Bird by the Window (Young Justice)

Chapter 14

I decided I should probably lay off the thoughts and focus on my future as a... mole as they would put it.

After a few moments, Dick interrupted my train of thought.

"Nice sword." He said, it sounded casual enough, but it was like he was asking for an entirely new thing.

"Yeah." I started to fabricate a lie. "I saw a katana in an anime I watched and I became quite... Fascinated with them." Well it wasn't a complete lie, anime swordplay is... Always on point. I even caught myself copying some moves... Yeah yeah yeah, call me a nerd. I ain't ashamed.

"Ah." He remarked, as if he wasn't convinced.

"Well, let's just save this conversation for later ha?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "I'd rather not get caught."

Dick looked at me strangely and settled back in his seat. "Okay then. Whatever you say."

I looked at him curiously. He didn't seem at ease either. I noticed that when he walked in this morning. It was like he had a ton of things on his mind, like me. "Do you have anything to say to me?"

"What? I, uh..." Dick scratched the back of his neck. "I... Wasn't really happy this weekend. Um... The media again was pushy with my personal life, it was... Brutal until Bruce told them to get the hell out. That's why you didn't hear anything from the Internet or something. " He bit his lip as he started sketching a different symbol. "Um. Don't you want to talk later? I mean, you said you'd rather not get caught."

"Um. Yeah. Sure." I said and turned the page of my notebook. I didn't know if it was just me, but it felt like he was hiding something from me. The way he judged me when he figured that I was absent the exact same day he was, it was as if he suspected me of something.

I decided to brush it off, it was probably just an after effect of the consecutive meetings.

There wasn't any point of dwelling on the past, couldn't change it if I tried.

---

The day went by slowly, as I hoped (or feared) Dick dropped the subject of my wounded leg. He did probe me though, with his questions. He asked about what I specifically did when I was absent.

Yeah like he needed to know. So, I asked him the same questions and he replied smoothly. He didn't show any typical signs of lying or that he was hiding something. There were little things a normal person wouldn't be able to recognize, the way he creates his words, his eyes and the way he takes his breath every time he starts speaking, give me some sort of uneasy feeling.

In the end, I suppose we both decided that we should let he subject matter drop.

The following days went by without so much as a significant event happening in both my lives. No danger, no nothing. Just training and training and training as I have did before.

Lex Luthor stayed as distant as ever. Slade, well, he was always Slade. He never does change, he's always Slade Wilson.

I spent my free time either chatting with Dick or spending time with my friends or watching Nikki train. It was quite an impressive sight to be honest. She was quite talented.

Barbara Gordon... She wasn't bad at all. With the little I know about her, she was actually nice and pretty smart when the situation demanded it. She took situations in her stride and acted upon it maturely.

Unless of course, it came to her obvious crush on Dick Grayson. Yes, we'd fight on occasion every time Dick gushes over something I said or every time he'd make an attempt to flirt with me, but we'd be civil to each other.