Who: Dick and Barbara What: Date at the Winter Festival Feb 29 When: Early Evening Where: Winter Festival Rating: low
It had been a while since they’d gone on a proper date. He wasn’t sure Valentine’s Day counted since people usually went on dates. Before then he’d been mostly dealing with the aftermath of what had happened with Conner. Thankfully he’d fully healed now - no more broken ribs. He’d told Barbara about his injuries, but had kept it from Conner since Dick felt Conner was feeling guilty enough.
“I’ve heard their ice sculptures here are really pretty at night with the lights.” He hadn’t yet gone to the festival, so he had no idea. It wasn’t like he went to those sort of thing back home either. He was usually too busy to go to anything ‘fun’ unless it had been for a Wayne Foundations thing or because Donna had asked him to see an exhibit of hers.
Barbara had enjoyed herself on Valentine’s Day, but they also hadn’t done much since she was still concerned about him taking it easy. Understanding the reason he kept quiet, she didn’t say anything to others; however, Dick knew how worried she had been. Considering the situation, she figured this could be a better little date night for them now that he was fully healed. Dressed for the cold weather, she had her hands on the wheels of her chair, rolling next to Dick as she listened to him.
“Have you?” She asked, tilting her head over and up to look at him. Barbara couldn’t help the smile on her face when looking at him. She was thankful for the chance they had here that they probably would never get back home with their busy lives. “Then I know one thing we’ll be checking out later once it gets darker. So that will be near the end,” she said, making a mental note. “I know there was also some breakdancer thing that I want to see,” she told him, reminding herself in the process since she had heard about it. “We can get some food then explore to see what we want to check out? Or was there something specific you were wanting to see?” It was one of the things she did love about Dick was while yes, she was limited on what she could do, he never seemed to mind or care. If there was something he wanted to do that she couldn’t, then she was fine going to do something else.
“Breakdancing.” He could get behind that, though he glanced at her semi-seriously. “I’m not expected to participate, right?” Despite Dick being able to do the moves, he was sure, dancing like that in front of strangers was a nightmare he’d like to avoid. He might be used to being in the public eye thanks to how he grew up, but he was also thankful that Bruce never made him do things like acting or singing or other rich-kid performances.
He thought for a moment. There was one thing he’d been thinking about. He had read somewhere about it being available, so… Dick looked at Barbara and smiled softly. “Want to go skating?”
“Yes, I think it’d be fun to see,” she commented. Barbara thought the dance style was interesting and while she never been much into dancing, she did enjoy watching certain styles. Plus it was fascinating to see what people could do. Though his question caused a playful smile to appear on her lips as she looked at him. “I mean if you want, I can say yes. But I can’t promise I will not get video evidence that I will use when needed for leverage,” she warned. She wouldn’t have him do that or most likely take video of it, but she could give him a hard time, especially when she found it hilarious the idea of him out there joining in. “You get a pass this year only because of finally being better so be ready next year,” Narrowing her eyes to give him a playful warning look as if she meant business on that comment.
An eyebrow raised at his question. Barbara was studying him for a moment before tilting her head slightly. “What am I going to roll out on the ice in the wheelchair?” She was sure people did it, but Barbara still felt the need to ask. Though she was sure he knew her answer was going to be yes since she was never one to turn down an activity both before and even after ending up in the wheelchair. Just after, she had to be more creative or careful because she couldn’t do things the same way anymore.
She got a small laugh from him for her ‘threat’. Barbara was one of the few people who Dick could relax around enough to actually laugh with and it was one of the things he loved around her.
When she asked about the skating, he pulled out his phone. He thought a visual would be better than an explanation so he pulled up the contraption that was meant to go under a wheelchair. Dick would still have to push her, but it would be gliding on the ice and that was something, right?
He held out the phone for her to take a look. “What do you think?”
Barbara couldn’t help the smile that showed up at his small laugh. She knew Dick better than a lot of people, and she knew he wasn’t always an easy person for others to be around. While she did like when he got out and met new people, she knew it wasn’t easy for him. Though she did enjoy and love knowing that he relaxed around her. Yes, he could drive her crazy at times, but she could admit she wouldn’t want it any other way. She loved him, and for her, he was the only person for her.
She took his phone from him to get a better look, studying it for a moment before looking up at him. “Did you come check earlier to see if they had something like this?” She asked, finding it quite impressive if he did and maybe a bit sexy that he thought of her and went to check before deciding to suggest something like this. Then again she always found Dick to be quite sexy though she was sure people from Gotham who knew her well knew that. Holding his phone back out to him with a smile, she nodded. “I think it’s worth a shot and we can see how it goes.” Barbara was excited, and she wanted to see if it went as well as she was hoping. “Lets go do some ice skating,” she said, moving her hands back to her wheels to start heading in that direction with him.
He offered a small shrug that was an affirmative, but like it wasn’t ‘a big deal’. He’d do just about anything for her so checking to make sure she could do something like that before he offered came naturally. “I might have. I’d be an idiot to suggest it and then get your hopes up for nothing.” He might have done that when he was younger since he hadn’t learned to look at all the angles, but now things were different.
Happy that she seemed on board, he walked with her toward the rink. “When you were little, did you ever skate?”
If Barbara wasn’t already head over heels for Dick, she was pretty sure that would have done it. Instead it made her smile because she really did luck out even if only she and a few others saw this side of him. Stopping him, she pulled him down to kiss him softly before pushing him away to tell him to keep on walking. “Hey, you’d be surprised there were a few guys who were those type of idiots,” she told him with a chuckle. She was sure it would be no surprise that she went on a few dates with people after he left Gotham. None of them lasted more than the second date, but she still tried. In part to get over her feelings for Dick and to move on, but still, she found work was a better distraction than dating. “I do appreciate it, and think it was sweet,” she complimented him cause it really was.
On his question, she nodded. “A little bit. I knew how to stay upright and skate but I wasn’t going to be running off and doing any ice shows or anything. What about you?” She asked. While she knew a lot about Dick’s life and the same with him on hers, there was still some stuff since they hadn’t met one another until later on in their childhood.
“That was one thing never on Bruce’s radar.” Bruce had learned a lot of things as a ward to a rich man like piano and ballroom dancing, but it was all for show since Bruce’s real teaching had happened as Batman. “But I have vague memories of my parents taking me out on a pond when I was little. I did it once for a friend date after I moved away, but I think Dawn was more upset I wasn’t falling down than anything else.” He offered her a bit of a smile. Dawn enjoyed knocking Dick down a few pegs and maybe he needed that from time to time.
Of course, it wasn’t, and Barbara wasn’t even that surprised to hear it. That was one of her issues with Bruce was how he treated Dick and then Jason. Though she also knew he thought in his own way he was helping, but still, she hated it and most of that came about from her other issues with the man. A smile did appear at hearing the vague memories, glancing over at him. “I’m glad you have those vague memories even if they are probably limited on what you remember,” she said, reaching out to comfort him, placing a hand on his arm as she said it. Before returning her hand to her chair as she spoke. “I don’t blame her. It would be hilarious to see Dick Grayson falling on his ass and finding he isn’t good at something like ice skating,” she teased. “Dad would sometimes take me out when he was on his off days, but also being that he knew how Gotham could be, it was a lot of rules so I didn’t end up in danger.” Barbara understood more now as an adult than a kid, but back then, she was more for ignoring as anyone who knew her then knew how much of a rule breaker she was over a rule follower. “May not be kid Grayson, but you can enjoy it now as an adult,” she offered. “And then we can get some hot chocolate and warm up?”
He was better at it now. It helped that he’d had to fight Mr. Freeze at one point, though he tried hard to forget those particular memories.
Dick smiled to Barbara. “I think that sounds like a great plan.” Spending any time with Barbara was a good time, but he was really looking forward to today.