New Years at Titans Tower
By
Dante
(Author's Disclaimer: I do not own Dick "Robin" Grayson or Tara "Terra" Markov in any way, shape or form. I also make no claim to being Titan's canonist, so I' sure I'm grossly off on things like dates, but what the hell, chalk it up to a Hypertime fluctuation)
New Years Eve - 1987
They say that New York is "The City that Never Sleeps" and the proverbial "they" are probably right. If there is one night that proves this as indisputable fact, it is New Year's Eve. The city's streets were awash with throbbing masses of people, all gravitating like spawning salmon toward Times Square. Undoubtedly, there were still many New Yorkers who were letting their gazes wander of the city's famous skyline as the hour crept ever closer to midnight, but it would probably be a good guess that most of those gazes belonged to happier people than Dick Grayson. He was alone atop Titans Tower, looking out, not at the city, but to the endless expanse of water beyond the harbor.
His legs were drawn up beneath him in the stance that had become second nature after so many years grouched on rooftops and perched on gargoyles, and the blanket draped over his shoulders only heightened his already remarkable resemblance to the man who had been his mentor and once… his friend.
It had been more than six months since he had been rather unceremoniously booted out of Wayne Manor. Well… he thought, that isn't quite fair. You were booted out of the Batcave and you ran out of Wayne Manor. Get it right, Dick. A good detective can't afford to muddy the details, isn't that right, Bruce?
"Hello, Tara." He said quietly, keeping his back to her.
"You heard me coming?"
"What can I say? I had a good teacher." He allowed himself to turn his head and look over his shoulder.
Tara Markov was the newest member of the Teen Titans, and their youngest member. At fifteen, she was already a striking beauty (as a young, virile man such as Dick Grayson was helpless to avoid noticing), a quality which could almost make one forget that within her slim, oft-times awkward frame lay the power to raze the city behind them to the ground.
"Did you need something?"
"I was actually going to ask you that. What are you doing up here, all alone?"
"I was alone up here? I hadn't noticed."
The words came out much harsher than dick had intended, and he could see their effect reflected on Tara's face, which involuntarily pulled in on itself in a look that straddled the line between sadness and anger.
"I just thought that maybe you might want some company, that's all. I guess I was wrong. I'll…"
"Tara… I'm sorry. That didn't come out right. You don't have to go."
She apparently forgave him, crossing the rest of the distance across the roof and sitting next to him, her legs dangling from over the edge of the roof, kicking slightly and giving her an even more girlish appearance. She was dressed simply, blue jeans and a thick orange sweater and Dick couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a rather fragrant perfume. Liz Clairborne, if his nose served him.
"So, what are you doing up here?"
"Nothing, really. Just thinking."
"What about?"
"You're pretty curious tonight."
"What, is that supposed to be reserved for detectives like you?"
"Touché." He was silent for a moment and then spoke. "I was thinking about home. This is the first Christmas in a very long time that I've spent alone."
"Ahem."
He turned his head again and looked at Tara, sitting beside him. She had her eyebrow raised in that uniquely feminine expression that said "Excuse me?"
"Well… yeah. I guess I'm not exactly alone. But you know what I mean. This year was my first Christmas away from… my family."
He thought of Bruce and Alfred and what they would be doing tonight. His mind turned to memories of Alfred's Christmas butter cookies and glasses of warm milk that they'd put out by the fire, left waiting there for Santa Claus. When he'd gotten older, and Alfred had reluctantly admitted the realities of the man in the bright red suit, Dick had asked him why he'd waited so long. He had seen far uglier truths on Gotham's streets. "That, Master Dick" he'd said. "Is precisely why I waited."
"But what are you doing here, Tara. Shouldn't you be at home with your brother? I would think that Brion would want to spend the holidays with his family."
She shrugged.
"From things he said, I think he had more important plans tonight."
The were quit for a moment and then Tara's was the first voice to break the silence.
"Dick, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Do you like me?"
Dick prided himself on expecting the unexpected, but that was one question that he was definitely not prepared for. He missed some of what Tara said and when he came to his senses she was still rambling on.
"…Starfire and I know that I shouldn't even be asking this but… do you like me?"
"Tara… you're a great girl and I think that you're swell, its just that…"
"So you don't like me."
He took a look at her face and saw the crestfallen look on it and resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her and comfort her. It would only make things worse. While all this swirled through his head, she'd already gotten up and was making for the stairwell.
"Tara, wait!"
He sped across the roof but was too late. She was already through the door.
Tara sat on the bed in one of the bedrooms that Titans Tower held for those late nights of crime fighting and sobbed into the pillow. Then she heard a soft knock at the door.
"Tara?"
"GO AWAY!"
"Tara, I just want to talk."
He cracked the door a bit and peered in.
"Is it all right if I come in?"
He saw the almost imperceptible movement in the pillow that came with a muffled head-nod. He walked in and sat on the edge of her bed, noting with trained eyes the slight water stains on the pillow and the faint aroma of saltwater.
"I'm sorry, Tara. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
There was a muffled murmur from within the recesses of feathers beneath her head.
"What's that?"
She rolled over and leveled her red-eyed gaze at him.
"I said 'Its fine, I'm just stupid.', okay?"
"What? No, you're not stupid. Why would you say that?"
"Because I thought you liked me and I was totally, spectacularly wrong."
At that moment, Dick Grayson felt totally, spectacularly horrible.
"Tara… look… I just. Aw geez, I don't know… it was just very unexpected, that's all. Where'd this come from, anyway?"
She was hugging a pillow to her chest and peering out from behind it.
"I dunno. I guess… it just seems like sometimes you're the only one around her who looks at me like a real person."
"What do you mean? Have the other said something or done something to make you feel bad? Who was it, I'll go talk to them and we'll get this alll…"
"Nonono… its not like that. Its just… everyone else just looks at me like I'm this little girl who doesn't know what she's doing and like any second I'm going to go nuts and break the Tower in half or something. You're the only one who respects me."
"Anyone who does this job deserves respect, Tara, anyone. It doesn't matter how young you are or how experienced, because if you're willing to put your life on the line to help other people, then you're a grown-up in my book."
"Everyone deserves respect?"
"Everyone."
"Even Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle?"
"…That's debatable."
She laughed then, and Dick smiled to hear it. It meant she was shaking off the gloom that he'd helped dump on her. It didn't even occur to him, as he'd been so busy trying to help her out, that their conversation was, in a way, what he'd wished Bruce had said to him. Now that the moment was past, that realization flooded into him and hit home in a very strong way. His relieved smile quickly turned to a scowl and Tara sunk back into the bed, afraid that she'd done something wrong.
"What is it? What did I do?"
"Nothing… Tara… you didn't do anything. I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."
"Tell me."
"Really, its nothing."
She sat up now and took one of his hands in hers and wiped a lone tear from his cheek.
"Tell me." She almost whispered.
Dick swallowed back the tears that were threatening to burst, full force, to the surface and breathed out heavily.
"I was just thinking how it might have been nice… how I wish someone had said something like that to me. That's all."
"You mean Batman."
"Yeah."
"Hey, look at me." He kept his head turned away. "Come on, lookie here." She turned his face toward her. "S'my turn to be all wise and junk. You just keep on saying and thinking things like what you said, and you're going to grow up to be ten times the man he is. I'll bet on it."
He looked into her eyes for a moment and she smiled at him, after which he couldn't help but smile back, despite the tears that were overrunning his defenses.
"Look at me… I came down here to comfort you and I'm the one who's turning into a basket case." He was only barely holding it in now, his chest starting to heave with every breath.
"Hey, hey, no, it's okay." She put her arms around him and hugged him close. "Shh… its okay…"
He stayed there for a moment, her hands gently stroking his thick black hair and smelling the rich scent of her perfume and then pulled himself away, wiping his eyes.
"Thank you."
From outside, they heard the sound of cheers rising over the city, or church bells sounding and fireworks being set off. They both looked over at the clock next to the table and saw that it read 12:00.
She didn't say anything, just reached out and pulled his face toward hers, touching his lips with a very gentle kiss, not asking for anything, just giving. It lasted only a moment before he put his hand on her cheek and returned it.
"Happy New Year, Dick."
"Happy New Year."
By
Dante
(Author's Disclaimer: I do not own Dick "Robin" Grayson or Tara "Terra" Markov in any way, shape or form. I also make no claim to being Titan's canonist, so I' sure I'm grossly off on things like dates, but what the hell, chalk it up to a Hypertime fluctuation)
New Years Eve - 1987
They say that New York is "The City that Never Sleeps" and the proverbial "they" are probably right. If there is one night that proves this as indisputable fact, it is New Year's Eve. The city's streets were awash with throbbing masses of people, all gravitating like spawning salmon toward Times Square. Undoubtedly, there were still many New Yorkers who were letting their gazes wander of the city's famous skyline as the hour crept ever closer to midnight, but it would probably be a good guess that most of those gazes belonged to happier people than Dick Grayson. He was alone atop Titans Tower, looking out, not at the city, but to the endless expanse of water beyond the harbor.
His legs were drawn up beneath him in the stance that had become second nature after so many years grouched on rooftops and perched on gargoyles, and the blanket draped over his shoulders only heightened his already remarkable resemblance to the man who had been his mentor and once… his friend.
It had been more than six months since he had been rather unceremoniously booted out of Wayne Manor. Well… he thought, that isn't quite fair. You were booted out of the Batcave and you ran out of Wayne Manor. Get it right, Dick. A good detective can't afford to muddy the details, isn't that right, Bruce?
"Hello, Tara." He said quietly, keeping his back to her.
"You heard me coming?"
"What can I say? I had a good teacher." He allowed himself to turn his head and look over his shoulder.
Tara Markov was the newest member of the Teen Titans, and their youngest member. At fifteen, she was already a striking beauty (as a young, virile man such as Dick Grayson was helpless to avoid noticing), a quality which could almost make one forget that within her slim, oft-times awkward frame lay the power to raze the city behind them to the ground.
"Did you need something?"
"I was actually going to ask you that. What are you doing up here, all alone?"
"I was alone up here? I hadn't noticed."
The words came out much harsher than dick had intended, and he could see their effect reflected on Tara's face, which involuntarily pulled in on itself in a look that straddled the line between sadness and anger.
"I just thought that maybe you might want some company, that's all. I guess I was wrong. I'll…"
"Tara… I'm sorry. That didn't come out right. You don't have to go."
She apparently forgave him, crossing the rest of the distance across the roof and sitting next to him, her legs dangling from over the edge of the roof, kicking slightly and giving her an even more girlish appearance. She was dressed simply, blue jeans and a thick orange sweater and Dick couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a rather fragrant perfume. Liz Clairborne, if his nose served him.
"So, what are you doing up here?"
"Nothing, really. Just thinking."
"What about?"
"You're pretty curious tonight."
"What, is that supposed to be reserved for detectives like you?"
"Touché." He was silent for a moment and then spoke. "I was thinking about home. This is the first Christmas in a very long time that I've spent alone."
"Ahem."
He turned his head again and looked at Tara, sitting beside him. She had her eyebrow raised in that uniquely feminine expression that said "Excuse me?"
"Well… yeah. I guess I'm not exactly alone. But you know what I mean. This year was my first Christmas away from… my family."
He thought of Bruce and Alfred and what they would be doing tonight. His mind turned to memories of Alfred's Christmas butter cookies and glasses of warm milk that they'd put out by the fire, left waiting there for Santa Claus. When he'd gotten older, and Alfred had reluctantly admitted the realities of the man in the bright red suit, Dick had asked him why he'd waited so long. He had seen far uglier truths on Gotham's streets. "That, Master Dick" he'd said. "Is precisely why I waited."
"But what are you doing here, Tara. Shouldn't you be at home with your brother? I would think that Brion would want to spend the holidays with his family."
She shrugged.
"From things he said, I think he had more important plans tonight."
The were quit for a moment and then Tara's was the first voice to break the silence.
"Dick, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Do you like me?"
Dick prided himself on expecting the unexpected, but that was one question that he was definitely not prepared for. He missed some of what Tara said and when he came to his senses she was still rambling on.
"…Starfire and I know that I shouldn't even be asking this but… do you like me?"
"Tara… you're a great girl and I think that you're swell, its just that…"
"So you don't like me."
He took a look at her face and saw the crestfallen look on it and resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her and comfort her. It would only make things worse. While all this swirled through his head, she'd already gotten up and was making for the stairwell.
"Tara, wait!"
He sped across the roof but was too late. She was already through the door.
Tara sat on the bed in one of the bedrooms that Titans Tower held for those late nights of crime fighting and sobbed into the pillow. Then she heard a soft knock at the door.
"Tara?"
"GO AWAY!"
"Tara, I just want to talk."
He cracked the door a bit and peered in.
"Is it all right if I come in?"
He saw the almost imperceptible movement in the pillow that came with a muffled head-nod. He walked in and sat on the edge of her bed, noting with trained eyes the slight water stains on the pillow and the faint aroma of saltwater.
"I'm sorry, Tara. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
There was a muffled murmur from within the recesses of feathers beneath her head.
"What's that?"
She rolled over and leveled her red-eyed gaze at him.
"I said 'Its fine, I'm just stupid.', okay?"
"What? No, you're not stupid. Why would you say that?"
"Because I thought you liked me and I was totally, spectacularly wrong."
At that moment, Dick Grayson felt totally, spectacularly horrible.
"Tara… look… I just. Aw geez, I don't know… it was just very unexpected, that's all. Where'd this come from, anyway?"
She was hugging a pillow to her chest and peering out from behind it.
"I dunno. I guess… it just seems like sometimes you're the only one around her who looks at me like a real person."
"What do you mean? Have the other said something or done something to make you feel bad? Who was it, I'll go talk to them and we'll get this alll…"
"Nonono… its not like that. Its just… everyone else just looks at me like I'm this little girl who doesn't know what she's doing and like any second I'm going to go nuts and break the Tower in half or something. You're the only one who respects me."
"Anyone who does this job deserves respect, Tara, anyone. It doesn't matter how young you are or how experienced, because if you're willing to put your life on the line to help other people, then you're a grown-up in my book."
"Everyone deserves respect?"
"Everyone."
"Even Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle?"
"…That's debatable."
She laughed then, and Dick smiled to hear it. It meant she was shaking off the gloom that he'd helped dump on her. It didn't even occur to him, as he'd been so busy trying to help her out, that their conversation was, in a way, what he'd wished Bruce had said to him. Now that the moment was past, that realization flooded into him and hit home in a very strong way. His relieved smile quickly turned to a scowl and Tara sunk back into the bed, afraid that she'd done something wrong.
"What is it? What did I do?"
"Nothing… Tara… you didn't do anything. I just have a lot on my mind, that's all."
"Tell me."
"Really, its nothing."
She sat up now and took one of his hands in hers and wiped a lone tear from his cheek.
"Tell me." She almost whispered.
Dick swallowed back the tears that were threatening to burst, full force, to the surface and breathed out heavily.
"I was just thinking how it might have been nice… how I wish someone had said something like that to me. That's all."
"You mean Batman."
"Yeah."
"Hey, look at me." He kept his head turned away. "Come on, lookie here." She turned his face toward her. "S'my turn to be all wise and junk. You just keep on saying and thinking things like what you said, and you're going to grow up to be ten times the man he is. I'll bet on it."
He looked into her eyes for a moment and she smiled at him, after which he couldn't help but smile back, despite the tears that were overrunning his defenses.
"Look at me… I came down here to comfort you and I'm the one who's turning into a basket case." He was only barely holding it in now, his chest starting to heave with every breath.
"Hey, hey, no, it's okay." She put her arms around him and hugged him close. "Shh… its okay…"
He stayed there for a moment, her hands gently stroking his thick black hair and smelling the rich scent of her perfume and then pulled himself away, wiping his eyes.
"Thank you."
From outside, they heard the sound of cheers rising over the city, or church bells sounding and fireworks being set off. They both looked over at the clock next to the table and saw that it read 12:00.
She didn't say anything, just reached out and pulled his face toward hers, touching his lips with a very gentle kiss, not asking for anything, just giving. It lasted only a moment before he put his hand on her cheek and returned it.
"Happy New Year, Dick."
"Happy New Year."