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Today had been a good day.
I mean, sure, today didn’t seem good while she was going through the day. (I mean, she had to get up early and take a 5 hour drive ride across the country and then another 5 hour drive back. At least the car her agency sent for her was nice.) But looking back on it, it hadn’t been too bad.
She had met a lot of new people today. Fellow models, talented makeup artists and production crews. And surprisingly most (most) of them were nice! The clothes and the makeup she wore were really pretty too.
(Which she appreciated because some designers cared about concept more than appearance. And while she would wear the clothes either way it just made her feel better to wear clothes she liked.) The show went well, it was close to perfect if anything.
So yeah, today was a good day. The only thing that could make today better would be a good meal, since she hadn’t eaten anything all day. (Apparently It’s bad practice to eat on the day of a show. And while she didn’t particularly like starving herself she also didn’t really like not getting booked for shows over a "lack of discipline" [Which is just a fancy way of saying "doesn’t follow the toxic standards of the modeling industry"])
And the fact that she hadn’t eaten all day was exactly why she was walking into a Bat-burger at one in the morning since this was the only thing that would be open this late. (And that had acceptable food. Sorry but even though she was starving Mina would NOT settle for anything less than Bat-burger quality.)
She pushed the doors open and walked to the counter. She didn’t have her wallet on her but that didn’t matter, she’d get her food anyways.
"Hello," She greeted politely giving her best "I-need-something" smile.
The tired cashier perked up a bit, blushing softly. The worker couldn’t have been more from her age.
"U-uhm…hello..." The boy stuttered. Mina noted his nervousness. Good, that’ll make things easier.
"I’m sorry to bother you so late at night, but I was wondering if I could get a bat burger, small Jokerized fries and a 5 piece Robin nuggets.
"O-of course! You don’t even have to pay actually!" Wow. She hadn’t even asked him yet. He must really like her. (That or he had a VERY weak will.)
"Really?" She tilted her head, a faux surprised expression gracing her face. "Thank you so much!" Usually she would refuse at least one, (maybe twice) something about being polite. But at this point she was WAY too tired to be anymore polite than she already had been.
The boy’s blush grew and a (tired) smile appeared on his face "D-don’t mention it…) he replied before going to make the order.
Mina sighed and leaned on the counter, her back to the cash register. She closed her eyes for a second. Even though today was a good day, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t still exhausted. Part of her just wanted to fall asleep there, but she couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t.
Suddenly her eyes shot open. She got a weird feeling. The feeling you got before something bad happened. Thankfully it wasn’t a full blown" run-or-you-will-die" feeling. More like a, "be-prepared-to-deal-with-something-annoying-(but-still-kinda-life-threatening)" feeling. And in Mina’s honest opinion, the latter was worse than the former.
She sighed as the nervous cashier gave her the food. The boy frowned immediately.
“Is something wrong?” He seemed completely dejected, looking even sadder than he had when he walked in.
“Oh,” Mina responded stupidly, realizing that he’d thought he was the reason for her sigh. “No, no. It’s just…been a long day.”
The boy’s smile returned. “Tell me about it.” His voice took a more confident tone. “Y’know, if you ever wanted to talk about it with a stranger, I’m here.”
Mina hummed in response. “No thanks.” She answered simply before leaving. It was already bad enough that something would happen the second she left. And after a day of people touching her face and dressing her, she didn’t feel like socializing. It wouldn’t occur to her until later that he was flirting. Had she realized she would’ve been gentler when rejecting him. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.
When she walked out she saw that she had reason to be “be-prepared-to-deal-with-something-annoying-(but-still-kinda-life-threatening)" As she saw 3 guys, all of them like 18-20 or so. She figured that they weren’t planning on robbing her, initially, anyway. They must’ve been planning on robbing the store. But part of her still found it weird that 3 guys were needed for one store.
“Alright. Let’s make this easy, okay sweetheart? Just give us all your money and you can go on your merry way.” One of the men threatened, his hand in his pocket.
Against her better judgement, Mina felt her heartbeat pick up. She didn’t know why. She had seen monsters, LITERAL monsters. Minotaurs, and furies and harpies and such. Those things were scary. They would eat you, tear you limb from limb, they didn’t just want money, they wanted you dead. So why was it that a human man holding a gun scared her so?
She trembled, opening her mouth to speak. Even though she was scared she still had enough sense to know that she wasn’t in any real danger. Just an annoyance. She’d tell them to leave her alone and then she’d be on her merry way, just like the guy had said. And hey, maybe she could even get them to give HER money for the trouble they’d caused!
With her nerves calmed she smiled as she spoke. “Actually, would you mind—“ SMACK!!
She was cut off by the sound of something hard hitting someone. And shortly after the man in front of her fell to the ground.
In his back was a shiny looking thing; a Bata-rang. The way it was thrown looked a bit harsh. No less precise than usual but with just a bit more force.
“Oh.” She said stupidly. Looks like she wouldn’t be getting any money after all. Immediately the man closest to her grabbed her arm, pulling her into him and shoving something into her head harshly. He’d planned on taking her hostage.
“Ack! Hey what are you—“ The man was down before she could even finish her protest. The sound he made when he hit the floor was loud. It almost sounded like he cracked his skull open. Mina decided that she wouldn’t check.
The last guy was the smartest, sprinting away from the scene, unfortunately, whoever was saving her was good at their job, as he went down shortly (and just as painfully) too.
“Hm. Well that was quick. Shouldn’t that have taken longer?” She commented, looking at the men on the ground. (Except for the one behind her, she didn’t want to see what he looked like)
“Nah. They were newbies so they went down pretty easy.” A voice called from above. It seemed unnatural. Almost artificial in how modulated it was.
Mina looked up and saw a figure clad in black drop down. The figure hid in the darkness before coming closer to her, where she could see him.
“You seem incredibly calm. Has this happened before?” Red Robin questioned, his tone held something, concern maybe? But not the detached kind you feel for a stranger. The kind you feel for a…
She pushed that thought away, her mind now filled with the fact that her CELEBRITY CRUSH WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER OH MY GOD?!
Her cheeks got hot and she wore a stupid smile. “R-red Robin! You saved me.” She said smartly, twirling her hair.
She couldn’t really tell behind the white lenses but the vigilante almost seemed taken aback. Her demeanor had changed completely.
He quickly regained his composure though. “Happy to be of service.” He smiled. Which was weird. Bats don’t smile. Mina knew that, of course, everyone did. She didn’t really care though, only focused on the fact that HER CELEBRITY CRUSH JUST SMILED AT HER OH MY GOD!!
“Anyways, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing out so late? It’s dangerous out here, y’know.”
“I was hungry.” She answered simply.
Red Robin quirked a brow, (or that’s what it seemed like at least. Their facial expressions were hard to determine because of the masks.) unimpressed.
“You can to a fast food restaurant at 3am in Gotham city, because you were hungry?” He crossed his arms, and Mina could tell he was a bit disappointed by that answer.
“Oh—uhm—well—“ She stammered, suddenly embarrassed by his reaction. “I—just came back from a runway show and y’know I didn’t really eat all day since it’s bad practice to eat on days you have shows so—“
“You haven’t eaten all day?” Again, his tone held disappointment. The kind you were met with when a worried friend found out you weren’t taking care of yourself. Mina winced, feeling guilty.
“W-well…I guess I had (half of a) banana a few hours before?”
Red Robin frowned, a frown that was fitting of a bat. “Okay. Im gonna wait with you will your ride is here and once you get home you’re gonna have a meal. A healthy meal before going straight to bed. It’s late on a school night so you need to get to bed ASAP. That way you’re not tired in the morning.” He commanded, leaving no room for discussion.
“But…what about my skincare routine? I can’t go to bed without taking off my makeup…” Mina pouted, talking with too much familiarity for someone she didn’t know. She did know him
“You’re not wearing any makeup. You don’t put any on when you go to shows and the makeup artists help you take it off when the show is finished.” He debunked(?), smirking.
Mina groaned, (Ignoring the fact that he shouldn’t know so much about her. Y’know, since they were strangers.) Pulling out her phone to call for a driver.
Red Robin sat down on the pavement, and Mina joined him. Mina offered him some food, Red Robin accepted. They sat, eating greasy fries and nuggets, looking at the stars for a second, admiring them..
.
..
…
“You didn’t answer me.”
“Hm?”
“Have you been in danger like this before?”
“…only once.”
“…”
“But there was someone there with me. Someone who I trusted to protect me. And just like I thought, they did.”
“…Do you still feel that way about them?”
“Is that even a question?”
They lapsed into silence again.
Shortly after, a car pulled up nearby.
Mina stood, grabbing her food and smiling.
“Thanks for saving me, I promise that I’ll eat a proper meal and go right to sleep! Aaaafter I do my skincare routine!” She joked, making her way towards the car.
Red Robin sighed, a smile on his face.
“Fine. Get home safely ok?” He pulled out his grappling gun from seemingly thin air. Pointing it towards the sky.
“I will.” Mina replied halfway in the vehicle now.
Red Robin gave her one last smile before grappling into the night.
Mina’s cheeks warms, thinking of the exchange. She had really gotten to talk to him!! She wanted to squeal.
Immediately she pulled out her phone and began texting her friends, ranting to them about the encounter.
By the time she was done she was already at home in bed and the sun was coming up.
And sure enough, she hadn’t even eaten.
“…oops.”