The Archer | T.D. ✔

Chapter Forty-Five

"You look beautiful in the moonlight." Tim's hand grazed down Rory's side, sending shivers down her body. He watched as the moonlight danced off her pale skin, illuminating it in the darkness of her room. She was nothing short of the moon and stars to him, he could sit for hours tracing the various marks across her body like they were constellations in the night sky.

His favorite time of day had always been the night, it was when he felt free. He got to go out and protect those in his city along with people he cared about, but that also meant he got to have special moments like this with the woman he loved. 

Rory looked at him, to see Tim was staring at her with a lovestruck look on his face. His soft blue eyes watched her every move as she shifted slightly, the moonlight bouncing off her bare stomach exposed from her shirt rising up her torso. Her fingers reached up and played with the strands that hung in his eyes.

She loved the time she spent with him alone more than anything, when it was just them Rory didn't worry about hiding the real her from him. Tim Drake was one of four people that truly knew her, the other three being Oliver, Roy, and Jesse.

Oliver was her adoptive father, he raised her from the age of eleven training her to be the best version of herself she could be. Roy was her number two, her partner in crime or crimefighting so to speak. When they were younger, they were inseparable and they still were. Jesse was her first real love, she had bared her heart to him when they dated and it only strengthened their friendship.

With Tim, he was her childhood best friend. Looking back, he was the one person she trusted above the rest. Tim was always there for her when she needed him to be, even when they were kids. Rory remembered their parents constantly making jokes about how they would grow up and fall in love, starting a family of their own. That future wasn't far off, but were they both ready for it?

She watched as his fingers trailed from her side and towards her stomach, his thumb tracing the outline of her hipbone. Slowly he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her hip softly, Rory's hand still in his hair playing with it between her fingers. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just enjoying the moment with you is all, how often do we get five minutes of peace these days?" his blue eyes flicked up to meet hers as he placed a kiss on her stomach now. 

"I think you missed, my lips are up here Dragon Boy." she teased.

Tim let out a chuckled before moving up her body and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss, wrapping his arm around her back to pull her closer. Rory's lips moved with his as she played with his hair, cupping his face with the other. "I love you." he murmured into the kiss, pulling her closer.

Rory let out a gasp feeling his fingers on the bare skin of her lower back, tracing soft circles there. Tim pulled away from the kiss painfully slow, Rory trying to follow his lips with her own wanting more. "It's a good thing I love you too." she chuckled.

He cupped her cheek, brushing her hair back softly. "I'll be yours until the stars fall out of the sky, Briar Rose," he whispered softly, "And even then nothing will be able to take me away from you." 

Rory's heart swelled at his words, for a boy that was awkward once upon a time; he could make her blush with one single sentence. She loved that about him, Tim always made sure that she knew he loved her even if he told her every other minute, or bought her gift, to just the way he treated her. Rory knew that he loved her, it was plain to see.

With a yawn, she pushed him onto his side and curled into the warmth of his body. "Goodnight Tim," she muttered.

He chuckled and wrapped an arm around her, "Goodnight Rory, get some sleep sweetheart." Tim watched as her eyes fluttered shut and her breathing evened into a deep sleep as he held her close to himself.