BOP fic: Things Get Weird (Babs/Dinah)
Sep. 1st, 2008 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficTitle: Things Get Weird
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Rating: PG
Word Count: 671
Timeline: Before the dark times. Before the Didio. More specifically, shortly after Hunt for Oracle (where Dinah and Barbara met face-to-face for the first time).
Characters/Pairings: Babs/Dinah pre-slash
Summary: Barbara gets used to having a partner she can touch.
Barbara remembered ordering movies for Dinah on the hotel pay-per-view, tear-jerkers if she needed a good cry, comedies to perk her up, classics if it were just… them. Dinah had an absolutely astounding lack of proper film experience. She had never even heard of The Day The Earth Stood Still.
And after Barbara had hacked the hotel’s PPV system, she would cue up the same movie on one of her monitors and have it on as background noise, her attention always drifting over to the film as Dinah started to cry, or laugh, or make a fire-engine “AWOOGA” at some well-placed nudity.
Barbara had always planned on Dinah finding out who she was. As much as she might like to, she couldn’t keep people at arm’s length forever. And being the puppet master would’ve gotten stale anyway.
Still, there was something different about going to see movies in person. Barbara was very vocal at her disdain for anything made since 1990. Her favorite movies tended to be black and white and she didn’t even know what was coming out on any given week. It was Dinah who had to drag her to movies, feint horror when she confessed to not having seen Kiera Knightley’s latest period piece or some Sundance darling. Barbara had created a monster.
Not that she hadn’t gone to movies with Dick, but those usually tended to be family outings. They didn’t have time for anything else. Tim would come along, bringing Steph, who’d bring Cass, who’d wonder why no one had called Helena and then make the most pitiable face when no one would admit to overlooking her. By the time their little team could take up most of the row, Barbara would’ve rather punched Grayson in the face than sit with him “in the back” as he oh-so-masculinely suggested.
But being with Dinah was the way going to the movies should be. They got their snacks (read: Barbara used her wheelchair to smuggle candy in, then shamelessly played up her paralysis to get Dinah to do popcorn runs), they kept quiet during the movie (except for Dinah’s annoying-only-not habit of whispering jokes in Barbara’s ear), and they talked as they left the theater. Dinah put up some interesting conversation, even if she was totally wrong about the film’s thematic message.
Then, as they rode down in the escalator, Dinah casually took Barbara’s hand and held it. It was like she hadn’t even realized she had done it. Though Barbara had never heard of anyone asking permission to hold hands, this would’ve been a great time. It wasn’t like she needed both hands. She had lazily switched over to the chair’s motor (which was capable of 80 MPH on a level surface) and only needed her other hand on the joystick. So they stepped out of the elevator, holding hands, Dinah grinning and still repeating the movie’s jokes before they got tiresome, Barbara wondering if any of her anxiety was showing, hoping it wasn’t.
It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with Dinah holding her hand. It wasn’t like anyone was staring. It was just… weird, having someone who was usually miles, thousands of miles, away now occupying her personal space. Right there, where Barbara could touch her and smell her and see her without any pixels in the way.
Strange. Discombobulating. Exciting.
Of course, they had to stop holding hands to get back into the van. When they reached the clocktower and got out, their conversation having gone through its dying awkwardness and into a pseudo-comfortable silence, Barbara took Dinah’s hand on their way to the elevator. Dinah started grinning all over again, like someone had kickstarted her motor. That started Barbara smiling at what a big friendly golden retriever her partner was, and by the time the elevator doors slid shut they were laughing for no reason whatsoever.
Barbara could get used to having an operative in her life. Just so long as it didn’t go any further than holding hands.
That would be weird.
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Rating: PG
Word Count: 671
Timeline: Before the dark times. Before the Didio. More specifically, shortly after Hunt for Oracle (where Dinah and Barbara met face-to-face for the first time).
Characters/Pairings: Babs/Dinah pre-slash
Summary: Barbara gets used to having a partner she can touch.
Barbara remembered ordering movies for Dinah on the hotel pay-per-view, tear-jerkers if she needed a good cry, comedies to perk her up, classics if it were just… them. Dinah had an absolutely astounding lack of proper film experience. She had never even heard of The Day The Earth Stood Still.
And after Barbara had hacked the hotel’s PPV system, she would cue up the same movie on one of her monitors and have it on as background noise, her attention always drifting over to the film as Dinah started to cry, or laugh, or make a fire-engine “AWOOGA” at some well-placed nudity.
Barbara had always planned on Dinah finding out who she was. As much as she might like to, she couldn’t keep people at arm’s length forever. And being the puppet master would’ve gotten stale anyway.
Still, there was something different about going to see movies in person. Barbara was very vocal at her disdain for anything made since 1990. Her favorite movies tended to be black and white and she didn’t even know what was coming out on any given week. It was Dinah who had to drag her to movies, feint horror when she confessed to not having seen Kiera Knightley’s latest period piece or some Sundance darling. Barbara had created a monster.
Not that she hadn’t gone to movies with Dick, but those usually tended to be family outings. They didn’t have time for anything else. Tim would come along, bringing Steph, who’d bring Cass, who’d wonder why no one had called Helena and then make the most pitiable face when no one would admit to overlooking her. By the time their little team could take up most of the row, Barbara would’ve rather punched Grayson in the face than sit with him “in the back” as he oh-so-masculinely suggested.
But being with Dinah was the way going to the movies should be. They got their snacks (read: Barbara used her wheelchair to smuggle candy in, then shamelessly played up her paralysis to get Dinah to do popcorn runs), they kept quiet during the movie (except for Dinah’s annoying-only-not habit of whispering jokes in Barbara’s ear), and they talked as they left the theater. Dinah put up some interesting conversation, even if she was totally wrong about the film’s thematic message.
Then, as they rode down in the escalator, Dinah casually took Barbara’s hand and held it. It was like she hadn’t even realized she had done it. Though Barbara had never heard of anyone asking permission to hold hands, this would’ve been a great time. It wasn’t like she needed both hands. She had lazily switched over to the chair’s motor (which was capable of 80 MPH on a level surface) and only needed her other hand on the joystick. So they stepped out of the elevator, holding hands, Dinah grinning and still repeating the movie’s jokes before they got tiresome, Barbara wondering if any of her anxiety was showing, hoping it wasn’t.
It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with Dinah holding her hand. It wasn’t like anyone was staring. It was just… weird, having someone who was usually miles, thousands of miles, away now occupying her personal space. Right there, where Barbara could touch her and smell her and see her without any pixels in the way.
Strange. Discombobulating. Exciting.
Of course, they had to stop holding hands to get back into the van. When they reached the clocktower and got out, their conversation having gone through its dying awkwardness and into a pseudo-comfortable silence, Barbara took Dinah’s hand on their way to the elevator. Dinah started grinning all over again, like someone had kickstarted her motor. That started Barbara smiling at what a big friendly golden retriever her partner was, and by the time the elevator doors slid shut they were laughing for no reason whatsoever.
Barbara could get used to having an operative in her life. Just so long as it didn’t go any further than holding hands.
That would be weird.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 06:54 pm (UTC)which was capable of 80 MPH on a level surface
Babs and her toys. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:03 pm (UTC)She's going to be honestly surprised that Barbara is still technically straight. Meeting Dick is going to just be such a weird experience for her.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 07:03 pm (UTC)(And trust Babs to have one heck of a wheelchair motor!)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:05 pm (UTC)It's fun, cuz a few issues after they meet for the first time, Barbara and Dinah are cuddling and hugging all the time. Dinah works fast... :)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-02 05:44 am (UTC)And the whispering jokes thing? I totally do that. It drives people I go to movies with insane.
Cute fic!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-03 07:05 am (UTC)Cass demands to see Pirates of the Caribbean again and Bruce makes Tim take her along to see it with the Teen Titans because he loves her more.
Cass and Kon watching a movie together is... awkward.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-03 06:28 pm (UTC)Or maybe he's counting on Cassie keeping them separate.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-22 04:32 am (UTC)