It Is the Night

It Must Be Art (Dick Grayson drabble)

Characters: Dick Grayson
Prompt: Dick WOULD let the female superheroes paint his nails if they asked.
A/N: I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I guess I should throw out a fetish warning…

It Must Be Art

Dick loved color. He grew up in a circus, so of course he loved color. He loved the way the Flying Graysons’ sequined outfits sparkled under the spotlight. The way his Robin costume once shone brightly next to Batman. The way Flash would leave a streak of red behind that would actually glow on a rainy night in a large city.

It was the same red that Dick could always find dotted around at fancy dinner parties on women’s fingers and toes — little pinpoints that never failed to catch the light with their gloss and attract Dick’s attention in an almost hypnotic way.

And it was never limited to just red. Oh, no. Red was just the start. From there he would find pale pinks, bold blues, ‘french tips’ that he longed to nibble, gems, streaks, dots, designs, why couldn’t he have something like that?

Because as a grown child of Bruce Wayne, he would make heads turn so fast he’d find himself under a civil suit for whiplash. At least, that’s what he told himself whenever he passed up a nail salon and inhaled the intoxicating scent of nail fume nirvana.

Deciding to find some alternate means of fulfilling this gnawing want, he came up with the perfect compromise. Dick would let female superheroes paint his nails if they asked.

Problem was, they never did.

He even went so far as to open himself up to their pranks by falling asleep on the couches at the Teen Titan Watchtower, making sure his hands and fingernails were clearly exposed in ways that were sure to give any typical woman ideas. But his women were too nice. The most he ever woke up with was a drawn on mustache and monocle, courtesy of Bart, and that was only because the little bastard moved faster than his ability to wake up and give chase.

Just as Dick was starting to despair, he stumbled across Cassie. Sweet, adorable, little Cassie whose hand happened to be splayed out over the table, surrounded by various nail torture devices, with her full concentration dedicated to dragging a tiny little brush up the nail of her pinky.

Dick was on her faster than Batman was on Catwoman.

Or vice versa. It usually depended on their moods for the night.

Despite being careful, his greeting still caught Cass by complete surprise and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he startled her enough to cause the brush to jolt from its path.

Luckily for him, it didn’t take much talking and staring for Cass to insist she paint Dick’s nails for fun as they waited for Tim and Kon to return from their ‘bro date’.

Dick was fascinated as Cass’ tiny hands intertwined with his in the oddest of ways as she ‘buffed’ and ‘prepped’ the nails on all ten fingers before reaching beneath the table and hauling back up a gift bag that was full to the brim with the most amazing selection of nail polish colors Dick had ever seen. It made him feel like a damn kid in a candy store and he had to fight the almost overwhelming urge to dump the bag out from a height great enough to break the bottles so he could watch the colors mix and run.

Eyes darting back and forth, Dick froze as he spotted a color that almost made him moan in want. The bottle said ‘lollipop’ but he knew that color from anywhere. It was Flash red.

Even when on the job, Dick had never sat so still, and he watched with baited breath as Cass unscrewed the cap and dragged the brush against the edge of the bottle, her warm palm pressing down against the back of Dick’s hand as she chose to start with his right middle finger.

A shudder ran down his spine straight through to his toes at first contact, causing Cass to pause. It was cold. Cold enough to be felt by the skin beneath the nail. He hadn’t expected that and did his best to laugh it off so that Cass would continue. She did and Dick’s chuckle was cut short as his teeth dug into his bottom lip. Suddenly it was hard to remain still. He was thrumming with energy that his body had no idea what to do with. So he distracted himself with random thoughts.

He had no idea who Tim and Kon were trying to kid with this ‘bro date’ of theirs. His nails were gorgeous. He needed to pick up milk on his way home. He should probably wear gloves. Would Bruce approve if he ever saw this? Had Bruce ever painted his nails before when going undercover? Had Selina or any of his other dates ever offered? Did Bruce say yes? Did Cass ever offer to paint Tim’s nails? He needed to grab peanut butter, too. Would it still be safe to stick his finger in peanut butter and suck it off with nail polish? Despite being Flash red, ‘Lollipop’ was a good name for the color. Because now he was really craving peanut butter. Only instead of sticking his finger in, he’d just scoop it out with the back of his nail. The brown on red would be just like a caramel apple. He needed to buy some chocolate syrup from the store as well.

Dick didn’t even register Tim and Kon’s presence until they were at the table, grabbing at Cass’ salon items as she did her best to swat them away. Tim stopped in his teasing only when he noticed Dick’s nails.

“It’s about time,” was all he said with a shake of his head.

Dick opened his mouth to retort, only to stop in horror when he realized the reason his throat felt slightly constrained wasn’t because of being caught by his younger brother or potential ramifications from Bruce or the tension running through his body. It was from a different type of tension. Located solely in his pants.

Well…oh.

The End.