Chapter 11 ~ An Evening Together

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"Maybe, but I'm fine with it."

Jason sighed. "So many people would be disappointed. The Golden Boy is messy and runs on cereals." Dick walked down the stairs, a black jean jacket on his shoulders. He flashed Jason a shameless smile. "Is the messy princess ready to go?" Dick nodded and headed out of the apartment, closing it once Jason was out of it as well.

They walked out of the building and walked until they reached Dick's black Audi A5 which was parked in the streets a few meters away from his apartment. They drove through Blüdhaven's calm streets, discussing about nothing and everything while listening to the radio. After at least twenty minutes on the road, Dick parked his car in a rather crowded underground parking lot. Dick led his brother to a very nice looking Irish pub which reminded Jason of the one Kyle was working at in New York before he went to get him back to Gotham with him.

As soon as the two brothers stepped inside the building, they were welcomed by the warm smell of fries, grilled meat and other appetizers which each seemed tastier than the next. A row of small mahogany tables were aligned next to the left wall of the restaurant. Not so far from them was the bar, its green and brown stools disorganized as a rugby match was being shown on the pub's television that day. The waiters were struggling to make their way through the cheering crowd of customers who had invaded the small space between the tables and the wooden counter but it wasn't stopping them from cheering as well every time their favorite team scored.

Dick and Jason waited patiently next to the door. A waitress welcomed them, a warm smile on her lips and her brown eyes sparkling with joy. "I reserved a table for two," Dick said, his voice loud enough to be heard over the thundering cheering erupting from the customers after one of the teams scored again.

"Yes, under what name?" She asked in a cheery tone while she couldn't help but stare a bit too long at Jason.

"Grayson," Dick replied, exchanging a quick glance with his brother.

The brunette checked in the large notebook in front of her and then looked back at them. "This way please." She grabbed two menu before she walked towards the back of the pub and led both brothers to a surprisingly quieter area in the building. She pointed towards one of the three restaurants booths and waited for them to sit down until she gave them their menus. Even though their spot was quieter, they could still hear the loud cheering and the traditional Irish music playing out of the loudspeakers. "What would you like to drink?"

"What can you recommend us?" Jason smiled brightly at her.

The waitress bit her lip. "Well, since you are in an Irish pub, it would be a shame not to drink a Guinness. She smirked. "And they are my favorite."

Jason flashed her a grin and quirked an eyebrow. "Oh really? I'll trust you then."

"You won't be disappointed." From where he was sitting, Dick could have sworn he saw her winking at his brother. "So one Guinness it is then." She turned towards Dick. "And for you?"

"The same, please," he smiled politely. The waitress gave him a nod and then walked away from their table. Dick folded his arms and rose an eyebrow at Jason. "Really?"

"What?"

"Don't play innocent, you were flirting with that girl."

Jason smirked. "She started it."

Dick rolled his eyes and let out an amused sigh. When the waitress came back with their drinks, flashing Jason a toothy grin, they both ordered their food. A bacon burger with fries and a side salad for Jason and a grilled chicken sandwich for Dick. They both kept on talking about what was happening in Blüdhaven and Gotham, then they spoke about how incredible it was that Tim and Damian hadn't killed each other while they were away and at some points, towards the end of their meal, they even started to cheer with the others when a team scored. They didn't really mind knowing who they were cheering for, they were just having fun.

When they were done eating (Dick had ordered a coffee to stay awake when he felt his eyes growing heavy again), Dick insisted to pay and, while he waited for the payment to be accepted by the card reader at the counter, he saw Jason walking towards the waitress who had served them. He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. The woman blushed and giggled. She shook her head in amusement and took out a piece of paper she had in her pocket. She quickly scribbled something on it before she handed it to Jason, smiling broadly. The man folded it in his pocket then told her goodbye. When Jason joined Dick's side, he had a huge shit eating grin on his face.

"What?" he said innocently when he saw Dick's expression.

"You really got that girl's number?"

Jason nodded, his grin somehow even larger. Dick shook his head in amusement. Then, they both headed out of the restaurant. Even though they really enjoyed eating in this restaurant, they were happy to be away from all the noise.

Jason took his packet of cigarette out of his pocket, opened it and grabbed one of the cigarettes. He lit it up and take a long drag while Dick readjusted his jean jacket on his shoulder. They were about to walk back to Dick's car when the latter's phone vibrated in his pocket.

He took it out and saw Tim's name appear on the screen. "Hey Babybird! How are you?" he asked in his regular cheerful big brother tone. Jason saw his brother's smile progressively fading away as Tim talked. He frowned, listening attentively while he blew out some smoke. "Yes... No? But maybe we could do something abou-... Okay. Yes, he's just next to me." Dick's sight met Jason's while he unconsciously kept the phone away from his ear. "Hey Jay, do you know a guy called Ren Hirano?"

"Yeah, the guy's a smuggler. Why?"

Dick brought back the phone to his ear. "Yeah Tim, he does. A smuggler apparently. Yep... Who? No, sorry. I don't." Dick looked at Jason again. "Does 'Mister Vassili' rings a bell to you?" Jason took a small instant to think until he shook his head and took another puff. "No, he doesn't either."

"Hey, ask him how's it going with Short Stack," Jason smirked.

Dick rolled his eyes. "Jay asks if everything is okay with Damian... Okay, nice. When will you two come back?...Great, see you soon then! Take care Babybird... Thanks, bye." Dick hung up his phone and shove it back in his pocket.

"They found something?" Jason asked, taking another deep drag and exhaling the smoke into the air, watching it disappear in a cloud.

"Yep. They investigated around the Cloud Gate and found out the attack came from underneath the ground, thus, from the sewers. So they went there and found a plastic barrel which led them to a company called Systemlabs. The owner gave them a name before he got shot and-"

"Shot?"

Dick shrugged. "A sniper on a roof apparently." Jason frowned. "And that same sniper, after they chased him down, told them 'Mister Vassili sends his regards' before he killed himself."

"Well then... Looks like we are on the right path then."

"Indeed... Maybe that Ren Hirano guy knows who this Mister Vassili is?"

"Probably."

"Hey, how do you know him?"

Jason put out his cigarette and threw it in an ashtray that was lying on one of the tables outside the restaurant. "He sells me some weapons for the gang."

Dick's eyebrow's rose with surprise. "Oh... And do you know where he could be?"

"What time is it?"

"What?"

"It depends from the time, so what time is it?" Dick took his phone out of his pocket again and read out loud 12:05pm. Jason thought for an instant until he grinned and looked back at his brother. "Ready for a ride to Gotham?"

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I'm so sorry I haven't updated for a while, I have some little issues going on in my life for the moment and that forced me to slow down on the writing... In any cases, I hope you liked this chapter and as always, thank you so much for reading :)

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