Title: The spot you missed Fandom: DCU (Robin, pre-Unmasked) Summary: At least one of the effects of the anomaly is to cause sex reversal in its subjects. Pairing: Steph/Tim Rating: Adult Notes: For LC, who egged me on. Chevauchee also held my hand, and Gloss beta read deftly. There's a knock on Steph's window before she's managed to get her breathing back to normal. She takes her hand out of her shorts and pulls the covers up to her neck. "Come in." Tim drops through her window almost entirely silently. "Oracle said there's some kind of anomaly that satellites are picking up all over the world. One of the manifestations was over your building." He peers at her in the darkness. "Are you okay?" She's wearing a t-shirt and boxers, like she usually does to sleep in, but when she lets the sheet go she's completely aware of how not-like-usual they fit right now. The shirt is tight over her shoulders and baggy in the front where she hasn't got breasts. And the boxers -- she knows guys think of them as underwear. She just never got quite why before. "Um," she says, and now she realizes she's pretty much a tenor. "Uh -- yes? Sort of?" Tim is staring at her. She can tell even with the mask. "Steph?" he asks. "Definitely yes." She swings her legs over the edge of the bed and they look weird. Her hips are too narrow and her thighs are just as slim as she always wanted them to be. They're still shaved, and that's weird in its own way. "Oracle --" Tim says, and trails off. He never just loses his words. Oracle says something Steph can't hear. After a while, Tim answers. "At least one of the effects of the anomaly is to cause sex reversal in its subjects." Another Oracle comment. Tim ducks his head a little. "I'll find a way to get one of the -- victims -- to the cave. For observation. Robin out." Steph grins at him. "I haven't been to the Batcave in way too long." Tim gets closer to her, takes off a glove, and touches her cheek, like he sometimes does when they're kissing. "How long ago did the effects start?" "I was asleep. I don't know." "You have stubble," Tim observes. She says, "Better not kiss me, then -- you'll get beard burn." She tries to say it, anyway, but Tim's kissing her by time she says 'beard' and from there he's running his hands over where her breasts just aren't anymore. He never touches her this much unless they've been kissing for ages, and she'd pretend he was just making sure she's actually a guy except for the way he's moaning into her mouth a little. He must hear himself doing it, because he pulls away. "Steph, I -- I'm sorry." She could kick his ass for being so totally into boy-shaped-her, except it's not exactly a surprise. So -- she could go with it, get him used to the concept of sex with her being fun, and when -- or if -- she's back to normal, maybe it'll work out. Especially because kissing Tim has always felt like something between being studied and flying with Robin, and the longer this goes on, the more she gets why guys come up with stupid lies like blue balls. "What are you sorry for? Kissing me?" She tugs his other glove off. "I'm your -- not exactly girl at the moment friend, here." She kisses him this time. It feels just the same from her point of view, except for Tim pushing her shirt up and actually touching her weirdly flat chest, and leaning into it like he's comfortable with this. Last year she told herself it was because of the kid. He was just being careful. This year she knows him better than that. When he sticks his hand down her shorts and gasps a little, she gasps, too. Maybe her boyfriend's not as into girls as she wants him to be, but she's sure as hell into him. She stops thinking about whether he's gay, and what that means for coupleness, and starts planning. And stops planning, because Tim is capable of some crazy focus on stuff that matters, and apparently at some point he decided that knowing how to jerk a guy off matters. Her eyes are crossing from the feeling and she couldn't stop him if she wanted to. "Holy fuck," she says, and she can feel herself twitch. "Steph," he says again and now he's burying his face in her shoulder. She wonders if she smells different, if that's what he's looking for. "God, I -- I love you." He can be so damn sweet. "Love you, too." She pulls him up for another kiss. Might as well work the skills she's got. The gender independent ones. The ones that go with smooching and never, ever make him make this much noise. "This -- this isn't just 'cause I have a dick, right?" she asks. Tim blinks at her and she realizes he's still got the mask on because she knows he is, but she can't see it. "Of course not." He stops groping her for a second and just leaves his hand there, warm and kind of comforting. "Then what's up with all the sex? Maybe the anomaly hit you, too." "No." Tim shakes his head. "I just -- you want me to stop?" "Hell no." Steph pulls him into another kiss so she doesn't make stupid cracks about leaving people in the lurch. "You just never do this." "I --" he shrugs a little. "It was never the right time, I --" This isn't the right time for this discussion, either. Her brain feels like it's in her dick, which is a really bizarre place for it to be. "Okay, it's okay, I just -- needed to hear you say it." Tim runs his hand through her hair, which didn't magically get any shorter. "I love you," he says again. "I knew that." She kisses him again. "I love you too. And -- I --" He's jerking her off again, but nice and slow this time, slow enough that she can feel every movement and her brain's going off again. And he's sliding off the bed onto his knees. "Take your shorts off?" She lifts her hips and it feels weird, center of gravity shift bizarre, and weirder still to take them off and have to work around her own erection. Getting a good look at it makes her feel a little dizzy. It's absolutely right there, attached to her very own body, and she's never had penis envy even once in her life, but it's weirder than hell to actually see. Plus, all of her boyfriends she actually got this far with were cut, and of course she's not, so that's new and weird, too. It makes Tim's breathing go all ragged and he pushes her knees apart, which always used to make her feel vulnerable -- sometimes in the good way, sometimes not -- but now is just -- just Tim. Just Tim in his mask and his cape, leaning in to lick the head of her dick. He pulls the foreskin back and it makes Steph whimper in her new, low voice. "Okay?" Tim asks, close enough she can feel his breath. "God, I want to grab your head," she says, and she feels like Matt, who used to beg her for this and then give her really lousy head in return. It wasn't anywhere near as much fun as just fucking, but she's not going to say that to Tim. Tim's breathing catches again. "Go ahead. Anything -- anything you want." She wants to know the details of why her boyfriend -- her pretty much asexual-around-her boyfriend -- knows anything about sucking cock, but she's not going to ask right now. If he's got a secret sordid gay life, well. He's Robin. That should be news to nobody. He goes down on her, and maybe he doesn't know what he's doing because he keeps losing the rhythm but it's wet and warm enough to make her hips move anyway. He keeps licking her at what feels like random times and making little choking noises that feel way better than somebody choking should. She says, "God, Tim -- you have to stop --" He lets her go and looks up, frowning. "Are you sure? Did I hurt you? I -- I don't want to." "Then don't," Steph says, and he bends down again. Maybe she's just not clear on what he's talking about -- big surprise, there. "Wait -- wait, what?" Tim kisses the head of her dick lightly and it makes her shiver. "I don't want to stop." "Oh -- but doesn't it hurt? Your jaw --" "No." He licks her again and wraps his hand around the lower part. "You feel great. I. Please?" She tightens her hands on the edge of the bed. "God, if you want to --" "Yes." Tim sucks her again and the actual sucking part makes her brain feel like it's never going to be in her head again. She can't watch, even though it's fucking bizarre, and she wants to see it, see this, try to make it make any kind of sense that the little choking noise Tim makes and the wet, wonderful feeling go together. "Oh my god, oh Tim --" She has to cover her mouth or she's going to make enough noise to wake her mom up. "Oh fuck yes." He lets her go and she wails -- groans, in this octave. "Steph -- please, I --" "Sorry, sorry." She tries to figure out how not to thrust up if he does that again. "I didn't mean to --" "Put your hand on my head?" Tim asks, and she stares at him. "Seriously?" "Please." He takes her hand and presses it against his cheek. "I -- really --" "It always pissed me off, that's all." He shakes his head a little. "No, it's --" and he shrugs a little and goes down on her again with that sloppy enthusiasm that's really rapidly becoming perfect because Tim's good at learning fast. "God, Tim --" Steph bites her lip and puts her hand on the back of his head. He shakes, even though she's not putting any pressure on it. "God, I --" Her toes are curling in the carpet and her brain is completely melting away. She can't make herself hold still and Tim groans when she moves. He puts his hands on her hips -- god, he's still wearing gloves, how did she forget -- and pulls and she's gasping for breath. "I -- Tim, I think I'm gonna come -- Tim, god --" It's like hitting full boil, all over her body, in the best possible way. She's got her fingers tangled in Tim's hair and he's just holding on, swallowing and choking and it's not until she manages to uncurl her toes from the carpet and flop back on the bed that she realizes she's got breasts again. "Oh," she says. "Oh man." Tim's burying his face in her unfortunately squishy thigh and laughing softly. "Not anymore." "God -- come here -- but take your boots off." She sits up enough to grab his hand and tug him onto the bed. His face is all flushed, and when he manages to kick his boots off and hug her, all that armor hard against her, it's almost comforting enough. "I --" he says. "Um." Steph kisses him, wrinkling her nose at how weird he tastes. "Come on, honey, let me at least return the favor." "I told Oracle I'd bring one of the people affected by the anomaly." He raises an eyebrow at her. "I'll come with you, but --" Steph smiles a little crookedly. "You really, really don't want a blowjob first?" Tim shivers and takes his mask off in a few quick moves. "I never really --" She kisses him again. "Hey, it's okay." "I didn't cheat on you," he says firmly. "So you never did that before." Tim bites his lip. "No. Was it all right?" Steph grabs his hip and rocks against him a little, hoping he can feel something through all the damn armor. "You were great. And -- well -- we should figure something out. I mean. If you're -- interested in guys." He goes blank in a heartbeat. "I love you." "And I'm not dumb." Steph taps his belt. "Come on, we've got to get to the cave asap, and I owe you one." "I'm sorry," Tim says. She pushes him down on the bed and kisses him again. "I'm not. Even if you won't let me do this for you, which would be kind of not fair. To you." Tim bites his lip and unfastens his belt. "If you really want to." "I know what I'm getting myself into," she assures him, nuzzling his ear. "Maybe I didn't do it a lot -- maybe not as much as I should've, but --" "As you --" Tim drops his tights on the floor. "Oh, god, Steph." She shrugs. "It's not like it stops you from getting nasty diseases, but --" "I had health class, too," he says, as dryly as Tim can say anything. "Hey, I don't really mind if you're going to start having sex with cute hero boys, but you should use protection." She grins at him in the dark. He raises an eyebrow at her. "You don't mind." "I'd like to know who." She scoots down the bed and kisses one of the scars on his hip. "Just -- for the sake of -- knowing." "It wouldn't hurt you?" Steph runs her fingers down his thighs and wonders what it would be like to look like that, all the time. "No, I -- we'll figure it out." She takes one of his hands and squeezes it. "We will." "Okay." He sounds unconvinced, but the squeaking noise he makes when she starts licking him is pretty good. "Oh god, Steph." He pats her head gently. "I -- what -- what's too much?" "I'm pretty out of practice, so -- just -- gentle, okay?" He squeezes her fingers and pushes her hair back from her forehead. "Sure." Tim's much better at being quiet than she is, or she's even more out of practice than she thought. He doesn't push her or anything, just sighs, and his breath gets a little ragged. When she pauses to catch her breath, he groans, but so quietly she's not sure at first whether it's him or the mattress. "You okay?" she asks. "It feels really good." He tugs on her hair a little and she blinks at him until she figures out he wants her to hug him again. She moves up to sit by him. "You really want me to stop?" Tim shrugs. "I -- you don't have to keep going, I --" Steph snorts and kisses him again, harder. "I don't expect you to scream my name or anything, Boy Wonder, but I can at least get you off." "It would be awkward to develop the habit." Tim smiles crookedly. "And worse if I started calling you Spoiler in bed." "Still better than 'I love you, Aquaman,'" Steph says, and he laughs. "True." Tim takes off his glove and touches her breast through her shirt with a Robin expression. "It's not going to explode," Steph says, grinning. "No." He runs his thumb over her nipple and she shivers. "It's just that we skipped several steps of courtship." Steph kisses him hard. "We can catch up later. Unless you really want to explain to tall, dark, and freaky why it took an hour to get there." Tim squeezes her breast very gently and lets go. "It's a date." "You can play with my boobs anytime. I mean, anytime convenient. Now that I've got them back." She gives him another kiss and moves down the bed again. "You're very beautiful," he says, like it's something he's been thinking about for a long time, or like she's some kind of statue. She licks him and tries not to laugh, because, maybe pretty on a good day, but -- beautiful happens to other people. "Thanks, sweetie. I -- thanks." He doesn't call her on the hesitation, mostly because she hits the right rhythm again and he's making a choked noise in his throat and petting her hair within a minute. Then his breathing really goes ragged and he says, "Steph -- I --" but, hell, if he can manage it first try, she can deal, so she lets him come in her mouth and coughs and swallows. "Oh, Steph." He tugs her up and hugs her. "I -- really --" "Hey, I know." She kisses him again and maybe he clings a little tighter when he hugs her. "We really need to go." Tim sighs and kisses her cheek. Steph nuzzles his shoulder and gets up. "Right, and at least now my suit will fit again." "This is true." Two quick toothbrushings later and they're headed for the cave on Tim's bike, pausing only to stop a convenience store holdup from getting bloody. "At least we'll have an excuse for being late," Steph says, and Tim relaxes a little. "Something of an explanation, at least." When they get to the cave, Batman is there with a bunch of scary medical diagrams on the monitors. "Spoiler," he says, like it's supposed to mean hello. Then he frowns even more than normal. "Weren't you affected?" She shrugs. "Yeah, but I got better." Batman scowls at them both. "Under what circumstances?" Steph's never been happier that her cowl covers her entire face. "Um -- achieving orgasm -- fixed it." She can tell Tim is really carefully not kicking her in the ankle in the complete and utter silence of Batman not asking the worst possible question. "I see." There's another horrible pause before he asks, "And did subsequent repetitions cause a relapse?" Steph's mouth falls open and she doesn't look at Tim. "Uh. I -- we didn't --" "Careless," Batman says, like he's not talking about how thoroughly she just got laid. "The changing room off of the showers should afford sufficient privacy." She can't glare the way he does through lenses, so she pulls her cowl up and splutters that way. "What the hell? I can't think of anywhere that makes me think about sex any less than this place. No way." Tim touches her shoulder. "Steph --" Batman is still impassive. She'd sock him in the nose if she didn't know he'd make her pay but good. "It's important data, Stephanie." She shakes her head. "I can't just -- god, there's cameras all over the place here, aren't there?" "If the transformation recurs, it would be important to document the circumstances." Steph turns and stares at Tim, who's blushing. "Jesus, you're a pervert." "No," Batman says. "If you wish, you may edit the film yourself before it is shown to anyone else, but we need to understand the nature of the anomalies before we can know how to resolve them." "And you have an answer for goddamn everything." Steph makes a face at him and pulls the cowl down. "I'm keeping my mask on." Batman nods. "That's acceptable." "And I'm not getting naked." She folds her arms. He frowns. "That will lead to less complete data." "Big freakin' deal. If it works, I'll just do it again. And really try hard to not think about it." She can tell Batman's raising his eyebrow. Maybe that's where Tim got it. "The question of stamina may arise." Steph puts her hands over her ears. "I am not discussing this with you, la la la, LA LA LA, dammit --" She stomps off toward the changing room, trying really hard to not think about where she is or all the little electronic eyes watching her. It's a lot easier when she finds the light switch in the changing room -- it doesn't go all the way off, but it dims a lot. She tugs her tights down and tries to think about Tim kissing her, Tim in her mouth making soft happy noises, and maybe if it works out Tim kissing her more, later. He's going to kiss other people, too -- and tell her about it, about all the things that make him smile and do that little jerk with his hips. She can remember so clearly how he feels when he finally gives it up, even if it's just for a second. If she can get him to fuck her -- probably a long shot -- she can have that, and he'd be so close, so warm, so -- she covers her mouth and holds her breath and comes as silently as she can. And has a dick in her hand. "Shit." Her tights fit all wrong and her suit is just damn uncomfortable, but she goes back out into the cave anyway. Tim chokes a little when he sees her. "Oh." Batman says, "Hm," and shakes his head, then drags her over to a chemistry lab on steroids. "When do you need to be home?" "Six would be great, and I'm going to need to sleep." Her voice is back to tenor, and she yawns a little. "That may not be possible." Batman rolls her sleeve up. "We'll need to run tests." Steph rolls her eyes and makes a fist so he can find a vein. "Write me a doctor's note, then." Batman nods and gets to work. Tim leaves at four while the fourth scan is underway. He kisses Steph on her cheek before he goes and says, "See you tomorrow?" She's half asleep by then on a cot Batman took out of somewhere or other. "Sure, sweetie," she says, and it's weird all over again to have a boy's voice. At seven, Batman wakes her up. There's orange juice and muffins on a tray by the cot, so things could be a lot worse. "Tim left a note for your mother saying you had to be at school early." She picks up the piece of paper next to the orange juice. It's a perfectly realistic looking note, signed with a totally illegible scribble. "Great. Thanks." "None of the tests show any anomalies in your genes, nor anywhere in your cellular structure." Batman hands her a sheet of paper that shows a bunch of shadowy X shaped things. "Apparently at the moment you are as wholly male as you generally are female." "Wild." Steph squints at it. "So how long do you think this will last?" "Until we've discovered the source of the original anomaly, at least." Batman looks uncomfortable giving her a fuzzy answer. "You'll need to be -- cautious." She puts down the muffin. "Celibacy sounds better every time you mention sex." "That might be the wisest course of action." Batman hands her another sheet with stuff she can't even begin to decipher. "Depending on when the anomaly is resolved --" She raises her eyebrows at him. "I could get stuck like this." "Potentially." "At least I'd never have to buy tampons again." It's supposed to make him go ick, but it doesn't work. Big bad scary Batman is immune to all sorts of normal freaky things. He just turns away from her. "There would be far-reaching consequences." "Right, I know." She sighs and misses her breasts. "I can't make jokes about this?" "If you feel it is necessary." Steph shakes her head. "I'm going home." Batman clears his throat. "In your present state?" She groans. "Since you're thinking about it? Hell yes." "That would not be advisable." Steph rolls her eyes. "Fine, but I'm going to look like this 'til you stop thinking about me." Batman gives her a little peace, finally. She goes back to sleep after she eats the muffins. A while later, when she wakes up, Batman's gone. It's quiet enough that she manages to get off and get back into girl gear, so she heads home. Tim stops by after school in his normal boy clothes. "So," she says, "any progress?" "Not yet," Tim says. He's having trouble meeting her eyes. "So that means we'd be safe to --" He's blushing. "Potentially." She kisses him and he hugs her. "I could go jerk off first," she offers, half-teasing and half really, really not, and he frowns. "It's not that." "Not at all?" Tim touches her cheek. "Steph --" "We should work it while we can, you know?" she says, smiling on purpose. "It's not fair to you," Tim says, frowning again. She kisses him and he turns his face away. "So I have to get off twice. Oh no, oh dear." He sighs. "I can't do this." Steph puts her arms around his waist. "What if you came in and I was still a guy?" He's blushing more. "I didn't react well, I'm sorry --" She kisses the tip of his nose. "Honey, I'm not blind. And I love you anyway." "We should break up," Tim says, definitely not meeting her eyes. Like she doesn't know what's going on with him anyway. She's got years of experience reading him without seeing his whole face, and whose fault is that? "Because all of a sudden you actually want me?" He winces. "Because I want you when you're not you." Steph shakes her head and hugs him tighter. "I'm still me. Chromosomes or no chromosomes." "I'm not sure it works that way." Tim rests his head on her shoulder. "And I don't want to hurt you." She sighs. "So you really need a super-boyfriend, huh." "Hm," he says, and it's a rueful laugh, filtered through Tim. "I've considered it." "I could go get an S t-shirt and --" Tim chokes. "No." Steph squeezes him. "I'm teasing." "Apart from anything else, you're much narrower." She laughs. "Shoulder pads? No, they're just for football players, right?" Steph kisses his cheek. "I kinda get it, but -- when life gives you lemons --" Tim raises his eyebrows. "Rather literally, in your case." Steph splutters. "You just made a joke -- damn, I love you." "Steph --" Tim says, and then he gives her a real smile, tight and tiny and Tim. "I love you, too." "So why don't we work the mojo while we've got it? There are way worse things than --" "I should probably go," Tim says, backing away a step. "The anomaly is causing a lot of problems, and -- most people aren't dealing as well as you are." Steph kisses his cheek. "Most people don't have kickass boyfriends like you. Can I help with the -- whatever?" "Batman would rather you stayed home." She laughs. "What's new?" "For medical reasons, this time. If something happens, it would be better if the medical personnel knew where to find you -- and didn't know you were Spoiler." For once, she's agreeing with Batman. "Right, okay. Call me later?" Tim nods. "Of course." It's past three am when she grabs the phone on the first ring. "Hey." "The JLA found the source of the problem through Green Lantern," Tim says, his voice flat enough to be Robin's. "The Reinatia aliens -- from the southern Galactic H II region RCW 49 -- have identified a new method of faster-than-light transport, and buzzed too close to our atmosphere with their space-time-causality interfaces." Whatever that means. "Okay. Does that mean there's a fix?" "Mm," Tim says, and that's not promising. Usually he just rips the Band-Aid right off. "Not yet." "Right," Steph says, leaning back against the pillow. "So that means -- how many people were affected?" "Approximately thirty thousand, at last count," Tim says. "There were anomalies over cities worldwide. The DEO is looking into organizing support groups here and elsewhere." Steph whistles. "Good thought. But -- I don't need support." "No. But -- some people will, and if it remains an issue, there will be -- repercussions." That's putting it more mildly than she can really take at this time of the morning. "I think I'll keep my repercussions in my pants for now." "You'd better," Tim says, and it takes her half a second to realize he's teasing. "Then you'd better drop in again sometime, honey." Tim sighs in her ear, reminding her that while she was asleep, he was looking after anomaly victims or beating up muggers or whatever. "When I can." Steph wants to hug him like crazy. "Before the repercussions get really serious." She can hear his tiny smile over the phone. "I'm sure that can be arranged. 'Night, Steph." She grins in her dark room. "'Night, sweetie."
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