April Yang and Dick Grayson share deep-rooted connections to Gotham, even if they prefer not to give them much thought and keep their emotions to themselves. When Dick turns up in Devon City, where April works towards becoming a surgeon, she inevita...
Hoppsan! Denna bild följer inte våra riktliner för innehåll. Försök att ta bort den eller ladda upp en annan bild för att fortsätta.
────────────
For April there was no better place to share her secrets, or at least some of them, than Beautiful Burgers. Majority of the clientele were kids with their bored parents who wished they could relax with a glass of wine rather than watch their bundles of joy puke birthday cakes left and right. Dick and April sat on the outskirts of the locale, cozily set up in a medieval setting.
"Normally I should take you to the station, you know," he said, looking around in both awe and discomfort.
April smiled briefly, but rather returner her attention to the cheeseburger that would soon soothe her stomach. "Right," she murmured in between bites. "You know, normally I'd crash a kid's party and steal a child's meal from there, but since you're a cop we can't really do that, can we?"
"That's... sad." Dick concluded.
"So is living in Devon," April retorted again. "Apparently it's dangerous, too."
"Thought you'd be more preserving, given you're native to Gotham out of all places."
"Actually–" she cut in, sipping on a diet coke. "I was born in Zurich. And my mother wasn't even pregnant with me. The whole surrogate shenanigans... It's a funny story, actually."
The colors of a nearby standing lamp danced on Dick's face, making him appear even more distant than he actually was. The table was kid-friendly, so, naturally, it was a kid-friendly size, which made things ever so difficult for the both of them. April had always been rather tall, often towering over the boys in her classes, and so thanks to that phenomenon hers and Dick's legs were hyper-aware not to nudge the other. This amount carefulness, as well as the fact there were still a lot of things unsaid, proved to be the key factor to building unstable tension that April was desperate to overcome. In times like this, when she had to improvise, there were no moral brakes in her road of thinking.
"So, um..." she squinted at what was left of her burger. "How's Bruce?"
Dick understood the awkward nature of the situation, nevertheless did not like that question at all, but hid his reaction behind a polite smile. "Being Bruce, maybe."
"So you don't know?" April kept going, as she didn't look at Dick anymore but rather at the kids nearby.
"I could know. I'm just not interested."
"Harsh." The redhead sucked in a breath through her teeth, still not changing her object of interest; A little girl standing in the middle of the havoc the kids had created, visibly overwhelmed by it. "Why the detective?"
Why is that girl not walking away?
Walk away if you're scared. No one will blame you.
"April." Dick brought her back to reality. She snapped to the side, only now realising he was even closer now, leaning on the jarringly small table, his face out of the colors' reach. "Tell me about the man," he said. "Please," and added, softer.
So she did. April tried her best to condense all of the happenings into a quick story, but found herself often sidetracking. Dick was there to remind her what she had been talking about. Of course, she withheld details such as her having a gun or Robin possibly making an appearance.
They made their way outside and now stood surrounded by air frozen in place. Their shaken auras disrupted the peace of an early-January evening, but April could've felt more warm from all the emotions she was actively bottling inside.
"Okay, then you have to act normal," Dick advised off-handedly, raising his brows slightly. "Go to the hospital. Drink some coffee, walk around, and then leave."
"Right. Normal." April draped her leather brown jacket over her shoulders and tensed. "Do you know how a surgeon's day looks like, Grayson? Because it's not normal, by any means, especially when you're in the ER like I usually am."
Dick sighed heavily, realising the situation is indeed without a solid way out. April couldn't skip town or work, she couldn't call in sick or leave earlier. She just had to be there. "As far as I know, there's so reason why they're keeping you alive. You're a witness, a liability."
"Joyful." April looked at her feet.
"Come on, I'll take you home" he urged and started walking. "What time do you finish work?"
While walking some distance behind Dick, April frowned to herself. "Theoretically, seven. Practically, around ten," she said. "Why?"
"I'll be waiting for you," he said surely like it wasn't up to discussion. "At least for the next three days, we'll see."
"Oh..." April wrinkled her nose. "You don't hav–"
"April," Dick sighed, his patience gone, and once again this night he said, "Please..."
She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded slowly, accepting the fact that in the following days Dick Grayson was to become her chauffeur.
