A/N - My Twinnie, Twinnie-in-Law, and I are beginning a series of monthly prompts that the three of us all fill with our Batman Universe fanfics. This is for our March 2021 Prompt – "Spring". You can check out my Twinnie and TWIL's prompt fills on AO3, both under username BunnyJase (they'll note whose fic is whose in the notes.)

Steph rolled over in bed and opened her eyes to the warm spring sunlight streaming through open blinds that she was sure she had closed last night. She couldn't deny that the sunshine was an extra welcome sight after last night's painful, dark storm, but why -

Steph blinked.

On her nightstand, in a shiny tin soup can with the label carefully soaked off, was a bouquet of dandelions.

A delicate smile wobbled onto Steph's face as she reached out and brushed a soft flower head with a fingertip. Memories rushed back - the fierce competitiveness between the kids in the Narrows every spring to hunt down and pick the few sparse dandelions that fought their way up through sidewalk cracks and abandoned lots, so that you could make a little bouquet to give to your mom or grandma or aunt, who'd wash out a jam jar or peanut butter container or soup can and set it in the windowsill, and tell you they were the prettiest flowers they'd ever seen, and Steph realized she was crying as she clutched the tin can to her chest and buried her nose in the flowers, to pretend just like she did way back then that she had an extraordinary gift of smell and could detect a floral aroma where none existed.

Jason was working on his bike inside his garage with the door rolled up to let in the breeze. His biceps were bulging in his sleeveless tee as he cranked a wrench, while rock music blared from an old school boom box. The big ass machine gun mounted on a tripod to deter idiots from bothering him seemed like overkill, but hey, it was Jason, after all.

He looked up when he saw Steph and slowly stood up to turn the music down.

"Hi," he said cautiously.

"Someone," Steph said, "got me flowers, but they didn't leave a note."

"Huh," Jason said, looking anxious. "That's weird. Who would do such a thing?"

"My boyfriend, I hope," Steph said. All the tension crumbled out of Jason and he sniffed before striding across the garage to grab Steph up into a giant, desperate, bear hug.

"I'm so sorry, baby," he sobbed into her hair as he rocked her tight. "I didn't mean it."

"Good," Steph said into his shoulder, crying some, too, "because I don't want to break up, either."

"I got scared," Jason sniffed, pulling back slightly to wipe his eyes on his bare arm.

"And then you got shitty," Steph said, before pulling up the hem of his shirt to wipe her face and nose. Jason turned a little pink at her words.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "I'm sorry." He pulled Steph in tighter for a minute and held her close, cradling her head into his chest.

"Can we talk about it?" Steph finally said, and Jason sighed and nodded. He led her over to sit against the garage wall with him, putting her in between his legs and wrapping his arms around her again as she shifted around so she could see him.

"What scared you so much about the idea of us moving in together?" Steph said. "We've been dating for almost a year."

"I know," Jason muttered. "My whole life, though, it's seemed like shit hits the fan as soon as people get too serious in a relationship. Like B and Talia, or my parents, or your parents, or B and Cat, or Dick and Kory, or you and Tim…" he trailed off for a minute. "What we have is really good and I didn't want to mess that up by moving in together," Jason mumbled.

"So you decided that breaking up with me after a huge argument was the best way to not mess up what we have," Steph said dryly. Jason groaned and banged the back of his head against the wall.

"I fuck things up, Steph," he said. "Why the hell do you even want to be with me?"

"Because everybody fucks up sometimes, but next to nobody would spend all night finding me the world's prettiest flowers to apologize with," Steph said gently, reaching up to palm Jason's cheek. He smiled shyly.

"World's prettiest flowers, huh?"

"Prettiest I've ever seen," Steph whispered, leaning in to kiss him soft and sweet on his lips.

"I love you," Jason said afterwards, looking teary-eyed. "And I am so fucking scared you're going to move in with me and realize what a horrible mistake you've made, being with me."

"You know something?" Steph said to him. Jason shook his head.

"What?" he said.

"Tim never picked me flowers," she said. "And I guarantee you, Talia and Cat never picked B flowers, or my dad or Willis for our moms, and as far as Dick and Kory, who knows what happened with them, Jason, but none of them are us and none of them are you," she said.

"You found me the best most specialist flowers ever because you were so sorry, and you didn't even have to, because I love you," Steph said. "And you ought to know by now that I'm the last person in Gotham who's gonna let how other people live dictate how my life goes. I don't care who the fuck else has broken up," she said. "We don't have to. We never have to."

She paused.

"You might remember that the next time we fight before you dramatically declare that we are completely incompatible and our relationship is finished," she said.

"Ok," Jason said quietly. "I can do that."

"Ok," Steph said softly, curling closer into his chest with a smile. "Then I think we're good."

"I guess we'd better round up all the sibling muscle this weekend so we can move you in here with me, huh," Jason smiled back at her.

"My lease isn't up for another forty-five days," Steph pointed out.

"I don't care," Jason pouted. "Do you?"

"No," Steph smiled. Jason smiled back and kissed her, long and slow, with so much love in his lips that all of the uprooted pieces in Steph's heart began to settle back down into the earth. She snuggled contentedly in his arms for several minutes after until she suddenly lifted her head and said, "Please tell me you didn't steal those dandelions away from some poor kids in the Narrows who wanted them more…?"

"Oh, hell no!" Jason said, sounding shocked. "I left all the Narrows dandelions for the Narrows kids," he reassured her.

"Good," Steph sighed in relief.

"I stole yours from Poison Ivy in Robinson Park," Jason beamed.

"Ohmigod was she -"

"She was pissed. Chased me for four blocks with her damn vines."

"Well," Steph said thoughtfully. "I suppose just this once I can understand her outrage, because you clearly stole -"

" - the most beautiful flowers in Gotham," Jason finished for her, intertwining their fingers.

"Truth," Steph said, squeezing Jason's hand tight.

The End

A/N - Thanks for reading! Comments are much appreciated.

This one tugged at my heartstrings a little bit! I got this image of the dandelions in a tin can, and it spun from there.

You can follow me on Tumblr as River9Noble. Come say hi!