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A part of Mina feels a bit weird coming to the manor so late a night, especially for something so trivial. That part of her however, is silenced by the much more prominent one which will NOT be able to sleep until it gets that one VERY specific shirt out of Tim's closet.
She walks through the manor with almost too much familiarity, as if she lived there. And honestly, she might've spent more time there then the actual people who were (supposed) to be living there. She knew that she wasn't really a guest anymore when Alfred didn't bat an eye at her coming to the manor at 8:00pm on a school night.
All he'd said to her was, "Good evening, Master Timothy isn't available right now."
In response she nodded. "Thank you." She said before making her way to his room. She didn't mind that she was busy, in fact, it was probably better that he didn't know that the only reason she was there was to steal one of his shirts. Aaand maybe a hoodie or two.
...but then again, that other shirt of his would go perfectly with a skirt she had.
...and that belt would look perfect with the purse she just bought.
And...
...By the time she left his room she was carrying a small luggage worth of clothes. Tim wouldn't mind, and if he did she didn't care. He was DOUBLE rich! Born a Drake turned into a Wayne. He'd inherited a fortune and was going to inherit part of another! He could get over losing a T-shirt!
...And several hoodies...
...and 8 belts...
...and....
She almost ran into Dick when she turned the corner, her vision covered by the pile of clothes she was carrying!
"Woah!" Dick exclaimed, somehow dodging her at the last moment with a freakish speed. If Mina wasn't so used to the weird Ninja-like reflexes of the Wayne's she'd be caught of guard. Fortunately, after years of knowing them, she was.
"Mina? What brings you here? I thought Tim was busy. And...what's all that?" Dick moved his head around, trying to see her behind the mountain of clothes.
"Oh, just needed one of Tim's shirts for an outfit of mine. I...uh...might've gotten a little carried away. It's fine though, what he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?"
Dick chuckled, amused. "You sure you can carry all that? You still need to go down the stairs y'know."
"Oh, right." She realized, only to shrug, her resolve unshaken. "Eh...I should be fine."
"Maybe you should just drop off some of the clothes at your room," (Because she had been friends with Tim for so long she had her own room in the manor.) "And just take a couple of clothes, you can pick up the others some other time. Or at least carry them in loads."
"That would be smart..." In her head she debated on how patient she was feeling. She decided that the clothes weren't worth it. (Not because she wanted to avoid falling. But because she wanted to avoid the embarrassment of falling. Which made perfect sense, of course.) After she had come to a decision she made her way to her room. (Which was pretty close to Tim's) Dick followed her there, to make sure she didn't fall or drop anything.
By the time she had dropped off (and put away) all of the clothes she had stolen borrowed Tim was leaving his room. Upon seeing her he smiled softly, a subtle blush dusting his cheeks before a confused expression appeared on his face. They hadn't set up a hangout, and she didn't even text him to let him know that she would be coming, so why was she here?
"What are you doing here?" Tim questioned.
She quirked a brow, a lovesick friendly smile on her face. Much like the one that was on Tim's "That's how you greet a guest, Timothy? I would've thought you'd been taught better."
Tim scoffed goodnaturedly. "You're hardly a 'guest' anymore, Mina. And you still haven't answered my question." He looked to Dick for answers, he found none. Only a knowing smirk. One only an annoying sibling who was about to meddle in your love affairs would give. Tim was on edge right away.
"Hey Mina," Her gaze changed from Tim to Dick. "We're having a movie night today, I'm sure Tim would loooooove it if you joined us." Tim's light blush turned into a prominent red.
He didn't know why. (He did.) This wouldn't be the first time Mina stayed for a movie night. And this wasn't the first time he was teased by his family (or anyone for that matter) for his very (existent) nonexistent crush on Mina.
Immediately Tim rushed to backtrack. Not wanting to see the smug looks of his family members if she did say yes.
"You don't have to--"
"Sure!" Mina agreed, before realizing what Tim had said.
Confused, Mina tilted her head at her best friend.
"Do you...not want me to stay? I'm pretty sure that my Mom will let me as long as I let her know."
"N-no--no!! Of course I do it's just..." Tim glanced between the two, irritated by the growing smirk on Dick face. He sent him a death glare but the only caused the annoyingly smug look to grow even more.
"Well then, I think it’s settled! Mina will stay for the movie night! I'll let Alfred know to prepare more snacks." Dick sped away from the two teens, laughing obnoxiously as he did.
One of the teens was left in confusion, the other in irritation. They were silent for a second, before Mina broke the silence.
"...Are you...worried they'll tease us?"
"No." The boy insisted before thinking better of it. "...Yeah..."
"I don't see why. It's been happening for almost a decade now, shouldn't you be used to it?" She questioned, making her way to the home theater.
"Doesn't make it any less annoying. Especially since they're gonna be looking at us whenever something even remotely romantic happens." Tim complained, walking alongside her. "Remember when they had that movie marathon and ALL of the movies were about childhood friends becoming lovers?"
"Eh." The girl shrugged. "I didn't mind that one."
"Of course, you didn't. Well, how about the time that they locked us in my room for 3 hours. The only reason why it wasn't longer was because Alfred unlocked it for us."
"I mean, I probably would've spent that time in your room anyways. I only started to get a bit impatient a few minutes before Alfred unlocked the door because I was hungry."
"Okay, what about that time we played twister?"
"...No comment."
"That's what I thought."
By the time they'd finished talking, they had made it to the theater. Tim lead them to a seat near the back of the theater. When they sat down Mina pulled out her phone to text her Mom. Jason and Duke were already in the theater when they came in. Jason had the same expression as Dick, Tim gave him the same reaction. Duke chuckled at the two boys, handing Mina the snacks Alfred had prepared for the two of them, which she gladly accepted.
One by one the other family members trickled in. (Damian, Dick, Bruce, Cass and Alfred. All of them giving certain looks to Tim. One's that he'd become all too used to.) Eventually the movie started. Much to Tim's happiness, they were not romance movies.
At some point Mina laid her head on Tim's shoulder. Tim's cheeks got a bit warmer, so did Mina's. The girl smiled when he adjusted himself to make her more comfortable. By the time the movie ended Mina was asleep and Tim was dozing off. He would've fallen asleep had it not been for the "click" of a camera shutter and the loud "Awww's" from various voices. Tim's eyes shot open in annoyance.
"What a cuuuute couple." Jason teased, Tim groaned.
"How many times do I have to say it? We are not a couple. They're not even my type." Tim's voice held some annoyance, but mostly exasperation. The kind you gained over years of saying the same thing over and over.
"You two are LITERALLY cuddling. What do you mean 'not a couple'?" Duke interrogated, gesturing at their current position.
"The day these two get together is the day Hell freezes over." Cass signed, leaving the room. Tim felt a bit betrayed.
"I do not understand why the two won't just confess already. It's obvious they share affections." Damian scoffed, leaving the room with Dick.
"Love blinds you, Dami. We can only hope that these two won't wait another 10 years." Dick comforted.
Bruce only chuckled as he left, and soon, the rest of the family left too.
Tim stayed in the room for a little while longer, scrolling on his phone mindlessly. Eventually he shifted his attention from his phone to the girl on his shoulder. (Actually on his chest at this point.)
Tim had always found her beautiful, everyone did. Mina's beauty was pretty much a fact of life. It was like saying the sky was blue, or that grass is green. But moments like this, quiet moments that only he could experience. Moments where she let herself be "imperfect" were one of the moments he liked best. Honestly, any moment with her was one he enjoyed, because of the rush he felt during them.
Mina must have felt eyes watching her though, because she slowly woke up, her eyes tired and droopy. Tim chuckled. He found that cute too.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."
"'s fine...need to wake up anyways..." She picked her head up off his chest. Tim missed the warmth. Mina did too. "...I have a model casting in the morning...so I...gotta be home." She paused between her words, still waking up. She grabbed her phone and began typing.
"Isn't it a school night?" Tim tilted his head.
"Yes, and?"
Tim chuckled tiredly. "You need Alfred to drive you home? I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
"Mphm.." She sighed, clicking her phone off. "No need, there should be a driver coming to get me soon..."
Tim nodded, and the two sat in silence. A comfortable silence, one that you fell into with a friend while you each did your separate thing.
Eventually Mina got a text, letting her know that the driver was here. Tim insisted on walking her out despite the fact that there was no need. They both knew that, of course, but they both wanted to spend even more time together,
When they got to the foyer, Alfred was waiting for them, holding one of Tim's shirts, neatly folded.
"Oh!" Mina exclaimed, smiling while taking the shirt from the Butler. "Thank you Alfred, I almost forgot."
Alfred nodded. "Have a good night Miss Mina, make sure to get home safely."
"I will." Mina assured before heading out of the door with Tim.
Tim smirked as they went down the stairs. "So, you're stealing my shirts now?"
Mina chuckled. "It's not my fault they look better on me."
"They definitely don't." The boy jokes, as they got closer to the car.
The two are silent once again when they reach it. Both feel as if there's something they should be doing. Or at least be saying, but nothing is said and nothing is done. Instead, they look into each others eyes. It feels strangely intimate. As if they’re talking to each other, saying things they don’t have the courage to say aloud.
Mina opens her mouth to say something. It hangs open for a minute before she finally speaks. "See you tomorrow." She salutates.
They both know that she wasn't gonna say that.
They both ignore it.
"See you tomorrow." Tim parrots.
After that Mina gets in the car and the driver drives off. Tim stays outside till the car is out of view.
Once he comes back inside he is greeted by relentless teasing as he goes into the batcave to get ready for patrol.
----
Mina hates model castings.
It's something she realized early on in her career.
Most of the time you were called for casting like a DAY before, so if you had something planned, no you didn't. Any previous plans would have to be canceled so you could spend your entire day waiting in line for even a SLIVER of a chance to be in a show or a photoshoot or whatever. It seemed like no matter HOW early you got there you were always in line for AT LEAST 5 hours. (okay, that may be an exaggeration but still.) And during those (2) 5 hours you would be surrounded by drop dead gorgeous people, which would cause you to start overthinking.
Do i look good enough?
I mean, i'm pretty but compared to everyone else i'm nothing.
Why did I come here anyway? I don't belong here.
I should leave.
I should--
After you finally got to the front (which would be in the most dingy, shady, strange, insert other bad adjective, place you'd ever seen) you would spend like 10 seconds walking awkwardly on sore legs in front of the most judgmental looking people alive. After the 10 second walk the judges will nod and you would leave. And you wouldn't even know if you got the job till the show/photoshoot/whatever the heck was happening. And GODS forbid you get waitlisted. oh dear gods forbid...because then you have to clear your schedule on the mere CHANCE that they need you. If they don't need you, congrats! You just wasted a saturday staring at the ceiling in your room! If they do, my condolences because now you're at the airport at 1am trying not to fall asleep because you spent all of last night catching up on school work. And after ALLL of that IF by the grace of the Gods you're getting paid in money and not in "PR" products and a "promise" that they'll put in a good word for you. You get paid 100 dollars (3 months) 5 YEARS later. And it would've been 1000 had it not been for the 50% percent that you gave to the local agency, and the 10% to the MA and the 20% for taxes and the other 10% for expenses that the agency paid for.
So yeah, needless to say, Mina hated Model castings. She hated runways and photoshoots and walking and posing and blah blah blah. Basically, she just hated modeling.
But unfortunately, the only thing she hated more than modeling...was not modeling.
She sighed as she flopped down onto her bed. Her legs hurt from all the standing in line and she had a headache for Gods knows why. She felt horrible. empty, judged. She wanted to cry and scream and die all at the same time. And there was only one person who could help her when she felt like this.
She wiped her tears away. (When had she even started crying?) And sent him a text, sniffling.
"I'm coming over." It read.
She didn't wait for a reply before calling a driver and making her way to the manor.
.
..
...
By the time she makes it there Tim still hasn't responded.
That makes her feel a bit worse than she already did, even though it's not out of the ordinary. She had no idea why but sometimes Tim would just fall off the face of the earth for a few hours in the day. He'd respond eventually but there was really no point in texting him during odd hours and GOOD LUCK getting a response at night. But whatever. She didn't know what he did (she did) and she was content to keep it that way, because she knows that if she knew (she knows), she wouldn't like it.
She once again wipes away tears as she opens the door to her room in wayne manor. She takes one of the hoodies she stole from Tim yesterday and puts it on.
If he wasn't there to hold her, to comfort her and reassure her, this was the next best thing.
She sniffed it to smell his cologne and felt just a bit better. Now all she had to do was wait for him in his room. (Who knew how long that would take though...)
She had half a mind to track him down herself but decided against it once she laid down in his bed. She didn't know why but his always seemed more comfy than any other bed. (Despite the fact that the one in her room was EXACTLY the same, even brand and model. ...Do beds even have models?)
She occupied herself with thinking. Thinking about what she would wear tomorrow, about what she would eat, about that new restaurant that just opened up, about what she would be for halloween, about--
The door swung open gently, and her head perked up to see him.
This time he didn't look surprised to see her. Someone must've told him. (Or maybe he had read the text.) Either way it didn't matter as he placed the laptop in his hands down on his desk and made his way into the room.
"Hard day?" He asked with a gentle smile as he came in.
"Yeah." She responded tiredly.
He nods, joining her under the covers. "Wanna talk about it?" He questions, pulling her head into his chest gently.
"Dunno yet..." She answers vaguely, putting her arms around his neck.
He hums in response, grabbing the remote from the nightstand and switching on the TV.
"Wanna watch Saiki K?"
She smiles, gently. "You know me so well."
Unlike usual, the two of them don't laugh at the show, only chuckling or giggling softly. It must've been a hard day for Tim too, judging by the bags under his eyes and the dullness of their color.
She ignores it though, just like she ignores every other sign that he might be hiding something. And he does the same when she leaves for summer coming back with the same bags and dull eyes that he has,
They both stay silent. And it seems like it'll stay that way, for at least a little while.
But that's okay with them as long as it means that they can stay silent, snuggled up, watching TV.
.
..
...
"Hey, is that my hoodie? Is that why my closet was way emptier when I came back last night?"
"Oops."