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Dick didn’t have the slightest clue as to what drew him to you. Maybe it was your eyes, full of life and curiosity. Or had it been that smile of yours? God, that smile. It swirled butterflies in his stomach. It was blinding, but he couldn’t help but stare straight into it. If your smile was the sun, then he was Icarus. His feelings came with ease, becoming a complete free fall for him. Around you, he was warm as though he had been wrapped in a blanket of love. You sent him the same exhilarating rush that falling from a trapeze did when he was younger. Yeah, how could he not fall for you?
Even sitting in a quaint coffee shop across from you made him almost forget how to breathe. His eyes fell upon your lips and he wondered how they would feel against his. How would you kiss? Would it be soft and chaste, or passionate and needy? There was one thing he knew for sure though; it would be all-consuming. There was a faraway look in your eyes—all thoughtful and he wished to know what was going on in that pretty little head of yours. Your elbow was rested on the table as your fingers went to tuck a piece of stray hair behind your ear absentmindedly. The action made him silently wish it was him who pushed back your hair instead.
“What?” you had asked him, plush lips slightly agape.
He blinked, snapping out of his lovesick trance, hand coming up to hold his chin. “Huh?” was all that left Dick’s mouth, too caught off guard by you to form a better response. He wanted to slap himself for getting caught looking at you like a total creep. What were you doing to him?
“You’re staring.”
“Oh,” he laughed, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry.”
You giggled. Dick’s heart leaped out of his chest at the sound, and all he could think was that he was the reason for it. He wanted to be the reason for your laughter for the rest of time. “It’s okay, you’re not so bad on the eyes either, Grayson.”
Dick choked on his coffee, which he quickly masked with a cough. But the look on your face told him you had noticed. His ears turned a soft shade of pink. “I wasn’t—“
“I’m just teasing you, Dick. You should be very familiar with that by now—I didn’t think I could make you flustered though.” An amused smirk played on your pretty lips.
He pushed away the desperate thought of needing to kiss you to the back of his mind and rolled his eyes at you. “I’m not flustered.” Though the clear heat in his cheeks did nothing to aid his argument. He watched as you pressed your lips together in a line before taking a long sip of your drink, nodding along. He could almost hear the sarcastic quip from the look in your eyes.
Your head cocked toward the window, watching as dark gray clouds quickly enveloped the sky. “It’s going to rain.”
“When’s it not?”
His eyes met yours, an unamused look on your face from his comment, though it had soon softened. “Fair enough. Do you want to head out now so we don’t get caught in the storm?”
Not really, Dick thought. He’d rather spend all the time in the world with you. He nodded in agreement anyway. The two of you stood up and he smoothed down his clothes with his hands. After leaving a nice tip on the table, you quickly made your way out of the building. The rain began sooner than you had predicted and he felt you grab his hand, pulling him with you as you run to the nearest cab. He could only hear the loud thumping of his heart, which drowned out the sound of the pouring rain and the taps of your footsteps against the wet concrete. Once you stopped at an empty taxi, he held open the door for you to slide in.
“Aren’t you getting in?” you asked him, looking puzzled by the way he stood in the rain, continuing to get soaked by the second.
He paused for a moment. He had planned to hail his own cab, thinking this was where you parted ways. Quickly, he rushed in next to you after hearing the cries of the taxi driver, upset that the leather in his car was getting wet. He didn’t have time to feel bad though, because his eyes trailed towards you as you began to spout off his address. Your clothes were practically soaked through, and the hair you probably spent a considerable amount of time on was stuck messily to your face. You still looked gorgeous.
The warmth of your presence enthralled him. It felt like sunshine on his skin, and he felt himself leaning into you, almost going in to close the distance between you in the back of this dingy cab that smelled a lot like little tree air fresheners. Yeah, he would rather not have his first kiss with you be in here.
You cleared your throat under his watchful gaze. Your eyes went to examine the water on your shoes before moving up to watch the little cat figurine mounted on the dash endlessly beckoning. He noted the way your hands fidgeted, switching the position of your legs every minute or so. Still, in this state of nervousness, he’s in awe of you. He wondered what would make you feel this way. Him, perhaps? Dick hoped so.
“Want to get dinner with me tomorrow?” he asked softly, words leaving his mouth without a second thought. Though his heart began to pound.
“Sounds like you’re asking me on a date,” you teased, not paying much attention to him as your gaze was now set on the car window. His eyes followed your index finger which absentmindedly traced the raindrops sliding down the glass.
“What if I am?”
He watched as your finger came to a stop. Worries instantly filled Dick’s mind. Had he fucked up? Was he wrong about all the signs? Maybe you hadn’t felt the same, making him look like a complete idiot to you and the taxi driver sat in front. A hundred different scenarios about how you’d let him down ran through his head. You were too nice and sweet to be mean about it. Instead, you would gently tell him you viewed him as a friend. Kindness was one of the things he loved about you. The thought nonetheless hurt.
There would be no turning back now. Things would be too weird after this. You wouldn’t want to see him again. Those many years of friendship? It was all thrown out the window. All because of a silly little sentence he uttered. He could hear Jason snorting at him, overly amused at the thought of playboy Dick Grayson being turned down. Nice going, Grayson.
The wait for your response felt like an eternity. An eternity of accepting the inevitable "no." His heart was hollow, and he wanted the world to swallow him whole. The bitter taste of the coffee he had came back. It overwhelmed the sweetness he felt with you earlier. He thought he got used to its harsh taste. But it came back with a foreign feeling, one he didn’t particularly enjoy. Rejection, he supposed. Dick doesn't think he could ever have another coffee again after this.
You blinked, seemingly processing his words. Maybe coming up with a carefully articulated rejection as to not hurt him? He prepared himself, ready to face rejection face first.
“Then,” you drew out, “I would say yes.”
The words reached his ears with such saccharine sweetness, almost akin to the taste of the raspberry filling of the bismark he enjoyed earlier. It was almost too good to be true, and for a second, he asked himself if it was real. He wondered if you were a hallucination and if you’d disappear if he blinked. But the beat of his heart calmed down, the breath he had been clinging onto was released with relief. He grinned widely, feeling like the luckiest person in the world right now.
His hand began to move on its own accord, almost reaching your delicate fingers before coming to a halt as the taxi driver’s gruff voice filled the air. The car came to a stop. Your head turned towards the man and you told him you were being dropped off at a different place, briefly mentioning you’d pay for the entire trip much to Dick’s objection. You quickly brushed him off. Repay me with dinner tomorrow, you had said. He reluctantly agreed, not wanting to cause the cab driver any more grief than he had already. He opened the car door, glancing back at you with a shy smile and a quick goodbye before sprinting towards his building’s doors.
But his eyes couldn’t help but linger on the shadow of you in the back window. It steadily disappeared from his sight, leaving him to continue getting drenched in the cold rain. The thought of you left a giddiness in his heart. Dick was just about to reach the cover of his building before he was tugged around, a pair of lips meeting his own feverishly. He soon melted into the sudden touch once realizing it was, in fact, you. Dick could taste the lip balm you had applied earlier in the day. The scent of it was strong as if you had reapplied it just to kiss him. Had you?
There was also the faint taste of the drink you had consumed in the coffee shop. The taste alone had never appealed to him before, but Dick thinks he could have it every day if it was off your lips. He felt your hands reach up behind his head, pulling him further towards you. His hands instinctively flew down to your waist, holding you like it’s the only chance he’ll get—still not sure if his mind is playing tricks on him or not.
Still, he’s drowning in you, and to him, it would be a death he’d gladly accept.
He yearned to have your lips touching his again, the second you broke away. His forehead pressed gently against yours, a soft reminder that you were real and right in front of him.
You exhaled, whispering as softly as the pattering of the rain, “See you tomorrow?”