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“Clark!”
Dick’s face lit up as Clark flew into the Batcave. Dick was sitting on the hood of the Batmobile in full costume, and Clark stood before him, his own smile just as bright. He leaned down and kissed Dick, who returned the kiss with youthful enthusiasm. When they broke apart, Clark used his X-ray vision and saw sparkling eyes behind the mask. Dick assumed a cross-legged position, keeping hold of Clark’s hand.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Now since when do I need a reason to see my beautiful Robin?”
Dick’s smile was dazzling as he leaned back. “C’mon, ‘fess up. You’re a lousy liar, Kal-El of Krypton.”
Clark smiled again. “Okay, Bruce asked me here.”
“Bruce?”
“Yes, he wants me to patrol with you two tonight. He thinks the Toyman might be teaming up with the Joker and they’ve got something planned.”
“Ah.” Dick nodded. The pairing made sense. “So I was right. This is a business call.”
“Not completely.” Clark reached out and traced his finger along the cheek and jaw of his smiling partner, who purred in satisfaction.
“I’m so lucky,” Clark said.”
“You’re lucky?” Dick laughed. “That should be my line.” A shadow crossed his face.
“Ironic, I suppose, that Bruce is the reason we…”
Clark felt his own heartache. “I’m sorry.”
Dick squeezed his hand. “It’s not your fault.” He sighed. “Consider it a dumb kid falling for his mentor.”
“You loved him.”
Dick nodded. At sixteen, he’d been head-over-heels. By eighteen, he’d snagged the Bat. On the very night of his birthday. Pride tinged his memories. Clark rubbed his finger along Dick’s bare arm. “I was happy, deliriously so. I thought Bruce was, too.”
Sympathy suffused Clark’s face. He focused on Dick with all his senses. He knew the story very well, how his two friends had been happy for a few years, but then they began to fight, and not just the fights between a college-age young man and guardian. Dick had complained that Bruce kept pushing him away until the older man finally succeeded. The younger man had transferred from Gotham U. to Hudson University, but Dick had hated it. “I worried myself sick over him out every night alone in Gotham’s madhouse,” he once confided to Clark.
Before Dick’s return home for good, he had realized that Bruce had turned to Clark, but the Kryptonian was hesitant to start anything with Dick still hurting. Dick had insisted that Clark allow himself a romance with Bruce. “Maybe you’re what Bruce needs.” Clark took the advice, he and Bruce coming together like a supernova. The two of them had enjoyed a passionate, fiery relationship, though by the time Bruce had begun his pattern of pushing someone close to him away, Clark feared that he had been a rebound relationship for the Dark Knight. He had tried just as much as Dick had to keep everything going, but…
“It got too difficult.”
“What?” Dick cocked his head.
“Bruce and me. It got to be exhausting, the walls Bruce kept building, always…”
“…pushing you away.”
Clark nodded. “I needed more than Bruce could give me.” He said it with sadness, though he had finally accepted that his former lover’s limitations were not his fault. It was simply the way Bruce was built, as if he was destined to sabotage his own happiness at every turn.
“Because when you love…” Dick’s long legs wrapped around Clark’s thighs “…you give your all.”
Clark brushed a lock of hair off Dick’s brow. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
Dick’s smile was pure joy. “We’re a lot alike.”
Clark liked the feel of Dick’s legs entwined around him.
“Absolutely.”
Dick loved laughter and joy, expressing his emotions openly, and affectionate touching. Bruce had never liked any of that, or at least could not bring himself to laugh or say, “I love you”, and he certainly never touched casually or allowed a casual touch as Clark was doing now with his gentle stroking of Dick’s arm. Dick was still grasping his hand in warm affection. Bruce was more likely to hurl a verbal epee and use a rubber tip only if he was having a good day. The relationship had been exciting and Clark would have been willing to keep working at it, but the continual wall he kept hitting his head against could give even a Superman a headache.
“I could see how much you were hurting.” Dick’s voice was soft. “You were…and are…my friend, Clark. I wanted to be there for you.” Dick’s free hand traced the ‘S’ on Clark’s chest. “I guess I got a little carried away with my hero worship.”
Warmth flooded through Clark. His first attraction had been to Bruce, the younger man not in his romantic thoughts until Dick had grown up, and even then only after his romance with Bruce had ended. To him, Dick had always been the ebullient boy who cartwheeled in delight at his appearances, and a fellow conspirator in laughter. To his delighted surprise, the boy-turned-man’s company changed from close friend to passionate lover, a soothing balm to his battered heart. At first it had been two souls reaching out to each other, understanding each other’s pain. They wore the shared badge of ‘I Survived Bruce Wayne’ and found their talks and lunches and adventures spent together becoming more frequent. Amazingly, their friendship and working relationship with Bruce had settled back into pre-romance mode, and now their waking thoughts were of each other.
Clark lifted Dick off the car hood, kissing him with joy. When they broke apart, Dick asked breathlessly, “Is it supposed to be this easy?”
Clark laughed, the sound echoing in the Cave. “Only someone raised by the Bat could ask something like that.” He gently chucked a blushing Dick under the chin. “Of course it is! Love requires work, but when it gets more exhausting than exhilarating, it’s time for a change.”
Dick’s smile faltered, and he ducked his head. “I still love him,” he said in a low voice.
Super-hearing picked it up easily. Clark tilted his head back up. “I know.” His eyes reflected a mixture of happiness and sadness. “I do, too.”
He could hear Dick’s heartbeat racing. The younger man removed his mask. No relying on X-ray vision or Clark’s years of practice at reading his face with the mask on. His blue eyes were so intense they nearly took Clark’s breath away. The green glove holding his hand gripped tighter.
“A part of me will always love him, Clark, but if Bruce said he would take me back today, I wouldn’t leave you. I couldn’t. You’re in my blood now.”
Clark’s own heart raced. “He’ll always be a part of me, too.” His hand squeezed Dick’s hand. “But I agree with you. I couldn’t give you up, either.”
Dick’s smile lit up his whole face. Clark’s heart sang. He would always be grateful to Bruce for bringing Dick Grayson into his life. The hurt would be there, but gradually fade, and he still had Bruce’s friendship. He now also had this amazing young man who loved so much and so freely, and whose laughter always made his blood sing.
“Do we have time for a quick flight?” Clark asked.
Dick glanced at a clock on the console. “Yes, Bruce isn’t expected home for fifteen minutes.”
“Just enough time.”
Clark laughed at the eagerness Dick displayed. Of all the powers he had, Dick envied his ability to fly the most. He supposed it was an acrobat’s love of the air. He swooped Dick into his arms and they shared a kiss, laughing like two lovesick boys. Clark flew them out of the Cave.
Quiet settled down in the Cave, an occasional rustle of bats the only sound.
A figure emerged from the shadows, unbearable sadness on his handsome face, his right fist clenching and unclenching. He stared at the entrance to the tunnel for several minutes, then turned and disappeared back into the darkness.