Work Text:
She could hear the window opening and she knew it was him. She made sure to school her features before turning around.
One of the things she’d perfected was not to allow her emotions to show on her face. Many people mistook it as her being cold and distant. She wasn’t. She just knew there were times when she needed to keep herself collected, many lives depended on her staying calm in intense situations.
This was not one of those times.
Her well-practiced demeanor flew out the window whenever Dick was concerned. Damn that man.
And here he was, being reckless again. After he had just suffered a significant head injury too.
She needed to tie him down so he’d recover properly instead of swanning off to who the hell knows where.
“Hey, Babs,” his voice broke through her thoughts. “I’m back. Thanks for looking out for me.”
She shrugged. “Someone has to,” she muttered, mostly to herself.
“What was that?”
She turned to face him and there it was. That smirk. Oh, how she wanted to smack it off of his devilishly handsome face.
His mask was off and she could see the dried blood on the side of his face. His blue eyes were intense and penetrating. His coal-black hair was disheveled and sticking up everywhere like he’d been swooping through the wind-blown rooftops. Which he most likely was.
“It was nothing,” she said. “Tim went home once he knew you were OK and I stayed to monitor things until you got back. I should probably get going.”
Dick ran his hands through his hair and took his gloves off.
“What’s the rush, Babs?”
She sighed. Her resolve was almost broken. How he managed to get under her skin, she had no idea.
She turned and punched him in the shoulder instead of doing what she wanted to do, which was cry.
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“For being reckless after suffering a head injury, you idiot!! Do you know how worried I was about you?! I had to call in the Titans, as well as Bruce, to go and rescue your ass after I didn’t hear from you!!”
Then, the dam burst and she could feel the tears spill out and down her face, and she was unable to stop them.
She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and a gentle hand on the back of her head.
“Hey. Hey, it’s ok. It’s ok, Babs…” his voice said softly. She felt herself being led over to the sofa and being sat down. She collapsed onto his chest, soaking his costume.
God, she felt like a fool. Blubbering and carrying on like a little child. She’d never do this in front of Bruce.
But Dick somehow always got her to lower her defenses. Maybe it was due to long-held feelings she’d harbored for him ever since they were young. Him and his stupidly handsome face and his good heart and witty personality. As well as his fantastic body.
The same body holding her closely at that very moment. She was acutely aware of how close they were and how hard and muscular his chest was.
She slowly backed away from the comforting presence of his arms. She knew she most likely looked like a mess. One of the curses of being a natural redhead was her face became red and blotchy whenever she got cold or cried. Lord knows how her eyes looked. Bloodshot and weepy.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get carried away like that,” she explained, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.
“Hey, no need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing. I knew better than to go off like that after a concussion. I should be the one apologizing, not you.”
Dick placed his hands on the sides of her face and tipped it up so that she was looking at him in the eyes.
“The last thing I want is to cause people to worry about me. I know it’s because they care so much, and it makes me feel special.”
He wiped away a stray tear.
“I especially don’t want you to worry about me, Babs. You mean too much to me.”
Dick enveloped her in his arms and leaned back against the sofa. He ran his hand soothingly up and down her back. She buried her face into his chest.
“After you got shot, I was so afraid. More afraid than I’ve ever been in my life. Here was my best friend, lying unconscious on a hospital bed. And I felt so helpless. More so than when I was shot myself. And when you woke up but didn’t remember us, or your life before, it was like you were lost all over again.”
Dick squeezed her shoulder, letting her talk.
“When you were Ric, I made sure to try and leave the boy, then man, I knew before. It was so hard. I missed you, Dick. I missed you so much. You were alive and well, but you were still gone. And that scared me. I think I’ve been afraid to get close to anyone because I was afraid of losing them. Maybe that’s why I’ve been so distant towards you. I’m afraid of losing you all over again, this time for good. I wouldn’t be able to function properly if I didn’t have you in my life.”
Dick placed a gentle kiss on her hair. She felt him smile against her.
“Can I confess something?”
She nodded.
“I’m afraid of losing you too. You’re the single most important person in my life, Babs. You are my everything. I look forward to seeing your smile every day. Hearing your voice. Just being in your presence makes me feel like a million bucks or a billion in this case.”
That earned him a chuckle.
“When I had to fake my death and go undercover, it killed me that I couldn’t tell you or my brothers where I was. I wanted to write to you, just to tell you what was going on. That I was OK. I thought about you all the time, what you were doing, missing the way the sun shone on your hair, the freckles on your nose. And when I came back, I was so happy we were able to be friends again. Maybe more. Then I got shot and things got upended. When my memories came back, I knew you were happy for me, but you were also guarded and I didn’t want to push my luck. And these past few months of us working together again, getting closer. It’s been like a dream come true.”
A short bark broke through the thick emotion in the air.
Dick chuckled, “And Haley thinks so too.”
She smiled.
He pressed a kiss against her hair. “I’m sorry for scaring you like that. And you’re right. It was reckless of me. And I do know better. I need to be better at self-preservation.”
She nodded, “You really do.”
They pulled apart and Dick grimaced. Babs gently touched the wound on his forehead.
“Why don’t we get this taken care of, eh? I don’t think it needs stitches, but it does need cleaned out and bandaged.”
Dick nodded in agreement. “Yeah. That sounds good.”
Babs got up from the sofa and moved over to where the first-aid kit was. She heard what sounded like cloth rustling behind her. She turned and saw Dick had removed the top of his costume.
She could feel her heart skip a beat. He was just so muscular and built. She felt like she couldn’t breathe whenever she looked at him. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She couldn’t let herself get distracted, especially after the moment they just had.
“Do you want to get your pajamas out?” she asked him.
Dick shook his head, then winced as the pain from his injury made itself known again.
“No. I’ll just sleep in my underwear. I don’t think I have the energy to bother with pajamas.”
Babs tried not to allow the image of Dick in just his underwear to push its way into her brain.
“OK,” she replied.
She dabbed his forehead with a damp cloth to clean up the blood and then placed butterfly bandages over the gash. She then covered those with a larger bandage. She handed him a couple of pills.
“What’s this for?” he asked.
“Any pain you may have. You might not feel it now, but you may later on,” Babs told him.
Dick took the pills and drank the water she provided. He gave her a sidelong glance.
“You can stay here if you want. For the night, I mean. Make sure I’m OK.”
Babs smiled, “If that’s what you want.”
“Yeah. That’s what I want.”
She reached up and brushed his dark locks out of his blue eyes. She touched her forehead to his and sighed.
“You’re going to be the death of me one of these days, Dick Grayson.”
She could hear him chuckle. “I hope not, Barbara Gordon. I rather like having you around.”
“I like having you around too.”
Dick took her hand in his and they both stood up from the sofa.
“Let’s go to bed, shall we? It’s been a long night,” he said.
Babs smiled.
“Yeah. It has.”