( he pulls back momentarily, hands on mako's shoulders, sharing looks between each of his goldenrod, genuine eyes. dick always wears his emotions on his sleeve, never fully learned the lesson bruce tried to teach him about acting aloof or mysterious. his eyebrows knit, drawn like sparring fighters, and he just. reclaims mako, hugs him tighter than he had before, arms thrown across his shoulders almost desperately.

he missed him. and he only realizes it now, after weeks and weeks of exhausting himself, of trying to convince himself their brief fling meant as little as mako lead him to believe. but it just. it didn't. dick likes him even more now than he did before, and he messed up, and he literally, literally could've died if mako hadn't been there, if he didn't know the avatar, if a million other things that all lead up to the same thisness of the moment didn't happen. it hits him like a satomobile, knocking the wind out of him. he almost died. died. )

I. ( a little choked out against him. his shoulders quake, but he doesn't cry. ) I was scared. I thought I was going to die. Damn.

( a semi hysterical, mostly breathy laugh. )

Bruce would've killed me if I died. Crap. I have to go home. He's gonna be so mad at me.