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Duke tugged at the sleeves of his suit, not uncomfortable but it wasn't his go-to outfit either. He'd been wrangled into joining some of the others going to a charity gala event. It wasn't his first choice, but he didn't hate going. He had problems with the opulence but the donations generated from these sort of events made it somewhat a neutral issue. The desserts usually made it worth actually attending though.
"Ready to kick this shindig?" a familiar voice asked, grin audible.
Duke turned to see you sauntering up, also in formal wear. "I'm pretty sure that was an attempt at multiple idioms and yet none of that was correct."
"Meh." You waved him off, still grinning. "Looking snazzy," you complimented.
He snorted. "Thanks, you too."
"You ready for this?"
"That I can actually understand," he teased, making you roll your eyes. "Yeah, it'll be fine."
You raised an eyebrow at his less than stellar confidence and it was his turn to roll his eyes at you. "Well, we're in this together. Buddy system. Stick close together, we'll be fine. We can play up the whole 'deeply, utterly, pathetically in love with each other' and people will leave us alone."
He grimaced and you laughed. There'd been one too many parties where he'd been flirted with to want to go alone, so he started enlisting you, his best friend, as his fake date to avoid any such future encounters.
"Buddy system. Let's do this." He held out his hand.
You gasped, covering your mouth with your hand dramatically. "Oh you shouldn't. But if you insist," you said, continuing your theatrics and grabbing his hand, "I'm flattered, you know I adore holding hands."
He couldn't tamper down the smile that grew at knowing you had his back. He tugged you along. "Come on, partner."
You followed easily, squeezing his hand as you looked everywhere but where you were walking, trusting him to lead you right. "You do realize that you are making my dreams come true with this, right?"
His eyes flickered back to you for a second before looking forward again to make sure neither of you tripped on an upturned carpet corner or staircase. "The whole fake dating thing?"
"The whole fake dating thing! One of my favourite tropes and here we are! I get to flex at failing at the trope but succeeding at the actual goal!"
Duke laughed. "That is fun."
"C’mon, aren't you excited to be fooling all these people with our fake dating?"
He side-eyed you again, tapping your wrist twice to indicate you were going down stairs in a couple steps. You were grinning at him, giddily. He grinned back. "Yeah, fine, it's fun. As annoying as it is to feel like I have to," he added, grumbling.
"Amatanormativity," you scowled, nodding along to yourself, following him down the staircase.
"But plus ones mean I can always bring a friend along so," he glanced over at you, smile twitching on his lips, "it's not that bad."
"Well, I hope so, I'm trying very hard here to be a fantastic date," you joked.
"You're doing fabulous."
"Why, thank you. I live to keep annoying, flirtatious people away."
You were both giggling as you joined Dick, Tim, Bruce and Alfred in the entryway.
"Hey, Duke," Dick greeted him, then you, and complimented both your outfits.
Tim nodded and waved.
"When are we leaving?" Duke asked.
"Shortly," Bruce said. "And Dick's right, you both look lovely."
"Thanks, Bruce," Duke said, still awkward about compliments from his mentor-foster-parent-Batman-person.
"Just waiting on Miss Brown and Miss Cain," Alfred said in his calm voice.
"We're here!" Steph came cascading down the stairs, vibrant purple fabric swishing around her.
"Here," Cass echoed, wearing a lighter purple dress, descending at a slower pace but no less controlled, as strange as that may seem.
(Because Duke knew just how much control Steph had and it always impressed him. Especially in moments like these where she didn't just trip over her feet and come crashing down the stairs. Especially compared to the times when she didn't care to be an impressive force of contained control and hit every obstacle in her way. Every shin-high coffee table, every waist-height counter, every table leg that jumped in front of her feet! Duke appreciated her duality and was currently compiling evidence for a compilation video featuring moments of both extremes. Babs was helping.)
"You two look amazing," Dick said with a warm smile.
"You do," Bruce agreed.
"What they said, y’all look fantastic." You gave them double thumbs up.
"Thanks!" Steph said while Cass signed the same.
"Does anyone ever see Alfred leave anywhere? Or does he just teleport from one place to another?" Tim asked.
"Magic," you and Steph said at the same time.
"Magic," Duke agreed.
"It's Alfred," Dick said, and that was true. It was Alfred.
"Outside, everyone, Alfred should have the car outside shortly." Bruce ushered everyone out the doors and into the waiting vehicle.
You and Duke walked into the ballroom hand in hand, taking in the elegant space.
A high ceiling with tall arching windows on one side, bracketed by curtains that Duke guessed would be some fancy fabric. A couple doors spaced between the windows opened to the wide balcony above the garden he'd only gotten a peak at as they'd entered the building.
Across from the balcony side was an elegant bar serviced by black-tie-dressed waitstaff and beside that, a desserts table he couldn't wait to raid with you. On the opposite end from where they stood, just inside the main entrance (giant double doors with beautiful carved designs), was a small stage and podium, awaiting the inevitable speeches that would come later in the night.
"So, where to first?" you whispered, leaning in to him.
His eyes swept the hall, observing all the fancily dressed people, most standing around, glass of champagne in hand, gossiping or networking with each other. A few were in the center of the room dancing. He caught Tim shaking hands with someone he thought he remembered as a CEO of some company WE had dealings with, while Dick was chatting with someone Duke was pretty sure had an Olympic medal (how they got invited to a charity gala in Gotham of all places was beyond him, especially the fact that they accepted). Bruce was nowhere to be seen but that just meant he was probably in one of the crowds, shmoozing. Steph and Cass had likewise disappeared and he wasn't sure if that meant they slipped outside, into a closed off part of the building, or had climbed onto the roof.
You hovered next to him, swaying to the music and humming under your breath, eyes wandering across the same scene but he wondered what caught your eye instead.
He squeezed your hand and you glanced over. He grinned at you and you immediately knew what he was thinking.
"Dessert table," you said in sync.
You made your way over, splitting up to either end of the table to meet in the middle with all your favourites to occasionally share.
That's where horror struck.
Duke was minding his own business, perusing the dessert options and mulling over the sudden remembrance of a group project coming up in class, when a body appeared next to him.
It was fine at first, they seemed to be grabbing a tiny brownie from the table. But then they started speaking.
"I don't think I've seen you around here before, what's your name?"
Which would be a perfectly fine sentence to say except in multiple instances those words had led to flirting and Duke needing to wheedle himself out of various uncomfortable situations. But hey, maybe this time would be different! (Unlikely.)
He turned to the person with as sincere a smile as he could manage. "Duke, nice to meet you."
"That's a nice name. I'm Max. So, what brings you here?"
Alfred and the limo, he thought sarcastically. "Bruce Wayne." Telling the truth always had mixed results. Some would get a gleam in their eye and flirt like they hoped to get their name attached to the Wayne's if only for one day, others would take the association to pitch business ideas, some would back off immediately, and a rare few would rant about the unethicality of billionaires, which Duke wasn't arguing against, but it became a bit uncomfortable when they continued on about some Hunger Games-esque world domination plans.
"Oh, you're a Wayne kid?"
"Yup." Duke snuck a step back to grab what looked like a chocolate truffle.
"So you've lived in Gotham your whole life?"
"Yup."
"Well, hey, I'm pretty new in town, maybe you could show me around sometime?" Max had a nice smile but it wasn't enough to calm the grimace threatening to appear at the wariness that this was flirting.
"Darling, did you see they had the sugar cookies you like?" An arm leaned on his shoulder as you held your plate of sweets in front of him and pointed at the different treats with the arm on his shoulder. "And! They had these cream-filled thingies that I don't know if I've ever learned the name of, but Alfred made them that one time with Jason, I think? Anyways, they were fantastic so I got two so we can share. Oh, hi!" You finally pretended to notice the person in front of him as if you hadn't come over here for that specific reason. You introduced yourself, smiling, still leaning against Duke. "Who's this, sweetheart?"
"I'm Max." Max smiled, slightly stilted.
"Nice to meet you, Max. Hey, you seem familiar, aren't you with the-"
"Sorry, I gotta go."
You watched Max go with raised eyebrows. "Interesting."
"Interesting?" Duke snorted.
You glanced sideways at him, grinning. "Didn't let me finish, because I was gonna ask if Max was from the Johnson company. You know, the one helping with the reconstruction of the court house? Tim and I were talking and it came up and he showed me a picture which is how I recognized that face. Because that Max has lived here since a very young age. And if so, that line was a blatant attempt to spend time with you."
"Flirting," Duke said grimly.
"Flirting," you agreed. "Most likely flirting."
"Did you actually find those sugar cookies?" he asked, turning to face you fully.
You gasped dramatically. "I wouldn't lie about the sugar cookies. Brownies, cupcakes, the cream-filled things, sure, like they have these creampuff things but it wasn't Alfred and Jason that made them and also I don't think they're the same anyways. But your sugar cookies? I would never." You pointed it out on your plate. "Take it, 's for you."
He took it, smiling. "Thanks."
You smiled back. "My pleasure." You smile dropped and you looked at him seriously.
He looked at you, wide-eyed and a mouth full of sugar cookie.
"Duke. You know how much I treasure our friendship."
He nodded, chewing.
"And you."
He nodded again.
"But sweet Metropolis, flirting is so weird. Strange. I don't know how people do it. Regularly. Naturally. However! I will keep up my very good work scaring people off as long as they keep trying to flirt with you."
Duke chuckled. "Thanks. …Pal."
You crinkled your nose. "Mark me down as not a fan of that pet name."
"Noted," he grinned. "Let's go see if we can find Cass and Steph on the balcony and hide out for a bit."
"Sure, but I'm grabbing extra macarons if that's the case, otherwise Steph's gonna steal my chocolate. And there were those-"
"Butter tarts? For Cass? I got it." You grinned at each other.
"Your appointment's in two weeks, right?" Duke asked as the two of you swayed in a small circle to the slow waltzing music, other people dancing and spinning around you. Duke actually liked dancing, but the partner made all the difference, he didn't need someone flirting with him or feeling him up and he preferred when they didn't talk business gossip either. With you, he could dance as long as you could keep up.
You nodded. "Yup," you said, popping the 'p'.
A thought struck him. "Hey, you busy next week?"
You met his eye and raised an eyebrow. "Depends the date and time. Why?"
"Got my own appointment, wanna come with?" He raised an arm to spin you out and back in.
"Be your appointment buddy? Watch you get stabbed? Sounds fun," you teased. "When is it?"
"Thursday. 3pm. You don't have anything then, do you?"
You shook your head. "Nope, all free." You spun him around and he couldn't help the startled laugh that bubbled out.
"So you'll be my appointment buddy?"
"Sure. Get to watch you get stabbed? I'm in." You grinned.
Duke rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh. "I can be your appointment buddy too. I mean, pretty sure that's definitely what fake dates are for." He grinned back.
"Definitely." You squeezed his hand.
He squeezed back.