Work Text:
Everything was going to be perfect.
The house was spotless, Delphis was in Shayeris visiting Kaldur’s parents, dinner was prepped, and the table was set with softly glowing stones and carefully arranged dishes of algae. Wyynde was finally going to get some quality alone time with his partner. Between his own duties as a Royal Guard and Kaldur’s responsibilities as Aquaman and Atlantis’ Minister of Justice, “date nights,'' as Kaldur’s surface friends called them, had to be carefully planned and executed with military precision.
Wyynde checked the time. Kaldur would be off-duty from the Watchtower shortly, but Wyynde wasn’t about to leave anything to chance. Kaldur was getting better about taking time to rest and relax, but if even the slightest disaster cropped up before he left for Atlantis it would be hours, maybe days before he came home. He headed for the closest Zeta tube, grateful that his status as a Justice League reserve member granted him access.
“Recognized: Wyynde, E-15,” the computer announced as he stepped out of the Zeta tube into the Watchtower. He paused for a few moments to remind his body to inhale and exhale the air. Once he was confident his lungs would follow the rhythm without too much of his attention, he started up the stairs to the Monitor room.
That was another thing that annoyed Wyynde about the surface: stairs. Even minor elevation changes of just a few meters required them, while underwater he could simply swim up or down with almost no effort. Atlanteans were strong, but they were also densely built. Wyynde was far heavier than a human of his size would be, and the Watchtower’s artificial gravity pulled at him with every step. Only Neptune knew how Kaldur, Garth, and La’gaan ever got used to this. As Wyynde climbed, he caught snatches of Kaldur’s voice drifting from the Monitor room.
“... the Outsiders… returned… Green Lantern Stewart has… rerouted… Killer Frost… overall mission success…”
He sounded so different up here, as everything did, but his voice still rang with the firm command Wyynde became familiar with during their time in the Undersea. He reached the doorway to the Monitor room and checked the time again. Grinning, he stepped into the room.
“Kaldur!” he called out, and Kaldur turned from where he was giving a summary of his shift to Black Canary.
“Hello, Wyynde,” Kaldur replied with a soft smile, “just give me a few more minutes, and I will be ready to go.”
“Sorry, but no,” Wyynde said. “Your shift ended two minutes ago, and if you stay for more than five then the League of Shadows will attack or the sun will turn inside out or something will happen and I will never get you home.”
Kaldur rolled his eyes. “You exaggerate.”
“Mmm, I really don’t think he does,” Canary interjected. “Ollie and I have had to reschedule dates four times this month alone because of sudden League business. Go on, Kaldur. I’ll just read your notes, which I am sure are impeccable as always.” She mumbled to herself, “unlike those written by a certain Flash .” She smiled at the two Atlanteans. “You boys have a good time.”
“Nonsense,” Kaldur argued, and turned to fully face her again. “This will only take two minutes.”
“I’m not sure it’s going to be up to you,” she told him, glancing over his shoulder with a grin at something behind him. Before he could realize his mistake in turning his back on Wyynde, Kaldur was scooped up and thrown over his partner’s shoulders.
“Hey!” Kaldur shouted. “What— put me down!” Kaldur’s skin icons lit up with his indignation.
“Of course. Once we get home.” Wyynde turned on his heel and carried him out of the room. Kaldur’s icons started sparking ominously, but Wyynde could put up with a little electrocution if it meant his partner wouldn’t get sucked into whatever League crisis he was sure was due any second.
As Wyynde carefully descended the stairs, he heard chuckles and sharp whistles—wolf whistles, he remembered the specific tone pattern was called—from superheroes on multiple levels of the Watchtower who’d been drawn to the commotion. Wyynde didn’t even try to keep the smug look off his face, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a furious blush developing across Kaldur’s cheekbones. He managed to get them to the bottom of the stairs without any incident, but an audience had grown around the Zeta tubes.
“Enough of this,” Kaldur growled.
Kaldur did… something with his body, twisting out of his grip and shifting their collective gravity until Wyynde’s back slammed into the Watchtower’s floor, knocking the air out of him. Before he could get his breath back (actually having to draw oxygen into himself was still such a foreign sensation) Kaldur had straddled him and pinned his hands next to his head, leaning close with a wicked smirk. Distantly, Wyynde heard a few cheers. Kaldur’s eyes may have been the green of shallow seas, but Wyynde thought he could fall into them like a stone dropped into the Mariana Trench.
“Could you two flirt somewhere else?” Artemis called out, surrounded by various members of the current Team. “Some of us are trying to have a mission briefing over here.” She tried to sound stern and missed by a mile, betrayed by the grin creeping across her face.
“Is that what we were doing?” Wyynde wheezed out.
“It is what I was doing,” Kaldur said, eyes shining with mirth. Snickers rolled through the gathered heroes. “Still,” he glanced up at Artemis, “perhaps she has a point about taking this elsewhere.”
Kaldur released him and rose to his feet, impossibly graceful in a way Wyynde still hadn’t mastered out of the water, and strode toward the Zeta tube.
“Recognized: Aquaman, 2-7,” the computer’s voice announced.
The Zeta tube activated, bathing Kaldur in swirling light. The gold of his armor shone like sunlight on the ocean and his blond hair glowed, becoming a halo. Wyynde wondered again how he had ever denied (when he was young and hateful and stupid) that Kaldur’ahm was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
“Well?” Kaldur teased, shooting a look over his shoulder at Wyynde, who was still laid out on the floor. “Are you coming?”
Wyynde blinked once. Twice. Then, he took a shuddering gasp of air as he remembered he had to breathe. As he lurched unsteadily to his feet, Kaldur held out a hand. Wyynde stumbled the last few steps forward to take it, the webbing delicate and smooth against his own fingers.
“Recognized: Wyynde, E-15.”
The harsh voice of the computer jolted him out of his reverie. Still, some days he could not fathom his good fortune that this brave and noble man had not only forgiven his sins, but had grown to love him as well.
“Don’t you know by now?” Wyynde asked. “I would follow you anywhere.”
Together, they stepped through the light of the Zeta beam to Atlantis, to home.
The Watchtower’s Zeta tube deactivated, spinning down as the light faded. The crowd of heroes joked and laughed amongst themselves before beginning to disperse back to their business. Artemis was glad that Kaldur had found someone both willing and able to drag him away from his overdeveloped sense of duty, if only for a little while at a time. Still, Wyynde was being a bit dramatic. Even if Kaldur had stayed for just a few more minutes, surely disaster wouldn’t have actually struck, right?
Five seconds later, alarms started blaring throughout the Watchtower.