Accent
James had been friends with Piper for years, but it was more of a working friendship than anything else. The "keep this one as a contact" type of friend, or the "you don't wanna piss off a guy who can make you do that without remembering it" sort. Consequently, he didn't always give Piper his full attention, unless he was using his theatrical villain voice, because only an idiot wouldn't pay attention to a jolly hypnotist using a theatrical villain voice.
But that changed while they were on the run together. Being shackled to Piper made it unfortunately necessary to give him full attention, and James noticed something he'd never noticed before.
"...do you have an accent?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're from Missouri. Where the hell'd that accent come from?"
Piper took off his yellow glasses (wait, weren't those green before?) and wiped them on his mangled half-cape. "You've known me for about a decade now James. I don't have an accent."
"Well you don't sound like you're from Missouri though. I can't place it. Wait, keep talking."
"You really are that bored, aren't you?"
"Yep. Now come on. Yell at me again about how Penguin's going to get us killed. I'm gonna place it, I swear." He should be a better conman than this. Shackled to someone, and not being able to spot the origin of their accent.
Piper rolled his eyes. "I think you're just delusional from sleep deprivation or nerves. I've lived in Central almost my whole life, until I moved to Keystone. I don't have an accent."
"Yeah you totally do and I'm going to figure it...it's a mix. You sound a little British."
Piper snorted. "Well that's news to me. Oh. Oh wait, I used to get teased for that when I was little. Our maid was from England and she did my speech therapy exercises with me. I guess I did pick up a little of her accent."
"So called it!" James smiled, pleased with himself. "God this is boring."
"Tell me about it. I'm almost eager for Penguin to hurry up and betray us."
"He's not necessarily going to-you know, people do things for the favors they get too."
"Uh huh. Excuse me for not trusting one of the Gotham Rogues." Piper tapped his fingers impatiently against the basement floor.
"Why don't you keep talking? Bet I can figure out what part of England your maid was from." Wow. James was really that bored.
But so was Piper. He decided to poke the hornet's nest. "So what, does the accent turn you on or something?"