The Talk

Untitled Part 1

It was one of those rare nights that both Terry and Dana were actually on a date. They were at Terry's home, as both Dana and Terry agreed that it wouldn't be best if they went to Dana's in case Dana's father suddenly came home, and Terry's mother was out for the night shift while Terry's little brother was at a sleepover. Mary wouldn't be back until five in the morning, but by then Dana would already be home.

And Terry would be out on the streets fighting crime. Only he knew that part though.

Together the couple snuggled on the couch. They were watching an older movie, one that Terry couldn't remember the name of, but it was one of those old bad B rated sci-fi flicks. It was so ridiculous with their pseudo science. The teens couldn't help but mock the movie.

"And at the end of the day, the bad guys loose, the guy gets the girl at the end, and they all lived happily ever after." Dana mused as the ending credits began to roll.

Terry hummed, moving one arm from her body to start fiddling with her hair. "It was super cheesy, but you gotta admit it was nice they saved everyone at the end."

He felt, more so than saw, Dana shift to look at his face. Her hand lifted from his chest. Settling gentle, dainty, fingers on his rough cheek. She rubbed the faint stubble that was trying to poke through. Not much was growing in the first place, but his body finally decided that it was a good time to grow facial hair.

The movie credits ending theme song turned soft... something more romantic in tone.

Tilting his head over to her, he saw her half lidded brown eyes bore into his pale blue ones. Ever so slowly they leaned forward for a kiss.

Her painted lips were soft as always. Dana did say she liked to put on a layer of chapstick on before putting on her lipstick. She claimed to have it keep the lipstick from drying her lips out.

His own calloused hand cupped her cheek, bringing her closer. Each of their movements were so gentle. It was as if they were afraid of breaking something. Terry didn't know what it was, but he didn't mind.

He held her close. Cradled her. Cherished her.

She ran her hand from his cheek to his hair. Her long fingers, with newly manicured nails, drew unknown pictures through his strands. Her other hand... began to trail down his shirt.

Brain clicking to where this was going, Terry pulled back, gasping.

The movie stopped.

Dana was staring at him. Hurt. Confused.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Terry looked away, biting his lip. Staring at the tv, he saw how it went to commercial. He didn't want to see Dana's reaction to him.

"Terry, please, talk to me."

He wanted to he just...

Heaving a sigh, Terry said, "I'm sorry. I just don't think I'm ready."

"... is it because there isn't any condoms around? Terr, you and I both know I take birth control pills already."

And he did. If Dana didn't then her cramps can keep her out of school for the whole time she had her period. He remembers when Dana told him how she and her mom basically gave her dad a powerpoint presentation as to why she was taking it, not for sex, but to help with her menstruation. Part of Terry couldn't believe that her dad would need something like that in order for her to get birth control pills, but on the other hand... he honestly could. Especially after he and Dana started dating.

"No it's not that..."

"Then what Terry?" He heard the frustration in her voice. "Can you talk to me for the first time in your life?"

Pain shot through him at that. So much that he winced.

He could feel her still in his arms.

Turning back to her, he let his sorrow show through his eyes. She was right.

He needed to talk to her.

Her eyebrows now no longer furrowed in frustration and anger, but confusion, and the want to understand.

"Dana, I'm sorry that we haven't been talking a lot. That we haven't been having quality time together. That we've been..." He struggled with his words. "I just don't think I'm ready to do something like that. It isn't because of fear of becoming a dad too early, or even accidentally being caught by someone. Maybe when I was younger I thought I was ready. Now? Not so much."

As he spoke, Dana's face morphed. Her mouth became a straight line, her eyes bore into his. Her cheeks were only flushed red with powdered blush. A determined look gleamed in her eye.

"I understand." She spoke. "I... I know relationships don't need to have that in order to be happy... but I just..." A weakness creeped into her voice, faltering towards the end.

Terry went to fully wrap his arms around her body for a hug. A careful, loving hug. Dana warped her arms around him, clinging to him as if he would suddenly disappear.

"I'm sorry if me being distant made you feel like we had to resort to that. I don't want you to feel that way. Dana, I'm so sorry."

Together they stayed in that position, holding onto each other.

"Terry," Dana spoke, voice hardly heard, "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. For trying to make you do something you didn't want to do."

Shaking his head, Terry went to cup Dana's cheek. "Dana, it's okay. Like I said before, I'm the one who made you think that doing that would try to get us closer again. That wasn't right of me, even if it was completely unintentional. It's true that I've been trying to find a way to find a balance between you, my family, and my work, but I haven't been trying hard enough. Dana, if I want to stay with you, and my god do I want to stay with you forever, I need to do better. To try better. We may not stay together forever, and I understand that, but I promise you that with the time we have together it will be a good relationship. And if the time comes where we're old and grey, and haven't seen each other in years, we'll look back to the time we had fondly as time together well spent."

He watched, as throughout his speech, tears well up in those beautiful, gorgeous doe eyes.

"Oh Terry," she sobbs, falling to his chest.

He just holds her closer.

What he didn't tell her, as much as he wanted to, and did he wanted to tell her, was that he was afraid. Afraid of what she would do, what she would think, if she saw his body. Being Batman took its toll on Terry. Yes, his suit helped cushion the blows, but not all of it. Yes, Terry wasn't as perfectly trained as Bruce was at his peak, but he tends to win in the end.

But because of these combinations, Terry had a collection of scars scattered around his body. Scars that would follow him to his dying day.

He didn't want Dana to see him like that. Not yet... but... maybe one day...

——

So this has been something I've been thinking about for a little bit. Both Dana and Terry are teenagers and are at the age where they explore themselves and their partners. And as wonderful it is that they know about having safe sex, they need to actually talk about if they actually WANT to have sex. And that's important in a relationship. Because you don't NEED to have sex in order to have a happy, healthy, romantic relationship.

I think that if Terry wasn't Batman, maybe he and Dana would probably explore more since ya know. They're teenagers and teenagers are going to do things. But since Terry's Batman, he has things like scars around his body. I think he would be afraid to have Dana see something like that on him. For one thing he would have to explain where he got them for one thing. Another is he's just scared of what will happen because of it.

Yes, I wrote a fic where Matt sees Terry's scars, and that's explored a bit where Terry has to tell half truths to Matt. But as far as I know these two fics are unconnected. While that fic focuses on family and touches a bit on the trauma left by the death of a loved one, this one focuses on actually communicating with your romantic partner and telling them about how you feel.

So remember folks, the key to a happy, healthy, relationship is proper communication and respecting boundaries.