up quite this way. The apartment was... unh, Bruce's way of providing us both with plausible deniability if we wanted it or if people, namely gossip columnists, started poking their noses in our lives. The other place is in your name," Dick admitted with chagrin, "that way we could have said you lived down there.

"I wanted to tear him a new one when Bruce told me but his heart was in the right place, his head was just a little screwy. So I figured we could use it for extra storage and as a place for your parents to stay if they felt uncomfortable being under the same roof as you and me in the same bed or for Bruce when he came. He ain't sleeping here until he does some pretty fancy groveling!" Dick finished with an evil smirk. "Only fair, all things considered."

"Jesus." Clark leaned against the wall and raked both hands through his hair. That made... five floors of apartments they had in this building? That was just beyond weird, but he supposed he could see where Bruce was coming from.

Giving a small laugh, he looked at Dick, grinning at the older man's expression. "Well, I guess we're going to be busy christening all these rooms, won't we?"

Dick breathed a sigh of relief he wasn't aware he'd been holding. "Have I told you lately how much I adore you, babe?" the older man smiled walking over and putting his full weight against Clark's, leaning against the younger man like Clark leaned against the wall. "And how impressed I am at your voracious appetite."

"I'm a super-powered alien, who's to say that this is voracious wherever I come from," Clark chuckled, stroking his hands down Dick's back to cup his ass. "Maybe I should be impressed that you can keep up with me at all." 

"Super slut is more like it, but I wouldn't want you any other way," Dick teased, rubbing noses and smiling to prove it was only said jokingly. "And the guy who gives me super fucks when we're in the mood for that sort of thing," Dick continued with a leer.

"So, wanna start christening rooms or do you want to check out the cave and christen that while we're down here. Bruce was even kind enough to leave us a gift basket of lubes and lotions on the nightstand next to the bed."

"Oh god." Clark lowered his head to Dick's shoulder, wondering just how he was going to face Bruce the next time he saw him. The extended Wayne family just had way too much interest in his and Dick's sex life for his comfort. And... "Super fucks? You are a fruitcake, Grayson."

"Yeah but I'm your fruitcake, babe," Dick laughed. "And for what it's worth the basket had massage oils and things with a couple of squirt tubes of generic stuff. Bruce actually does use KY as a medical agent. You wouldn't believe some of the places a person can get injured when dealing with crazies like Poison Ivy, Farmer Brown, Mr. Freeze and the like... it can get really... embarrassing ... at times," Dick admitted. "Chances are that the people who built it just got the location wrong and that it was supposed to go in the change room where there is a massage/medical table."

"Yeah, like I believe that one," Clark snorted, shaking his head at the thought of all those crazies Dick had to deal with. Of course, he had Smallville meteor mutants - and Lex...

"So, show me this 'lair' of ours, but then I really need to unpack some - or is there a point if all this furniture's moving in a few days?" 

"No point unless you want to repack and unpack a second time, like I'm going to have to," Dick groaned as he moved away from his lover and nodded his head towards the downstairs linen closest. "There's an entrance on every floor. They needed a place to hide them and since Bruce uses the silver closet at the manor he figured a linen closet wouldn't be obvious. C'mon."

Opening the door, Dick turned on the light and stepped in. There was enough room for the two of them with a couple inches to spare. Good. "Looks like a wall, sounds like a wall and even scans like a wall but..." Dick places his hand on what seemed to be a part of the wall and the door behind them engaged a sophisticated locking mechanism while the wall in front of them slid away to reveal an elevator.

"When we get down there I need to key in your palm print to the system or it will simply stay a wall when you touch it," Dick informed his lover as he stepped inside and watched the door/wall slide shut behind them. "Hope you're not claustrophobic, babe."

"Nah, I'm just afraid of heights." Clark's attention was more on the intricacies of the secret elevator, and he looked around them, using x-ray vision on the walls to check out the workings.

"Hey," he continued, readjusting his vision because talking to Dick's skeleton was just too strange, "if I'm going to help you, does this mean I get a cool crime-fighting costume too?" 

"Cool crime-fighting costume?" Dick shook his head. "Lord, you sounded just like Tim for a second there!" Dick laughed. "And I suppose you will need one. Time to figure out who you want to be, Clark Kent," the older man continued as the elevator began it's swift descent. "And how much of yourself you want the world to know about. Being a vigilante isn't easy. Being a known vigilante is less so."

Clark decided that this wasn't the time to point out that he wasn't that much older than Tim. "I have no idea," he chuckled, shaking his head. "Can't I just wear black and be like... Nightwing's shadow or something?"

"Tell you what, I've got some design spec's on the computer down here for outfits that just didn't work for my body type as well as some preliminary sketches for the Bat and for Robin too. We can look through them and see what not only appeals but looks different enough from Clark Kent to work. And if you want black we can make it black.

"I think we should probably give you some bulk and make it out of Kevlar just to give the bad guys the illusion of some one different. I usually run my stuff by Bruce before the final product and it'll have to be put together in the 'cave unless Bruce gave us the same technology but... we'll get you something, babe. Promise."

Clark grinned, his features alight with excitement at the idea of actually getting to go out and do something to help people. "You're the expert on this stuff, Ill just follow along. The view's nice back there anyway."

"Perv," Dick laughed. "Just for that I'm gonna make damn sure that yours is tight too so I can have just as much fun!" The elevator chimed open to reveal a huge, cavernous room that automatically lit up to reveal a set up similar to Bruce's with the addition of that freakin' bed in one darkened corner of the room, surrounded by dark gauzy material to give it a semblance of privacy.

"Hello Master Dick, Master Clark. Welcome to the Lair," Alfred's disembodied voice came from speakers around the room. "You will note, Master Dick, that this is almost an exact replica of the Cave at Wayne Manor. We thought it best to stick with the familiar and allow you and Master Clark to make modifications as needed. My brainwaves have been programmed into the central AI system to assist you as I can, as have Miss Barbara's and there are link ups already set up to both the cave and to the Clocktower. Please take some time to familiarize your selves with your new 'home'. I'll leave you to it now."

"Thanks Al, we'll let you know when we're ready to get down to business," Dick replied to the machine. "So, what do you think?" he asked, looking at Clark's awestruck face.

"Oh my..." Clark stumbled out of the elevator and into the room, his body twisting in what seemed three directions at once as he tried to get a look at all the gadgets and goodies there. "This is so cool!" It was even better then the Batcave because it was theirs. And that bed... "Timmy's ass is so fried," he muttered before walking over to the computer bank, trying to decipher what things did without touching it.

"That's what I said," Dick laughed. "And don't worry, Cyber-Al and Cyber-Babs will walk you through the system. They'll make better teachers than I would, that's for sure. So, grand tour?" At Clark's nod, he showed the younger man the change area, the costume storage, the gadgets, the car, bike and boat, medical bay and all the supplies and equipment and lastly, Tim's contribution, the bed.

"So that's our, God, lair sounds ridiculous. Secret hideout sounds ridiculous. Batcave was cool but neither of us are bats. Ready Room? Command Post? War room? Our secret subterranean underground super-hero cool place?" Dick pondered out loud. "Anyhow if you have name suggestions by all means contribute, and this concludes our tour. Now, wanna get naked with me?"

"Abode of hot alien-vigilante sex?" Clark laughed, stripping off his shirt and crowding close to Dick to do the same to him. "Home of Nightwing and a superhero in training? Oh, I know! Dickie's School for super-powered boy scouts." He broke into laughter at the last.

"ARGH! I cannot believe you just said that, Clark!" Dick groaned, laughing. Pushing Clark onto the bed he straddled the younger man and peeled his white wife-beater off, tossing it to the side and them popped all the buttons open on his button fly jeans. "You are a very, very bad boy, Clark Kent, and I really think you should be punished for your dirty mind and sassy mouth, don't you?" The older man purred as he first sucked on and then trailed his index finger down the center of Clark's chest.

"Taking this school-master thing to heart are you?" Clark laughed, running his hands up Dick's thighs and into the waistband of his gaping jeans while arching his hips upward to grind his hardening cock against his lover's ass.

"Just making sure you're properly trained before I let you loose on the world, my young padawan," Dick smirked as he deliberately shifted to avoid Clark's cock.

"Hey..." Clark frowned and shifted, trying to get Dick back where he'd been. "And did I call you Qui-Gon? I don't think so, but better him than Yoda or Darth Sidious!"

"No, but you alluded to yourself as my student and you are from another planet, thus the Star Wars allusion," Dick smirked, still avoiding Clark's scrabbling to resume his former position. Rolling off Clark entirely, Dick actually managed to get off the bed before Clark was coherent enough to reach for him. "Ah ah, stay! Good boy, keep it up and I'll give you a nice hard bone to play with," he continued, laughing as he slithered out of his jeans and briefs, getting naked in order to play.

"Yes, but you aren't from another planet so that sort of ruins the whole thing, don't you think?" Clark shifted to his hands and knees and crawled to the edge of the bed, watching Dick hungrily. "I prefer to think of myself like 'The Man Who Fell to Earth'."

"God," Dick choked out, watching Clark crawl towards him and thinking he'd never seen anything hotter in his life. His cock apparently agreed with him as well because precome was being smeared against his stomach, reminding him rather vividly that he was aroused and hungry. "You are the sexiest, naughtiest, most downright luscious thing I've ever seen," he gulped.

"Mmm, I bet you say that to all the aliens you get in your lair," Clark chuckled, stopping at the edge of the bad and rocking back onto his haunches, giving Dick a look from beneath his eyelashes - one he knew was effective.

"Cocktease," Dick snarled softly but without real heat as he launched himself at Clark, knocking them both back on the bed so that he was once more plastered on top of Clark. Finding the younger man's mouth he proceeded to devour it, taking it hungrily even as he ground his heavily leaking cock into the soft denim that still encased Clark. His hands held Clark's down, pinned to the bed as he continued to grind and hump and bite with ever increasing hunger.

"Only a tease if I'm going to hold out on you - which I'm not," Clark groaned, winding his legs around Dick's hips and bucking up against his body, desperate for more, but not trying to break out of the hold Dick had on him.

"So you want more, hunh? Just wait until that order of mine comes in. I'm doing to do such things to you, Clark Kent. I'm going to do such lewd, depraved, mind blowingly naughty things to you that you'll be whimpering and begging for more," Dick panted, licking his way down the side of the younger man's neck.

"I'm going to manacle you to this bed. This one, not the one upstairs because I'm going to want zero chances for distractions like parents calling, and I'm going to insert things and strap things around you and tie you up so tight and arouse you until you're screaming for it but I won't let you come. And then, when you're a mindless, quivering mass of alien flesh, then I'm going to fuck you into oblivion," Dick swore, raking his teeth down Clark's tendon, thrusting strongly, devouring his lover as best he could.

Sent to the brink by Dick's description alone, Clark threw back his head and howled. "Any of it, all of it, just fuck me already!"

"No," Dick purred, nipping at the base of Clark's throat. "I don't want to fuck you just yet. I want you to come for me, Clark. I want you to come inside those soft, white, country-air fresh jeans," the older man whispered, moving down to suck one of Clark's nipples into his mouth, his tongue lashing back and forth across the hardened nubbin of flesh.

Clark shuddered, and a low whine escaped his lips as he panted, trying to catch his breath. "Dick... God, Dick!" The older man switched to his other nipple, all the while grinding down against Clark's groin until the pressure was more then he could bear. Screaming and hearing fabric tear when his grip became too tight, he came, feeling warm liquid fountain out of his cock to coat the inside of his boxers and soak through to his jeans.

"Mmmm, very pretty!" Dick purred, still grinding against the younger man, his own cock twitching deliciously. "I can smell you, you know," he continued in a conversational tone. "You smell like the salt water of the ocean. I've always loved that particular scent, so liberating, so free and untamed," Dick purred, surging up Clark's body to kiss him again.

"And I love watching you come. Your face... beatific," the older man continued even as his hand slid between them to pet Clark's sticky groin before bringing his fingers up to his lips to lick them clean. "Delicious."

"Would have been better with you in me," Clark murmured, still feeling too good to really grouse about anything at all. "And speaking of that..." He arched his hips, rubbing against Dick's bare crotch in the hope of getting just that.

"They say that variety is the spice of life, Clark," Dick chuckled, kissing him again. "Just wait until the first time a vibrator touches your prostate when it's motor is set on high," the older man smiled darkly. "I can't wait to watch you jump and squirm and mewl. And the best part is that anything I do to you, you can do to me as well. I trust you, Clark. With everything I am, I trust you to keep me, keep us safe."

Slithering down the younger man's body, Dick carefully unzipped Clark's jeans and tugged them down, breathing in the musky aroma that was released from its denim confinement. "I did this to you, I made you come in your pants. God, do you know how arousing that is?" the older man moaned, his tongue darting out to delicately lap at Clark's uncut tip, tasting his release.

"You get me so hot, so damned hungry for you!" Dick continued as freed Clark completely, letting the now soiled jeans fall to the floor. Hovering over Clark's soft phallus, Dick looked up at his lover and then, maintaining eye contact, began to swallow Clark whole.

Rapidly moving beyond the ability to speak, Clark simply groaned as he tossed his head back and forth against the mattress and let his body take control. Hot and wet and Dick and better and almost too good. He mewled, feeling his cock growing hard again and he spread his legs wider, offering everything to his lover.

Smiling around the shaft in his mouth, Dick continued, feeling Clark harden and elongate, the blood rushing and pulsing beneath the surface of Clark's cock. When his lover was hard again, Dick finally released Clark's erection from his mouth and moved away. "I want you on your hands and knees, the way you were when you crawled over here to me," Dick growled. "I want to take you from behind, Clark. I want to get inside you as deep as possible and lose myself there!"

"Oh god..." Whipping around in a blur, Clark looked back at Dick over his shoulder and purposefully spread his legs wider. "Fuck me, Dick. Take me and love me and just..." He dropped his head in a totally submissive position, silently begging for Dick's touch.

"Jesus," Dick breathed, taking in the sight before him. Clark was fucking glorious! Not even willing to take the time to grab one of the bottles of lotion from the basket on the nightstand, Dick slicked his cock with the copious amounts of precome leaking from the tip of his shaft, positioned himself and slid deep into Clark's body with a single stroke. "Mine, all mine," he sighed, resting his cheek against Clark's strong back for long moments. "Mine to love, mine to adore and to worship, god, how'd I get so lucky?"

I'm... lucky... one..." Clark gasped out. His arms were shaking with strain that wasn't physical, but emotional, and he rolled his shoulders just to feel his sweat-slick skin sliding against Dick's.

He was grounded by the thick shaft nestled deep in his ass. Grounded and connected to this man he'd known only for a month but who meant more to him then life.

"So between the two of us we're the luckiest men on Earth and in heaven. Fair enough," Dick managed to chuckle as he began to thrust his hips back and forth slowly, enjoying the lazy slide of their bodies against one another, sweat slicking their movements against one another. "But I already knew that, after all luck led me to you."

Continuing to rest against Clark's back as his hips slowly picked up speed, Dick trailed one hand around the younger man's hip to grasp and pump Clark's eager cock, while the other came up to twist and fondle his nipples, adding layer after layer of sensation to Clark's body, wanting to make it perfect for the younger man.

Body twisting with each move Dick made over him, mind a blur of pleasure, Clark moaned. Wanting to give something back, and unable to reach Dick, he tightened his ass down around the older man's erection, milking it as he pressed inward, then giving a low cry when Dick's cock raked across his prostate. "God! Clark!" Dick bellowed and his hips began to snap faster, piston harder as he felt an impossible rush of arousal at the fluttering of Clark's anal passage. Over and over he slammed into his lover, his hand becoming a tight tube of flesh for Clark to fuck in and out of. Biting and nibbling his way across the younger man's back, Dick felt his balls begin to tighten and draw up into his body. Close. He was so fucking close. "Come, Clark, come for me again. I want to feel you come apart underneath me." Yes, yes, yes so hot and good and god! Throwing his head back, Clark screamed, his body bucking wildly beneath Dick's as he humped the tight fist, his come splattering the sheets in random patterns as his ass clamped down around Dick's cock until he could feel the pulsation as Dick's own orgasm took him.

Roaring his own completion, Dick sagged, exhausted, molding himself to Clark's back as he rained tiny kisses over every possible patch of skin he could reach. "Perfect, so fucking perfect. Love you, Clark Kent," Dick sighed, eyes closing in blissful lethargy as his slowly softening cock remained lovingly held within Clark's body.

Clark collapsed onto the bed, not even caring that he was lying in the wet spot and only mildly perturbed that the move jostled Dick's shaft out of his body. "Love you too, Dick Grayson, and, may I say, if all of my lessons are as much fun as this one, I'll get the hang of this superhero stuff in no time flat." 

"Brat," Dick chuckled, rolling off of Clark's back and pulling the taller man into his arms, grabbing the comforter with his other hand and pulling it up over top of them. "You're adorable you know that?" Dick continued, kissing the tip of Clark's nose. "Now I suggest we both take a nap and then you get to meet Cyber-Al and Cyber-Babs for your first lesson in how to use the equipment down here while I start working on your costume."

Grumbling a little as Dick rearranged them, Clark sighed when they were once again stationary and nodded. "I know. And that sounds good, just remember; no skin tight spandex, got it?"

"Nope, no spandex," Dick promised, hiding his grin in Clark's hair. No, spandex wouldn't be his first choice in fabrics for his lover. Latex maybe, or leather or... he'd probably go with Kevlar for the illusion and he might not make it as tight as he'd like it to be, but it would probably be tighter than Clark wanted. Excess fabric was a bad thing, after all, and gave the bad guys something to grab on to. "Trust me, Clark, I know what I'm doing."

"Trust me, Clark, I know what I'm doing," Clark groaned, staring at the costume that Dick and the hideout's computers had come up with. Things had been going smoothly for them up until now. They'd settled into the routine of classes and Dick's nighttime activities, though Clark hadn't been too happy about not being allowed to join in until he had a way to keep his identity safe. The furniture had all arrived and the gothic monstrosities had been relegated to the extra apartment with much relief on both their parts, and now he should have been excited about getting to do some real work with Dick, but in this? Clark stared at the black bodysuit, noting the gray accents and the Kevlar padding. It looked cool, but also very revealing. God, he'd die of embarrassment before the crooks even laid a hand on him!

"So, what do you think?" Dick asked, coming up behind his lover and wrapping his arms around Clark's waist, resting his head on the younger man's shoulder. "It's not nearly as form fitting as I would have liked but I knew you'd hate that. We had to keep it pretty close to the body though, because even though this particular Kevlar/Nomex blend is almost indestructible it's still fabric and it can be grabbed and used against you. This way, it's close enough that that won't happen, but loose enough that you won't feel totally exposed," Dick pointed out with aplomb.

"I guess that means I should try it on." Clark sounded as if he was contemplating stepping into a bathtub filled with worms or scorpions.

"I promise it won't bite," Dick laughed. "Think of it this way, Clark. The last thing anyone would ever expect laid-back Clark Kent to wear would be tight Kevlar. No one in a million years would guess that you're Nightwing's 'shadow,' would they?"

"Especially me," Clark muttered, shaking his head and turning the costume around, trying to figure out how to even get into it. "Ummm, a little help here?"

Dick quickly hid his smile at the younger man's reaction to the costume. Clark had no problem wearing skintight jeans but give him something in a Kevlar/Nomex mix and he turned into a blushing virgin. It was adorable, but somehow Dick didn't think Clark would agree so he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"It's got a shoulder zip for side entry that has a reinforced Kevlar panel to cover it. The clasps are titanium so they won't budge. It has the same safety measures that my suit has built into it. If for some reason you're knocked unconscious, there's an electrical charge built into the suit that is triggered when someone tries to tamper with the suit or get it off you - it's a one shot deal, but it should knock anyone within a three foot radius unconscious for a period of time.

"If the charge goes off an automatic alarm is triggered here on our system, with Oracle and in the Batcave. Response time from Gotham is about 25 minutes in Batman's chopper. If deemed necessary, Oracle would send out a request for a more immediate response to one of the Titan Towers as a safety measure. The suit is also electrically insulated so you wouldn't feel any of the charge yourself," Dick informed Clark as he began to undo the disguise's fastenings.

"The suit has a deactivation switch that I, Bruce, Tim, Al and Barbara know about, so it won't get us if one of us has to get you out of it. The mask, the gloves and the gauntlet all connect to the charge system so that they can't be tampered with either. Your mask has lenses that can be activated to help improve night vision but I figure with your x-ray abilities you wouldn't need the infrared lenses.

"Okay, now the undershirt is gonna have to go and we're gonna have to take you shopping for some boxer briefs or something tighter. I happen to wear a jock strap under my costume and nothing else, but you can get away with the briefs too. They've gotta be close to the skin. So did you want to try this on commando or borrow a pair of mine?" Dick asked seriously, in full 'bat' mode so to speak. He was going to make damn sure that this costume met his design specs before he let Clark out with him. Especially if the heads up that Babs had sent him this morning was true.

What the hell, if he was going to do this, he might as well do it. Clark took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "Commando. I don't think your briefs would fit me." A corner of his mouth twitched in a smile. "One question though; how the hell do you go to the bathroom when you've got this thing on?"

Dick couldn't help it. He burst into laughter. "Are you gonna be one of those people who keep asking 'are we there yet' because you can't hold it?" he teased even as he reached around to the front of the costume, revealing another flap of Kevlar and another zipper in just the right place. "I think you can figure that one out, can't you?"

"Fuck you, Grayson," Clark laughed, taking the costume back to examine the opening before nodding, satisfied with how it worked. "And I only said that when I was hungry, not when I had to go."

Stepping away from Dick, Clark looked at the shadowy costume once more and took a deep breath before setting it aside and beginning to strip. Once he was nude, he gathered up the armored material and, after undoing the zipper, began to work his way into it, moving slowly for fear of ripping even this reinforced material.

"Just think of it like pulling your jeans on, Clark. You don' rip them when you get dressed in the morning. Or the afternoon. Or the evening," Dick leered. "Nice view, by the way," the older man teased before turning serious again. "The fabric has non-reflective abilities and it tends to 'blend' in so you don't have to worry too much about it. One thing you may want to consider is contacts that change the color of your eyes. It's just another way to fool people. I didn't go that route because I found it changed my perspective on things and when swinging from grappling wires and flagpoles you need to keep your vision clear.

"Now hold still a second," Dick commanded as he sank to his knees in front of Clark, ignoring the semi-hard phallus that seemed to twitch and jerk each time his breath fluttered across it. Sliding the fabric up over Clark's hips, Dick made sure that it was tight enough on the legs and around the hips to not cause a problem. Running his fingers over the inner thigh zipper he made sure that it was sealed down properly and not gaping in spots.

"The suit is waterproof too, so as long as you keep the zippers done up correctly, if you hit the water you'll stay dry from neck to feet," Dick murmured as he eyed the costume critically, looking for any possible flaws.

"Dick, you aren't helping things down there," Clark growled, all the while taking deep breaths to force himself to concentrate on the fit of the costume and not on the fact that Dick was so near to his groin. Reaching down, he slid the clinging fabric up over his hips, gritting his teeth as Dick continued to check the fit and the fasteners and wondering if all superheroes were insane because of this alone.

"Clark, be thankful it's not Bruce checking the costume out - he offered to fly to Metropolis with it just to make sure it was okay," Dick replied absently. "I need to make sure it's okay. Call me paranoid but I don't want anything bad to happen to my guy, okay?" Dick continued, finally looking up at the younger man.

"Okay the bottom half seems to work out okay. Now let's check out the top half. If everything checks out and you eat all your spinach at dinner like a good boy, I'm going to let you come out with me tonight."

"Fucking A!" Clark crowed, before shimmying into the upper part of the outfit quite a bit faster then he had the lower. Once he had it on and mostly fastened, he looked at Dick closely. "Ummm, you were kidding about Bruce, weren't you?"

"No, I wasn't," Dick had to laugh. "Who do you think gave me my inspections with my outfits? And get your mind out of the gutter little man; he's like my father okay? Gross!" Dick shuddered, standing to give the upper half of the costume the same thorough inspection as he had the lower half "Well, it looks good. I'd say you're good to go tonight. But first, we go shopping. No offense, Clark, but you need a jock because if I know you're naked under that escape hatch I may just decide to let the bad guys get away and go down on my tasty sidekick!"

Clark couldn't help but snicker at the disgusted look on Dick's face at the thought of sex with Bruce, but then he was distracted when he caught sight of himself in the full-length mirror hanging in the area near the massage table. Intended for self-examination of hard to see injuries, right now it gave him a very good view of himself - one Clark almost didn't recognize. "Oh my god..." Reaching back, he pulled the half cowl over the top of his head, wiggling it around until it was comfortable and he could see without impediment. "Oh my fucking god! I look..."

"Like a super hero," Dick replied smugly. "An incredibly hot superhero I might add. I take it that this means that you approve of the design?" the older man continued, sitting on the massage/examination table and gloating quite openly at Clark's startlement at his transformation.

Even beneath the concealing mask, Clark felt himself blush. "Yeah, just hope I can suit action to fashion and live up to your reputation." He pulled the mask back off and looked at Dick, pride and modesty fighting for dominance in his expression. "So, you said shopping?"

"You're gonna do just fine, Clark," Dick replied, pulling the younger man to him so that he was bracketed between Dick's thighs. "I have a feeling that one day in the not to distant future I'm going to be the sidekick to whoever you turn out to be, and I look forward to the day," the older man continued with a gentle smile, tugging Clark down for a kiss.

"And yes, shopping," the older man continued when he finally let their clinging lips part, "because if I know you're naked under that I'm gonna be majorly distracted!"

"Can't have that, it might get you hurt," Clark smiled gently as he brushed his hand across Dick's hair. "And no matter what, I'm always going to consider you the expert in all this mess. I'll be the brawn and you be the brains and we'll keep everyone safe, okay?"

"Clark, try again," Dick replied in fond exasperation. "You're a freakin' genius and I happen to know it. Just the brawn my ass!" the older man continued, shaking his head. "C'mon, let's hit a department store, have dinner and hit the books until it's time to go out and keep the streets of Metropolis safe from the bad guys," Dick continued just as the direct line from Gotham went off.

Gut feelings had Dick prompting Clark to strip out of his costume and head up without him so that he could take the call he'd been half expecting without any chance of Clark overhearing. Dick had heard whispers of an old adversary of his coming to his city but he wasn't completely sure. He just didn't want to worry the younger man until he had solid evidence that Lady Vic was on her way to Metropolis.

Of all the luck, why did she have to decide to come to the crime capital of Kansas now? Dick had his suspicions but that was something else he was keeping from Clark for now. No sense disillusioning his lover more than he had to just yet and as much as Clark knew that Lex Luthor was destined for terrible greatness he didn't need to know that his first love was already well on the way.

By the time Dick sat down at the computer console Clark was already up in their apartment getting dinner preparations started so that they could eat when they got back. Turning on the loud speaker he said, "So, what have you got for me?"

"She's left Bludhaven, Dick. Black Canary confirmed it an hour ago. From what Dinah was able to ferret out, Lady Vic was contracted by someone with big money and no name to get Nightwing out of Metropolis. I've got a bad feeling about this, old chum. If Luthor is the one you've been hitting and he knows Dick Grayson has moved from Bludhaven to Metropolis, it won't take much to connect Nightwing's move between cities either. He might have already made the connection."

"I know, Bruce, I've thought of that too," Dick sighed. "But with Clark monitoring me from here I haven't had the time to investigate the possibility properly, not without him finding out and he's ... he's so young Bruce. I was never that young even back when I first slipped on Robin's mask. I guess I want to keep him innocent a little longer."

"Not at the expense of your safety, Dick. Tell him or I will," Bruce replied flatly. "Getting yourself killed won't protect him, it will kill him. I'll keep digging from this end but watch your back. Batman out."

"Hey lazybones, we going or not?" Clark asked, speaking into the intercom mounted on the wall after pressing in the code for the 'lair'. I know you have a calc test this Friday, so you have to study too..." Dick's head shot up, Clark's voice breaking him out of his brooding thoughts. Damn, Bruce was right, he would have to tell Clark. He just didn't want to add to the younger man's disillusionment of his first love.

"Be right up, babe," Dick called out, getting out of the chair and heading for the elevator. "And why did I take Calc again anyway? I can't stand that subject!"

"Because you had to have it and you blew it off back at Hudson," Clark answered, laughing. "You work on that and I'll work on my English assignment and we can be miserable together, and then take it out on the bad guys, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Dick grinned as he stepped out of the first floor linen closet and walked into the kitchen to snag a Pepsi from the fridge. "So, ready to go shopping?" He asked, tossing Clark the keys. "You drive since I'm gonna be driving tonight."

"Shopping for a jock, Dick. One thing, got it?" Clark asked, catching the keys and stuffing them in his pocket. "And no, you can't help me check the fit!"

"But haven't you ever wanted to do it in a dressing room, babe?" Dick laughed at the dirty look Clark shot him. "Awh, doesn't the chance of getting caught turn you on? Don't worry sweetheart, I promise not to embarrass you - this time."

Dick knew he was stalling but he didn't want to have Clark worrying and brooding all afternoon. When they came back was soon enough. Or maybe after they studied. Or ate dinner.

"Fruitcake," Clark muttered fondly. "I don't want to get arrested, now or ever, got it? And neither do you! Now come on and let's go so we can get to the good stuff!"

"What is up with you, Dick?" Clark asked, exasperated. The older man had been antsy all through their minor shopping trip, and he'd fidgeted through their homework session and the meal. "Who says anything's up with me?" Dick retorted and then sighed at the pointed look Clark shot at him. "Damn, you know me way too well. Not that it's a complaint, it's just that it's been a long time since someone's been able to read me this much."

Wiping his sweaty palms on his pants, he decided that sugar coating it would only get Clark more upset than he was now. "Okay here's the thing. The stuff I've been looking into these past few weeks at night, well, the street people were, as far as I could tell, being grabbed and shipped off to Cadmus Labs and not coming back out again. I didn't want to tell you because Cadmus is one of Luthor's holdings and if he is up to something... not legal... I didn't want you hurt by it.

"Trouble is, someone with a lot of money and the ability to keep their name out of certain business transactions has just hired a mercenary by the name of Lady Vic to take Nightwing out. Any way she can. Lady Vic and I have crossed paths before and she's not exactly a big fan if you know what I mean. If anything, she'd be happy to even the score.

"But that's not the biggest problem. If Luthor is behind what's going on he's gonna be able to put it all together, Clark, and figure out I'm Nightwing. Which means he'll put together who's my partner in crime. Are you sure you still want to do this?"

Clark froze, the movement of his Adam's apple in his throat as he swallowed, his only motion. "People have been vanishing? And Lex... hired someone to kill you?" He grew pale under his tan. "I won't let her hurt you."

He straightened up, seemingly larger then his already impressive size. "I won't let her - or him - hurt anyone. I don't care if he finds out about me, I just need to stop him." 

"Clark," Dick swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I love you so much for wanting to take care of me but I'm used to the risks. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to kill me, and it won't be the last. It's the nature of what I do, what you're choosing to do. We make enemies, powerful ones with a long reach.

"And as for Lex, there's no proof, Clark. He's a smart man, he knows how to cover his ass. There's no way to trace who hired Lady Vic, we just know it was someone from Metropolis with a lot of money and a lot to lose if Nightwing keeps up his nocturnal activities.

"But you have so much to lose if he connects you too. He's not gonna hurt you so long as you're just the 'boyfriend', Clark, he's gonna target me. But if you go up against him now he's not going to appreciate your interference in the least. I don't want him to hurt you, Clark, more than he already has."

"So what should I do?" Clark resisted the urge to put his fist through the wall. "Let this Lady Vic, whoever she is, come after you and not do a thing to stop her? No way! I don't care if everyone in the world ends up knowing who I am, I won't let her!"

Dick got up and went over to the younger man, wrapping his arms around Clark's neck and pulling him down for a gentling kiss. "Breathe, babe, and relax.

"Thank you for wanting to protect me, I just... be sure Clark, please, because I don't want to you hate me one day for destroying your life or something. You need to be very sure, because it won't just be you that Lex goes after, it will be your parents and Smallville and our children one day."

Clark forced himself to calm down and looked at Dick seriously. "I would never hate you, Dick, no matter what." What he didn't say was that even now he didn't hate Lex, just felt horribly sorry for him.

"You said this Lady Vic's after Nightwing, right? Well, maybe so far she doesn't know that you're him and if he suddenly gets an accomplice... Well, you moved up to a bigger city so it makes sense you need some help. I won't do anything showy and they may just think that Batman found you a partner just like he has, that's all." Dick sighed, realizing that Clark had made up his mind. "Okay, as long as you're sure. But you're not going out tonight after all. No, Clark, no arguments. I want you to do your homework. There's a file on Lady Vic on the database as well as the file that Interpol has on her. I want you to study them both, learn as much as you can about her. There's also footage of her and I scrapping it out the last couple times that Oracle made. I want you to study them carefully.

"I also want you to look into Cadmus Labs and see what you can find out. Tomorrow night you can come, okay? But tonight I want you to listen in from downstairs. If, and it's a big if, something should happen tonight, hit the emergency button to get Bruce here and then if you really have to come after me, be careful, okay?"

Clark was ready to refuse, violently if necessary, wanting to lay down the law that if he couldn't go out, Dick couldn't either. That was just wrong though. Making himself relax, he released his clenched hands and let them fall to his sides.

"All right, you're the expert here. I'll do what you say, Dick but if something happens..." He let the threat implied to anyone who might try to go after Dick hang in the air unspoken. One thing Lex had taught him was that to beat someone, you had to learn their weaknesses and that's what he'd do tonight: study this Lady Vic and see how he could beat her and hand her over to the police.

"You're the one who needs to be careful," he said quietly before grabbing Dick and pulling him into a crushing hug. "You understand?" 

"I've got you to come home to, Clark," Dick replied his hand cupping Clark's cheek as he watched his lover carefully. "Of course I'll be careful."

"Of course I'll be careful, he says," Dick muttered as he eased his tired and aching body into the car. He knew that Clark would be going nuts right now since he'd shut off the radio mike to the cave, but he was damned if he was going to let his lover hear him get the shit kicked out of him. Clark would have been down there so fast it would have made buildings tilt in his passing.

The good news was that it wasn't Lady Vic that got the drop on him. The bad news was that she was in town and this was just her way of saying hello. She wanted him off his game so she was going to play cat and mouse with him, sending out hired scum to tenderize him until she was ready to come in for the kill.

Groaning, Dick put the cloaked car into gear and headed home, turning on his mike as he did so. "Babe, I'm on my way back to base, see you in a few, okay?"

"What happened?!" Clark's voice was almost frantic and he knew he'd driven Oracle to the end of her patience by his constant questions and worries in the time Dick had been out of contact.

"I was in a scuffle, babe, and my mike got shut off with a punch. You may," Dick sighed, "you'll want to get the med bay ready, I've got some scrapes and cuts and," Dick groaned as he shifted, "I may have some cracked ribs."

"Jesus, D - err Nightwing!" Clark was on his feet in a flash, knowing that the mikes scattered around the lair would pick up his voice wherever he went. "Do you need me to meet you?"

"Relax, babe, it's nothing I haven't had happen to me before. If you're not sure what to do you may want to ask Cyber-Al some questions and have him online when I get in to talk you through it. There's not much to do other than wrap my ribs and clean up the scrapes and cuts. Luckily the suit took the worst of it. And stop worrying, please, babe," he begged quietly. "I'm okay, really. I've gotten worse on the job. ETA is 5 minutes."

Stop worrying? That was good for a laugh, and not a particularly good one. The hours that Clark had spent reading up on Lady Vic and listening to what Barbara knew about her had caused a nugget of fear to form in his gut. He'd handled meteor rock mutants before, but this woman was a certified killer, and psycho to boot.

And she was after Dick.

"Well fuck her, she's not getting him," he growled, pacing toward the hidden door to await Dick's arrival and grilling the AI about how to best take care of the older man when he finally got there. "I'd rather you fuck me, babe," Dick chuckled from the surround sound mikes, as he listened to Clark's pacing back and forth. "In fact I'd much prefer that to any possible alternative," he continued, shuddering. "Just driving through the camouflaged entrance now, will be there...." The roar of the car's engine reverberated through their 'cave' as the security system powered up and locked the entrance down, making the underground reservoir system look like it hadn't been touched in decades once more.

Dick opened the car door and maneuvered himself out with barely a wince, peeling his mask off as he went and, after years of reinforced conditioning from Batman, headed straight to the changing area to put everything back in its place and account for every unused weapon. Reaching up to get the costume's hidden zipper, Dick couldn't prevent the gasp of pain that ricocheted through the room.

Strong capable hands gently tugged his down and began to strip him with tender precision. Sagging back into Clark's embrace for a moment, Dick sighed. "This is the one part of being a solo agent I used to miss the most, someone to lend a helping hand. Thanks, lover."

"Anytime." Trying to keep his voice steady as he removed the rest of Dick's clothing, Clark winced when each new bruise appeared. A sweep of x-ray vision showed him that indeed, two ribs were broken on Dick's right side, and he supported the older man as they walked over to the exam table.

"Of course, the fact that I said anytime doesn't mean I want you to come home looking like this again." Working carefully, Clark cleaned the abraded areas of skin and dabbed at the cuts over Dick's left eye and at the corner of his mouth. He wasn't going to bring up the fact that this wouldn't have happened if he'd been out there too, he really wasn't.

"I never plan on coming home like this, it just kinda happens," Dick laughed weakly. "Just can't keep me out of trouble is all. Clark," Dick took the younger man's hand in his, "stop worrying. I'm fine, really I am, nothing a couple of days rest won't cure."

Not that Lady Vic was going to let him have any rest. She had to know she hurt him tonight and tomorrow she'd be out at it again and he'd have to go out there again and go through the same sort of pummeling and keep going out until she was finished playing cat to his mouse. But he'd be damned if he would let that bitch win. However, he wasn't averse to using a little help when he could and this was an extreme circumstance.

"Al, can you put a call through to Titan's Tower, New York, I need to speak to Garth," Dick called out as Clark continued to patch him up, ignoring his lover's startlement even as he brought one of Clark's hands up to his lips and kissed it reassuringly. He just hoped Clark didn't remember Dick admitting to he and Garth being lovers once upon a time.

"Friend, Richard," came Garth's exotically accented voice, filling the room. "So how is the monstrous Metropolis treating you?"

"Alive and somewhat kicking, G-man. How're the seven seas doing?" Dick chuckled.

"They are alive and kicking as you say. I hear pain in your voice, this would be the reason of your call?"

"Unfortunately, old friend. I wish I had had time to call just to talk but things have been crazy since Clark and I moved in. You know how it is, setting up your first home with your loved one?"

"Nesting, yes I remember the sensation well when I and my Dolphin made our first home together. But, as you say, there will be time for reminisces and conversations later. So how can I help you?"

"Lady Vic is in town and gunning for me, she had her goons break a couple of my ribs and she's going to keep coming back. If you could cook me up one of those heal-fast spells of yours and send it my way I'd be obliged," Dick asked quietly.

"But you don't like to use magic to heal, my friend, you have told me so many a time or I would have bespelled you with a permanent healing spell before now," Garth reminded his friend, silently speculating on Dick's change of heart.

"That was before... Clark," Dick replied, watching his lover with loving eyes. "Now, anything I can do to stop him from worrying, I'll do."

"Will you permit a permanent spell?"

"I... yeah, Garth, hit me," Dick replied, hardly needing to think about it. If healing faster allowed him to ease Clark's mind and made sure he was always by the younger man's side then so be it, it was a small price to pay.

"I will create the spell and send it to you through air and water, my friend. You shall have it within the hour. Swim safely in your chosen ocean."

"You too, Tempest, you too. Nightwing out."

Having remained silent throughout the exchange, Clark waited until Dick broke the connection and then tilted his head to meet his lover's eyes. "This Garth is the one..." He trailed off, Dick's nod giving him all the information he needed. "And he's... magic?"

"It was ... it wasn't love, Clark," Dick tried to explain. "I was hurting and he... wanted to stop the pain in me for a little while. Until you came into my life I thought I was destined to be like Bruce, alone and isolated because of my other 'self', Nightwing. I thought Kori had been my one great love and it hurt. Man did it hurt. Garth was a good enough friend and one who didn't have a human's preconceived notion of sexuality that he, he let me forget for a while," Dick continued.

"Garth is the adopted son of Orin of Atlantis. Yes Atlantis really does exist. I got to go there once; kinda cool in a creepy I can drown at any moment sort of way. Garth was Aqualad for a while but chose the mantle of Tempest after his own trials and tribulations. Of all my teammates in the Titans, he's the one who understood best and went through pretty much the same shit I did. However he still... he's still like you. He prefers to believe in the best of mankind instead of the worst.

"And he's a mage in training. Packs quite a wallop with some of his abilities. I'm not real clear on a lot of that because it's something he hasn't wanted to talk about and I've respected the decision. Everyone has parts of their life where they got a little to close to the dark side of their psyche; I just figured that was one of Garth's moments."

Dick brought Clark's hand up to his lips, kissing each finger lightly. "When we get a long weekend I'll take you to New York. I want you to meet Garth and Roy and Wally and Donna. They're my best friends, the ones who know me at my best and my worst. We were the first group of Titans along with those who've left us, who've gone bad or who've died, but we five, we've always watched each other's backs as best we could and when ever one of us needed help the rest were there. I want you to know them too, Clark. I want them to know the man I love and the hero he'll one day become.

"But for now, will the patient live, Doc? Because I'd really like to take a shower or a hot bath or something and just curl up in bed with you. It's been a long day."

As he listened to Dick's explanation, Clark nodded, letting each new piece of information about his lover's past fit into what he knew of him. He'd spoken to Wally on the phone a couple of times when he'd called Dick's apartment in Bludhaven, but didn't know anything about the others - other then they were all out there doing what he wanted to do. Getting to meet them in person would be great, and he could only hope they'd have some embarrassing stories to tell about Dick.

"You'll live, but you aren't doing anything strenuous for a while, got it?" he looked sternly down at Dick as he said this. "When will Garth's thing get here? Once I get you in bed, you're not moving until you're better, and if that's a few days from now, live with it, got it?"

"Well, he said it would arrive by air and by water, cryptic I know, but that means that the first part will probably be something I need to add to water so the bath it is, and the second part, it's probably coming via messenger spell. Since he said within the hour it'll probably be waiting upstairs for us," Dick replied, patently ignoring Clark's order about doing nothing strenuous.

Lady Vic was out there and she was the sort who'd take her aggressions out on innocent people if she didn't get what she wanted. And what she wanted was Nightwing's head. So he was going out tomorrow night come hell or high water and nothing Clark could say or do would stop him. Dick wasn't about to let anyone die because he was a little rough around the edges. He couldn't let anyone die because of him, not without putting up one hell of a fight.

Grunting in a non-answer, Dick levered himself slowly up off the table, rotating body parts carefully. "You did a damn good job patching me up, babe. I'm impressed!" Grabbing for a towel to wrap around his hips, Dick let Clark wrap an arm lightly around him and add some stability to his gate. "Damn, I could really go for a beer right about now!"

"Just call me Dr. Kent," Clark sighed. "And no beer until you're better. For all I know you could have a concussion."

They made it into the elevator, and he stroked a gentle hand over Dick's face. "I know you can take care of yourself, that you've been doing it probably longer than I've been on Earth, but I can't help it, Dick." Clark gave a rueful smile. "Planet of Woody Allen types takes hold again."

The elevator doors opened up and Clark helped Dick into the upper level of their apartment, leading him toward the bathroom, intent on drawing a bath for his lover. He stopped stock still, however, at the sight of glowing white orb of light hovering in the air in front of them. "I take it this is what Garth sent you?"

"That would be it, yeah," Dick grinned at the look on Clark's face. For all they knew Clark might one day manifest similar powers, so it was rather amusing to watch the younger man deal with what Dick now considered every day occurrences in his life. "Believe it or not, you get used to it after a while. My friend Donna? She's an honest to god Amazon and knows her Gods up close and personal, heck her sister Diana, better known to the world as Wonder Woman, was a goddess of Olympus for a while, or so I was informed. I've never met the woman myself, just the thought of it would scare the bejesus out of me, but it's just another part of this wacky thing I call life," Dick had to laugh.

Reaching out, Dick tapped the ball of energy and it dissipated letting two vials fall into Dick's outspread hand. "One is for the water, you must submerge completely so that it covers all your skin and leaves nothing unprotected. The second is for your current and immediate injuries. Drink it down and it will begin to heal almost immediately. And try and stay out of trouble for at least twenty-four hours, my friend. Barring that, twelve hours will suffice," Garth's disembodied voice filled the room. "And nothing more than cuddling with your loved one tonight. Wild monkey sex, as you air breathers like to call it, will have to wait until you're better!"

"Can I kill him, please?" Dick groaned burying his face in his hands. "Wild monkey sex? God, I really need to get back to NYC, he's been spending way too much time with Wally and Roy!"

Clark tried to keep from laughing, but it emerged as a sputtered giggle anyway. "It's only fair, Dick, considering how much ribbing I've gotten from my friends. Even if he hadn't said that, it would have been the case tonight. You need recovery time, magic or no magic."

He reached out and took the two vials from Dick's hand, probing them with his vision, but unable to discern anything about their contents. "Now are you going to take your medicine like a good boy or do we have to play here comes the choo-choo?"

"Clark Kent," Dick growled, snatching back the tiny bottles. "Keep this up and it'll be a very long time before you get any, period!"

Looking at the glass vials, Dick immediately recognized Garth's markings; blue for water and pink for flesh. Uncorking the pink one, Dick downed it in one gulp, then resealed it. "If I can swallow gallons of alien come and enjoy it," Dick leered, "a little Atlantean fish medicine is walk in the park. Tastes about the same too - briny and faintly metallic at the same time."

Deciding Dick must be feeling better since his quirky sense of humor was returning, Clark snorted. "Bite me, Grayson. On second thought, don't, I have no idea if the Atlantean health plan covers dental work and you're too young for dentures."

Even as he spoke, he was leading Dick into the bathroom, sitting him on the closed lid of the toilet and turning on the tap in the bath, letting the water run before closing the drain.

"Anyone every tell you you're a pushy bottom boy alien, Kent?" Dick grinned feeling surprisingly better already. Nothing like one of Garth's magical cures to get things working again, including his libido, god dammit! And did Clark have to look quite so fucking sexy when he was doing his mama hen 'I'm worried about you so let me take care of you' thing? It was enough to make a stone horny!

In fact, the way Clark was leaning over to fill the Jacuzzi tub was enough to tempt a saint and Dick was anything but. Leaning forward, the older man wrapped his hands around his lover's hips, one hand cupping Clark's soft phallus, the other petting his stomach even as Dick began to nibble at the younger man's delectable ass.

"Clark, he said no wild monkey sex, that doesn't preclude everything, does it?" Dick purred, his tongue tracing the back seam of Clark's jeans.

"Di-ick..." Clark's balance wavered and he almost put his hand through the tub's marble side. Obviously the tonic had worked, but orders were orders. "Since he's Atlantean, isn't everything humans do hot monkey sex?"

"Not necessarily, after all there's also cold fish sushi sex too," Dick laughed, biting his lover's ass playfully even as he caressed the twitching cock, "and of course there's the one that's named after his favorite alcoholic drink - a long comfortable screw against the wall."

"Dick!" Clark wailed. "I do not want to hear about Atlantean sex or what the two of you did together, got it?" He wriggled, hoping to loosen his lover's teasing hands a bit because, try as he might, he was reacting and if Dick kept this up much longer, they both might end up in the tub.

"Clark, I wasn't talking about what we did together," Dick replied with infinite patience. "Garth thinks it's a drink, when I put you into the equation, well it's about as close to heaven as I want to get for a long time," the older man continued. "But since you seem bent on being a good boy I guess I'll just have to stop playing with you and play with myself instead."

Clark bowed his head, oblivious to how high the water was rising in the tub in front of him. "I'm sorry. I thought... something that obviously you didn't mean. Way to go, Kent."

"Clark," Dick reached over and shut the water off then turned the younger man around. "I'm sorry too. Garth's crazy potions tend to have side effects. Of course I doubt very much that the side effect he was expecting was extreme horniness for the love of my life. Tell you what, from now on I'll do my best to keep Garth and sex in separate sentences, okay? I mean if roles were reversed and you mentioned Alexander the Bald I'd probably react the same way. No harm done, babe, I promise, so stop with the self-flagellation.

"Now, just to be on the safe side, can I talk you into vacating the bathroom? If this stuff was made just for me who knows what it might do to you and you're far too delectable for words. So to avoid any watery pouncing you may want to ... wait outside?"

Taking a deep breath and leaning his head against Dick's shoulder for a moment, Clark nodded. "Sorry. I guess I'm a little keyed up about the whole thugs beating you and psychopathic murderer coming after you thing. I'll go... make you a snack and get the heating pad - oh, you probably won't need that, will you."

"Get the heating pad, babe, and thank you for looking after me," Dick smiled softly, kissing his lover on the back of the neck before dropping his towel to leave him bare. "A snack sounds fantastic, something to drink would be great and a night of cuddling with you in bed is just what the doctor ordered."

What Dick didn't say was that this was something that Clark would have to get used to. This was part of his life; it had been since he was 10 years old. His baptism into crime fighting had been the death of his family and he'd been christened in the blood of their murderer. This was who he was, for better or worse, and he couldn't change his destiny any more than Bruce could.

"Okay." Clark sighed and straightened up, unable to keep his gaze from roaming over Dick's bare body, both amazed and relieved to see that the bruises and swelling were gone - well, the swelling from his injuries anyway.

"I'll be in the bedroom after I get the food, just yell if you need anything." 

"Don't tempt me, Clark," Dick muttered, opening the blue bottle and pouring it into the tub, then giving the whole thing a stir. Hissing as he sank into the heated water, Dick waited until he'd adjusted to the temperature before submersing and making sure he was covered completely by the water. Kinda like Achilles being dipped into the river Styx, he thought to himself as he looked through the clear liquid, making sure that he was in fact totally submersed.

Coming up for air, Dick scrubbed himself as best he could with a washcloth but no soap, figuring he'd just let the potion sink in and shower properly in the morning. Submerging one last time, the crime fighter climbed out of the tub and padded, naked, into the bedroom, not stopping for a towel. "I figured I'd better let myself air dry," he told a bemused Clark, "just to be on the safe side."

"Guess I'd better not get near you until that happens then." Clark nodded toward the sandwich and glass of milk on the dresser. "Never know what alien magic might do to me after all." He chuckled. "Might make me grow a tail or something."

"Would it be prehensile?" Dick asked with a leer, "because it might almost be worth it if it was. That way you could do me when I do you and we'll both have goofy grins on our faces"

"Jesus, Dick!" Clark stared at his lover slack-jawed, then collapsed onto the bed, laughing hysterically. "If there's such thing as a one-track mind, you have it!"

"Well duhhh, I mean have you looked in the mirror lately? You're freakin' hot Clark. I'm gonna have to follow you around campus just to beat them off with a stick!" Dick exclaimed, before munching on the sandwich and downing the milk. By the time he was done he was dry except for his hair and that he towel dried quickly before collapsing onto the bed next to the younger man.

"C'mon, Clark, can you honestly blame me for having a one track mind when you're like raw sex on a stick and I'm so crazy in love with you I'm tempted to do stupid things like doodle little hearts on my binder with your name in them?" Clark flushed. "Look who's talking! I've heard the messages; 'Hi, Dick? This is Courtney, you know, from your Ecology class? I was wondering if I could borrow your notes?'" He snickered as he delivered the lines in a quivering falsetto.

"Ooooh, baby! Now all you need is a dress and makeup and I'll marry you tomorrow!"

"Keep it up, Fruitcake, and you'll be glad of whatever Harry Potter stuff you just drank down because you're asking for it!"

Dick grinned and rolled over onto Clark's stomach. "Babe, you're the only one for me and even when we're in our 90's and I'm still gonna lust after you because it's not just your body, it's your mind and your heart, god most of all your heart. It makes you the sexiest thing I've ever seen and I adore it, and you," the older man confessed, bending to brush his lips back and forth across Clark's, seeking entrance.

"C'mon, Clark, don't stay mad, don't stay protective, just stay my sweetness and light, please?"

The pleading tone of Dick's voice did Clark in, and he pulled back just enough to speak before giving in. "I love you, you know that?" he asked before catching Dick's face between his hands and kissing him thoroughly. "And I'm very glad you're feeling better, but we're still following sushi-boy's instructions tonight." Heaving a large sigh, Dick gave in. "But he only said tonight, he said nothing about tomorrow morning!" the older man pointed out smugly, rolling off Clark's chest and reaching for the thin sheet they tended to pull over themselves because they both liked to keep the apartment just this side of frigid in the sweltering heat of early September.

Clark was upstairs cleaning up after dinner and puttering around. Dick felt guilty at the subterfuge but his lover was in full mother hen mode. So Dick had told a tiny white lie when he had said he was going downstairs to talk to Babs and Bruce about digging a little deeper into Lexcorp electronic records. He did speak to them both. For all of five minutes.

Fastening the last buckle in place on his boots, Nightwing made sure his mask was firmly in place with spirit gum. His earpiece was in place and the mike in the mask was functioning perfectly. "Sorry, babe, but I can't let anyone else get hurt because I'm not up to take her on. It's just not in me to back down from a fight," the older man sighed and made his way to his car. Time to find Lady Vic and end this once and for all.

Hitting the intercom button with his elbow, Clark attempted to dry his wet hands on his shirttail. "I'll be down in a minute, Dick. You find anything useful?"

When no answer was forthcoming, Clark frowned. "Hey, Fruitcake, I'm talking to you. Did Barbara or Bruce have any information?" Still no answer and a ball of dread clogged Clark's throat. "Goddamn it, Dick!" he snarled, tearing through the apartment, cursing in a way that would have shocked most anyone he knew when the elevator took its time rising back up to the penthouse and then descending to the lair.

"Dick, you had better not have..." The car's spot was empty, and Clark punched the wall nearby, leaving a sizable dent. "Son of a bitch!" Tearing over to the communications set, he tuned into Nightwing's frequency... and got only static.

"Is there a problem, Master Clark?" Cyber-Al's face flickered to life on one of the terminals. "Something that I can assist you with perhaps?"

At that particular moment the alarm that was attached to Dick's tazer charge went off. Someone had tried to remove his suit without permission. The protocols built into the system activated and requests for immediate assistance were relayed to Gotham and to whatever Titan was closest. Nightwing was in trouble and needed help ASAP.

Dick groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He was upside down, feet bound in thick chain, arms taped behind his back and hanging from a metal girder in what looked like a slaughterhouse. Great. Life couldn't be better.

Well at least the thugs were unconscious. That's what they got for trying to steal his ultra cool costume, the crime fighter thought with giddy amusement. His next thought, however, was that Clark was gonna be pissed! How the hell had they managed to get the drop on him? He was sure he'd had all the doors secured when he went inside, and that he'd done a complete perimeter sweep. Sons of bitches came out of nowhere and no matter how hard he'd fought their sheer numbers had been too much for him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that wasn't very nice, darling," came a voice that seemed to belong to a perfect English rose yet was in fact Lady Vic's. "And I worked so hard to find those men. Ah well, they've outlived their usefulness anyway."

The silencer made barely a sound as the female mercenary shot them one by one while they were unconscious on the floor. Dick closed his eyes against the sight. When he got his hands on that cold-blooded bitch he'd tear her limb from li....

The hot muzzle of the gun was pressed to Dick's side making him jerk and scream in immediate agony. "Oh dear, did that hurt? Pity," Lady Vic smirked as she trailed it around his torso completing her circle. "Well now, who'd have thought that there would be such a ravishing young man under such an ugly costume? It's truly a shame I have to kill you, you know. You provided me with quite a stirring challenge. The best I've had in years."

"Find the car for me, Alfred!" Clark was on the edge of hysteria, and he ripped off his clothes, yanking on his costume with shaking hands as he waited for the AI's response.

"Nightwing's vehicle is at the corner of 45th and Broad. Would you care for me to call 911 and alert the police to that location? Batman and Robin are airborne and will be arriving in approximately thirty minutes, and the Titans have an alert out as well. It would be best if you waited for someone to arrive before going out." 

"For them maybe, but not for Dick!" The car might have been gone, but Dick's bike was still there, and while Clark wasn't an expert, he could handle it well enough. "Give me a fix on the location on the bike's computer," he yelled over the snarling engine, waiting only for the locator dot to pop on before tearing out of the hidden passageway and onto Metropolis' late night streets; Nightwing's shadow was on the warpath and out for revenge on those who had hurt his lover.

"Glad to know I made an impression on you," Dick finally ground out when his body stopped twitching. He could already feel the tingling ache that seemed to signal healing was in progress. What he'd been able to observe before the witch had come to play was that what should have been a severe beating looked several days old and well on the way to mending. He could already feel the burns scabbing over but he'd have yet another scar to add to his growing collection. Something else Clark was gonna bust his ass for, no doubt.

"Oh you did, my young friend, you did indeed. Bivens, clean up the bodies won't you? I may have to kill our intrepid young dark knight in training but I don't have to kill him just yet. We can have a spot of fun first, he and I."

"As you wish milady," Bivens replied, a smug grin spreading across his face. Lady Elaine was hunkering down for a bit of sport. This should be interesting indeed!

Ignoring the voices in his headset first asking, then ordering him to calm down and wait, Clark screeched the motorcycle to a stop next to Nightwing's car and scanned the area. Nothing there. Damnit, Dick, I need a clue here, Clark growled to himself, stepping away from the vehicles and trying to listen for anything that might be helpful. Heartbeats from... that direction. Pivoting to face the direction of the shallow sound, Clark scanned the buildings, finally making out several figures behind a maze of girders and hanging chains.

"I've found him," he said curtly, zeroing in on one particular heartbeat he knew as well as his own. After passing on the address, Clark raced forward, not even bothering to try the door, just blasting through it like a steamroller. 

"Well I must say I am impressed. All those cuts and nary a scream from you since the muzzle touched you. And they're healing much more rapidly than I expected. Oh this means you'll live a good long time before I kill you," Lady Vic purred, holding one of her favored kukhri knives and watching Dick's blood drip from the blade.

"Honey, if that's the best you've got you may as well get it over with now, I'm getting real bored here," Dick retorted just before the world exploded.

When the dust settled, Dick recognized the heaving, exceptionally angry man standing there taking in the scene. "Rock, meet the hard place," he quipped, earning him a backhand from the assassin. "Okay, that was really, really stupid!"

"You can't kill them, okay?" he called out to Clark, "I mean it. We need them alive!"

Taking out the muscle-bound butler with one punch to the face after the creep had tried to skewer him with a knife that simply shattered against his side, Clark stalked forward, his every move telling of deadly, tightly leashed energy.

"You may need her alive, but I don't," he growled. The drying blood on Dick's chest and arms told a story, as did the blade the blonde mercenary held in her hand - the blade streaked red with Dick's life fluid.

"You're pretty good at taking on tied up men," he threw out; halting within what he knew was the woman's arm reach. "Care to try yourself out on someone with a bit more fight? You can use your knives, I'll just use my hands." 

"Damnit... shadow, I mean it. We need her alive!" Dick growled, his body already contorting and working itself out of the bindings in a manner that would have left Houdini speechless.

"Well, well. Nightwing has a shadow, how very droll," Lady Vic replied, looking the behemoth over with little worry. "Now why would I want to fight you when my contract was for my darling adversary?" she continued blithely. "You would net me no additional profit and as he says, you need me alive to find out who my employer is."

Wrenching a shoulder out of joint hurt like a bitch but it allowed Dick to get his arms loose and the feet came next. The fall to the floor snapped the shoulder back into place and Nightwing couldn't muffle the sound or his groan of pain as things popped back into place.

Clark was still moving menacingly towards the assassin, so much so that Dick was beginning to sweat. Fucking hell, he was not going to let Clark go down this road. No way, no how.

Climbing to his feet, he called out. "Hey, honey, thought you wanted to dance?"

Snarling, Lady Vic spun around to face the voice behind her. No one, but no one called her honey. The fist in her face, however, put short work to her righteous indignation and the assassin crumpled, unconscious to the floor. Not that Dick was in any condition to catch her before she hit concrete.

Clark turned on Dick, furious at being denied his revenge. What he saw in his lover's eyes, however, drew him up short, and he blinked, feeling almost ill. "Di - Shit, I would have..." The rest when unsaid as he spun to the side, losing what was left of his dinner and everything else in his stomach besides.

Dick struggled to Clark's side, holding his head, running a hand soothingly down his back as he murmured quietly, one eye on the assassin and her butler, the other on the hole Clark had made coming in. He simply held the younger man tight, hoping his touch was enough for now as this was neither the time nor the place to be Dick Grayson, Clark Kent's lover. He had to stay Nightwing until...

"Nightwing!" Batman came through one of the skylights, making his entrance and Robin through the hole. They took one look at the scene and knew something had almost gone very wrong here tonight.

"Hey guys, can you do me a favor and take care of the clean up? I need to get him home. You both know the way, right?" At Bruce's silent nod, Dick managed a tired smile. "I'm okay, guys, honestly. It looks worse than it is and it's already healing up. Long story but I've got some help on that front now. See you soon."

With that, Dick carefully lifted Clark to his feet and headed back to the car. He figured Robin could drive the redbird back and would love every minute of it. Right now his only concern was Clark. "C'mon, babe, lets go home, okay?" he whispered softly.

As he straightened up, Clark wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, swallowing hard to keep from retching again. Oh god, he'd wanted to... he'd almost torn the bitch to pieces, and he'd been happy about it.

Keep it together, Kent. Dick's the one who was hurt; he doesn't need to be worrying over you. "I'm driving," he said quietly but forcefully, after scanning Dick's body to make sure nothing was broken other than his rapidly healing flesh.

"Batman, Robin, I'm sorry you had to come all this way." He looked at Dick pointedly as if waiting for him to apologize too.

Batman replied softly. "There's nothing to apologize for. This is what we are, what we do. We stand against the night and the darkness that brings out the worst in men. It is our destiny and sometimes even our curse."

"Besides, it wouldn't be normal if we didn't get a call once in a while to save Nightwing's butt," Robin chirped in. "Dude is seriously accident prone at times. Oh yeah, call Oracle so she can rip you a new one for scaring another set of gray hairs onto her."

"Great, just great," Dick moaned. He was so dead! And the look Clark kept pointing at him. "I... unh... " He managed to get out, not quite sure what to say to make the younger man stop giving him the patented Bruce 'I'm very disappointed in you Richard' Wayne stare.

Taking pity on his former sidekick now adopted son, even though Dick had added a few more gray hairs to his temple too, Batman ran interference. "Thank you for being here for Nightwing, he's been without a partner for so long he might have forgotten a thing or two, but then again I'm the one who taught him that little disappearing trick he pulled so I'm just as much to blame for it as he is. Now go one, both of you, go get cleaned up while we take out the trash."

Yessir," Clark answered automatically, turning to look at Dick one more time before, wanting nothing more then to have him at home so he could clean the older man up and assure himself that he was whole. So much blood stained his costume that Clark found it hard to believe that Dick was walking at all, but it seemed that Garth's potion really did work.

"Coming?" he asked, resisting the urge to wrap his hand around Dick's and assure himself of that fact while they walked out to the car together.

Recognizing Clark's need for physical reassurance and needing it himself somewhat, Dick merely walked up to his lover and took Clark's hand in his. "Anywhere you go, you know I'll follow," he replied simply, his words encompassing more than just tonight but their lives as well. "Let's go home."

The lower half of his costume was a write-off, the top half salvageable but Dick doubted he'd make the effort. This was one costume he wouldn't mind recycling. Kicking it aside he stepped into the lair's shower and quickly and efficiently scrubbed the muck off, hissing as the soap bubbles penetrated each cut and burn Lady Vic had administered to him.

Trying to keep the noises he made down, knowing that Clark had to be hyper-aware of him right now, Dick rinsed quickly and stepped out. He took care of most of the cuts himself; putting iodine on them and then bandaging them up, but the ones on his back he would have to leave for Clark. Thanks to aerosol Dick was able to at least treat the burns himself and wrap some gauze around his torso to cover it up at least.

"Clark? I know you'd probably rather strangle me than anything else right now, but could I possibly ask you to give me a hand?" Dick called out meekly, not quite sure of Clark's state of mind.

"Sure." Not trusting his own voice to remain steady, Clark walked into the bathroom and took the medicated spray from Dick's hands. His costume was bunched around his waist, as he'd started to strip out of it, but had remembered midway through that his clothes were in rags. Not wanting to leave Dick alone, he'd simply stayed dressed as he was, though right now he just wanted to get rid of all memories of this night.

Dick turned around, and Clark went to work, gently cleaning each cut and burn, then covering them with gauze and tape. His breathing was erratic, and he didn't notice that his hands were shaking or that somewhere in the midst of his work, that tears started coursing down his cheeks from a combination of fear, relief, and residual anger.

The first splash of hot liquid on his back had Dick up and dragging Clark into his arms in an instant. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Clark, god, I'm sorry," he half-pleaded over and over, his own guilt eating him alive. He'd done this to the younger man when he'd agreed to let Clark start coming. He'd been the one who had allowed yet another layer of innocence stripped away from his sweet, gorgeous lover. Shit, he was no better than Luthor!

Staying upright because he knew Dick needed his support more then he needed Dick's, Clark nonetheless shuddered in his lover's arms. "Don't... you... dare... do... anything... like... that... again," he panted, gasping for breath between each word. "If I'm supposed to be your partner, let me be it then!"

"Clark..." Dick replied helplessly. How could he explain it? "When I was first learning how to be Robin, Bruce would do the same thing to me. Decide it was too dangerous and go off alone. Used to make me crazy too but... I never understood why until I partnered up with you.

"With Bruce, he was trying to protect me physically because I had to grow up too damn fast. I watched my parents die; I watched the murderer get away scott free. That changed me. But I was only 10 and no matter how much I hated that bastard I was too small and too scrawny to do anything about it. And there were times and enemies that made it too dangerous for me to go out with Bruce.

"I know you're stronger than anyone I've ever met, I know you're practically invulnerable and you've got gifts that... blow my mind. But I still get this frozen ball of fear in my stomach when I think about you going out there. I wanted to spare you from having to deal with that bitch because I know how psycho she is, and how nasty. I didn't... I didn't want to be responsible for raping even more of your innocence than I had to right away," Dick confessed.

"I knew you'd have to see it eventually but... I wanted to spare you that just a little longer. I'm sorry. I was wrong."

"Yeah, you were," Clark whispered, straightening up and meeting Dick's gaze. "Not for why you wanted to do it, but for how you did it." He raked a hand through his hair before resting it on Dick's arm again as if losing contact would mean losing him. "I understand that you wanted to do it alone. I may not like it, but I think I understand. I can't... why didn't you at least tell me where you were going? Jesus, if I'd taken any longer, who knows what she might have done to you!"

"But she didn't, Clark. She didn't and that's what you need to concentrate on. The what-if's will destroy you if you get into the habit of asking them. What if I were faster? What if I got there sooner? What if I can't stop the crazy this time? What if has to be the most dangerous and painful question you could ever ask yourself. Trust me on this one," Dick murmured.

"I didn't say anything to you because you would have asked to come and... I can't say no to you, Clark. I just don't have it in me," Dick admitted quietly.

The elevator door to the lair slid open and Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake stepped into the room, taking a look at what was Dick and Clark's base of operations, seeing the changes, the touch of color where a bright bedspread had been added to the bed, a plant put on a table, an empty pizza box on a work bench, a book of calculus next to a book on journalism.

"How are you boys doing?" Bruce asked quietly, watching Dick and Clark with careful eyes.

"We're... you staying overnight, Bruce?" Dick asked, his voice gruff with emotion.

"A couple of days, if you don't mind. I've got some business meetings and such that I've been putting off but since I'm here," Bruce trailed off, then continued, "And Tim wants to see some of the sights of Metropolis so I thought it could be a working vacation of sorts. Vesper and Azrael have Gotham for a few nights and know how to reach us if we really need to be back there."

Dick smiled and nodded. "Then would the two of you mind if Clark and I have an early night? We can catch up tomorrow. Make yourselves at home, okay?"

Bruce nodded, understanding. There were still things to work out between the two men that didn't need parental or fraternal interference.

"Let's go to bed, babe," Dick husked, hopping off the table and into Clark's strong arms. "And talk as much or as little as you want to."

Clark nodded, not trusting his voice. Glancing at Bruce and Tim, he decided to hell with it, and carefully lifted Dick into his arms, ignoring the other man's protests. Once the elevator door closed behind them, Clark shifted his gaze to Dick's face, daring him to complain given the circumstances. After gently settling the older man on their bed, Clark stripped out of the rest of the costume, forcing himself to hang it up inside the closet before pulling on a pair of boxers and turning back to Dick. "Do you need anything?" he asked, knowing that there were stronger things then Tylenol in the medicine chest.

"Just you, but you haven't had a chance to clean up yet. Go on, Clark, I'll still be here when you get out, I promise. No more disappearing without telling you. Ever," Dick swore fervently.

"Okay." Clark stood watching Dick for long moments before heading into the bathroom to shower, plainly not quite believing that last comment, but accepting that for now Dick was going to stay put.

He showered as quickly as possible without using super speed, hoping that the hot water would clear his thoughts, and finding that it did help, a little. Emerging once again from the bathroom, Clark walked over to the bed, gingerly sitting down beside Dick, frowning as he catalogued the purplish-yellow bruises that marked most of his upper body though they were bisected by white where cuts and burns were covered in gauze.

"You said not to ask what-ifs, but I have to, at least tonight. I've... caused people to die before, so I'm not sure there's much innocence in me left that way. I'm not a vestal virgin or some delicate piece of porcelain that you need to protect, Dick. I understand that you love that about me, but - but if I'm going to do what I know I'll have to, I need to get... harder I guess. Not Bruce hard, but more than I am now or I'm not going to survive it."

Dick sighed and reached for his lover's hand. "I know you do and I know you'll have to but I guess I just wanted a little more time with this Clark before I met the Clark you'll become. Selfish of me, I know, but I can't help it," the older man admitted, opening his arms for Clark to crawl into them.

"And I know you're not a virgin, believe me, babe, I'm well acquainted with that fact," Dick chuckled. "I also know you're not porcelain and you won't break. I was wrong and I'm sorry. It won't happen again and if I do slip up you have permission to pound me as you see fit, okay?

"So... what what-if's do you need to ask?"

Feeling the tremors start again, Clark tucked his head into the hollow under Dick's jaw and held on as tightly as the other man's injuries would allow. "There's just one. What if I hadn't found you? I know Garth's mumbo jumbo helps you heal faster, but she could have done a lot of damage before Batman and Robin got there. What would I have done if you..." He let his voice trail off, not wanting to voice that horrible future that had luckily been avoided. "God, Clark!" If Dick had felt guilty before he was devastated now. How could he have caused the man he loved so much pain? "I'm sorry, baby! I can't begin to describe how sorry I am. I was an absolute fuck-up for doing that to you," the older man moaned, eyes sealing tight as he fought back his own tears. "I'm such a total shit!"

"No you aren't." Clark swallowed and shifted up onto one elbow so that he could look down at Dick as one hand gently stroked the other man's face. "Don't ever say that about yourself, just don't do it again. I - I can understand why you did it, but god..." He swallowed. "You're here and safe and mostly sound and that's what matters."

"Never again," Dick promised whole-heartedly, bending to kiss Clark's lips lovingly. "You'll know everything, I promise. We'll just have to find our way through this, learn to work together and not kill each other or take advantage of one another. We can do it, though, I have faith in us."

Lying back on the bed, Dick tightened his grip on his lover, not caring at the twinges and aches; relishing them in fact as it let him know he was alive. "You're my life, you know. I just wanted you to know that, Clark. I can't imagine my life without you anymore. You're it, Mr. Kent. You're the one."

"I know, and I hope you know I feel the same. That's why I went... a little psycho back there. I -god, Dick, I was ready to kill her." Clark swallowed harshly, concentrating on Dick's hands to try and relax himself. "I didn't like that part of me I saw there."

"I know the feeling," Dick muttered, remembering his own numerous brushes with the darkness that lurked inside his own heart. "But know this, I will always be there to remind you that that is not the person you are, that you're better, stronger, braver than that. I'll always be there to remind you who you really are, Clark. You're the man I love."

Clark smiled, and though it was small, it was a true expression. "I love you too, Dick. God, I don't know what I'd do without you. You... complete me in ways I never knew I was missing anything."

He leaned in, kissing the older man tenderly. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Clark, I'm home!" Dick called out as he walked through the front door of the penthouse, tossing his keys onto the table beside the door, mail in hand. "Bill, bill, junk mail, junk mail, junk mail, letter from Chloe, more junk mail. Geez you'd think living in a ritzy penthouse apartment they'd have a way to screen for this crap but no, I get more than I ever got in Bludhaven. Of course that's probably because most mail people were scared to loiter in my building but still... Hey, Clark, are you here?"

Jogging up the stairs to the second floor, Dick made a brief appearance in his office to drop off his book bag and check the terrace to see if Clark was in the pool then headed up to the third floor. Nothing. Weird, Clark was usually the first one home and there were no messages on the machine.

Keying in the lair's code on the intercom, Dick began to strip out of the jeans and tee he was wearing. "Babe, you down there?" Waited, no answer. "Nope. Wonder if some hot to trot young thang has tried to make off with my man?" the Grayson half of the Kent-Grayson household laughed, pulling on a tight pair of shorts and taping his wrists before heading back down to the fully equipped gym on the first floor.

Ah well, Dick trusted Clark to defend his own virtue. Time for some serious mutilation of a punching bag.

Times like this really had Clark regretting his decision to turn down Dick's offer of a car. Being stuck in the subway for an hour and a half while the city repaired a broken line had been horrible. He couldn't call Dick; the cell phone wouldn't work under ground. He couldn't do his homework; the car was too packed to allow it. He couldn't even rip a hole in the roof and speed home because, well, that would have been bad, but god he'd wanted to!

"Sorry I'm late, gotta love public transportation," he called, walking in the door. There was no answer, and Clark shrugged, setting his backpack down near the door and locking the bolts before wandering down the hall in search of his lover.

Deciding it would just be quicker to check his own way, Clark turned up his hearing and scanned the apartment with x-ray vision, finally spotting Dick in the gym just as he picked up the sound of flesh hitting leather. Smiling, Clark headed for the gym and leaned against the doorway, appreciating the truly fine sight of Dick Grayson, all lean muscle, tanned skin and dark hair, battering the heavy bag, sweat flying with each blow. Jab, kick, upper cut, knee to bag, high kick jab, jab, spin kick followed by a chop, jab, jab, Clark, ja... Dick's concentration was shot when he looked up and saw his own personally wet dream standing in the door way looking delicious enough to eat. Dark sable bangs fell beguilingly over one eye; the rest looking like he'd just crawled out of bed after being fucked through the mattress, hard body, tight jeans, and loose shirt... "Anyone ever tell you, you really do look good enough to eat?" Dick grinned, reaching out to stop the spinning bag with one hand the other threading through sweat dampened hair to smooth it back.

"Tough day at the office, babe?" the older man chuckled, heading for his towel and bottle of water as he decided he'd had enough physical activity of this kind at least. "I was beginning to think I'd have to send out an APB to the campus police to report a missing boyfriend!" Opening the bottle, Dick took a long pull and the cool water and then poured the rest over his head and his face, relishing how quickly it cooled him down.

"Tough day on public transportation," Clark sighed before giving into the temptation that was wet Dick. "God, you look good like that," he murmured, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye and licking a line up the shorter man's shoulder and throat. "Taste good too. Did I tell you I missed you today?" Dick had still been zonked out when he'd headed to classes that morning so this was really the first they'd seen of each other all day.

"Missed you too," Dick laughed, shaking his head and sending droplets of water cascading all over Clark before wrapping his arms around the younger man and levering himself up for a kiss. Bringing his legs up around his lover's waist, Dick rested his ass against Clark's groin and ground against him lightly. "Mmm, is that a rocket in your pocket, space boy, or are you happy to see me?"

Eyeing Dick dangerously because of this new nickname, Clark smirked. "If I tell you it's my calculator, will you believe me?" His hands curved under and around Dick's ass, supporting him easily.

"Not a chance!" Dick laughed. "So when are you going to stop treating me like fine crystal and fuck me or let me fuck you or something?! The most action I've gotten in the past week is when I got goosed by one of the jets in the Jacuzzi. I'm nearly dead from starvation here!"

Realizing he was being stupid about this, Clark arched his eyebrows and grinned. "Well, I suppose we could do some gentle cuddling or something. Maybe some light petting. I don't want to risk you re-injuring yourself."

"CLARK!" Dick bellowed, dropping to his feet and shoving the younger man onto one of the exercise mats before landing on top of him. "Gentle cuddling? Light petting!!! How about hot, dirty, nasty, raw monkey sex until I'm walking bow-legged kind of making love, Hooterville?" the older man growled, grinding his erection down against Clark's to emphasize just how hungry he was.

Clark burst into laughter at Dick's reaction, though it rapidly turned into a moan as his lover moved over him, arousing him even more then his display with the punching bag had.

"You said something about me fucking you?" he asked coyly. They'd only done it the once, back in his parents' barn, but now Clark found he wanted to be inside Dick, to feel the other man surrounding him and to cover him,

"I... you... okay," Dick managed to get out. He hadn't wanted to say anything, hadn't wanted to pressure Clark one way or another and truth be told he was more than content with their sex life and was more than content to wait for his young lover to ask to switch hit if he so desired to.

"And after than we go out to a club. Someplace where we can get nasty on the dance floor and no one will say anything. I think Nightwing and sidekick - you really need a name you know - can take a night off for once. It's been quiet for the last little while. Besides I still haven't seen you in those leather pants hanging in your closet. That and your muscle shirt - purrrr!"

"I like being your shadow." Clark had to grin because he knew he'd shocked Dick but good saying what he had. "And I happen to know that you put those leather pants in my closet; I didn't have anything like that when I moved in!"

"Now why would I do something like that?" Dick replied with total innocence even as he bent to lick a wet path from Clark's adam's apple to his lips. "Just because I want to take my sexy, gorgeous, boyfriend out to a club and show him off? What ever was I thinking?!" the older man continued in mock exaggeration. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to go dancing by myself. Who will protect my virtue, I wonder?"

"By yourself?" Clark eyed Dick speculatively, even as he rolled them over, pushing up on his hands and knees to loom over his lover. "You'd have the entire place in an uproar, gay club or straight. And," he leaned in and bit at Dick's chest, leaving red imprints of his teeth behind, "no one touches you but me."

Purring and arching, Dick grinned. "You Tarzan, me Jane oh uber-alien. I get it." Laughing at the expression on Clark's face, Dick pulled him down for some serious mating of the mouths even as he bucked up into Clark's own erection over and over again, grinding against his lover, wanting to drive him wild. "And just when are you going to touch me?"

"Eventually," Clark laughed, darting back off of Dick before the other man attempted to strangle him to begin stripping off his shirt. Moving slowly, he unbuttoned his jeans and worked the zipper lower, his eyes locked with Dick's, blazing green meeting electric blue.

Dick whistled appreciatively, his heads coming to rest behind his head as he watched the show and idly wished for music. "Next time I want to see you do that to music," he husked, his eyes devouring every inch of skin bared. "You are a god, babe. A freakin' sex god," the older man purred, his tongue darting out to lick suddenly dry lips as his body responded even more with each piece of clothing that disappeared.

"If you say so..." Clark plainly didn't agree with Dick's comment, but wasn't going to argue as he was concentrating on getting out of his jeans without falling on his ass. Once he was nude, he dropped back on top of Dick, rubbing himself against the other man's body, feeling the heat of his erection through the thin layer of his shorts and jockstrap, which were all that separated their flesh.

"I do and since I'm never wrong I must be right," Dick replied, distracted, just before his teeth closed around the flesh of Clark's throat and he began to worry it hungrily, his tongue darting out to lick the flesh between his teeth. Dick's hands moved to push his shorts and jock down, and he growled in frustration when he couldn't get them down far enough due to the muscular body weighting his down. "Clark, please!"

"Please, what, Richard?" Clark purred, scooting down a bit so that he could take his turn at ravishing Dick's neck, the reddish purple marks blooming wherever his mouth passed ensuring that everyone would know he was well and truly claimed. "Please will I strip your clothes off? Please will I suck your cock while I lube your ass? Please will I take you until, as you put it, you're walking bow-legged?" 

"Clark!" Dick wailed, a thin, needy cry of sound. "Oh god you're killing me here. Yes, a thousand times yes to everything. Every god damn, please, your mouth, your fingers, your cock... want it all, want you, nothing but you!"

"Anything for you." Saying that, Clark pushed off of Dick, stripping his shorts and jock from his body in one quick movement. He cast around frantically for something to use as lube, and ended up grabbing the oil Dick used to condition the punching bag for want of anything nearer.

Setting the bottle next to his lover, Clark ran his hands down Dick's chest, feeling the change in texture beneath his palms when he crossed scars old and new, and he paused, tracing one of the ones Lady Vic had given Dick. "I love you," he whispered, running his hands down the inside of Dick's thighs and spreading them. Leaning in, he took the other man's erection into his mouth, suckling on the fleshy head while he poured a stream of oil over his hand and carefully pressed a finger past the tight muscle.

A wordless cry tore from Dick's throat as his whole body arched up off the floor at the dual sensations of warm wet suction around the head of his cock and the fullness of Clark's finger sliding into him. He felt inundated by sensation, everything hurtling through his synapses at the speed of light, firing off all his pleasure nerves, making him vibrate in place with sensation. It was like being struck by lightning and surviving, like the world's fastest roller coaster with the biggest drop, free falling from space... it was exhilarating and terrifying and something he never wanted to give up!

Mouth working uselessly to make coherent words, Dick's fingers wended their way through Clark's hair and he held on tight.

Once he'd worked three fingers into Dick's body, Clark looked up at him, his whole body taut with desire. "Want you now, Dick. Want to be in you so deep, so far that I'll never lose you. That's how far you're in me."

He ran his oil-slick hand over his erection, and brought Dick's ankles to his shoulder, steadying his cock with one hand so that he could press inside the older man's body, groaning as he felt himself surrounded by hot, yielding flesh and a feeling that was pure Richard Grayson. "Clark, Jesus," Dick hissed as the younger man sank slowly into his body. The hot, slow burn of penetration had his eyes falling shut before opening again, every emotion he felt for his lover visible in them. Reaching down, he fisted his own cock, stroking it in time with Clark's thrusts, his other hand coming up to run up and down Clark's chest before he brought his thumb up to his mouth and, licking it, began to rub it back and forth across Clark's nipple.

Clark's body was moving on auto-pilot, driving forward, his chest arching into Dick's touch, his eyes fastened on the older man's ecstatic expression and writhing body. He shifted his hips slightly, and was rewarded with a gut-wrenching moan when his next thrust rubbed his cock against Dick's prostate. "Always going to be there for you," he whispered, promising it to himself as well as his lover. "God, Dick!"

Sliding his legs off Clark's shoulders, Dick wrapped them around the younger man's waist, thanking any and all deities that he had the flexibility to contort his body enough to make such a move possible. Wrapping his hands around the younger man, Dick pulled himself up so that he was seated on Clark's lap, impaled on his lover's cock and they were eye to eye as Clark continued to thrust in him, now hitting his prostate with each and every stroke.

His face alight in the agony of arousal, Dick actually whimpered before he bent to ravish Clark's lips, short nails digging into invulnerable flesh while his legs wrapped firmly around Clark's waist.

The change in position drove him deeper into Dick's body, and Clark whined, the sound vibrating against Dick's tongue as it filled his mouth. He could feel Dick's fingers digging into his shoulders, and, while he knew it wouldn't leave a mark, he wished it would. Sliding a hand between them, he took up where Dick had left off, stroking his erection, trailing his fingers along Dick's shaft to tease his balls before closing his fist, jacking him off in time with their movements.

Sensations bombarding him, Dick's head fell back on his shoulders, his mouth open as he gasped for breath in between short, strident cries of arousal. His blood was boiling in his veins, he could see fireworks exploding behind his eyes, his entire body was enervated and vibrating with arousal and it was soon too much for the older man. Nearly screaming as flash fire enveloped him, Dick came, slamming his body down hard onto the impalement in his ass, ropes of semen coating his and Clark's stomach as every muscle clenched and spasmed.

Clark managed a few more strokes, holding out so that he could see and feel Dick's climax, but soon he too was coming, driving his hips upward a final time before exploding into his lover's clenching body.

Collapsing back onto the mat, careful not to land on Dick's legs as he did so, Clark groaned, his hands moving shakily over the older man's back. "God... can we never move again?"

"If it weren't for the fact that we'd end up super-glued together," Dick moaned happily, "not that that's a bad thing but it would make class interesting and we'd definitely make the front page of the Planet and the Inquisitor, which would be a very bad thing."

Groaning as Clark softened enough to slip out of him, Dick rested his head on Clark's chest, raining kisses on the damp flesh sporadically. "That was... phenomenal. Damn I needed that!"

"Me too," Clark answered quietly. Being in Dick like that had made him feel grounded, connected to his lover in a way that had been missing since his mishap. "Not to say that I'll ever complain about having you in me though."

"Always good to hear," Dick chuckled resting his chin on arms that he folded on Clark's chest in order to look the taller man in the eyes. "Considering how much I adore being inside you, that is. So, other than a hellacious time getting home, which could be solved by using one of the cars, but I didn't say that, how was your day?" the older man grinned, loving the fact that they could be naked, sated, sweaty and covered in come but they still found time to do a very non-male like thing and talk to each other. It was one of the things he cherished most about their relationship, the fact that there were no secrets - well no major secrets at least - between them.

"Mine was interesting. Got into a major argument with a professor who actually had the nerve to try and tell me that I didn't know anything about how a good criminal investigation is run. That is until I happened to mention that prior to coming back to school I was an officer with the Bludhaven police department. God I love doing that and watching them eat crow and try and swallow their tongue all at the same time," Dick chuckled.

"The environmental sciences courses on the other hand, damn but all of this gives me new and greater respect for people who're in any and every aspect of agriculture and environmental protection. People like your dad who're going organic when it's so much easier, cheaper and more profitable to use chemicals," Dick continued, basically talking about nothing at all, just wanting to share his day with his lover.

Clark murmured at the proper times, showing he was listening to his lover, all the while stroking his hands over Dick's back. "Other then the subway disaster, my day was great. I got that lit paper back, got an A- on it too." He grinned, because he'd sweated long hours putting the paper together. "Bio prof didn't show up, so we listened to the TA talk about a research trip he went on to Sumatra, that was pretty cool...

"Other than that, not much except for missing you and looking forward to tonight." 

"Mmmm, too bad he didn't take a research trip to India - you could learn all about tantric sex. What a minute I know tantric sex. Remind me to teach you sometime," Dick smirked and then yelped as a huge hand landed on his ass. "Hey, watch it, I bruise easily!"

Laughing at the expression on Clark's face he rolled off the younger man's chest and landed on the floor next to him. "You sure you still want to go out? I don't mind staying home either. You, me, a box of moo-shoo pork and some more wild monkey sex works too. We still haven't christened the kitchen or the dining room or either of the offices or the pool or the Jacuzzi or the hot tub..."

"Nah," Clark laughed, still shaking his head about Dick's tantric sex comment. Sure, like he'd really ask one of his teachers about that! "Lets go out. We've never gone dancing and I know how much you've been wanting to hit a club or two. I'll be the designated driver so you can even get buzzed - though I can't promise I won't take advantage of you when we get home." He waggled his eyebrows. "Oh, wait, I just did!"

"Bitch," Dick laughed rolling to his feet and stripping the tape from his hands and wrists, dropping it into a garbage bin. "C'mon, girlfriend, time to get cleaned up and put on your party dress so I can take you dancing."

"Geez, what diva bug bit you?" Clark laughed, pushing himself off the floor and following after Dick. "And does that mean you'll be wearing sequins tonight?"

 An hour later, Clark had his answer. He was just tucking the tight, white muscle shirt that had magically appeared in his closet into the black leather pants that had shown up the same way, when he heard the bathroom door open and turned to see Dick walk out, looking like something out of a wet dream.

Black leather pants laced up the side to show flashes of tanned skin, a black mesh shirt, and black leather bracers on both wrists, all Dick needed was a mask and he'd be a leather sub's dream come true.

"Jesus, I'll have to tear them away from you," he murmured, moving closer and running his hand down Dick's chest.

"Hmmm?" Dick asked, not really hearing what Clark had to say since he was too busy ogling his boyfriend in the tight white shirt and the leather pants that just screamed 'I am a sexy beast man and you'd better fall down on your knees and worship me'. "Did you say something? Are you sure you don't want to stay home and have naked monkey sex?"

"Earth to Grayson," Clark laughed before nipping Dick's lip. "And I want to, but you got me in this get-up, we're going out. The naked monkey sex can wait until we get back."

"Or we find a nice dark corner in the club somewhere because if you think I'm gonna be able to keep my hands off of you when you look like everyone's wet dream you've got another think coming, Kent," Dick replied, his eyes going predatory as he continued to take in his lover's appearance. "If those blind little girls back in Smallville could see you now they'd be wailing and pulling out their hair for letting a gorgeous honey like you get away, let me tell you!"

"You want to... in a club?" Clark's eyes widened, and he felt his face heat with a blush. "And like I care what anyone thinks except you." He slid his hand back up Dick's shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

"Clark," Dick smirked, his eyes becoming more predatory as he scented blood, "do I detect interest in my suggestion? Shit, you're blushing so much your shoulders are red but," the older man's hand slid down to cup Clark's leather clad cock, "but this seems to indicate that you find the idea profoundly arousing. From what I've been told about Inferno there's more than a few shadowy corners. In fact I believe they have a whole back room, plus private booths with doors that close for the shyer party people."

"Maybe I will have a drink there after all," Clark muttered, trying not to notice the way Dick's fingers were sliding over his groin, enticing his cock to wake and lengthen. "I think I'm going to need it."

"We can always cab it home, babe. After all you're gonna be so relaxed from post-coital satiation that it might be dangerous to put you behind the wheel of a car. Imagine it, Clark," Dick purred, stroking the burgeoning erection, moving around behind the younger man so that he could use both hands and grind against Clark's ass at the same time.

"Music pulsing, the sound making your body vibrate, sounds of moans echoing, hearing people pass by, only a thin layer of fabric and wood keeping prying eyes off of you as I'm buried deep in your ass and you're fighting to be quiet. Your breath hitching, your pulse racing, orgasm burning through you as you bite down hard on your lip to stop yourself from crying out as I slam into your prostate again and again. Can you feel it, Clark?" Dick purred, nipping at Clark's shoulder.

"Jesus, Dick!" Clark gasped, shuddering and arching his hips forward into Dick's hand as his imagination took wing, providing him with a Technicolor visual complete with surround sound. "I - we better get going, or we aren't going to make it out of here at all."

Sighing, Dick wasn't sure what he wanted most at the moment; to stay in and fuck Clark blind or to go to the club and let the anticipation build as they ground against each other on the dance floor until he either dragged Clark into a booth or the younger man begged him to. Either way, if they went there he'd be having his lover before the night was over. Even if it meant going down on him in the bathroom hallway. He wasn't shy about his wants and he wanted Clark!

"That might be a good idea - if we wait a little longer you're not going to be going anywhere because you'll be naked and strapped to our bed."

Clark gave a shaky laugh at that, and breathed out a sigh of combined relief and regret when Dick moved his hand to a safer location. "Ooo, I'm so scared of that threat. Which would go first? The straps or the bed frame?"

"Ahhh, but you wouldn't be able to use super-strength because if you did we'd stop until you calmed down again and we'd start all over again," Dick grinned evilly. "Grab your jacket, babe, time to go."

The air was practically vibrating as they stepped out of the cab in front of the club. The line to get in was huge with all the beautiful people and wannabes wanting and waiting to get in the club. Dick didn't even bother to stand in line and pulled a blushing Clark behind him. Camera's flashed as people went in, the famous, the glitterati, and the powerful. Dick walked right up to the bouncer slash door manager ignoring the cries from the line up.

"Name?"

"Grayson, Richard. As in son of Wayne, Bruce - billionaire."

"Go right in, Sir, enjoy your night."

Hiding his snicker behind his hand, Clark followed Dick inside; grabbing hold of his boyfriend's hand to keep anyone from thinking he was available. "That's the first time I've ever seen you use your name to do anything," he shouted, leaning in towards Dick to be heard over the music.

"Wait in that line? Are you nuts?!" Dick laughed, heading towards the bar and ordering two boilermakers. "Damn straight I was gonna name drop to get in," the older man continued, pulling Clark up tight against him so that Dick's erection was resting against Clark's ass while they waited for the drinks to arrive. "So, what do you think?" he yelled, looking around at the Inferno Club's interior and enjoying it.

"It's wild!" Clark laughed, looking back over their shoulders at the crowded dance floor and the wildly gyrating disco boys atop platforms scattered around the club. He'd been to clubs with Lex, but it had always turned into a meet and greet; Lex shoring up his old contacts and making new ones. This... this was fun. The bartender brought their drinks, and Clark turned in Dick's arms before handing the glass over, eyeing the beer and vodka. "Which one first?" he asked.

Dick grinned. "Both together," he shouted and then laughed outright at Clark's expression. Deciding to show the younger man he took the shot glass and dropped it into the mug of beer then guzzled it down. "Hooyah!" he growled and held up his finger for another round. "Care to try?"

"What the hell." Eyeing the mug, Clark raised the shot glass, then dropped it in, swallowing the beer down, and managing not to spill it all over his shirt by some miracle.

"That's..." Taking a deep breath to clear his lungs, Clark blinked back tears. "A little strong." Clapping Clark on the back, Dick laughed. "Sorry, babe, I'm just not an apple martini kinda guy and I didn't know what you liked. Next round you pick, anything you want or want to try," the older man continued, knowing full well that Clark was technically underage but the fact that he was Bruce Wayne's son would buy him a lot of leeway if it came down to it, but Dick doubted very much he'd have a problem. After all this was Metropolis and they were used to Lex Luthor so he was harmless by comparison.

Downing his second boilermaker, Dick brought Clark's hand up to his lips and then dragged him onto the dance floor as a hard driving song started blare, singing about loving the way they got their ass smacked. "C'mon babe, let's grind!"

Laughing aloud, Clark plastered himself up against Dick and let the music flow through him. Tonight he wasn't going to think about anything but the man he loved, the music, and how good it felt to move this way, the freedom of the club and the atmosphere somehow infective.

Sliding his hands to Dick's hips, Clark held them together, leaning in and nipping at his lover's neck, leaving a red mark just above the edge of his shirt - a mark of possession.

Reveling in the hard driving beat of the song and Clark's nearness, Dick lost himself in the music, his natural athleticism, agility and grace making him an instinctively talented dancer. Having a partner like Clark only made it that much easier and as one song melded into the next, the primal beats vibrating beneath his skin, a small space formed around them and grew progressively larger until they were in their own little pocket, men and women watching and admiring and lusting and yearning but Dick was completely oblivious. The only things that existed were Clark and the music.

Watching from an upper level, a tall, raven haired pretty boy with pouty lips and lambent green eyes on his knees before him mouthing the fine fabric of his pants, stood Lex Luthor, watching in growing fury as the boy he thought of as his made a spectacle of himself with the circus freak. And Clark looked happier and more carefree than Lex could honestly say he'd ever seen the farm boy from Smallville. He looked content, damn his country fresh soul to hell!

After shaking his head to clear the sweat from his eyes, Clark leaned down, unable to resist the chance to lick the droplets from Dick's face. As he did, the song changed to one with a slower beat, and he moved in closer to Dick, one leg slotting between the older man's thighs so that their crotches rubbed together. He wasn't thinking about anything except his lover, and how much he'd like to just slide down Dick's body to lick him through his pants, and his knees had actually started to buckle before Clark caught himself. Dick's hands worked quickly to pull the shirt out of Clark's leather pants and slid them down the back of the younger man's pants to cup his ass.

"Going commando, Mr. Kent?! My word but big city life is corrupting you," Dick laughed as he worried and nipped at the younger man's exposed collarbone. One finger began to slide back and forth over the crevice of Clark's ass, just teasing, promising things to come.

"A couple more dances and then we find some place to play," Dick continued, reaching up to nip at Clark's earlobe. "I want my turn, lover. I want to buried balls deep inside you, making you bite down on your lip to keep from making those lovely, sexy noises you make when I'm fucking you blind!"

It took a moment for Clark to answer, and when he could finally speak, his voice was strained. "Nothing would fit under these, though you seem to be somehow getting your hands in there." He clenched his butt cheeks under Dick's palms, and groaned when a finger pressed deeper for just an instant.

"How - how many more dances did you say?" he whimpered, praying that he didn't just come in his pants out there in the middle of the crowd.

"Just enough to make you really hungry for it," Dick purred as another song began and he ground his thigh even harder against the younger man's throbbing erection. "After all, I wouldn't want to have you distracted by external stimuli when you should be focusing on my hard cock buried deep in your deliciously tight ass."

One song turned into two and then three as Dick continued to tease and torment Clark, driving him hotter and higher, making him all but beg Dick to drag him into one of the booths and fuck him blind. Listening to Clark's increasing moans and breathy gasps had Dick getting even hotter than before. When the fourth song ended, Dick took Clark's hand and made a beeline to the booths, removing the reserved sign from the one he'd arranged to have earlier that day and all but shoved Clark inside, closing the black gauzy fabric behind him and tying it shut before falling on Clark like a ravening beast.

Lex's mouth fell open as he realized just where Clark and dear old Dickie were heading. Watching his rival remove a reserved sign, Lex had no choice but to believe that Clark was actually going to let the circus freak have his way with Lex's slut of a farmer's son lover. Yanking on his current fuck toy's hair he followed the couple and took residence in the booth next to theirs after paying of the inhabitants with a couple hundreds. Not wanting fuck toy to speak, Lex indicated he was to blow him and set about listening to the conversation... and other things... from the booth next door.

"God, you are the most gorgeous, wanton, sexy man I have ever laid eyes on," Dick gasped when they finally came up for air. Clark's white shirt was in tatters on the floor, his leathers open and his cock leaking precome constantly. He looked debauched, deflowered and generally delectable as far as the older man was concerned.

Bending, Dick lapped at the head of Clark's cock, making the younger man gasp and mewl deliciously as he tasted Clark's need. "Delicious. I can't get enough of you. I want to drink you down, swallow you whole. I want to fuck you with my face and feel your come pour down my throat," Dick purred. "But tell me, Clark, what do you want? Do you want my mouth or do you want me to take your ass?

Wanting to clutch at the walls, but afraid if he did, he'd tear the place down, Clark whimpered, fisting his hands at his sides. He arched his hips towards Dick's mouth, rubbing the head of his cock against the older man's now damp lips.

"Both..." he rasped, "suck me, then fuck me. God, Dick, I need you. Please..." 

"You're so pretty when you beg, Clark," Dick purred rubbing his stubbled cheek against the sensitized flesh of his lover's erection and grinning at the sudden intake of air down the younger man's throat. "Mmm, what a lovely reaction, maybe I should try it aga..." Clark's cock leapt against his cheek, making Dick laugh. "Oh my, eager boy!"

Lex Luthor's face turned into a mask of hatred as he listened to the conversation, listened to his property beg like the slut he was. One day... one day! With a wordless grunt the billionaire poured his seed down the fuck toy's throat with nary a thought to anyone's pleasure but his.

"Dick, please!" Clark leaned in, catching Dick's head between his palms and holding him still to stop the torturous teasing. "I want to feel your mouth around me. I want to have you suck on me and finger-fuck me, knowing that as soon as I come, your cock will be in my ass."

"All you had to do was ask, babe," Dick laughed sensuously. Wrapping his lips around the purple headed erection and taking it down his throat in one sure motion, deep throating Clark for all he was worth even as he slid a hand up to the younger man's mouth to get it nice and slick so that he could finger-fuck Clark as he'd so desperately asked.

Groaning around the thick erection buried in his throat as Clark began to fellate his finger in time with the motions of Dick's mouth, Dick closed his eyes and began to hum around the younger man's shaft. His free hand rolled Clark's balls and caressed his perineum as his eyes devoured the look of ecstasy that flooded Clark's features as he pleasured his lover with all the talent he could muster.

After releasing Dick's fingers from his mouth, Clark bit his lip to keep from screaming in pleasure as the other man plunged them into his ass, moving strongly and deeply as he continued to suck and swallow and lick Clark's cock, driving him insane with pleasure.

Not caring about anything except the fact that he needed Dick in him now, Clark shoved at his pants, pushing them down around his ankles. Tightening his fingers in his lover's hair, Clark pulled Dick's mouth off him and stared down at him, his eyes blazing with hunger.

"Fuck me, Dick. God, please, never needed anything this badly..." He trailed off, drawing in a hitching breath when Dick's fingers slid out of him, moving to his hip to urge him to turn around and face the wall. "Yes, please, now..." he moaned, speaking the words against the thin wooden panels that separated this booth from the next one.

Taking the younger man at his word, Dick slammed home with a feral groan, leaning forward slightly to latch his teeth on to the back of Clark's neck, securing him in place as he thrust hard and fast and deep, granting Clark no leeway and no cessation. One hand slid over Clark's belly and down to wrap around the younger man's cock and Dick began to stroke as he finally let go of Clark's neck.

"You have the tightest, sweetest ass in the world, babe. God, I love being buried balls deep inside you. The way you whimper and mewl like the glorious slut you are. My slut, my lover, my love. Mine to fuck and to love and to debauch and do all sorts of nasty things to. I don't know what I adore more, you on your hands and knees quivering as I do this," Dick growled, slamming into Clark as hard as he could, so hard the younger man's head hit the thin wood partition, safe in the knowledge that there was no physical way to hurt his lover.

"Or having you on your back, watching as I refuse to let you come and you get more and more desperate until you're ripping the bed sheets and howling like a banshee. So sexy, so fucking sexy!" the older man groaned, violently pounding into the younger man now, sweat pouring off of his compact body. His free hand left Clark's hip and Dick scraped his nails across the younger man's nipples; producing the most amazing noise he'd ever heard from Clark's throat.

"I want to rip those curtains open and let the world see you, Clark, my sweet, submissive lover, letting me pound into him. I want everyone to look but not touch and then, after I come, I want you to do the same to me.

"I love the way you feel buried deep inside me. I live for those moments. I'm going to be walking funny for a week after the way you took me on the gym floor tonight. You were a wild man, my wild man. So hot, so fucking hot and sweet and perfect. You're my life, my everything. If I lost all the wealth, all the power, everything I had tomorrow and I still had you, I'd never be happier. God, I adore you!"

All coherent thought had fled and the only sounds Clark could produce were animal groans, growls and yelps. His whole world had narrowed down to Dick and the wild, exhilarating feeling of his lover, his love, his mate taking him beyond himself to the place where they were the only things that existed.

"Unhhh..." the tortured moan escaped his lips, vibrating against the thin wood, and for a second, he swore he heard an echoing one from the room next door, but it didn't matter. Blunt fingernails raked over his nipples again, and Clark bucked wildly, barely able to control himself before he broke down the partition or threw Dick off of him. He reached out, catching hold of fabric with a flailing hand, and heard the throaty rasp as part of the concealing curtain gave way.

Seeing the curtain begin to give way but not caring enough to try and catch it, Dick kept powering into his lover over and over again. However, a shred of common sense prevailed and the older man managed to catch the fabric and some how loop it back through the torn part to maintain their anonymity at least even as he continued to pound into Clark.

Squeezing down on Clark's erection to keep the younger man from coming, Dick let out a primal groan and came, pouring gout after gout his seed into the younger man's body before pulling out abruptly and forcing Clark onto his back even as the younger man began to protest his lack of orgasm and the emptiness Dick left behind.

Climbing up on the booth seat, Dick straddled Clark's lap and, heedless of how much it might hurt, plunged himself down onto his lover's rampant cock. "In me. I want you to come inside of me, Clark," the older man panted, pained pleasure reflecting in his eyes as he looked down at his lover.

"Jesus, Dick! So hot, so tight, fuck!" Clark howled, one hand gouging splinters in the wood as the other clamped on Dick's hip, holding his steady as Clark's hips powered upward, almost lifting them both off the ground.

His whole body straining, he somehow sat up enough to pull Dick's mouth to his, ravaging it even as he orgasmed, his seed spurting deep within his lover's body. Collapsing back limply, not caring that his head hit the partition with a bang that would have been painful for anyone else, Clark smiled dreamily even as he ran his hands over Dick's sweat-soaked body. "God, I love you, Dick Grayson. For forever and a day."

"Right back at you, Kansas," Dick purred, totally limp and sated. "God, you were amazing, Clark. I didn't know that you had that kind of an animal buried deep inside you. I mean we've done stuff but this... this blew my mind, babe!" the older man chuckled, resting his sweat soaked forehead on Clark's equally damp shoulder.

The sound of applause began softly and rose to a roar just outside their booth until someone shooed the gather crowd away. Lifting his head to see what Clark's reaction to the club's applause, Dick couldn't help but say, "And now everyone here knows you're as much mine as I am yours. Good, now I won't have to kill anyone who gets too close." Dick couldn't help but realize that instead of the joke he'd meant to make he'd told the truth instead. He had that sort of darkness inside of him; he had that core that was the junior partner of the Bat. If he had to, he would and could kill to keep Clark safe. The thought was both terrifying and liberating at the same time.

"They were...oh god." Clark moaned and hid his face against Dick's shoulder before chuckling. "Well, I guess they enjoyed the show."

A loud thump came from the booth to their right, and Clark glanced in the direction of their shared wall. "I guess whoever's over there liked it too." There was a low cry of what could have been pleasure or pain that had Clark realizing he'd been listening intently, hearing something almost familiar in the rhythm. "If the ovation we just received is any indication I get the feeling we were a show stopper, love. And leave them be, Clark," Dick murmured, kneeling up slowly and letting the younger man slip out of him. "What do you say about going home and spending the rest of the night in bed just cuddling with your partner? Life partner that is."

Giving an exaggerated groan, Clark stood as well, leaning against the wall as he momentarily lost his balance due to the fact that his pants were bunched around his ankles. "That sounds perfect to me, lover."

He heard another loud sound, and felt the wall sway under his palm. Man, whoever was next to them was really going at it. Deciding that it wasn't his business, Clark bent down and handed Dick half of his torn shirt before using his part to clean up as much as possible before pulling his pants back on. Glancing at the shreds of fabric, he chuckled. "You're a wild man, you know."

"For you? Damn straight," Dick grinned, licking his lips in appreciation of the sight before him. His phallus gave a halfhearted twitch at the erotic sight before him but it was down for the count and Dick had to chuckle at that. "I may always want you but the body apparently feels the need for some downtime. C'mon, sexy, let's see how fast we can make our exit in order to keep curious eyes off of us."

Wincing as he recalled the loud applause, Clark nodded. "Yeah, getting out of here fast sounds good." He only wished he could get them out of there as fast as was possible for him, but... oh well.

Pushing aside the curtain, Clark crowded up behind Dick, following him through the throngs of people to the exit, not looking anywhere except at his lover's shoulder and trying not to hear the subtle and not-so-subtle come ons and offers for company for both of them.

Once he'd heard the other two leave, Lex moved out of his booth, his boy-toy following close at heel and moving somewhat stiffly but grinning with drugged pleasure. Absently petting the younger man's head, Lex tracked Clark and Dick's path through the club until they vanished from sight, where upon he nodded. It would have been nice to have gotten some pictures of them, but then, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see anyone with his Clark except himself. Hearing them had been quite enough, as it had been that night at Wayne Manor.

Turning the evening's events over in his mind, Lex led his toy through the club, commandeering a booth and relaxing into the seat like a king who ruled everything before him. He had some planning to do.

End

  since 02-04-07

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