Faye Feng → Dick Grayson ✔

Masquerade

"You don't have any security with you?"

A phoenix turned its head towards him, golden and red feathers dancing in the night breeze. Diamonds encircling the edge glimmered as brightly as the eyes he saw from behind the mask, the beak below it bedazzled with jewels. She was an ancient Egyptian goddess modernized, her dress a matching fiery color trailing behind her, as if the ground was bursting into flame below her feet.

"I didn't want us to be interrupted tonight," she murmured, lips next to his ear, her voice sending shivers down his spine. "Besides, you'll do."

As gorgeous as the ballroom they had walked into was, Klarion thought that she put everything and everyone else to shame. The red curtains were nowhere near as bright as her, and the golden beads that hung from the ceiling like rain frozen in time couldn't compete. Even with the dim crimson lights and haunting violin music from the live band, all he could focus on was Faye.

"If you need to be safe from anyone here tonight, it's me." He flashed his teeth, baring fangs that matched his black cat's mask. Upon a closer look, the edges warped and moved like shadows, which was exactly what it was made of.

She laughed. The sea of people below the small balcony they were on melted away a little more. "If that were true, I wouldn't have invited you out here on Halloween. Apparently, Gotham's known to have the highest criminal activity tonight."

"Criminal activity's about right." Klarion murmured into her hair. They swayed to the ghostly melody, his arms around her and hers around his.

"I never thanked you for the security system. I don't know what you did, but we got some of the world's best black hats, and they didn't even know where to begin."

"It was just part of the deal. Besides, I had Abra Kadabra do it. He knows more about how computers work than I do – he uses half of the them in his 'magic', after all." Klarion rolled his eyes, earning another laugh from Faye.

"Working with people you don't like is just part of business." She sighed. "God knows how many people I've had to put up with."

"But you like me, I'm guessing." Klarion said, smirking.

"Of course I do. I only showed up to the first meeting because of you anyway."

The confession made his blood sing. He placed his hands on the sides of her neck to look at the eyes behind her mask. "You mean it?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."

He couldn't find anything but sincerity and cheerful playfulness in her expression. Her lips were painted the same crimson as her dress, the sparkle of champagne leftover from a drink she'd had earlier still visible.

Klarion leaned closer. Her perfume washed over him like a wave, pulling him below the surface into their own world. The first time they met, he remembered she had smelled like a night breeze – it matched her dress, which had looked as if she was wearing a piece of the starry sky. Tonight, she was a burning fireplace, the musky scent of logs aflame so real that Klarion second-guessed whether someone like him had mixed the scent with magic.

Faye leaned upwards. Looking down at her, he thought that if the world ended tomorrow, he could die happy. He closed his eyes.

And never met her lips.

The rattle of an assault rifle into the ceiling sent the guests of the Peninsula masquerade into a frenzy. Screams of panic and frantic footsteps cut off the band's live music. The ballroom shook as more bullets were fired, one hitting an overhead crimson chandelier. It came crashing down, red diamonds scattered like dice being thrown, glinting like blood beneath the lights.