Like a whisper, he swung up onto the building. He stood near the ledge, staring out at the city for a moment, as if he were a painter contemplating his work of art. Stepping out of the shadows, I took two running steps and then flew at him. I was rather proud of myself, my form perfect, my weight in the best possible spot to do the most damage, and my aim right on. A tackle worthy of any football player worth his salt. It was beautiful, I tell you. Or rather, it would have been if he hadn't turned around and kicked me in the midsection.
"Dumb, dumb, dumb," I thought as I slammed into a wall five feet behind where he'd been standing. Surprisingly, I didn't see stars or hear any bones crack as I landed, but I sure as hell got the wind knocked out of me. As I caught my breath, I looked up to see him glaring at me in an all too familiar way. I sat up and tried to smile, pointless since he couldn't see my face through my mask anyway.
"You're not supposed to hit girls." I winced and shifted my weight as to avoid sitting on a tender spot on my rear
"I'm allowed when they try to attack me from behind for no good reason."
I couldn't feel his voice through my chest like I could Tall Dark and Grumpy's, but I knew that tone. He wasn't happy with me and if I didn't explain myself or go home with my cape between my legs, or both; I'd get spanked. Hard. And not in the sexy, kinky, Cinemax After Dark sort of way either.
"Sorry. I wanted to know something."
He crossed his arms and scowled even deeper. Lord, I didn't know he could be so scary. If that furrow in between his eyebrows got any deeper, it would have cracked his face in half. I tried to sit up a little more but my hand slipped. Suddenly my whole body was slipping and I slid down the wall and onto my back on the ground. I stared up at the night sky in disbelief and then his head poked into my view. He stood over me, looking concerned and more than slightly amused. I sighed heavily.
"I wanted to see if I could take you."
I think he snorted at me. It sounded like a laugh, but he was spooky and serious like the Big Guy, right? He didn't..*do* that...did he? Nah....
"Take me?"
"Take you down...kick your butt....prove my grappling hook was bigger than yours. See if I could show you up, I guess."
"You didn't."
"Yeah, *thanks* for pointing that out. I'd still be *lying* here on the ground thinking I'd succeeded if you hadn't pointed that out."
"You need to work on your stealth skills, I knew you were there the second I landed."
"Yes, thank you Captain Obvious. Now would you like to talk about how you caught my scent or are you done extolling your vigilante skills and pointing out my inadequacies?"
He made that snorting noise again. I hoped he wasn't about to hock up a loogy.
"So you wanted to see if you could "take" me eh? And what would you have done with me once you got me?"
I grinned what I hoped was a sexy grin (which he still couldn't see) and started to sit up.
"I'm sure I could think of a few things."
It was a damn shame. Such a great line and I ruined it by cracking my head on a pipe that magically appeared out of nowhere in the wall above me. I moaned, more in embarrassment than pain and laid my head back on the gravel. He snorted and made a couple of choking noises. I kept my eyes closed and vaguely wondered if he had allergies or something because he'd made that noise an awful lot. I mean, he couldn't be...he wouldn't dare...
I opened my eyes and squinted up at him in the dim light. Yep. He was laughing at me. I decided I hated him a whole whole lot and then closed my eyes again. A few seconds later I felt a slight breeze across my face. I opened my eyes to see a rather large glove inches from my nose. I looked past the glove to the person it was attached to squatting down next to me. His dark hair fluttered in the slight breeze as he looked down at me, grinning like I had told the best joke he'd heard in years. "Whoa," I thought, "This was the same guy who a minute ago looked like he wanted to throw me over the ledge??"
"I don't think we've officially met. Nightwing. The guy you tried to body slam over there?"
I put my hand in his. He had a strong confident grip like Robin's.
"Spoiler. The chick you kicked into a wall?" He winced.
"I'm sorry about that. You're lighter than I thought, I didn't pull back enough."
"He kicks me, laughs at me and THEN he calls me fat? Oh yeah, I hate him," I thought to myself, "What's next, calling me a bottle blonde??"
I then remembered that I had my mask and hood till on. I carefully pushed myself into a sitting position, mindful of the evil pipe and that damn gravel, and pulled off my mask. Nightwing frowned.
"I hope you don't think I'm doing you the same favor."
"Don't get your tights in a knot. I just want to feel my head, I thought I felt blood."
Nightwing suddenly became all business and checked my head for me.
"Nah. No cuts or bumps. Surprising, you whacked that..." He guffawed and then tried to cover it with a cough but I *heard* him. The dirty dog....
"..'scuse me...the pipe pretty hard."
"I didn't see it..." I muttered.
"I noticed." To his credit he didn't even crack a smile. I got the feeling that he had to keep the urge to not giggle and point tightly reined in.
Nightwing held out a hand, but I waved it away as my pride kicked in. I made a move to get up but quickly sat still. Ooo, my butt. This was not going to be graceful.
"Um, turn around." He flashed that grin again. Goodness, he was he gorgeous.
"Why? Rip your britches?"
I sighed. If only he would keep his mouth shut.
"NO. I just....Ooooo, just turn around please."
He grinned again and stood, turning his back and walking a few steps away. "He's laughing at me again, I know it," I thought.
Making faces, I slowly sat up the rest of the way and started to stand. I wasn't hurt all that bad, I just didn't want to slip again and give Giggles over there anymore reasons to find amusement at my expense. I was irritated with myself. I usually wasn't that clumsy. I dusted my butt off and straightened my costume as I stared at Nightwing. He was tall and really ripped. I could tell that even in the dim light atop the roof. I knew I shouldn't be checking him out, I was totally into Robin, but a little look never hurt nobody. I briefly wondered what Robin would say if he knew what I was doing. He certainly had enough to say about my Superboy posters... "But Steph," I thought, "This is a friend of his! Someone he obviously greatly admires. Someone he trusts. Someone with a niiiiiiiice butt. Near about makes a body's teeth hurt...."
Suddenly Nightwing turned around and grinned.
"OhgodOhgodOhgodOhgodOhgodOhgodOhgodOhgod," I thought, "Did I just say that out loud? Oh PLEASE don't let me have said that out loud. Maybe he's a telepath. Maybe he's one of those metahumans and he read my thoughts. The metahuman part would explain that body from hell..ACK! If he's a telepath that means he just read that thought too! OhgodOhgodOhgod....."
"Steph?"
I looked up. He called me by my name, Robin *must* have talked about me. I was automatically chagrined that no one seemed to feel any need to respect my secret identity, but one glance at him and I forgot why I was irritated. Amazing how you become adept at reading body language when you can't read the expressions in other's eyes. The tilt of Nightwing's head showed concern and compassion, the slight quirk of the right side of his mouth was probably amusement.
"All better Steph?"
He stepped a bit closer and tipped my head up like a mother examining her child's mouth for chocolate smears. Though I knew he was looking in my eyes for signs of a concussion, having him that close still made my heart beat a bit faster. He was definitely easy on the eyes. Something about him reminded me of Robin.... The calm strength, the feeling that he'd look after me, the way I felt tiny near him even though I'm taller and outweigh Robin. Like some hero out of a romance novel or comic book. Standing there, out bodies inches apart, his hand on my chin, I felt something Robin never made me feel. With Nightwing I felt...
...15. I felt like the teenager I was, awkward, clumsy, gawky, not good enough. Nothing like I felt with I was with Robin, with him it was like I was invincible, like I could beat the hell out of Two-Face and still be beautiful. I sighed and thought to myself, "Damn Steph, you've got it so bad for Robin, you can't even feed a nice healthy fantasy."
"Just peachy." I stepped back and took a deep breath.
"So." Nightwing crossed his arms and planted his feet in the official male "I mean business" stance.
"So." I copied him and stared back.
"You go around tackling vigilantes every night or am I special?"
"I need some info."
"Uh huh."
"On Robin." I was holding myself so tense I thought I would start to shake. All the humor went out of Nightwing's face.
"Oh really." Ooo, not a nice tone. "Better tread lightly Steph," I told myself, "you're no longer amusing him."
"Well, yeah. See, I heard you were gonna be in town, and I knew you were going to meet Robin at Milton's Tower and the only way to get up there is from here and I thought maybe I could catch you so we could talk and I...well..."
Outside I was at a loss for words, but inside I was screaming at myself to stop babbling and just spit it out. I felt like my body had been taken over by a complete dork. Nightwing still stood there, looking about as pliable as a concrete block. I had no choice but to continue, I'd dug my hole this far...
"And uh, that's why I was waiting here for you and that's when I decided to surprise..."
"Tackle."
"...tackle you. I...I just wanted to..to talk."
"About Robin."
"Well, yeah, mostly." Nightwing scowled some more at me. Oh boy, maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.
"Personal questions," he said, making it a statement instead of a question.
"Sort of."
"Why didn't you go to any of the members of Young Justice?"
"Because he trusts you. Because the little he does say about you is so complimentary I'm surprised you don't have a halo. Buuuut, mostly because uh, I didn't think about it." At his reaction I felt a small glimmer of hope, "Oh good, that got a smile. Wear him down Steph."
"Come on Wing. You probably know how hard it is for us costumed freaks to have a relationship. I mean, those Titans you worked with are gorgeous, you *had* to have dated at least one of them. Wonder Girl maybe? Or that alien with the big hair and even bigger boobs...."
"Spoiler...."
"You seem pretty tight with the Bat people, maybe Batgirl. I haven't heard about her since I was a kid though, but I hear she's a hottie!"
"Stephanie...
"Or Huntress! She acts like she's got some major pent up sexual aggression. I'd be scared if I were you though, she looks like she would rip your-"
"STEPH." He stuck his hand over my mouth. "I get the point." I tried to bite him but all I got was a mouth full of glove that tasted like he'd been playing in the sewers. He smirked as I pushed it away and wiped my mouth on my sleeve.
"Serves you right."
"Aww, did I hit a nerve Nightwing?"
"And what makes you think that?"
"You stopped me on Huntress."
"That doesn't mean a thi-"
"Don't you ever watch TV? People always revert to extreme reactions when a detail is mentioned that they don't want discussed."
"Maybe I just got tired of hearing you babble."
"And maybe you and Huntress did the midnight tango and you are embarrassed."
"And maybe you're getting on my last nerve," he said, giving me the same look Robin gave me whenever I'd crossed the line between cute and annoying. I smirked.
"I knew it," I said, feeling rather smug.
Nightwing bent over and leaned in my face.
"And maybe I know the cliché of someone interrupting the accuser when they get too close to the truth and I did on purpose when you named the least likely subject just to throw you off."
"Oh yeah, well...shut up." I blew in his face. He straightened up and smirked at me. I briefly wondered if he had any idea how obnoxious he was.
"Awww, I hit a nerve?" I had to laugh. Oh yeah. He knew.
We stood there a few minutes in silence. I knew it was time to get to the point.
"Look. I need you to help me out here, Nightwing, because I've got no one else. I'm in a relationship with a guy who I can only see at night in hidden areas with his mask on. I mean, I don't even know what his hands feel like because he needs to keep his gloves on in case Killer Croc surprises us or something. The quality time I *do* spend with him is usually used up fighting some baddie and saving the city. Sure, that's a rush but it's not exactly dinner and a movie. It's not a situation I can talk about to Mom or *anyone* about. I know what you're thinking, you fought long and hard for Robin and now you're bitching? I'm not, I swear I'm not. It's just.."
I sighed and shoved my hand through my hair. This soul bearing stuff was nerve wracking. I gathered strength and continued.
"Robin is about the only good thing I've got in my life right now and I plan to hang on as long as possible. At first I think it was because he was cute and the direct opposite of my dad, but somewhere along the way it became more than that. I'm not going to say I love him, but it's damn close and I don't even know his first name!"
"You know he can't tell you that."
"Yeah, I know, I know. I would never even ask him. But to feel that strongly for someone and not even know what kind of music they listen to or what their favorite food is...that's just *asking* for therapy bills!"
The right side of Nightwing's mouth quirked up.
"Why haven't you asked *him* all of this?"
"Weeeell.....I mean to but something always comes up."
"Too busy playing tonsil hockey?"
I shot him a look but his expression didn't change. Robin was SO dead. I flushed, more in embarrassment than anger.
"NO, not always. *You* try stopping crazy thugs on snowmobiles while some creature eats the sun or escaping getting blown to bits by my father's idiot henchman and see how often it comes up! What am I supposed to do, stop him in the middle of a battle with Lynx and go, "Hey Rob! Elvis or The Beatles?"
We both grinned at the image and stood there a moment. I took a step forward.
"Please Nightwing? Even if we did talk, there are some things I can't ask him and I...I need someone to talk to. Please?"
Nightwing turned to look at the Gotham skyline. It really was pretty way up there. The city didn't seem so dirty or noisy or corrupt. The lights almost made it look like it was inhabited by a billion fireflies. I was so busy staring, I almost didn't hear him say no.
"Huh?"
"I said I can't Steph."
I told myself, "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry..." You know how you never realize how bad you need something until you can't have it, like air or water or Dove chocolate? I didn't know how much I needed him to say yes until he turned me down. I realized I wasn't just asking for love advice, I was asking for a friend. I looked down as he continued.
"It's not I don't want to tell you things about Robin, though I doubt I'd be much good. I just can't take the risk. Not just for Robin's sake, but yours. You can't pretend this is like a normal relationship where you can come to me as his big brother of sorts and have me give you advice. Me letting you know anything that he hasn't told you already not only breaches whatever trust he has in me, but presents a serious security risk to him, Batman, even me."
"But I wouldn't..." Nightwing smiled at me like you would an eager but ignorant child.
"I know you wouldn't, not intentionally. But say I tell you something he likes or some other personal detail. You could take that and figure out who he really is and put him in danger." I blushed.
"I'm not *that* good of a detective."
"I know you're not. But you do seem to have a rather large supply of dumb luck."
"The more I talk to you the more I wish I'd clobbered you earlier."
Nightwing grinned and then grew serious again.
"It shows Robin cares a lot about you if he's let you in this far Steph. Let him go at his own pace. If you force his hand, he might have to choose and there's a chance he'll pick the job over you. You of all people know how much being Robin means to him. You knew the rules when you entered the game Steph. You either play by them or take your ball and go home."
I stared at him for a few long moments. Then, I took a deep breath and blew a raspberry as I exhaled.
"Nightwing, did I ever tell you how much I hate it when men use sports references to prove a point in serious discussions?"
"I'll keep that in mind during our next heart to heart."
"Well. I just wasted about 30 minutes of your life didn't I"
"Nah. I figure seeing you whack your head on that pipe makes up for everything."
"I thought all you heroes were supposed to be gentlemen," I said as I scowled at him.
"Nope, just a vicious rumor. But shhh, don't tell or I'll ever get a date again."
I held out my hand to shake. Nightwing leaned over and, in a gesture worthy of any medieval knight, kissed the back of my hand. "Ohhhh," I thought, "I don't think he has to worry about getting any dates...ever."
Still bent over, Nightwing looked up at me and smiled in that slow sexy way that about singed my eyelashes. Suddenly I thought, "Oh no, did I say that out loud again? Or is he doing that mind reading thing? OhgodOhgodOhgodOhgod...."
Straightening up, he let go of my hand and smoothed back his hair.
"Well Steph, I've got a date with your boyfriend and you hould get to bed." I bit back a naughty reply.
"Not hardly."
"I tried." Walking to the edge of the roof, he got ready to shoot off a grappling hook and fly off into the night.
"Nightwing?!?" I exclaimed, suddenly desperate to catch him before he left. He lowered his arm.
"Yes?"
"One question? Please?"
"Steph, I thought..."
"I know, just one thing? You don't have to answer, okay?"
"Alright. One question."
I took a deep breath.
"What color are his eyes?"
Nightwing stared at me for such a long time I had to control the urge to squirm. I tensed myself, waiting for the answer, expecting him to say he couldn't tell me, it was too much of a risk, I might see him one day and knowing the color of his eyes would make all the difference and I'd recognize him and...
"They're blue."
"Thank you Nightwing."
"You're welcome Steph."
He reached over and ruffled my hair in a brotherly gesture that made me want to cry.
"If you need me, just to talk about life in general..."
"Don't worry Nightwing, I'll find you."
"You do that. Well, I need to make my exit. Normally this is where I'd utter those overused Bogart lines, but just for you I'll show some class for once and just leave."
He flashed that grin one more time and then slipped away into the darkness. "Oh yeah," I thought, "niiiiiiice butt."