March 19th
Gotham City
2045 EST

They relaxed for a while after she'd finished her yoga, just lazing the afternoon away. Deke played a bit more for her, and she'd been encouraging as could be about it. She'd even talked him into bringing his guitar with him, which had taken some doing, but he'd finally capitulated.

After a shower, Barbara had changed into the outfit he'd bought her for the evening. When Deke finished his own shower, he stepped out of the bathroom and got his first look at her in it, and she was not disappointed in his reaction. His green eyes had opened wide and his jaw had literally dropped. "Ay dios mio mamacita." Was all he could spit out.

Her boy hadn't disappointed her either, pairing a black button down with a tank top, and keeping it casual with jeans. He'd gone for a half tail style with his hair, letting most of his hair hang while keeping it out of his face. How he could do this to himself and still not get it was beyond her though.

They'd gathered the food and headed out after that, taking the train to the Little San Juan neighborhood. Barbara remembered this neighborhood being terrible when she was a little girl, but then Batman had shown up. He'd gone after the big money organized criminals first, but he never did tolerate the gangs either, and his efforts showed in places like this. It really was one of the Gotham success stories, the locals uniting once Batman had crippled the gangs running things.

It hadn't been hard to find the fiesta, with all the lights strung about and all the people laughing and carrying on. Sure, a few gave them some confused looks as they walked up, but when an old abuela pointed at Barbara with an approving look on her face, the gathered people seemed a lot more welcoming.

"Why'd she point at me?" Barbara asked as she sat down the tray of pulled chicken.

"She sold me the outfit you're wearing." Deke replied with a wink.

Behind them, they heard an energetic "Bienvenidos!" and turned to see Ramon approaching them, arms out wide. He hugged the both of them and took a peek at their food offering.

"So, introduce me Papi!" Ramon said, beaming at Barbara.

"This is mi novia, Barbara. Babs, this is Ramon. He's the one who invited us." Deke said, introducing them. Barbara extended her hand and Ramon just ignored it and hugged her again.

"She's pretty Papi. I see why you were working so hard now." He said, and it occurred to Deke that he hadn't met Ramon until lunch. How'd he knowm how hard Deke had worked. The guy was apparently just a born wingman. The world needed more people like that.

Barbara smiled prettily and offered a thank you to him. She spent so much time trying to be recognized for more than a set of tits, and she'd been very successful in the endeavor, but the occasional compliment on her appearance was welcome too, especially since he wasn't being creepy about it.

"So, we're about to eat, there's beers and stuff in the coolers if you're not driving, and if I didn't know better, it looks like you bought the guitar my cousin pawned a few months ago." Ramon continued, taking a peek at some of the other dishes.

"I bought it at the pawn shop a few blocks away, so it might be." Deke said, also leaning in to look at the food on the row of tables. Every bit of it looked delicious, and he'd avoided eating to make room for this. He was glad he'd trusted Ramon.

A consummate host, Ramon introduced them around, talking like he'd known them for years. Most of the people here were extended family, or referred to as such. Everyone was extremely welcoming too, though several of the older women had kept trying to convince Barbara to put more food on her plate.

After a while of mingling about and meeting people, Barbara was able to step away to eat in peace, before another abuela or tia was able to try and feed her more. She knew they meant well, but she only had so much room. Deke was talking to Ramon and a couple of his friends, and she just sat there and watched him. When he didn't have a chance to think too much, he didn't get as shy. She suspected that since they hadn't known him until extremely recently, he didn't feel as intimidated by him.

Barbara heard their footsteps before they sat down. "You shouldn't be sitting by yourself." Someone said to her. When she looked to her side, one of the attendees had taken a seat beside her.

"I'm not." She said tartly, pointing towards her boy. "He brought me."

"Him? Is he expecting to leave with you too?" the guy said, and he obviously thought he was slick, with his undercut hair and expensive shoes. "Because, you are way too much for him."

"I'm sorry you think that way." Barbara said, holding onto her calm. He was squatting, not sitting, but he had his weight shifted wrong, and his hands were resting on his knees, too close in to really catch himself. He'd also been favoring his left side as he walked, indicating some kind of discomfort, which in turn indicated an injury. His breath was an obvious clue he'd been drinking as well. All in all, if he got problematic, she'd have no trouble putting him down and making it look like an accident.

Ramon tapped Deke on the shoulder and nodded her direction. Ramon told him something, and Deke walked over calmly. As he did, he tapped against her thoughts. She wasn't distressed, just mildly annoyed, so that was a good sign. Actually, he realized the day she felt distressed to him was a day he didn't want to see. [I'm sure you got this, but do you want a polite way out?] Deke projected into her mind.

[It'd be better than me hitting him, yeah.] Barbara replied, accustomed to this manner of communication. He didn't use it with her, but in this case it seemed the wise choice.

Deke just wandered over and looked at the guy for a moment before speaking. "Hey man, thanks for keeping her company." He said, offering the guy his hand. "I got caught up back there and she just slipped away."

Surprised at being put on the spot, the guy just shook Deke's hand. "No problem." He said, got up, and wandered off, confused at the whole situation.

Deke sat down next to his girlfriend and put a hand on her knee. "You had three ways of knocking him flat if he'd gotten handsy, didn't you?"

"Please Cowboy, I had five." She said to him and put her hands on his. "Thanks for not going after him, by the way, I appreciate it."

"It would have been a mercy if I had." Deke said, and handed her a bottle of water. "You want to dance with me?"

"You can dance too?" She asked. He said he wanted to keep surprising her, she assumed this was another.

"Not even a little." He said, pressing his forehead to hers and nuzzling her nose. "Don't particularly care either."

"Now that, my lovely, is what I like to hear. Let's dance." She said, walking with him to where the other folks were dancing. True to his word, he was a horrible dancer, but he was careful not to step on her feet at least. That he was willing to try was the important thing to Barbara. She did wonder if she'd dug herself into a hole with her promise earlier though, but only time would answer that.

After their dance, one of the older gentlemen turned the radio down. Barbara recognized him as one of the people Deke had been speaking to a while ago. He, and a couple of others had brought out instrument cases, and when her boy gave a goofy shy grin at her (he got a pass on this one), she had a feeling he was going to do something a bit out of character.

And yes, that's exactly what he was doing as he picked up his guitar and joined them in playing live music. They wandered about, each of the men stopping at a different woman and performing for them. When the older gentleman began playing for his wife, it made Barbara happy to see. She envisioned her dad doing something like this for her mom, the thought making her warm.

Her boy waited until last, and leaned in to speak to the other musicians. Most nodded, and they strolled casually towards her. Deke took a blue flower off a table and handed it to her. She slipped it behind her ear and stood up, even batting her eyes at him a bit. He'd earned it.

When they began to play, she recognized the song from a movie. Malaguena Salerosa, if her memory served. The song was about a poor man who could only offer his love to a woman he was smitten with and she didn't miss the reference.

Once they were finished, one of the older women caught up to Deke and spoke to him for a few minutes, gesturing toward Barbara. When they were done with their quick conversation, he grabbed a plate of finger food and two bottles of aloe water, and sat down beside his date. "So, I have a new aunt now apparently, and she wanted me to tell you that if I get out of line, she'd be happy to set me straight for you. I wasn't allowed to get any of the food she made until I promised to tell you that."

"I like your new aunt." Barbara said, picking a slice of fried and sugared plantain off the plate and popping it into her mouth primly.