~I am caged in this love~
Bludhaven, NJ
October 21 2019
2:49 a.m
Top of Midtown Building
The night breeze blew past her body as she looked down. The city of Bludhaven was beneath her, she didn't know the city could be so noisy in the middle of the night. Her heart hammered against her chest as the man holding her over the ledge of the 50 storie Midtown Building began to loosen his grip. It was like being atop of a roller coaster waiting to be dropped at any minute- except this was so much worse. She looked towards Nightwing standing in front of the man, she couldn't exactly hear what they were saying due to the loud ringing in her ears. Just do it. Just do it. Do it. Come on do it. She told herself.
He looked desperate in that moment. Cornered with no exits. Being cornered is the worst thing that could happen on a job he had told her before. Now she watched as he himself was cornered, left with not many options before him. She grabbed the arm that was holding him and, interrupted their conversation. Do it.
She was breathing heavy "Nightwing, it's not ...worth it" I'm not worth it.
"You don't know what your saying"
"Aww...she's trying to spare your guilty conscious, that's sweet" the man taunted
"It's fine, I'm going to be fine" she gave a little smile. Do it. Do it. C'mon Gloria do it. "Hey" she grabbed the attention of Nightwing making eye contact "...thanks" For giving me strength. For being my friend. For letting me-
Nightwing's face quickly changed from fear to panic "What are you-" and she didn't hear the rest of it as she pulled the man's arm causing him to lose balance which began her descent into the city. Grabbing him while she began to fall she pulled him with her towards the ground. Even though she planned this out she screamed on her way down anyway.
Gotham, NJ
February 9, 2015
12:35 pm
Gotham Academy
"You know if your keep staring at your paper like that your gonna burn a hole through it right" came a voice over her shoulder. The one and only Richard Grayson came over and took a seat on the opposite seat from her. The Gotham Academy lunch room crowded with people, they sat in the corner where they liked it best.
"Dick if you want to settle for your C- paper be my guest. All I'm saying is Ms. Reese is crazy I mean this is an A+ essay" she chewed on the eraser of her pencil "This is such bullshit" she said irritated. If there was anything Gloria Delgado knew about herself is that she never got less than an A- on a paper.
"Uh huh..or ..you know ..you might not done as good as a job as you thought you did" he suggested taking out his laptop.
She flipped him the middle finger and pushed a pieces of her brown locks back. "Yeah and maybe the Arkham inmates aren't crazy" her voice dripping with sarcasm. He gave her a small laugh.
"They're technically patients Glor"
She smiled and looked up her green and blue almond shaped eyes meeting his bright blue eyes. "And this essay is technically an A+" she smiled. She loved her best friend she really did, the famous Richard Grayson but he could be a real pain sometimes. He had good grades, he was athletic, not to mention his father was the wealthiest man in the city probably one of the most wealthiest man in the country or world even. Plus it didn't hurt that he was good looking; bright blue eyes, jet black hair, striking features. Everything that could make a girl swoon.
She took a look behind him and saw the many faces of girls swooning at him and then glaring at her. For the 7 years she'd known him he'd always been popular, even in elementary school. She looked up from her laptop and saw him eating an apple while he scrolled through his phone put it down and begin typing on his laptop.
She rolled her eyes, honestly if I had feelings for him I would have acted on them a long time ago. In fact I'm the one that pushes him to-. Her thoughts were interrupted by his voice, her blue and green eyes looked up to meet his blue ones.
"You coming over tonight?" he questioned.
"Yeah, I just have to run a few errands tonight with mom. Wanna come with?"
"Ughhhhh do I have too?" he put his head down on the table.
"Pick me up after then".
"Ughhhh"
"I guess you don't if you don't really want to. I mean I guess this...young... girl will just have to ….walk...alone…to Wayne Manor….though Gotham" she sighed pretending to be sad.
"Okay I got it" he rolled his eyes clearly aware of what she was doing
"Actually it might be pitch black while I'm walking there...through Gotham. Or I might get kidnapped by some random villain before that who knows?" she exaggeratedly shrugged her shoulders.
"I got it. Point has been taken. I'm staying" he flicked her in the forehead and she swatted his hand away.
"You don't have to I could have just called a taxi."
"Save it Glor"
She laughed at him and gave a knowing smile "You know I hear the gymnastics team could always use another member"
"Not this song again" he rolled his eyes "Why don't you join? You're qualified"
"I'm serious" she stated, ignoring his question "You should join the team...I think you would really like it" she was aware of her friends high athleticism and she was more surprised when she learned that he was quiet the experienced acrobat.
"I just don't even think it'll be fair if I joined" he shrugged
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" she questioned as she continued typing her essay.
"Well, technically I'm a professional acrobat" he crossed his arms
"Are you though?" she said sarcastically. She took a long sip from her iced coffee.
"Uh yeah. Hello? Born and raised in a traveling circus over here. I think I qualify." he waved his hands in front of her.
"...Fair enough. Still though you should sign up for some extracurricular activity, colleges really look at that y'know". She was met with a simple 'Hn' as a response. Rolling her eyes she continued to type away her essay she looked up and saw him staring at her. He heart jumped a bit, he didn't look at her like this often. When he did though, he wanted something.
She sighed "what do you want?" Stop staring at me like that.
He gave her a boyish grin "I ...kinda need your help Gloria"
"Uh oh...full name it must be serious" she joked. He didn't really use her full name often. Especially after giving her the nickname 'Glory' and 'Glor' when they were 11, but when he used it he definitely wanted something. Last time he used it he said he forgot to do Ms. Lenors Chemistry homework which was two weeks ago.
"Well...there's this girl-" he began. Ah, there it was. Another girl on his radar.
"Here we go again, Dick just talk to her. Just work that Grayson charm like the last four times and you'll have her in under a week." She knew her best friend had a habit of jumping into relationships and she honestly tried to help keep one but each time they ended he was the one doing the "breaking up" she was kind of grateful she wasn't on the opposite ends of those girl's friendships. His last relationship was only 2 months ago and they lasted about 2 months.
My best friend is a total player and somehow I keep helping him get the girls. She shook her head side to side. Can't believe this.
"Yeah but she's just not into me" he pushed his hair back.
"Easy there, your head is growing". Her fingers were cramping at this point but she was one line form finishing her essay. Finishing the final line she felt like she could breathe again. She re-submitted it online and closed her laptop.
She saw the look of annoyance that plagued his face. Just humor him. She cupped her hands around her cheeks and looked at him and took to notice his uniform; it was a mess. His tie was undone, his blazer was wrinkly, one of his collars was popping out, hair looking like a birds nest. She stood up and walked to the other side of the table to sit next to him where she began to fix up his current state.
"Alright" she began fixing his collar "do I know this girl?"
"She goes to Gotham North" he replied sheepishly. He looked down at her.
"If she went to this school I might be better at actually helping you out. Alright ...what's her name" she then began working on his tie refusing to meet his gaze
"Alexandria Maxile" he replied.
"Pretty name. How's her personality" she knew if she caught Dicks attention she must be physically attractive to him so there was no point in really trying to ask him about that.
"She's smart and nice …sexy. Brown hair, baby blue eyes." he had this dumbstruck look on his face it was kind of funny to see.
"Yup, sounds like the typical Richard Grayson style" he described all the girls he liked as kind until they found out his best friend was a girl and they suddenly began acting….well...she didn't wanna remind herself.
"Y'know we rarely talk about your love life" he inquired.
"You mean my non existent one? Yeah …..I'm doing great" she began working on his hair. She didn't carry a brush so she just ran her fingers through his hair parting it in different ways trying to figure out whether to bring his hair to the left or to the right. "I think you're overdue for a haircut".
He stared down at her "You know you can always ask right." Ignoring her statement about his hair.
"When there is a boy I like, you will be the first to know." She settled his hair to the right. "Alright ...now you look like a decent human being. The hell happen anyway, you wake up late?"
He yawned "Yeah ...I just... had a long night" rubbing the back of his neck. He had moments like this, days where he just seemed tired. All last week sleeping in classes.
"Was it your brother?" she asked, she had heard all about the new member to the Wayne family. Jason Todd. The tabloids didn't know his name yet but boy would they know it soon.
She had only met him once and he managed to come off a bit standoffish in her opinion, but she didn't hold it against him. How could she? He was in a new environment, new family plus the whole city was on his back. She knew all about that.
"No, he's…. a different kind of pain in the neck though"
Dick stood up from his seat to throw out his apple. She really hated that she stopped growing at 12 years olds and was now forever 5'1 and he just kept getting taller and taller now at 16 standing at 5'7. She still had an edge over him in age; she had already turned 18 in November. His birthday is in four months in June and she wouldn't be here for it.
He returned to the table "So what are you gonna do about this Alexandria thing
"I'm still going to try" he sounded like he had was serious. That is so like you. She smiled a bit once he had something made up in his mind there really was no stopping him. There hasn't been a single girl so far that could resist the Richard Grayson charm. Tabloids predict him to be the next "Bachelor","Prince of Gotham".
"You do that champ. Meanwhile...I gotta study for this upcoming algebra exam. Wanna study with?" she took out her flashcards and began shuffling them around as if she was using a deck of cards.
"I already know the material so how bout I just quiz you instead?" he took the flashcards from her hands and began to shuffle them.
She simply shrugged her shoulders "Sounds good to me"
Yeah...this is better.
She wasn't surprised by the end of the week when Dick texted her saying that he had a date with Alexandria. She solemnly smiled at her phone as unwanted thoughts plagued her mind. He's gonna be fine. It'll only be for a while.
'Dont mess this up Richard' she texted and her phone dinged immediately.
'Not a chance Glory' with a smiling emoji to match.
He's gonna be fine.
She sat on her bed gazing at her room, the blue paint that had been chipped away through the years, covered in posters, pictures and decorations. Her floor covered in clothes thrown everywhere in her room. Her room which would be empty within the next three months. Falling back onto her pillow she took a deep breath. She only had a few months until she was moving across the country and still hasn't found a chance to mention it to him.
She pulled a pillow over her face dreading her current situation. She pulled her hair from it's bun and let her brown waves hair fall to her shoulders and turned to her side coming face to a picture frame on her nightstand. It was from a summer night when they were 11 years old at his house and they had decided to stay up all night and have a movie marathon. They laid on his bed and decided to take a picture.
They were both lying on the bed in their pajamas, their arms over each others shoulders, smiling goofily into the camera. Dick had decided to take a piece of her then long hair and use some of it as a fake mustache. She had decided to cross her eyes and puff her cheeks out.
Staring at herself in the picture one eye green and the other one blue. Freak. Frankenstein. She had heard it all when she was young not to mention how many times she had been asked if she was a meta-human. He never said or asked any of that, at the time she guessed they were just both looking for someone to confide in and they both managed to be lucky enough to find each other.
A tear crossed the bridge of her nose as she laid on her side, turning away from the picture she closed her eyes and let herself sleep for the first time in a weeks.
Two weeks passed by like a blur, each day that passed without telling him didn't feel right. He's been trying to get her to meet Alexandria for the last week and each time she's managed to come up with an excuse not to. From pictures Dick has shown her she seemed like a good person but she wouldn't really know until she met her which was not going to happen she would make sure of it. Much to her luck that might happen today, he brought her to the house on the day they were going to be working out.
She had arrived before him, greeting Bruce Alfred and even Jason on her way to the room. There she had been doing a handstand split on the balance beam, her legs in a 180 angle closing her eyes for what seemed like a whole minute and it was pure bliss in her opinion, when suddenly that all came crashing down with another voice interrupting her concentration
"Woah, I can't believe you have this place in your house" the voice echoed within the room.
Suddenly her hands slipped, and her weight began to shift from side to side eventually she let out a small scream and landed flat on her side she rolled over her arms and legs spread like a starfish. She started at the ceiling and thought to herself. You've gotta be freaking kidding me.
"Glory you okay" Dick jogged up to her "Alex didn't mean to, she just got excited"
"Oh…...yeah ..it's fine. Don't worry about it" she sat up with a sigh As if she's never seen a gym before. She rolled her eyes and sighed and looked over at her friend.
His black hair was tousled, his bright blue eyes stood out against the all black of his clothing which consisted of basketball shorts and a black muscle shirt making every upper body feature defined. "Alfred could always fix you up" he stuck his hand out to help her up.
"I'm fine Dick" she stood up "nothing's broken and if there was I'm sending you the medical bill" she joked. She cracked her knuckles and put her hands on her cheeks and sighed and noticed Alex began walking towards them after admiring the room.
"Hi" she stuck her hand out and smiled " I'm Alexandria, Dick only mentioned you a few times". The first thing she noticed about Alexandria was her height she definitely had a number of inches on her, she looked about 5'6. She had fair skin, light brown hair and baby blue eyes to complete the look. She wore a bright orange sports bra and black yoga pants.
Uhhhhh ….kay. She got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Sticking her hand out to take Alexandrias " I'm Gloria, Dicks best friend" she gave a quick grin. There was a weird feeling in the air almost awkward. Which was interrupted by Dick himself.
"I thought it would be good for you guys to meet and get to know each other and I figure what better chance than working out together"
"He's right, this is the perfect time for us to get to know each other" Alexandira said
"Well ….okay" she smiled shyly. She walked over to the trampoline and began jumping. Each time she spend more time in the air than the last. Normally this would be something that she and Dick would do together, she wasn't exactly used to having a third party over which is ridiculous because it isn't like this was her house, he could bring whoever he wanted over. She began to do back flips and front flips.
And yet she couldn't help but feel some kind of way. He never asked her to spend time with his other "girlfriends"
"-elloo, Gloria"
Her thoughts were interrupted by Alexandria who decided to get on the trampoline with her. Uh…...the hell. It was really easy for Glory to decide that she honesty didn't want to get to know this girl. She didn't know what it was.
"Your eyes are really cool, are they contacts?" she asked
"I have heterochromia. Means my eyes are two different colors"
"Oh ….uh ...cool ..I guess". They were left in a heavy awkward silence that Glory felt couldn't be broken with a chainsaw.
"So….how long have you know Dick?" she asked. Ah...right. Glory looked around the room and found Dick on the treadmill with his headphones in. Damn you she thought.
"Uhh ...we met when we were about 10 ….no he was 10 and I was 11 at Gotham Elementary. I'm 18 now so it's been about 7 years" she tried her best not to sound so dry but she was terrible at hiding when she didn't like someone.
Alexandria raised her eyebrows "7 years is a long time".
"It's really not….or at least it doesn't feel that way" she replied.
"Your best friend is one of the most…..well known ...desired ...men in all of Gotham, not to mention his dad"
Glory scoffed and rolled her eyes. Yeah no kidding also in case you didn't know Superman is an alien "Good thing he's still a minor"
"Yeah ...y'know sometimes I can't help but feel kind a of bad for him. Him being an orphan and all and now he has a new adopted brother. It must be tough."
"Yeah" it was all she could say. Anything to make this conversation end.
"Well ...I was wondering would you happen to know if Dick is a …..you know"
"A virgin?" she asked. Alexandria nodded. "Yes he is" she confirmed.
"But I heard-"
"Rumors….often times Dick's reputation precedes him, people tend to exaggerate". Glory's eyebrow twitched.
"Okay…..follow up question. Have you two ever-"
"Never" her voice hardened and she stopped jumping. She was officially pissed.
"Well do you, I mean you've known him for-"
"No" she turned around and began walking out the door, slamming it on her way out. Walking into the bathroom across the hall she turned on the lights and began splashing cold water on her face. She raised her head and stared into the mirror staring at her reflection her eyes being drawn to the letters of her hoodie across her chest Gotham Academy Knights.
Sure, she wasn't bad looking. She had dark brown hair, a tan skin complexion and almond shaped eyes one of her eyes being green and the other being blue. Something she's always hated. Freak. But that wasn't the part of herself she could change if she could It was her bodily features that she wished she could change.
It was as soon as she had gotten her period she stopped growing, not to mention her body developed faster than all the girls in the 5th grade and it was awkward to say the least. By 7th grade she already started wearing C cup brasHer hips began developing leaving her with what she described to be a "roundish curvy" body type where she wasn't exactly plus sized or skinny. This drew a lot of unwanted attention to herself when she was younger and she did anything and everything to avoids people attention.
This caused her to go into an "oversized sweater" era of her life that continued to this day. Without a sweater on she felt naked and exposed. She walked out of the bathroom and took a shaky breath and began to make her way into the kitchen where she found Alfred taking out cookies from the oven.
"Hey Alfred" she greeted with a smile
"Ms. Gloria" he greeted "I thought your exercise wouldn't be over for another hour or so"
"Ehh it's only 6 o'clock, chose to finish early today" she lied
"Ah…..right" Alfred didn't sound convinced "this wouldn't have anything to do with a female that Master Dick brought over"
Glory scoffed "Please, of course not". Alfred gave her a look ...it was one of those "Don't lie to me" looks
Glory groaned and put her head on the table "Ahhh fine. I don't like her. Sue me"
"If I did, you would most certainly lose" she quipped
"Haha very funny" she said sarcastically, "Seriously though, she rubs me the wrong way".
"Or you don't like the idea of Master Dick with someone else" Alfred suggested and set the plate of cookies on the table
"Dick can do whatever the hell he wants with his life" her face still on the table. She took a cookie from the plate. "Tasty as usual Alf".
"Thank you Ms. Gloria. However I do believe that you yourself have some form of ….longing for Master Dick"
"Gloria Delgado doesn't long for anyone" she raised her head and crossed her arms.
"I'm not convinced Ms. Gloria….I've watched you grow up in this house. I've watched you be in love with Master Dick since you were children. Or do you deny it?"
"I deny it" she proudly said, her nose scrunched up. There was a pause she took a breath and put her head in her hands "This is so annoying"
"Yes I've heard such feelings can be quiet so"
"Does Bruce know?"
"He's a smart man. I'm sure he's picked up on it already, not as fast as me though I predict".
"This is so embarrassing" she covered her face with her hands. She shook her head "well it doesn't matter. I would never act on those feelings, I'm too smart for that" she said taking another cookie.
"Perhaps, but in my experience I believe sometimes we must learn to let go of such cerebral thinking".
"You saying I need to 'follow my heart'"? She rolled her eyes.
Alfred thought about it for a few seconds "Yes...I do".
"That's hilarious and when I tell him how I feel, we'll be together and live happily ever after right?" she laughed.
"I never said it would be that easy" he stated
"Yeah…..I know" she looked down, eyes swelling " ...I just... wish it were. I never asked for these stupid feelings and I would give anything to get rid of them"
"You don't mean that" Alfred said
"..Maybe….but …. I don't know. It doesn't matter" It didn't really, because she wouldn't be here after May and it was almost March.
"All feelings matter, even the ones you don't want. They keep you human." he sounded as if he's gave that advice a hundred times. She smiled at Alfred and began playing with her hair.
"Yeah….but sometimes you gotta ...take some feelings ..and lock em up in a box and call it a day"
"What ever you feel is right for you Ms. Gloria"
It was easier to just ignore her feelings and pretend that they didn't exist she's been doing it for years so far and she would continue doing it for years to come as long as he long was in her life. At this rate she would only have to deal with it for a few more months and she would be on the other side of the country.
She would be free from the cage of her feelings that felt love for her best friend.