Everyday walking home from work she wonders why she hasn't left this godless city yet with it's masked murderers and heroes that seem to blend together into a cloud of chaos that plagues all of this places' citizens.
The death rate is higher here than any other part of the world, save for what goes on in third world countries probably but still, a fuck ton of people die here. The rich, the poor, the elites, the hoods, death doesn't discriminate. Everyone in Gotham learns that by the time they can speak.
All of her friends in San Francisco, where she grew up, tell her to move back. There's a lot of crime there too, that's why the Teen Titans made it their home for years until a couple (too many)… incidents happened. But this city it's different. The crazies really run wild in the streets, including Batman and Robin and that attractive guy who wears that skintight blue and black costume.
She gets that they're heroes and all and yeah, they do save lives but anyone who runs around every night in some elaborate costume flinging themselves off 70 feet skyscrapers really needs a therapist. Not that she isn't eternally grateful or anything, of course she is.
Like most people who have lived here for a few years she's had a run in with one of them. A few years back, when things and people weren't as psychotic as they are now and all those do gooders still looked out for the little guys, she developed a friendship (more like infatuation on her end) to Robin.
The second one, of course, the first became the black and blue guy but she never really sees him around. Apparently he claims Bludhaven, a little more fitting. Gotham's grittiness isn't for everyone but it was perfect for the Robin she knew. Maybe even a little too perfect.
She remembered first moving here with her mom and reading articles about how violent the new Robin was. Bashing drug dealers' faces in, leaving human traffickers on the brink of death, even permanently crippling some people. She saw the bloody pictures, read all the internet comments, it was like she couldn't get enough. Growing up she loved hearing about the horrible men that were on Alcatraz Island and those bold enough to escape, but this was even better. This was someone tangible.
The first time she ever met him she was sneaking back into her shitty apartment after a night out drinking with friends. It was actually still pretty early since Batman apparently raided a huge drug operation just one block away and she wanted to leave before the cops swarmed the streets.
A little drunk and lost in her own thoughts like she usually was, she didn't notice the white van pulling up behind her as a few masked men got out and held a gun to the back of her head. She only had 13 dollars on her but they wouldn't have known that from the expensive clothes she wore (shoplifted, of course).
Before she was even able to get a word or scream out and plead for her life, a blur came crashing down on the man holding the gun and the rest of them fled, which her rescuer didn't bother pursuing.
"Are you hurt?" he asked instead, he had the voice of any teenage boy would, perhaps a bit more on the husky side. It sounded raw, like maybe he had been screaming or crying just a few minutes prior.
She shook her head, too in shock to get any real words out. When she woke the next morning with a pounding head she would cringe about how he probably thought she was some mute idiot, only able to nod like a puppet.
"Because you seem a little, well, out of it." he responded as he held her up, steadying her on her feet.
"That's because I'm drunk." she blurted out, never the one to have a filter. His hands were warm, large, and the material of his gloves felt weird against her arm and waist but she strangely liked it.
A bit taken aback, he said, "Oh. Do you want me to walk you home?"
She would have like an escort home after that event, she was pretty shaken up but didn't want to take up anymore of his time.
"What a gentlemen," she teased, watching his ears turn bright red. "Most guys don't do that anymore but I guess you're different. I live a bit far away, near 34th and Mission. But you probably have more important stuff to do anyways." she said coyly, watching his reaction.
He shook his head, face still blushing. "I'm pretty much done for the night. Batman's handling everything." he said and if she could see under his mask she would guess that he was rolling his eyes.
"Tough night? You sound annoyed." she asked as they began walking in the direction to her house. He was silent as he walked closely beside her, he was obviously a teenager but seemed a bit taller and bulkier than the other Robin the few times she saw him in action.
He didn't say anything and she sensed his uneasiness, he probably didn't want to dish out any dirt on his partner to a random girl he just met.
"It's okay, you can tell me. You'll probably never see me again and I won't say anything. No one would believe me anyways." she reassured him.
Robin looked at her as they turned into an alleyway, passing a bunch of homeless people in tents that paid no attention to them as they walked past.
"He told me I got too violent and lost control again. I didn't even the guy, he was kidnapping little girls so send to other countries so they could be killed or raped or whatever those sick fucks want to do-" his voice cut off as quickly as it started.
"Sorry, you don't need to hear all that." he apologized.
"It's okay. I watch the news and keep up with you so I've pretty much been exposed to everything already." Now it was her turn to turn pink when she realized what she said.
He grinned as they passed a late night bodega. "Keeping up with me, huh?"
"I meant, you know, you and Batman. And that other guy that's always doing crazy flips off buildings and stuff. Not just you."
"Right." he smirked, obviously not believing her. "You need to work on your lying skills, I can see right through you."
"There's nothing to see through. I'm an open book." She glanced around, spotting the still open bodega.
"Do you have a curfew?" she asked suddenly with a sly smile on her face.
Robin tilted his head, peering down at her. "Of course not," he scoffed. After a skeptical look from her he confessed, "12 o'clock on school nights. I have a bad habit of not getting out of bed. Why?"
"Hungry for pizza? On me. Or does that mess with the strict diet your on?" she teased.
He gave her a serious look. "I am always down for pizza."
The man at the register in the bodega did a triple take at Robin. She knew it looked weird, the teen masked hero of Gotham City with a girl that probably resembled a nightwalker with her skimpy outfit on and mascara smeared under her eyes.
They ordered their pizzas, combination with coke for her and two cheese pizzas for him.
"On the house, kids. I see you patrolling this city every night. Boy's gotta eat. I can't even walk up the stairs to my apartment." he joked with Jason who grins, obviously pleased.
The man slides to them a lava cake on a paper plate with two forks. "For you and your girlfriend." he winks while Robin turns another shade of pink.
Now that she really had time to look at him, he was attractive. Probably someone her and her friends would have fawned over at school. Messy black hair, a straight high nose, and when he turned to the side she saw that he had a sharp jaw that she would have liked to trace.
"So, does Batman get mad at you a lot?' she asked when she knew she had been staring a little to long. They take a seat in the very back of the bodega, in an unlit and secluded corner.
"Only like all the fucking time," he responded, mouth filled with the cheese pizza he practically devoured. "I do everything wrong according to him. I swear the guy can barely stand me half the time."
"I'm sure he really cares about you. Adults are just like that. I can't talk to my mom for more than five minutes without us screaming at each other but I know she loves me."
"He doesn't love me. He just needed a replacement sidekick."
"You're such a downer. If that was true then it could have happened to anyone in Gotham. Everyone wants to be Robin, but he chooses you. It's fate, your destiny was to save people." she joked with him, trying to lift his mood.
"I don't believe in that shit. I was at the right place at the right time. He was having a good day that day, if he wasn't he would've hauled my ass to jail."
"Why? What were you doing? Something illegal?"
"So many questions," Robin smirked at her but after a playful glare, he went on. "I was stealing the tires off the Batmobile."
She regarded him a look. "Tell me you're kidding."
"Not kidding. I was gonna get away with it too."
"You're the luckiest person ever. He probably felt a connection to you."
A buzzing sound interrupted her. "Speaking of luck, I probably don't have any today. Sorry, this is my mom." she picked up her phone, and annoyed look appeared on her face.
"Just eating pizza with a friend. I'll be home soon."
She set it down and looked at him. "Well that was my mom screaming at me. Know any quick ways to get to my house from here?"
He shot her a devilish glance and pulled her outside, giving the cashier a quick goodbye.
"Just hold onto me." he told her while getting something from his belt.
"Why? What are we going to do?" she was hoping that they make out but the answer was the total opposite.
In ten seconds they were flying through the air and she buried her face in his shoulders, clutching him like her life depended on it which, in that moment, it did.
"I bet we could get there in less than 8 swings." Robin excitedly told her as they took a break on the rooftop of some building.
"This is what you and Batman do every night for fun?" she asked, out of breath.
"Well, not for fun since we kind of have to but it is pretty fun. You didn't like it?" he asked, setting her down and scanning her face to see if she was okay.
Even though they weren't flying anymore, she still had her arms around him. He blushed again when he realized what an intimate position they were, one that he had caught Catwoman and Batman in before multiple times when Batman told him to make himself scarce.
"I didn't like it, but I did like being with you." she said, batted her eyelashes and leaned in.
Her lips were soft and impossibly smooth and she silently thanked Lizzy for letting her use lip balm earlier on in the night. He tasted the spicy whiskey on her tongue that had a slight cinnamon taste while she tasted cigarettes. Neither of them minded it.
She moved down to his neck the ghost of her lips following an invisible trail and she began kissing and sucking as soon as he let out a groan of pleasure.
"It's okay," she said in a breathy voice. Goosebumps in his arm raised and her breath fanned over the previous wet spots she sucked into his neck and collarbone, a pleasurable but chilling feeling. "I won't leave any marks."
This time, he gently pulled her hair up to look at him and he softly pressed his lips to hers. He was gentle, she thought. For someone that was constantly criticized by being too violent, she assumed her would be rougher and meaner like the college guys she used to meet at parties.
"Ready for another round? You won't be so scared this time." he reassured, hand still on the nape of her neck and she smiled in response.
Gotham was always chilly but when it neared wintertime the wind was unbearable, especially at night. Noticing she was cold, Robin took another stop and wrapped his cape around them. She shivered in response and hugged him tighter, nuzzling his face to which he blushed again.
"We're halfway more. More than halfway." he promised, relishing the moment. He was never one for physical contact, nor did he ever really get only time his dad touched him was when his fist would make contact with his face and his mom was too busy being passed out on the floor.
She didn't want to leave as they swung through the air once again. This was the chance of a lifetime. How many girls got to makeout with a very sweet superhero? How many girls got the chance to meet a sweet guy?
"Told you. No time at all." he said. He dropped them on the ground a block away from her house. "I was thinking we could walk from here."
They held hands as they walked, neither of them thought this would ever happen. They both thought it was disgustingly cheesy and overkill romantic when others did it but when you're the one engaged in it, it feels quite different.
"So am I ever going to see you again? Or are you hit it and quit it type?" she asked jokingly, turning around to face him.
"Tomorrow? It'll be a Saturday so no curfew for me, or you either, I hope. I'll be outside your window as soon as I'm done with patrol."
She only grinned at him and then kissed him on the cheek before prancing away. He stayed and watched her get home safely before grappling away, the same happy grin on his face.
She stops her reminiscing. Their first encounter was years ago and thinking back about it doesn't help her or him after what happened. It's too painful for her to ever think about and she's not sure why the memory came flooding back. She misses him in waves and tonight she was drowning. If she had known what would have happened to them in the end, she would have walked away the moment they met and never looked back. Getting over him took years and she still wasn't done.
It's around the same time of year if she remembers correctly. The air, the coldness, the smell of Gotham is the same as it was when she me him. That must be it. She's even walking on the same block when they first met, her knight in black and red spandex.
A loud bang interrupts her thoughts, it sounds like a gunshot only a few blocks away. She hears a group of men yelling, arguing it seems like. Today she just reported on the news channel of a suspected drug ring in this neighborhood and she hurries and walks the opposite direction.
Robin isn't there to save her anymore.