songbird

April showers usually didn’t bring May flowers in Star City. The showers continued on at the closing of Spring and straight on through the Summer. That morning, and for what felt like half the week, was a bit on the stormy side. No wonder Dinah didn’t want to get up. The bed was comfortable and her apartment was cozy. Still working at the diner made the dream of some day being a home owner a bit unreachable. Either way, it was home. One that their daughter was growing up in.

“Ooh. Would you listen to that?” It was pouring outside, making the rain sound like her complex was under a waterfall. Her own eyes were wide as she stared up at the ceiling for a second, before bringing her body to its side, facing him with a long leg thrown over his. “Don’t think for a second you’re charming me over,” she mumbled, smiling as she snuggled entirely against his side. He felt like a human pillow to her within that moment, using his arm to rest her head on as she nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder like a cat.

“Morning. Were you watching me sleep? Because that’s kinda creepy, Ollie.”

His puppy dog look faded into a big grin at her reaction to him.  She was cute whenever she got worked up over him, and now was definitely no exception.  Sure, it seemed weird.  Oliver Queen was never one to find an interest in girls–at least, not a serious interest.  Physically, sure, they were interesting as hell to him.  But, the idea of actually staying in for a night and not having any sort of physical activity?  It was absolutely unheard of.

At least, until now.  He blamed it entirely on Dinah and how she looked whenever she was happy, or in pain, or upset, or mad, or…. well, just about any sort of way, it seemed she was cute.  As she pouted, Oliver couldn’t help but keep the smile on his face as he leaned over to kiss her forehead.  “Of course we can stay in tonight, babe,” he agreed.  Then, his smile changed to one of feigned surprise.  “No studying?  Really?  Wow, Dinah, better be careful there.  You never know what saying that sort of thing just might do to me,” he teased.

She could never keep from blushing whenever he kissed her forehead. It made her feel warm and loved. Not that she was lacking those feelings with him, or back at home, but she couldn’t help the longing she felt for the peace that was settling within her whenever he held her this way.

At his jokingly sly comment, a snort escaped her, covering her mouth to suppress the laughter while turning over carefully to place her hands on his chest and chin on top of her hands. “Yeah? That kind of talk does it for you?” Unable to keep a straight face with that question, giggles overcame her once more, laying her head down on his chest until they subsided. Content for a little while as she hummed a soft tune.

“You know what I’m in the mood for? Food.” No surprise there, she usually was. In fact, he could always tell when something was wrong when she would claim to not be hungry. She looked up at him with pleading eyes, bringing a hand up to comb her fingers through his locks of hair. “Could you make us something?”

NO WAY was he getting out of taking her to their Senior Prom! Though, she could understand why he was worried about her well being. Competitive cheerleading had its moments of taking a toll on her body, especially during the cold months.

“You better hope not, mister. We only have one shot at this. Prom reenactments can’t exactly capture all of the, uh... required experience?” She giggled, making a face at her own confusing words to rest her case on her health. Her voice was sounding a little froggy. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a cup of warm tea with lemon and honey.

“This is something I’ve been looking forward to, Ollie. I mean, come on, do you think I wake up looking like a Princess?” She asked, smiling as she reached up to smooth out the front of his tux, gently gripping the fold. “Also? Brace yourself. My mom has been collecting every camera on the planet to capture this moment, so enjoy your 20/20 vision before it’s destroyed.”

He seemed to start off so positive.  She wouldn’t say no to free food almost sounded like she accepted his dinner invite, even though he wasn’t entirely sure he was actually offering that.  More just a quip that now seemed to make for an intriguing idea.  After all, the girl was pretty.  And a cheerleader.  No doubt she was flexible.  The cheerleaders at his school were pretty flexible, after all.  But they were all so boring and just got old after going out with them a few times.

Then again, the idea of a cop somehow being on his tail because of any sort of fraternizing with his daughter… definitely not the most appealing of options.  “Well, um, your dad did a great job,” Oliver tried.  Granted, his parents went to dozens of galas every few months and most of them they roped Oliver into going with them.  He couldn’t quite remember if he came with them to the one in Gotham or not.  Most of them tended to bleed one into the next.  “Ah, so you’re one of Bruce’s girls, then,” he said with a nod.  “Good to know.”

Still, despite everything telling Oliver it was probably a bad idea, he couldn’t help but be amused at the way she spoke, as well as the way she toyed at her uniform.  “You too, Dinah,” he started.  “Would you mind if I got your number?  You know, so that the next time we play you guys, you can tell me where your guys are waiting to jump us so we don’t have this sort of interaction again?”  He said, pointing to where she had wrapped him up.

You’re one of Bruce’s girls. Something about the way he worded it - she didn’t like it. Which was clear to see from how her nose scrunched with a light laugh, shaking her head in protest. “No, no. I’m not anyone’s girl.” It was bizarre to feel any sort of embarrassment attached to the statement, but first time for everything, right?

Sure, it was normal to become nervous over a cute guy, but this was completely new for her. Probably not new for him, and his confident demeaner made it apparent. “Umm,” she hesitated. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind, but...” Her parents would. Something she would use to her advantage whenever she found herself in a situation like this. 

“You have to promise not to text or call every hour.” She was teasing, of course. Also trying to save herself from sounding too Miss-Always-Does-What-She’s-Told. Whether he planned on actually using it, would be a whole other story to see.

Without wasting any time, she eagerly reached for her planner, not caring if it looked like a goat or a dog chewed off the corner of a page. Let alone, ruin the page entirely. She was also careful not to dot the I in ‘Dinah’ with a heart, like she normally did when signing notes, or other. “Here you go,” she smiled bright, trying her best to not have their hands touch when she handed over her neatly scribbled number.

“And, I was just teasing earlier. About promising to not text or call every hour,” she laughed, tucking a strand of hair that came loose from her ponytail. “You can use my number for anything. Any time. It doesn’t have to be for me to come to your rescue.”

Ooh, there was a dog joke waiting to be told at the tip of Dinah’s tongue. However, it was clear to see that Selina wasn’t having it at all. She got caught. Plain and simple as that. Only, it was not as simple. Nothing ever was in this town, or with Selina, for that matter.

“Would you rather be prosecuted then, Miss Kyle?”

The only one who was standing in Dinah’s way was the Batman. You see, she had been studying the on and off again lovers for some time. It was always the ones who kept to themselves that you sometimes needed to watch out for. 

“Look. I’m only trying to help. What you’re doing.. no matter the benefit - it’s still wrong.”

ALL of this was wrong. It wasn’t as though Dinah got off on this in any way. She had the better interest in mind for the citizens of Gotham. It was in her blood. Completely genetic. Her heart, however, it was always on the biased side of those she cared about.