Percy knew people were staring at her. She could feel their gaze drift to her form and linger for a few seconds, before they averted their eyes and approached the counter. Seeing a figure hunched over a table, face firmly pressed down against a pair of crossed arms wasn't really the strangest thing Bludhaven residents saw on the day-to-day. Still, it didn't stop them from giving her weird looks.
"You're scaring my customers."
Percy felt the shadow block precious sunlight from the window. She raised her head for the first time in twenty minutes, blinking blearily until Brenda shifted into focus, crossing her arms. The woman was raising her eyebrows, unimpressed by Percy's moping.
"They've seen worse," Percy retorted, and dropped her head into her arms again, but turned it sideways so she could still see the other woman.
"At least buy something," Brenda huffed, "I'm not a charity."
"That's exactly what you are," Percy mumbled into her bicep, "And I need help."
"What kind?"
"Emotional support."
Brenda sent Percy the blandest look she had ever seen before returning to the espresso machine to fulfill orders. Percy sighed, long and dramatic, and switched directions to look out the window instead. People walked by, most of them in their own little worlds paying little attention to the girl staring intently at their moving forms. A few glanced down, and met her eyes with confusion or apprehension before hastily continuing on. Percy couldn't find it in herself to feel embarrassed about being caught people-watching.
All of her personal shame was focused on one thing, and one thing only. Well, two things.
"Oh seaweed brain," a very familiar voice called out, "What have you gotten yourself into now?"
Percy whipped her head around immediately, locking in on her best friend. Annabeth smirked down at her, grey eyes shockingly pale in the sun. Slung over her shoulder was a large leather satchel, bursting at the seams with dark blue pages. She set it down on the floor, pulling the chair across from Percy out to take a seat.
"I'm so screwed, wise girl," Percy whispered, shaking her head.
Brenda approached again, a glass of iced black coffee in hand, and flashed them a sharp grin.
"Nice to see you again auntie," she said, setting down Annabeth's usual.
"Shut up," Annabeth replied, eyeing the glass warily, "It's unflavored right?"
"Of course."
"And unsweetened?"
"Yes," Brenda rolled her eyes, then threw out once more, "auntie."
Annabeth glared at the woman's retreating figure, taking a cautious sip of her drink. The last time she had visited, Brenda had purposefully slipped in six pumps of hazelnut syrup and Annabeth had spit it back out onto the woman's apron. They got along well like that. Percy wasn't sure what had sparked the animosity between them, but she had to admit, someone other than herself pushing Annabeth's buttons was kind of funny.
"I hate her," Annabeth muttered, even after the coffee turned out to be exactly what she wanted, with a special type of disdain reserved solely for siblings and sibling types, "It's like she enjoys making me suffer. Are we sure she's a cabin 6 legacy?"
Then she sucked through her straw, attention back on Percy, and raised an eyebrow.
"What did you do?"
Percy pressed her lips together, refusing to expand. Saying it out loud would make it real.
"I didn't come all the way from San Francisco to sit here and watch you make faces at me," Annabeth gave her a deadpan stare, "Spit it out."
Percy ignored her initial urge to argue that guilt-tripping her with the distance she traveled didn't work anymore since all Annabeth had to do was step through a portal, and instead covered her face with both her hands.
"You know how I told you that I met Nightwing?" Percy started, speaking the ancient Greek through her fingers, to hide the sensitive information.
"Oh," Annabeth observed, with a small smile, leaning back into her chair and taking the coffee with her, "You have a crush. I don't exactly see the problem."
"The problem," Percy groaned, "is that I have two!"
Annabeth took another sip of her drink and motioned for her to go on.
Percy peeled the fingers off of her face, and looked down at the table, finding the wooden design an easier thing to focus on than her friend's sharp eyes.
"So, there's this guy," she began, and heard Annabeth snort, "And I didn't really mean to like him, but he just kept—showing up everywhere? And then he helped me and Estelle in the park and I just, I don't know, liked being around him, I guess. He was, sweet, and I thought that was it. Just a small thing, you know?" Percy began to pick at the edge of the table. "But then, I went to that Gotham party, with RED—"
"How was that, by the way?" Annabeth interrupted, "Rach mentioned it was for charity?"
"Terrible," Percy answered, automatically, then paused, "Well, not entirely."
"She nearly beheaded the Joker," Brenda informed them, in Greek, pulling an extra chair up to the table.
"What," Annabeth said flatly, setting her glass down with a loud clink.
"I did not!" Percy defended hotly, "I mean, I was tempted, but—wait how do you even know about that?"
Brenda flicked her thumb up the screen of her phone, scrolling through what looked like a stream of posts. She passed the phone over to Annabeth, who looked more and more exasperated by the second, eyes glued to the rolling selection of comments.
"Everyone's talking about it," Brenda reported, then seeing Percy's alarmed look, "Don't worry, I haven't seen any videos, but the story's spreading fast. They're calling you the Bat Barber."
"That's—I hate it! Make them stop!" Percy cried, horrified, snatching the phone to verify it for herself.
Unfortunately, Brenda had not been lying. The leaked photos of the Joker from Arkham, with a wobbly crop circle around the crown of his head, sitting fuming in his cell, were flooding the timeline. Percy would have found the numerous creative photoshopped edits hilarious if the captions didn't all praise the new, faceless bat for their handiwork. The name had been referenced enough for Percy to know it was going to stick.
"Was this the 'terrible' or 'not entirely' part of the gala?" Annabeth asked, giving Brenda a sideways, untrusting glance.
"I bet the redeeming quality was seeing Grayson," Brenda answered for Percy, who stared back, a deer in headlights.
"I..." Percy slumped her shoulders, "He cleans up nice, okay?"
"That's the guy?" Annabeth confirmed, and Percy nodded in defeat.
"Dick Grayson, he's one of the Waynes, but he lives here," she explained, not really seeing the point in withholding information anymore if her life was going to continue to be treated as fuel for a gossip session, "Works at the precinct." Then, she turned to Brenda accusingly, "You know, if you don't want to help, the least you could do is not make it worse."
Brenda just laughed at her but held her hands up in surrender and returned to her place behind the cash register.
"So," Annabeth started, promptingly, "You're torn between two people?"
"Yeah," Percy whispered in Greek, like it was a confession, "Being around Dick is...well 'exciting' isn't the right word, but maybe surprising? Like, I don't know what to expect, and getting to know him is the fun part. It's different with Nightwing. It feels comfortable, like I've known him for a really long time."
"And you can't tell which feeling you like more?" Annabeth asked, frowning at Percy's serious tone.
"Both? Fuck, I don't know, wise girl," Percy buried her head in her hands again, "Everything's a mess, and I can't compare them, but—"
"I'm not asking you to weigh pros and cons," Annabeth prodded gently, "I just wanted to see if you were leaning toward one or the other."
Percy's face dropped. She thought originally that she liked Nightwing more, but the more time she spent around Dick, it was getting harder and harder to tell.
"Even if I did," Percy muttered, scowling, "It still feels shitty. What does that say about me, if I have feelings for two people? That's, like, cheating or something, and I never wanted to be that person, but now I am and—"
"I'm gonna have to stop you right there," Annabeth spoke, firmly, making Percy look her in the eye, "It's not cheating. Now, if you were in an actual relationship with either of them, then yes, that would be shitty. But you haven't made any obligations to anyone, and you're allowed to be confused."
"But it's wrong," Percy protested.
"No, it's not," Annabeth insisted, harder this time, "Liking two people isn't a crime, or even morally bad. It's human. It happens. It might suck to navigate, but you haven't done anything wrong."
Percy slumped down in her chair, relieved at her friend's words. The guilt didn't fully fade, and neither did the small knot in her stomach, but it felt good to hear Annabeth defend her honor.
"I guess you're right," she mumbled.
"Always am," Annabeth quipped, making Percy smile involuntarily.
"But what should I do?" she pouted.
"I can't answer that one, seaweed brain," Annabeth sighed, "It's entirely up to you. But your choices are either talk about it or wait until you feel more sure about one or the other."
Percy bit her lip, considering. If she wasn't doing anything wrong by having these feelings, then Percy decided she was going to keep them to herself. Yeah, that sounded like the best course of action. Wait it out and see who she ended up feeling more strongly about. Time would tell. And if she never ended up being able to choose, then that was a bridge she would have to cross in the future. Her stomach tossed just thinking about it. But as long as she didn't share how she felt, neither Dick nor Nightwing could be hurt by it.
And that was assuming either of them even felt the same way back, which was not a guarantee by any means, but that thought loomed over her like a dark shadow, so she shooed it away.
"The second one," she decided, and Annabeth nodded like it was the answer she was expecting.
"There's something else bothering you," the daughter of Athena observed, after a moment, raking Percy's form.
She must have seen the tension that remained in her shoulders, that had been ever-present the last few days. She and Nightwing had visited Kai again, the boy nervously asking them if they had made any progress. Nightwing had to inform him that they had not, and Percy distracted Kai with more tales about Leo, which cheered him up but also made him even more eager to meet his new caretaker. And that couldn't happen until Blockbuster was put away.
It just seemed like one impossible task after the other.
"Why would a building have beams in the ceiling with holes?"
"Beams, in the ceiling...with holes," Annabeth echoed.
To her credit, she didn't seem surprised or confused, just repeated the words back to roll them over in her brain.
"How long are the beams? Are they attached to the wall or fixed externally? How big are the holes?" Annabeth asked, firing off several questions at once.
The architecture question lit up a very specific part of her brain that Percy could almost see move at rapid speed. Annabeth reached down and retrieved a small sketchbook, sliding her half-drunk coffee over to make space.
Percy answered to the best of her ability with the description they had gotten from Kai and watched her friend draw it out to visualize the structure better.
"The holes go straight through the beam," Percy corrected, and her friend erased a few lines, adding a couple more in their place.
Once they had settled on a final draft, Annabeth sat back to study it better.
"The way the beams connect makes it look like they were meant to support a lot of weight," she murmured to herself.
"Kai said there wasn't anything else there," Percy frowned.
"But there could have been, before."
Annabeth brought the pencil to her mouth, letting the eraser rest on her lip, tapping it a few times. Percy watched her think, grey eyes swirling.
"The spacing between the holes is uniform, but spread wide," she continued, "If what you described is accurate, "The gaps look between five and six feet. And the way the holes are staggered, between parallel beams is a very specific design choice..."
Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she looked up.
"Punching bags," she breathed.
Percy furrowed her brow.
Annabeth picked up the pencil again, sketching a few crude vertical cylinder shapes under the holes.
"I think I've seen a similar ceiling layout, at a gym near my apartment. These beams could support several hanging bags and keep them far enough away from each other to avoid collision between people," she explained, animated.
It did kind of make sense, Percy agreed, scanning the drawing thoroughly.
"So, what, it's a boxing gym?" she asked, perking up.
"Maybe," Annabeth corrected, "There could be other reasons for the beams, but those places would have the space for this, especially if the bags were cleared out."
A slow, excited smile spread over Percy's face. They finally had a lead, and, given Annabeth's track record, a really good one at that.
"Oh my gods you're the best," she gasped, pointing to the sketchbook, "Can I take this?"
Annabeth smiled, ripping the page out from the binding and handing it over. Percy folded it up into her pocket, and pulled out her communicator, fingers flying across the keyboard excitedly.
"You're texting Nightwing, aren't you?" Annabeth accused.
Percy pulled the device close to her chest, as if that would hide her actions from her friend, and pursed her lips. "Maybe."
"You really are screwed," Annabeth snorted, bringing her almost forgotten coffee to her lips.
She spat it out immediately.
Percy's hand came up, in an instinctual reaction, redirecting the brown droplets to the floor to save her face from being splattered. She looked frantically around the café to make sure no one saw her use her powers, but it was empty now, save for Brenda who stood smirking behind the extensive rack of syrups.
"She did it again," Annabeth snarled, "She poisoned me!"
Percy rolled her eyes.
"It's just sugar, wise girl."
LINEBREAK
Dick snuck his league communicator out at work to read the messages again.
Fish face: i know we said no patrol today but
Fish face: meet me at the docks at 7?
Fish face: got news
Fish face: big news
Fish face: a lead!
He found the short barrage of texts far more amusing than he should, and he could practically picture the other hero typing them out rapidly, an excited grin on her lips.
The smile he hadn't even noticed forming dropped, and he shoved the device away again. He was supposed to not be thinking of Perseus like that. Had he no shame?
Not much time had passed since that particular bombshell, but it sure felt like a lifetime of trying to keep those thoughts at bay. He had seen the other hero only once or twice since then, and it wasn't too hard to stay composed, but to be fair, they had been visiting Kai. Comforting a child and ensuring him that they would catch his kidnapper and settle him into an actual home didn't really set the right environment for romance.
Which he was immensely grateful for because ever since his siblings had forced him to confront them, the feelings would not go away. And it didn't help that he kept replaying every past interaction with Perseus, trying to figure out when the partnership had shifted into that something more.
He couldn't decide if he absolutely hated or was incredibly thankful for the fact that he had been unconscious when Perseus carried him away from Anacapa Island in her arms like a bride.
He checked his watch, noting that it was only two hours until seven pm, and then noted that this was not the first time he had counted down the time left until he met up with Perseus, and then further noted that he was an idiot for not realizing this whole thing sooner.
Dick sighed.
"Let's go, Grayson."
Oh, that's right. Patrol. And not the fun, running across rooftops kind. He looked up at Rohrbach's expectant face and sighed again.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up," he muttered, his desk chair lifting as he removed his weight from it and stretched out his shoulders.
He let her take the wheel this time, drumming his fingers against the dashboard and keeping a sharp eye pointed at the streets as the car drove slowly through the city. The sun was just barely starting to set, but the sky today was dim, a thick blanket of clouds hanging above the buildings, snaking around the tips of the tallest ones.
"Why'd we get the assignment so early?" Dick asked, after Rohrbach returned to the car after handing out a speeding ticket. She made a short questioning noise. "The food drive's not for a while."
"Oh that," she replied, making a turn down a darker street, "I asked about that. Redhorn said something about wanting to establish schedules early because we're approaching a busier season."
"For crime?" Dick snorted, "That's bullshit."
"For the elections next month," she corrected, "But that's what I said."
Dick blinked, remembering, that the mayoral election was in fact occurring in the next month. He had kind of forgotten about it, because their current mayor was doing, honestly, a pretty good job and was basically a shoo-in for re-election. But all the important events still had to take place, which meant police security at each one. It made sense to establish those schedules early, but Redhorn wasn't exactly known for being the most organized of police chiefs.
Dick hummed, acknowledging the statement, and turned his gaze back out the window, trailing his eyes over storefronts and sidewalks.
"I think the crime rate has gone down in the last couple of weeks," Rohrbach announced suddenly, "Not significantly, but we've made fewer arrests than usual."
Dick propped an arm up on the side of the window, resting his chin on his fingers.
"That's around the time that new hero started showing up," he replied, as they passed a street on which he and Perseus had scared the shit out of a man trying to break into a jewelry store. A grin tugged at his lips.
"Vigilante," Rohrbach stressed, "And yeah, I guess."
"You still don't approve?" Dick asked, schooling his face, but he knew her answer.
They had had this 'argument' several times now, though it never actually escalated beyond a stern conversation. Rohrbach would say something about the recent crime trend, Dick would credit the police for their efforts but eventually mention Nightwing, Rohrbach would agree to disagree, Dick would drop it, and then the cycle would repeat itself after a few weeks. It didn't really bother him, that she didn't support the work of his alter-ego. He just made sure to steer clear of her when in costume and all was okay.
"It's still illegal," she reminded him.
Dick hummed and dropped it, following their usual pattern.
They spent the next hour and a half circling a few of the more infamous neighborhoods and catching a few traffic violations but that was it. It was quiet today, it seemed, and he couldn't help it when his thoughts started to drift again, this time back to the recent gala.
Percy in a floor-length gown, lips parted in surprise as he stopped before her. Percy, strolling by his side, as he pointed out paintings of Gotham's historical figures and made fun of each one as her friend Rachel rolled her eyes at them in the background. Percy, bursting back into the ballroom halfway to glaring at Nightwing because she was worried about Dick.
And then Percy apparently being chased around the country by some biker villain and the US government at the young age of twelve? It wasn't the kind of troublemaking past he had expected from the woman, but somehow, it didn't shock him as much as it should have. He remembered the case from his Robin days, but back then Bruce didn't really leave the city, and they had only really followed the updates from Gotham.
He knew everything had been resolved in the end, the mother having returned to her home and the girl having escaped from her captor but finding out that the girl had been Percy left him with a strange feeling. Like they should have gotten involved all those years ago. Maybe they could have found her faster.
The one thing that continued to bug him, and the rest of the country, was the identity of the kidnapper. After that altercation at that beach, it was like nobody ever heard from the man again. But when he asked Percy, she had said that 'he was fine'. Dick had dismissed it as just part of Percy's nervous rambling, having her past outed by her friend, but the more he thought about it, the more it felt like she knew who—
The patrol car screeched to a halt, and Dick was jerked forward before the seatbelt locked and pulled him back.
"What the hell?" he asked Rohrbach, looking around for the cause of the sudden stop.
"I saw something," she said, narrowing her eyes down a dark alley, "We're checking it out."
Dick was immediately on high alert, stepping out of the car and quietly shutting the door behind him. He and Rohrbach unholstered their guns in sync, and she made the silent motion with her hand to approach carefully.
The end of the alley was shrouded in shadows, tall buildings blocking the light from the dimming sun. He snuck along the left wall, while she took to the right, making as little noise as possible. Something several feet away moved, and there was a sharp gleam of metal.
"BHPD, show yourself," Rohrbach commanded, voice hard.
A very familiar snort came from the darkness, and Dick's heart sank. The figure shifted, stepping forward into view.
Rohrbach inhaled sharply, and Dick understood the reaction immediately.
Upon first glance, Perseus was intimidating, in a sleek black suit with strangely shaped blue lines and an almost full coverage mask. She had her sword out, pointed to the ground, the peculiar metal blending seamlessly into visibly corded arm muscle.
She stood without a care in the world, like their presence didn't matter to her in the slightest, like she was untouchable, and she knew it. It was no wonder Rohrbach had taken an instinctive step back. It was the first time Dick found himself on the receiving end of this stance, and it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, but not in fear.
But Rohrbach didn't lower her gun, so neither could he.
Perseus blinked and looked between the two of them. When her eyes found him, something changed in her posture that he couldn't pinpoint. Her lips twitched as she stared down the barrel of his gun from several feet away.
"So you're the new vigilante," Rohrbach observed, steadily, despite her apprehension, "Put your hands in the air."
"Sure," Perseus replied, smile growing, but she was looking at Dick when she said it, "Whatever you want."
She raised her arms, bringing the sword with them and sliding into its sheath at the top. Rohrbach followed the movement carefully with her gun.
Dick took a small step forward, not knowing if Perseus would let him approach. She didn't know him in this capacity, and he had to pretend that he didn't know her either, that he was nervous in her presence. Rohrbach knew he more or less supported vigilantism, but if his beliefs translated to his actions while in uniform, there would be consequences.
But he also didn't know how long he could hold a gun at Perseus. It felt wrong, even if it didn't seem to bother her at all. From above her head, her right hand waved slightly in greeting.
"The BHPD's shining stars," she full-out grinned now, "Nice to see you out on patrol. Mind if I join you or is three a crowd?"
Yes please, is what Dick would have said if Rohrbach was not currently seven feet away, fixing the hero with a stern glare. He didn't trust himself to speak after that thought, so he kept silent and let the other officer take the lead.
"Where's your partner?" she interrogated, taking her eyes off Perseus for just a short second to glance above her, "Nearby?"
"Nightwing?" Perseus looked surprised for a moment, finally looking at the female officer, then shifted her feet, the tell-tale sign she was suddenly antsy, "He's...waiting for me." She looked back at Dick, who realized with a start that it was likely past seven and he should be at the docks right now. "It was nice meeting you, but I gotta go—"
"Stop right there," Rohrbach snapped, freezing the hero in place, "I'm bringing you in."
Fuck.
Dick looked over at the woman, to see if she really meant that, but by the look on her face, she did. The grip on his gun shifted. He saw Perseus's eyes zero in on it.
"You sure about that?" she challenged, not moving her gaze.
Rohrbach took another two steps forward, getting closer. "You have two guns pointed at you. I suggest you comply. The act of vigilantism is still illegal."
"Nope," Perseus replied, cheerfully, giving her head a small shake.
Rohrbach narrowed her eyes, confused by the response, but Dick understood, half a second before it happened.
Perseus lunged forward at him, easily dodging the bullet the female officer sent her way, and the second. It caught him off guard, but somewhere he knew she wouldn't hurt him, even as Dick Grayson, so he did nothing but jump in shock. He didn't even have to fake the response, the strength she put into tearing the gun out of his hands was enough to make him flinch.
In half a second, she had thrown his weapon to the side and grabbed his hands, holding them pinned behind his back as she used him as a shield against Rohrbach's still-drawn pistol.
Dick clenched his jaw, mostly for show, but also because when he tugged his arms experimentally, Perseus gripped them tighter.
"Let him go," Rohrbach ordered, face pulled taut.
He felt something shift around his waist and nearly tensed, but the locking of muscles never came.
"Sorry about this," Perseus whispered quietly, up against his ear, "I'm not gonna hurt you, but I don't wanna keep Nightwing waiting. It's rude."
Dick's breath hitched, at the feeling of cool metal clicking over his wrists.
He wanted to say something back, but he was being watched carefully and he didn't trust his mouth to not betray him and cough out something embarrassing like I know or, god forbid, I don't mind.
Perseus walked him backward, to the entrance of the alley, and Rohrbach followed keeping an eye on her movements. Every single muscle in his body was all too aware of his current surroundings, one of Perseus's hands holding his interlocked wrists and the other pulling a pinched corner of his shirt. He didn't do anything but let her use him as collateral, gently tugging him out to the exit.
And then, Rohrbach's gun shifted to the left, and all that pressure was instantly gone. He suddenly felt cold, the wind blowing against his open back. He whirled around, but Perseus had disappeared into the night, leaving Dick behind, cheeks reddening, and hands still bound by the set of cuffs she had pulled from his belt.
Rohrbach regarded him with an extremely unimpressed look as she holstered her pistol. Dick shrugged, and forced down the blush, hoping that the lack of light was enough to keep her from noticing it.
"What was I supposed to do?" he asked, eyes wide in fake concern.
"Anything but stand there and gawk," she replied, glaring.
Dammit.
"Did you see that sword?" he insisted, shaking his head. Then, he turned to show her his hands and gave her a pleading look, "Get me out of these?"
Nightwing had to get to the docks. He couldn't keep Perseus waiting. It was rude.
LINEBREAK
James the black sea bass swished his fins nervously, swimming circles around Percy's feet in the water. She felt him brush against her calf in an effort to be comforting, but she would not remove her hands from her face.
My lady, he said in her head, and if a fish could sound exasperated, he most definitely did, I really do not believe it was as bad as you say.
It was worse, she thought back, with a humorless laugh.
She hadn't meant to do it, but she was just minding her own business, making her way to the meeting she had set up, when she had turned around to see Dick Grayson pointing a gun at her. What was she supposed to do? He didn't look like he actually wanted to shoot her, but she couldn't say the same for the other officer so, naturally, she had to figure a way out of the situation.
The plan was to escape, and handcuffing Dick and using him as a human shield was just the method of choice. What was definitely not part of the plan was leaning into his ear to apologize and seeing the goosebumps on the back of his neck raise in response. She was just so glad that by being behind him, he could not see the mortified state of her face as she realized what she had done.
You know what, a small defiant part of her brain argued, it couldn't all be her fault, he let her do it. Dick had gone completely still the moment she grabbed his arms, making no more than a single feeble attempt to move away. He just relaxed, seemingly content to let her drag him along. Did he have no sense of self-preservation?
James flicked his tail with a defeated sigh, disappearing deep into the ripples, just Nightwing appeared, slipping onto the ledge beside her almost twenty-five minutes late. Percy jumped slightly, heart rate spiking, too deep into thought to hear him coming. She closed her eyes for a few moments, but it took longer than that for the pace to settle back to its resting state.
"Sorry I'm late," he mumbled, which was slightly out of character, "I got...tied up."
He'd normally bump her shoulder in greeting or shoot her a grin, but he was strangely refusing to look her in the eye.
"You okay?" she asked, gently nudging him.
Nightwing twitched at the contact, before settling, running a hand through his hair. Percy watched it, resolutely reminding herself with Annabeth's words that she was doing nothing wrong.
Nightwing hummed a yes. "You said you had a lead?"
Blinking those thoughts away, Percy reached into her pockets, digging out the folded drawing from earlier that day. She smoothed it out and handed it over, letting Nightwing scan it.
"I described what Kai said to someone I know who's an architecture genius, and she came up with this."
"A boxing gym," he realized, recognizing the shapes for what they were, voice tinged with surprise.
"I was thinking, and maybe it's an old or abandoned one?" Percy continued, nodding.
"I bet the city's full of those, and it's more likely than clearing out a whole studio," Nightwing finished her train of thought.
Fingers clutched around the paper tight, his face shot up, grinning. "This could be it," he said, excited, "I'll have to do some research to find potential locations but this—"
"Could lead us to Blockbuster," Percy continued.
"And help Kai," he concluded.
Percy couldn't help it, she leaned her head back, eyes closing in brief relief at finally having a real chance of finishing this thing. She could feel Nightwing's gaze on her still.
"What made you put on the mask?" he asked suddenly.
She turned her head to face him again, eyebrows furrowed. He had asked her something similar on the first night they had met, all those weeks ago, but since then, hadn't pried into her personal life at all. She wondered what had changed.
"You don't have to answer," Nightwing said quickly, like he wanted to take it back, "You just seem to have a soft spot for kids. I guess I got curious."
Percy gave him a look, that she could tell he understood immediately—like you don't?—then pulled her knees to her chest.
There was a lot she could say about the topic, enough to fill hours upon hours of rants, and she wanted to tell Nightwing, but there was still so much he didn't know about her yet. Revealing herself to him was more complicated than just dropping a fun little truth bomb with a nervous grin. It required explicit permission from the gods, a chat with Diana about how to break the news that she had been lying to her coworkers, and also probably an extensive discussion with the league to explain the large mythological population that had been living under their noses for centuries.
And maybe, a small part of her piped up, that Nightwing was worth all the trouble, but not yet. She needed more time.
"I have a really big family," is what she began with, hoping that he would accept the half-answer for now, "And the... adults have this really bad habit of using their children to solve their problems and not give a shit about the consequences. I've seen a lot of kids end up as collateral damage."
Percy tore her eyes away from the water to see Nightwing looking at her with concern, and maybe a little bit of anger.
"That's complete bullshit," he swore, mouth downturned in a frown, "Kids shouldn't have to fight their parents' battles."
"They've gotten better recently, but only after the consequences started to actually affect them. But still, I think that's why I see someone hurting a kid and just—" she huffed, remembering the recent events, "lose it."
"Like with the Joker," Nightwing realized.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, he snickered.
"Did you see what they're calling you onli—"
"Please don't remind me."
"Do you have any available appointm—"
"Nope. Sorry. All booked up."
Nightwing laughed once, loud and free, at the scowl on her face, before falling silent.
Percy let her legs back down, lightly bumping knees with the other hero as she settled back comfortably onto the dock. Her body sighed with ease like it always did around the ocean, but this time she felt it before her toes touched the water.
LINEBREAK
The wind around the harbor was stronger than in the city, brushing over his neck and ears. Dick's suit kept his body warm, but the skin on his face stung ever so slightly. It didn't seem to bother Perseus, though, who continued to drag her boots across the surface of the water. Her bare arms were smooth, goosebump free, even in the cold air.
He had never spent this much time in this part of Bludhaven, any really, but he was comfortable here now, in a way that he had never expected. It still didn't compare to hanging dangerously over the edge of city skyscrapers, but he had to admit, the ocean held its own certain brand of beauty.
"A couple of years ago," Dick said, breaking a few minutes of silence with a sudden burst of courage, "The Joker took my brother."
He felt Perseus straighten in her seat, giving him her full attention. She was probably curious, after the fight at Bruce's gala. The Joker had been cryptic, but not nearly enough to keep what he had done a secret. Dick had to tug the words out by force, but he wanted to say them, and not just because Perseus had shared a part of herself.
"I didn't know him that well, before. It wasn't fair of me, but I was, angry, that Batman had given him something that was mine—" Dick broke off, with a bitter laugh, "God, I sound like such an ass."
"He gave him Robin."
Perseus spoke the words softly, like she was afraid of telling the truth. Dick stopped short, but the realization that she knew, who he had been before Nightwing, didn't fill him with unease. He felt his shoulders drop, confirming the statement, even though it hadn't been a question.
"I wasn't the best brother," he confessed, quietly, "but when I heard about his death...It broke Batman, and I—lost it too." He paused, staring so hard into the water that the ripples blurred into a single shade of dark blue. "I nearly killed the Joker."
His throat closed up immediately, but Dick swallowed, hard, and continued.
"Batman brought him back, at the last second. I hated him for it, for letting J—Robin's killer live after what he did, but he saw me at that moment, over Joker's body, and I think he knew that if he didn't, he would've lost another son."
Reliving that day felt like Dick was throwing up, the memories feeling like acid painfully burning his esophagus as they came through. But after he had finished, his chest just felt empty and tired.
Perseus was strangely quiet. If he couldn't hear her soft breaths, he might've thought she left minutes ago.
"I did something once, that I didn't know I was capable of," she said finally, and Dick blinked his eyes back into focus, turning to hear her. "I had to save someone and thought I didn't have a choice." Perseus clenched her fists, staring at her hands as if they would never be clean and Dick thought it was like looking in a mirror. "But the worst part is, I didn't regret what I did. I always tell myself that I'll never go that far again, but now that I know the line is there, and that I've already crossed it once, I...I don't know."
She didn't elaborate, didn't explain exactly what she had done that had scared her so bad, or why she had been desperate enough to do it in the first place. But Dick believed her. The way her voice sounded, steeled and tinged with fear even now, was enough for him to know that she was telling the truth. That she had been exactly where he had and knew how that particular strain of self-hatred stung even after years of moving past it.
"I'm glad—" Dick's mouth felt dry when he spoke. He tried to finish his sentence—that you took up the mask, that we're partners, that you didn't judge one of the lowest points in my life, that you knew exactly how I felt—but nothing would come out. There was some unexplainable black hole of guilt sitting at the bottom of his stomach and sucking every word back into his body.
He was lying to himself. It wasn't unexplainable, and he knew exactly why it was there.
Perseus reached over and interlaced her fingers with his.
"Me too," she said anyways, despite never hearing the rest of his thoughts.
Dick gripped her hand tight, and Perseus returned the gesture in equal measure like she understood exactly how he was feeling. But this time, there was no way she could have known.
A.N. yeah okay so I didn't mean for it to get a lil dark, but I think I set it up pretty well with the last 2 chapters, and it sets the basis for a teeeeeensy bit more angst I have planned for later, but at the very least, it's romantic(ish) angst :)
Also I made percy a bat in the worst way possible because gotham is vicious like that
Anyways, I dunno for how long I can keep up the rapid updates, so enjoy while I still can! And pls let me know what you thought !!