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The random thugs in Gotham were getting gutsier these days. Dinah suspected that someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes because wasn't that always the case when there was an uptick in crime? Tonight's patrol had ended in a would-be burglar trying to stab her. Batman had been there to intervene and though she could have handled it, he'd put himself in the way of the blade. Upon seeing the blood seeping through the armor of the batsuit, she'd insisted on driving him home after they left the thieves ziptied for the police to find.
Dinah moved close to Bruce and slid an arm around his waist once they got back to the Batcave. He gave her a dirty look and she just gave him a smirk.
"If you're going to take a knife for me, you're going to let me take care of you."
"I can wake Alfred," Bruce muttered, though she thought she saw the faintest hints of the corners of his mouth turning upwards, marring that famous bat scowl.
"Don't you dare," she gave him a mock dirty look as she moved them both towards the first aid section of the cave. "Let that poor man sleep for once."
Bruce grumbled a bit but sat in the seat as instructed.
"Need help getting out of your suit?" Dinah asked, resisting the urge to wink.
Yet again, she was sure that the corners of his lips twitched. "No, I can handle it."
"You make a terrible patient, you know that?" she replied.
"Well, your bedside manner could use some work," Bruce shot back.
Dinah laughed softly as she opened a drawer and pulled out a needle and thread, as well as some hydrogen peroxide, a cloth and a bandage. She turned just as Bruce finished shrugging out of the top part of his suit. Her eyes traveled down his chest to the wound. If this were different circumstances, maybe her gaze would have lingered longer. Bruce was a well built man, after all.
She knelt beside him and looked over the wound.
"Well, it can't be that bad if I got your shirt off," she told him with a grin. Her smile gave way to a grimace of concentration as she started to clean up some of the blood. "It's not as bad as I thought," she told him. "You'll need a couple of stitches, but looks like your suit took the brunt of it."
"That is the general idea behind armor," Bruce replied. "Better me than you."
She glanced up and shot him a Look. "I move quicker without armor weighing me down. I would have been able to dodge it. Probably." She sighed and covered his hand briefly. "Thank you," she said softly.
"Don't mention it. Maybe I just wanted to give you the chance to get my shirt off."
Dinah wasn't surprised by Bruce deflecting the thanks, but she was definitely surprised by the impish smile gracing his expression. She reached for the needle and thread, but paused for a moment.
"You're cute when you smile. You know that?"
"Maybe," Bruce answered, his grin widening a little bit.
"This shouldn't take too long. Hang onto something," Dinah said, changing the subject slightly. She wasn't going to let Bruce get too over-confident, even if that smile was definitely doing things to her. It was rare to see such a genuine smile on his face that she couldn't help but want to find more ways to coax it out.
Bruce gripped the table beside them and nodded at her. "Go ahead."
After years of being a part of the hero community, Dinah knew her field dressings. So it didn't take long to do the stitches. For his part, she heard a few grunts from Bruce but no other complaints as she sewed the wound shut. When it was all done, she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.
"How are you feeling?"
"I've felt worse," he said. A non-answer in true Bat fashion.
She shook her head and gave him an exasperated smile before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. She couldn't say exactly what had prompted her to do so, except that she did like catching him off guard. Of course, the last time she'd just planted one on his lips as a thank you for acknowledging Helena. But that had been ages ago, and she figured that she probably couldn't get away with kissing him every time she wanted to thank him for something. As tempting as it might be.
As her lips were about to brush his cheek, Bruce turned-whether accidentally or on purpose, and their lips met. Later, she would have to wonder because there was very little that Bruce did without purpose. She closed her eyes and melted into the kiss for a moment.
"Feeling a little better now," he murmured as he pulled away after a moment.
Dinah took a deep breath and tried to steady her heartrate.
"That makes two of us," she breathed.
She stood up then and held out her hand to him. "Come on. Let's get you settled upstairs."
"I thought you'd never ask," he said with yet another of those smiles. And Dinah thought that she could definitely get used to seeing him smile.