This story takes place a couple of days after "The Encounter". July, 2001
"Guilt"
by Casey
"Kyle, it's okay! I'm not pissed!"
Dick Grayson continued his workout as they talked, his biceps bulging as he curled the weights up to his shoulders. Kyle Rayner stared at his friend's heaving, muscled chest and thought about how cute Dick looked with his hair all sweaty and falling across his eyes like that.
"Look, man, I'd understand completely if it bothered you. I mean, my hormones just took over and..."
Dick dropped the weights to the floor and stared up at Kyle with an exasperated look. He stood up from the workout bench and grabbed the towel off the seat next to him, wiping the back of his neck as he walked slowly towards the kitchenette area of his Bludhaven apartment. He stopped directly in front of Kyle and smiled broadly.
"Kyle. It's. Okay. I. Am. Not...ANGRY!"
The sudden outburst and Dick's gentle shove made Kyle loose his balance and fall backwards over another set of weights, landing on his backside. Dick smirked proudly as Kyle stared up at him, fuming.
"Very funny, R.J., verrry funny. Just frickin' hilarious!"
At the mention of Kyle's personal nickname for him, Dick felt a bit ashamed at making his friend and sometime lover look so foolish. "R.J.", Kyle called him. Richard John, his full name. Kyle had once said that, considering their 'situation', he couldn't keep calling him "Dick" with a straight face. So, after a particularly revealing talk one night, the artist came up with R.J., which Dick preferred over the proposed "Richard", "Richie" and "Dickie". He was pretty sure that last one was just a joke on Kyle's part and not a serious suggestion. Pretty sure.
He offered his hand, but Kyle only gave him one of his "yeah, right" looks and hopped to his feet on his own. Dick smiled as the loose white t-shirt his friend wore flipped up to reveal the hard, tanned abs underneath and the tiny hairs that trailed down them into the waistband of his dark green sweatpants.
"Nice. You're making progress, huh?"
Kyle brushed the butt of his sweats and replied in mock insult. "Hey, it's not like I was a complete wimp before we started workin' out together, y'know! I've always been able to do that!"
"I meant your abs, doofus!", Dick grinned, smacking his buddy's hard abdominal muscles with the back of his hand as he walked passed him into the kitchenette.
"Woof! Hey!"
Rubbing his belly underneath his shirt, Kyle followed as Dick removed two glasses from the wooden cupboard and poured some orange juice into each one. He admired the way Dick's back muscles moved and stretched as he reached for the glasses.
"Look, Kyle, it's no big deal. Really. So you slept with another guy. So what? We don't own each other, man. We're friends, we have a great time together, but there's no commitment. That's what we agreed, right? This is strictly sex, no strings?"
"Yeah, I guess....", Kyle answered, staring intently at the juice swirl around the glass as he shook it.
Dick noticed the hesitation in his friend's voice and put down his own glass, licking the wetness off his lips. He knew exactly what was going on, and felt a sudden sense of guilt at what he was about to do.
"What?", he asked, stamping down his own emotions as he had so many other times.
"Huh? Oh, nothin', man. Nothing."
Dick walked around the small counter and hopped up on the stool next to Kyle. He reached out and gently lifted his friend's chin until their eyes met.
"Kyle", he said seriously, "what's wrong? I told you; I'm not mad..."
"I know you're not mad, bro, and I'm glad....I guess..."
Dick ran his hand through his sweat-slick hair. "Okay, now I am seriously confused..."
"It's just...after what you said to Wally, about being with me...I thought that we...."
"That we were 'an item'?", Dick asked, raising his left eyebrow. "Kyle, when I said that to Wally I meant every word. He has no right to tell me who I can or can't sleep with. And right now, I'm going to be with you. But I meant 'be with you' as an occasional lover, not necessarily in a committed relationship. I thought you knew that, man! We talked about it..."
"Yeah, and we both agreed to that", Kyle answered. "I know. I guess I just expected you to be...I dunno...."
"Jealous?", Dick finished with a smirk before hopping off the stool and resuming his workout with the free weights. Kyle followed.
"Well...Yeah, at least a little, I guess. You're not?"
"Nope."
"Not at all?"
"Not a bit."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
"Gee, thanks!"
"Don't mention it."
"Arrgh! Fine, Grayson! That's just great! Be that way, see if I give a damn! Now I can go and sleep with every friggin' guy I meet!"
Kyle threw up his hands and stormed off into the bedroom, his bottom lip protruding and a scowl on his face. Dick dropped the weights and laughed at the younger man's frustrated rant. It was times like this that he found Kyle's immaturity so...cute. When he didn't return from the bedroom, however, Dick stopped laughing and sat dumbfounded at his lover's reaction.
"Kyle? Hey, Kyle, I was just kiddin', y'know!"
There was no response.
"Kyle! C'mon, can't you take a joke?"
Still nothing. Dick got up and padded towards his bedroom. As he turned the corner, he wondered if he had gone too far in his teasing and if Kyle had flown back to New York.
"Kyle? You there...WOULF!"
Suddenly, the world turned topsy-turvy. When his eyes readjusted, Dick found himself hanging upside down, his bare feet tied together by a rope of green energy as Green Lantern stood at the foot of the bed, grinning.
"Now then", the man in green and white spandex said, "Let's start over. Were you jealous? Even a little?"
Dick chuckled and smiled. "Like I said; no."
A glowing green paddle materialized and spanked Dick's butt.
"Hey!"
"I repeat", smirked the Lantern, "Were you at all jealous of my having sex with Corey?"
"You knew his name?!?", Dick asked suddenly, before catching himself and resuming his uncaring demeanor. "Doesn't matter. Nope. No worries."
Another smack, a little harder this time.
"Ow! Kyle, cut that out!"
"Not Kyle; Green Lantern. Or didn't you notice the change in attire, Mr. Detective?"
{If there were an Olympic event for sarcasm, Kyle would win the Gold every time!}, Dick mused.
"Y'know, it really doesn't do you any good to keep this up, R.J.", GL continued, the green and white uniform now dissolving into the white t-shirt and green sweatpants that he wore earlier.
"Oh really? Why is that?"
"Because...", Kyle continued, smiling seductively as he walked slowly towards the hanging young man. "I heard you say it was just a joke. Admit it; you were too jealous..."
As he ran the back of his hand back and forth across the acrobat's defined abs, the green paddle became a hand and slowly wriggled its way underneath the waistband of Dick's shorts, rubbing the rounded globes of his butt. He felt a twinge in his groin.
"Mmmmmmm...", he moaned, "Welll, maybe. A little."
"Only a little?"
Tiny green-skinned behemoths appeared and ripped the t-shirt off Kyle's chest. His captive was now staring directly at his inverted navel.
"Nice view", Dick smirked.
"I like this one better...", Kyle replied as tiny green Batmen ripped Dick's shorts off of him, allowing his growing cock to stand out at a full ninety-degree angle.
"Really? I'm kinda partial to this one..."
With one quick yank, Kyle found his own sweats pulled down around his calves, his own member flipping up to hit his belly with a loud smack.
"Hey!", Kyle objected, "I'm s'posed to be in charge here!"
"Well, I've decided you're taking charge just a little too much lately, Picasso..."
With that, he swung himself towards Kyle's groin, grabbed the back of his thighs and engulfed his buddy's cock between his moist lips. The suddenness of the sensual "attack" made Kyle's knees buckle.
"Oh, Goddddd....!"
Momentarily lost in the feelings running through his body, Kyle lost his concentration and the green rope holding Dick's ankles began to fade. Instinctively, so as not to injure himself or his lover, Dick shifted his legs forward, onto Kyle's shoulders, forcing the other man backwards. The two of them crashed onto the large bed, a mass of arms, legs and toned muscles. They lifted their heads, looked at one another and laughed.
"So much for romance, huh?", Kyle smiled.
"Romance? Is that what that was?", Dick asked before a pillow slammed into the side of his face.
Soon, the room was filled with laughter and good-natured ribbing as the two engaged in a mock battle. Eventually, they wore themselves out and collapsed onto the jumble of messed sheets atop the bed. Kyle rolled on top of Dick's prone body and looked deeply into his lover's eyes. His right index finger traced a path along the strong jawline of the man beneath him, down his neck, across his collarbone and down his smooth chest where it began to make lazy circles around the protruding nipple there.
"Dick, I've gotta tell you something..."
Dick's mood changed and his mind raced. He didn't want to hear this. He couldn't hear this. If he did, he wasn't sure he could fight it any longer.
"Kyle, listen..."
Before he could finish, Kyle leaned up on his hands and drew back slightly.
"Uh-oh! Hold it.."
{Kyle, I am sorry to interrupt, but I believe this is important.}, the voice in his mind said, {We have to talk.}
"Problem?", asked Dick, sitting up quickly.
"I dunno", Kyle replied a bit worriedly. He looked at Dick, concern evident on his young face. "J'Onn wants to see me."
To Be Continued...