From Mr E to Mr Z
Chapter Six - Robin a Jewellery Store
Since the café Teddy had decided upon was indeed in Gotham, Dick had consented to being driven there and was placidly sitting in his passenger seat. At first, being trapped in the car together was a little discomforting but Dick started talking about random things and Teddy found himself easily drawn into the conversation. The time passed rather quickly. It seemed like only a few minutes had elapsed (when in reality it was so much longer than that) before they were pulling up in front of the NJ Café.
The NJ Café was one of Teddy's favourite places to eat out. It was generally spared from the rampant crime rate in Gotham because they had the best steaks in town. Even criminals love a good steak. He'd even heard that the Joker would buy (steal) a couple of rare steaks each week for his two pet hyenas.
"Pulling out all the stops, I see," noted Dick with a smile.
Teddy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because there are so many respectable places with decent steak in this town. I also figured you'd eaten at the Iceberg lounge enough times already."
Dick laughed at the sarcasm but shuddered at the mention of the Penguin's semi-respectable lair. Sarcasm was definitely one of the things the two had in common. They quickly found an unoccupied table which happened to have a window view and both perused the menu. Which in itself was quite ridiculous since every single time Teddy had eaten at the establishment, he'd always gotten the same meal. Medium rare steak with chips and no salad. Why ruin a good meal with healthy shit? It had never made sense to him.
The pair were soon attended to by one of the waiters, a blond waif of a man and as soon as he left, they were once again absorbed in their own conversation. Teddy just couldn't work out what he found so captivating about the police officer but something about the ex-acrobat just drew his attention and held it ransom.
The only time the two halted their discussion (which had actually turned to the psychosis of Harley Quinn) was when their respective steaks arrived. Despite the somewhat long wait, it was cooked to perfection and Teddy could definitely have eaten seconds and possibly a third serving. Dick seemed to enjoy his just as much if the appreciative moans he gave were any indication. They all went straight to Teddy's cock, which began to inflate with more than its fair share of interest. Thankfully he had a meal to consume and a table to cover his body's traitorous actions.
Eventually, Dick released an extremely satisfied sigh (which did not help Teddy's situation one bit) and sat back with a large smirk. "That was amazing!" he commented earnestly. "If it wouldn't make me sick, I'd totally go another."
"I know exactly what you mean," agreed Teddy with a grin. He patted his distended stomach to emphasise his point and tried not to preen at Dick's answering laugh. Since when had he turned into such a sap? Well, that was probably when he saw Dick's chiselled abs for the first time.
They let their heavy lunches settle and talked about the architectural differences between Gotham, Blüdhaven and Metropolis. Teddy was all for the somewhat depressing gargoyles of Gotham while Dick was just pleased that no one was stupid enough to gild a Blüdhaven building because it would only take a matter of hours before the gold would be stripped by some sort of criminal. Teddy privately agreed even though he'd never have conceived of such a passé crime himself, he'd leave that for the less intelligent crooks like Killer Croc.
Eventually the blond waiter came back and Teddy gestured for the man to come closer. He whispered some instructions into the man's ear and the young guy nodded with a small smile before leaving the table.
"What was all that about?" asked Dick with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, like he knew whatever it was would be some sort of good thing.
Teddy hoped he would agree when it arrived. "Oh, nothing much really," he said airily with a vague hand gesture.
"Sure," snorted Dick sarcastically, although his dimples still studded his toothpaste white smile.
A few minutes later, the blond (Eric, according to his nametag) returned with a large bowl of ice-cream. He gently placed it in the middle of the table between two men and added two spoons, one near each guy. "Enjoy," he smiled and left to wait on the table next to theirs.
They virtually inhaled the sugary treat, barely tasting it and once again fought over the dregs. Teddy just loved how they would put every ounce of concentration into acquiring that final bite. Unfortunately, Dick was the one who got the last scoop and Teddy didn't even feel badly about it since the ex-acrobat flashed him the most adorable smile. Thankfully he caught himself before sighing aloud. Now that would have been embarrassing.
The look the two were sharing was shattered by the sounds of an alarm. They looked out the window and saw the jewellery store on the opposite side of the street being burgled. Dick fiddled with his watch and said, "So who do you think's robbing it?"
Teddy thought to himself for a moment before deciding, "Probably the Clock King. I vaguely remember there being some sort of semi-famous wristwatch being on display there a couple of weeks ago."
"I'm glad I'm not on duty. I'd hate to get called out of lunch with you for a petty crime at Tiffany's. Seriously, I'm surprised there's a branch in Gotham in the first place with the rampant crime rate and all." Dick's hand stilled after he'd slowly reached it across the table.
Teddy understood the unasked question immediately and replied by lacing his fingers with Dick's. It was ridiculous how loud his heart was beating in his chest. He felt the familiar warmth that accompanied a blush on his cheeks and was so very pleased that none of his old acquaintances would ever know about how far he had sunk. Falling for a cop of all things. How entirely ridiculous.
A couple of rounds of gunfire brought the pair's attention back the robbery across the street. "You were right," said Dick in surprise. "It is the Clock King."
Teddy just smiled. He felt the hand in his twinge. "Don't."
Dick's forehead furrowed. "Don't what?" he asked in confusion.
"You're thinking about whether you should be a good little cop and try to confront the Clock King and his underlings. Don't. Batman or one of his lackeys will be here soon," said Teddy with absolute certainty.
"Lackeys?" asked Dick in surprise.
Teddy mentally berated himself. What a stupid slip. Dick's presence was clearly affecting his brain. He'd have to come up some pretty convincing bullshit to get out of this one. "Well, can you honestly say the Batman would ever consider someone else his equal? The first robin clearly had enough of the Bat since he left the clan as soon as he came of age."
"First Robin? You mean there's been more than one?" asked Dick with confusion.
"Please," said Teddy with a slight amount of disdain. "You can't honestly believe that Robin has been a child for almost seventeen years. It's not biologically possible."
"Huh, I'd never really thought about it before," Dick noted quietly before biting his lip in thought.
A shadow passed by the window and the boy in question landed gracefully on the street before he leapt up onto the ledge above the jewellery store's entrance.
"You're right," conceded Dick as he critically examined the figure when silently crept into the shop, "he's got to be what, sixteen? That would have made him about, er, in the womb when the other Robin started fighting crime."
Teddy chuckled at the statement partly with relief. He managed to get out of a potentially sticky situation. They watched as two police cars pulled up and dragged three bound bodies into their backseats. Obviously Robin had prevailed.
Eric returned back to their table to collect the empty bowl and to give Teddy the bill. "So Dick, what do you think? He's been pretty good to us."
Dick raised an eyebrow and glanced at the blond, who immediately pasted an incredibly adorable grin on his face. "Eighteen?"
"Hmmm, I was thinking fifteen," noted Teddy and took great delight in the guy's disappointment, even though he was trying not to show it.
"Fine, how about we split the difference then?" suggested the police officer.
"Sixteen and a half? Alright then." Teddy took the bill from Eric and grabbed the pen he always kept in his breast pocket. With minimal working out he deduced the tip and factored it into the overall total. He handed the exact total over to Eric's complete bemusement with a wide smile. "Don't spend it all at once, young man." He turned his attention back to Dick. "Shall we?"
"Yes. Let's," he agreed.
The pair left the establishment with unrestrained chuckles when they saw Eric with his phone out, no doubt checking the sixteen and a half percent tip. Thankfully, the police cars had just left the vicinity and the two men hopped into Teddy's car for the return trip to Blüdhaven.
The Terrible Tease Clues - Chapter Six
Teddy is a very clever genius. Two of the words from the chapter above are actually answers to Teddy's latest Terrible Tease crossword puzzle. Here they are now!
18 Across - Sampling (food) (7 letters)
8 Down - Jumped up (5 letters)
For instructions on how to solve the Terrible Tease, please refer to the footnote of Chapter One - The Birth of Mr Z.