Work Text:
Stephanie was proud she got a role for the play her department was setting up, and she’s beyond glad that something as small as that makes Jason want to celebrate with her. He pointed out that he was the one that encouraged her to join the auditions, it’d be fitting for him to treat her.
Jason asked her out a week ago, but theater practice demanded her time and she never really had a free slot to squeeze him in her schedule. Balancing her classes and volunteering on weekends and theater practice combined got her super occupied for the past month. Luckily, she was free today and they were good to go. For the past ten minutes, she had patiently stood outside a cafe, when her phone rang.
Pressing the green button, she accepted the call. “Hello?”
“Brown!” Damian’s distressed voice boomed. “I need an extraction!”
“From school?” Her brows furrowed in worry. “Why?”
“I think I am sick.”
Stephanie recalled that Damian seemed perfectly fine earlier this morning. Calmly, she instructed the younger boy, “Describe your symptoms.”
Damian’s tone became slightly shaky. “Sweaty palms. Elevated heart rate. Stomach palpitations.”
Stephanie paused and realization sank in, she tried not to be too teasing. “Kind of sounds like nerves to me. Are you nervous about making friends?”
All too quickly, Damian swiftly denied it with a hard and all too defensive ‘no’.
The blonde gave in and fondly cooed. “You are!”
“It is your fault for giving terrible advice! What am I going to have in common with people? I was raised by assassins!”
“Only for a little while.” Stephanie reminded him. “Then it was a billionaire vigilante. How can people not relate to that?”
“Helpful as ever, Brown.” The boy deadpanned. “I will just have to do this myself, like everything.”
Even though Damian can’t see her, Stephanie still proudly smiled. “There’s the Damian I know and love, go get ‘em.”
The moment Damian hung up, Stephanie overheard footsteps behind her which prompted her to turn.
“Hi!” She greeted Jason warmly.
“Hey. you,” Jason greeted back. “I’m sorry I’m late.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Stephanie saw something pink peeking from behind Jason.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t here long.” She curiously pointed at his side, “Is that for me?”
“Indeed they are,” Jason proudly said, grinning widely, he handed Stephanie a colorful bouquet. Neatly wrapped in white paper, tied in a thin red ribbon, were tulips in yellow, pink, and purple.
“Aww, you shouldn’t have,” Stephanie chirped as she accepted the bouquet, eagerly cradling it in her arms. She playfully poked him. “Now what will you give me on the day of the play?”
Jason chuckled, “That won’t be a problem, I’m sure I can think of something.”
“I have no doubt about it.”
Jason then offered Stephanie his arm to hold on to, “So, you ready to go, sunshine?”
___________________________________
After Jason drove them to Metropolis, Stephanie gawked at the tall, two-storey, pastel pink and white building with teal and orange neon lights on its front that read BRUNCH HEAVEN . It was generally known for the brunch buffets it held during Fridays and weekends. But what made this place extra special is that Stephanie once read that it was one of the best, if not the best , places to have waffles.
The pair stood at the front as Steph took her time to admire the restaurant with wide, shining eyes. “Oh. My. God.”
“If you said that a bit more high pitched and nasally, you’re basically Janice.” Jason teased. Stephanie recommended a bunch of sitcoms to him (he asked cause wanted to share interests with her that aren’t just about literature, not that he mentioned the reason), and who can blame him, Friends was an easy series to watch. One can literally pick any episode and they’re bound to have a laugh.
The blonde playfully slapped his arm, “You dork. You’ve been watching! What season are you on?”
“Enough to know that Janice is one of the best characters in the show. And glad that more people are seeing that.” He pulled on the door for his friend to go inside first.
___________________________________
With their orders served in front of them, Stephanie happily sliced her chocolate chip waffles.
“So,” Jason started as he unwrapped his chicken sandwich, “who were you on a call with earlier?”
Stephanie swallowed the first bite of heaven before she responded, “Damian.”
“Oh, interesting.” Jason remembered that today was Damian’s first day at school. “First day jitters?”
“Totally,” Steph smirked and rested her chin on her hand. “It’s cute how he wants to make a good first impression on his future friends.”
“Heh. Damian. Nervous about making friends. Who would’ve thought?”
“Not me. But I’m super flattered that he called me though.”
“Not gonna lie, I was expecting he’d call Dick.”
“He started the call saying he wants an out. I asked why and he said he was probably sick.”
Steph really was the best candidate to call for Damian to request an “out”. Bruce was busy with a meeting with the finance team today, Dick has been very vocal about his excitement for Damian to start school, and Alfred had packed Damian a really good lunch (Damian would feel guilty not to enjoy it at school as Alfred intended for him).
Jason clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth letting out a sound of understanding at the med-student’s explanation. That’d explain it. “To consult on your area of expertise, I see.”
Jason teasingly wiggled his eyebrows at the blonde. “Go, Nurse Steph.”
Stephanie stuck her tongue at him. “You were no help, the only advice you gave was you broke Roy out of prison. That’s not an advice… and Damian doesn’t have a best friend yet you dork.”
“Says who?”
“Wait, he does?”
“Not that I know of.”
Steph rolled her eyes in slight annoyance at Jason. Jason chuckled at the exasperation of the girl across from him.
The two proceeded to eat in silence. Jason pinched his chicken sandwich to share with Steph, and Steph sliced her waffles to give to Jason. They took turns taking a piece of fry in the plate in between them.
“I have an idea!” Stephanie suddenly blurted out, excitement evident in her eyes. She coughed and patted her chest, she regretted that she spoke so quickly. She grabbed her glass and chugged down her water.
Jason snorted and Stephanie shot him a confused look. “Sorry,” Jason swiftly took a tissue and casually swiped it on Steph’s chin to clean it. “Oh,” Steph blushed, “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Jason cleared his throat, “The idea?”
“Right!” Steph’s eyes lit up. “We can include him in our book club!”
“Sunshine, we’re barely a club. There’s only two of us.”
“Exactly! And now would be a good time to have a third!”
Over the month, the two of them have had their own book club sessions (two times a week.) They had gone through four books, one for each week. They took turns picking a book they would both read and then they'd discuss their thoughts. Through texts when they’re both super busy (Stephanie likes to send her messages in multiple texts while Jason likes to group them by sending in paragraphs.) Through video calls when Jason is visiting Roy and Lian (the cutest highlight was Lian handing Jason her doodles to force him to show it to Steph.) And when they’re both free, they hang out at his apartment.
Jason gave Steph an amused smirk, “Oh sunshine, I do hate bursting your bubble but the kid only reads manga.”
“Ahhhh.” That definitely threw her idea out of the window. “But maybe it’d help to broaden his horizons.”
“And you think this’ll help the kid make friends?” Jason popped a fry in his mouth. “Might not be his thing.”
“I don’t see why not. The more interests you have, the more material you can work with. The more material you can work with, the more you can find in common with someone.”
“Well as much as I love that it’s just the two of us in our little book club,” oh that came on a bit too strong, “I’m starting to think we’d benefit from having a third member. The satisfaction of having superior opinions is always a good feeling-”
Stephanie playfully shoved Jason, “Shut up, you dork.”
The blonde proceeded to swipe their shared plate of fries so that Jason won’t be able to reach it anymore. “Hey, hey. Blondie, come on.”
“Reword that superior opinions part right now and I might change my mind.”
“Alright: I think we’d benefit from having a third member. We both have really good takes but a third would make it more interesting when we have opposing opinions on certain topics.”
Stephanie nodded in approval, “Much better.” She returned the plate of fries in its original position.
“But how do we get him in?” Jason asked. “I’m not a fan of directly asking him to join.”
“Hmm,” Stephanie hummed in thought, “Bet I can plant the idea in the kid though.”
Jason leaned in curiously, “And how so?”
“You know how Damian has a habit of getting away from doing others chores-”
“You mean Tim’s chores.”
“Especially Tim’s. Lemme finish, big guy.”
“My bad, please continue.”
“Thank you. As I was saying: Damian has a habit of getting away from doing others chores by blackmailing them. And he sometimes gets the others to do his chores with said blackmail material.”
Jason nodded in approval. “Classic baby assassin move.”
“You’d be pleased to know that Damian has nothing on you.”
Jason proudly puffed his chest which made Stephanie giggle. “Of course. Only a fellow League of Assassins member–”
Stephanie corrected the man across from her, “ Former League of Assassins member.”
“Yes, yes. I am the only one the kid can’t have dirt on cause I know all the best ways to cover my tracks that someone like him can’t discover.”
“I propose we give him ‘dirt’ to uncover.”
“Oh that’s an interesting take. And what ‘dirt’ would this be?”
“We can start with a well beloved classic. I propose you leave your Pride & Prejudice copy somewhere easy to find.”