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“You would think Tim could be punctual once in a while,” Stephanie mused to herself,” he had promised to meet her here at this Jitters so that they could hang out, as the two had grown a bit distant ever since breaking up. It was an amicable separation, with Tim feeling that he needed some time to explore his own bisexuality and Steph just needing to find herself after a period of codependency and many life-altering situations in a short span of time. However, apparently these journeys took them in opposite directions and they felt like a reunion was needed to catch up.
A figure started to walk towards the café, and as Steph craned her neck to get a better look at the figure, she saw that it was not Tim, but instead a shorter blond boy who she felt she should recognize. As she was inspecting the stranger and trying to decide if she knew him or not, their eyes met and she saw the same glimmer of recognition in his eyes. Already cursing herself for the decision, she waved and indicated an empty seat at her table, praying he didn’t figure out who she was before she could identify him.
Grabbing a seat upon entering, the boy broke the uncomfortable silence that had persisted since they locked eyes by saying, “I know that I know you, but I can’t figure out who you are. Bernard Dowd”
“Stephanie Brown,” she replied, “I’m here waiting for my ex-boyfriend so we can catch up.” “No way! My boyfriend was planning on meeting me here so he could introduce me to his ex, which felt weird to me but he assured me that we’d get along great.” Upon saying this, both of their eyes narrowed and smiles began to form.
“Black hair?” Steph asked.
“Geeky?” Bernard countered.
“Always running late because of work?” Steph pushed the envelope a little bit more with this one, assuming that Tim would’ve trusted his new partner more than he trusted her at first.
“Spends way too much time with a billionaire mentor each night?” He indicated that indeed, TIm had confided in him.
“Tim,” the two finally said in unison, exasperation seeping into their voices.
“Oh my gosh! Tim didn’t say anything about this but I’m so glad to finally meet you,” Steph enthusiastically responded, “Tim and I met through our shared extracurricular, so I don’t often get a chance to meet his other friends.”
“How long should we give Tim before we leave without him? I don’t want you to end up spoiling the things he had planned for today,” he asked, partially just trying to figure out the plan for the day while also signaling that he knew more about her than she assumed.
At this, the corner of Steph’s mouth twitched up, recognizing what he had said. “Maybe we give him like an hour, but if he still hasn’t shown then I know a good escape room near here and you seem to be the type of person who would enjoy that.”
“That works for me! And yes, I do like escape rooms, I’m a bit of a thrillseeker,” Bernard said while blushing. Steph noted that there’s probably a story she could fish out of him based on that, but decided to disregard that for now. “While we wait, do you have any stories about Tim to tell? He’s been cagey about his past.”
“Tim hiding things? Are you sure you have the right guy?” At this, the two started laughing uncontrollably. Regaining her breath, Steph began again, “Has he told you about the time that he thought he got me pregnant? All we’d done at this point was kiss! I also hadn’t told him I was trans yet, so he saw me throw up ONE MORNING and signed us up for classes. I ended up having to explain to him that hand holding did not in fact get me pregnant.”
Stifling a snicker, Bernard quips back, “This sounds like Timmy alright, he can rewire all the electronics in his apartment but still can’t figure out that he needs multiple sets of silverware–”
“‘Well I’m only one person, so why would I need more?’” Steph interrupted doing her worst Tim impression
“EXACTLY THAT!” Bernard cried out, afterwards anxiously looking around to see if anyone was staring (they were not), “He keeps inviting me over for dinner and having to scrounge up disposable utensils for me to eat with.”
Smirking, Steph replied, “I thought that with the Wayne money he’d go and buy at least a second fork so he could do less dishes.”
“You know Tim though, once he has something that works for him, he’s never going to change it,” Bernard began to smile and continued, “It’s part of his charm.”
“That it is, Cass can be somewhat similar when she gets in a mood, and honestly I get it,” Steph responded, her face reddening slightly upon thinking of her girlfriend. “But anyway, how much longer do we give Tim? I feel like it's been FOREVER.” At this, her leg started bouncing even more than normal while her eyes flitted from place to place.
“It’s only been 10 minutes since I showed up, which was 15 minutes after Tim said he would be here. He’s not even halfway to being an hour late,” Bernard replied; however, upon noticing Steph’s anxious fidgeting quickly added, “But if you want to get out of here then we can find a place to kill time,”
Already getting up and throwing her bag over her shoulder, Steph replied while speeding up the whole time, “Okay good, I need to get moving. Looking at the tracking app it seems like Tim isn’t far so I trusthecanfindusifwe–”
Trying to pack up and follow her, Bernard pleaded, “Steph, breathe. Please. I don’t want to have to carry you out of here”
As the blondes left the building, walking with laughter echoing through the streets, a black and yellow cape fluttered past with stifled curses about being late to something.