Title: Long for another island (1450 words) Fandom: DCU (No Man's Land) Summary: Jack Drake has friends in entirely too many high places. Pairing: Clark/Tim Rating: All ages Notes: For the lady who loves Clark/Tim, on her birthday. Thanks to Glossing for listening and poking it gently. "Tim Drake," Superman says, and Robin turns, giving him a quick, nervous look before he smiles. "There's no one nearby," he says, though it's not strictly true. There are people huddled below them in the remains of the subway tunnels, and there are several families squatting in a burnt-out wreck of a tenement, half off its foundation, right across the street from the building where Superman doesn't quite land. None of them are close enough to hear his name without meta powers, and Superman is certain that no one with meta powers has stayed in No Man's Land this long. It took a special request for him to return, against Batman's wishes and against what he knows is the greater good of the city. But if it were to get out that Superman couldn't -- or wouldn't -- find one boy in a place the size of Gotham, his reputation would be irretrievably sullied. Luthor knows this, of course. Jack Drake has friends in entirely too many high places. Tim says, "What can I do for you -- Clark?" "I don't suppose you've seen the news lately," Superman says, "though perhaps Oracle's been keeping tabs on it." Robin shakes his head -- not the smiling Tim of a moment ago -- and backs toward the edge of the building. "They need me here." "Your father --" "Not yet," Robin says, and leaps off the building. Superman lets him get ten blocks away before finding him again, despite the fact that he's found a crevice to wedge himself into. The pounding of his heart is like a kettle drum echoing in a closet. "You know as well as I do how useless that was." "Please," Robin says, "this is important. Can't you -- tell them I'm dead, tell them I'm injured --" He gets hold of himself and takes a deep breath, then comes out into the street. "No. Of course you can't." Superman holds out his hand to Robin and Tim takes it, looking up at him with a resentful glare. "I'm sorry," he says. "I'm sure." Tim lets Superman put an arm around him. "I can't go back dressed like this." "Where can we find you clothes?" Superman lifts him and Tim buries his face against his chest. "You're freezing, Tim." Tim tightens his hand in Superman's cape. "Wait 'til I get my mask off, would you? It's bad enough having to leave." "I am sorry." Superman holds him a little more tightly to warm him up by radiant energy if nothing else. "Where can we find you a disguise, then, Robin?" He laughs, even if it is a bit choked. "North five blocks, east two, there's a cache." He tugs a little. "And fly slowly?" Superman gives in to the urge to rub his neck for him in order to encourage circulation. "Anything else would freeze you." "We don't exactly have central heating." Robin shrugs against him. "No. No, of course not." Superman sets him down lightly outside the cache and takes one of his hands -- too cold -- to chafe. Robin blinks at him. "What -- why are you doing that?" "You're cold." Superman looks at the cache, through its walls. "There's no heating in there, either. Do you really want to lose what little heat you have?" "I have to," Robin says, but he's not pulling his hand away. "You said so." Superman chuckles. "And of course you always do as you're told, Robin." Robin's smile is wry. "To the letter, if necessary." "I'm sure." Superman takes his other hand and breathes on it. Robin's fingers curl a little in his palm. "How long do I have, then?" "You should be out of here within fifteen minutes." Superman tugs him a little closer and breathes warmth onto his scalp. He shivers. "It takes you that long to find someone?" Superman's smile is a little sheepish. "If necessary. I can't go too fast among unstable buildings, after all." Robin pulls his cape around himself. "I need to change." "Yes." Superman gives him a stern look. "If you go anywhere --" Robin takes off his mask. "I've got it under control," he says. His heartbeat is a little up and he's still huddling under that cape, but he doesn't seem as ready to flee. His eyes are a little wide in the darkness. Superman nods and turns his back, blocking most of the light and giving Robin a little privacy. He listens to the clicks and slithers of the uniform -- so carefully designed, and so dangerous in and of itself -- as Robin takes it off, and the quiet chattering of his teeth as the trapped heat leaves. "All right," he says after a minute and a half. "I'm ready." Superman looks at Tim Drake in the darkness, in his t-shirt and highwater pants, and puts an arm around his waist. "You're going to catch your death of cold," he says, knowing he sounds like Ma. Tim shakes his head, but his teeth are still chattering and his body temperature is four degrees too low. "It doesn't cause illness. It just --" "You're not going home like that." Superman wraps Tim in his cape and takes off. "You're going to tell Batman," Tim says against his chest. "Of course." Tim sighs. "Tell him I'm sorry." Superman squeezes his shoulder. "I'll tell him we both are." He gets the cape wrapped a little tighter -- Tim is still shivering -- and gets his hands over Tim's cold ears. "Hang on." "What --" Tim says, but then they're past Mach 1, out over the Atlantic, heading south, then west. Tim's hands clutch convulsively at Superman's chest. There are too many little islands in the Caribbean to count. When it's not hurricane season, this means there's usually at least three hundred big enough to stand on with a good dose of sunshine and no government to speak of. Superman sets Tim down on one and checks his pale epidermis carefully. "Five minutes," he says. Tim looks around, blinking in the sunlight. "I --" he shivers again and straightens his shoulders. "Is this some kind of reward?" Superman looks wry. "This is your rest and recuperation." "Make it snappy." The tone is Batman's, Bruce's at his most impatient, but the joke is entirely Tim's. He stretches his arms toward the sun and laughs. "I don't have time for goodbyes, but I can get a tan." He's still too cold. Even the relatively high influx of solar radiation won't fix that in the time they have. Superman hugs him again. "Superman -- Clark --" Tim turns and frowns at him. "What are you --" He's recently been rescued from one of the most dangerous places on earth. He desperately wants to go back and work himself even more to the bone, even though he's little more than sinew over bone now. Superman desperately wants to kiss him for it. At superspeed, the kiss lasts a small eternity, the single beat of Tim's heart rolling slow and inexorable as a current in the sea, the tiny shifts in his muscles as he begins to react a fascinating dance. At normal speed, Tim sees nothing at all out of the ordinary. Human eyes don't track that fast. But he puts his hand to his mouth and blinks. "I -- what did you do?" There's no fear in him, only a quickening of the pulse with curiosity and excitement. Despite the ill-fitting clothes, he is still Robin. The next kiss is long enough for him to feel and sigh into -- in surprise, but also in appreciation of warmth. Paradoxically, Tim's shivering harder when Superman lets him go. "You need to get home." Tim's eyes are wide here, too, though his pupils have contracted. "Ah. Is this part of your standard operating procedure?" He's smiling with his eyes. Like Bruce does, but perhaps yet more honestly than that. Superman wraps him in a fold of cape again. "For evacuating Robin from No Man's Land -- yes. For other purposes --" "Not for, say, evacuating Robin from any other situation?" Tim puts an arm around his waist. "I'm not sure when it would be appropriate." Superman takes off and accelerates gently. Tim laughs. "Remind me to warn you next time I have a blind date." Superman chuckles, remembering all he knows about this boy. "You'd never have such a thing, Robin." "No." Tim burrows further into his cape when they hit around two hundred miles an hour. "Does that mean no more instant vacations?" "We'll see what we can arrange." Superman kisses the top of his head and takes him home.
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