CRAVING FOR SOME FEELING //OPEN

[DAESUNG.]

//track!! dae will probably spring out and tell them how cute they are

[DICK HOLIDAY.]

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/we have poor restraint Rev lmfao
ahahaha they're both very welcome to

For certain risks, Dick didn't view them as...exactly life-threatening as Bruce did. Truth be told, acts of extreme daring were more to preserve life than jeopardize it, at least in accordance to Dick's views of it; staying safely on the ground, with no chance of falling, eliminated the element of exhilaration, of the intoxication that came from managing what felt to be previously impossible. There were very few emotions that measured up to the same kind of weightlessness, of defying the odds- one of them, and maybe even the only one, was the warmth in his belly and his chest whenever he saw Bruce, or thought of him, or heard someone else mention him. Loving him was standing so very high with the rest of the world below, far enough away that nothing else really seemed as important anymore; and it wasn't all that different from walking a wire suspended between two crucial points. Dick had to know where to step, how to tether himself, what to do with the wire began twisting against his movements. Some people might say it was arguably safer to love someone than to waltz across a wire, but he wasn't too convinced of that- there were worse hurts they could inflict on each other, especially when that was a pain that wasn't accidental the way it would be if Dick slipped. They could tear themselves to pieces with a purpose, so what sane person would willingly go into either of those scenarios? He knew it wasn't about that. The fall didn't matter; what mattered was standing up to learn from the missteps and do better the next time, and if there was one reason he kept trying, it was Bruce.

Seeing him now, standing below with his arms folded over his chest and tense, he was just reminded all over again why he did what he did, and that splash of warmth bloomed when trust was spoken plainly, both in his eyes and with his voice. Once, he'd foolishly believed that Win hadn't trusted him, but now he knew how much of an idiot he'd been to doubt that. It had never been a question of, "what would they do for each other." It was always, "what wouldn't they do for each other."

A laugh fell from his mouth, and one hand had to return to the wire, just in case. "I'm the menace? You're the stubborn one. You made me this way." He made him a better man, that was for certain. He made him crazy, drove him regardless of what he was doing, and even now, Bruce put another flutter behind his ribs. Funny, how such a simple thing as relaxing could have Dick turning to fuzzy ridiculousness, but how many people were able to see him as Dick did? How many people could coax the tension from his shoulders? How many could hear everything he didn't say? In some ways, he did wish the number was larger- he couldn't remember what it was like not to be at least a little bit in love with him, and knowing that other people thought him distant, thought him closed-off, was like being the only person to feel the sun and hearing everyone else say how cold it was. They didn't know. Not that he wanted them to know what it was like to kiss him, large hands cradling his face with such a gentle firmness Dick was left floundering as he dangled.

His eyes were still closed when Bruce pulled away, at least until he spoke, which had them startling open. "Now that's my second favorite thing to hear from you," he answered, with a bit of a laugh, before hauling himself back up to the wire. "You have to come up here first, big guy."

[BRUCE H]

[align=center][div style="width: 520px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt;"]/ this is just getting longer smh, don't worry about matching
+ omg both of those things are GREAT

What wouldn't they do for each other. He could joke all he wanted that his love only went so far, but the truth of the matter was that it would always go farther than anyone expected. They always expected it to stop, at some point. The worst Flintlock had seen of them was when they fought, the resigned look on his face as Dick stormed off. But no matter how messy things got, they would always be there for each other, they would always take those steps back. A more poetic person might try and compare him to the sun, and in some ways, it was true. He warmed up a room just by being there, had a way of making everyone smile. Something about him, about loving him has flowers budding in his chest, choking out the air left in his lungs but only in a way that felt wonderful. Like the end of a long winter. That was him. An untouched patch of the world, something that could never be tamed. Filled to the brim with a love of life and of living, of feeling alive. A beautiful sort of wonder. He doesn't see a point in comparing him to the world when he was beautiful simply as himself, but comparisons are at times the only way he can explain him. Dick felt like the moments before the storm, where the air is electric and sharp, but at the same time he felt like it was ending.

It has never been too hard to trust him. He can't say that he just has a trustworthy face or anything; he still has a hard trouble trusting children, at times. It was just that he was always so honest about what he felt, what he thought. People often got exaggerated versions of his smiles, hiding everything that he really wanted to show. Maybe other people wouldn't think that seeing someone sad was a blessing, but it felt good to be trusted with that, to be allowed to help make it feel better.

They both had their ways of saving the other, of picking each other up after every fall. To say that Dick had made him a better person was something of an understatement. Where there had once only been barbed wire and rough concrete, his partner had planted gardens. People may not see the best things when they looked him, but he was a damn sight better than he had been a few years ago. Smiles are small and infrequent, yet they hadn't crossed his face for what felt like a lifetime before he learned that not everyone in the world was against him.  It was a surprisingly hard lesson to learn, but now there was always someone there to lean against when he can't carry his own weight. "I didn't think I had that much pull over you," Bruce chuckles, because Dick had always been a little bit... Well, it's unfairly hard to call him obnoxious now, when he's so terribly in love with every word he says, but once upon a time, he would have called him such. He's pretty sure that he was lying to himself even then.

Once he takes a step back, it's hard to fight the urge to jump right back in, but it's worth it to watch him like that, eyes closed and lips still a little bit parted, and then the startled delight. What wouldn't he do for him? Nothing, not when that expression came into play. "Do I dare guess about the first?" he teases, though he knows damn well what it is. He wants to sigh and shift and drag it out longer, but instead, the young man clears his throat and tugs off his jacket, folding it neatly before tossing it to the corner. Which actually kind of made folding it pointless, but it was habit by now. The button-up shirt follows, until he's left feeling bare with only a black t-shirt over his torso (at least he's wearing more than Dick — he's lucky to coax his partner into sweatpants instead of shorts), and at that point there's nothing left to do except what he had suggested. Climbing up to where the tightrope is anchored doesn't take much effort, but that first step? Win pauses before he takes it, pale eyes on him with a certain vulnerability that most others will never see. "And now?"

[DICK HOLIDAY.]

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/please wait for Rev/Aureate to post with Bruce!

"You know I'd never let you fall."

Dick, stretched out across the wire almost languidly on his belly, peered down at the other man with a quirked eyebrow and the beginnings of a pout- which he would deny, if pointed out. He didn't expect Win to be comfortable up here immediately, or even after ten times, though it was hard to ignore his own elation and how liberating it was to hover above the ground by only a wire. Climbing trees didn't measure up to this, otherwise he might have stuck with that; but, given how freeing he found it, he wanted to share that experience with Win, to make even better memories for them both. He couldn't imagine himself enjoying this to the same extent with anyone else, save for Damian, if he could ever coax him to once he was older, except with Bruce as a father, he was destined for mulishness. Dick knew he would manage, eventually, just as he knew now that for all Win's hesitation, he wouldn't stand there forever- he'd stand levelly with Dick soon enough. He was patient. Mostly. He still had to work on the convincing part, regardless of how certain he was of the outcome. Repositioning himself, he fell backward, off the side, legs folded over the wire to leave him dangling, and then he smiled, the one he reserved for Win alone, with just a hint of teeth and crinkled eyes.

"Don't leave me hanging here." He wriggled his fingers where his arms swayed, the light catching off of the rings on his left hand, each their own promise. "Come on, Winifred- put on a show with me." It wasn't just about that, obviously. Dick wouldn't personally mind an audience, partly because he was more or less accustomed to it, and partly because he wanted people to see. He couldn't say what, exactly. See what Bruce could do, even when apprehensive? See how amazing he was? Or maybe he wanted them to believe that happiness was still out there, because as deep into their upswing as they seemed to be, the downswings weren't easily forgotten.

There was more to this world than the aftermath, than the harsh drudgery of survival.

[BRUCE H]

[align=center][div style="width: 520px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt;"]("Bruce is gonna be inactive while I deal with life." Sure Rev, keep telling yourself that.)
— also, small implied? mentions of suicidal thoughts in paragraph one (not on his part, and there's no details)

There were some lines in life that Bruce never had any sort of issue crossing. He liked to think his way through things before he acted, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he was ever hesitant to do it, just that he wanted to make sure he didn't die first. And that was pretty reasonable, wasn't it? Not wanting to die? (He didn't examine the uncomfortable shock that first hit him when he realized that some of that was new. It was there now.) Most people didn't, and if they did, it was typically a temporary thing. It's another thing entirely to have such a disregard for your life that you'll do the sort of stuff that Bruce and Dick do. He means that in a lighthearted way, but he supposes some of it is relatively serious. His partner finds his peace up in the rafters. Hell, there are some days where Win wants to call him a bird, so content at heights, and a kind of strong that normal humans couldn't quite match. There were no superpowers to set him apart from everyone else, but even just by existing the way that he does, his partner had set himself above the rest. Or maybe he was just biased.

If so, he really should recheck every decision he's made in the years since the two of them first met, because even if he had struggled to see it at the time, some part of him has known that it was Dick from the start. It had just been a matter of everything else inside catching up to that realization. Once they'd gotten there, though, he'd never hesitated in whatever came next. Nothing that Dick wanted to do could possibly make him take a step back now, so even if he wanted to deny that he would end up there eventually, there was no point. Dick was right. Looking up at him already had Win's resolve weakening, pretty blue eyes and a pout as dangerous as always. He looks happy, and that in itself has him going weak, if only because he knows what he looks like when he's sad. "I know you wouldn't," he admitted slowly; even with his reluctance, he's never lost faith in that. In the safety that comes with putting his trust in steady hands and his warm smile.

From where he stands a ways below his partner, Win looks considerably less at ease. He's not even up there yet, but his body is tense and pulled close, arms crossed over his chest. The two of them look like opposites like this, Bruce withdrawn and cold and Dick relaxed, perfectly at ease. When he lets himself fall over the wire, his hair falls down and surrounds his face — he looks like some wild thing, even when his smile is sweet and small. It's that that finally has him settling down, his shoulders dropping slightly as he relaxes. "You're a menace." Even with the serious note to his voice, it hides you're gorgeous and I love you and I'm glad you're mine. Maybe it's selfish, but there's a loud voice in his chest that's warm and more than a little bit pleased with the public affection. He's making a choice, again and again. Win stretches up to kiss him, hands framing his face, and he has to agree. There's more to this world than the things they've seen. Optimism is new, but it's hard to be anything else when there's someone like Dick to make the sun shine a little brighter. He wants to see him this happy always.

"Alright, you win." As if there had ever been another option. "What am I doing?"

[ashen]

[table]