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Birds and Bees	By : defying3reason Category: DC Verse Comics > Batman Views: 2564 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, or any aspect of the broader DC Universe, and I make no money from my fanfiction

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
Chapter Nineteen
Dick and Damian fell asleep on the couch in Dick's living room with the TV on, their takeout sitting in front of them on the coffee table (handily, Dick knew of almost every twenty four hour eatery in several major metropolises).
When Dick woke up his living room was clean and Damian was in the shower. He'd never had a guest wake up before him. It was a novel experience. He went into his kitchen to see what he could throw together for breakfast, and found a note on his table in cramped script:
Grayson, your kitchen is appallingly inadequate and I refuse to ingest anything you concoct with its
meager contents. We're going out once you wake.

-D
Dick crumpled the note, then went to get dressed. By the time he was brushing his hair, Damian was leaning against his doorway wearing some clothes he'd swiped from Dick's dresser. It was a bit bizarre to see him in jeans, and the t-shirt he'd borrowed was a bit too snug around the shoulders.
"You saw my note?"
"Yes. You know, I have perfectly good bacon and OJ."
Damian pulled a face. "You'd really ingest pig fat? Our bodies are our weapons. You ought to treat yours with a little more respect."
"And you should respect bacon. It's delicious," Dick returned.
Damian shook his head. "Disgusting. I refuse to eat it."
"Fine, we'll go get pancakes or something. But you're paying."
They ended up bringing bagels and coffee back to Dick's. While they were eating, Damian got seven texts from Jai. He ignored them, so Dick didn't say anything (though he was curious about how Jai had snuck his cell phone with him into the hospital. From what Wally had said, Jai's access to his personal belongings had been severely restricted). Damian did stop to read every one of them though, and after the seventh something pained crossed his face.
"I think I'd better just call him. Some sort of direct action is necessary to deter this behavior."
"Okay. I'll, uh-"
"You're here if I need to talk afterwards," Damian said, rolling his eyes.
Dick nodded. "Good luck."
Damian went into the bedroom to make his phone call, and Dick tried to quash the urge to eavesdrop but quickly gave in and stood by the door to listen.
"You wished to tell me something? …Jai, I am sorry, but I'm not going to change my mind…well, things between us were just, just more trouble than I think-no, I want to be friends with you, that's why the sexual component…Jai, you're not listening to me. I'm ending it because I care for you-yes it makes sense. I've never desired to hurt you and…no, Jai, I cannot do the things you want me to…no, it's not…fine. I'm sorry too…Goodbye."
Dick started back towards the couch, but he only managed two steps before Damian flung the door open. "I heard you breathing Grayson. I don't suppose I put on a terribly interesting show?"
"S-sorry. Couldn't help it, detectives are curious."
"They're also generally quiet when they snoop. It's alright though. I was going to tell you everything anyway."
They walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch. "What'd he say?"
"That he loves me, that he'll do nearly anything for me. Exactly the same things he said when I ended it." Damian sighed. "I don't know why he insisted on speaking with me. Nothing's changed. He still rejects my terms for beginning the relationship again."
"I didn't know you were willing to take him back," Dick said. "What are your terms?"
"A period of abstinence with full monogamy to follow. I don't expect him to ever accept those terms, but I think those are the only conditions under which I could feel comfortable."
Dick nodded thoughtfully. "It's a good call. I don't think Jai's mature enough to see what you're going for though. He probably sees the abstinence as a punishment instead of a chance to work on the relationship." That's how Dick would have seen it at sixteen, anyway. He was really impressed with Damian.
"Mm. I wish things had turned out differently. I don't think it's possible for us to be friends now."
"Give it time," Dick advised. "I've remained friends with a lot of my exes, but it never happens overnight. Just make sure you both understand and respect that there are always going to be some feelings there."
Damian nodded, and leaned forward slightly with a pensive look on his face. "You and Father have so much experience with sexuality and I have so little. Are my attempts at relationships all doomed to failure until I develop a level of expertise that will render me comfortable?"
Dick thought for a minute about how to respond to that. "Damian…Jai was using his sexuality to hurt and control you. That's not how it's supposed to be. Even when I do non-traditional things, I do it with an interested partner and the goal is for us to have fun. My primary rule is that sex should always be fun for everyone involved. And ideally, an expression of your feelings for you partner, but I'm not going to pretend that that's always been the case for me."
Damian nodded but otherwise gave no sign of having heard him. Dick really wasn't sure he wanted to go there, but he thought a more specific anecdote might help. "I think I've gone through something similar to what just happened with you and Jai."
"Oh. With whom?"
"Kory," Dick murmured. He'd first drawn the connection when Damian had told him the full story the previous night, and it had been circling in his thoughts since. "We started dating when we were about your age. She's the one who expanded my horizons sexually. I was pretty vanilla before that, and almost a virgin when it came to girls."
"Not males?" Damian couldn't help but observe.
Dick smirked. "Roy was more comfortable about it than the girls I'd dated. Anyway, Kory was Roy's level of exploration to the nth degree. It's a cultural difference. Tamaranians trust their first impulses and impressions. When she met me, she went from thinking she might like me to seducing me almost instantaneously. And when we started sleeping together, any time she thought something sounded like fun she'd want to try it, and well…I was eighteen. It didn't take much to convince me."
"I see. So Starfire is to blame for your subsequent debauched lifestyle?"
"Not at all. I made my own choices. She just helped me open doors. Anyway, eventually she thought we should try some S and M stuff. I've got a kink for bondage, so I was more than happy to give it a go. The first couple of times I was the sub and it was great. Then she saw how much I liked it and she wanted to switch roles-"
"And you let her?" Damian snapped, clearly startled. "With her background of enslavement and torture?"
"I always forget how much free time you've spent reading through Bruce's files. Yeah, it was a bad idea. She broke down and that killed it for me. I untied her and held her and kissed her until she stopped crying, and she kept telling me to keep going, that she wanted to please me. I'm with you though. There's nothing erotic to me about hurting your partner. I love Kory. It's been years and I'm still sorry I did that to her."
Damian's expression darkened. "I couldn't make Jai understand that. He said that I shouldn't mind since he enjoyed it, but…"
"You didn't enjoy it. That's perfectly fine. You just need to find someone more suited to you. And trust me, more people than not don't want to be mistreated."
Damian visibly brightened at a new thought. "Would it be fair to ask someone about their preferences before suggesting a relationship or would that be off-putting?"
"Uh…I wouldn't ask on the first date," Dick said with a smile. "But it's good to know before you start having sex."
"That makes sense. I suppose it's inappropriate to request a psychological profile?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't do that. But hey, you're learning."
"Don't patronize me Grayson."

"Wait out here for a sec while I go ask Dad, okay?"
Roy was lying on the couch with his laptop when he heard female voices in his hallway. Sighing, he hid his Mah Jong game and pulled up the newspaper articles he was supposed to be reading for Dick's human trafficking case. Lian skipped into the room, amping up her natural sweetness to a suspicious degree.
"Hi Daddy! How goes the research?"
Roy shrugged. "It goes. What's up Peanut? Who'd you bring home with you?"
Lian started fidgeting with the silver bangle bracelets on her wrist. "Irey wanted to know if she could hang out here and like, have dinner with us and stuff. That's okay, right?"
Irey poked her head in from the doorway. "Hi Mr. Harper!"
"Hey Irey, c'mon in. Of course it's okay." Roy looked a little confused. "You sure your family doesn't want you home though?" He'd figured the Wests would all be banding together to support each other while Jai was in the hospital. At any rate, he'd kept his distance and politely (he felt, anyway) refrained from decking Wally when he'd bumped into the guy on the Watchtower.
Irey followed Lian into the living room, but remained by the door. The poor girl looked terrible. There were shadows under her downcast eyes, and she'd dressed carelessly. She was wearing unflattering sweatpants with a tank top, and she'd made no attempt to groom her wild red hair into any sense of order. Roy couldn't help but feel for her.
"M-Mom and Dad have a lot of support and I, I just wanted a break for a little bit," she chirped. "But um, if you'd rather I not-"
"Irey, you're always welcome here. Did I do something to give you the impression that you weren't?" Roy asked, genuinely concerned that Lian's best friend didn't feel comfortable around him.
Lian smirked. "You punched her dad in the face."
Right, that.
"Oh. Yeah, now I can kinda see where you got that. Sweetheart, your dad gets on my nerves all the time, but we'll work through it later. We have that kind of friendship where we can resolve our issues by beating the piss out of each other. It's a guy thing. In the meantime let me reiterate, you're always welcome here. So settle in and consider this a safe space," Roy said.
Irey smiled weakly, but went back to looking at her feet. "Thanks Mr. Harper."
"C'mon, let's go upstairs." Lian dragged her back into the hallway. She threw a grateful smile Roy's way before disappearing from view.
Roy turned back to his computer, hid the work article, and pulled up his Mah Jong game. "So maybe Keystone doesn't need me as a hero, but I'm out-parenting that walking vibrator. Suck it West."

When Jai first arrived at the hospital he was on a strict family-only list for visitation. After he settled in, made some progress in therapy, and went a few days without issue, his restrictions were relaxed and he was allowed to see friends in addition to family.
The first chance he got, Piper drove up to the hospital to see him. Or rather, he attempted. It was an old building left over from Progressive Era reform (one of the few in the area that hadn't been closed when America de-institutionalized), and as that philosophy involved expansive, well-ordered, isolated grounds it was in the middle of nowhere.
He got hopelessly lost on back roads and had to spend a few minutes fighting with his phone's GPS before he got on his way again, but after that it was smooth sailing. Then he pulled into the parking lot of the Breedmore mental hospital.
Piper stared at the building in shock. He hadn't seen it in years, but that was unmistakably Breedmore. He managed to tear his gaze away from the horribly evocative building edifice and dug through the clutter on his passenger seat until he found the piece of notebook paper Linda had written the directions on for him.
"There. Jai's supposed to be staying in the juvenile wing of the Greater Keystone mental hygiene ward. God, that's a terrible name. What am I doing…?" Then he saw a sign pointing people to the visitor's entrance, and came to the realization that in the years since his own mental collapse and involuntary commitment, the Breedmore hospital had expanded into a complex, and the Greater Keystone mental hygiene ward was part of it.
Piper seriously considered pulling back out of the parking lot and heading home, but ultimately decided that his affection for Jai overpowered his desire to avoid the second most miserable place he'd ever been confined against his will (and he was a little saddened to have enough instances of involuntary confinement for a ranked list). Because as unpleasant as Breedmore hospital had been, it was nothing compared to Iron Heights under warden Wolfe.
Piper dutifully got out of the car and started walking for the visitor's entrance with his head down, consoling himself with the thought that anyone involved in his treatment must have retired or moved on to another facility by now. He was so distracted by his own anxieties that he almost walked into another visitor. "Oh I'm sorry…eee…"
Again, Piper reassessed how much he cared about Jai, and again decided that his affection outweighed his discomfort. But it was a close thing, because that was Barry fucking Allen he'd almost walked into.
At least Barry looked as uncomfortable as Piper felt. He shook the paper bag he was holding. "Hey Hartley. I was, um, just bringing Jai some food from the outside. Sorry, was that insensitive?"
"Only because you asked about it."
"Right, uh…shall we?"
"I guess." Piper followed after his ex-nemesis. They checked in, signed the log, were awarded visitor stickers, and then they got buzzed into the ward.
Jai was sitting at a table playing Connect Four with a disturbed looking ginger kid. He looked terrible; he was pale, which just looked deathly with his naturally dark complexion, and the shadows under his eyes looked like bruises. Without the styling products in his angled hair, it just looked scruffy and sad. And he was so thin, the hard plastic bracelet around his wrist just accentuating how small he was.
Piper and Barry just watched him for a moment, both in similar states of bewilderment at the change in the troubled but cocky young boy they were used to, and both trying to mask their shock before he looked up and saw them. Barry was much closer to having an expression like encouragement on his face when Jai finally noticed them.
"Piper!" Jai yelled. He shot out of the seat and ran across the common room to the entrance, throwing his skinny arms around Piper and completely ignoring Barry and his calzone.
Piper tried not to be smug, and tried not to enjoy the look of hurt on Barry's face, but he was only human and secretly enjoyed the fact that Wally's kids were closer to him than their actual uncle (well, the competition was more even with Irey, but he still had some extra points from being her godfather). He returned Jai's hug, and when the teen released him Piper was wearing a genuine smile. "Hey Jai. How are you doing?"
"Sucky. Hey Uncle Barry." He nodded in Barry's direction, the man gave a little wave, then Jai turned back to Piper. "C'mon, let's go hang in my room. Hey Marty, I'll finish the game with you later if you want."
The ginger kid violently flicked the bottom tab and the checkers went spilling to the floor.
"Never mind then. C'mon guys, I'm down the hall."
Piper half expected Jai to walk them to his old room (end of the hall, by the window), but they turned abruptly and headed into one about halfway down. Jai sat down on the impersonal little bed, beaming at Piper. "I'm really glad you guys came. I think that was my seventh game of Connect Four today."
"Aren't you doing any therapy work?" Barry asked, startled. "I thought that was why you were here."
"There's a lot of time to fill between group, and there isn't a lot you're allowed to do," Piper cut in. Jai's smile wavered, and he looked at Piper thoughtfully. Deciding he didn't care to explain why he was so personally acquainted with the norms of a mental hospital, Piper kept talking. "Anyway, I'll try to visit as much as I can while you're here." He sat down on the bed next to Jai and squeezed his hand. "How's your group? Are you getting along with the other kids?"
Jai made an iffy motion with the hand that wasn't squeezing Piper's. "They're not so bad. They're certainly worse off than me, so that's encouraging. I'm making a lot of progress. My doctor thinks I could be out in another week."
Barry started at that. "But you haven't been here that long. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"
"Well I'll still have to do a lot of work when I'm out, but…I just, I had a hard time," Jai mumbled, eyes downcast. He squeezed Piper's hand hard enough to hurt. Piper winced, but didn't pull away.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of Jai. We just want you to be safe," Piper reassured him.
"Exactly," Barry said. "So don't, like, rush out of the hospital just to get out of here, okay? Everyone's going to keep visiting you and helping you. Your Aunt Iris is heading up as soon as she gets out of work tomorrow, and I'm going to try to swing by again too."
"That'd be nice. What's in the bag?"
Barry handed off the calzone, and Jai smiled appreciatively. "I'm gonna go ask the nurse to put this in the fridge for me for later. Thanks Uncle Barry. Be right back."
Piper and Barry sat in an awkward silence while they waited for Jai. Piper rubbed at his arm, and Barry paced back and forth in front of the window.
Finally, he addressed Piper. "This is where you were when…uh, isn't it?"
Piper nodded. "I'd rather not talk about that though."
"Alright, that's, that's fine. But first, I just wanted to-"
"Really Barry, I'm not interested in talking about that just now," Piper said, aware that he was being rude, and he'd promised Wally and Linda, and even Iris on one occasion, to try harder to get along with Barry, especially in front of the kids, but he just couldn't.
Barry beating him senseless and sending him off to jail had been bad enough, but that last battle, coming to in a straightjacket instead of a prison jumpsuit (and never having been unconscious, just not being there) had been infinitely worse. He wasn't prepared to discuss it.
Barry seemed to be about to try again, but Jai walked in and he dropped the subject.
From there the three shared a slightly awkward but overall pleasant visit. Jai was more engaged with his conversation with Barry and Piper than he'd ever been since entering his broody teen phase. He asked lots of questions about what everyone was up to, and even asked Barry for some tales of his superhero exploits (which was new; generally superhero stories made him sulky because that was "Irey's thing" and not his).
Piper kept waiting for Barry to leave, but it never happened. He was tempted to hypnotize the bastard, but as usual held himself in check. He really wanted some one-on-one time with Jai though. Piper didn't think he was amiss in assuming that he and Jai had a particularly strong and unique relationship, and that the teen would share things with Piper that he wouldn't necessarily share in front of his uncle. He wanted the chance to counsel the boy, but that wasn't going to happen with the scarlet dildo standing there…
And whoa, because he hadn't had such petty thoughts since he'd been a Rogue. Piper took a deep breath, fixed a smile he didn't feel on his face, and joined back into the conversation.
To Piper's annoyance, once visiting hours were over and they were leaving the hospital, Barry matched strides with him on the way to the parking lot. Piper shoved his hands in his pockets and sped up his pace, but of course the scarlet speedster kept up with him.
"Hey, Hartley, can we talk for a minute?" Barry finally called, once they were in the parking lot.
Piper scowled. "I'd really rather not. But if you insist on saying whatever it is that apparently can't wait, just be warned that I'm not going to be pleasant. This-" he waved to indicate the building, "wasn't exactly a pleasant surprise. I had no idea Jai was being confined here."
"Confined isn't quite the right word. He's being treated-"
"It's a matter of perspective," Piper snapped.
Barry let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, all I wanted to do was apologize."
"Apologize?" Piper repeated blankly. "For what?"
"…for pushing you into that meltdown. I could see that you were losing it, and I…it spurred me on. I was going through a lot, and it wasn't right of me to take it out on you while you were unwell." It looked like it cost him something to admit that.
Piper gaped at him. "Well yeah, but I mean…I was really, really unwell. I did need the help at the time and I wasn't exactly going to ask for it on my own. As a superhero, I think you were within rights to do what you needed to take me in." Piper couldn't believe what he was saying, but the genuine remorse from his ex-nemesis caught him completely off-guard.
"I know I needed to bring you in, but vibrating your base down around you was unnecessary. There were other ways to stop you, and I was, well, cruel. Anyway Hartley, I'm sorry. And I'm glad you're looking out for Jai. If he hadn't come to you…if he'd kept sitting on that bridge, who knows what might have happened?"
Piper chewed his lip, because he'd been thinking that a lot the past week. "Thanks. I'm trying my best, but he's…well, he's a lot like me when I was his age. And that scares the shit out of me, because I was not a happy teenager and I did a lot of stupid things because of it."
"Like wearing a polka dotted dress with a plunging neckline and thigh high boots?" Barry asked with a snort.
"I was in my twenties when I switched to the thigh highs, but it's all kinds of interesting that you recalled that particular version of the costume."
Barry's face colored. "It was just the most attention grabbing version of the outfit you wore, okay?"
Laughing, Piper found himself making an offer he'd never expected to hear coming out of his mouth. "Hey Flash, wanna go get a drink or something?"
Barry looked just as surprised hearing it as Piper had been saying it, but a slow smile formed on his face. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

Damian was in his room reading when his phone rang. He checked that it wasn't Jai before answering, but that was becoming a useless reflex as the days wore on. It may only have been because his phone had been seen and confiscated, but Jai hadn't called Damian since the first week of his confinement.
He hoped it was because the other teen was accepting the breakup and moving on though.
As expected, the call was from Lian, not Jai, so he answered it. "Yes?"
"Ahlan Dami!"
"…ahlan?"
There was an uncertain pause. "Did I say it wrong? My friend Zahara said that was hello in Arabic."
Damian smirked. "It is, it's just very Egyptian. I'm Iraqi, for future reference. Marhaban is one of the greetings in Modern Standard. It's a bit more universal."
"Oh. Well anyway, hey howdy. What's shaking?"
That particular idiom had thrown him the first few times Lian had used it, but after a few months of phone calls and sporadic training sessions, he understood it to be an invitation for chit chat in preamble to the purpose of her call. "Things are…generally well. Better than they've been, anyway. How are you?"
"Urgh, awful." And customarily Lian was much more honest about her situation than he was. Well, honesty wasn't exactly the right term, because things had improved for Damian. He supposed Lian was just going into more detail. "Irey's brother is in the hospital, if you didn't hear, and she's been over like every day since it happened. I love the girl to death, but supporting her through this is draining like you would not believe. I mean I'm happy to, but…just getting kinda tired, y'know?"
"I'm usually on the receiving end in these sorts of situations. Most people don't turn to me for comfort."
Lian giggled. "I suppose not."
"Well, I suppose tonight's training session should serve as a welcome diversion. I think you're ready to progress to some light weapons work-"
"Damian, I'm sorry but I can't go. Jai's having visitors that aren't family now, so I'm going up to see him with Irey and her uncle Piper, and then Irey's sleeping over."
Damian scowled. "That hardly sounds conducive to improving your mood. Wouldn't that just create more stress?"
"Well, I mean yeah, but…"
"Then you shouldn't go."
"Dami…is everything alright?"
He squeezed his eyes shut and bit back a sigh of frustration. He hadn't fully realized it until then, but he'd been looking forward to seeing Lian. It was the first time they were supposed to meet up since he'd ended things with Jai, and something about the bright young girl's company was reassuring to him. Soothing, even. Talking to Lian was like talking to Dick, with something more.
Finding an appropriate way to phrase that to a thirteen year old was a hopeless task, however, so Damian remained silent.
Lian awkwardly attempted to strike the conversation back up. "I'm really sorry I had to break plans last minute. If you want to come with us you can. I mean, I don't think Daddy'll let you sleep over since you're a boy and he's crazy, but you could come visit Jai with us. I bet he'd like to see you."
"I need to patrol," Damian ground out, then abruptly ended the call.
It took him all of five seconds to regret his actions. After all, Lian had extended him the invitation with the best of intentions. She didn't know that Damian was longing for her company to help distract him from his.
When his cellphone vibrated with another call, he ignored it in favor of trudging down to the Cave to get ready for patrol.

As was usual, when Damian wanted the streets of Gotham to fill with criminals for him to work his frustration out on, they all seemed to decide to stay in and be law abiding citizens. He spent three hours swinging through the city or perching on rooftops, and all he found was one lonely purse snatcher.
Three batarangs and a grapple had probably been overkill. The girl who owned the purse had run screaming in the other direction, and his subsequent attempt to return her stolen property only terrified her more. There was identification in the purse though. He'd just have it mailed to her.
When he finally admitted defeat and headed back to the Cave, it was to find Dick and Roy waiting for him, neither of them in costume. Having a distinctly bad feeling about that, Damian did his best to ignore them, and strode purposefully towards the stairs.
"Hey, you're not going to break Alfred's no costumes in the manor rule, are you?"
Damian stopped in his tracks and dutifully altered his course for the changing rooms. He thought the rule was stupid (not to mention the fact that they paid Pennyworth, so him making rules to begin with was just ridiculous), but unfortunately his father also insisted on enforcing it and Damian had yet to talk him out of it after nearly eight years.
And of course, Dick and Roy were still waiting patiently for him when he emerged, sans Robin costume. "Alright fine, what is it?"
"I'm here with instructions to bring you with me to Coast City," Roy said. "There are supposedly dire consequences awaiting me should I show my face without a Damian in tow."
"You'll have to fill us in about those consequences later," Damian said with a sneer, "I have no intention of going anywhere with you, least of all to Coast City."
"Look, we're having a big family get together at Green Arrow's and Lian wants you there. She's worried about you for some reason."
"Using your daughter to lure me away with you worked when I was ten. It won't work this time, so just leave me alone." Again, Damian started for the stairs.
"You're up," Roy muttered.
Dick followed Damian up into the manor. He didn't say anything, just patiently followed Damian as he trudged irritably through the massive house. When Damian reached his bedroom door he whipped around and scowled at his friend. "What? What? Just say it!"
And instead of feeding into his anger, like anyone else would, Dick watched him with concern heavy in his eyes. "I think you should go to the dinner. Lian's worried about you because she's your friend. You should open up to her too. I think it'd be good for you."
"I'll…consider it."

And of course, the next day Damian found himself walking through the airport at Coast City with Harper.
Apparently after Star City had rebuilt and repopulated from Prometheus and Electrocutioner's attack, various members of the Arrow family had tried to stick it out and keep protecting it, but the city just contained more painful memories than they could handle, even collectively. First Connor had left; followed by Mia, with Oliver holding on the longest (Roy had never once tried to move back after Lian's death). It's not like there were supervillains roaming Star to begin with, so eventually Ollie's friends had sat him down in something like an intervention and forced him to move to the thoroughly rebuilt, repopulated, and booming Coast City.
He'd moved in with Hal Jordan, and really it was probably good for Ollie to live with his best friend. Few other heroes understood the trauma of having your city wiped out, after all.
Roy led them over to the baggage claim, looking distinctly irritable. Apparently the man didn't fly well.
Or maybe his bad mood was the result of Damian not speaking to him once since they'd left Gotham, but keeping up a continuous judgmental glare.
They retrieved their luggage and then made their way out to the parking lot. Damian had barely gone three steps when he heard pounding feet heading towards him and his companion. He dropped his suitcase and adopted a defensive stance, and then Lian ran right by him to tackle-hug her father. "Daddy!"
"Hey Peanut!" Roy held her up as best he could with the one arm. She kissed his cheek, and then he lowered her to the ground.
Damian blinked. He'd never actually seen them separated for more than a few hours before. Was that always how they greeted each other? (A bizarre thought occurred to him: what would his father do if he ever tried anything like that?)
Lian gave Damian a much more subdued hug. "I'm really glad you decided to come," she whispered before pulling away. Her smile was lovely. Some of that tension that Damian had been carrying with him since learning of Jai's suicide attempt began to ease (though, naturally, not the guilt). He returned the smile as best he could.
"I think I am as well."
"Cool!"
Roy was scanning the parking lot. "Li, who'd you come here with?"
"Oh right. I ran off as soon as I saw you." She leaned up on her tip toes and started waving. "Uncle Connor! I found them!"
Connor Hawke strode over to meet them, looking amused where most would probably be annoyed at being ditched in a busy airport parking lot. Damian had only ever briefly associated with the second Green Arrow before. He was friends with Drake, and Drake's friends generally avoided him. Hawke was a striking young man, no doubt resulting from his unique blend of ethnic heritage; dark skinned, odd yet pleasing green eyes, sensuous features, and soft looking blond hair. "Hello Roy, Damian. You're both looking well."
Damian inclined his head, and Roy smiled easily at his sort-of brother. The party set off for Connor's car, and soon they were on their way to Ollie and Hal's house.

Lian had been looking forward to the big family dinner at her grandpa's house for weeks. The Arrows never saw enough of each other, what with her and Roy living so far away, and the West Coast residents just being insanely busy and mostly on different schedules. Lian's family meant the world to her (well, not all of her biological family anymore, but certainly all the ones who'd never tried to kill her) and she loved getting them together.
Unfortunately, the reality wasn't quite what she'd pictured, and throwing a volatile kid like Damian into the mix didn't seem to be helping. And now that Dinah wasn't around to work her magic on everyone's tempers, things were a lot tenser than she remembered them being in her childhood.
It started practically when they walked through the door. She ran into the living room to give her grandpa one of her tackle hugs, and Mia all but fled, tripping over her laptop and knocking over a stack of textbooks as she went. At first Lian worried that it had something to do with her (after all, she'd only seen Mia a couple times since her resurrection, and they hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk at Cassie and Conner's wedding), but then Lian noticed the expression on her father's face.
Before she could puzzle out how to address that awkwardness, Ollie started humiliating his son by talking (loudly) about his new girlfriend, and wondering (again, very loudly) why he hadn't invited her over to the dinner.
"Because I've only been seeing her for a week Dad. It didn't seem appropriate."
"What? Why the hell not? You think we're gonna scare her off or something?" Ollie demanded.
"Gracious, wherever could he get an idea like that?" Hal asked with a wink.
Ollie scowled defensively. "I'd never actually embarrass the kid in front of his girl."
Roy coughed something that sounded an awful lot like "intentionally" and Ollie rounded on him. "Well what about you? You coulda brought your love interest and instead you're babysitting his kid? That's a little fucked up Roy. And when are you proposing anyway? You're supposed to settle down and get me some more grandbabies to spoil. Just because you and Dick can't make 'em yourself doesn't mean you don't have options, you know."
Lian grabbed Damian's arm and dragged him from the living room before he could put his two cents in about that. "C'mon, let me give you a tour. I'll show you where the guest room is. You'll be bunking up with Uncle Connor. That's okay, right?"
Damian frowned. "I suppose he's the least objectionable of your male relatives."
"That's the spirit! Daddy's gonna sleep on a cot in my room."
"You have your own room?"
Lian grinned. "For as long as me and Grandpa Ollie have been alive at the same time, I've always had a room in every house he's owned. He's the type of guy that spoils his grandkids rotten, apparently. And so far I'm the only one so I reap all the benefits. Mwa ha ha." She jogged up the stairs, Damian on her heels, and led him down the hall.
Damian paused a few times to look at some of the pictures hanging up in the hallway. Lian felt her cheeks get hot, wishing he wouldn't. A lot of them were framed crayon illustrations from when she was about three, although there were a few more recent watercolors, including one that she'd won a silver key for.
Finally, Lian threw open the door to the guest room. "Ta da! Isn't it neat? Even though I've got my own room, sometimes I crash in here too."
It was one of her favorite rooms in the house. Connor had set it up, and it had a very Zen feel. The beds were low to the ground with frames of a dark, sturdy wood. There were paper dividers decoratively arranged along one wall, with a small table with a fountain and miniature Zen garden on top of it. There were also meditation cushions arranged in front of a large window, with a perfect view of the yard. Between the view, the soft lighting, and the full bookcase stocked by various members of the family, it was a serene little room perfect for reflection.
Damian took in the room with a passive expression on his face, then set his suitcase down in front of one of the beds. Calmly, he walked over to the meditation cushions and rearranged them.
"What are you doing?" Lian asked curiously.
"You had them set up wrong."
"But Uncle Connor put those there. He knows how they work Dami, he's a Buddhist. I think he's spent more time meditating than anyone I've ever met."
Damian paused in his rearranging and turned to face her. "Perhaps he's from one of the traditions I have little experience with. Is he Theravadin or Mahayanist? I'd assumed Zen, as most Americans seem familiar with that tradition, and in Zen the way you sit is very important. However, he had this zafu all wrong."
"Uh…he's a Buddhist?" Lian repeated, having no idea what those foreign words meant, and not entirely sure she could repeat them if needed.
Damian smirked. "I'll have to ask him about it later, I suppose."
"Yeah, sounds good. So, um…" Lian shut the door, then walked over to the other bed and sat down on it, giving a few nervous bounces. "D'ya mind if I ask why you hung up on me the other day?"
"…I'm very sorry about that. I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you."
"Alright. We good now?"
Damian nodded curtly. "As long as you'll forgive my rudeness."
"Course. Dami…was it just a bad mood or is something going on? You can talk to me you know. Whatever it is, I'll help you if I can."
"I know, and I appreciate your kindness. At the moment though, the sentiment is enough. I've no desire to go through my recent uncomfortable experiences with you. I'd rather enjoy your company instead."
Lian chewed her lip. She'd expected him to say something like that, but it still bothered her. "You're talking to Uncle Dick though, right?"
"Yes. He's actually been quite apt at counseling me through my current difficulty."
"Alright, cool beans. Then while we're here, we can just focus on hanging out and having fun. If you do wanna bring anything up though, I'm here for you."
"Again, the sentiment is appreciated."
Lian smiled at him, and watched him struggle to return it. "We've probably got a little while before dinner. What do you wanna do?"
For some reason, she didn't expect his answer even though it was entirely characteristic, and she found it crushing. "If you don't mind, I'd rather be alone for a little while. Social situations are a bit difficult for me to navigate. I'd like to take the time before dinner to prepare for it so I don't unintentionally offend your family."
"Dami, you don't have to worry about making a good impression on us. We're all nuts, and we're completely aware of it."
He looked a bit jittery, and she felt bad for putting pressure on him. Lian bounced off the bed and walked over to him. "Sorry, sorry. Take all the time you need." She leaned up to kiss his cheek, and he looked at her with a subdued smile that she was sure almost no one else got to see.
"Thank you for understanding me."
"Don't worry about it." She threw him another one of her easy smiles and retreated from the room. "Alrighty, guess I'll find out what's going on with Mia."
Mia was sleeping in a den on the first floor, so Lian went to look for her there. To her surprise, not only was the room short a Speedy, but all of her things had been packed up. She went out to the living room in a huff. "Where the hell did Mia go?"
Ollie narrowed his eyes. "She said she forgot about some real big exam she needed to study for and she had to skedaddle on home." And, just in case his tone wasn't enough, he threw in an afterthought. "It sounded like pure bullshit to me."
Roy was sitting on the arm of the couch, and he pointedly looked in the opposite direction from where Ollie was sitting.
Lian decided to mix a lip-quaver in with the puppy eyes. "What's going on? I know I missed something."
"Don't worry Li, nothing's going on. He's just blowing things out of proportion, like always," Roy reassured her.
Ollie snorted. "Get off it Harper, you know she ran out because of you!"
"Ollie, I really don't think this is the time to get into this," Hal muttered. It was clear Ollie was set to ignore him, but Roy opened his mouth to speak and he waited to hear what he had to say in defense of himself.
And instead, Roy walked out the front door and slammed it behind him. Lian jumped at the sound, and when she next turned her wide eyed stare on her grandpa and honorary uncle, she didn't need to fake the quavering lip. "Grandpa Ollie? Uncle Hal? What's going on?"
Ollie sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Hal squeezed his shoulder, then turned to face Lian. "Mia and your dad haven't really talked much since…well, since your funeral."
"What? But that was years ago!" How had she not noticed that they'd had a falling out? Every member of Lian's extended family had sought her out after her resurrection except Mia, and she'd never noticed. "What happened?"
"Roy blamed her for your death," Ollie said, disgust dripping from his voice. "I know he wasn't in his right mind at the time, what with his grief and the pain in his arm, but we were all grieving. And we were all blaming ourselves too. The thing is, once some time had passed and we all started to heal a little from it…he didn't take it back. If anything, he got worse. He said that he trusted Mia to watch you and keep you safe, and she-"
"But there was nothing she could do!" Lian yelled. "I was there, okay? I remember it! The walls were coming down and she couldn't get to me! It wasn't her fault!"
She was only aware of screaming when she noticed how quiet it was when she stopped. Hal was looking at her with such sad eyes, but Ollie was crumpled over with his head in his hands.
Lian wiped at her face. "A-anyway, um…I should tell Mia that…that there was nothing she could have done. She knows that, right?"
"I tell her it all the time Princess," Ollie said. "But I'm sure it'd mean more coming from you. You okay sweetheart? I didn't mean to dredge all that up for you. I'm just sick of Roy laying into her. I was hoping now that you were back that he would man up and apologize but…so far there hasn't been much of a change."
"Well, I'll take care of that," Lian promised.
Hal grinned. "I'm sure you will. So…it looks like if we want to get this dinner underway we have a couple of Speedys to round up. Lian, I think it'd be best if you got your father. Connor can probably convince Mia to come back."
"Alrighty."
Hal's logic was sound, but it only showed that he knew Roy particularly well, and knew that his beloved daughter could talk him into anything. His plan didn't show much insight regarding Lian.
When she found Roy skulking around the backyard grumbling to himself, she ran up to him, jumped up, and whapped him upside the head. "Ow!" Roy grimaced and rubbed the back of his skull.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lian shrieked. "Are you fucking kidding me? Grandpa Ollie and Uncle Hal must have got something wrong, right? Because you are not honestly holding Mia responsible for my death."
Roy actually backed up a few steps. "L-Lian, this is kinda a personal issue-"
"Involving me. You're seriously putting Mia through that kind of a guilt trip? I repeat, what the fucking fuck is wrong with you? Don't you dare judge her Daddy, you weren't even there!" And then realizing that she'd gone way too far with that last one, and terrified of how severe her anger had come on so quickly (and even more terrified of the agony in her father's eyes), Lian turned on her heel and ran sobbing back into the house.

When Damian went downstairs for dinner, he was feeling inwardly composed and ready to face an intimate gathering with a group of near-strangers. He'd spent the time meditating in the position he'd been trained to use the cushions for, and he was planning to ask Connor how he sat when he meditated.
To his surprise, half of the dinner guests he'd expected were absent. Only Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow II were at the table.
"Where are Roy, Lian, and Miss Dearden?" Damian asked.
Ollie leaned on the table on his elbows, scowling, Hal frowned and shook his head, and Connor calmly turned towards Damian to address him. "There was some sort of conflict while you were upstairs. Mia went home, Lian locked herself in her room, and no one's seen Roy anytime recently. We tried calling him, and then we found his phone in the garden."
"Oh." Damian had to wonder what the point of going out on an uncomfortable social call to see Lian was without Lian present. Feeling slightly abused, he took his seat next to Connor.
"Don't worry kiddo. Roy'll get his head out of his ass and get back here eventually," Ollie said, misreading Damian's discomfort and for some reason concluding that that was the Harper he was concerned about.
Damian bristled at being addressed "kiddo" but decided it wasn't worth commenting on. The dinner was awkward enough as is. He nodded at Ollie, and then started poking at his meal.
"Sorry about the rabbit food," Hal said. "This one's a vegetarian, so when we have him over we're all vegetarians by default." He motioned towards Connor. "Otherwise I always forget and accidentally sneak chicken broth into something that appears meat free."
Ollie laughed. "Remember Christmas last year? Poor kid ate a whole heap of your mashed potatoes and then he was on the toilet for hours!"
"Yeah Dad…that's just, just great dinner time conversation," Connor said with a strained smile. He looked towards Damian and spoke in a low enough voice that it wouldn't carry to the older heroes.. "Sorry about him. It's best to just overlook the rough edges."
"I'm starting to see where Lian's father gets his, er, more charming characteristics."
"I think my father only accentuated what was already there in Roy."
Damian nodded, and decided he liked Lian's uncle. The mention of Connor's vegetarianism reminded him that he wanted to find out what kind of sitting practice the man did. "Lian mentioned that you're a Buddhist. Are you Mahayanist?"
Connor frowned, seemingly thrown by the question. "I believe the sect I was raised in referred to themselves as Hinayanist, but for all intents and purposes I define myself as Zen."
Damian was startled by that. "Hinayanist? Really? They actually called themselves that."
"Well, it just means Greater Vehicle. Actually, I thought the title a bit too arrogant-"
"Hinayana means lesser vehicle, and it's derogatory. Practitioners refer to themselves as Theravadins. Mahayana means Greater Vehicle, and they're the ones who use Hinayana. Clearly the people who raised you weren't terribly knowledgeable about their own practice," Damian said, derision entering into his tone.
Connor was starting to look a little uncomfortable. "Look, all I know is, my current private practice is Zen based."
"So you're Mahayanist?"
"By your own explanation, aren't I Theravadin?" Connor returned, sounding a bit frustrated.
Damian frowned, confused. "No, because Theravadin Buddhism is geographically spread along southeastern Asia and holds the belief that Enlightenment must be attained. It focuses on the Pali canon and has a different cosmology and understanding of the role of Bodhisattvas from Mahayanist Buddhism. Mahayanist Buddhism is geographically distributed amongst northeastern Asia, including Japan, and believes that all beings have the capacity for Enlightenment and must strip away to get to their own Enlightened nature. It has a comparatively complex Boddhisattva system."
"Bodhi…" Connor looked completely thrown.
Damian wondered if the seemingly pleasant young man was making fun of him somehow. "Zen Buddhism, or Chan in Chinese, is Mahayanist. So if you practice Zen then you're Mahayanist, and your sitting practice is atrocious."
Connor chewed his lip, then tried one more time to make his personal beliefs fit into Damian's lecture. "Well at the ashram I was raised at-"
That was as far as he got before Damian interrupted him, sure that Connor was mocking him somehow. "Look, I expressed a genuine interest in your religious path because I find it interesting. I'd really prefer it if you'd show me the respect I think I'm entitled to as a guest."
"I…I'm not sure I understand. Damian, I'm not behaving disrespectfully towards you."
"But if that's the case then you don't know anything about Buddhism!" Damian exploded.
That got Hal and Ollie's attention too. "What are you on about?" Ollie asked.
Damian rolled his eyes. "Ashrams are Hindu! Buddhists live in communities called Sanghas. If you were truly raised among Buddhists, that seems like the sort of information you'd pick up. And another thing, they don't make it a habit to take in stray children either. They're not orphanages, so I don't know what kind of establishment you were left with…" Damian rambled to a close, since Connor had calmly risen to his feet.
"Actually, now I am a little curious about what kind of establishment my father abandoned me to."
"Connor, hey, wait a minute!" Ollie yelled, but Connor darted out of the room and a moment later the front door slammed behind him.
Hal and Ollie were both staring at Damian, Hal gaping in shock and Ollie glaring.
"Thanks for ruining dinner you little prick." Ollie jumped up and stormed out of the room.
Hal calmly continued eating as though nothing had happened.
"Er…should I excuse myself?" Damian asked.
"If you want to. Don't worry about it kid. This is usually how these family dinners go around here."
"Ah. Well then, er, excuse me."
Damian went upstairs to the guest room, fished his cell phone out of his pocket, and called his father, prepared to beg for an emergency ride back to Gotham if need be.

Roy skulked back into Ollie and Hal's a few hours after Damian's abrupt departure via private jet (again, it was good to be a billionaire). He tried knocking on Lian's door, but she ignored him, so he went downstairs to have it out with Ollie.
To his surprise, his former guardian was downright calm and reasonable. Unbeknownst to Roy, Ollie was far too distracted by his own issues with his own child to pay any attention to his adoptive child.
Lian and Roy were supposed to be visiting for the next couple of weeks. It was summer vacation, and Ollie had spent weeks wheedling Roy for the visit, and planning exciting trips out for his granddaughter for almost every day of the visit, including a drive to Anaheim for Disneyland. Roy felt like he'd just ruin the visit for everyone, so he asked Ollie if he'd mind if Roy took off and left Lian there to visit on her own.
"Yeah kid, that's fine. Hey Roy, take care of yourself, okay?"
Nodding, Roy went upstairs to try saying goodbye to Lian one more time. He opened the door a crack, and saw her sitting on her bed with her headphones on, a steely glare fixed on her laptop screen. Sighing, he closed the door and left to get a flight back to Keystone.

Roy was in his living room when he heard (or rather, didn't hear) the gentle humming of his security system quietly go dead. If he'd been asleep at two in the morning, which the intruder no doubt expected him to be, he wouldn't have noticed anything amiss.
As it was, he'd been lounging on the couch in his boxers, watching Adult Swim and chatting with Grace on facebook. He closed the laptop but kept the TV on, and crept upstairs as silently as he was able.
Three minutes later, Roy edged around the side of his house, sporting his robotic arm and drawing a mid-size fiberglass bow. The intruder had her claws raised, ready to strike, poised less than a foot away.
They both lowered their weapons upon identifying the other, and Roy breathed a sigh of relief.
"You know Jade, there are ways to contact me without making me think I'm under attack."
"I'm not here to see you," she snapped. Her eyes quickly raked him over, lingering on his abs and the ginger happy trail that dipped into his boxers. He quirked an eyebrow. "Though you have a knack for displaying yourself, should I change my mind. I'm here to check up on our daughter."
"I figured. C'mon inside. I'll throw some clothes on if you'd prefer."
"I think I'll manage to control my feminine urges either way," she sneered.
Roy let them into the kitchen, but went upstairs to remove the fake arm and grab a bathrobe, despite Jade's seeming disinterest. He felt some tension, even if she said she didn't. When he got back to the kitchen she was sitting at the table with two mugs in front of her, and the tea kettle was warming on the stove. Roy grabbed the green tea from the cabinet and hovered by the stove, waiting for the water.
"So how long have you been breaking in here?" he asked.
"Since you moved to Keystone City. It really shouldn't have taken you this long to notice me Roy. I find that troubling."
He scowled. "I noticed the regular shut offs in our security system, but I figured it was you. And whatever everyone else thinks, I know you'd never hurt her. Intentionally, anyway."
Jade glared at him. "And just what do you mean by that?"
"You know what I mean," Roy all but growled. "That stunt you pulled after she was res'd-"
"I didn't even touch her."
"You traumatized her Jade! And you killed her only friends at that school."
"Well they were weak, weren't they? With our enemies, they never would have survived to become truly close with her, now would they?"
"Our enemies?"
Jade slammed her hands on the table. "Yes Roy, our enemies. Or do you think Prometheus had a quarrel with me? He attacked the Justice League and all their loved ones, not the assassin."
For a long, tense moment, the former lovers simply glared at each other, sure that if they moved it would be to fight. Then the tea kettle whistled and Roy was able to busy himself for a few needed minutes. By the time their tea had steeped and he'd sat down across from Jade, he was fully composed.
"She's sleeping out tonight," Roy informed her, voice heavy and guarded.
"Ah." Jade looked disappointed. She frowned, then looked up at Roy with a softened expression. "She seems to be flourishing since the move. The last time I was here I went through her notebooks and read her some of her schoolwork, and the notes from her friends and admirers. She's very happy, isn't she?"
Roy nodded. "And smart. Really smart, actually. I can't even help her with her homework anymore."
Jade smirked. "Somehow I'm not surprised."
"I call shenanigans. You of all people know I'm not dumb."
Jade ever so slightly inclined her head, hard green eyes shining with amusement. "I know. And…you are doing well with her. You have my gratitude for that." She broke eye contact, glance directed in the vicinity of the fridge but not really focusing on it, even though it was littered with snapshots of her beloved daughter. "I knew she'd be happier with you."
That one hit Roy hard. He remembered the first time they'd had this discussion, back when Jade had been living in China and Roy had desperately tracked her down, only knowing that they had a four month old baby together.
She could have gone back to the States with him. At that point, when supervillains reformed superheroes treated them with tentative friendliness instead of cynicism and suspicion. They hadn't yet doubted supervillains' capacity for change.
Roy vividly remembered standing over Lian's crib, feeling so much fear and crushing responsibility, and knowing that he couldn't keep that fragile little bundle safe without a lot of help. Mixed with all that had been awe though. He and Jade had created that little girl.
He'd seen Lian as proof that Jade had loved him, for at least one night anyway, and he'd proposed. They could have raised Lian together and had a family. Had what the damn smug speedsters all seemed to have…
But it wasn't worth bringing any of that up again. It was fourteen years too late to change anything, and besides that, it was painful.
"So I heard you're working with Harley Quinn now?" Roy asked, by way of changing the subject. Jade groaned and carefully massaged her temple with one long fingered hand. Roy laughed. "How's that working out for you?"
"She was obviously not the draw to the collaboration."
"Mm. Poison Ivy then?"
Jade shrugged. "What can I say? I have a weakness for redheads."
Roy's eyebrows shot up at that one. "Wait, you gals aren't just working together?"
Jade grinned. "Jealous?"
He snorted. "I've never been quite that suicidal, thanks. Hot though she may be, that woman is a bucket of crazy and a bit too kill-happy for my taste."
"She's a man-hater. She treats her female lovers much better. From what I've seen, you're back with an old flame. You and your brunettes…"
He shrugged. "I'm not especially partial to hair color, that's just coincidence."
"Ah. Excuse me for falsely attributing some sort of standards to you."
Roy winked at her, and she rolled her eyes.
"Still though Roy…the ex-boy wonder? Are you sure you've thought this through?"
"No offense, but the lady sleeping with Poison Ivy really isn't in a place to judge. And what's wrong with Nightwing anyway? He's one of my oldest and closest friends, and besides that, Lian likes him."
"He's just…complicated. And might I remind you, my relationships aren't serving as a model for Lian. She's a teenager now Roy. She's going to start dating soon, and whether you want the responsibility or not, she's going to judge romantic norms by your actions."
"She isn't necessarily-"
"She's already got admirers. It's only a matter of time, unless you want me to assassinate them all. There's not much we can do about it."
Roy sighed. "I know. I can scare them a little when they pick her up though."
"It would be easier if she weren't so pretty." Jade rested her chin on her hands. "By the way darling, you need to take her bra shopping."
"I what?" Roy started, and almost spilled his tea.
Jade laughed. "She takes after me, and those training bras just aren't going to cut it anymore. She's at least a B now, if not a C. Roy, she needs real bras, with support, and where I can't take her-"
Roy groaned. "I don't want to pick out lingerie for my little girl."
"Well I guess you should have thought of that when you slept with a 34DD."
"I was barely nineteen and naked in bed with a 34DD. What makes you think I was capable of thought beyond the Hallelujah chorus?"
"Ever the charmer." Jade rose to her feet and brought her mug to the sink. Roy walked her to the back door, and even though she stepped out into the yard she didn't disappear just yet. Finally she spoke again. "Roy…Quinn told me about your meeting. More specifically, how you crushed her windpipe for mentioning Lian."
Roy had the decency to look embarrassed. "I got a little freaked. I wasn't aware that many villains even knew I had a kid."
"I am careful with the information I divulge, but people are aware that I reproduced. Most don't know who with, and very few know that Lian was killed and resurrected. Harley knows about Lian because for some odd reason…I trust her. She's very genuine, for a costumed criminal."
Roy narrowed his eyes at her. "She's the Joker's ex-girlfriend."
"Yes…she's also quite a bit more than that. At any rate, Harley and Ivy have received strong words and graphic descriptions of what will happen to them should anything happen to you or Lian."
"Oh, you threw me in there too?" Roy asked with a smirk. "Well someone needs to look after her while you're skulking around in the shadows, and it might as well be me."
"I do have a certain amount of respect for our past."
And there was that flicker of chemistry again. Roy did his best to hold eye contact with her, trying to be defiant, but he knew she'd be able to read him as well as ever. Jade dropped her gaze first, eyes resting on his mouth before descending lower, to his throat, to the opening in the bathrobe and his bare torso. Unthinkingly, Roy leaned forward, and Jade pulled away.
"Sorry Roy, but being bisexual doesn't entitle you to a boyfriend and a girlfriend."
Roy laughed, but it was an empty sound. "What are you saying Jade?"
"Dump Nightwing and I might explain it to you." She blew him a kiss, and then with a few long strides she was out of sight.
Roy powered the security system back up and went inside, hoping there was something decent on TV because his restless mind damn well wasn't going to let him sleep after that.
- 18
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Birds and Bees