Chapter Text
He was still human enough to want.
Alex was confronted with this fact after his failed attempt to steal the remote detonator from Flag. He’d burned and beaten the other man within an inch of his life, and yet still Flag hesitated to electrocute him after. With Waller and her usual subordinates, he received no such consideration. There was simply the dull, endless slog of time broken only by their experiments and torture. He got shocked even when he didn’t do anything wrong, so he figured he may as well give them a reason. Hence the numerous dead lackeys throughout the years.
Flag was different, though. Alex had realized it from the moment he first laid eyes—orbits, rather—on him. It wasn’t just that he was unusually attractive, though that helped, but he was also genuine in way that Alex had not seen since before he became more monster than man. Of course, he had to go and try to exploit that weakness as soon as possible. It was an attack Flag repaid with mercy. Alex supposed the revelation that the detonator was not the only one of its kind should not have surprised him.
They came to a tense ceasefire after their fight in the kitchen. All the urgency had left him now. Alex didn’t know what to do or how to remedy the situation. He knew from experience what it felt like to be in pain, to burn, and how much he despised those who made him feel that way. He stole some medical supplies from the castle infirmary before Princess Illana could insert herself anymore into the situation. Rick sent the young woman back to her room with GI Robot and Weasel stationed outside. This left the two of them to clean up and tend to Rick’s wounds.
Alex slipped on his protective gloves and opened the first aid kit. It wasn’t that he couldn’t control his radioactive output—he could to a certain extent—but he knew Flag wouldn’t trust him to help otherwise. He wasn’t used to practicing restraint, anyways.
“Let me help,” he said. A “sorry” wasn’t in the picture for him, but he could do this. He withdrew the antiseptic pads and sterile saline wash first. At the other’s skeptical look, he continued, “I’m a doctor, Flag. The title Doctor Phosphorus is quite literal, I assure you.”
“It’s not Flag, Phosphorus. Call me Rick,” the older man groused. He acquiesced to the treatment. “We’re on the same team. That means something to me.”
Alex considered this. “Then call me Alex, not Phosphorus.”
“Alex, huh. Guess I never thought about any of you having real names. Well, aside from…” Rick trailed off. The unspoken except for Nina went unmentioned between them. Her alias was never used because she fell in line and did everything the puppet masters wanted her to.
"Nobody ever does.”
Flag’s skin was warm even through the gloves. There was so much of it, too, once he took the shirt off. God, he was big. Bigger than he’d even appeared back in the bedroom. Alex let himself appreciate but not remark upon it, which was difficult considering his already non-existent social skills had eroded further while locked up. He lingered despite himself. Rick was stupid and good looking: just his type.
“Did Waller offer you anything for this? Time off your sentence, a reward?” Rick asked, dark eyes fixed on him. People didn’t usually look at him for too long. Alex liked it.
“I’m not a man, if you recall. I don’t get to want things.”
“You hurt people before Batman put you away,” Rick said. “Lots of people. I read your file.” His tone wasn’t accusatory, but rather a statement of fact.
“Yeah, well, they hurt me first,” Alex replied, thinking about the terrible, torturous agony of his transformation and the low-level thrum that followed each day thereafter. “I wanted them to feel a fraction of the pain I do.”
It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. That’s why the Bat put him in Arkham. Then Waller got wind not long after and had him shipped to Belle Reeve. Home sweet home. There, Alex had all the time in the world to work out, practice his powers, and play game after game of chess against himself. That was, when he wasn’t being treated to the tender loving care of the scientists “amazed” at his condition. They should just read his dissertation and fuck off.
Each time they strapped him to that lab table, Alex would seethe and think, Just wait until I get this fucking chip outta my neck. Then I’ll show you.
Alex pulled out the bandages and wrapped the burns loosely to avoid putting undue pressure on them. He leaned back on his haunches to better examine Rick and found he had attended to everything that wouldn’t heal on its own. He tried not to think about the fact that this was the closest he’d been with another person since his accident.
Alex had never been a particularly attractive man. Average height, dishwater blond hair. Gaunt in the face even before he was, well, quite literally gaunt in the face. But he still got around, had girlfriends and boyfriends throughout the years. Then came Parvin, who had been everything to him. Sex was fun, easy. He missed it. Alex supposed he didn’t know how much until he was in close proximity with all this exposed skin.
He made the mistake of looking down.
"They should call you Dick Flag,” Alex said without thinking. He couldn’t stop staring at it, him, everything.
Rick choked. “Uh, what?”
Alex shoved the supplies back into the box, shoulders up to his ears from embarrassment. “That’s enough help for one night,” he said, twisting away to get up and out of the bathroom. Suddenly, his empty room seemed a lot more appealing than it had earlier. No temptation, no awkwardness.
Rick considered him for a moment, a crease forming between his brows. “You could watch me, you know, if you wanted.”
Alex stilled, hands digging into his pants. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t disgust you?”
“I wouldn’t offer if you did.”
“You had the princess just about falling over herself for you,” Alex asked. “What makes this different?”
“Not my type.”
“Illana is everyone’s type.”
“Not mine, and not yours either, I’m guessing. Now are you really trying to talk me out of this, or do you want to get down to business?”
“I want to see it.”
“There you go,” the other man said indulgently, palming at his boxers. A wet spot had formed at the front, and Rick’s thumb rubbed circles there. Alex’s mouth went dry.
He was hard in his sweats and wanted desperately to relieve the tension. Whether Rick would be okay with going that far remained to be seen. His gaze never wavered from Rick’s lap as he asked, “Can I?”
Rick paused his ministrations, resuming at Alex’s displeased grunt. “You’re good. Just, uh, how exactly would that work?”
“I’m intact,” Alex said bitterly. “It just looks different.”
“Hey, man, no judgement.”
He was genuine, again, as he leaned back and extended the muscular line of his body in invitation. Rick displayed his scars, unashamed. Alex wanted to get his mouth on them. He wanted to get his mouth elsewhere, too, but that would never happen. Green flames did not tend to inspire faith in head, after all, despite Alex being able to reduce his output enough to be safe to touch in short bursts. He did as much damage as a microwave when in that state.
Rick tucked his thumbs into his waistband and pulled his underwear down. His cock looked even larger like this, thick and uncut. He played with the foreskin until the tip was dripping enough precome to give him the glide he needed to work himself properly. Rick moaned low and fisted the base with one hand while the other reached behind to roll his balls. It was better than any porn Alex had ever seen. He could smell the musk on him, the humanity. Delicious.
Alex ground down on his own hand, panting. It was the only sound in the bathroom aside from Rick’s heavy breathing. He could get off like this. He didn’t want Rick to see what he looked like under there, not yet, not when it might mean he wouldn’t get to see him finish. It felt good, besides, and he hadn’t had the opportunity to jerk off in peace since he was incarcerated. There was always someone or something in the way.
“Tell me you’re close,” Alex exhaled.
“I’m close,” Rick groaned. “Keep talking. I like the way you sound.”
That did it. He pulsed and came in his sweats, the fire on his scalp coalescing into a blaze while smoke left his mouth in a dark plume. Embers glittered in the air, then dispersed into nothing. Alex’s head was full up with the words I like the way you sound.
Rick followed soon after, cock releasing thick spurts of come. Some even landed on Alex’s face, where it sizzled and evaporated. “Give it to me,” Alex begged.
Rick ran his thick fingers through the mess on his lap and chest until he had collected enough. To his credit, he hesitated only briefly when his fingers lingered over Alex’s mouth, which opened like a flower beneath his touch. He laved at the outstretched hand until all he could taste was salt and musk.
“That didn’t hurt,” Rick observed.
“I can be good sometimes,” Alex said, “with the right motivation.”
Rick smiled, almost fond. “Be good, then, and I’ll give you what you want.”
In that moment, Alex didn’t care whether or not Rick was manipulating him. He wanted this too much, and he knew he would get more from him the longer the mission lasted. When they defeated Circe, he would be sent back to his cold cell in Belle Reeve. He would not be parted from the first person to show him mercy and treat him like a man so easily.