Chapter Text
“Graduation is only a month away. You’re really cutting it close, Dick.”
“I know, Babs. It’s just—"
“I don’t understand. You say you’re in ‘Batman’s shadow’, or whatever you wanna call it, but ultimately, we are trying to make the city safer. Who cares about the spotlight?”
“I’ve told you before. It’s more complicated than that.”
“And you still haven’t gone into more detail than ‘it’s complicated.’ What are you trying to prove?”
“I want to prove I can do this by myself to myself.”
Barbara glared at Dick. “I mean, I know I don't really know him, but is he really that hard to be around?”
“Yes, but it's not that. I’ve always relied on Bruce for money, support, everything. Plus, I’m always in the spotlight for being Bruce’s ‘charity case.’” Dick paused. “I want to go someplace where people don’t obsess over Bruce Wayne or Batman or Robin. I don’t expect you to understand. I do expect, hope, that you support me, as my girlfriend and my best friend.” Dick batted his eyelashes at Barbara with a cheeky smile.
Barbara glared at him. With an eyeroll, she gave up trying to stay mad at him. “Fine. I get it. I do. It’s just... I don’t know.”
“I’m going to Jump City. I’ll probably take a year before going to college and just live there and work. That’s my decision.”
“Jump City? Like, the other coast Jump City?”
“Yeah, like I said, I wanted some… distance… and I want you to come with me.”
“Dick, you know I’ve already been accepted with a full scholarship to Gotham University. I can’t give that up.”
“Just hear me out. I’m leaving right after graduation. Just come with me for the summer. If you like it, then maybe you can take a gap year with me. Then, you can decide from there if you eventually want to attend Gotham University or apply for one of the universities in JC.”
Dick and Barbara stared at each other. After a few moments, Barbara looked away from Dick’s hopeful face and sighed. “You know I have that internship that starts in July… but I’ll go. Only for a month. I’ll return for my internship, and I’ll think about it. Don’t get your hopes up though.”
Barbara squeaked in surprise as Dick grabbed her shoulders and kissed her.
*5 weeks later*
Through her wide smile, Batgirl could taste the salty sea air hitting her face as she jumped off a building next to the Jump City Bay, trying to catch up to Robin. He had challenged her to catch him. She did not understand why he loved her chasing him, but she went along with it regardless. She found it kind of fun. Eventually, Robin took out his grappling hook and shot it towards a fire escape ladder. He swung into it and began to climb. Batgirl followed.
“The air is nice here, isn’t it? The ocean seems different on the west coast,” Robin said, back still facing Batgirl.
“Yeah. It’s great. Really cool city. So bright. I could see myself here,” Batgirl responded as she arrived next to him and slipped her hand in his. She took in the view of the Jump City Bay. There were dazzling string lights and lanterns all around the coast. The water of the bay was a beautiful blue-green color, but since it was nighttime, it appeared black. It still had a gentle, steady, peaceful flow, even more so, now that there weren’t as many boats out. She looked over at Robin and noticed he was smiling at her.
“What?” She asked, returning the smile.
“I was hoping you’d like it here.” He peeled off his mask to reveal his deep blue eyes and reached over to remove Batgirl’s cowl.
“What are you doing?”
He set the mask and cowl on the roof and got down on one knee.
“Dick,” she said with a nervous laugh, “what are you doing?”
He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a ring.
Dick opened his mouth to start speaking but Barbara had tackled him to the ground and pushed her lips on his.
“Hrmm,” Dick tried to speak while she kissed him.
“Of course.”
“You didn’t even let me ask,” he laughed.
“Fine, go ahead.”
“Barbara, will you marry me? I know we’re young, but we’ve been friends for so long and-”
“Of course.”
As they got up, Dick handed her the ring. “Beautiful…” she said, in awe of the halo diamond ring, surrounded by pink sapphires. She carefully placed it in her utility belt for safe keeping.
“Why don’t we call it a night and walk by the bay?”
Before Barbara could respond, Dick had already put his mask on and jumped off the building. Blushing, Barbara put her cowl back on and followed.
*2 weeks later *
Batgirl had her elbows on the wall of a roof, watching as people stumbled out of the bars.
Robin was looking at reports his watch was projecting. “It’s official. From the experience we’ve had these past few weeks and based on the volume of calls to the JCPD between 1pm and 8pm, it appears we are wasting our time patrolling at night. Crime takes place mostly during the day.”
“This city is backwards,” Batgirl stated flatly, eyes not leaving the sidewalk of people.
“Want to call it a night and go to a bar?”
Batgirl looked at Robin incredulously. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I have our fakes.”
“I guess. They’re not very good though. Fakes like those would only work in Gotham.”
“Eh, it'll be fine."
A few hours later, after being turned away from multiple bars, they wound up in their hotel room. Barbara was working on some summer work for her first semester at GU. She looked up and saw Dick in his chair by the window with an open book in his hand, but he wasn’t looking at the book. He was staring out the window.
“You really love this city. Don’t you?”
Dick looked at Barbara. “Yeah, I do. I feel like it’s where I belong… at least right now.” A few moments of silence passed. “Something tells me that you don’t.”
Barbara sighed. Her infatuation with the city had quickly worn off. She tried to deny it, but she missed Gotham. “It’s cool. I just… Gotham is where I belong… right now.”
After more silence, Barbara got up and walked to Dick. She sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“What do we do?” he whispered.
She responded with a shrug. She let her arms fall to his shoulders and put her forehead against his.
“We could try long distance,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Dick… we barely found time alone in Gotham, and we were only twenty minutes from each other. Now, we’ll be almost 3,000 miles away.” Barbara’s voice cracked. She got up and walked back to the desk she was working at, trying to hide her glossy eyes.
“Maybe I could stay in Gotham a bit longer, then we can decide where to go.”
“But I don’t want to leave Gotham. And you shouldn’t come back just for me, especially if you’re sure this is where you need to be right now.”
“But we’re engaged.”
Barbara sighed. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Dick, we’re only 18.”
“What are you saying?”
“Isn’t it a little young? I mean-”
“We know we want to be together. Right?”
“Yeah, but-”
“Then what is it?”
“We just want so many different things.”
After some back and forth, a silence eventually fell over them. They looked at each other, realizing where this conversation was heading.
“We need to go our separate ways… don’t we?” Dick looked down.
“Hopefully not forever, but…” Barbara’s voice trailed off.
Dick pursed his lips and nodded slowly, letting out a long exhale. He walked to Barbara, her eyes just as glossy as his, and pulled her into a hug. As they separated, Barbara slowly started pulling off her ring, but he stopped her.
“You still have a week here. Keep it until then. Let’s try not to think about it,” he gave a small smile.
She nodded.