Friday night saw me living it up in the empty flat. Trapeze bar out, some healthily spiked chocolate pudding to get the creative juices flowing and a pump-up playlist blasting through my speakers.
It took my vodka addled brain a moment to process the chiming that wasn't part of my rocking tunes. I danced over to my phone, glanced at the unknown caller and answered without hesitation. We livin' spontaneously tonight boys.
"Helllloooo, darling!" there was silence on the other end, but for once I wasn't bothered since AJR crooning about throwing out Legos filled it nicely. Suddenly I heard an all too familiar snicker.
"Hello, how'd you know it was me?" My favorite officer in the Bludhaven Police Department asked. I giggled and vaguely waved a hand to hush the music. The speakers didn't listen.
"I didn't! Tonight is wild!" I shoveled more pudding into my mouth and once again attempted to Jedi shush the music. "To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your beautiful voice on this joyous evening?"
"Joyous evening? Are we celebrating something?" I heard the tinny sound of a car door closing.
"We could be! Pick anything, life is beautiful, why not? I've got chocolate pudding and tunes. It's already a party!" I laughed and spun around, although when my feet stopped my vision disagreed. "Dudeeeee! You won't believe this! So I'm spinning, right? Because pudding party etc. but I stopped and…get this…the room kept spinning!" I lowered my voice before delivering the startling revelation, "I think I might be magic." The snickering on the other end of the line turned into full out laughter.
"I know you'll think I'm crazy, it's hard to believe, but I swear to God—" My vision cleared and everything froze, "Holy shit…Dick! It's gaslighting me, this little freak room thinks it can gaslight me. You believe me right?"
"I believe you might be magic." His tone was teasing but I nodded anyway.
"You didn't see me but I nodded in solemn agreement" I bobbed my head to the new beat and approached my swaying trapeze bar suddenly the flow began to form in my vision and I itched to spin.
"Listen, Dick, I'm inspired I need to swing, can I leave you on the floor? Don't worry I still love you." There was a choking sound on the other end and I furrowed my brows. "I'm sorry you're right that's unforgivably rude, wait you called me!" I whacked into the couch and grumpily gave it a shove back. "How can I help you? Are you asking to come party, because the answer is yes, totally."
"I called because…nevermind, it can wait til tomorrow." I could hear the smile in his voice and I smiled back, "My shift just ended, was that a real invitation?"
"Of course! You're always welcome, you make the world brighter by existing." Even though it totally was rude I had left him on speaker on the floor anyway and was testing a seahorse variation.
"I'll be over in a bit, don't let the walls gaslight you til I get there."
"Yes sir!" I half shouted upside down and did a beat til my finger reached the end call button.
By the time a knock came at the door, my mind had mostly cleared from the alcohol but I was still riding high on the sugar and my new routine. I danced and spun over to the door in my socks and flung it open to reveal Dick clad in sweats and a hoodie, hair still damp from a shower, curling at the edges. Most importantly he was offering a large bag of Thai takeout.
"You're an angel!" I waved him in and turned the music down slightly.
"You have a trapeze bar?" I turned back and saw him gazing longingly at the apparatus as the takeout was unpacked onto the counter.
"Yes, she is the first and only love of my life." I sidled over to him and rubbed my hands together promising mischief. "You look like you wanna give her a spin." He blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head.
"It's the best feeling in the world, I swear! Like flying, I mean this one's only a few feet off the ground but close your eyes and it's like." I demonstrated by closing my eyes and lifting onto my toes swinging my arms in a circle. Maybe I wasn't totally sober yet.
"I'll teach you some beginner stuff, you can totally do it! It's wonderful, promise." I clasped my hands behind my back and offered puppy dog eyes. There was an oddness to the tilt of his mouth and I got the distinct impression I was missing out on some hilarious joke.
"Sure, I'll give it a try." I clapped my hands in delight and moved to the rigging, raising it to an appropriate height. When I looked back, Grayson had already removed his shoes and BPD hoodie. He approached and grabbed onto the bar with a perfect grip, gentle but secure, good spacing between his hands. He was a born natural. Nonetheless, I grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him back a few steps.
"Hold on there buddy! This is not a pulling muscles party, you gotta warm -up first"
He pouted but obligingly released the bar. Before I could decipher the look in his eyes I knew to mean trouble, he'd turned toward the speakers and flipped the volume up.
"What are you–hey!" Dick grabbed my hands and spun me in a circle, out back in and into a dramatic dip. I was laughing too hard to protest.
"What? I thought we were warming up."
"Okay okay, but it's got to be full body" I shimmied my shoulders and flapped my arms in explanation performing my best impression of a drunken clubbing fanatic. Grayson doubled over and I felt my face heat even as I continued my chaotic routine.
"Nevermind, you are way too sober for this." I scooped out a healthy dose of the chocolate pudding and thrust it in his direction. "Eat up, it's good for the soul."
He skeptically obliged and nearly choked on the inconspicuous snack. Eyes wide he glanced between me the pudding and the mostly empty bottle of whipped cream vodka on the counter. Rather than commenting he sent me a wink and shoveled the rest into his mouth, licking the spoon in a wholly uncivilized way, I glanced to the ceiling as blood rushed to my cheeks.
"Satisfied?" He smirked and shimmied his shoulders in an imitation of my earlier demonstration.
"Entirely" I joined him and we danced about the room, making good use of furniture and one another in the choreography. By the time we'd collapsed out of breath on the couch, a healthy flush was high in Grayson's cheeks and I judged him sufficiently prepared to not injure himself with the trapeze. I managed between giggles to ask him to stretch out anything that felt tight and rummaged in the kitchen for a spare water bottle. I returned to find Grayson chilling in an impressive back bend.
"Dang dude, not to be weird, but if I could steal your spine I totally would." He rose neatly out of it and honestly that should have been my first clue that I was about to be played. However, I had vodka impaired spidey senses. Sue me.
We walked through the basics, mounting and dismounting, a few catchers variations and beats. Dick listened intently to each instruction then proceeded to "try" and by "try" I mean perfectly replicate what I'd done on his first attempt. I was getting a bit suspicious, but the dude was ridiculously fit and I chalked it up to natural talent. I paused to take a sip of water.
"Can you raise it a few feet higher? I'd like to try something." Dick gave me an innocent smile and I squinted even as I approached the rigging.
"I am not responsible for you breaking your neck, sir. Please do be careful."
I'd raised the bar so it dangled 5 feet above his fingertips. This was about as high as I could get it given the current span sets I had engaged. I leaned against the wall curious as to how he hoped to reach the bar. Dick rubbed some chalk on his palms and approached the bar. At the last second he turned and sent me a cheeky wink. That is all the warning I got. Dick spun and leapt, hitting the edge of the couch for a millisecond before he richocheted off and caught the bar in a neat swing. He swung three times around, straight legs, pointed toes holding the handstand for a half second before accelerating around once more, this time bringing his legs through to hook his knees and release the bar smoothly. A few beats and then he was flying through the air, flipping faster than my eyes could track and heading for a landing that was decidedly not the stationed mat. I let out a gasp at the impact, afraid to watch yet morbidly curious. The landing was perfectly stuck and utterly silent. Of course it was. He swept a performer's bow making eye contact through the fringe of hair draping his forehead. I was too dumbstruck to even blink. Dick straightened and returned to the mat, taking up the water bottle and sipping as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As if I hadn't just witnessed the grace of an angel.
My mouth was hanging open as I approached and flopped onto the mat next to him.
"Okay, where the hell did that come from? That was…absolutely majestic" He turned to face me and sheepishly rubbed a hand through his hair.
"I may have spent some time on a trapeze when I was a kid…in a traveling circus?" He was obviously fighting a smirk
"You were in the circus!" I was full-on gaping now but couldn't wipe the flabbergasted astonishment off my face.
He was obviously attempting humility but the self-satisfied gleam in his eyes undercut it.
"No, you are the coolest person I know. The coolest. You have to teach me, you have to show me, I want to know everything. Seriously, a proper acrobat! Can't believe you just kept that a secret! What else are you, a superhero? A billionaire? An international super spy?" The same odd tilt to his mouth had returned and my eyes got bigger. "No way! Are you really a spy?" I straightened my shoulders. "The name's Grayson. Dick Grayson" He laughed and I poked him in the shoulder. "I can't believe you."
Dick leaned over and bumped his shoulder against mine overestimating my current stability on the edge of the mat. I tipped over with a squawk and his attempts to assist only resulted in both of us in a heap on the floor.
"You really are a spy and that was definitely an assassination attempt because I discovered your secret." I coughed out, we untangled the mess of limbs and he graciously offered me a hand up. This brought me at eye level with the forgotten takeout and my brain went tunnel vision.
"Sustenance" I used the hand still holding mine to drag him toward the food and grabbed out some plates and forks.
By the time the Thai food had been demolished it was nearing 2am. Upon closer inspection I realized my companion might simply pass out at his barstool. He noticed me watching and straightened up a bit wiggling his eyebrows. It wasn't enough to distract me from the dark circles. With my mind finally clear besides a bit of sleep fog, I suddenly wondered what that original phone call had been about. I reached out and brushed some of the hair out of his eyes. His eyelashes fluttered at the touch and I saw the tension drain out of him. Whatever he had needed to talk to me about could wait til the morning. This boy needed sleep.
"You're welcome to my couch for the night if you don't feel like trekking across Bludhaven at this ungodly hour of the night." Uncertainty flashed across his face. I wondered what he was concerned about, why he suddenly looked guilty. Whatever he might have been about to say was cut off by a yawn.
"I promise I won't try to steal your spine in your sleep." I winked and cleared the dishes into the sink. He rose with me, tossing the empty boxes.
"Thank you, in that case, the couch would be lovely."
"Do I need to take down the trapeze bar, or do you think you'll be able to restrain your circus heart?" I poked him in the chest to emphasize the words. One dramatic sigh later he acquiesced. I presented an extra toothbrush and fetched a spare pillow and some blankets while he washed up. By the time he'd returned to the main room, I'd locked up and performed my nightly checks.
"Do you need anything else?" We stood a little apart and I suddenly felt the awkwardness that should have been present since the drunken invite over, impromptu trapeze lesson, and then inviting him to stay the night. Another yawn from Dick as he shook his head and the quick but longing look he cast the couch solidified in my mind I'd made the right choice.
"Good night then" I moved to squeeze past him, and his shoulder brushed mine.
"What, no good night kiss?" he pouted and I choked. The look that spelled trouble was back and I rolled my eyes but obligingly stepped onto the coffee table so I stood a little above him. He grinned up at me, a question in his eyes. I leaned down and dropped a kiss into the dark mass of curls at the top of his head. It was impossibly soft and still smelled faintly of shampoo. It was an act of will power to not just bury my face into his hair. Instead I drew back and stepped gingerly off the table out of reach.
"Goodnight Dick, sleep well" I called, headed to my room
"Goodnight"