Chapter Text
“One night out won’t kill you.”
Ava rolled her eyes. She knew that, but she was supposed to be responsible now. She was officially a police officer. Her assignment in the Downtown Precinct started next week.
“Come on!” Zari coaxed. “You just graduated the academy! If now is not a time to go out and celebrate, when is?”
“Plus you never come out with us,” Amaya added.
“Ever,” Felicity chimed in, her puppy dog eyes and pout in full effect.
Ava looked at her three best friends and sighed. She knew them. She loved them. They were amazing, strong, stubborn women.
She wasn’t going to win.
“Fine,” she relented. “But I want to be home by midnight.”
“One,” Zari bartered.
“Nothing good ever happens after midnight,” Ava argued.
“How about we see how the night goes?” Amaya, ever the voice of wisdom, suggested.
“Midnight,” Ava muttered stubbornly under her breath.
“We get to do your hair and makeup, right?” Felicity asked, changing the subject.
“No,” Ava replied, shaking her head.
“Yes,” her friends contradicted in unison.
“You’ll thank us later,” Amaya said.
Ava grumbled under her breath. “I highly doubt that.”
The club was loud and crowded. Ava had half hoped they’d get turned away by the intimidating bouncer at the door, but he’d taken one look at them, grinned in a way that had made her feel slightly uncomfortable, and waved them through without even checking ID.
Ava had yet to see an ID checked at the bar, either. And she was sure the club had to be close to, if not over, capacity. The fire exits could have been more clearly marked, too.
“Turn off your cop brain,” Amaya said, grabbing her shoulders and massaging the tension out of them for a second. “Relax. Have fun! We’re here to celebrate you!”
“Then why aren’t we doing something I actually want to do?” Ava countered, raising her voice over the music.
“Because as your best friends it is our responsibility to push you out of your comfort zone every once in a while. It’s good for you. Just embrace it, and maybe you’ll surprise yourself,” Amaya advised.
Ava sighed, but relented as Zari handed her a drink. It was bright red.
“What is it?” she asked dubiously.
“Tasty!” Zari replied. “Just drink it!”
Ava took a small sip. It was a little on the cloyingly sweet side for her tastes, but it was drinkable.
The music was loud and pulsing with way too much bass, not that most of the patrons seemed to mind the mind-numbing, hearing-loss inducing sounds. It was enough to make Ava and her friends find shelter a little ways away from the speakers, though.
“Are we really supposed to dance to this?” Ava complained.
“Here I thought you’d forgotten how to dance,” Felicity challenged.
“Or have fun,” Zari added with a smirk.
“Hey! I have lots of fun. Responsible fun,” Ava replied.
“Come on, lay off. We’re celebrating her, remember?” Amaya cut in.
“Yes, exactly. Thank you,” Ava declared. She took a long sip of her drink and managed not to grimace at the pure sugar she was sucking down. She was going to order her next drink for sure. Something reasonable and not too alcoholic. A beer, maybe.
“But, remember what I said about embracing tonight?” Amaya said.
Ava nodded. Okay. Relax. She could relax. She could have fun at this club that was at the very least on the verge of breaking some laws if they were not outright breaking them already. She did not start her post until Monday. She tilted her head from side to side and wiggled her shoulders. Going with the flow. Embracing the night.
“Yeah, nope, still not feeling it.”
Amaya and Felicity laughed while Zari rolled her eyes with a fond look on her face.
“Drink up, buttercup,” Zari declared. “The booze will help.”
Two hours and a drink and a half into their night, the insufferable bass stopped. Ava breathed a sigh of relief into her beer.
“Thank you DJ...um...Jay? Really? Okay, anyway, we know whose musical stylings you’re all really here to hear tonight and I’m not gonna keep this party from keeping going, so, without further ado, I give you DJ CANARY!!!”
The lights flashed and dipped as alternating blue and pink spotlights flitted past the DJ booth. A cheer rang up from the dance floor and Felicity leaned over to Ava and said, “I’ve heard she’s really good!”
She? Well, that was already a step up from the last DJ. Ava paid a little closer attention.
A white strobe light behind the DJ booth began to go off, intermittently blinding.
The first thing she noticed was hair like fire, reddish, orangeish, pink shining in the lights. Strobes from in front of the booth began to flash and Ava felt her breath catch at piercing blue eyes and a sly smirk.
The woman at the booth surveyed her audience, put a large set of headphones over her ears, and lifted her arms. The floral leather jacket she was wearing parted to reveal a black lacy top that was really more bra than top, and in the flashes of dramatic lighting Ava could make out the most toned set of abs she’d ever seen.
“Alright,” a husky voice said, “let’s get this party started.”
Without wasting a moment a lyrical melody rang out through the club. A high note held in a clear soprano voice, and then the beat dropped. Unlike before, the bass was not heavy-handed.
Ava found herself bopping along to the beat without even meaning to. THIS DJ was GOOD.
And hot. Really fucking hot.
DJ Canary bounced her head to the beat, her face down and focussed on the task in front of her, but a smile curled on her lips. Watching her, it was easy to see she loved what she did.
“Earth to Ava!”
Zari’s voice pulled Ava back to her group and she blinked at them in surprise. They all looked vaguely amused.
“Hot for DJ?” Zari asked.
“No!” Ava exclaimed, feeling her cheeks flush even as she said it.
Zari smirked.
“I mean, I’d do her,” Felicity volunteered.
“Says the straight girl in the group,” Amaya deadpanned.
Felicity shrugged. “I’ve got eyes. I’m flexible.”
“Aaaanyway,” Zari said, “drink up or put it down cause it’s dancing time.”
Ava wouldn’t say that she’d ever truly enjoyed club music. Give her some classic rock or acoustic folk any day of the week. The catchy beats of Billy Joel. The dulcet tones of Joni Mitchell. The smooth tunes of Paul Simon. That was her jam. Elton John, Queen, Stevie Nicks...music you could sing along to. Timeless music.
Club music never sang to her soul in the same way.
Until tonight.
She’d never felt so free on the dance floor before. (At least, not with so little alcohol in her system.) It was as if the music that DJ Canary was spinning was laced with a sort of magical energy that took over her body.
Even as Amaya and Zari found their way to an isolated corner and Felicity paired off with a conventionally handsome guy and went off to the bar for more drinks, Ava kept dancing, her hips swaying, arms above her head, body immersed in the music.
Then there was the DJ herself. She was mesmerizing, dancing along as she worked, eyes occasionally scanning the crowds, easily keeping the masses pumped up and on the dance floor. Ava watched as she took a long drink from a bottle of water, a green light flashing past in such a way so as to perfectly illuminate her neck and chest as she did so. DJ Canary set the bottle of water down and her eyes danced over the sea of people, pausing here and there.
And then suddenly Ava couldn’t breathe, and she was sure her body was no longer moving on the beat, because stunning blue eyes, popping even more in a blue light dancing over the booth, were looking straight at her.
DJ Canary held her gaze for what felt like an eternity, and a smirk played across her lips. She slid her leather jacket off her shoulders to reveal toned arms that Ava’s eyes couldn’t help but flit to. She thought she caught sight of a tattoo on her right arm, but the light swung up, illuminating the DJ’s face and leaving her body in darkness. When Ava looked back up into the DJ’s eyes, she would have sworn that the woman winked at her.
Her pulse was racing and her body felt unnaturally hot.
Water, she thought. Water would be good.
She made her way to the bar, very carefully not looking back at DJ Canary. Not that that meant anything. She squeezed in beside Felicity, tapping her on the arm to alert her of her presence.
Felicity grinned at her and resumed her conversation with Mr. Tall and Handsome.
Ava ordered water with ice and gladly slurped it down. She had worked up a thin sheen of sweat on the dance floor and now that she was at the bar she felt a little sticky and ridiculous. The water was cooling as it trickled down her throat and she finished the glass quickly. She had just ordered another glass from a cute brunette with bright eyes who shot her a wink that reminded her uncannily of the DJ when Amaya and Zari came up to her.
Predictably, their arms were wrapped around each other and they had that breathless flush that suggested they’d been making out somewhere and could barely keep their hands to themselves.
“Hey, we were thinking of heading out. Are you ready?”
Ava frowned and checked her watch. 1:45 a.m. It was almost two hours after her self-imposed deadline. Nothing good could possibly happen if she stayed later, and yet, she didn’t feel like leaving. Her body was buzzing, not remotely tired.
She nudged Felicity behind her. “You leaving now?”
“I was going to head out soon,” Felicity confessed looking apologetic.
Ava hesitated. It was stupid to stay without the friends who had dragged her out in the first place, right?
The song changed in a smooth transition, the beats blending together, and Ava turned to look up at the DJ. She was back to focusing on the electronics in front of her, shoulder pushing one side of her headphones into her ear, smile on her face. Ava swallowed hard.
“Someone’s hot for DJ!” Amaya teased, leaning in to talk into her ear.
Ava shook her head and leaned back. “No. It’s just good music!”
Amaya and Zari exchanged a look.
“What?” Ava demanded.
“It’s just this isn’t your usual style of music,” Felicity said.
“Hey, are we-“ Mr. Tall and Handsome tried to interrupt, but Felicity held up a hand.
“Just a second,” she replied, not bothering to look at him.
“Hey, I just bought you a drink and everything was going well and you can’t even look at me?”
Felicity sighed and rolled her eyes. Ava was tempted to step in and she knew Zari and Amaya were, too, but Felicity didn’t need their help. “Congratulations,” she said turning back to him. “You’ve just cockblocked yourself by being an entitled asshole who couldn’t wait a few minutes for me to converse with my friends. You have a nice night of jerking off to sad music.” She turned back to Ava, Amaya, and Zari, all of whom were doing their best not to laugh at the baffled expression on the guy’s face. “Actually, I’m ready to go now, as it turns out. Shall we go find a taxi?”
Amaya and Zari both made to leave, but Ava hesitated again. She really wasn’t tired. “I think I’m gonna stay, just for a little while.”
Felicity raised an eyebrow at her.
“What happened to ‘nothing good happens after midnight’?” Zari challenged.
“As evidenced by that guy,” Felicity added.
“You didn’t end up in his bed, so that was good,” Ava pointed out.
“Touché,” Felicity replied.
“I don’t know. I think the excitement of finishing the academy and starting to be an actual cop just finally hit me. I’m wired.”
“Okay, well, text when you get home safe, okay?” Amaya said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Promise,” Ava assured her.
“And watch your drinks. Don’t set them down even for a second,” Felicity advised, placing a kiss on Ava’s other cheek.
Ava laughed. “I do know how to take care of myself.”
“You sure you don’t want to come with us? You didn’t even want to come out in the first place,” Zari pointed out.
Ava didn’t need to look past Zari towards the DJ to know that her answer hadn’t changed. “Well, somebody,” Ava looked pointedly at Amaya, “told me to embrace tonight, and I have. I’m sure. I mean I’ll probably be home in another hour anyway, but yeah, I’m gonna stay.”
“Don’t worry, ladies. I’ll keep an eye on her,” the pretty bartender she’d ordered her second glass of water from said, leaning over the bar with a smile. She nodded at the glass of ice water sweating a circle of water onto the bar. “Let me get you a fresh one. The ice has half melted.”
Ava smiled appreciatively. “Thanks.”
The bartender nodded again and smiled warmly, and Ava turned back to her friends. “See? You’re not leaving me by myself. The very nice bartender has my back.”
Zari relented. “Don’t forget to text!”
“I won’t. I won’t,” she replied.
Zari gave a little wave and Ava watched her three friends head towards the exit before turning her attention back to the DJ.
She was scanning the club again, a smirk playing across her face, her eyes gleaming whenever the colored lights flitted past her. Ava was sure she could make out a tattoo on her upper arm, but she was too far away and the lighting was too bad for her to make out what it was. That didn’t stop Ava from wondering though.
“She’s good, isn’t she?” a voice from behind her shook her out of her thoughts.
Ava turned back to the bartender and nodded. “She’s amazing,” slipped out before she could think better of it. “The music, I mean. It’s...normally this stuff isn’t my thing, but she’s very talented.”
The bartender tilted her head to the side and studied her with a hint of a smirk on her face, finally she nodded. “Yeah. She’s too good for this place, but we all do what we have to to pay the bills, don’t we?”
Ava nodded her agreement, though the truth was she loves her job. Or at least, she thought she’d love her job. She was excited to do some real good in this city and stand alongside her brothers and sisters in blue.
The bartender moved to take some more orders and Ava stood there drinking her water. It was the beats, she told herself, that had her feeling flushed. It was the music and the dancing that had her feeling hyped up.
She glanced back at DJ Canary and once again found their gazes locked. The DJ smirked and turned her attention to her work.
Ava frowned. There was no way she’d actually noticed her twice, right? There was a sea of people there. How could she possibly pick one face out of a crowd. The DJ had been looking in her direction, that was all.
Ava downed the rest of her water.
She ignored the way that her heart was beating twice as fast as the beat of the current song.
How was it past 3 in the morning already? That was...so far past midnight. Ava groaned and splashed a little cold water on her face. She should’ve been home and in bed hours ago. Why was she still here? To awkwardly watch some insanely hot girl play some really good music? Okay, but that didn’t justify this. She was going to regret her decisions in the morning. She hadn’t NEEDED to stay until the end of the set. It was just music. She had plenty of good music at home. Plenty of good music that she could listen to during normal daylight hours. She looked at herself in the mirror and scowled.
These were not the level-headed decisions of one of the city’s finest.
She sighed deeply and exited the bathroom, pushing past a couple making out in the narrow hallway beyond. The songs playing now, muffled by the wall and door that stood between the main area of the club and her, sounded straight from the radio’s top 100 pop hits or something. It was jarring from the creativity that had been on display just a few minutes before.
Ava turned a corner and froze.
There was a flash of now familiar fiery hair, and then DJ Canary was looking at her with eyes that shone bright as the clear Caribbean waters she and her friends had visited after high school graduation. There was no question, this time, whether the DJ really saw her or not. There was nobody else in the hallway.
DJ Canary smirked and winked. “Hey,” she greeted, her voice husky and a bit hoarse.
Ava felt goosebumps raise on her arm. She glanced behind her just to make sure that she wasn’t mistaken about being the only other person there, and turned back unable to hide her surprise. “Hi,” she replied, unsure of herself.
The DJ chuckled and ran a hand through her hair, showing off toned arm muscles and flashing another hint of ink on her inner wrist.
Ava so badly wanted to ask about it, but she didn’t want to make a fool of herself.
“Hold this for a sec?” DJ Canary asked, holding out her leather jacket.
Ava took it without saying a word, feeling very thrown by the entire situation.
The DJ then knelt down and rummaged through the bag she had with her and pulled out a white tank top. She stood and tugged it on, but not before Ava took in the way her abs flexed. The lacy black bra top she had on under it was visible through it, and Ava realized, for the first time, the way her ripped fitted jeans hugged her legs.
Ava’s mouth felt suddenly dry, but she really needed to try to say something. “I liked your set,” she managed.
The woman smirked at her again and reached for her jacket. “I know.”
Not really the response Ava had expected.
“Thanks,” the woman added, holding up her jacket before slipping it on. She pulled her hair out from the back and Ava briefly wondered if it was more orange or more red.
She couldn’t quite decide.
“What do you mean, you know?”
DJ Canary shrugged. “I saw you watching.”
Ava frowned and blushed. “Don’t be silly. There were like two hundred people in there.”
“Probably more,” DJ Canary agreed. “But I always notice a pretty face.”
The wink that accompanied that statement did nothing to help Ava’s blush go away, and Ava kind of figured that that was the point.
“Right, well, anyway...goodnight,” Ava said, clearing her throat uncomfortably. God, why was her mouth so fricking dry all of a sudden?
The DJ tilted her head to the side and studied her for a moment in a way that for some reason reminded Ava of her bartender friend. “My next set starts at 9 tomorrow night,” DJ Canary said.
“Why are you telling me that?” Ava asked, beginning to feel a little defensive.
The DJ just grinned, picked up her bag, and headed on down the hallway with a little wave. “Goodnight!” she called over her shoulder before disappearing through a door that Ava hadn’t even noticed before.
Some cop, she thought to herself.
She stood there for another moment then realized that she was being ridiculous. The DJ was gone. She wasn’t likely to ever see her again. And it was really, really late.
She was still feeling the buzz of a fun night out, but she had no doubt that once her head hit the pillow all thoughts of pretty, tattooed DJs would leave her mind and she’d fall straight to sleep.
As it turned out, she was half right.