Chapter Text
Aqualad shows up to their planned training session with flowers. Superboy is caught off guard, but accepts them.
“They don’t do flowers in Atlantis, do they?” he asks, looking at the bouquet in bemusement.
“No, but it seemed like surface customs might be more along the line of what you were expecting,” Aqualad says. Superboy was expecting literally nothing, in fact, except to probably have a sparring match. They were planning on training, after all. “Atlantean courting rituals are different from human ones.”
“I don’t care about that kind of thing,” Superboy says. “I’m not human.”
“That is a fair point,” Aqualad muses. “Alright, then.”
He takes Superboy’s free hand and kisses the back of it. Superboy feels mortified, but in a good way? It’s at least as confusing as the flowers.
“Let’s train,” he says, because that at least won’t be confusing.
“Alright,” Aqualad says, and smiles at him. Superboy feels mortified all over again, but he’s used to feeling that when Aqualad smiles.
Superboy sets the flowers aside and they train for a while, and spar for a little while after that. Superboy’s concentration is . . . not perfect. He keeps thinking about that last time they were in the showers together and wondering if it’s going to happen again and if maybe they might—
Aqualad knocks him on his ass.
That was probably to be expected, he thinks as the other helps him up.
He kisses him, because he really is distracted, and Aqualad makes a mildly surprised noise and then kisses back, putting a hand on his face. Superboy feels sunlit-warm and forgets all about the training, which isn’t the kind of thing he usually forgets about.
“I’d like to take you out next time,” Aqualad says, because he’s apparently a bit more focused at the moment.
“‘Out’?” Superboy repeats distractedly, briefly not understanding. Aqualad smiles at him again.
“On a date,” he clarifies. “Instead of training or a mission.”
“Oh,” Superboy says. “That’s, uh—okay. Sure.”
Aqualad smiles yet again, looking pleased. Superboy is slightly flustered.
“When’s next time?” he asks.
“Whenever you like,” Aqualad says.
“Let’s just do it now,” Superboy says abruptly. He figures that’ll limit his chances to overthink the situation.
“We can do that,” Aqualad says. “Where would you like to go?”
Superboy panics and immediately forgets every possible place they could reasonably go. Aqualad waits patiently.
“Anywhere not Metropolis,” Superboy says finally.
“We could just go down to the beach together for a while?” Aqualad suggests. “If that’s not too simple.”
“Simple’s fine,” Superboy says, shaking his head. He doesn’t care if it’s simple. Simple is probably better, in his opinion. Simple means harder to screw up. Aqualad already thinks he’s too inexperienced for a lot of things; Superboy doesn’t want to go and actually do something that’d confirm it for him.
“Then let’s go,” Aqualad says, and they both clean up and then leave the flowers in the kitchen and do. The beach is quiet and empty. Superboy has no idea what to do.
They spend the rest of the evening walking along the tideline, not talking very much. They don’t need to talk a lot, usually. After a while Superboy takes Aqualad’s hand, and Aqualad smiles at him.
It’s very nice, Superboy thinks, squeezing the other’s hand.
Although he’s probably terrible at this, and he hopes he’s doing it at least close to right.
When they come back inside, Kid Flash and Robin are sitting in the living room, watching the news. Robin seems more interested in it than Kid Flash, who looks bored out of his mind.
“Hey . . . guys,” Kid Flash says, eyeing them a little warily. Superboy decidedly does not let himself feel embarrassed about this situation or any prior conversations and keeps his grip on Aqualad’s hand. Aqualad smiles at him, then at Kid Flash.
“Hello,” Aqualad says. “What are you two doing?”
“Recon,” Robin says unhelpfully, not looking away from the TV.
“Nothing,” Kid Flash says, which is probably at least accurate for him. He glances at their hands. “You?”
“We were on a date,” Aqualad replies easily, squeezing Superboy’s hand.
“Ah,” Kid Flash says skeptically. “That’s . . . cool?”
“On a date where?” Robin asks, still watching the TV.
"The beach," Aqualad says. Robin gives them a pitying look.
"Seriously?" he asks. "That's, like, exactly what I would've expected."
"It was nice," Superboy says, slightly defensive. Aqualad hums agreeably.
"You didn't even get dinner first?" Kid Flash says.
"We trained first," Superboy says. Kid Flash looks pained. Robin snorts.
"We enjoyed ourselves," Aqualad says easily, and Superboy feels slightly less defensive. “Although you may have a point about dinner. Are you hungry, Superboy?”
“Not really,” Superboy says. He can think of several things he’d rather do than eat dinner, at least. Most of them involve privacy.
“Alright,” Aqualad says. Superboy tries to figure out how to get him someplace private to do a few of those several things.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” he says. Kid Flash covers his ears with his hands, back to the pained look, and Robin sniggers.
“So not subtle, Supey,” he says. Superboy scowls at him. Aqualad smiles and squeezes his hand again.
“We can go somewhere else,” he says.
Good, Superboy thinks. Somewhere else sounds like the perfect place to be.
“Good,” he says, and tugs Aqualad out of the room. Aqualad follows easily.
“Don’t do anything Batman wouldn’t want you to do!” Robin sing-songs after them with a cackle as Kid Flash groans. Superboy rolls his eyes; Aqualad chuckles.
“They’re both awful,” Superboy grumbles. Aqualad smiles at him again, looking amused.
“Where are we going?” he asks, which is a good question.
“My room,” Superboy decides after a moment, because it seems like a good idea. Hopefully it’s one Aqualad will agree with. Superboy’s had plenty of good ideas that Aqualad thought it was too soon for or would be inappropriate or whatever combination of the two.
“Alright,” Aqualad says, and managing that is going to get Superboy through the rest of the week, he thinks. He wants to be someplace private and doing . . . several things, again. Aqualad probably won’t want to do most of the ones Superboy’s thinking of yet, but he’s sure he’ll at least let him do a few.
Almost sure, anyway.
They head to Superboy’s room, and Superboy opens the door and lets them both in. Aqualad smiles warmly at him and they both stand there for a moment, Superboy not quite sure how to start doing what he wants to do and feeling a bit stupid for it.
Fortunately, then Aqualad kisses him, so that takes care of that.
Superboy kisses him back, relaxing into it, and wraps his arms around the other’s waist. Aqualad touches his face, then kisses him again. It’s exactly what Superboy wants, or at least it’s exactly the start of what Superboy wants. He usually wants to be kissing Aqualad, honestly.
He can't imagine why he wouldn't.
He deepens the kiss, and Aqualad responds in kind. Superboy feels sunlit-warm all the way through and relishes the feeling. It's a very good feeling: simple and easy, and effortless to understand. It’s perfect, in fact.
Perfect until Aqualad pulls back, anyway. Superboy forces himself not to chase the other’s mouth.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, a little paranoid. He doesn’t want to stop, but he doesn’t want to do anything Aqualad’s going to say is too much, either. That’s always a mood-killer.
“Nothing,” Aqualad says. “I just think it’d be more comfortable on the bed.”
“Oh.” Superboy feels his face flush, but the idea makes him too eager to be embarrassed. “Yeah, okay.”
They go to the bed. Aqualad sits down on it and Superboy briefly considers sitting down beside him, but decides straddling his lap is a better idea. Aqualad smiles at him, and Superboy wraps his arms around his neck and kisses him again.
It’s a very good kiss.
Perfect, in fact.
“You’re beautiful,” Aqualad murmurs between kisses, and Superboy feels his face burn again but really doesn’t care.
“Touch me more,” he murmurs back, pushing his own hands across the other’s neck and shoulder blades. He wants to do more himself, but he holds himself back. He never really wants to hold back, honestly, but Aqualad still thinks they shouldn’t do certain things yet, so . . .
Aqualad smiles at him again and slides his hands over his waist and under the bottom of his T-shirt to skate up his sides. Superboy feels that sunlit-warm feeling and kisses him again. He wants to strip off their clothes and do everything Aqualad thinks he’s not ready for, but this feels too good to waste on trying to convince him. Aqualad’s fingers curl against his ribs, and Superboy inhales roughly and then kisses him harder. It’s warm and good and he loves it, and he never wants to stop.
Eventually Aqualad leans back again, though, and takes his hand in his own and kisses the back of it. Somehow it feels almost as intense as his hands under his shirt and his mouth against his mouth were.
“Next time we should get dinner,” Aqualad says. Superboy wants to knock him over and pin him to the mattress and—
“Sure,” he says, restless and wanting but still warm all the way through. He doesn’t really care what kind of dates they go on, as long as they’ve got an excuse to be together. That’s good enough for him.
“I would like that very much,” Aqualad says, turning his hand to kiss the inside of his wrist. Superboy nearly bites his tongue.
“Okay,” he says stupidly. “Where, uh . . . where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know many restaurants up here, actually,” Aqualad says. It’s hard not to just watch his mouth. “I’ll have to ask someone for a recommendation.”
“Okay,” Superboy says again. It’s really hard not to just watch Aqualad’s mouth. And again, he really doesn’t care what they do. They’ll be together, and that’s honestly all he cares about.
Aqualad leans in and kisses him again, and Superboy melts into it. They end up on their sides on the bed somewhere in there, and all Superboy wants to do is stay right here until their next training session. Maybe until their next mission. He can’t think of anywhere he’d rather be.
Aqualad presses in closer, nuzzling into his neck and running a hand down his side, and Superboy feels like he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, from this moment all the way back to Cadmus.
“Kaldur,” he says tightly, and Aqualad’s mouth curves into another smile against his jaw.
“Did you like the flowers?” Aqualad asks, trailing his hand across his ribs. “Or should I bring you something else next time?”
“You don’t have to do that kind of thing,” Superboy says. He wants them to be together. Things like dates and flowers and courting and whatever else, that’s all just little details that don’t really matter. The core of it is that he wants to be right here in each other’s arms, right now and all the time.
“I want to,” Aqualad says.
“It’s fine,” Superboy says. “Really.”
“Alright,” Aqualad says, dropping a kiss against his throat. “I’d like to do things for you, though.”
“This is enough,” Superboy says, because it really is. None of the other stuff is important.
“I’m glad,” Aqualad says, mouthing up to his jaw and stroking his side again. Superboy cups his face and tugs him into a kiss. Aqualad hums and presses in closer, hands pulling him in in turn, and Superboy feels all the tension drain out of his body, leaving nothing but sunlit warmth and satisfaction in its wake. He doesn’t even care if they’re going to do anything else or not.
This is perfect, and it’s all he wants.