live fast, die young

How long has it been? Time seemed to breeze by after Jason's death. Was there really such thing as getting over it? All she could do was move forward. How could she though when every corners of Gotham, it was all she could see---his face. For couple of years, he had been her partner. She could see his arrogant smirk, hear his laughter but most of all, the joy in his face doing what he loved to do, being Robin. Part of her blamed herself, she was supposed to be her partner, she and Batman. His death was hard on all of them. She figured, it was time to step back. Sure, she was still Batgirl on the side but she needed to have a life outside the vigilante life. Life is too short after all.

Going back to New York, taking a temporarily residence in Brooklyn to take her Master's degree at NYU, Barbara was reminded of another thing that was haunting her for the past few months.

Peter Parker.

Her friend---estranged one. Was she even still his friend? She didn't think she had the right to claim that. Being a terrible friend seemed to be a trend she was going for nowadays. How many times had wanted to fly to New York after Jason's death just to cry on his shoulder. But Peter has New York's safety on his shoulder to worry about.

That was something Peter totally adored about Barbara whenever she laugh at his joke and always seem to rarely complain about him being too immature or annoying for her. He was somehow like that back then when he was a teen and new being a superhero especially when he did that with his fellow Avengers but as he grew up, he realised and he’d only annoy those with his one-liners who are criminals, super-villains, basically the bad guys. He’ll always respect the boundary with his friends who most of them are superheroes and that include Barbara too. Though she was right that Batman can chill if he met his Aunt. “Yeah, good point though.” The boy smirked gently. Peter and Barbara made their way to the kitchen, then he gave a small gesture through his hand towards the table indicating for her to sit near the dinning table. There were four burgers, one for him and for his Aunt, the remaining two he thought to keep it as extra if in case one of them felt more hungry but also felt it could be little too much for them but it was good thing that Babs and that she was hungry as well, so atleast the food wasn’t going to get waste after all. Fourth one is questionable. He held the tray as the four burgers were already on it and was ready to eat and walking towards the table. Placing the tray on the table, he took a chair sitting opposite facing her and smiled warmly. “Well, here it is.” He offered as at the same time, he picked his and ate a small bite. “Just let me know in case if it doesn’t taste good for you and if the one from Gotham feels better for you.” He attempted to make another joke per say as he was trying to bring up conversation with a happy mood.

“Aunt May is a charmer. “   Much like Peter himself --- a thing Barbara think Peter didn’t really realize. It probably the thing about Peter that capture Barbara’s attention, a pull he exudes that made her gravitates towards him. It was too easy it felt natural.    “ And of course, I made a good point. That’s my thing remember? “     One would say she was a know-it-all but Barbara she’d like to think she was simply the bearer of facts.

When she asked him about how she got the time to visit, he couldn’t resist but to attempt to joke just to make her smile and feel happy because he is not only comfortable with her company but she has always seem to be appreciated his funny side but also made sure that he was being too cheesy or annoying for her as sometimes he feel he wasn’t the best with his sense of humor. “So, let me guess, Batman gave you a vacation and told you to chill.” He answered in a joking way. He was feeling bit lonely in a slight negative way but he was glad that Babs decided to meet him in person and he could always need some social interaction. “I’m good, thanks. Aunt is doing fine, she got nursing job and will be back after some hours but she’d be happy to see you though.” He answered her kindly as Barbara met his Aunt before sometime back. While they were brainstorming possible idea for his prototype. He was taking another look at his prototype just in case if he missed something while she was looking at her tablet to search for ideas and hoping that she may have something even if it is just a small idea. “You’re right, it makes sense, so something stronger than copper if I want super smooth webbing.” He responded and they were sort of discussing technical details. When she mentioned about Tony Stark, he chuckled a bit and the mention nano-tech surprised him. “Wow, how did you know about that?” He asked her with his eyes slightly widen but then he realised she must have hacked. “Ah, you were sneaking around Stark’s server, don’t you?” The boy attempted to tease her a bit out of fun and obviously it was clear to her, then continued talking about Tony when she asked why he asked her and not him. “Him being jerk?…Yeah, that’s one way to put it. Honestly, I felt like awkward about asking Tony a little often to help me with technical part, then I thought I might use someone else’s different perspective and idea, so you came in my mind.” He answered honestly with a warm smile. He suddenly realised that his burgers were ready, luckily he made an extra one and forgot to ask her if she was hungry as they were lost in talking about his web-shooters. “I forgot to ask, are you hungry?…I made burgers.” The boy asked as he scratched the back of his head with his right hand.

“Batman? Chill?” A heartfelt laugh escaped her lips as she repeated the words. Only Peter Parker could put the words ‘Batman’ and ‘chill’ in just one sentence. Only Peter can. Making Barbara laughed was too easy for Peter and that was why she loved being with his company. “Batman doesn’t even chill when he’s sleeping.” Telling her Dad that she was going to New York to visit Peter was actually way easier than telling Bruce. It sparked a little argument between the two masked vigilantes but Barbara didn’t need his permission in the first place and almost every argument she had with Barbara, she usually wins. Her break was given with a heavy heart but once Barbara set her mind on something, not even Bruce, the multi-billionaire by day and vigilante at night, could not stop her. “You know, if Aunt May would hang out with Batman, maybe then, he would actually find some chill.” Barbara concluded having an idea what his Aunt May was like. She was the definition of cool.

Before she continued poking on his prototype, she handed him her tablet. “Here. It’s not far from your design. I just added some parts that would make it more power but lighter at the same time. Take a look.” The gesture itself, her handing him her tablet, was saying a lot on how much she trusts Peter that even she was internally surprised. Only a few people she had allowed to touched her stuff, especially the one that was connected to the framework she was working on; only Tim and Bruce and not even Dick, who was her first love and one of her best friends, could access it. “Yes but not just that. It should help you increased the distance of the web you are shooting.” As he figured out what she had been doing, blood rushed on her cheeks, color visible against her pale skin. “You caught me. I couldn’t resist it but I was not able to dig that far. His technology is far more advance than what I have. You think he’s intimidating? I feel like if you will bat your lashes at him, he will give you what you want, mostly because no one could resist that face.” She teased, poking his cheek lightly with the tip of her pint finger before she continued dissecting the prototype.

He have his reasons of why he contacted Barbara and not Tony for his help with his web-shooters and he wouldn’t mind if she asked him or not about asking her for help. Her presence somehow made him feel happy deep down and it was little weird but rarely felt about it. Though, it was also surprising that she must have had long journey from Gotham to New York City probably just to meet him or if she had more plans here than just meeting him. “That I agree on…You do have lot of patience of coming here long away from your home!” He chuckled softly agreeing on the surprise part when she mentioned and closed the door after she entered, then as soon as he turned back, he got a quick hug which made him blush a bit but hugged her back. “Same here, Babs. Honestly, I do need a company, Aunt May’s at work for few more hours. So, how’s protecting Gotham going on and how is your dad?” He asked her kindly trying to keep a general conversation, though he just wanted how she was doing since it was a little while they haven’t seen each other until now. When she mentioned about his web-shooters, he nodded and walked with her towards his room where he always keep his web-shooter and his costume as a secret from his Aunt. “Yeah I am. In a way, it’s not really a rush for me to improve that prototype, for time being, I’m using my regular chip on it.” He was talking while they were walking towards his room. Opening the door, he indicated with his hand towards his study table about his web-shooter chip blueprint. “I created a rough blueprint, maybe if you can get ideas there.” His web-shooters was kept in his cupboard as he opened it and removed the box holding it with one hand, then closing that cupboard with the other. He kept it on the table and he pushed the other chair to her side for her to sit and he sat on his chair. Opening the box, his web-shooters were seen which was still on constructing phase and showed it to her. “Here it is!”

The tone of his voice suggested he was happy to see her, they were friends after all but Barbara tends to overthink and and she couldn’t simply shake off the fact that he might be finding it weird with her not being there but really making an effort to visit him. Trying to push the though away and concentrate on more pressing matter, she just soak in his delight and looked forward to make up the most of her time in New York. “Nothing much is really going on. How do you think I got time to visit?” She said to him grinning from ear to ear. “My dad is...you know, the usual.” That statement momentarily ripped the cheerfulness in her face as the worry she felt inside resurfaced. For weeks, she had been worried about her dad finding out she was Batgirl and though she was careful, her dad was the best in what he did. That moment of slipped off was quick and she quickly recovered, putting that smile on her face again. She was not there to talk about her problems. She was there to help Peter. “How about you? How are you and Aunt May?”

College life and superhero life of Peter both kept him busy, thankfully he was financially stable by working for Daily Bugle for long time, so he didn’t need to go for job anymore. A week ago, he helped the Avengers to take down Juggernaut and Hob Goblin who apparently teamed up to steal tech from Stark Industries, it was bit of a tough fight despite having the team but with few bruises they were defeated. Before he was called for help, some hours ago, he sent a file through email to Barbara as it was something regarding his web-shooter which got damaged with his own tech which was prototype. He was told that she would look into it as he was hoping if she had some ideas. They first met two years ago when he was tracking the Vulture all the way to Gotham City as he was stealing a possible tech, between that he met Batgirl. They almost didn’t recognised each other but he recognised her first from the news and was slightly nervous meeting her for first time as he was so use to being solo but eventually he got her help. It has been two days since he sent the file, although it was no rush since he was using his regular web-shooters for time. He was at his home making burger for him as he was bit hungry and right now his vacations was going on from college, that’s why he have some time free or bit more. There were no plans at the moment but he could use help how to spend the vacations. He gave final touch to three burgers and made them in case if Aunt May felt hungry as she got  job as a nurse. He made that third extra burger in case if one of them felt more hungry. A door bell rang and wondered if she had come early today. Coming out of the kitchen, he walked to the main door and opened it. His gaze went up to his good friend Barbara and was surprised to see her with eyes widen slightly as he did not expected her to meet him. “Babs!!!…Uh Hi!! What a surprise!!” He asked her in a surprising tone but in a kind manner with a smile on his face and opened the door wide enough for her to enter. “Come in. You didn’t gave me a hint or something through emails that you were coming.”

After all the trips she took in New York, Barbara didn’t think she would get used of the vibe it was giving off. It was such a busy city and no one stops for anyone. It was not organized chaos she would like but growing up in Gotham got her used of being weary of her surrounding as danger would pounce any given time. Not like New York was such a safe place to live in either. Looking out of the cab window, Barbara was kind of expecting a specific someone to sling by his web in his red and blue suit but then she remembered, he needed help with his web shooter. It was a wonder why he didn’t ask Tony Stark with it but she never gave had second thoughts about helping him. The information he was looking for was not really hard to look for and it was ready to be sent to him but she thought maybe she could visit him and of course, she had to personally check the web shooter. It was hitting two birds with one stone. It was efficient and Barbara likes to be efficient if anything.