Why Heroes Can't Sip Champagne and Apples are A Girl's Best Friend
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During a New Year's celebration at Titans Tower, Kori is revealed to have a major problem - a drunken one only on apple wine! While the Titans since then have concluded their festivities of that strange night, the now twenty one year old Dick Graysonmoves alone to Bludhaven to becoming Nightwing, until one day he pops the question. Does he want to finally propose to Kori Anders after running from his teammates over not telling her truth? A love story and in Rom - com style to test this couple through the ages.Will these two heroes finally recognize "how long is forever's" true message? This is taken from my snippets and made into a full fic fir those who were wondering. Also on Arxhive of our own until third party case is addressed, so it found a new home. Enjoy!
EXCERPT:
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"You…would have been crowned the victor, I believe." Star looked down at him from his bed as NightWing's civilian soul was forced to look up into her light eyes, still swaying. "How long do you propose…we stay like this?"
He sat up groggily onto his knees and asked with a groan, "Star...what are –
"I do not wish for you to think of me as someone…. rutha.You… are best for this team, and to leave us would be..." She leaned into him. Her hair so red and still as in their youth. She was practically ageless to him as he hesitated to grab her and take the woman close.
Chapter 1: New Years' Escapades
It was after there had been a calmer feeling, after the heroic leader of the Titans had turned twenty-one, after he'd kept Starfire on his list of to – dos, and……what that really meant in Dick Grayson's able mind.
"Joy, friends!" Starfire was still as bubbly as what her hands grasped, just as the ball was ready to drop in the "square of good times," as she'd mistakenly dubbed Times Square before.
"Dude…. I'm gonna have a sip –
"Not until next year." Raven swiped the glass from her friend's hands to replace it with a plastic cup of sparkling grape juice.
"Cy and the others get to! Rae? And Dick already drank cause it's customary as –
"I don't actually drink; I take a sip. That's all." Dick cleared up with a grin. "The high life isn't literal, Bb."
"Are you tellin' me this perfect case over here has NEVER gotten blasted?? You've gone to outer space, Wing, but dang. You aren't holdin' back tonight! Let's get rockin, tonight!!" Cy wasn't a bad drinker, he held actually pretty well for his own, being part machine. Getting drunk was, harder for him. But Kori?
"On my planet, the "grains of "roomtha" were finely ground and mulled to be used for a ceremony, which included drinking copious amounts of the liquid it produced. If the winner was decreed, they received the chair of "eventellel." She beamed. "They were once also betrothed to the ruling king's daughter –
Something in Dick, clicked.
He could…. propose? Like that? He started to sweat, seeing Raven fill her juice cup with an eye on her leader.
"Are you, alright? Richard?" Starfire tugged his jacket sleeve as the male gave her a nervous glance, then replaced it with a reassuring chuckle. Nervously.
"I'm just a little stir crazy, Star. New Years is exhausting for a lot of us –
"Nooo..." Cy and Bb ganged up on the new drinker.
"We're gonna borrow him a sec, Kori." Cy watched the red head nod as Dick was dragged into the hallway without a fight.
/
"You were so thinking it –
"Vic?" Dick wasn't sure if…. this was such a good plan. He started to sweat bullets. They were on to him.
"Dude, you got the looks, the car. The style but NOT."
Bb pointed to the doorway, "But not the love of your life." He frowned and put his hands to his hips. "So, just tell her already! Why are you bein' so –
"Ah, hey. Richie had a tough year as it is. Becomin' Nightwing, having to go back to Gotham for his parent's anniversary –
"I know you two are not trying to annoy me right now."
"There's the stare!" Bb chirped, pointing now at Dick's famous "bat glare" impersonation.
"See? You wanna be together, so go an' out do her in a contest –
"Bad idea."
"Why?" Both bros waited for Dick to clear his throat.
"It, would be rude. She's a powerhouse with the keg an –
"Liar, you've never gotten wasted. Have you?"
Dick gulped, nodding rigidly as Cy accused him right. He rubbed his neck, browed furrowed a bit, trying to be pretty honest with them. "Y – yeah…. not a fan of waking up in the pool at some college frat party."
"That's only if those guys do it cause they're not responsible enough, we know you. You can get sick from eating three hot dogs. Mr. Hot pants." Cy waved off the image from a cloud above Wing's head, making the joke turn his friend a literal valentine's day red.
"I'm not! –
"You are going to propose to her to be like, really really close, so why not just say the heck with it!" Gar exclaimed. "You too are too indecisive. You are the gentleman in fairy tales, not a bad boy like –
"Enough comparing; Dick, are you sure she'll be around long enough until you make the first move –
"Not like this! It's…. it's not ok."
"Pretty boy, nothing' Bruce says should kick you from letting go, just for tonight." Cy put a hand on Richard's shoulder. "We're here for you man. Crabby or not, you are one of us an' I know you care. Even Raven gets it."
"Raven…. not in front of her. She m –
"Rae is cool. She's been doing a lot of speed dating and even still goes to the goth poetry café downtown." Gar said to his sullen faced compadre, "You can say whatever and she won't get mad! I swear, she's not po –
"Anyway, you got this. If you need a ref, Bb an' Rae an me are here to bring you back. Star can't get drunk from human -
"I'm going to lose, even if it's just to participate." Dick said, humbly expecting his character to look Bruce in the eye. Slurring. Shut…the font door. He couldn't do th –
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The guys dragged him into the main room, threw him into the sofa as Starfire reached out to stop the hero from falling onto his face. He saw the clock. Forty-five minutes. He had to just be a tad sobered up by the time he was done embarrassing himself.
"Do you want to have a drinking contest?" Was all the hero, feeling that he'd rather she reject him and they go on with their lives.
He was going to live through this humiliation. Somehow.
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The contest was for certain, and Starfire was thrilled to see her skulking boyfriend in such a mood. In fact, Cy had even joined in, while Bb and Rae stayed back to count the tallies.
"If you cannot finish your serving, the victor will be the person who is most qualified to continue and so on. As long as one person is still coherent or conscious, then the winner will be crowned as the "roomthargar" drinker supreme, unofficially. We do only have the "the wine of the sparling" which was supplied tonight." Starfire spoke as if she'd refereed before. Maybe in her past?
"What flavors are in the pack, Cy?" Gar cocked an ear, somewhat curious to know.
"I dunno. Maybe cherries or something mellow. I tried to mix it up this year. With all the newbies, ya know." He beamed, feeling that this was going to be no sweat for the team. Kiddie drinks, like he'd planned to play it safe in case Bb broke the first rule.
"Hawaiian pineapple? Are you going on vacation?" Raven didn't know how to ask it, but Cy just chuckled, silly as it all was. "Not a bad idea, right? Ready to lose your title this year, Star?"
"I would never let this crown leave my scalp unattended. We may surely then, proceed with the competition!"
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Had Dick known one thing about Starfire's few concerns of earthly eats and drink, she had only few intolerances to speak of. Today, right before the end of the previous, she'd find that one more morsel was something that would change forever her perception of a single, red fruit.
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Starfire had her first hiccup at glass number four, she just ignored the itch and the slight haze in her eyes as she kept up her world…. world….
Starfire clasped a hand over her brow and pinched her eyes shut. Was this…...poi –
"Star? Cy! What was in that bottle? Something's wrong with her…!" Dick was looking a bit pale, but mostly because of his lack of trying.
Gar grabbed the bottle and read over the label's ingredients. "Ok, ok….ahhh….Citric….Ah…. apple! This one has apples, dudes! Is she sick?? –
"I…." Starfire spoke with her eyes now very….
"I will give my crown – hic! Up to raaavennnn!" She giggled and tossed her glass into the air, hitting it with her eye beams, hiccupping until it finally hit the floor in shards above.
"How do we stop her? She's…. actually drunk!" Cy gawked as the princess acted too happy. So, bubbly….
"You didn't know?" Raven had a hand to her hip as the other by her powers tried to grab the little gnat from leaving the hall.
"She has an intolerance to apples. Why was I the only one who bothered to ask…"
Dick felt his throat go dry; he wasn't the problem…. but he knew how to knock out that bull elephant.
Still, it kind of left….
He took a hand to his gut and chucked right onto the floor. Bb blinked and then turned to Cy, raising his metal arm up with a wiry grip. "The, new undefeated champion…?" He announced in a nervous croak, wondering how they were going to fix an alien with some mutated condition unbeknownst to human science, or a lightweight with a bunch of daddy issues.
"This was so a bad idea –
"You think??" Raven glared at Bb and Cy, with Dick being anything but sober and nauseous to his knees.
"I…. fucking…hate you guys for this…"
"You just don' know how to hold your wine, cool it. We'll fix things, here. Somehow." Cy ignored Dick's hatred speech and proceeded to lift the droopy eyed twenty-one-year-old up by his arms.
"Don't…. tell Bruce…" Dick finished before falling into a foggy slumber.
Gar scratched his chin. "Should we move the body –
"Ow!" That received a backhand from Raven. "He's alive, stop making this difficult for us."
"But…. look at them!" He splayed out his hands, exasperated. "Why don't we just stick them together –
"Because they didn't want to end up wasted and sick like dogs, BB. That might…might not be a good idea." Cy sighed and Raven had Starfire lulled to sleep by her magic. "We can check a blood sample from Starfire, have Dick rested and hydrated and Kori sedated if she comes to like before."
Cy nodded. "I'll handle the hot-headed boy wonder; you can keep Kori from finding the city limits. Cool with everyone, team?"
"Righto! See? Good thing I didn't take a sip." Bb prided himself, but Raven had to roll her eyes. "Because we told you this could happen." She muttered and lead Kori out the door to another room.
"Uhh, no? Because I'm a real party animal that YOU dudes and dudettes can't handle!"
Another backhand had poor Gar seeing stars all the way to the med bay inside Titans Tower.
~ Countdown in twenty-five more minutes, folks! We've got a ton of celebs lined up for the after party so stay tuned! The new year is coming in hot! ~
Raven grunted and flicked off the T.V.
Celebrities were so overrated, they had bigger problems to fuss over.
As in who was going to tell Batman that his ward could still walk in a straight line?
Raven chuckled to herself. Maybe she'd cover for him, make this year one to look back on after all.
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Underage is bad enough, but she didn't hold up to the apple. And Dick is such a good boy that drinking is like a second way to keel over or piss Bruce off. Was he really doing this all for Kori? Find out!