"Put me down Di-Nightwing! This isn't funny!" Barbara laughed out.
"Really? I thought it was pretty hilarious," he answered shifting her weight, glad that she didn't have her utility belt with- never mind.
With her utility belt digging into his shoulder he began carrying her away from the training room. He continued to smirk as she protested being the sack of potatoes thrown over his shoulder. She hit him lightly on the back, trying to get down. He wasn't giving in to her. She reached down as far as she could and smacked him on the ass.
"Ow! What was that for?" He exclaimed.
"Put me down! I'm not a sack of potatoes for you to carry around!"
Slowly he dropped her from his shoulder but pinned her against the wall. He leaned in closer than he would normally have but he was always one that didn't understand personal boundaries. Barbara's hands were pressed against the wall and waited for him to move. He took a deep breath. His mouth opened to speak, but flapped like a fish.
"Oh spit it out already, Boy Blunder," She sighed rolling her eyes.
"Would you like to go out on a date with me?"
There was a moment where there was silence between the pair.
"What?!" She exclaimed, thinking that she didn't hear him right.
"I asked if you would like to go out on a date with me."
Barbara stared at her oldest friend. What was going on in his brain? Was there something that she had done to give him the thought that this was something that she would be interested? They had a complicated relationship, that much she knew. They would claim that they were only partners in the field and friends in civvies. But there was more. They flirted more than some established couples. But they would back away before anything could progress.
Dick saw her face and hastily spoke.
"Just one date! That's all I swear! And if that doesn't work out, then we could forget about it. Please, I just want a chance."
She narrowed her eyes. One date couldn't ruin their entire relationship could it?
"Alright. But I have a question of my own. Who's asking?"
She got a blank look in return. He didn't understand the 'who' the question was pertaining to.
"Who's asking? Nightwing or Dick?"
"Did you just call the boss a dick?" Cassie asked walking into the room.
Dick flushed red at the comment. Barbara needed to be just a little more careful and not throw around their identities so loosely. But then she was the one that wasn't wearing her sunglasses anymore.
"Uh, YES." Barbara hid a smirk, behind the growing blush.
Tim, Connor and M'gann were standing behind Cassie, all with a secret smirk similar to Barbara's. There were always perks when you know the inside joke, or secret identities. There was a moment that everyone in the room stood there unable to do anything. Cassie was waiting for someone to throw the first punch, and the rest waiting for the awkwardness to end.
Finally Tim cleared his throat.
"Uh, how about we leave them to their business. I'm sure that they would like to conduct it in private."
Five people gave him a shocked look. Tim then realized what he said, and what it sounded like.
"To talk it out, you know? Or they could fight about it- or- I'm just going to leave now." He turned around and practically ran out of the room.
M'gann giggled and pulled Connor out of the room by his elbow. Cassie stood there for mere seconds afterwards before waving quick and flying from the room.
Both Dick and Barbara watched the door were their teammates left before turning to each other.
"Uh, so to answer your question, I was asking," Dick said pulling his sunglasses off of his face.
Barbara's smile twitched in place. He wasn't going to let this go any time soon. She might as well get it over with.
"Alright."
With one swoop Dick's sunglasses were on his face again and his arms were around her in a tight hug. She was spun around, legs flying out in the air. Surprised, she didn't resist it. It was like the time that she had first become Batgirl and was accepted into the team. Dick set her down, gave a small kiss to her cheek and fled the room.
Barbara stared dumbly after him. She lightly touched her cheek where she was kissed. There was nothing unusual about it. Dick had given her kisses on the cheek before. But this one felt different. Or perhaps it was the same, and she felt different. She pushed those thoughts out of the way. She could deal with that later.
The evening wasn't as awkward as Barbara thought that it would be. She had spent nearly an hour choosing the right outfit, which got her even more nervous. She knew he would like anything that she wore, but she wanted to make sure that it was it was sending the right message. She wanted to be pretty, but she didn't want to look too interested.
It was ten minutes before Dick was picking her up and she still had nothing to where. Clothes were strewn all around her room in attempts to find the perfect blend. She groaned.
"What am I gonna do?"
There was a knock on her door just then and the door opened.
"Hey! Babs!"
Dropping in unannounced was nothing new for them. But Barbara was standing in her bedroom in just her jeans and a bra, and she really didn't want him to come in and see her. He had seen her strip down to her undergarments before, but she hadn't thought anything of it at the time. But now that was changed. She heard as his footsteps as he walked closer to her bedroom.
"Hey Babs, are you almost ready?" He called.
"Don't come in HERE!" Babs screeched. "I'm not ready yet!"
She looked around randomly for something that she could put on. Something purple sparkled, catching her eye. She grabbed it and slipped it over her head without thinking. She ran to the door and threw it open before he could open it.
"Wow, uh, Babs, you look great. You look, well, you look hot."
Barbara blushed. She looked down at the top that she had thrown on. It was the one that Zatanna had gotten her after she had broken up with her first boyfriend. It was the only thing that she hadn't worn since she bought it, and for good reason. There were no sleeves and showed the slightest bit of skin on her midriff. It form-fitted to her body, not unlike her work uniform, but this accented her.
Her blush grew even deeper.
"If you would like me to change, I'll go back in," Barbara offered. Please ask me to go back in.
"No!" Dick answered quickly. He flushed as well. "You look fine, I mean."
"Okay."
There was a long drawn out silence after that. No one knew where to lead the conversation from there. Barbara was sure that something like this would happen, and there it was.
"Well, we should be going." He offered her his arm. He offered her that cheeky smile that always seemed to get him his way.
Barbara only took his arm because it would make him happy. He knew that she wasn't a big fan of being the submissive female. But she indulged him, this time.
This time?
Barbara wiped the tears from her eyes. Only Dick could ever make her laugh this hard. She had heard this joke before, but just the way that he told it made it funnier than when she heard it the last time.
They were sitting in a little café on the edge of Gotham Bay. There was nothing overly romantic about it, just a few candles sitting on the tables and soft violin music playing through the sound syst-.
Okay, so it was totally romantic.
Not that she was really complaining. She enjoyed seeing flounder as he tried to explain that this wasn't his plan.
"I mean, I swear, I didn't ask for- This wasn't- It just-"
"Relax Boy Blunder. You are obviously not coordinated enough to have orchestrated this whole evening. You're still the blushing nine-year-old boy who could barely put together a sentence without inserting Romani into it when talking to a girl." Barbara smiled knowingly.
"I grew up in the circus! We travelled all around. Besides, there were hardly any girls that were my age that didn't see me as a little brother. Prospects for romance were slim. Besides I was nine! I was convinced that girls were infected with cooties!" Dick protested.
"And what do you think about it now?" Barbara said leaning in across the table.
Flirting. She was openly flirting. Her heart pounded at the thought of the consequences of it. She had promised herself that she wasn't going to allow herself to do it, but here she was doing the exact thing that she told herself that she wasn't going to. The worst part about the whole thing; it felt so completely natural.
"I don't know. There's this one girl and I think that she kinda has it out for me."
Barbara smirked. Their waiter came around and dropped off the bill. Both his blue eyes and her blue-green ones darted to it and back to the person sitting across from them. They both lunged at the same time. There was a little scrabbling as each party tried to grab hold of the bill. Eventually, Dick pulled away victorious.
Barbara huffed and slouched back into her chair.
"Hey, I was the one who asked you on this date. It's only fair that I pay for your food."
Barbara grumbled about chivalry.
Dick laughed. It didn't matter to him as he walked over to the counter and paid for their meal. He walked back to the table and held his arm out for Barbara to take. Only for her to narrow her eyes at him and stalk to his car. Dick chuckled again. That was his girl.
Barbara was mad. Not at Dick. No, she couldn't stay mad at him for very long. She was mad at herself. She had told herself for years that she wasn't falling for her best friend. Total denial. Yeah, there were times were she absently flirted, but that was harmless. But now, now it didn't feel so harmless. And she was enjoying it. She needed to get home, stick in a movie, eat a tub of ice cream and think this through.
Needless to say she snapped at Dick to take her home when he got in the car. She felt bad about it instantly, but there was no changing her mind. There were things that needed to thought out.
The ride home was silent. Mostly. The radio was on and talking about how Superman had saved the day once again from sure disaster.
Dick tried to start a conversation, but the silence coming from the redhead was deafening.
Barbara would have been all glad to have left Dick at the stoop of her door, but he insisted on walking her up to her door. So she allowed him to do so. He was a big boy, he could handle his own thing. But could he handle her?
Barbara stopped outside of her door and stared at the knob before sighing, very aware that Dick was still behind her.
"Listen, I'm sorry I snapped earlier. It's been a while since I've been on a date of any kind."
"It's all right. I understand. I asked out of the blue. But I really did have a good time tonight with you. I'd like to do it again some time."
Barbara could hear the hope creeping into his voice. She opened her mouth to answer and was surprised at the words that escaped.
"Yeah, I'd like that too."
Dick took a step closer. He was unsure of what was running through his head. But he knew that he didn't want the evening to end how it was going.
Barbara gathered up her courage. She needed to face him to speak. She took a deep breath and turned to her oldest friend. Her eyes widened when she felt the gentle pressure of his lips on hers.
Dick's own eyes just widened. That wasn't what he was aiming for. He just wanted to give her a kiss on the cheek. But then she turned her head and there she was. He was too close or him to change his path. But now that he was kissing her, he was pleasantly surprised at just how natural it felt.
What the HELL is he thinking? Barbara screamed inside. Was I giving the wrong type of signals? Wha- Am I enjoying this? Why am I kissing BACK?
Indeed she was. She was kissing back with even more passion that Dick was. Somehow her hands made their way around to the back of his head and wrapped themselves in his dark black hair.
Dick was unsure of what he was doing. What they were doing. It was not the thing that they should be doing, but it felt so goddamn right. It felt so natural, him and her, like they were meant to be. She smelled of strawberry shampoo and tasted even sweeter.
Barbara was unsure where her head was. But suddenly she found herself thinking things that she would never ever thought that she could ever think. And they were all about her best friend. The most prominent one was, why haven't I done this sooner?
He pinned her against the door without realizing what he was doing. Instinct took over and he began kissing even harder. The chemicals in his body chemistry was changing, he could feel it, and he was so close that it wouldn't be long before Babs knew.
"Are you sure you're not wearing you're utility belt?" Babs murmured into his mouth.
Damn.
"Are you sure that you want keep this going?" Dick answered with his own smirk.
"Less talking, more passion," she muttered before kissing him even harder.
Somehow she turned the key and the doorknob and they spilled into the living area of Barbara's apartment. The door was barely closed before clothing hit the ground.
A/N: Side note about this particular prequel. It will be divided into separate parts over their lives. And it's going to be more like a series of one-shots. I hope you enjoyed this first installment. Reviews bring rainbows into the world.
A/N (part II): I apologize if the updates are random ahead of time. College is beginning and there is a whole load of stuff that comes along with that.