#detective reader

“Suck on this, Bryant.” 

Sammy barely had time to react before a pile of paperwork was thrown on his desk with the elegance of a herd of cows. The implication of the pile plus your voice meant that the stupid bet he had going on was going south and not in his favor at all. His hazel eyes traced up past the pile, up your dark purple blouse, and settled on the smug grin you decided to bless him with. He reached out and quickly thumbed through the stack. 

“What the hell is this, L/n?” he spat, even if he knew exactly what it was. 

Your hands glued themselves to your sides. “You know exactly what it is.” You leaned down a bit closer to meet his eyes. “But because you have seemed to forgotten, I’ll so graciously remind you.” 

With a saunter of your hips, you walked over to the bullpen’s whiteboard. The black Expo marker made a satisfying squeak and pop and squeal as you added another tally mark to your side of the board, giving you a head lead by two. You capped the marker before turning around with another grin. 

“Like I said: Suck on this, Bryant.” 

Sammy gave a disbelieving chuckle, head shaking behind his hand as something stirred in his gut. The bet between you and him had been going for a month, and it was eating him alive to the point he just wanted it all to be over. However, the winnings were too good to pass up. He’d been wanting to knock you down a couple of pegs, so, if he somehow had more arrests than you by tomorrow, you’d have to do the one thing that seemed to grate your nerves more than your notes getting out of their color-coded perfection: go on a date with him. 

Opposite of that, you had chosen your prize: his ex-wife’s 1967 Chevrolet Camero. Weird request to him, but the vintage car was one thing he’d won in the divorce that he actually wanted to keep since he was the one to put the downpayment on it. If you won that, he could kiss his sunset beach drives goodbye. 

Sammy’s fist curled around his pen while Nate laughed quietly into his hand in the desk. You were good—probably one of the best detectives the LAPD had, but Sammy would rather die than tell that to your face. Ever since you’d joined last year, the two of you had been at each other’s throats in a “friendly” competitive way. In the first few months, Sammy pretty much hated the way you sucked up to the captain with a sweet smile and extensively written paperwork that had everyone cooing and thanking you for making their lives easier all while you’d turn and send him a devilish smile his way when no one else was looking. 

It made him hot and bothered in a way that bothered him immensely. 

You, the newbie, the overachiever, had made him feel things that no other woman—not even his wife—had felt before. Your ways made him want to be a better detective. So, he just had to get up to your level. 

If you brought in a street gang, he needed to bring in two. If your paperwork was pristine, his had to be the neatest most organized paperwork the LAPD had ever seen. If you kissed ass to get your way, you best know that Sammy Bryant was about to kiss ass like no one had ever seen. 

Hence, the bet that he was about to lose. 

“You’re insufferable, you know that?” he muttered before leaning back into his seat, the leather creaking under his weight. 

Your smirk only widened, and for once, Sammy wished he could kiss it right off your face. 

“Oh,” you pouted at him, tone laced with a tease. “Don’t be like that, Bryant. Losing actually builds more character than winning!” 

His face pinched. “I don’t think that’s how it works.” 

“It a hundred percent does.” You crossed your arms, and Sammy had to rip his eyes away from the neckline of your blouse. “I’d just hand over the keys right now, ‘cause it looks like I’ve got this in the bag.” 

Sammy eyed the whiteboard with faux wonder. “How many am I down by?” 

“A measly two. Honestly, you insult me, Bryant. You’re this close with less than two hours left in the shift, and you’re just sitting here on your ass.” You glanced toward the clock mounted above the pen, letting your gaze linger there for a second to make sure he followed to see how long he had left. 

Sammy let out a long, suffering sigh. “You counting chickens in that thick skull?” 

You tisked at him. “Bryant, sweetheart, my chickens are already hatched and on their way to college by now. They, like me, are positively thriving.” 

“Fuck, I hate when you get like this,” he groaned. 

“Like what? When I’m right, and you aren’t? Pretty much every day of your life, right?” 

That earned you a few giggled from the detectives that seemed more into this bet than either you or Sammy were. All of the female detectives had already asked to take a ride in the car when you won, because in their mind, there really was no competition. 

“No,” Sammy almost whined. “I mean when you’re smug. It’s not a very becoming look on you, detective.” 

“Well, detective,” you sent back his way, “I happen to look my best when I’m winning. And if that means smugness comes with it, then I’m fucking hot right now.” 

The look he sent you should have burned a hole straight through your forehead, but all it did was make your heart flutter. Because in just the same way you didn’t know you made Sammy feel things, Sammy Bryant had your heart from the moment you stepped foot into the precinct. Back then, he’d been married, and all your hopes and dreams had been crushed. However, the day he walked through without that metal band around his ring finger, you swear the sky had literally opened up with angels singing. 

Unfortunately, you’d been too deep in the back and forth that at this point, you believed he hated you, that him asking you out on a date would be the most humiliating thing on the planet simply because Sammy Bryant could never be interested in you. 

You tapped the marker thoughtfully against your chin. “You know, I’ve actually been looking at custom license plates.” 

Sammy’s head snapped up so quickly it was a wonder he didn’t pull a muscle. “No.” 

Your tongue ran across your bottom lip. “Oh, yes.” 

“No.” 

Your head tilted. “I was thinking something that screams that I’m the best detective this side of California.” 

“You don’t even own the damn car yet,” he sneered, though there really wasn’t any heat behind it. 

“Yet, Bryant. But in exactly—” You pushed out your hand, so that your watch flashed brilliantly in the lighting. “One hour and forty-five minutes, I will be the new owner of your car. How does BY3 SAM sound? I think I’m digging that one.” 

This time, Nate actually snorted. Sammy turned to his partner with a glare that could send the man six feet under if he could. There was absolutely no way he was going to let you drive off in that car if he had anything to do with it. He sat in his chair, eyes never wavering from your figure as you stalked back toward your desk. 

“You think you’re funny,” he muttered loud enough for you to hear. 

You looked up with a smile. “I think I’m actually fucking hilarious.” 

When you turned toward Lydia, Sammy took a moment to look back up at the clock. Six-thirty; the time had the corner of his mouth tugging up instead of down. Remember, no matter how high you stepped or how low you stooped, he was always doing the same. The moment you turned back to face him, your stomach dropped at the sight of his small minuscule smirk. If there was anything you knew for certain about Sammy, it was that he didn’t smile when he was losing. 

Sammy didn’t smile when going through his divorce. 

Sammy didn’t smile after arresting the kid he was trying to help. 

Sammy didn’t smile when you took the moment to make sure that he knew you were better. 

But now, with almost an hour left of the bet, he was smirking like he knew how this would end. You hated seeing it and the feeling had you curling in on yourself. Your chair squeaked when you turned his way. 

“What?” 

Sammy hummed before shaking his head. “Nothing.” 

“No; not nothing,” you imitated his deeper voice. “Bryant, what the hell is that look on your face?”

He shrugged and leaned back into his chair, now looking far too relaxed for a man who should have been preparing his five-paper long farewell speech to a beloved vintage car. It had been a cheap shot when you’d first asked for it, and you didn’t even think he would agree at first before he begrudgingly shook your hand. When he agreed, you thought you had this in the bag. Now you weren’t so sure as you were almost an hour ago. 

Suddenly, his smirk grew almost ten times larger. “L/n, do you ever get a feeling like something good’s about to happen?”

You narrowed your eyes. “What the hell are you going on about? You’re acting weird.”

He looked up at the clock and held up a wide-spread hand before tucking in his thumb. A strange tension settled over you to the point it became too impossible to ignore. For a second, your confidence wavered, and it was enough to make you glance toward the entrance. Sammy tucked his pinky under his thumb, and your brows furrowed at the movement. 

“Bryant? What are you doing?” 

His ring finger joined his pinky, and his grin widened. Somewhere in the depth of your mind, a warning bell began to ring loudly. 

“Bryant?” 

His middle went down, leaving only his pointer raised toward the sky. It was only when that one went down too that the bullpen doors burst open so hard they slammed against the wall. You turned so hard your hand whipped your cheeks after you settled. Your eyes widened as a flood of uniforms poured inside at once, escorting suspects in handcuffs, carrying filled-to-the-brim duffels, and shouting over one another as they navigated past your desk like some kind of horrific conga line right out of your worst nightmare. 

“Twenty-three arrests from a gang task force operation. All of them had multiple felony warrants and so happened to have lots of evidence,” one of them announced.

Your smile was wiped off the planet. 

And standing in the middle of the surging bullpen motion, was Sammy Bryant, smirking like a man who had just personally witnessed divine intervention. You knew it was over. The division that these gang members had come from were under Sammy’s belt and not yours. Each one was an added tally to his side, which he seemed to know since he was now stalking toward you, eyes lidded like he’d just bitten into the most decedent cake he’d ever tasted. He only stopped a breath away from you, smirk so sultry that it could make the strongest woman swoon (you included). Not breaking eye contact, he took the marker from your grip and drew twenty-three shaky lines on his side of the betting board. 

He leaned in close and whispered, “I think I just won.” 

You were now full-on glaring. “This is cheating,” you hissed. 

“You made the rules, sweetheart.” 

“Fuck the rules.” 

“Awwwww, but you loved the rules thirty minutes ago.” 

Somehow, your glare deepened. “They weren’t actively ruining my life thirty minutes ago now, were they?” 

For one moment, time stopped between the two of you. The next, the department also seemed to stop as the bet finally ended the clock hit 7 pm. Then, to your absolute horror (or right out of your favorite dreams), Sammy threw an arm around your shoulders and tugged you into his side. 

“Attention, everyone!” he called out while you buried your face in your hands. “As you all know, mine and Detective L/n’s bet is officially over, which means that yours truly will be taking this one out on the date of her life!” 

Your ears burned at the hoots and hollers that sounded out and echoed through the room. 

“You didn’t even ask me out correctly,” you grumbled. 

Sammy gasped loudly and placed his unoccupied hand over his chest. “The horror. How could I?” 

To even further your embarrassment, Sammy rounded to your front and took both your hands. This time, you actually had to look him in the eyes while he spoke. 

“Would you do me the honors of going out with me on a date this Friday, detective?” 

You pursed your lips before nodding slightly. “Fine, Bryant.” You all but ripped your hands out of his and walked away. “But you better be on time!” you shouted over your shoulder. “And in the Camero!” 

_______________________

Sammy had expected you to act like you hated every moment of the time spent with him on Friday evening. He expected you to stay in your work clothes, give him snippy conversation, and threaten him to never speak of the whole ordeal ever again after he dropped you off. 

However, to his surprise, you walked out of your house in a dress that hugged your figure so well that Sammy had to shift his pants just a bit as you got closer. He was now thankful he’d chosen to change out of his work suit and throw on something that hadn’t been worn around a dead body or sweated in while chasing a suspect. Your makeup had even been done different; the eyeshadow was darker, your eyeliner pointier. During the job, he noticed you kept things on the more subtle side, but if this is how you showed up for a date that shouldn’t matter, he honestly never wanted you to go out with any guy other than him ever again. 

He at least headed your warning and opened the passenger door for the Camero. Sammy tried to swallow his smirk when you grumbled a small thank you before slipping into the seat. The second the door shut, however, you tried your hardest not to sneer at him. 

“Don’t get used to that, Bryant. I’m still pissed at you.” 

“Used to what, sweetheart?” 

“My endless gratitude, sweetheart.” 

Sammy chuckled as he started the engine before pulling out onto your street road. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” 

You let the purr of the car fill the silence that settled after he turned onto the main street. For the first time since the start of the bet, this was the first time the two of you had been alone without your coworkers to act as a buffer. It was just you and the man you’d been silently pining after while actively covering any whiff of emotion toward him with careless teasing and sharp biting. Somehow it was more nerve-wracking than chasing armed suspects. 

To fill the quiet, you reached for the radio, only to have Sammy lightly smack the top of your hand. You pulled your hand back to your chest with a dropped jaw. 

“Um, ow? What the fuck, Bryant?” 

He didn’t even take his eyes off the road when he answered. “I know exactly what kind of music you like, and I cannot be hearing that shit right now.” 

You crossed your arms, strategically pushing your chest together in attempts to distract him. “Oh, yeah? What kind of music do I listen to, asshole?” 

“That sad-girl pop music that teen girls listen to whenever they’re going through their third breakup of the month.” 

You scoffed loudly. “Be aware that you just insulted me and my entire future lineage.”

Sammy laughed loudly, the sound hitting you square in the chest. Because underneath it all, you were wishing that this could have been under normal circumstances, that he had asked you out without having to make a whole bet about it. Not wanting to let him in with a softness of your features, you turned toward the window and gazed at the passing blurred city lights. 

“You look beautiful, by the way,” Sammy said after a moment. 

Your eyes widened, but you didn’t make a motion to look back at him. “Careful, Bryant. I might start thinking that you actually mean what you say.” 

Sammy huffed. “Would that be so bad?” 

“Don’t make it weird.” 

“I’m not making it weird.” 

Your head lolled along the headrest so that you could face him. “You just said that I look nice. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head on the way here?” 

“I’m sure. Just thought you’d like the compliment, jeez.” 

Without thinking, you let your eyes linger on his side profile and trail his sharpened jawline. Everyone noticed that he had dropped weight soon after the divorce. Whether it had been not enough time to actually cook meals after getting home or type of self-improvement one wants after a big chance, Sammy slimmed down to the point he didn’t look like an I’ll-make-sure-your-daughter-get-home-safely-sir man anymore and more of a your-daughter-calls-me-daddy-too stud. Where married Sammy was handsome and puffy, single Sammy was about to be eaten by badge bunnies. 

You made yourself believe that was no room for you anywhere. 

The car dived back into silence for a moment before both yours and Sammy’s phones rang loudly. You rolled your eyes as you answered. 

“This is L/n.” You listened carefully before cursing loudly. “Shit. Fine. Fucking whatever.” You hung up and sighed. “Change of plans. Sal wants us on that Ramirez stakeout tonight.” 

Sammy slammed a palm on the wheel before yanking it in the opposite direction of the restaurant. “Guess this just means you still owe me a date, L/n.” 

“In your dreams, Bryant.” 

Twenty minutes later, the two of you were parked half a block away from a run-down apartment building watching a suspected drug runner’s front entrance. The glamor of the evening had long been evaporated back into the atmosphere. Your pointer finger picked at one of the sequins on your hemline as you kept your eyes on the door. Thankfully, your heels had been kicked off the moment Sammy parked. Likewise, his jacket was now draped across the backseat. 

When nothing happened for the next handful of minutes, you leaned back into the seat. “You know, as far as first dates have gone, this somehow isn’t the worst one I’ve been on.” 

Sammy lowered his pair of binoculars to glance over at you. “Somehow I highly doubt that.” 

“Believe me. Boys are stupid,” you muttered. “One time, one of them thought I was lying about being a detective, so I called in his name and apparently, he had a warrant out. I arrested him in the middle of dinner.” 

“Seriously?” Sammy chuckled. 

“Seriously,” you echoed warmly. “I don’t have the best luck with dates. I think this—on technicality—is my first date in almost a year.” 

“Again, I highly doubt that.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

He took another glance at you before bringing the binoculars back up. “I mean, with the way you look, there must be a gaggle of guys trying to take you out.” 

The sequin caught in your nail. “The way I look?” 

You were totally egging him on, but for once since meeting Sammy, you wanted to press, wanted to get him to actually look at you without a look of distain on his face. 

“I was being honest when I said you looked beautiful.” 

Your bottom lip caught between your teeth. “You’re not supposed to hand out compliments to people you hate, Bryant. It gets oddly confusing.” 

Sammy froze for a moment before fully turning toward you. “I don’t hate you.” 

You scoffed. “Sure. Whatever you say.” 

“No?” Sammy’s confusion was clear as day on his face. “I don’t. If anything, I respect the hell out of you. Do you irritate me sometimes? Yes. But I have never once hated you, Y/n.” 

It was your turn to freeze as you stared into his hazel eyes. “But—but every time I bring in a suspect or—or turn in paperwork, you look at me like I pissed in your cheerios!”

“That’s because it’s easier for me to pretend sometimes because the truth I want could never come true.” 

You shook your head. “No, Bryant, you don’t get to spout off this proverb bullshit at me because—what?—you can’t just tell me the truth.” 

He looked back toward the house. “I am not doing this here.” 

A groan of frustration pulled from your chest. “Yes, you are doing this here. Don’t test me, Bryant, I will literally get out of this car and walk home because you can’t man up and—” 

The sentence died instantly when Sammy’s lips pressed against yours. He dropped the binoculars in his lap to allow his big hands to carefully cup your cheeks and hold you steady. With nowhere else to go, you melted against him, lips finally moving against his in reciprocation. Your hands grasped at his sides, and if it wasn’t for the center consol, you would have swung a leg over his lap. When oxygen became too much, you pulled away from his lips, chest heaving in heavy pants to the point he could feel your hot air against his lips. The feeling made him want to pull you right back in. 

Months of bickering, competing, teasing, and pretending to loathe each other more than Elphaba and Galinda in the first act of Wicked all melted away into something desperate, something that made your fingers itch to pull him against you. 

Sammy pressed his forehead against yours. “Does that make you believe me now?” 

You hummed in response. “This doesn’t mean that you’re on my good side, Sammy.” 

He smirked once before leaning back in for a small peck. “I’ll get on your good side soon enough, sweetheart. Might even one day get my own color-coded section in your folder all to myself.” 

“It’s not color coded. It’s alphabetized.” 

“Of course it is.” 

He’s not cold, in fact he’s rather friendly. However, when you really consider it, he volunteered very little information on his personal life. Reasonable, you suppose. So long as he has your back in the field and gets his reports done, you don’t need to be best friends.

Your new partner Grayson is a recent Gotham transplant. You’d never personally been, but you weren’t oblivious to how utterly mad the city was. You could hardly blame him for getting out.

Your new partner Grayson, tenses up whenever someone mentions the Batman, or any of the nutcases he fights. You don’t pry.

You do your own research.

Your new partner Grayson watched his parents die. He’d been taken in by Gotham’s favourite son, a man he seemed reluctant to speak of. He’d had, and lost a brother, to the most deranged man Gotham, if not the world, had ever known.

You stop mentioning Gotham around him after that.

Your new partner Grayson is a weird guy, who seems constantly surprised whenever you demonstrate competency.

At first you’d suspected sexism. It wouldn’t have been your first partner to have that failing.

After a few days though, you catch him being equally surprised when officer Jackson makes a connection on a string of breaking and entries, and realise that perhaps he’s just not used to the cops not being utterly reliant on a very scary angsty furry and a small child without pants.

Your new partner, Grayson, is a weird guy, who disappears sometimes. Middle of a chase he’ll be gone, and you won’t see him again for sometimes as long as hours, before he’s back. More often than not, somehow through some insane luck, the perp will have been taken down by Bludhaven’s new vigilante, and tied to a lamppost for you to find. You both hated and envied his luck.

Your new partner Grayson was a weird guy… and he was a damn good cop.

He made connections like no one else. It was like he had some sort of sixth sense. You’d asked him once, about how he seemed to know all he did. How he seemed to have access to a whole other database of clues you just couldn’t see.

And he’d smiled that cheeky smile of his, and told you he’d been consulting an oracle.

Your new partner, Grayson, moves like nothing you’ve ever seen.

You’d initially attributed it to his past as an acrobat. The way he could simply parkour over and around anything in his way, run faster then he had any right to, chase down a perp like a bloodhound.

It was more than that though. You’d say without hesitation that if you were in a firefight, he’s who you’d want at your side. You must’ve owed him your life three times over by now. Even in those situations though, when no one would have blamed him for the use of lethal force, he never had.

You’d been pinned down by a smuggling ring. You, Grayson, and ten of them - all armed to the teeth.

He’d been incredible. Superhuman, almost.

Someone had shot out the lights. He’d told you one of the smugglers must have missed. You’d never once believed him.

Ten smugglers. You’d managed to knock out and cuff one, unwilling to risk taking a shot blind.

The other nine? Those had been your partner. He had them unconscious in a heap by the time your eyes had adjusted.

No bullet wounds. He’d done it hand to hand.

You didn’t know exactly what he was hiding, but you knew he was hiding something. You decided not to call him out on it. Not as long as you trusted that whatever he was using his … inexplicable skills for was good.

And trust you did.

Grayson was a good man. Even knowing little about him

Which was why this betrayal hurt so badly.

“Say again?”

You’d sat in relative silence in an unmarked police car for about half an hour on a stakeout, and Richard Grayson had just said the worst sentence you’d ever heard. You’d never been so utterly horrified.

“Peeps popcorn.” He says, holding up the tupperware containing an atrocious biohazard, grinning from ear to ear.

“One more time please?” you fight to keep up your faked anger, but fail in the face of that fucking smile.

Honestly, it should be some sort of crime to smile like that. Like everything would work out in the end, so long as you could keep him smiling at you.

“Peeps. Popcorn.” He says it a third time. He’s trying and failing not to laugh at her, at the way her mouth twists and flails to maintain a frown.

He was tempted to tell her it was in vain. He’d broken Batman, and he’d make her smile too.

Honestly, she had such a pretty smile. Not that he’d say that, she was his partner, and they needed to keep things professional.

“It’s my turn to provide stakeout snacks, and so,” he lifts the lid of the peeps popcorn balls.

“Peeps popcorn.”

She rolls her eyes, and looks out the window of the passenger side. But she’s smiling. “It is one of life’s great injustices,” she huffs “that you can eat like that and maintain your… impressive physique.”

Dick feels his chest puff out a little. While he had been able to tell all along that she had a crush on him, but he’d never risk acting on it. Still, it felt nice to be complemented by her.

“Seriously, do you clock off and just do the ninja warrior course all night or something?” She muses, her head against the window, looking at him out of the side of her eye.

“Not exactly,” he replies, sitting back in his seat, bringing his foot up onto the cushion. “Try one.” he presses, poking her side with the container.

She takes one, rolling her eyes and nibbles at the neon cluster of popcorn.

“No. no.” she gags, “oh that's nasty. Oh, it's so sweet. Why? Why Grayson. Why would you do this to me?” she asks, setting the sticky concoction on the divider between their seats.

Dick just laughs “I am determined to make you a peeps convert.”

“Never, regular marshmallows are fine.”

“Peeps are rainbow.”

“How old are you?”

“There is no age too old to enjoy whimsy, Detective.” he responds, biting into his own.

“Besides, are you implying that rainbow marshmallows are irregular? In this day and age? Tut tut.”

“We are not making me out to be a homophobe over peeps!” she protests, still laughing, slightly taken aback at the audacity.

“If you say so.” he says, stretching his arms over his head and into the backseat. Stakeouts were terrible. He was not built to sit still in a confined space for hours at a time. However, this one provided a useful opportunity he cannot afford to waste.

Not to torment her with his war of attrition for peeps supremacy - though that was fun.

He needed to be sure of something else.

“Well. You being wrong about peeps aside. I … wanted to check back on a file from a few months ago. You uh… you didn’t move the Holt murder file, did you?”

“Holt.” she clicks her tongue in thought “the guy with…” she gestures to her chest.

“That's the guy.”

“Not knowingly. I haven’t had cause to reopen it. No new leads. I tried to track down the kid… He didn’t want a bar for me. Guess I can’t blame him. I offered the help I could… but well… the last time someone helped him his dad got brutally murdered. He’s staying in the tent city by the docks, best I can figure.” She seems to feel guilty as soon as she says it, but Dick doesn’t blame her.

He had paid for that room. If he hadn’t… who knows what might have happened?

“But if someone moved it?” he prompts, not wanting to dwell on that gnawing guilt.

“Wasn’t me.”

Your new partner, Grayson, was a weird guy who ate strange and terrible foods.

He blames himself for what happened to poor Mr Holt. Because he was good to the core, and somehow that had led to something utterly twisted.

He’s also standing on your balcony. On the 20th floor.

And it all makes sense now.

Your apartment isn’t particularly nice. It was small, and frequently disorganised. Especially when you got overly invested in a case.

You’d been texted many gifs of the conspiracy board meme by friends over the years.

Work life balance? Not something you’d ever seen much value in.

And now, your unfairly attractive new partner Grayson was in your apartment, in full vigilante getup.

You need to find a way to be normal about that in ten seconds or less, because he’s staring at you, and you're staring at him, and it's starting to get awkward.

“Hello.” you eek out.

He greets you as Detective, followed by your first and last name.

Unusually formal, for him. Unless… unless he somehow thinks a few inches of fabric in the shape of a wingding is going to fool you.

Unless he thinks he’s got you hoodwinked.

“Nightwing… to what do I owe the pleasure?”

He leans in the doorframe, his hands braced against its top, so he is leaning into your space without touching you, and giving you plenty of ability to step back if you so chose. You don’t.

“I have reason to suspect there’s a serial killer moving though Bludhaven. And that whoever they are, they have someone in your precinct on the payroll.”

You fold your arms, bristling.

“Not sure I appreciate the accusation.” Sure, the bludhaven police department was ridiculously corrupted. But you’d hope that your partner would have at least the trust in you not to think you’d help a serial killer.

“No accusation.” he reassures “a request for help. I need someone I can trust inside the department. And my source says that’s you, sherlock.”

His source? Was he kidding?

No. No he wasn’t.

Oh this was madness.

This was hysterical.

He really, truly thinks that you can’t know him outside of his streetwear. And he’s trying to pass it off like he doesn’t know himself either.

Perhaps you should tell him you know.

But… Grayson and his peeps tomfoolery isn’t the only one who can have fun.

“So… you’re asking me to… what, exactly?” You prompt, unfolding your arms, willing to give him a chance.

Nightwing offers you a smile. It’s slightly different from Richard Graysons.

It’s just as sunny, and it makes you feel just as warm and fuzzy and giggly inside. You have to fight even harder to stop yourself blushing, given how much less this getup leaves to the imagination then his usual dress pants, shirt and tie.

But it’s a little more … brazzen. Flirtatious. More… cocky. Sure, He was always at least a bit of a show off, but as nightwing? He was one of the most capable, incredible people alive, and he wasn’t shy about it.

Oh, you were doomed. But that was a problem for later.

“I’m asking you to keep an eye on the ‘heartless’ case. Holt… he’s not the only one and I think there’s going to be more. And, to be blunt?”

He stands up straight, and puts an arm on your shoulder.

“It’s a big request. But you might be the only person in that station who I have real confidence in.”

You wonder what that says about his relationship with himself, but like so many things with Richard, you don’t ask.

“I can do that.”

“And I understand that it’s dange— I’m sorry, did you just agree?” he cuts himself off, staring at you.

You laugh then, just the once.

You owed him your life many times over as his partner. But as nightwing?

Since he’d come on the scene, you’d actually felt like something mattered. Like change could happen.

Like someone was willing to help the people of Bludhaven not to reap a profit, but because the system you’d once hoped to help restore was broken at its very core, and restoration wasn’t the solution - reformation and fundamental change was. And you didn’t know how to do that.

But then Nightwing had come onto the scene, and started kicking the asses of the worst of the worst, and you had felt like you had when you’d joined the force, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and determined to make a difference.

Before the incident. And every other day, when you’d felt that optimism slowly being crushed to death, into a fine powder and blown away in the wind.

“Yeah.” you say, and agreeing to help is one of the best feelings in the world. You get to help. To make a real difference.

“Bludhaven owes you a hell of a lot, Nightwing… seems like the least I can do is tell you if anything weird comes up.”

“Right. Thank you.” he clearly wasn’t expecting this. Maybe he’d thought it would be a harder sell.

“If I do… have anything for you, how should I alert you?”

He passes you a wingding. “Put this in your window. I’ll check in every few days.”

You raise an eyebrow “all your fancy tech and you don’t have a phone”

He shrugs “phones are traceable. Plausibly just something you picked up on a case as a trinket that you ‘forgot’ to log in evidence left on a windowsill? Lot harder to trace.”

“Fair.” you acknowledge.

“Besides.” he steps backwards onto your balcony once more “your place is on one of my main patrol routes. Can’t let anything happen to the best looking detective Blud’s got.”

You scoff, without any real offence. You know he’s only playing, and that he does, as Richard, respect your intellect more then your appearance - but you suppose as ‘nightwing’ he doesn’t know you that well.

“I think you mean best detective full stop.” you respond, and he gives a small bow of playful deference.

“But of course, sherlock.”

And then he’s gone.

That night, you don’t sleep.

You felt so stupid. He’s nightwing. He’s been nightwing the whole time.

The skills. The disappearing. The way he seemed to just… know things.

The way he tensed whenever someone mentioned Gotham.

… the timing of Robin reportedly becoming a child again.

Had your new partner, Grayson, been Robin?

Had he been using the Batman's archives to solve cases? Was that his so called oracle?

… wait.

Was Bruce Wayne the FUCKING BATMAN?

You screamed into your pillow. You were laying awake, face down in your bed, because now you had realised far too many things in one night.

The first: Your new partner is Nightwing.

The second: Bruce Wayne might be Batman.

The third: you, enchanted by that fucking perfect smile, had agreed to help track down a serial killer stealing hearts.

The fourth: Your new partner, Richard Grayson, between his stupid snacks, the Alfred Pennyworth foundation he’s been working to get off the ground, and his work as Nightwing, will save Bludhaven, you know it to your core.

And the fifth. The worst, and scariest part of your night: You may very well have fallen in love with him.

Chapter two Chapter three

If you read this far, reblog?

Divider credit: @strangergraphics

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@sunnie-angel

@stormz369

You’ll always somehow he assigned his cases, and maybe maybe not he matches his crimes to your expertise.

In such situations, work goes like this. You cuss out The Butcher in the name of the case, swear you’ll live off coffee and track him down, “where ever he is”, then come back to your boyfriend while he watched it all happen.

He loves playing that game with you.

Cat and mouse, you trying to catch him, so close to finding out how he did it, and then redirecting off your boyfriend and revealing the crimes of the person he’s murdered. He doesn’t get caught by the detectives because you are the detectives.

Sends messages in a cipher so hard he only explains to you at home. “Try a little harder to catch me, loser.”

You feign annoyance but there’s just something so intimate about this little L x Light-esque thing you’ve got going on.

“Try and catch me, baby.” “You bet butcher.” That’s how you greet each other via ciphers.

He ENCOURAGES YOU to talk about him like he’s Lucifer himself to your coworkers.

Funny enough sometimes when you vent about work you’re basically venting to him about him.

“And then the fucking Butcher ruined it all with that damn untraceable human heart. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CATCH HIM NOW.” “He must be an asshole huh.”

Indirectly begs you to get him knighted as “The Antichrist” instead, obviously you don’t oblige.

Rivals, enemies, AND lovers.

You catch him looking up new ciphers and tricks to make your “case” harder for you, meanwhile you were up doing the same thing.

Oh but if you ever vent about someone ELSE’S case pissing you off? He wants to see you work it out for your own but if it goes heavy on his darling’s mind, he just kills them.

Whenever he’s out for too long at night, you know there’s gonna be an extra case coming.

You try stufflimg laughter when you see inside jokes made in the crime scene.

The low request came almost unnoticed by you, making you take a step back and look carefully at the ball of blankets on the couch.

Hidden there, under a couple layers of cozy blankets, a small Tara appeared with a red nose.

You smiled softly at the adorable view in front of you.

“I can’t, babe, I have some reports to look at, and it’s getting late.”

She pouted, looking at you with doe eyes that never failed, wide, soft with shining little stars dancing in the brown as she looks at you.

“Please? Just until I fall asleep.”

How could you say no to that?

You fold in the same second, forgetting that you have long pile of files to look at, carefully placing your mug filled with hot coffee on the side table, you took off your slippers and slid under the thick fabric, opening your arms towards the younger one.

Like she always does, Tara threw her legs over yours and hugged your torso, resting her head on your shoulder.

“You know…” you started, pulling her closer to you. “You wouldn’t feel cold if you wore more than just underwear and a tank top.”

“I don’t need to wear clothes; I have you to keep me warm,” Tara said back, looking at you with soft, sleepy eyes.

You smiled fondly, caressing her thigh with your hand. Leaning forward, you placed a kiss on her forehead, admiring the way the corner of her lips slightly tugged up, eyes closed and tip of nose red, the freckles spread on her face like stars in the dark night; Tara was a work of art.

“I love you so much, did you know that?” You whispered close to her lips.

She wrinkled her nose, “I know, but I don’t mind hearing you saying again, and again…”

Stopping her rambling, you pressed your lips on hers, sighing with such familiar taste of cherry of her lip balm. Tara was all soft, and when she was like this, calm and patient under your touch, it made your heart race.

When you first met her, during a rainy night at the police station, the girl could barely sustain your eyes, always avoiding them and fixating on somewhere or something else, like on her older sister, Sam. She came in because some idiots from a frat house were harassing her and her sister following the events from last year. You didn’t know much about the Carpenter’s sister, it was only your first month as a detective in New York, only heard rumors and whispers about it.

You ignored the others eyes on her, taking off your jacket to cover the small body that was trembling, being closely watched by the older Carpenter. Carefully, you placed the brown leather jacket around her shoulders, taking a couple steps back once you did, giving her a safe space.

Tara went home with your jacket that night, and when she brought it back, leaving it at the front desk, 5 days later, a small note was inside the pocket, written in a delicate handwriting, a small “thank you :)”. You smiled, keeping the note inside and going back to work.

The precinct was a place filled with gossips, theories and lies made up to creep you out. Your colleagues — if you could call them that — weren’t the most delightful people to be around, as most of them were men, you felt misplaced, an outcast, even thought you were on a higher level than them, mere police officers with a giant ego. Respect was a word that, apparently, wasn’t taught to them during life. You could count on your fingers the ones that were truly a nice officer and decent human being.

As the days went by, more talking took over the place, annoying ones that always got your rolling your eyes and ignoring them, the Carpenter sister’s being the subject of it 90% of the time, it’s like the big apple only had two young girls living in it and they were the reason to all the chaos that perpetuate in New York.

One day, late at night, you were finishing some reports to call it a day when a familiar voice caught your attention, the short blonde hair and leather jacket automatically bringing a smile on your face. You closed your computer and stood up, grabbing the brown leather jacket from the chair’s back and tossed over your shoulder.

“You’re too loud, did you know that, agent Reed?”

The woman turned around the same second your known perfume filled the room, a big smile tugging on her lips. She waited for you to get closer, annoyingly punching your arm as a form to say ‘hi’. Standing in front of her, the younger Carpenter was awkwardly looking at you, curiosity in her eyes as she watched you and your old friend interact.

You didn’t notice, but Tara was carefully watching you, the way your eyes light up whenever Kirby said something that happened while you were away from each other, crazy stories like the one where she almost got killed, again, a couple months ago. Funny ones, like when a common friend of yours got scared during a mission and yelled like a little girl because of a cat hidden inside a locker, causing you to throw your head back as you deliciously laughed. She smiled too, tilting her head to admire the way your nose scrunched or how your lips moved when you talked, or how your browns furred when Reed told what happened last year during Halloween, only then your eyes met Tara’s for more than a few seconds, a pinkish color painting her cheeks.

You didn’t know much about it, choosing to ignore the comments as you never knew what was a fact or what was a lie purposefully made up to destroy the sister’s images. All you were aware off, was that the masked killer that terrorized your colleague, and friend’s, life years ago in Woodsborro came back and worked at the precinct.

Kirby wasn’t the type of person that spoke about her fears and the horrors that haunted her over the years, all you knew was what she chose to share and the reason to why she decided to become a detective. You didn’t push her to talk, patiently waited for her to open up to you by choice because she trusted you. It took a long time for the moment to come, but one day, the alcohol in her made her talk and boy… she really had a lot to share, and it was very graphic — you swore you could feel the knife twisting inside you.

And now, with your eyes connected to Tara’s, a girl that seemed so sweet and kind, had gone through the same traumatic event as Reed did and, knowing her the way you did, you could only image the scars that hung onto the young Carpenter’s body and soul. You smiled at her, reaching your hand to hers.

“It’s nice seeing you again, miss Carpenter.”

Her hand was soft, warm and delicate against yours.

“You too, detective.” She smiled, hand still on yours. “I didn’t know you and Kirby knew each other.”

“Well, when I joined the force,” you started, forcing yourself to break the contact. “Reed was the first one to reach out to me and invite me for some beer after out shift.”

“She’s a very quiet girl, but it’s a great listener.” Kirby said with her costumery side smiled. “If you ever need someone to talk to, Tara, she’s the one you can go to.”

You looked at Kirby with pursed lips, head tilting in a silent ‘what the fuck are you doing?’

Tara let out a small laugh, “It’s good to know that, Kirby. If you trust her, then I do too.”

“Well, I don’t believe in that,” you said, licking your lips as you gave your attention to the girl. “I rather earn your trust than Kirby just giving it away. Trust is a very precious and intimate thing, Tara, you should only trust someone you know.”

“In that case, we should get to know each other better.” She smiled. “Don’t you think, detective?”

“I think that’s a great idea, miss Carpenter.”

That night was the first time you went out with Tara; Kirby tagged along in the first two hours but went home after a few rounds of beer, the alcohol getting to her way easier than you remembered. Helping her into the cab, you made sure to share her live location with you before sending her home, an old habit you had acquired after the truth about her life in Woodsboro.  

“You know…” Tara started, her index finger messily playing with the sweaty, half empty, beer glass in front of her. “It’s sweet what you did there.”

“What do you mean?”

You have always been strong when it came to alcohol, maybe it was due to your position as a detective or you had a really good regenerating immune system — even a common cold couldn’t get to you.

Tara, apparently, wasn’t like you. She was leaning against the table, playing with the glass cup like a little kid that was sleepy but refused to close her eyes and drift away in slumber. You carefully watched her, afraid that she would eventually fall off the chair.

“The location, I saw you sending her live location to your number.”

You shrugged, taking a sip of your beer. “It’s nothing, really. I just want to make sure she gets home safe.”

“Still,” her hand reached yours on the table, thumb softly brushing your skin. “it’s sweet. You’re sweet.”

“And you’re drunk.” You laughed awkwardly, finishing your beer in one long sip, still allowing her to touch you. “Come on, let’s get you on a cab.”

Her hand grabbed yours when you threatened to stand up, ready to pay the bill. “No, please. I want to get to know you better.”

“We can do that some other time, miss Carpenter.”

“Promise?”

You didn’t like promises, it carried an obligation that you didn’t like, but you just couldn’t get yourself to say no when her big, sparkling eyes stared at your soul.

You sighed with a small smile, “I promise.”

When you were paying the bill, Tara was standing close to you, holding onto your arm as if you were going to run away from her. It was cute, you had to admit as you looked at her while the cashier waited for your card to approve the payment, the different height between you two very noticeable when her head barely reached the top of your shoulder.

Before you could put her inside the cab with her apartment address on it, you made sure to save her phone number and share her location with you, just like you did with Reed over the years.

“Text me when you get home?” Tara asked through the open window when you closed the door for her.

“I will.” You smiled, turning to the old driver. “Take her home safely, please?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

You stood there for a few seconds, watching as the yellow car drove away, Tara’s happy face outside the window waving at you. You waved back, heart warm at how adorable she was.

When you got home that night, you weren’t exhausted even after the busy day and all the beer you had, you felt alive and giddy as you texted the newly-added number, telling her you were safe and sound at the comfort of your home. The reply came in the same second, telling you that she was in bed already with a kiss blowing emoji next to it.

Now, a year after that first night out with Tara, you had the young girl sleeping safely in your arms, the morning sun breaking the thick, rainy clouds and invading the apartment, waking you up. Tara was hidden in the hollow of your neck, her calm and heavy breathing tickling your skin, still sleeping soundly.

You looked around the scene, still half asleep. Your coffee mug, now cold, still on the side table. The birds were chirping for the first time in a while since the winter arrived in New York. Some blankets had fallen to the floor, leaving only one covering your bodies. It was true, Tara only needed you to keep her warm.

Feeling your eyes on her, she stirs in her sleep and you’re fast to tighten your arms around her, but after all the incidents that happened around her in the past years, she was a light sleeper.

“You’re suffocating me.” She giggles, hand resting on your neck.

“I should suffocate you after you made me skip work last night.”

“Did I? I don’t remember putting a gun to your head and making you cuddle me.”

Your eyes widened, pulling back just enough to find hers.

“You did worse! You looked at me with Bambi eyes and you know I cannot say no to that.”

She laughs, “You’re very weak for a detective.”

Rolling your eyes, you ignored the fake teasing, caressing the scar on the right side of her belly.

“I’m only weak when it comes to you. You’re my only weakness, Tara.”

Her expressions softened, eyes analyzing your face. She knew you weren’t lying, just like she knew you would do anything to protect her, other than the four core, you were the only one that took her walls down.

“Well, then I guess I’ll have to use this against you so I can have you all to myself.”

“You’ll always have me all to yourself.”

“I know,” she shrugged. “but sometimes work steals you from me.”

You smile, “I have to keep my girlfriend safe, don’t I?”

“I guess you do, but today,” the tip of her fingers slid under the collar of your sweater, noticing the lack of bra; she wet her lips. “I have you all to myself, and I am not letting you go.”

“I certainly don’t want you to.”

Tugging you by the collar, she climbed on top of you, the blanket falling to the floor with the sudden motion.

For the first time you could fully see her as she sat on your hip; black panties and an equally black tank top, slightly wrapped around her thin waist, the tip of her scar visible, messy hair cascading down her shoulders.

Biting your lower lip as your eyes followed her curves, hands on her thigh following to her hip, then her waist in a strong squeeze. When she leaned down, lips oh so close to yours, you jumped when a low clearing of the throat coming from the kitchen filled the room; your instinct quick to pull a blanket from the floor to cover Tara’s body and pull her against you.

Standing in the corner of the brick wall, Sam was avoiding looking in your direction until her sister was fully covered, arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Please, tell me you two weren’t going to have sex on my couch, again.”

Tara hid a laugh against your neck, unlike you — who felt heat rising from your toes all the way up to your face, cheeks burning with Sam’s disgusted look. This wasn’t the first time the older Carpenter walked on the two of you, but it was funny that this happened twice on the same week, at least this time you both were fully covered…

You opened your mouth in an attempt to say something, an apology, or maybe try to convince her that this was not what was happening at all, but all that came out was a struggled sound that caused Tara to laugh muffled against you.

Sam took a deep breath, reaching out for her keys that were settled next to your mug. She adjusted the black beanie as she walked to the door, unlocking the 4 sets of locks and turning to you with a tired expression, “If you two are still on my couch when I come back, we’re gonna have a whole different conversation. Got it?”

You nodded fast.

“Good.”

And left.

You let out a breath you didn’t even realize you’d been holding when you heard the jingling of keys on the other side of the door and distant steps going down the stairs.

Removing the blanket from her head, Tara looked at the closed door before staring at you, a loud and delicious laugh breaking the almost palpable tension that was left in the room.

“How can you laugh like this when your sister walked on us like this, again?” You were in disbelief, heart beating in your throat.

“If you could see your face, you’d laugh too,” she whipped the corner of her eyes, pressing a fast kiss on your lips. “I might be your only weakness, but Sam is your only fear.”

You huffed, agreeing with your girlfriend.

“I’ve seen what she’s capable of, I am not risking having my hands cut off, I’d miss them a lot!”

“Oh, trust me, I know,” she leaned in, hands on the side of your head, a hard grip on the cushions you laid your head on. Tara brushed her lips on yours, a fainted smell of cherries filling your lungs. "I would miss them too... more than you could ever imagine.”

Before you could close the small gap between your lips, the jingling of keys got you sitting up, arms firmly wrapped around the youngest waist, walking to bedroom at the end of the hallway, a giggly Tara clinging to your body for her dear life; you kicked the door close and leaned against it, breath caught up to your throat as you faced Tara with pursed lips.

Sam had her eyes closed when the door swung open, one hand on the door knob and the other covering her face. She had forgotten her cellphone. When she was met with silence, her index finger moved up a little, enough for her to peek at the scene.

“Late night again, love?” Aventurine’s smooth voice broke the silence, accompanied by the gentle scent of his cologne as he leaned against your desk, one eyebrow arched in amusement.

“Some people work for a living,” you replied, sparing him a quick, affectionate smile. “Unlike a certain risk-taker who plays the stock market as if it’s a card game.”

Aventurine chuckled, feigning an offended gasp. “Why, I’ll have you know that every investment is as strategic as a chess move. And speaking of strategy…” He slid a small, folded paper across your desk. “I managed to get some information that might help with that case of yours. A little gift, courtesy of the IPC.”

You took the paper, heart thumping as the details unfolded. It was a lead you’d been searching for. “Aventurine… how did you even get this?”

“Do you really want to know?” He grinned, pushing his glasses up. “Or are you happy with the result?”

You leaned over, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Sometimes, I think you’re the better detective.”

“Maybe,” he mused with a wink. “But I’d rather leave the real mysteries in your capable hands.”

Together, you returned to your work—one a master of risks, the other a seeker of truth, blending your strengths to bring the shadows into the light.

The galaxy's starry expanse flickered beyond the viewport as Boothill silently reloaded his revolver, checking each chamber with practiced ease. You leaned back, arms folded, watching his every move.

“Any idea what’s waiting for us down there?” you asked, squinting at the worn map on the dashboard. The old freighter rumbled beneath you, navigating its way through treacherous asteroid fields toward the IPC's latest outpost.

Boothill's sharp teeth flashed in a grin. “Justice, sweetheart. That’s all that’s waiting. And maybe a little trouble, if I’m lucky.”

You rolled your eyes but felt your lips twitch into a smile. “Lucky, huh? You mean reckless.”

“That, too,” he drawled, glancing over his shoulder at you. “That’s why I have you, my little detective. Keepin’ me on the straight and narrow.” His eyes gleamed with affection. “Mostly.”

“Someone has to,” you said, crossing the room to stand beside him. “I may not have your… firepower, but I’d like to think my detective instincts are keeping us both alive.”

He reached out, brushing his thumb along your cheek. “Those instincts of yours are sharper than any blade. Once we hit that outpost, keep your eyes open. They’ll have what we need, but I’ll need you watching my back.”

And with a quick, heated kiss, you both turned back to the task at hand—a vengeful cowboy and his vigilant detective, prepared to bring justice to every shadowed corner of the galaxy.

The night was quiet, a stark contrast to the tension brewing in your office. You sifted through case files, piecing together the fragments of an unsolvable mystery. Every clue, every lead pointed toward an unknown answer—until a soft knock at your door made you look up

There he stood: Dr. Veritas Ratio, the renowned genius, a glint of amusement lighting his features. He entered, a scroll of notes in hand. “I heard,” he said in that calm, assured voice, “you were looking for a missing variable.”

You blinked in surprise. “Are you offering help?”

“I’m offering insight,” he replied, placing his notes before you with a flourish. “Intuition, as you call it, though I prefer ‘scientific deduction.’”

You scanned the pages, the tiny puzzle pieces starting to fall into place with Ratio’s guidance. “You did this for me?”

He tilted his head, almost as if the thought of not helping you was absurd. “A detective’s work is not all that different from mine—chasing truth, unraveling the unknown. Besides, I find it... intellectually stimulating.” His hand brushed yours lightly as he took a seat beside you, eyes gleaming with that familiar spark of passion. “Together, I believe we might solve anything.”

You couldn’t help but smile, warmth blooming in your chest. “Then let’s crack this case, shall we?”

And as you both leaned over the papers, minds entwined in a dance of logic and intuition, you felt grateful for the brilliant man who saw mystery in the ordinary and in you, his remarkable detective.