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Though he might not admit it out loud, Tiger didn't hate Dick Grayson. In fact, he didn't even particularly dislike him. Dick was irritating, of course, but much of that had to do with the fact that Tiger still couldn't figure him out. Out on missions he was glib and suave, living up to many pop culture stereotypes of what spies should be like. Yet during quiet moments on their mission, all of that faded, and there was a darkness there Tiger never expected. Other times, still, Dick would show anger that burned hot as a desert sun. But what bothered Tiger the most was the fact that he could never tell when any of Dick's moods would strike, leaving him off balance and on edge.
And he hated being caught off balance.
In the weeks that they lived together, endlessly traveling to take out Spyral's other spies, Dick had shown one more face Tiger had never seen, a tender, soft side. Tiger had originally written it off as weakness, but the more he saw it, the more he found the underlying strength in it. On nights when they were alone in some ratty motel or sleeping beneath the stars, Dick would seem his most vulnerable.
"Do you ever miss home?" Dick asked, breaking the silence that had settled in the room.
Tiger shrugged. "I can see it any time. Besides, I have work to do."
"I do," Dick said, continuing as if he hadn't heard Tiger. "I think it's something you always miss, no matter what."
"You've already been back."
Dick rolled over to look at him. "I don't mean Gotham. I mean that feeling of home. Knowing where you belong and that you belong there."
Tiger shrugged again. "Home is different for us. I do not miss it."
Dick made a noncommittal noise and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Silence descended upon them again.
Finally, Tiger came to bed.
"You're not cut out for this life," he said.
Dick raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
"You're too soft at heart. This life will eat you alive."
Dick grinned wryly. "I don't know about that. I'm doing pretty good so far. I'm not dead yet."
"The day is not over yet."
Dick laughed. "My dad used to say that. Although I've never heard it from someone who's threatened to kill me before. It's nice."
"Nice," Tiger repeated. "You have strange ideas, Dick Grayson."
"That's the idiot in me," Dick said. He rolled over. "Of course, the idiot in me has a lot of bad ideas."
"Is that so?"
"Yep. For example...." Dick leaned over and kissed Tiger's cheek, his lips brushing the coarse hairs of his beard.
Tiger didn't move. "You do have bad ideas."
"Can't help it. I'm a lover, not a fighter."
Tiger looked at him, trying to assess which Dick Grayson this was. The cool spy? The vulnerable boy? The one who dipped into darkness?
Dick held his gaze, his blue eyes open and eager, yet still somehow guarded. Not from rejection, Tiger thought. They were guarded from what seemed like habit.
He was testing Tiger.
Tiger never failed a test.
"You try that again," he said, "and today's the day."
Dick grinned, wolfish and feral. "Day ain't over yet." He leaned over again and kissed Tiger on the lips, one hand on Tiger's shoulder.
And Tiger...
kissed him back.
Dick's eyes opened in surprise, but he didn't pull away. With a speed usually reserved for the field, Dick straddled Tiger, pulling him in for a deeper kiss. Tiger put a hand in Dick's hair, knotting his fingers in the thick locks. Dick started to grind against him, teasing him hard. This was part of the test, and if Dick Grayson wanted to see how far Tiger would go, Tiger would willingly show him.
With a swift motion, Tiger flipped them over. Dick's legs wrapped around Tiger's, and he broke the kiss, watching Tiger carefully. His eyes held something wild that made Tiger growl and nip Dick's shoulder. Dick moaned and reached between them, undoing their flies. It was short work getting undressed and shorter to get Dick unclothed. He seemed to shed his clothes like a snake sheds its skin.
"You don't have it in you," Dick said, taunting him.
"I'd say that applies to you," Tiger said, reaching down to Dick's ass.
"Do it." Dick's eyes held a challenge. "I dare you."
Dick was already stretched open and Tiger wondered when he did that. Had he really planned this so far ahead? When did he decide this would happen? And did he really know this would be how it went down?
The possibilities shook Tiger, because this planning was a side of Dick he'd never fully seen. How many steps ahead of him was he?
His thoughts were interrupted by Dick grabbing his cock and guiding it towards his hole. "What? Can't take the heat?"
With a low growl, Tiger pushed into Dick, making Dick gasp in pleasure. He worked into him slowly, taking time to adjust as he pushed deeper and deeper. Dick, meanwhile, was making some of the bawdiest noises Tiger had ever heard, seeming completely lost in the sensations. Was he mocking Tiger, or was Dick really so sensitive?
He pushed Dick up toward the headboard, practically bending him in half. Dick wrapped his arms around Tiger, pulling himself close.
"Do I feel like home?" he whispered. "Because you feel like you belong inside me."
Was this what that was all about? A reason for them to fuck? Dick had been playing a game Tiger never even knew he'd started. Yet instead of backing down, it turned Tiger on. He pounded into Dick, knocking the headboard against the wall with each thrust. Dick moaned in his ear, panting. Dick's penis rubbed against his stomach, getting wetter with each slide against his skin.
"I'm going to come, Tiger," Dick said, gripping him harder. "Come with me. Come... in me."
Tiger picked up his pace, and Dick dropped his head back, almost wailing in pleasure. He took one hand from Dick's back and grabbed his cock, stroking it in time with his thrusts. Within moments, Dick came, spurting onto Tiger's hand and chest. A few thrusts more, and Tiger did the same, coming deep inside Dick.
Dick moaned into Tiger's shoulder, clenching around his cock to milk the last of him. When they had finished, Tiger eased out of Dick and carefully set him back down on the bed.
Dick smiled up at him. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Tiger stared at him, trying to read on his face what Dick was trying to achieve. Closeness? Intimacy? Just a really good fuck?
Dick's smile turned into a smirk. "Stop analyzing me and come back to bed."
Tiger shook his head and went into the small adjoining bathroom. He'd now seen two more sides of Dick Grayson and he didn't know what to do with either of them. On the one hand, he'd seen Dick let himself completely go and, Tiger had to admit, that had been a beautiful thing to watch. On the other hand, the level of planning Dick must have done for everything to fall into place was uncanny. Dick had read Tiger like a book and knew exactly what to say and do to get the reaction he'd wanted. Tiger wouldn't have believed him capable of that type of cunning if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
He washed himself and returned to the bedroom. Dick had toweled himself off -- and when did he grab that? -- and was now lying quietly in bed, his eyes closed as if he was asleep. Tiger rejoined him, settling on the bed to watch him.
"Better get some sleep," Dick said, not opening his eyes. "We've got a long day of spy hunting tomorrow."
And after showing Tiger so much of himself, Dick could switch back to being cool and coordinated. That was too much.
Tiger laid on his back and sighed. Somehow on their journey he had let himself be too open, too easy to understand.
"How did you do it?" he asked, quietly.
Dick laughed. "I have a gift about reading older, broody men. You guys are all alike and you don't even know it."
Tiger wasn't sure he wanted to know what Dick meant by that, but that did satisfy some of his curiosity. He had underestimated Dick far too much. That would not happen again.