Making Waves

Chapter 22

Dick blinked at her, confused and maybe still a little dazed. Percy grinned back at him.

"You dropped my food."

LINEBREAK

The air was unusually harsh today, stinging wind blowing through the trees and whipping branches into submission. An especially strong gust swept past them, making Dick's shoulders hunch further forward into his chest. Beside him, Percy curled into the jacket she had run back into the building to put on and took another bite of her burrito. It seemed like spilling the pastries he had originally bought was a blessing, because the warmth of his own wrap bled into his fingers through the tinfoil, the only uncovered patch of skin besides his face.

"And those Canadians?" he asked, "I'm assuming they were actually monsters?"

Percy hummed. "Laistrygonians. Cannibal giants," she explained, making him glance sideways.

Her being Perseus and vice versa was the easiest thing in the world to get used to, but the constant reminders of the vicious monsters living hidden amongst them were going to take a little while.

"Bad at naming their children, but surprisingly good at dodgeball," she continued.

"I still can't believe you reported that," he huffed, a small visible breath leaving him.

She laughed. "You asked me to."

"The look on Rohrbach's face when I told her I was putting a bolo out for anyone going by Skin Peeler," Dick groaned, "I was seconds away from permanent meter duty, I swear."

"Again, whose fault is that? 'I think you should report what happened tonight'," Percy mocked, lowering the tone of her voice and widening her eyes cartoonishly.

"I don't sound like that," he protested, tossing the leftover wrapper in a trash can.

"'Talk to the police.'"

"Oh, come on—"

"'I'll know if you don't.'"

"Percy," Dick pleaded and if it weren't so cold, his face would've been burning.

She dropped the act, breaking into a fit of laughter as she crumpled the remainder of her tinfoil into a little ball. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she said, still smiling, "It's just funny, you sounded so worried at the time."

"That's because I was," he said, rolling his eyes, "You were alone and injured in some alley at night, did you think I would just let it go after you tried to lie about it?"

"Oh my gods," she huffed, "It was one tiny cut, I was fine."

Dick laughed, sneaking a glance at her face, even though he didn't need to pretend anymore. His smile shifted into something softer as he reached out with his fingers, pulling half of an orange leaf from the strands of her hair. Another one, brilliantly red, drifted down and Dick watched it settle into the fold between her jacket and neck before picking it out. Percy paused in her step to let him, eyes bright as they traced the movements of his arm.

"How much longer is your lunch break?" she asked.

"As long as you want it to be."

Percy shoved him lightly, or at least, he thought it was supposed to be gentle. Instead, he briefly stumbled and when he righted himself, grinning, her lips were pulled back in an embarrassed smile.

"You can only say shit like that because you have a rich dad," she snorted, then continued when he raised a questioning eyebrow, "Who'll support you when you're finally fired."