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CODE BY TESSISAMESS

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Rest.

[ he repeats the word, and though it's meant to be firm, he's unable to help the tiny smile that creeps up the corner of his mouth when Bruce's palm finds the back of his hand. it's still a struggle to wrap his mind around this new facet of their relationship, but he finds himself grateful for it--and even that feeling is foreign and unnerving when it comes to Bruce. ]

Lay down for a few hours. I'll continue this. I'll tell you everything I find.

[ gently, his thumb brushes over the crest of Bruce's cheek. ]

For me?

[ Sometimes, this doesn't feel like a good idea. The hours Bruce has spent thinking about Dick and what this would do to their relationship were unfathomable. But then Dick looks at him like that, with that little smile and the look in his eye like he can't believe it's real either and all of Bruce's reservations feel so far away.

Bruce doesn't want to rest, but Dick is asking him to and it gets harder to say no to him. His thumb mirrors Dick's over the back of his hand. ]

Fine. A few hours. For you.

[ He turns back to the computer, kills a few background processes, the decryption of Dick's tracker among them. Then he gets up and heads for the medbay. ]

[ in most other situations, Dick would have squinted at the fact that Bruce was shutting processes down before leaving for the medbay, but in this case, all it had taken was those words, for you to smooth it over.

he should realize how dangerous this is. how much Bruce commands his attention, making him draw his gaze up and down the steady way he moves, a little too careful in certain angles, as he leaves his desk. fuck—Dick wants to follow and whisk Bruce away upstairs, press him into his big bed and kiss him, tuck him away, but he can’t.

they still have work to do. so all he does, as his hand immediately misses Bruce’s, is give another one of those smiles away to him. ]

Good. Sleep tight, Bruce. I’m right here if you need anything. Okay?

[ Those words are dangerous. Bruce has never been shy about danger. He's always leaped head first into it. There's work to do and he really shouldn't do this, but now that there's space between them again Bruce misses the warmth of having Dick nearby.

Bruce finds a bed that gives him a good angle to see him while he works and after making himself comfortable he adjusts the bed so it sits up and he can watch Dick click clack away at the keyboard.

Five minutes. He lasts five minutes. ]

Come lay with me.

[ Dick can feel Bruce's gaze on the back of his head--always has been able to, has a radar attuned to it in his brain, probably. he tries to ignore it the best he can and focus on sifting through the files Bruce has open. the clues are convoluted, and he's catching up at best. Bruce is right. it would be faster and easier if he were beside Dick, feeding him what he already knows, but it's not worth it. Bruce needs his rest, and Dick will catch up. Dick will--

come lay with me.

Dick looks over his shoulder until the whole chair swivels, his fingers still stubbornly on the keyboard. they pause when he does, his lips parting to take a breath at unfamiliar twist of something inside him as his eyes gently sweep Bruce's form. god. he's probably so warm. so solid.

slowly, he rises and approaches the reclined bed Bruce is in. ]

You're not gonna sleep well sitting up like that, Bruce. [ and Dick is also not going to fit on the narrow bed with the back it propped up. ] Lay it down?

[ He doesn't want to call this a victory. It's too impersonal for how good it feels when Dick's eyes are on him. But it does feel like a win, when Dick stops working to look at him, to consider the request no matter how unreasonable Bruce had been earlier about tracking down Jones.

He couldn't work. And he didn't want to be a good patient all alone. At least with Dick nearby, he could touch him. Or hold him if he climbed into bed with him.

The bed adjusts, lowering to accommodate Dick's ask and then Bruce slid himself over enough that there would be room if Dick pressed in close. Bruce hopes that he would. ]

Better?

[ Dick exhales, soft and resigned. It's not that he doesn't want this. It's that he knows Bruce doesn't want this. Or maybe, that even if it's what Bruce wants in the moment, days, weeks, months later, Bruce might chalk it all up as a mistake. What Bruce wants is for Dick to sift and organize and catalogue and figure it out.

But Bruce also wants Dick to climb into bed and lay down beside him, as evidenced by the sliver of space he creates. Just for Dick.

Bruce had never been good at making space for Dick.

A small smile tugs on the corners of his mouth as his eyes warm. ]

Yeah.

[ And he sits at the edge of the small bed before laying down sideways, slow and gingerly and so careful as to not catch Bruce beneath him. He doesn't want to exacerbate the wounds or to make it hurt worse, though he knows that Bruce must have pumped himself full of a concoction of drugs. He props himself on an elbow and gazes down at Bruce, letting the back of fingers trace along that strong jawline.

He echoes: ]

Better?

[ he wanted Dick to sift and organize and figure it out. But he also wanted Dick here beside him because somehow being in the same room and not being close to him had become nearly unbearable. He isn't good at making room, but he does the best he can and even smiles a little while Dick gets himself comfortable on the bed that's really too small for the two of them.

But they'd make it work. They always made it work. When he's settled, Bruce has to shift a little, and winces as he moves but the pain bleeds into nothing while he puts a hand on Dick's hip. ]

Yeah. I like it when you're close by.

( A tiny crack of a smile on Bruce's face brings Dick's own widening, joy blossoming warmth in the brown of his irises as he gazes down at Bruce. When a wince tugs through Bruce's strong features, Dick's smile wanes, but the words that follow has his breath catching in his throat.

Vulnerable and truthful admittances like that are few and far between when it comes to Bruce. Dick wants to hang onto them for as long as he can. )

Mm... ( the weight of Bruce's hand on his hips is comforting. Dick cups Bruce's cheek, his thumb tracing along his jaw. ) I like being close to you.

( Not always, though. They both know that caveat. Maybe for Bruce, it's wholly true. Bruce was always trying to pull him closer, even if that closeness came with endless strings. Still, Dick means it on some level. )

Close your eyes?

[ The warmth in Dick's eyes and in the smile on his face is an anchor. It's comforting. And for once Bruce feels himself relaxing when he feels Dick's thumb tracing the line of his jaw. He didn't know what he had done to have this. Affection was for other people. Other people who were not vengeance or the night.

But here he is with Dick laying beside him in this too narrow bed, smiling at him like he's the only person in the world that matters and it puts a little floaty feeling in Bruce's stomach. Butterflies or something equally saccharine. He likes it though, even if it is a little silly.

The meds he's been given are finally starting to work and Bruce feels his eyes getting heavy. So he does close them at Dick's request. ]

Stay with me.

[ At least until he sleeps. ]

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