Suite 138: Steph attempts to sneak out.

[alwaysroomforhope]

It's nearly 3am. And Steph can't sleep.

And she can't do anything else, either, because there's a stupid brother camped out on her couch, and he's locked the windows somehow, and -

- wait, his breathing's steady and regular. That means he's sleeping, right? And he can't have locked the door, because Ed needs to use that too. Even if he shouldn't be either.

She slips out of bed silently and slides her feet into her Robin boots - best for sneaking. Pyjamas'll have to do for the rest, though - her wardrobe doors squeak sometimes.

And she's just a shadow, as she glides through the main room towards the front door, one ear cocked towards the figure on the couch.

Comments

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"Not exactly."

Dick exhales, and offers her an oddly tilted smile.

"I'm going to fix Bludhaven."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph looks away, because she knows what happens to Bludhaven - and it hasn't happened yet, for him, and she can't tell him. It tears at her, that, knowing how much pain's in store and not being able to change it.

"Fix?" she asks, voice carefully modulated to just the right level of curiousity, expression hidden in the dark - she hopes, because she can't keep all that foreknowledge out of her eyes no matter how she tries.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick's too distracted, at the moment, by his own inner thoughts. It's enough to dull what he could see, at least for the moment.

Bats are good at seeing things - but they're also very good at pointedly missing what they should have witnessed in the first place.

"Make it run better. Reduce the crime. Make it clean. All in one sweep."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Well, if anyone can do it, you can," Steph says, and bites her lip, hard. This is torture.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if I can," Dick says, "But I'm going to try my damned best. I just have to... manipulate a few factors."

And it'll work out.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"You'll do it," she says, and it's the truth. He will. Even if she didn't know the future, she'd still know he'd do it. He's Nightwing, after all.

"What else?"

Because there's still something he's not saying. She can feel it.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"That's all I'm doing at the moment."

It was more than enough to keep him busy, after all.

[alwaysroomforhope]

She eyes him, lips pursed.

"This isn't really fair, you know. You're grounding me for - what, for kissing a guy in a bar, and you won't even talk about anything but work?"

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's fair of her to say. Maybe he is being a bit of a jerk. But it still takes a long moment before he can really say anything.

"That's because I haven't been doing anything but work," he says, finally.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Oh?"

She looks at him.

"What about Roy?"

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick glances away.

"What about him?"

[alwaysroomforhope]

Sometimes that's all that needs to be said, isn't it?

"I see."

And she does, too. That also explains Dick's reaction to Steph kissing Zuko.

She kicks his leg, gently. It's a way of displaying affection. Rly.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"It's fine," he informs her. "It was a mutual decision."

Except that it really wasn't fine at all, but he's not going to admit to that. He is Bruce's son, after all.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Well, she wasn't going to pry, but if he's going to offer information she's not saying no.

"Do I have to go beat him up? Or, well. Haunt him until he apologises?"

NOBODY GETS TO HURT DICK BUT HER.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"Only if you beat me up first."

Apparently Dick is going to consider this his fault.

Figures.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Typical.

Just for that, he gets a Steph shifting down the couch to work her way in beside him and hug him.

Steph-hugs are things to be feared.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick hugs back, and tightly. The hug is defiantely appreciated, right now.

[alwaysroomforhope]

She rests her head on his shoulder, and squeezes. That's what sisters are for.

"...you wanna talk about it?"

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"Do any of us ever want to talk about it?"

Bats were notoriously good at surpressing things.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Do you get a choice?"

Bats are also good at interrogation!

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"I think the question is if you'll give me a choice," Dick says, narrowing his eyes at her a bit.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Yes, that's a good question," Steph agrees, and squeezes his shoulders. "C'mon, spill. You know you want to let it all out."

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"I don't even know where to -start-."

Or maybe he's just using any excuse he can get to delay the inevitable. Did you really expect any different?

[alwaysroomforhope]

"The beginning's a good place."

Nope. She knows how this goes.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"A year ago?"

That's awfully far back.