i don't need practice, i'm ready to go whenever you are, pal
[ She can't exactly toss the kitten through the window, even though he probably wouldn't mind and she's not webbing the poor little guy up into a ball or anything wild like that. Instead she lands lightly on the window sill, hanging onto the frame with one hand while leaning down to carefully deposit him onto the floor. ]
You should learn to take an advantage when one comes your way.
[ The kitten, none the worse for wear, stalks directly over to Dick and begins winding determinedly around his ankles, butting her tiny, bony head into his calf while he holds out a hand to help Gwen through the window. Not that she needs it, but it's the gentlemanly thing to do. ]
[ Oh, well, looks like she's coming back in for a minute then?
Like she was just going to swing right back out when he's standing right there. She takes the offered hand to pull herself through, careful not to step on any kitten toes in the process. ]
Dude, every day is practice for me. Never a dull moment, you know? [ The mask hides her face, but a lot of expression comes through despite that, so her raised eyebrows translate. But hopefully not a lingering slight awkwardness about where that conversation definitely Did Not Go. ] If I didn't know any better I might think that you were stalling, like maybe you need some practice.
[ As if either of them gets a real break from all this. They sneak in a night or two like this when they can, but being a superhero type is a 24-7 gig. ]
And yes, we did. He fits really well right in my hood. It's too bad he won't always be travel-sized.
[ She slips in through the window with the same grace that sends her swinging through the city, but he still keeps her hand in his until she's standing on her own two feet. When he lets go, he bends down to pick up the kitten, which is hardly more than a ball of fluff in his palm. ]
Maybe I just want you to think I'm rusty. Give myself an edge. Cultivate an element of surprise.
[ Or maybe he's starting to wonder what possessed him to say Paris. Of all places. Sure, the Eiffel Tower would be fun to race up, but it's not like Paris is known for its skyscraping architecture.
Rather than think about it too hard, he curves his palm beneath the kitten and strokes the small head with his free hand, amused. It's not quite a success – there's the faint element of something deeper that he's steadily keeping off his face – but it's warm all the same. ]
He'd probably get huge. You'd spend as much time recalibrating for the added weight as swinging.
[ It's probably just because she's in 'totally overthinking everything' mode that makes it feel like he's holding onto her hand a little longer than he needs to, probably, and she's not pulling away too fast either. Thank god the mask covers up the fact that her cheeks go a bit pink. It feels silly, she's grabbed his hand before, whether it was to give him a boost up into the air or to drag him along behind her or to help him back up after a tough hit. Don't make it weird, Stacy.
He seems very chill about it, so she's just going to be chill too. Easy. ]
Yeah, if he wants to be a spider-cat he's gonna have to work out how to use a webshooter. Or he could be a bat-bird-cat, I guess. Otherwise he might just have to stay here at HQ and keep an eye on things while everybody else is out.
[ The windowsill seems like as good a place to sit as any, watching while Dick gives the loudly purring kitten more attention and thinking that they're going to completely spoil him at this rate. But if there's a kitten to pet she is going to play with it while she can, no regrets. ]
[ He has a brief mental image of the kitten wandering over Oracle's keyboards and causing a massive data blackout, and can't help chuckling. ]
I don't know. I think he'd be pretty cute in a domino mask, lurking in the shadows. But if he wants to join the bat-team, he's going to have to pay his dues first and spend some time as Robin.
[ He'd rather not think about how much easier it is to be here by the window, chatting with Gwen and playing with the kitten, than interacting with everyone else that's milling around. They're dancing to bass-heavy music, drinking amateurish mixes out of Solo cups, laughing in loose circles of four and five and six; partying. It's pretty far from the black tie soirees he'd attended as Bruce Wayne's ward, and he'd never had the normal teenage, college-kid party experience, so maybe it's not so weird that he's taking a little break, right?
But then she asks and he does think about it and maybe it is a little weird, because honestly? All he really wants to do is fling himself out the window and into the cool, velvet night air, because as much as he likes people, chatting and laughing and flirting and catching up, he likes being out there more. ]
Good. No costumed villains have crashed it yet, so, you know. It could be more interesting.
[ Bat then bird, for whatever reason that's just how it works here? She's not one to judge.
This is honestly Gwen's typical go-to party spot, on the rare occasion when she would get dragged to one in the first place, since she kinda missed out on a lot of partying time already thanks to the whole Spider-Woman thing. Barricading herself in a quiet room to pet a cat after making a reasonable effort to be social was predictable, so she might have a knack for recognizing that same look on someone else's face. He doesn't look miserable but he's got a kinda wistful look in his eyes, she thinks. ]
You wanna take a couple drinks up to the roof?
[ It's not the same as fully abandoning the party. She might have suggested it sooner, but Dick looked like he was having a good enough time back there, she wasn't gonna steal him away. But now... apparently she's branching out from just being a cat-napper. Now she's a potential bird-napper too? ]
[ There's a moment where he focuses on the kitten, thinking it over. Of course she sees right through him; he's not the only one who opted to take a break from the party. The thing that catches him up is what he almost tosses back at her without thinking: you're not old enough to drink.
Which, she isn't. And that's nothing new, so he's not quite sure why it suddenly feels like kind of a weird thing to say. But this has been a weird kind of night; maybe he's just off his game. He'll feel better once he's back on patrol in the 'haven tomorrow. ]
As long as we take the kitten with us. He looks like he wants to get back out of here, don't you think?
[ He holds the small creature up, like it's the reason he's saying: yeah, okay. ]
[ Gwen would not call herself a master of subtlety by any means, but she did realize as soon as the thought occurred to her that he might have a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of her having alcohol, because she's so used to that. Growing up with a cop as a dad tended to hammer in stuff like that, and it lingers, even though she's basically living on her own these days, and she could totally call herself eighteen and no one would blink an eye.
But she's got no ulterior motives here, at least not that she's aware of, she's just kind of expecting him to come back with a can of soda rather than what most other people are drinking, and she could tease him about it a bit. But hey, if he's gonna treat her more like an adult than a kid? That's very okay.
Not that he really does that anyway, at the very least not in the obnoxious, condescending kinda way that tends to come from the over forty bracket. Maybe that's why he had a bit of a weird look for a second there, her age just usually doesn't come up. ]
Nope, no drinks for kitty unless they've got catnip tea on tap. [ She stands up to reach for the kitten, gently lifting him from Dick's hands. ] I'll go ahead and take him up, you can meet us there?
[ He gives up the kitten without argument, then winks at her. ]
Sure. Save me a seat, Spider-Woman.
[ She'll be gone in the next moment, so he turns his focus to his own mission – such as it is – and goes in search of drinks.
A few minutes later, climbing the fire escape up to the roof, he has to admit it: it's nicer out here, the breeze snaking through the buildings and cooling him, sticking his shirt to his back with sweat, than it was inside. Maybe he's taking the slow way up, but hey – he's not in costume, and it's just a few flights of metal stairs.
Even so, he hups lightly over the edge of the rooftop, drinks in one hand. Sodas – for both of them. The buzz and muffled sensation of alcohol isn't really something he's chasing, tonight. ]
[ By the time Dick arrives Gwen has made herself relatively comfortable sitting on the edge of a vent cover, and the kitten seems even more so since he's curled up in her lap, tucked in between her crossed legs, apparently somewhat temporarily tired out from all of the excitement of his whirlwind tour around the local skyscrapers. She's been gently scratching his ears and staring out over the glow of the city lights around them, honestly kind of zoning out for a minute or two there. She's good at that. But she does snap out of it when she sees him swing over the ledge with drinks in hand.
She frees up both of her own hands to make a grabby motion toward him, but she's obviously not going to move and disrupt the sanctity of a kitten nap. She's not that much of a monster. ]
Thank you!
[ She's fine with soda. The thing about alcohol is, aside from the fact that she could possibly get in trouble in some places with it, is that she can barely work up more than a brief buzz before her metabolism kicks the whole thing out, so it kinda defeats the whole point. Maybe it's fun for an hour or two, that's about it. ]
Did anybody have something to say about you following my bad example and abandoning the party?
I assume it's all any of them are talking about, now.
[ He hands over her soda and takes a seat next to her, cracking open his own can for a sip of cola, relaxing as he looks up into the sky and savors the quiet of the rooftop.
It's not that he doesn't like people. Unlike Bruce, he's always enjoyed company, always been extroverted and chatty. But there are times when he feels like that's as much of a performance as Bruce's shadows and cloak and ability to pop out of seemingly nowhere. It's a second before he puts his finger on it, but once he does, he glances over at her. ]
It's funny. Being around that many people in one space always makes me feel like I'm back in the center ring. Like I should be doing tricks while they eat popcorn.
[ Which isn't a bad thing. He'd loved his time in the circus. He was born to stand in the spotlight, to draw oohs and ahhs from the crowd.
But once a performer, always a performer, he supposes. He casts an amused glance at the kitten. ]
He does. Being a kitten is tough, you gotta get those naps in when you can.
[ It seems like Dick is in a pensive sorta mood, she can relate, and she does have a lingering tiny bit of unease with the worry that it might be related to what they were talking about before. She knows she can let her enthusiasm get the better of her and get carried away, it'll happen, and that whole thing got a little... okay, weird is the wrong word, that makes it sounds bad, look she just doesn't want to scare off the guy that's become the closest thing to a best friend that she's had since Peter. Hobie's great, she misses Miles like crazy, but this right here? This makes her happy.
When he starts talking about the circus instead her shoulders relax some, where she hadn't even been aware she was tense in the first place, and instead she pushes her thoughts away from all that to think about what it must have been like for him as a performer. Technically she's been one too, but being a drummer in an amateur band was a lot different than being the center of attention and doing what must have been a lot of shows with barely any breathing room between them.
She hums thoughtfully as she takes a sip of her own soda, careful not to jostle the kitten in her lap. ]
That must get exhausting after a while though, yeah? Nothing like when I was doing shows with the Mary Janes. And I mean I know with the superhero thing we're never really off-duty, but when you take off the mask it feels different. To me, anyway.
[ He reaches to gently stroke the sleeping kitten's head, wondering if he ought to ask about the way her shoulders loosen. It might be something to do with why she'd left the party to go swinging around the city in the first place, in which case he doubts she'll want to talk about it, but it could be something else. The energy between them right now feels just slightly off, and he knows he ought to do something about it, but without knowing why – and he's not all that interested in deep introspection, right now – maybe it's better to let it be.
After all, she's relaxed again. So is the kitten; crashed in a way only very young animals can manage. It doesn't wake even as Dick teases its ears. ]
Yeah, but it was a good kind of exhausting. I loved it.
[ The crowds, the scent of popcorn and roasted peanuts. The family they'd made behind the scenes. The spotlight; the applause. He'd loved it all. ]
To me, too.
[ In some ways, he's starting to feel as though Nightwing is who he really is, and Dick Grayson is the mask he wears. He cants a grin at her, crinkle-eyed and teasing. ]
Not going to make fun of me for always needing to be the center of attention? That's a nice change.
[ Since Dick is already close enough to pet the kitten in her lap it's really more of a convenience for both of them for her to scoot very slightly closer so that their shoulders are actually touching. It's a nice contrast to the cool night air, and there's just something about that physical connection that's... nice. It's not all that common for her either, despite having some very good spider friends, having friends at all is still kind of a new concept for her. It makes her laugh at his remark that much lighter and easier. As if it's ever very hard to laugh when he's around. ]
Hey, if you're just going to call yourself out all I have to do is sit back and watch. Easiest roasting I've ever done.
[ She's still grinning as she goes to take another drink of her soda, then setting it aside to stroke the kitten's back, who is nearly vibrating with happy little kitten purrs. She's never had a cat herself but she's been around enough puppies and kittens to know that they'll play hard and then nap hard, and that's a style she can appreciate. She crashes hard too after a long night of webswinging around town or chasing glitches down before they wreck entire dimensions. It's a busy life, but she wouldn't know what to do with herself if she had too much free time.
That might be part of why she ditched the party in the first place. ]
Y'know I was thinking about asking you to come up here before I left, but then I thought maybe that would be too clingy and it seemed like you were having a good time, so... [ So she didn't, she didn't want to be the party's official stick in the mud. ] Buut here we are anyway, huh?
[ He wrinkles his nose at her, but hey – he spends his time with Jason and Tim, Steph and Babs. Even Cass makes fun of him whenever she can. He likes to think it helps her with her language skills. At this point, he's pretty sure it's a sign of affection.
Also affectionate: her shoulder nudging against his. He shifts his arm slightly behind her, letting her fit into the hollow of his shoulder. She's not quite leaning on him, and he's not quite inviting her to lean on him, but it's pretty comfortable to sit this way. No need to overthink it. He leans on that hand, lifts his drink in the other, then glances over at her confession. ]
Please don't give me the opportunity to use the word 'clingy' to describe a spider-person. It's too easy, it makes me feel like you're patronizing me.
[ But she's being sincere, and he doesn't actually want to brush aside her feelings. That would be a dick – ha, ha – thing to do, and it's not like she's wrong. He had been having a good time.
Dick shrugs, sets his drink down, leans back against both hands. ]
I was. But I'm having a good time now, too.
[ He slants a sidelong glance at her, the corner of his mouth rucking up. ]
Besides, the party wasn't as much fun once the coolest girl there decided to try her hand at cat-napping and beat it out the window.
[ Gwen puffs out a playfully dramatic sigh, blowing a few stray strands of blonde hair out of her face in the process. ]
I'd say that not everything has to be a spider pun, but... It kinda does.
[ If Dick's just going to make it easier to lean in against him, because yeah, she caught that, obviously that's exactly what she's going to do.
It wouldn't make any sense to get caught up on it any more than the occasional hand-holding for entirely practical reasons, so she's not doing the overthinking thing. Mostly. Hey, if she can admit that she wanted to drag him up here in the first place it's not that wild to accept that she'd be happy to comfortably slot themselves together like this, and his shoulder just so happens to be at a good height for her to tilt her head back into once he's settling back in after putting his own drink aside.
As much as that was a genuine confession of sorts, she's not dwelling too hard on it. Yeah, she doesn't get to visit quite as often as she'd like and she misses hanging out with him in those gaps between, but she doesn't expect him to drop everything for her when she is here. She's just glad that he accepts her as is. ]
Aw, stop it. [ She scrunches up her face at him, but even that won't stop the smile. ] Everybody you know is cool, I'm just... the freaky spider-girl? I don't know what to do with myself once I run out of party tricks.
I know for a fact you never run out of party tricks.
[ Dick's not a terribly tall guy; he's shorter than Hobie – or at least shorter than Hobie's hair – but Gwen is downright petite. She can tuck herself right into the curve of his shoulder and pillow her head on him without any trouble at all. It means he can't pet the kitten without disturbing her, but the little guy's crash, anyway. Dick can let him sleep.
And anyway, it feels nice. He didn't grow up as a ward of Bruce Wayne and not come out of it with a deep and abiding need for human contact. It's not that Bruce wasn't affectionate... in his way... it's just that he didn't really believe in physical contact that wasn't sparring. Training. Re-aligning. Saving. It was Alfred who offered an embrace, every now and again. No wonder Dick had been so obsessed with Babs, back in their Batgirl and Robin days, when his whole body seemed to sing at every teasing touch.
Not that Gwen is Babs. Not that this is anything like that. ]
Everybody I know is cool, that's true. And that definitely includes you.
[ Sometimes he wonders if there's a Gwen Stacy in his world. If she's anything like the Gwen he knows, she'd be a hell of an addition to the Titans. But then, he really can't imagine anyone like Gwen – she's one of a kind. ]
I'm glad you asked me to come out here. It's nice.
[ Gwen hums in a way that suggests some low-key doubt about her supposedly infinite supply of party tricks, maybe if she really tried she could keep that rolling for long enough to get herself out of the spotlight, she's never tried to test it before. She might have tried to argue the point just for fun, since she does like that kind of back and forth, but honestly? Now that she's distracted, between the soft, fluffy kitten in her lap and the solid, warm shoulder behind her, she's a little lost in the moment and that definitely harshes her banter game. It's a real problem that she will have to deal with—
Eventually. Probably? Or... not. ]
Me too.
[ It is nice up here, so much so that she can almost close her eyes and pretend that her life isn't completely crazy. Sure, it's fun, she's literally never bored anymore, she knows just as many cool people as Dick does, but sometimes she wants something different. Something like this. Which might be one of those times where it's better that she doesn't open her mouth just so she can put her foot in it, but because she's relaxed and happy and everything else has been going so well it's hard to stop herself. ]
You do know that if you told anyone you were coming up here with me then they probably think we're up to something now.
[ What? It's what she would think if it was a couple of her friends sneaking off together. ]
[ Up to something. Up to something. They're not, so it's not a problem, and that's not why she invited him up here to begin with.
Is it? ]
I guess they might, yeah.
[ He knows he has a reputation among his friends. He's friendly, he likes talking to people, getting to know them. And yeah, he likes to flirt. In a life as dangerous as theirs, why not take all the chances you can? ]
Little do they know we're already at the co-kidnapping a cat stage.
[ It falls a little flat; he can feel it. He's not sure he should be joking about getting up to something with Gwen. She's not a kid, and he's not actually that much older than her, but he has the distinct sense that Bruce would disapprove of anything that started fuzzing that line between them.
But is it already kind of fuzzy? If he's being honest with himself, how many people would he invite to lean on his shoulder like this? ]
I'm not sure what stage that is, but it sounds serious.
[ It's funny because that's not what they're doing, right?? But Dick sounds a little conflicted despite going along with the obvious awkward humor of people potentially thinking that they were sneaking off to do something other than play with the kitten and drink sodas up on the roof. Because that's just a common assumption, it's happened to her before. Hanging out with Hobie in and out of parties and shows will do that, even though they really are just friends.
Some people will persistently think that there's more to it, that's just never bothered her at all.
But Dick isn't exactly the same kind of friend, is he? She hasn't examined that too closely before, it's just a different vibe, so maybe that's why this kind of teasing doesn't come off the same way. When she tips her head back to look up at him she's got a thoughtful expression this time. She could just shrug it off and change the subject, that's probably the safest bet, but the last thing she wants to do is make things difficult for him with his other friends, or... potentially more-than-friends.
He could have one of those. He could have several of those for all she knows. ]
Would that be awkward for you? If they thought we were, uh... doing more than talking?
[ He knows what she means! She doesn't have to actually say it, does she? ]
I think it's somewhere between sharing movie theater popcorn and fighting each other's rogues. So yeah, pretty serious.
[ She's not wrong, it's definitely what people would think. Hell, it's probably what he would think, if he were at a party and some guy and girl headed up onto the roof for a little alone time, with or without a cat in tow. Honestly, it wouldn't even be the first time he'd pulled that move.
Except it feels weird and wrong to think of making a move on Gwen. Not because she's not attractive – she objectively is – but just because he already likes her so much and knows her... pretty well, he'd say. As well as anyone in this life knows each other, if they didn't grow up in each other's pockets fighting the same bad guys and monsters. She's not a girl he'd ever try to use a pick-up line on, except to try and make her laugh.
But she's not laughing now. Instead, there's a cute little divot between her brows, like she's thinking hard, considering. Studying him, instead of just being here with him.
He wants to cut that thoughtfulness off at the pass before it develops into outright concern. ]
Nah, it'd be fine.
[ He pushes reassurance into his grin and shrugs, letting her head move with his shoulder. ]
Wally would make fun of me, but Wally always makes fun of me. That's nothing new. And he'd just be jealous anyway. Beautiful evening? Up on the rooftop? Gorgeous girl and a cute kitten for company? He wishes.
[ That one surprised her, because it shouldn't matter, right? Whatever people might think of them the truth of what they do is pretty obvious, they're not sneaking around whenever she visit — actually they spend a lot of that time cruising through Blüdhaven and making their presence the exact opposite of sneaky — anyone who knows Dick at all would be able to tell if something was actually going on between them, wouldn't they? It takes her a second to parse it, her expression smoothing back out into a smile at Dick's casual dismissal of the idea, but what she does realize is that it's not really about what anyone else thinks. It's more about what Dick himself thinks about it.
She just... doesn't want him to think of her as a kid, mostly, which is probably ironic considering that she likes to crack jokes that would impress any discerning twelve year old, but that's just the way her sense of humor runs, and that humor is her best way of coping with the nuclear-level disaster of her personal life and the day to day struggles that come along with the hero thing. Everybody has their thing.
He knows that too, and he hasn't actually treated her like a side-kick or anything, which kinda boils down the worry to a very easy conclusion that she's trying to dance around as they speak while still acting very chill. ]
Gorgeous, huh? [ Way to make her blush, yikes. Not helping. ] You don't think you're laying it on a little thick, do you? I already agreed to run off to Paris with you, you don't have to keep that one going.
[ It's not a big thing. She can portal them halfway across the world in five seconds flat, it's basically like a trip to the corner bodega. And why shouldn't they explore a new city together? ]
My compliments are not contingent on a trip to Paris.
[ But it's possible he actually is making her uncomfortable. Gwen's not really the type to say if she is uncomfortable, but he feels like he's catching something a little different than usual under her jokes, so it's possible he's pushed too far.
Which is pretty much the last thing he wants to do. He doesn't have so many friends he's fine with alienating one, especially one as good as Gwen. Sometimes he feels like she gets him better than even some of the Titans who've known him for years.
Maybe it's because they didn't grow up together. She doesn't have any expectations of him; he doesn't need to be perfect. The good son, the successful leader, the one who picks up after everyone else. He can relax with her in a way he can't with almost anyone else; he doesn't want to screw that up. ]
But I can put a cork in it, if it's bugging you, and just think it to myself instead.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ The same someone who's now leaning back against the wall, letting the sounds of the party wash over him as he types into his phone. ]
don't worry
I'll let you get as much practice in as you need before game time
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i don't need practice, i'm ready to go whenever you are, pal
[ She can't exactly toss the kitten through the window, even though he probably wouldn't mind and she's not webbing the poor little guy up into a ball or anything wild like that. Instead she lands lightly on the window sill, hanging onto the frame with one hand while leaning down to carefully deposit him onto the floor. ]
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[ The kitten, none the worse for wear, stalks directly over to Dick and begins winding determinedly around his ankles, butting her tiny, bony head into his calf while he holds out a hand to help Gwen through the window. Not that she needs it, but it's the gentlemanly thing to do. ]
You two have fun?
no subject
Like she was just going to swing right back out when he's standing right there. She takes the offered hand to pull herself through, careful not to step on any kitten toes in the process. ]
Dude, every day is practice for me. Never a dull moment, you know? [ The mask hides her face, but a lot of expression comes through despite that, so her raised eyebrows translate. But hopefully not a lingering slight awkwardness about where that conversation definitely Did Not Go. ] If I didn't know any better I might think that you were stalling, like maybe you need some practice.
[ As if either of them gets a real break from all this. They sneak in a night or two like this when they can, but being a superhero type is a 24-7 gig. ]
And yes, we did. He fits really well right in my hood. It's too bad he won't always be travel-sized.
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Maybe I just want you to think I'm rusty. Give myself an edge. Cultivate an element of surprise.
[ Or maybe he's starting to wonder what possessed him to say Paris. Of all places. Sure, the Eiffel Tower would be fun to race up, but it's not like Paris is known for its skyscraping architecture.
Rather than think about it too hard, he curves his palm beneath the kitten and strokes the small head with his free hand, amused. It's not quite a success – there's the faint element of something deeper that he's steadily keeping off his face – but it's warm all the same. ]
He'd probably get huge. You'd spend as much time recalibrating for the added weight as swinging.
But I admit it; he's pretty cute.
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He seems very chill about it, so she's just going to be chill too. Easy. ]
Yeah, if he wants to be a spider-cat he's gonna have to work out how to use a webshooter. Or he could be a bat-bird-cat, I guess. Otherwise he might just have to stay here at HQ and keep an eye on things while everybody else is out.
[ The windowsill seems like as good a place to sit as any, watching while Dick gives the loudly purring kitten more attention and thinking that they're going to completely spoil him at this rate. But if there's a kitten to pet she is going to play with it while she can, no regrets. ]
So how's the party going?
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[ He has a brief mental image of the kitten wandering over Oracle's keyboards and causing a massive data blackout, and can't help chuckling. ]
I don't know. I think he'd be pretty cute in a domino mask, lurking in the shadows. But if he wants to join the bat-team, he's going to have to pay his dues first and spend some time as Robin.
[ He'd rather not think about how much easier it is to be here by the window, chatting with Gwen and playing with the kitten, than interacting with everyone else that's milling around. They're dancing to bass-heavy music, drinking amateurish mixes out of Solo cups, laughing in loose circles of four and five and six; partying. It's pretty far from the black tie soirees he'd attended as Bruce Wayne's ward, and he'd never had the normal teenage, college-kid party experience, so maybe it's not so weird that he's taking a little break, right?
But then she asks and he does think about it and maybe it is a little weird, because honestly? All he really wants to do is fling himself out the window and into the cool, velvet night air, because as much as he likes people, chatting and laughing and flirting and catching up, he likes being out there more. ]
Good. No costumed villains have crashed it yet, so, you know. It could be more interesting.
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[ Bat then bird, for whatever reason that's just how it works here? She's not one to judge.
This is honestly Gwen's typical go-to party spot, on the rare occasion when she would get dragged to one in the first place, since she kinda missed out on a lot of partying time already thanks to the whole Spider-Woman thing. Barricading herself in a quiet room to pet a cat after making a reasonable effort to be social was predictable, so she might have a knack for recognizing that same look on someone else's face. He doesn't look miserable but he's got a kinda wistful look in his eyes, she thinks. ]
You wanna take a couple drinks up to the roof?
[ It's not the same as fully abandoning the party. She might have suggested it sooner, but Dick looked like he was having a good enough time back there, she wasn't gonna steal him away. But now... apparently she's branching out from just being a cat-napper. Now she's a potential bird-napper too? ]
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Which, she isn't. And that's nothing new, so he's not quite sure why it suddenly feels like kind of a weird thing to say. But this has been a weird kind of night; maybe he's just off his game. He'll feel better once he's back on patrol in the 'haven tomorrow. ]
As long as we take the kitten with us. He looks like he wants to get back out of here, don't you think?
[ He holds the small creature up, like it's the reason he's saying: yeah, okay. ]
But no drinks for him.
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But she's got no ulterior motives here, at least not that she's aware of, she's just kind of expecting him to come back with a can of soda rather than what most other people are drinking, and she could tease him about it a bit. But hey, if he's gonna treat her more like an adult than a kid? That's very okay.
Not that he really does that anyway, at the very least not in the obnoxious, condescending kinda way that tends to come from the over forty bracket. Maybe that's why he had a bit of a weird look for a second there, her age just usually doesn't come up. ]
Nope, no drinks for kitty unless they've got catnip tea on tap. [ She stands up to reach for the kitten, gently lifting him from Dick's hands. ] I'll go ahead and take him up, you can meet us there?
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Sure. Save me a seat, Spider-Woman.
[ She'll be gone in the next moment, so he turns his focus to his own mission – such as it is – and goes in search of drinks.
A few minutes later, climbing the fire escape up to the roof, he has to admit it: it's nicer out here, the breeze snaking through the buildings and cooling him, sticking his shirt to his back with sweat, than it was inside. Maybe he's taking the slow way up, but hey – he's not in costume, and it's just a few flights of metal stairs.
Even so, he hups lightly over the edge of the rooftop, drinks in one hand. Sodas – for both of them. The buzz and muffled sensation of alcohol isn't really something he's chasing, tonight. ]
Your drink order, madam?
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She frees up both of her own hands to make a grabby motion toward him, but she's obviously not going to move and disrupt the sanctity of a kitten nap. She's not that much of a monster. ]
Thank you!
[ She's fine with soda. The thing about alcohol is, aside from the fact that she could possibly get in trouble in some places with it, is that she can barely work up more than a brief buzz before her metabolism kicks the whole thing out, so it kinda defeats the whole point. Maybe it's fun for an hour or two, that's about it. ]
Did anybody have something to say about you following my bad example and abandoning the party?
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[ He hands over her soda and takes a seat next to her, cracking open his own can for a sip of cola, relaxing as he looks up into the sky and savors the quiet of the rooftop.
It's not that he doesn't like people. Unlike Bruce, he's always enjoyed company, always been extroverted and chatty. But there are times when he feels like that's as much of a performance as Bruce's shadows and cloak and ability to pop out of seemingly nowhere. It's a second before he puts his finger on it, but once he does, he glances over at her. ]
It's funny. Being around that many people in one space always makes me feel like I'm back in the center ring. Like I should be doing tricks while they eat popcorn.
[ Which isn't a bad thing. He'd loved his time in the circus. He was born to stand in the spotlight, to draw oohs and ahhs from the crowd.
But once a performer, always a performer, he supposes. He casts an amused glance at the kitten. ]
He looks pretty comfy.
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[ It seems like Dick is in a pensive sorta mood, she can relate, and she does have a lingering tiny bit of unease with the worry that it might be related to what they were talking about before. She knows she can let her enthusiasm get the better of her and get carried away, it'll happen, and that whole thing got a little... okay, weird is the wrong word, that makes it sounds bad, look she just doesn't want to scare off the guy that's become the closest thing to a best friend that she's had since Peter. Hobie's great, she misses Miles like crazy, but this right here? This makes her happy.
When he starts talking about the circus instead her shoulders relax some, where she hadn't even been aware she was tense in the first place, and instead she pushes her thoughts away from all that to think about what it must have been like for him as a performer. Technically she's been one too, but being a drummer in an amateur band was a lot different than being the center of attention and doing what must have been a lot of shows with barely any breathing room between them.
She hums thoughtfully as she takes a sip of her own soda, careful not to jostle the kitten in her lap. ]
That must get exhausting after a while though, yeah? Nothing like when I was doing shows with the Mary Janes. And I mean I know with the superhero thing we're never really off-duty, but when you take off the mask it feels different. To me, anyway.
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After all, she's relaxed again. So is the kitten; crashed in a way only very young animals can manage. It doesn't wake even as Dick teases its ears. ]
Yeah, but it was a good kind of exhausting. I loved it.
[ The crowds, the scent of popcorn and roasted peanuts. The family they'd made behind the scenes. The spotlight; the applause. He'd loved it all. ]
To me, too.
[ In some ways, he's starting to feel as though Nightwing is who he really is, and Dick Grayson is the mask he wears. He cants a grin at her, crinkle-eyed and teasing. ]
Not going to make fun of me for always needing to be the center of attention? That's a nice change.
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Hey, if you're just going to call yourself out all I have to do is sit back and watch. Easiest roasting I've ever done.
[ She's still grinning as she goes to take another drink of her soda, then setting it aside to stroke the kitten's back, who is nearly vibrating with happy little kitten purrs. She's never had a cat herself but she's been around enough puppies and kittens to know that they'll play hard and then nap hard, and that's a style she can appreciate. She crashes hard too after a long night of webswinging around town or chasing glitches down before they wreck entire dimensions. It's a busy life, but she wouldn't know what to do with herself if she had too much free time.
That might be part of why she ditched the party in the first place. ]
Y'know I was thinking about asking you to come up here before I left, but then I thought maybe that would be too clingy and it seemed like you were having a good time, so... [ So she didn't, she didn't want to be the party's official stick in the mud. ] Buut here we are anyway, huh?
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Also affectionate: her shoulder nudging against his. He shifts his arm slightly behind her, letting her fit into the hollow of his shoulder. She's not quite leaning on him, and he's not quite inviting her to lean on him, but it's pretty comfortable to sit this way. No need to overthink it. He leans on that hand, lifts his drink in the other, then glances over at her confession. ]
Please don't give me the opportunity to use the word 'clingy' to describe a spider-person. It's too easy, it makes me feel like you're patronizing me.
[ But she's being sincere, and he doesn't actually want to brush aside her feelings. That would be a dick – ha, ha – thing to do, and it's not like she's wrong. He had been having a good time.
Dick shrugs, sets his drink down, leans back against both hands. ]
I was. But I'm having a good time now, too.
[ He slants a sidelong glance at her, the corner of his mouth rucking up. ]
Besides, the party wasn't as much fun once the coolest girl there decided to try her hand at cat-napping and beat it out the window.
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I'd say that not everything has to be a spider pun, but... It kinda does.
[ If Dick's just going to make it easier to lean in against him, because yeah, she caught that, obviously that's exactly what she's going to do.
It wouldn't make any sense to get caught up on it any more than the occasional hand-holding for entirely practical reasons, so she's not doing the overthinking thing. Mostly. Hey, if she can admit that she wanted to drag him up here in the first place it's not that wild to accept that she'd be happy to comfortably slot themselves together like this, and his shoulder just so happens to be at a good height for her to tilt her head back into once he's settling back in after putting his own drink aside.
As much as that was a genuine confession of sorts, she's not dwelling too hard on it. Yeah, she doesn't get to visit quite as often as she'd like and she misses hanging out with him in those gaps between, but she doesn't expect him to drop everything for her when she is here. She's just glad that he accepts her as is. ]
Aw, stop it. [ She scrunches up her face at him, but even that won't stop the smile. ] Everybody you know is cool, I'm just... the freaky spider-girl? I don't know what to do with myself once I run out of party tricks.
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[ Dick's not a terribly tall guy; he's shorter than Hobie – or at least shorter than Hobie's hair – but Gwen is downright petite. She can tuck herself right into the curve of his shoulder and pillow her head on him without any trouble at all. It means he can't pet the kitten without disturbing her, but the little guy's crash, anyway. Dick can let him sleep.
And anyway, it feels nice. He didn't grow up as a ward of Bruce Wayne and not come out of it with a deep and abiding need for human contact. It's not that Bruce wasn't affectionate... in his way... it's just that he didn't really believe in physical contact that wasn't sparring. Training. Re-aligning. Saving. It was Alfred who offered an embrace, every now and again. No wonder Dick had been so obsessed with Babs, back in their Batgirl and Robin days, when his whole body seemed to sing at every teasing touch.
Not that Gwen is Babs. Not that this is anything like that. ]
Everybody I know is cool, that's true. And that definitely includes you.
[ Sometimes he wonders if there's a Gwen Stacy in his world. If she's anything like the Gwen he knows, she'd be a hell of an addition to the Titans. But then, he really can't imagine anyone like Gwen – she's one of a kind. ]
I'm glad you asked me to come out here. It's nice.
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Eventually.
Probably?
Or... not. ]
Me too.
[ It is nice up here, so much so that she can almost close her eyes and pretend that her life isn't completely crazy. Sure, it's fun, she's literally never bored anymore, she knows just as many cool people as Dick does, but sometimes she wants something different. Something like this. Which might be one of those times where it's better that she doesn't open her mouth just so she can put her foot in it, but because she's relaxed and happy and everything else has been going so well it's hard to stop herself. ]
You do know that if you told anyone you were coming up here with me then they probably think we're up to something now.
[ What? It's what she would think if it was a couple of her friends sneaking off together. ]
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Is it? ]
I guess they might, yeah.
[ He knows he has a reputation among his friends. He's friendly, he likes talking to people, getting to know them. And yeah, he likes to flirt. In a life as dangerous as theirs, why not take all the chances you can? ]
Little do they know we're already at the co-kidnapping a cat stage.
[ It falls a little flat; he can feel it. He's not sure he should be joking about getting up to something with Gwen. She's not a kid, and he's not actually that much older than her, but he has the distinct sense that Bruce would disapprove of anything that started fuzzing that line between them.
But is it already kind of fuzzy? If he's being honest with himself, how many people would he invite to lean on his shoulder like this? ]
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[ It's funny because that's not what they're doing, right?? But Dick sounds a little conflicted despite going along with the obvious awkward humor of people potentially thinking that they were sneaking off to do something other than play with the kitten and drink sodas up on the roof. Because that's just a common assumption, it's happened to her before. Hanging out with Hobie in and out of parties and shows will do that, even though they really are just friends.
Some people will persistently think that there's more to it, that's just never bothered her at all.
But Dick isn't exactly the same kind of friend, is he? She hasn't examined that too closely before, it's just a different vibe, so maybe that's why this kind of teasing doesn't come off the same way. When she tips her head back to look up at him she's got a thoughtful expression this time. She could just shrug it off and change the subject, that's probably the safest bet, but the last thing she wants to do is make things difficult for him with his other friends, or... potentially more-than-friends.
He could have one of those. He could have several of those for all she knows. ]
Would that be awkward for you? If they thought we were, uh... doing more than talking?
[ He knows what she means! She doesn't have to actually say it, does she? ]
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[ She's not wrong, it's definitely what people would think. Hell, it's probably what he would think, if he were at a party and some guy and girl headed up onto the roof for a little alone time, with or without a cat in tow. Honestly, it wouldn't even be the first time he'd pulled that move.
Except it feels weird and wrong to think of making a move on Gwen. Not because she's not attractive – she objectively is – but just because he already likes her so much and knows her... pretty well, he'd say. As well as anyone in this life knows each other, if they didn't grow up in each other's pockets fighting the same bad guys and monsters. She's not a girl he'd ever try to use a pick-up line on, except to try and make her laugh.
But she's not laughing now. Instead, there's a cute little divot between her brows, like she's thinking hard, considering. Studying him, instead of just being here with him.
He wants to cut that thoughtfulness off at the pass before it develops into outright concern. ]
Nah, it'd be fine.
[ He pushes reassurance into his grin and shrugs, letting her head move with his shoulder. ]
Wally would make fun of me, but Wally always makes fun of me. That's nothing new. And he'd just be jealous anyway. Beautiful evening? Up on the rooftop? Gorgeous girl and a cute kitten for company? He wishes.
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She just... doesn't want him to think of her as a kid, mostly, which is probably ironic considering that she likes to crack jokes that would impress any discerning twelve year old, but that's just the way her sense of humor runs, and that humor is her best way of coping with the nuclear-level disaster of her personal life and the day to day struggles that come along with the hero thing. Everybody has their thing.
He knows that too, and he hasn't actually treated her like a side-kick or anything, which kinda boils down the worry to a very easy conclusion that she's trying to dance around as they speak while still acting very chill. ]
Gorgeous, huh? [ Way to make her blush, yikes. Not helping. ] You don't think you're laying it on a little thick, do you? I already agreed to run off to Paris with you, you don't have to keep that one going.
[ It's not a big thing. She can portal them halfway across the world in five seconds flat, it's basically like a trip to the corner bodega. And why shouldn't they explore a new city together? ]
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[ But it's possible he actually is making her uncomfortable. Gwen's not really the type to say if she is uncomfortable, but he feels like he's catching something a little different than usual under her jokes, so it's possible he's pushed too far.
Which is pretty much the last thing he wants to do. He doesn't have so many friends he's fine with alienating one, especially one as good as Gwen. Sometimes he feels like she gets him better than even some of the Titans who've known him for years.
Maybe it's because they didn't grow up together. She doesn't have any expectations of him; he doesn't need to be perfect. The good son, the successful leader, the one who picks up after everyone else. He can relax with her in a way he can't with almost anyone else; he doesn't want to screw that up. ]
But I can put a cork in it, if it's bugging you, and just think it to myself instead.
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