Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chloe wasn’t really sure what was so special about this particular Friday night. It wasn’t Valentine's Day, it wasn’t anyone’s anniversary, hell it was the middle of March. It was the most mundane time of the year, and yet everyone seemed to be busy that Friday night. But not just busy, no, everyone seemed to have universally decided that it was date night. That’s when she’d checked her phone to see a voicemail from Will.

“Hey, my babysitter flaked at the last minute. Any chance at all you could watch Lian? I know it’s a Friday night, so no pressure, but if you don’t have plans, could you take her for a few hours?”

Even Will had a date. And while she would have loved to say, ‘Nah, sorry Speedy, but I’m booked solid’, that would have been a complete lie. The most exciting thing she had planned that night was to find some movie marathon to fall asleep to. Plus she loved her niece and hadn’t seen her in awhile...plus Will really needed to get back out there.

Sure, when do you want me to pick her up?  

She shot the text off; barely putting her phone down before she got one in return.

I’ll drop her off at 6:30. You’re a lifesaver!

By 6:30, she was the only one left in The Hub when Will stepped through the boom tube with a giggling Lian. The kids had all come and gone; even Forager and Vic were in Happy Harbor for the night while M’gann and Conner had managed a small weekend getaway. Lian clapped her hands as Will handed her over and dropped a bag of her toys and pajamas on the couch.

“Hi there, little lady,” Chloe smiled at her niece.

“Hi, Aunt Chloe,” she smiled back before throwing her arms around her neck in a hug.

“Thanks, again, Chlo. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn't come through.” Will rubbed at the back of his neck, obviously aware of the backhanded compliment. “Artemis and Wally weren’t around or I would have gone there first.”

“There’s just something in the air this weekend, huh?” She asked, putting Lian down and placing her hands on her hips as the three year old took off towards the kitchen.

If she was being honest with herself, the reason she was so put off by everyone’s absence was not because they were in love , but because after years of tension and buildup, there had been absolutely no headway with moving hers and Dick’s relationship from friends to anything more. 

It’s not like she had been in love with him since they were kids. In fact, she had found him to be pretty annoying when she first joined the team. But over time, after both of their hard exteriors had been cracked, they had developed a strong friendship. Both had dated over the years too. Dick was with Barb for a while and Chloe had had an on-again-off-again thing with a non-meta civilian after leaving the team. 

But somewhere along the lines, their relationship had shifted. Maybe it was the phone calls after they were no longer seeing each other everyday. Maybe it was the sporadic missions he would call her in on, knowing full well it didn’t sit well with Bruce. Maybe it was just the way they had grown closer. She could never pinpoint a moment, it was all just him. A night like this just seemed to feed her frustration. 

As if reading her mind, Will rested a hand on her shoulder.

“You could always make the first move.”

“There’s no point.” She sighed, frowning up at the red head. “If there was anything more there, he would have done something by now. He’s not shy about going after what he wants. And I’m not going to risk a friendship on a chance like that.”

Will’s hand squeezed her shoulder then, almost reassuringly before he spoke.

“You know, you’re both some of the most intelligent people I know, and yet, you’re both so stupid.”

“Thanks, dick.” She huffed, swatting his hand from her shoulder.

“Uncle Dick is here?” Lian’s head poked out from behind the island that marked the start of the kitchen from the living room area.

“No, sweetie, Uncle Dick isn’t here.” Will called to her. “But speaking of dick,” he smirked back at Chloe in a lower tone, “you need to get some.” He punched his coordinates into the boom tube’s data pad; the portal whirring to life behind him. “It might help you with some of that pent up,” he gestured to all of her, “everything.”

“Ha ha.” She deadpanned as he stepped towards the opening.

“Bye, sweetie. I love you!” He called to Lian, but received no response; only the clattering of bowls as they hit the floor from the lower cabinets of the island.

“Oh, I’m assuming she found the ice cream ingredients already so - ”

“ - I’m long forgotten, yeah.” Will chuckled, then pointed a pseudo-stern finger at her. “Bed by 8 and no scary movies.”

“You got it, Dad .” She said over the mechanical feminine voice that rang out: Recognize, Red Arrow B-0-6 .

Once the boom tube had then fallen silent, she turned to see Lian standing in front of her, clutching a mixing bowl with flour on her face. Where had she even gotten the flour from?

“Are we going to make ice cream?” Lian asked with an expectant look on her face.

“Duh.” Chloe said, without hesitation, and scooped her niece up and walked her to the kitchen.

Chapter Text

What are you up to tonight?

The text had buzzed to life on Chloe’s phone while she and Lian were in the middle of making their vanilla ice cream. 

The ice cream itself was done; long done. Homemade ice cream is a hit with kids when you have ice powers to chill it in two second flat. But then she’d gotten Dick’s text and decided she needed time to decide if she wanted to respond or not. So, now they were making eggless cookie dough to add to the ice cream.

She hadn't quite decided on a response that didn’t sound pathetic when her phone buzzed again.

You wanna swing by Bludhaven? We could go see a movie or something?

A few seconds later...

Or I could come to you?

These were the types of texts that she tried not to read into. Mostly because she’d get them after weeks of flirting on missions and then neither of them would make a move. She knew she was partially to blame for this. She had the ability to make the first move. To broadcast loud and clear that she wanted him, had privately nursed that particular want for a few years now. But when the time came, she always froze up; what if she had read this all wrong?

Chloe didn’t realize she had zoned out, with her hands stuck in the cookie dough having been in the middle of mixing it, until she heard her phone start to vibrate across the counter. A picture of her and Dick, faces pressed together with her tongue sticking out and his eyes screwed shut and a large smile on his face, flashed to life on her screen.

“Uncle Dick!” Lian cried happily, grabbing Chloe’s phone.

“Lian, no - ”

“Hi, Uncle Dick!” 

Lian had the large device pressed up against her head with both hands. Chloe could hear Dick’s muffled voice coming through the speaker, but couldn’t make out any of the words he was saying.

“Sweetie, put my phone down on the island.” She said, realizing she wouldn't be able to tell a three year old to put the call on speaker. Lian listened to Dick for a few more seconds, her eyes traveling from Chloe’s face to the bowl her hands were in, her little bottom lip tucked under her front teeth.

“Okay.” She finally said before putting the device on the counter, face up. Dick obviously had no idea what was going on because she could hear his voice still coming out of the speaker. Chloe leaned down to press her nose to the speaker button. Lian giggled when it took her two attempts.

“...honey, can you give the phone to Chloe?”

“Well, that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s called me all week,” Chloe said. Dick laughed on the other end of the line.

“So, are you on babysitting duty tonight?” 

“I seem to be the only one without a hot date on this Friday night, so yeah.” She said, forming each ball of dough and chilling it at her fingertips before dropping them one by one into the tub of ice cream they had made. There was a pointed silence on the other end of the line, so she continued. “Lian and I are making cookie dough ice cream and - ”

“ - and then we’re gonna watch scary movies!” Lian cheered.

“And is the ice cream dinner or…?”

“Well, I was going to make dinner,” Chloe looked pointedly at her niece. “But somebody convinced me that ordering pizza was the way to go.”

“Yes! Pizza!”

“Well, I could always keep you both company.” There was a pause where Chloe looked over at Lian who nodded enthusiastically. “You know, if you want.”

“Lian and I could be open to this, on one condition.”

“Name your price.”

“You bring pizza from - ”

“ - from the corner place by my apartment.” Chloe felt heat start on the back of her neck and spread up towards her cheeks at his words. 

“Hear that, sweetie? Uncle Dick thinks he knows everything.”

“Come on Chlo, I’m not an amateur.”

“I don’t know how I could ever doubt you.” She said before smearing a bit of cookie dough onto Lian’s nose, causing her to burst into laughter.

Recognize, Nightwing B-0-1  

Both Chloe and Lian turned from their place on the couch to see Dick step through the boom tube, two pizza boxes in hand and a paper bag balanced on top.

Effortlessly handsome was an unfair quality that Dick Grayson had been blessed with. Chloe had spent a good fifteen minutes debating if she should change, if she should put on make-up, ultimately deciding against both; this was Dick after all. Not only had he seen her bloody, sweaty, and broken, he was one of her best friends. Maybe that was why she felt a flutter of anxiety every time his eyes lingered on hers for too long. Maybe she couldn’t bear the idea of losing him.

But here he stood, in dark jeans and his motorcycle jacket, with a smile on his face. A smile that could make her smile in the worst of times. He held the pizza boxes up and she could see that one was marked plain and the other pepperoni.

“My payment.” His smile turned to a smirk as he said it. He started walking towards the kitchen as Lian bounded off the couch. She was hot on his heels before he left the living room.

“Wait, did you get garlic knots too?” Chloe asked, racing to his side to inspect the food in his hands.

“Always the air of surprise.” Dick chided in mock offense, lifting the boxes just out of her reach.

In retrospect, Chloe should not have let Lian have that much ice cream for dessert. 

Her 8 o’clock bedtime had been overshot by the Scooby-Doo episode they had been watching. But Chloe had been counting on that lulling her to, at least, drowsiness so she could easily get her ready for bed. But a bowl and a half of ice cream was too much, especially with cookie dough.

Lian had grumpily declined getting into her pajamas, brushing her teeth, basically anything that would pull her away from being nestled between Chloe and Dick on the couch. Dick, whose arm had been stretched out across the back of the couch, his fingers absentmindedly playing with the loose strands of her hair. Chloe, who had been trying to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine when his fingers lightly brushed the skin of her neck. She had kept her eyes trained on the TV screen, convinced it must have been an accident. Then his fingers brushed her skin again as he twirled and untwirled a strand of her hair.

“Bed time!” Chloe had said, standing up abruptly. She had walked towards the stairs, turning to look back at Lian and Dick once she’d reached the bottom of the stairs. Lian was poking her head up over the back of the couch. “Come on. Up these stairs, little lady.”

It had been a long process: getting her teeth brushed, getting her into pajamas, getting her a glass of water, reading a book. But finally, by around 8:45, Chloe had managed to get Lian to drift off to sleep. 

“To be fair,” Dick’s voice drifted from the kitchen in response to her groan as she descended the stairs, “you did make a lot of ice cream.”

He was standing at the kitchen sink, forearms deep in soapy water. He was doing the dishes that she had planned to do that night before she’d gotten Will’s voicemail. She gave herself a moment to lean against the island and watch the way the muscles under his shirt moved as he cleaned and loaded the dishes into the dishwasher.

“I didn’t make it just for her. No human can eat that much ice cream. We all found that out the hard way.” She snorted.

“Wally did give Conner a run for his money.”

“Yeah, but his metabolism tipped the scales. We all agreed he should be in a class slightly higher than human.”

“We can’t get into this again. It’s been years.” He conceded as she laughed.

“It’s for all the kids. I refused to make it for a while because they think I’m an ice cream making machine. But with Lian coming over, I figured it would be nice.”

He hummed in response before she sighed and swatted at his side to get him away from the sink.

“These aren’t your dishes, Grayson, you don’t need to do them.”

“I know that.” He said, bumping his hip into hers to scoot her back away from the sink. “But I also remember all of the dishes we let pile up at Mount Justice. I figured I’d give you a break from cleaning up after everyone.” Before she could protest from where she had now perched herself on the counter, Dick carried on. “You know, you don’t have to do this all yourself.” He looked over at her. “Taking care of everyone, I mean. We’re all happy to help out.”

“You guys are all off doing something super secret that I don’t need to know about.” Chloe said. Dick’s silence and the small sigh he made as he turned back to the dishes was enough to confirm her suspicions. “I really don’t, Dick, I’m not chastising you. You need to do what you think is right and I need to be here to help these kids.” She looked out over The Hub as Dick turned the water in the sink off and moved closer to her to grab the dish towel to dry his hands. “They’re so young.”

“We were that young, once.”

He was so much closer to her now; his hip leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, his head cocked to the side as he watched her closely.

“That’s my point.” She said, turning to look at him. So much closer, as he righted his head, his eyes locking with hers and never wavering. “I just want them to be able to be kids when they can, as much as they can.” The last part was almost a whisper.

“I know.” He said softly. “I just mean, you don’t have to do it alone.”

His leg was pressed against hers now. His arms uncrossed as he placed one hand on the counter, pressed into the granite so close to hers that their fingers barely touched. He took one more step and was standing in front of her now. As if by some gravitational pull, he began to move closer still.

Her heart was hammering in her chest. She was sure he would hear it the way she felt it throbbing in her ears. The way it felt like her whole body was pulsing with each beat.

He leaned forward and, almost unconsciously, as if in slow motion, she parted her knees to let him step closer. The hand not resting on the counter found its way to the back of her head, and as his fingers pressed into her hair she thought she felt her breath hitch. And still he moved closer.

She leaned forward to meet him, balancing on the edge of the counter, not needing his hand to guide her. Their faces were close enough that she could feel his warm breath touch her lips and she closed her eyes just as the boom tube roared to life.

Recognize, Forager B-3-2

Chloe’s eyes shot open and she swung her torso back so quickly she almost knocked the back of her head on the cabinets behind her. Dick took two full steps back until he was leaning against the counter again. He crossed his arms back over his chest, this time in a guarded manner. Neither would look the other in the eyes.

“Hello, Dick Grayson.” Forager greeted once he came into view, having seen Chloe a few hours before. 

“Hey, Forager.” Dick’s greeting was clipped.

“Do not let Forager interrupt.” Forager continued. “Victor Stone forgot his communication device and Forager said Forager would not mind retrieving it from The Hub. Forager will only be a moment.”

Then Forager was racing up the stairs and out of sight. After a few moments of painful silence, which was broken by the opening of a door and then it closing again, Forager reappeared at the foot of the stairs. Neither Dick or Chloe had moved a muscle. Forager was not particularly surprised. He had seen enough odd interactions between the two of them to know not to question if anything was amiss.

“Forager and Victor Stone will return when M’gann M’orzz and Conner Kent are back on Sunday.” He fidgeted slightly when both Dick and Chloe gave him forced smiles. “Forager hopes that Dick Grayson and Chloe Campbell have a good night.”

“Let me know if you or Vic need anything!” She called and he nodded before hurrying off towards the boom tube.

An excruciating moment of silence hung between them long after the boom tube had fallen silent. Chloe was gripping the edge of the counter so tightly, she was worried she might accidentally freeze it over. Still, neither of them dared meet the other’s eyes.

“Want to watch that one movie we meant to see a while ago?” Dick asked after another painful moment where only the TV hummed from the living room. “Or finish some Scooby-Doo?”

“Yup.” Chloe said, and jumped down from the counter to walk towards the couch; Dick following quickly behind her.

Chapter Text

It took a bit for them to get comfortable around the couch together after the interruption in the kitchen. They started out stiffly sitting next to each other, eyes straight ahead on the screen before them. After all these years Dick knew how to read her.

Her back was too straight, her fingers gripping her crossed arms too tightly, her legs tucked underneath her in what looked to be an incredibly uncomfortable position. She was in mission mode. So observant of everything around her; observant of every move he made, every sound that wasn’t the TV. She would never relax again if he didn’t first.

It hadn’t always been this way. He had tried to fight the idea of seeing them as more than friends. Over the past year he had tried not to picture the way she’d look smiling at him over a book during a relaxing Sunday, or how her lips would taste when he’d interrupt her doing something, anything, to steal a kiss. How differently she might say his name when his head was between her thighs and her fingers gripped tightly in his hair, begging him not to stop. 

It had started putting him too in his own head. Their conversations, while still easy, were now punctuated with flirtatious banter. Their interactions were now peppered with unnecessary, lingering touches to their arms, backs, shoulders. Then, as if one could not happen without the other, there would be an air of awkwardness that would settle over them and they would need to claw their way back to a sense of normalcy. 

The detective in him had been picking their interactions apart night after night. Reliving conversations for a hint of clarity. He knew her so well, and he found that it put him at a disadvantage to figuring this out. Were the feelings at least mutual or had they entered an overly familiar territory of their friendship that neither knew how to navigate?

So, finally, he had gone to Kaldur. Surely her best friend would have insight into this. Surely he would tell Dick if he was on the right track here.

“Dick.” Kaldur had sighed, as if this conversation had already taken its toll. “As I have told her many times, if you are unable to figure this one out for yourself, then I fear you are both beyond help.”

“So, what you’re saying is - ”

“What I am saying,” Kaldur had interrupted, moving towards the watchtower’s boom tube, “is that perhaps the both of you should speak to each other instead of speaking to everyone else.”

There was no mistaking what had just happened. 

So he forced himself to relax back into the couch cushion; uncrossed his arms and locked his fingers behind his head, stretched out to rest his feet on the coffee table, and started to make quips about the movie. Chloe’s guard came down. She snorted at his commentary and started making remarks of her own, her own arms uncrossed and she ended up sitting closer to him resting against the back of the couch to be turned slightly towards him. That is until her eyelids began drooping and Dick caught her drifting off for minutes at a time.

“You’re going to miss the ending.” He warned, looking over at her to see her opening her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” She scrunched her face in sleepy annoyance as she sat up to prove her point. “I know exactly what’s going on.”

“Sure you do.” He laughed lightly and opened his arm to give her a spot to rest against him. “Come here.”

She moved instantly into his side and rested her head in the crook of his neck. He lowered his arm to wrap around her and began tracing random shapes into her skin. In minutes she was breathing evenly. An hour later, the boom tube announced Will’s arrival and Dick had been worried that it would wake her. But even as Will walked through the portal, she didn’t even stir.

“Hey, did everyth - ” Will started at a normal volume as he walked further into the room. But Dick cut him off with a ‘shh’ and pointed wordlessly to Chloe. Will smirked. “Did everything go okay?” He tried again in a hushed tone.

“Everything went fine.” Dick said, nonchalantly, in the same hushed tone. As if Chloe being asleep on his shoulder was a normal occurrence that Will was not supposed to question. “Lian is asleep in the guest room next to Chloe’s.”

“Got it.” Will smirked. “I’ll be right back.”

He took the stairs two at a time, and for a moment all that could be heard was the low hum of the TV. Chloe stirred slightly and Dick adjusted himself so she could sink further into his side. 

“Go back to sleep.” He whispered into her hair before pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “It’s just Will picking up Lian.”

As if his words lulled her back to sleep, Chloe sighed and pressed her face further into his collarbone. A moment later, Will was descending the stairs with Lian’s sleeping form wrapped around his neck. Her little head was resting on his shoulder as she gripped the collar of his shirt in her tiny fist.

“How did the date go?” Dick asked, as Will placed the book Chloe had read to Lian back in her bag. He adjusted her in his arms and swung the bag over his shoulder.

“Not bad.” Will shrugged as best he could with both his shoulders obstructed. “She was great, actually. I’m just not sure I’m ready for great.”

“You can’t let great pass you by while you’re waiting for Jade, Will. It’s not fair to you.”

“No offense, boy wonder,” Will scoffed, “but you’re not exactly in a position to be giving relationship advice.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dick raised his eyebrow over Chloe’s head as he watched Will walk back over to the boom tube’s data pad.

“Oh nothing.” Will said. It was as close to teasing as the two of them were ever going to get. “Just an observation.” 

Gar knew that it was way later than he had told Chloe he’d be back at The Hub. He was toast, dead meat, and the fact that he hadn’t received so much as a text from her made him think that he was in for a hell of a talking to. Like, parent waiting in the dark to turn on the lights, kind of talking to. He raced towards the apartment complex as his phone clock changed to 11:51. Shit. He was so screwed. 

A block away, he changed into a hawk and took off towards the balcony of the penthouse. Getting inside as quickly as possible was the main objective; elevators would just delay the inevitable. He landed lightly on the balcony and slid open the glass door as quietly as he could.

What he saw upon entering the living room was not at all what he expected. What he expected was Chloe to be waiting for him on the couch, ominously lit by the glow of a silent TV screen. Instead, he saw Chloe and Dick asleep on the couch, her head nestled into the crook of his neck, her body nestled into his side. Dick’s head rested on top of hers and his one arm was wrapped around her, as if it had been locked securely in place but had loosened as he’d fallen asleep.

Gar found himself unsure of what to do. He could wake them and reveal that he had been out way later than he promised or he could cover them with a blanket and call it a night. No one needed to know that he and Perdita weren’t home by 11. He went with the latter, tiptoeing to the couch and covering the two of them as best he could with a blanket. 

Something still felt off, like it was his duty to report this. He had been just out of earshot of many a conversation about Chloe and Dick. Mostly, between Artemis and Wally. Kaldur had the tact not to bring up personal conversations in front of the younger members of the team and M’gann and Conner had most of their conversations telepathically. Wally, however, had never learned what an indoor voice was. So he turned off the flash on his phone and took a picture before racing up to his room. He’d gotten off scot-free so far, he didn’t want to push his luck.

M’gann was sitting on the bed of the small cottage she and Conner had rented for the weekend. It had been so long since they’d had any time to themselves. But with Chloe having taken on watching over The Outsiders and the small lull of calm that had fallen over the earth, they were finally able to find some time to get away. They needed to take advantage of these times when they came.

She was engrossed in a book while Conner was in the shower when her phone dinged on the bed next to her. She glanced at it to see it was a picture from Gar and turned back to her book to finish the paragraph she was on. Then her phone dinged again, this time with a text message. So she put her bookmark in her book and picked up the device.

It was a dark picture, only lit but a faint blue light, but there was no mistaking what it was. It was a picture of Dick and Chloe asleep on the couch in The Hub. God knows they both needed the sleep, but it was how particularly cozy the picture was that must have prompted Gar to send the photo. M’gann smiled as she heard the shower turn off. 

The text Gar had sent along with it read:

Dick and Chloe sitting in a tree…

The door opened and Conner walked out of the bathroom with a towel tied around his waist; a smaller one in hand, drying his hair. M’gann let her eyes linger over the way the water clung to his skin before taking a screenshot of Gar’s messages. She scrolled through her text conversations, bypassing the group chat that contained her, Conner, Kaldur, Wally, Artemis, Dick, and Chloe and instead clicked on the group chat that contained her, Conner, Kaldur, Wally, and Artemis. The chat that was created specifically to complain about Dick and Chloe and their inability to see that they were into each other. 

She sent the screenshot. Before Conner even had a chance to check his phone, Wally had responded.

Wally: ♫ F - U - C - K - I - N - G ♫

By this point Conner had checked the message. He turned to his fiancée and showed her the screen as if she had not been the one to send the message.

“Is this real?” He asked, telepathically.

“Apparently so.” She replied in kind as Artemis sent her own response.

Artemis: ♫ S - L - E - E - P - I - N - G ♫

“Finally.” Conner chuckled, before sending a response of his own.

Conner: Eh, doesn't fit the rhyme.

Wally: Thank you, SB

Artemis: I know it doesn't fit the rhyme

Artemis: But they’re clearing not fucking

Wally: Come on, babe! You don’t know what’s going on under that blanket ;)

M’gann: You two are going to need to do some reconnaissance tomorrow for the rest of us :)

Only Kaldur, who was off any non emergency communications until Monday, hadn’t weighed in on the new developments. This news was painfully long awaited, but it was not emergency worthy. While Kaldur would probably breathe the biggest sigh of relief out of any of them, he could wait to hear about this until after his weekend with Wyynde.

Wally: You got it

Chapter Text

The Hub was quiet. Everyone who lived there was either safely in their rooms or away in Happy Harbor for the weekend. The only signs of life throughout the penthouse was the occasional shuffling from the rooms upstairs and the flickering light from the muted TV in the living room.

The screen cast long shadows across the open floor plan. But particularly the couch in front of it, where Chloe and Dick were nestled together. They were still wrapped around each other. Chloe’s head had sunk further into his neck so that her breath now danced across the hollow of his throat. At some point while they slept, she had curved the rest of her body onto his and wrapped her arm around his waist. 

About 15 minutes after Will had left, Dick had realized he should probably wake Chloe and leave as well. But he hadn’t wanted to wake her, and more than anything, he hadn’t wanted to let her go. So he had let his own tired eyes close for minutes at a time. There was no harm in resting them. When Gar or Brion and Violet got home both of them would hear and he could take his leave then. So he had secured his arm around her, shifted in place to get a bit more comfortable, and rested his head on top of hers.

Dick had a nasty habit of overestimating his physical limitations. A habit he had fallen hard into as they searched for the meta-human trafficking rings across the globe. Like so many times before, that meant that he had underestimated what little sleep he’d been getting lately. 

The moment his head rested in place, he had fallen into a deeper sleep than he had intended. One he didn’t wake from when Brion and Violet had come home, lowered their voices to a whisper, and turned out the lights. Or when Gar came home and haphazardly covered them in a blanket as best he could.

Only when Dick had started snoring softly did Chloe stir. 

Chloe found herself being pulled back to consciousness by an annoying light. An annoying light that felt like it was burning through her eyelids. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she realized that her pillow was much harder than usual. She was also curled up in an incredibly uncomfortable position. One where her legs were pulled into her chest, but her chest itself was laid out across something. Something that was rising and falling evenly, apart from the occasional small rumble that vibrated through it.

She tried to sit up and felt some resistance from something else that was resting on her head. She brought a hand up to her eyes now to cover them from the aggravating light. Was she hurt on a mission? Was she still out in the field? She couldn’t hear any noises that would indicate it or any ringing in her ears. She tried to sit up with a bit more force now and whatever was on her head lifted and she heard a low groan that she felt rumble in whatever she was laying on.

Then she remembered. She remembered Dick and the way he had looked at her as he’d pulled her towards him. She remembered how his breath had felt on her lips, his fingers in her hair and then… She also remembered them being interrupted. 

She realized that she must have fallen asleep on him after he had opened his arm for her to snuggle into him. She went to move her arm, which was close to falling asleep, and brushed the warm skin of Dick’s sides. God, she had even snaked her arm around him in her sleep and slipped her hand under the hem of his shirt.

Chloe couldn't stop her own groan from escaping her lips. She pressed her face further into Dick’s neck. The arm that had been wrapped around her, lazily placed on her hip, rose then and he rubbed small circles into her back. 

Maybe if she never had to look at him again, they could move past this. Or maybe, maybe this was good. Maybe she needed to throw caution to the wind. She didn’t know how well her half-conscious brain could execute that. What she did know is that he was awake now and he knew she was awake too. She’d need to move first if she wanted to retain any shred of dignity.

“How long was I asleep?” Chloe asked, sitting up, untying her hair and running a hand through it to try and tame whatever it had done in her sleep.

“Not that long.” Dick’s voice was deeper from sleep.

 Chloe captured her lower lip between her teeth to gnaw at, instead of acknowledging the ache that the slight rasping quality caused at her core. She glared over at him through the dark, which was evidence enough that it had, in fact, been a pretty long time. He threw her a boyish grin before he rubbed his eyes to try and clear the sleep from them.  

“What time is it?” He tried to stifle a yawn.

She felt around blindly for her phone. Her vision was still somewhat blurry and her head felt strange, like it was filled with cotton. Only the muted TV screen gave her any source of light to help in her search. Once she located it and the light from her screen burned a 2:07 into her retinas, she cursed whoever had invented napping. Nothing good ever came from napping.

“Too fucking late.” She grumbled, then stood up to get a view of the closed doors to Brion, Violet, and Gar’s rooms. Brion and Gar’s doors had soft glows seeping through the cracks, Violet’s was completely dark. But if Brion was home, Violet most likely was too. 

She turned back to Dick, who had stood now and cracked his neck before stretching his arms above his head. His shirt rose just enough to reveal the cuts in his abdomen and the dark line of hair that disappeared into his jeans. Chloe couldn’t help that her eyes traveled over that exposed bit of skin. She wanted to reach out and touch the warm, soft skin that covered hard muscle. Press her lips there if he’d let her. She tore her eyes away as his shirt slid back into place.

He was looking at her, with his head tilted again. Almost like he was observing her, trying to piece together what she was thinking without having to ask. She clicked the remote to turn off the TV and the both of them were plunged into momentary darkness. She knew his eyes were still trained on her, but she wanted to think this through without having to see him looking at her.

There was a chance, and at this point she thought it was a very slim chance, that Dick didn’t feel the same way she did. At the very least he probably wanted to fuck her almost as badly as she wanted to fuck him. And she really wanted to fuck him.

She wanted to feel his fingertips trace the curves of her body. She wanted his mouth to leave bruises in places no one else would see. But she also wanted to wrap her arms around him, run her fingers through his hair and listen as he told her about his day. She clenched her legs together to provide some friction to ease that growing ache.

“I should probably head out.” 

Dick’s voice rang out from across the room. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed him make his way to the island to retrieve his jacket from one of the chairs. Her own footfalls made no noise as she rose slowly from the couch and made her way to meet him halfway.

Dick grabbed his jacket and turned back to her. Both of their eyes had adjusted to the absence of light by now. He could see that she was leaning against the sidewall of the staircase, back pressed against it, hands deep in her jogger pockets. She pushed her hair behind her ear and turned to look at him. The low light from the dark sky outlined her in a way that cast the features of her face into deeper shadow. 

He waited. He seemed to be waiting to gauge her response to his statement, to him moving to leave. He couldn’t see the expression on her face and when she made no movement further towards him or statement to stop him, he began to swing his jacket on.

“You should.” Her voice finally rang out, and she saw him stop his movements midway through sliding his jacket up his arms. “Or…”

He was completely still, waiting for her to finish. While Dick may not have been able to see Chloe’s features, she could see his clearly. The kitchen had a night light in the fridge that was casting a soft blue glow over his face. It was illuminating his sharp cheekbones and the brightness of his eyes. His lips were parted slightly and she felt that hammering in her chest again as she opened her mouth to try to finish. That same hammering she’d felt when she’d felt his breath on his lips.

The words got stuck in her throat as she saw his tongue wet his lips, almost in anticipation. She knew she didn’t want Dick to leave. She had a suspicion he didn’t want to either. 

“Or?” Dick finally asked.

He had already slipped his arms back out of his jacket. It was back to hanging on that chair. It was his confirmation, she just needed to answer his question. She just needed to open her mouth and hope that the drumming in her chest would let her speak.

“...Or, you could stay.”

It wasn’t a question and he offered no answer. He simply walked back towards her. She pushed off the wall and began moving towards the stairs. She could feel his presence behind her the whole way up and she paused outside her door; a split second that made him speak in a much softer voice.

“I can always stay on the couch.” He said, and she wouldn’t look back at him. If she did, she might let him. “Or I can stay in the guest room.”

She took a shaky breath before opening the door to her bedroom.

“No.” She said, firmly. She stepped inside and held the door open for him. “I want you to stay with me.”

Chapter Text

Chloe had had a lot of bravado when encouraging Dick into her bedroom. Now that she had closed the door and was leaning against it, that had all vanished. 

Dick had never been in her bedroom before. It had only been a few months since they’d all moved into the penthouse. And, if she was being honest, not many people had been in her room at all. She was too paranoid about the fact that she was living with and watching over teenagers to concentrate on bringing anyone home.

Though it had been a few months, her bedroom was still somewhat bare bones. It was pretty large; the largest of the rooms for sure, and had its own bathroom. But its walls and dressers were mostly bare. She had a small tv, but really nothing to mark the space as her own.

Suddenly Chloe felt self conscious as Dick stood still, facing away from her, bathed in moonlight from the large windows. But she didn’t have much time to dwell on that insecurity.

Dick turned and suddenly his face was cast in complete shadow. Chloe’s eyes hadn’t adjusted enough yet to the dark to make out any expression on his face as he moved towards her. He was in her space in seconds and she reacted just as quickly. Their lips crashed in a desperate kiss. 

Immediately his one hand grasped the base of her skull, threading his fingers through her hair and angling her head exactly where he wanted her lips. His other arm snaked its way around her waist and melded her body with his. Chloe returned his enthusiasm in kind.

She had thrown her own arms around his neck and used his height to pull her chest into him. She needed contact, she felt like her body was on fire. She raked her fingernails across his scalp and he pressed himself closer to her, if that was even possible.

They broke apart; both out of breath, lips still brushing as they fought for air. Chloe wasn’t sure why, but she started to giggle softly, and between peppering Dick’s jaw with light kisses.

“What’s so funny?” He choked out as she moved to nip at the skin right below his jaw.

“It’s just - ” She left open mouthed kisses down his throat until she found a spot that made him moan softly and buck his hips against hers. “If I’d known you were going to kiss me like that - ” She took the time to leave a mark there before licking up the column of this throat. “I’d have asked you to stay over a long time ago.”

Dick gripped under her thighs and hoisted her up. She yelped in surprise and wrapped her legs around his narrow waist. He pressed his body against hers as he claimed her mouth mid yelp to quiet her. As her feet left the floor and she felt the hard grip of Dick’s fingers digging into her thighs, Chloe felt that ache return to her core. With her legs wrapped tightly around him, she was able to garner some needed friction. 

She didn’t stay pressed against the door for long. 

Dick clumsily kicked off his shoes and broke their kiss just long enough to get a clear eye-line to her bed. The returning kiss was sloppy and he captured her lower lip briefly before dropping her onto the bed. She bounced once and leaned back on her elbows to look up at him before he was on her again.

If Chloe had had the upper hand before, she sure as hell did not have it now. Dick kissed the breath from her lungs and when she fought for air, he worked over her throat, finding her own sweet spot that made her take a few ragged breaths before she couldn't stop the moan that escaped her lips. He no longer cared about how loud she was getting as long as she did not stop making those noises.

His hands slid up from the tight grip he had on her hips to cup her breasts. She moaned in frustration at the layers between her and Dick’s hand and took the loss of his grip on her hips to grind her core against the thigh he had anchored between her legs.

“Off.” He commanded softly, as he slid his hands under her shirt. 

She quickly obliged, chasing his mouth as he leaned back to pull her shirt over her head. He bypassed her lips and instead connected his to her neck, just below her jaw, sucking roughly before licking a broad stroke from her collarbone and back up. 

“Dick - ”  

He bit gently just above her collarbone now, and she gripped at his shoulders. 

“ Dick! ”

She slid her own hands under his shirt and turned the tips of her fingers to ice. She dragged them across his back and bit her lip as he inhaled sharply, halting his movement to cup her breasts again. She took advantage of his distraction and gripped her thighs around his waist, flipping them both so he was on his back now with her straddling him. Dick was the flexible one, but she had her moments.

There was a split second where she saw his eyes, normally bright and alert, were heavy lidded and unfocused, before she pushed him down and began circling her hips. Working her throbbing core, breathy moans escaping her, gripping at his hands that were now gripping her thighs hard enough to leave behind marks.

“Off.” She threw his own command back at him in a breathless tone. 

He moved, as quickly as he could without unseating her, to rid himself of his shirt. It disappeared somewhere off the side of her bed.

He pushed his head back into her pillow, his mouth opening in a groan that started low in his throat; his hips pushing up to meet hers to gain more friction. She moved quickly off of his lap and worked at removing his belt, then allowing him room to remove his jeans. She slipped her cool fingers under the waistband of his boxers, earning a hiss from him. She smirked before pulling them down the length of his legs to free his cock. 

Chloe ghosted her body over his as she kissed from his jaw down to his hip bone. Taking time to love and bruise his scarred skin on the way down. The noises he made as she took time and care at his jawline, collarbone, nipple, the scars at his right side, then finally his hip bone were almost foreign to her. He sounded desperate, more whining and panting than his usual commanding tone. She unclasped her bra and threw it somewhere into her dark room, then pressed his cock between her breasts as she licked from his right hip bone to his left.

“ Chloe... ” 

She had definitely never heard him say her name like that before. As if he was suffering and she was the only one that could save him.

She moved lower still and looked up at him to see his eyes on her. His chest was rising and falling heavily. She turned her attention back to where he wanted her most. He was impossibly hard, the vein that ran the length of his cock was prominent, his head swollen and leaking precum.

She gave a faint blow of icy air causing him to take a sharp intake of breath, but he didn’t have much time to process before she licked from base to tip then took him fully in her mouth. He cried out and gripped the sheets below him, almost like he was in pain. She stopped moving, worried that the cold of her tongue had been too much, but he managed to choke out -

“Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”

She didn’t. 

She took him as deep as her throat would allow and hummed around him. He swore, his knuckles going white as he gripped harder at the sheets. She bobbed her head then until his hand fisted in her hair. She hummed again and pressed her tongue to the underside of his shaft. He bucked his hips, letting out a groan as she sped up her movements and he thrust up to meet them, his eyes never leaving her face, his mouth open helplessly almost in awe.

His thrusts became erratic and she hummed again then hollows her cheeks around him. As he came his hips stuttered beneath her, and he moaned her name then cursed as his fist tightened in her hair. She swallowed everything he gave as his hips sunk back into the bed, and when she pulled back to sit on her heels above him, he looked at her like she was the sun.

She crawled forward, ghosting her body over his again so she was level with his face. His chest was heaving against her breasts, but she didn’t let any other part of her body touch his. His eyes fluttered closed as her cool breath touched his face, then her lips were softly placed on his and he opened his mouth eagerly to reciprocate.

He buried one hand in her hair and the other slid over the small of her back; pulling her flush against him. She sank into him and opened her mouth to let his tongue massage her own. She moaned into his mouth and he took a sharp intake of breath through his nose at the coolness of her tongue, her breath.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and used the other to flip them. He was satisfied when she gave a surprised squeak into his mouth, her eyes flying open and breaking the kiss as he pressed her into the bed with his hips. He propped himself up on his forearms, holding his own weight so he could look at her. She looked wild. Hair fanned out around her head, lips bruised, cheeks pink, and pupils blown wide.

Chloe’s hands wrapped around his neck and she noted, somewhere in the corner of her mind that wasn’t currently focused on how his fingers had started pinching and twisting her nipples, that his skin was on fire and his chest and face were flushed. She arched her back as his fingers worked and he took her reaction as the go ahead to drop his head and replace his fingers with his mouth, his tongue circling her sensitive nipple, his teeth grazing it gently. The noise that left her sounded like a whine and she turned to press her face, half hidden, into the pillow.

“I wanna taste you.” Dick said almost desperately as she released her nipple and worked at sliding her sweatpants down her legs.

“Please.” She breathed as he kissed his way down her stomach, her hips...

He pushed her legs apart and kissed and sucked at her inner thighs. Her hips rose from the bed and he used one hand to hold her down. She whined as he moved lower, away from where she wanted him. 

Dick was a tease, why would he be any different in bed. But she wanted his mouth on her now and he knew it with the way she felt him smirking against her skin.

“Just put your mouth on my – ” She groaned in frustration.

“Be patient, Angel.” Chloe’s eyes shot open when he whispered that term of endearment. She looked down the length of her body at him. At him smirking up at her shocked face between her legs. “Let me take care of you.”

She was going to retort; try to steady her heart rate, clear her mind with sarcasm. But he moved quickly, licking a purposeful strip from her opening to her clit. All she could do then was to try to stifle a cry as she gripped at the sheets below her.

He worked at her clit, circling and sucking as he pulled small thrusts from her. It was too much, it had been so long since anyone had touched her that she cried out. 

Dick ceased his work at her clit to shush her through a satisfied smirk. She ran an ice cold toe up his calf in retaliation. He hissed and pressed his hips into the bed with more purpose.

“That’s not very nice, Chloe.” He whispered against her core and pushed his tongue into her entrance before working his way back up to her clit. 

She gripped the sheets tighter as he sucked at his fingers before inserting one into her, curling and pumping. 

“ Dick .” She moaned as he slid a second into her, keeping a steady pace as his tongue continued working at her clit.

She clenched around his fingers and swore louder than she had intended as he pressed against her clit with purpose. She could feel her orgasm building as she whimpered, grinding desperately on his mouth as he fucked her with his fingers; curling them in just the right way over and over.

It hit her harder than she expected. His fingers were thicker than her own, they moved differently, and pulled a different kind of pleasure from her than she could pull from herself. Her muscles tightened and a high moan escaped her, followed by breathes that matched the thrusts of his fingers as she regained feeling in her toes.

She sighed when he pulled his fingers from her. She reached out and gripped his hand as tightly as she could manage with spent muscles and sucked the fingers coated in her juices into her mouth. He groaned low and she felt it deep in his chest, now pressed against hers as she ran her tongue along the digits. She slowly pulled them from her lips and he moved forward quickly to pounce on her mouth, sucking her tongue into his own mouth as if to claim every bit of her taste for his own.

She wrapped her legs around him as best she could while they were still tingling slightly. It was a better angle for when she used his torso to rise and line herself up with his hard cock. His hands gripped at her ass and as he sat back on his heels to line himself up with her entrance.

Both Dick and Chloe were covered in a thin layer of sweat and his warm touch was almost unbearable on her skin before he sank into her slowly. She took him inch by inch before he pulled almost completely out of her and sunk in once more. He did this one more time, pulling her up and into his arms to press her forehead to his, until she’d taken him in completely. 

“Are you okay?” He asked through gritted teeth. 

His hands kneaded at her ass in a soothing motion. She nodded and slowly started to rock her hips, letting her body adjust to him. The slight pain that had shot through her as she stretched around him had quickly turned to a dull ache of pleasure. She pressed her body closer to his to feel all of him as his cock filled her so well, so perfectly. She clenched around him to calm the need to fuck him senseless and instead take this slow. 

“Fuck, you’re so tight.” He breathed. “I need you to move, Angel.” 

She wasn’t sure she would get used to Dick calling her that. It sent a warmth through her and she sighed softly. 

“I need you to fuck me.” 

That sent a wave of pleasure straight through her.

“I can do that.” 

She rose up, almost completely off of his cock and sank back down until she had taken all of him again. She cursed softly against his lips as she repeated this motion once, twice, three more times. Only angling her body to start a steady pace after his breathing had become ragged, his chest rising harshly to meet hers, and his hips thrusting up to meet her hips as she sank down the last time. Dick’s head fell back, his eyes closed, and his mouth opened almost helplessly. He used his grip on her ass to help bounce her on his cock, rising slightly on his heels, to meet her thrust for thrust.  

The room was so quiet, that the sounds of their heavy breathing and skin meeting skin echoed off the walls. Chloe was suddenly conscious of the fact that they were not alone in the penthouse. Her eyes must have betrayed her thoughts then, because the moment that thought pulled her focus away from Dick, he nipped at her jawline again.

“Hey.” His voice was deeper again, and she felt that ache of pleasure radiating through her again. “Come back to me.” He captured her lips again as his one hand traveled between their bodies. He pressed his middle finger to her clit and circled as she moaned into his mouth. 

She felt her orgasm building in her lower stomach and she gripped his hair in tandem with clenching her legs around him.

“Dick, I’m - I’m close.” She breathed against his lips, her cool breath chilling his lips that she captured again in a bruising kiss.

His thrusts quickened in tandem with the movement of his finger and for a moment all Chloe could do was cling to his shoulders as he set an almost bruising pace.

“Let go, Angel.” He said, pressing his forehead to hers. “Let go. I’m almost there too. I’ve got you.”

He hit the right spot, once, twice, three times with each thrust it and sent Chloe over the edge. She clenched around him as she bit his shoulder to prevent her cry from carrying.

Dick’s hips stuttered as his own release hit him. His eyes closed and his head fell back as he tried to breath through his pleasure. His fingers were pressed so tightly into Chloe’s skin, she was sure he would leave bruises. Her own teeth had left marks that would not fade anytime soon.

Chloe rose on tired legs to rise off of Dick’s cock. Both made quiet, disappointed noises at the loss of contact as Chloe collapsed backwards onto the bed. Dick joined her on his side before pressing soft kisses to her shoulder and tangling his fingers in her hair.

“I have to get up.” Chloe sighed, but made no move to.

“No, you don’t.” Dick’s voice was muffled into her shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist now to pull her close. 

“I do.” She laughed, nuzzling her face into the hair at the top of his head, now wild after all the times she’d threaded her fingers through it.

“Fine.” Dick conceded through a yawn. “But make sure you come right back.”

“This is my bed.” She chided, still without making any movement to detangle herself from his embrace.

“Is this you getting up?” He smiled against her shoulder a few moments of dozing later.

She swatted him lazily with her free hand and he laughed before gracing her shoulder with a few more kisses.

If someone had told her that this was how her Friday night was going to end, she’d have asked if they’d been drinking. But she was far from complaining.

Chapter Text

Dick usually woke with the sun. Though the room was only dimly lit, he realized that was due to the rain clouds obscuring the sun and not because it was only beginning to rise. Neither he nor Chloe had bothered to close the shades over the large picture window in her room the night before. He watched the rain pelt the glass as he ran his fingers absently along Chloe’s spine, the cool sensation of her skin warming under his touch. 

He let the calm surround him. One of her arms was wrapped around his chest, fingers curling near his collarbone, the tips brushing over one particularly large scar. Her cool breath danced across his neck and her body was curled around his; legs tangled together. He let himself be content in her arms listening to the rain and the muffled sounds of Gar, Violet, and Brion downstairs. 

He lifted the palm of her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss there. He held her hand there and he breathed deep as Kaldur’s words echoed in his head. If you are unable to figure this one out for yourself, then I fear you are both beyond help . He snorted and made a mental note to figure out just how long each of their friends had figured out what the two of them had been too blind to see.

He slowly detangled from Chloe, trying not to wake her as he moved from the bed. He stretched and couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him. Tracking the meta-human trafficking rings had taken every minute of his time over the past few months. It was running him ragged.

He turned to look back at Chloe, still sound asleep. Without his body to curl around, she had adjusted to lay on her stomach and pressed her face into the pillow to hide from the dull light from the window. The blanket from the bed rested on the curve of her back and her hair lay across her bare skin. She snored softly and he bit back a smile.

She looked almost peaceful as she slept, a calm to the way she groaned against her body’s desire to return to consciousness. She turned to lay on her back now and rested an arm over her eyes to block the offending light, however muted it was. The blanket had slid down her hips in the process and her hair had moved to her sides. She was totally exposed to him and he breathed deep, letting his eyes roam over her body.

He took a moment longer to admire her sleeping form before walking back over to the bed and crawling over her. He scattered gentle kisses across her face. Half asleep, she hummed and bumped her face against his. He didn’t relent and she ran her hands up his arms.

“How do you have any energy this early?” She groaned. 

He only hummed in response and continued peppering her with kisses. Moving from her face to her neck, over the bruises he’d left the night before.

“Dick,” she sighed against his touch, her eyes finally fluttering open.

“Good morning,” he said, between kisses.

She squirmed as he pressed his lips against a sensitive bruise.

“Morning,” she smiled as he captured her lips again.

They took the time to slowly explore each other’s mouths. Dick, pressing his hips into hers to grind his hardening cock against her core. Chloe, meeting his hips lazily as she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

She sent a chill down her fingers so the tips were ice cold and brushed them against this warm skin. He shivered under her touch, breaking their kiss and bowing his head to rest on her chest.

“You like that?” She asked as she traced every scar she found in her finger’s wake with a cool touch.

He huffed a breath of warm air that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a groan, then he lifted his head. His eyes were bright and clear as he stared deep into her own and bit his bottom lip.

“I like everything you do,” he said in that same low voice.

It made her pause her movements as she let out a shaky breath. He took advantage of her reaction to capture her lips, wrapping her up in his arms as he slid his tongue into her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his waist as she sucked at his tongue, digging her nails into his back now.

A shout from downstairs broke them apart. They stared at each other for a moment, listening for any further sounds of panic. Then another shout floated up to them and both jumped out of bed.

They scrambled for any clothes they could get their hands on. Dick zipped up his jeans and sprinted out of the bedroom. Chloe pulled on a pair of shorts and his shirt and followed at his heels.

What they both saw when they reached the upstairs balcony was Gar, Brion, Violet, Wally, and Artemis all in the kitchen. Violet was placing a large plate of pancakes on the kitchen island while Wally nursed a burnt hand with some ice. They all looked up when they heard Chloe’s bedroom door open.

“Well, well, well,” Wally said with a shit eating grin on his face, “what do we have here?”

“See!” Gar shouted, gesturing up at the two of them. “See, I told you he was still here!”

Group chat: M’gann M’orzz, Kon-El, Kaldur’ahm, Wally West, Artemis Crock

Saturday, 11:36am

Artemis: Okay… maybe they did fuck… 

Wally: YEAH THEY DID

M’gann: Tell me you have all the details!

Kaldur returned to The Watchtower early Monday morning. He didn’t like leaving Atlantis, especially when it meant he and Wyynde went longer periods of time than he would like without seeing each other.

Kaldur’s phone buzzed to life repeatedly as he entered its range of service. It wasn’t uncommon when he was away for days at a time, so he barely paid attention to the multiple texts until they died down. What did catch his attention were the last few from Artemis and Wally in their group chat. 

He read through them once then, unsure if he had read them correctly, twice and finally let out a quiet chuckle. Thankfully, Dick and Chloe weren’t as hopeless as he had thought.

Group chat: M’gann M’orzz, Kon-El, Kaldur’ahm, Wally West, Artemis Crock

Monday, 7:50am

Kaldur: Finally