Life of Riley
By Livia
PG-13
het, humor
Author's note: Written for an informal kissing-ficlet challenge.
Dick's training allowed him to shift smoothly from unconsciousness into a waking state without giving any outward sign. As he gathered information on his position and situation, the rhythm of his breathing stayed slow and even. He was lying spread-eagled on his back on a bed, wrists and ankles bound tightly. A blindfold was knotted around his head, and a conversation in swift French was taking place above him--two familiar voices, one to each side of the bed.
"--and just how long do you think it'll take him to undo those knots?"
"You are such an old woman!" Aliki retorted. "I'm just having a little fun! And I'm being such a good girl! It's not as if I tried to undress him. Or take off his mask."
"I'm sure he will thank you for the bump on the head when he wakes!"
"Don't be so unreasonable, Margot!" Aliki whined. "I told you, he was unconscious when I found him!"
Her sister snorted. "I'm supposed to believe that!?" The hilarious part was, Aliki was actually telling the truth. Dick's leg was still in a brace, and consequently he hadn't quite been fast enough to escape the explosion when the meth lab had gone up. He'd been experiencing a subtle vertigo lately, but he'd been trying to work through it, not mentioning it to Bruce or Alfred. Tonight, though, he'd actually blacked out sometime between firing off a grapple and making it to the ground. If Aliki hadn't come along...
Of course, Margot had a point too, in that her sister's knots wouldn't hold Dick for long once he decided that it was time to make a move; still, better that Aliki had found him than a pack of angry drug dealers. Or the police, for that matter. Dick had spent more enough time down at the police station lately.
"Just lying there in the alley like a corpse, I swear it!" Aliki insisted. "Should I have left him for the rats to bite? Look at his poor leg, he's hurt!"
"You're right. Oh, poor darling!" Margot wavered. Dick rolled his eyes slightly under the blindfold. "Well, I suppose he can stay until he wakes up."
"Mon petit chou..." The bed dipped, mattress-springs squeaking as Aliki climbed on, settling down next to Dick. She kissed his cheek, draping her arm affectionately over his chest. "Such things we've heard, such rumors-- so much terrible violence in Gotham."
It was an effort, but Dick remained relaxed, his breathing slow. Aliki moved her hand to his forehead, then sat up. "Margot, fetch the thermometer? Nightwing feels a bit warm to me."
"Are we thieves or nurses!?" Margot spluttered, but Dick heard her footsteps move away. A door opened, and Margot moved out into the hall.
Aliki giggled above him. "She's right, you know!" she remarked. Dick could feel her warm breath, so very soft on his skin. Her mouth was bare inches from his own. "I could hardly call myself a thief if I didn't steal something."
Her mouth descended on Dick's. His lips were slightly parted in his pretended unconsciousness, but Aliki kept the kiss light, just a comforting touch. It was harder to remain unresponsive than Dick would've expected. For once, he wasn't frozen by the potential of realizing a cherished dream-- wasn't drowning in someone else's expectations or just plain lost as to what they really wanted. Aliki lingered, nibbling slightly at Dick's lower lip, then kissing him again.
Dick relaxed further into the bed. Aliki was warm and sweet, and this was actually... pretty nice. She hadn't tried to kill him, hadn't tried to unmask him, wouldn't try to turn him or tie him down-- well, he amended mentally, not in any way besides the absolutely literal, and he could deal with that.
Besides, it would make a great story the next time he saw Roy.
"ALIKI! What are you doing!?" Dick started as Margot's shocked voice rang out. Aliki jumped too, bumping her nose against his. Luckily enough, she seemed equally startled-- at least, she didn't seem to notice that Dick had jumped, too.
"Just, he-- I--"
"And don't say taking his temperature!"
"I am only worried because he won't wake up!" Aliki caressed Dick's chest protectively. "I thought a kiss might do the trick. He is certainly the sleeping beauty, don't you think?"
"Well, it doesn't appear to be a very effective technique." Margot came closer, and Dick heard her set a box down on a table next to the bed-- probably a first aid kit. They were actually going to patch him up, he thought with something like wonder. Dick had tried to send them to jail time and again; he'd even pulled kind of a mean trick on Aliki the last time they'd crossed paths, sending her on her way with a counterfeit Faberge egg.
And still, she'd found him and brought him home, and they were actually trying to help. Of course, they didn't know him. They didn't know what he'd done-- but they still saw something in him, something worthwhile. It made Dick feel warm, down to his toes.
"Perhaps I need to try again," Aliki mused, her braid trailing across Dick's arm as she bent her head again. She kissed him again, more deeply this time, and Dick's eyes widened under the blindfold as the bed dipped again, this time on the other side. Margot snuggled up to the left side of Dick's body, and the kiss was broken with a squeak from Aliki as she was bodily pushed away. "Hey!"
"Or perhaps you're not doing it right," Margot said, gripping Dick's shoulder. Her kiss was harder, more possessive. Neither of the Marceau sisters wore perfume, but Margot both smelled and tasted faintly of oranges, and she kissed as though she'd been having a snack before her sister had brought home the main course. "Mmm," she mused, pulling back for breath, "very nice."
"I notice he didn't wake up for you either," Aliki said sulkily. Margot snorted and sent her hand stealing down Dick's chest towards his belt, but Aliki slapped her hand away before Dick could get worried. "Come on! Suppose he's got a concussion!"
"Well, if he didn't respond to my kiss, he must be seriously hurt!" Margot announced, and the Marceau sisters spent a few moments running their fingers through Dick's hair checking for bumps. "Hm. Nothing on this side."
"Nothing here." Aliki reported. "Perhaps we should..." She trailed off, still absently carding her fingers through Dick's hair.
"What?"
"Well, perhaps we should check... further."
"Aliki!" Margot gasped.
"Well, he is a terrible spoil-sport with no sense of humor, but he's only doing what he thinks is right! I don't want him to die, do you?"
"Oh!" Margot exclaimed, the bed shifting as she reached across Dick to clutch at her sister. "Perhaps he's poisoned! They say that horrible Poison Ivy woman is in Gotham, after all."
"Poisoned?" Aliki said skeptically. "But then wouldn't he--"
"Aliki! We must check and see if he has a skin rash!"
"Oh."
There was a slight pause. Dick breathed in and out. Slowly.
"Possibly, also," Margot added very quietly, "we might need to rub soothing lotion on his skin."
"I take back everything I ever said about you," Aliki said blissfully. "Brilliant idea. You go find the lotion."
"Why should I go get it? You didn't even realize he was poisoned! And what do you mean, 'everything you ever said about me?'"
"Margot, is that really important right now? A man's life is at stake! Fetch the lotion, quickly!"
"It's your plan, you should do it!"
"Hah! I think not!"
There was another, slightly longer, and infinitely more tense moment of silence.
"Well," Aliki said finally, "how about we go together. That's fair, don't you think?"
"All right," Margot said carefully, and the two women slipped off the bed. They moved slowly, trying not to jostle Dick too much, then both flew for the door in a patter of bare feet. "No shoving! Aliki, honestly!"
Alone for the first time, Dick flexed his wrists, testing his bonds. He'd been bound with long silk scarves, similar to as the one Aliki had used to blindfold him. To get loose, he'd have to cut through the silk; Aliki knew her knots, just like any circus performer. It was actually kind of cute.
She had tied them rather tightly, though not tightly enough to cut off Dick's circulation inside his gloves or boots. And he did have a blade hidden in the cuff just below his elbow. But to reach it, Dick would have to stretch quite a bit, forcing his arm further through the loop of silk. It was a maneuver that wouldn't have stopped him for a second, on any other day. But, well, it would involve pushing himself further up the bed. With his wounded leg.
"Stop tripping me!" Margot snapped from the hall. "You are so immature!"
"Stop pulling my braid!" Aliki squawked in reply.
"I'll let go if you let go!"
"Count of three! Une, deux-- go!" Two sets of footsteps scampered into the room, and two warm bodies bounced onto the bed, various sorts of bottles and tubes falling from two sets of hands to bump against Dick's ribs and legs.
The choice was pretty much out of his hands, Dick thought as Aliki, then Margot dipped their heads to kiss him. Each sister settled quick hello-kisses to Dick's cheek, as if they'd missed him during the two minutes they'd been out of the room. Margot was on the right this time and Aliki on the left, but their hands moved so quickly and so deftly over his limbs and torso that Dick was having trouble telling exactly who was touching him where.
And there wasn't much he could do about it. Alfred had threatened to take away Dick's patrol privileges for a whole month if Dick re-opened his leg wound again. And that wasn't an option Dick was willing to consider, not even for a moment. He was needed out there on the streets, not lounging around on the injured list. Bruce needed him. There was duty, and responsibility, and the Mission to think of. If Dick had to lie back and think of Gotham for a while, well.
Bruce had always said that this life required sacrifice.
[end]