Coffee (and Love) In The Library

Coffee (and Love) in the Library

Stephanie Brown had no idea who those boys were, but she has had enough.

Well actually, that’s a lie.

She knew who they were, everyone did. The Wayne boys, with their black-as-night hair, and cobalt blue eyes.

Who are currently playing the fucking penis game in the goddamn library.

Finals were coming up next week, study rooms all taken up, and she swears, if those boys don’t shut up within five minutes, last name be damned, she will come over and end that game.

By removing said genitalia of course.

A low yell reached her ears and she stiffened, missing the ‘r’ key on her crappy laptop.

They haven’t reached above a low yell, something she’ll change in-

Another strangled yell.

That’s it. Five minutes were up, and they had their chance.

She slammed the chair back and stormed over to the idiots ruining her studying session.

She locked onto her target, the close on to her, and aimed.

And strangled scream echoed across the room, and heads snapped over, glaring.

No one liked being interrupted.

Being part of the slums taught her one thing, and that was how to hit the royal jewels, and how to hit them hard.

“There.” She said tersely, eyes glaring. “Now if you haven’t noticed yet, some of us are studying for finals. We can’t all have a rich parent so if some of us want to be accepted into a good college to study for a doctor, we have to do well on our finals.” Stephanie was seeing red at this point.

“I haven’t had food or drinks in eight hours, I’m surviving off of four hours of sleep and I’m out of coffee, tea can suck my ass.” One of them snorted, and Steph would slap him if she wasn’t on a roll.

“So, I swear to God if you don’t shut up, we’ll start this game all over and I will end it.”

She stormed back to her seat, and started typing again, slamming down on the keys. In her fury, it had taken her four tries to type a word.

Stupid morons.

Steph flinched when a steaming cup of coffee was pushed under her nose.

“You know,” Timothy fucking Drake said as he slid in the chair across from her, “what you did there, that wasn’t very nice.”

“Sue me.” She intoned as she turns her attention back over to her practice test. His lips curled upward.

“Well, are you going to drink your coffee?” He asked, gesturing at the steaming cup.

Steph eyed the cup for a minute before shrugging. Screw it, coffee was coffee. She’ll deal with it later, if it turned out to be poisoned.

“So, a doctor. I have to say, I didn’t have you pegged down as one, and my guesses are usually correct.” Tim’s eyes pierced into her.

“Yeah. Just what I want to do.” Stephanie turned her eyes back to the screen, slightly refreshed.

“Well Stephanie, you are contradicting all of my assumptions about you. It’s… interesting.”

Her lips involuntarily pointed up as she sipped her coffee.

It only occurred to her after he left that she never told him her name.

The next day, she almost couldn’t get to the front door because of the mysterious delivery of coffee in her living room.

Write Your Name (Across My Heart)

Stephanie was three years old when her mother lifted her hair up and screamed. 

 She couldn’t tell if it was from delight, surprise, or horror.  

Crystal Brown had shakily smiled, patted her hair down, and told her she was too pretty to wear her hair up. It had taken her another five years to see why her mother was so shaken. 

When Stephanie Brown was eight years old she made her first bun. She turned to appreciate her work and was met with Timothy Drake written neatly across the nape of her neck. 

Later, she searched Timothy Drake up, and was greeted with thousands of results. 

When she was fourteen, she broke up with Dean, because Dean was not Timothy Drake. 

She wondered if Timothy Drake thought of her as much as she thought of him.

When she was fifteen, Spoiler met Robin, and her heart skipped a beat. He was absolutely perfect. She wondered if he was her Timothy Drake. 

She was disappointed to find out he was only Alvin Draper. 

When Stephanie was 16, her Robin stint had come and gone, and Leslie found out about Timothy Drake. 

She didn’t talk to Stephanie for three days. 

When Stephanie Brown was sixteen, she was Batgirl, and Barbara Gordon finds out about Timothy Drake. 

Stephanie had swept her hair to the side, so Barbara could examine a wound when she heard Barbara breathe in sharply. After that, Barbara had stayed quiet, bandaging up her cut. 

Stephanie Brown is 17 and it’s time for the batfamily group training session. It’s going to get sweaty so she tips her head forward for her ponytail and everyone stops talking and what? 

And then Red Robin is in front of her and everyone else is gone and he was pulling his cowl down and he’s pulling up his sleeve and- 

Oh. 

“Hi. I’m Timothy Drake.”

Memorials (or the lack thereof)

*tiptoes in* Hi. Don’t hit me for not posting a fic please :). Heres one. You can also check out the one that I posted on Aug. 20th. Here’s the angsty Steph I promised in that fic. 

Stephanie knows they doubt her. She knows that they didn’t particularly care about her, that she’s just a suit warmer. 

(She cracks slightly, but marches on.) 

 Steph ignores the way Batman always glowers whenever he comes into the cave to find her training. She ignores the mistrust in Tim’s eyes, always trying to force her into the back seat.

 (She watches from afar as the Wayne Manor lit up in lights for Christmas, a party she wasn’t even told about, much less than invited to.) 

 Stephanie doesn’t miss the way Dick glares at her, disliking the fact that it was her in the suit, not Barbara. Barbara stares distastefully from a distance, not liking how Steph couldn’t be controlled. 

 (Steph picked the short straw again, shivering in the rain as she patrols in the rain. Contrary to a heavy belief, rainfall was the most preferred planning time for criminals. She knows, her dad was one.)

 She soldiers through Damian’s insults over how inadequate she was, ignores his barbs of “Fatgirl”. 

 (She watches on in the shadows when the Batfamily express their distaste for her as they almost beg Cass to come back as Batgirl. She almost wishes she said yes.) 

 Jason sits at the sidelines staring at her with pity. She makes sure to beat it all out the next time they spar, not stopping until that pity was replaced with respect. 

 (By now, Steph is so ruined that she is covered in long, chunky cracks. Parts of her are falling apart, and duct tape is finally deemed necessary.) 

 Alfred gazes on cooly, always too busy with the other boys cuts and bruises to focus on her own. 

(Thankfully she’s studying medicine in Uni, and at Leslie’s.) 

 Stephanie replaces her open eyed cowl with the much more useful ones of night vision. 

 (She had to work several shift to buy those. Steph doesn’t even bother asking Bruce, she already knows the answer to that.)

 She never receives a com.

 (It took months more for her to finally find the time to hack the police radios. Stephanie listens from there.) 

Stephanie was never in the loop of information. 

 (The lack of comradeship is what lead Steph to her end.)

 Barbara sends out a notice to not patrol. After all, the rain was too terrible for any activity. No one thinks to warn Steph. 

 (Across town, Steph suits up, ready for another night of patrol. She jumps out the window, leaving her house.) 

 She doesn’t come back. 

 (Ra’s spots her and alerts the rest of criminal underworld.) 

She didn’t know. 

 (Joker doesn’t laugh with much vulgar as he swiped at her. Even the clown doesn’t think her a worthy opponent.)

 She gave it her all. 

 (It wasn’t enough.) 

 She radioed for help. 

 (No one answered. Steph knocked out Harley.) 

 She fought well. 

 (The growing pile of villains rectified that statement.) 

 She charges forward valiantly. 

 (Ra’s slips out from behind her. He leaves a gift.) 

 She gains hope. 

 (She doesn’t notice the ticking bomb behind her.) 

She dives for the Joker. 

 (She never reached her target.) 

 The explosion ends it all. 

 (She makes sure it takes half of the criminal masterminds with her.) 

 She had taken down a good portion of the criminals before the bomb finishes it all. 

 (No one found her body until the morning.) 

 Stephanie Brown was dead. 

 (She wasn’t given a memorial.)

Revenge (Best Served Cold)

I really don’t know where I pulled this out of.

Just a warning, there is just a little maturity in here. Like, subtle references towards some sexual behavior.

“Diiiiiiiiiiiick.” Steph called cheerfully as she flung the gym door open. There, Dick was working out. Shirtless.

Ok so maybe she timed this just so she could see him shirtless.

…maybe.

Dick looked up and grinned at her, getting off the parallel bars. Steph watched his muscles flex as he did so. Sometimes she still wondered if she was pursuing the right Wayne.

“So.” She started off casually. “Tim’s been particularly stiff and mean to me and I was wondering if you would, oh I don’t know, help give me ideas for revenge?”

Dick looked at her, amused. “You have come to the right place.” He announced. “I know everything there is about revenge. Tell me, how will you like to dish this revenge out, warm and embarrassing or cold and angering?”

Stephanie grinned wickedly. “Warm and embarrassing of course. Wouldn’t want the little birdie to think that I’ve given up on my days of making him turn warm and red.”

“Victoria’s Secret.” Dick said immediately. Stephanie stared at him confused. “Take him shopping to Victoria’s Secret. It’ll make him all hot and bothered, and you might even get some fun tonight.” The protector of Bludhaven said, winking at her as he started getting ready to continue his work out.

Stephanie brightened up. “Thanks Dick! I owe you one.”

“Ooooooh Tiiiiimmmyyyyyy.” She sang out, causing Tim to stiffen up.

“Shit.” He mumbled. Damian just looked at him skeptically before turning back towards the TV, something Dick got him hooked into. 

Steph draped her arms around him and placed her head on his shoulder. “Could you come shopping with me?” She murmured, nuzzling into her neck. He stopped breathing, too tensed to move. Steph chuckled, a sultry sound and straddled him.

“Please?” She whispered.

“S-s-s-sure.” He stuttered, trying to look everywhere except for her low cut shirt, showing off her goodies. Steph immediately perked up, getting off him and dragging him

“Come on, I swiped a credit card from Jason, who swiped it from Dick, who swiped it from you. Wayne’s card, I’m going to go crazy.” Tim’s face lit up with alarm, and he started patting all of his pockets, searching for the card. When he finally deduced that no, she was not lying, he just sighed until an alarming thought came to him.

“Wait, you were with Jason?”

“So,” he started.“Where to now?” By now, Steph had just about dragged him to every store there was and she didn’t look ready to stop.

“Well,” she said slyly. “I needed some more….. undergarments, so I figure we could hit Victoria’s Secret.”

Tim slammed into a stop, yanking Steph around. “Victoria’s Secret?!?” He almost yelled, eyes going wide. “Are you kidding me?” He shook his head. “No. No. Just no. Absolutely not.”

Steph giggled and pushed him off her. “Oh come on, you promised. You wouldn’t leave me all alone and make me have to ask another guy for his opinion would you?” Tim’s eyes narrowed and he took deep breaths to calm himself down from the mere thought of another guy seeing Steph in lingerie.

“Okay fine.” 

After all, it couldn’t be that bad right?

Tim took his earlier statement back. It was that bad. It didn’t help that Steph immediately headed towards the most revealing section, and started browsing. It also didn’t help that she kept on pulling them out and asking for his opinion. And it most definitely didn’t help that she made him hold all of the ones she chose. None of which were very conservative.

As Steph modeled more and more for him, the more he shifted uncomfortably, feeling hot glows of anger and jealously as other guys stared hungrily at her, while at the same time embarrassed to an all time high.

The dressing room door opened, and Tim had officially reached the shade of red that he thought was impossible to reach, needing to cross his legs to hide his growing… friend down there.

When they finally got back, Tim dropped the bags down onto her floor, pulled her flush against him, almost throwing her onto her bed in his haste to get her clothes off.

They most certainly did have “some fun” that night.

Stephanie Brown and her Adventurous Adventures of Sass

It had first started as a complete accident. Stephanie was only trying to say bat-attitude.

With a messed up nose. And a concussion.

What had came out was ‘battitude’.

Her concussed mind had latched onto it, and the more she debated over it, the more she liked it.

Bat attitude was just so hard to say, and it just didn’t roll off the tongue smoothly like battitude did.

It wasn’t just a normal attitude, it was a battitude.

Steph liked it.

The first time Steph purposely used it on someone it had stunned Tim into complete silence.

It had started again with usual ‘no Steph you’re going to get yourself hurt’ 'Steph I have to protect you’ blah blah blah.

“I’m sorry I can’t hear you over your battitude.” She snapped before storming out, silence following her.

Superboy had laughed for hours when she told him and Bart.

The next time she used it, she almost thought that they’d forget to breathe because they were laughing too hard.

When she heard, or rather sensed, Nightwing coming up behind her, she mentally sighed in relief. Because Nightwing happened to be the number on supporter of her and Tim’s relationship, and was always ready to do just about whatever to get his favorite couple back together.

Which meant he usually gave great advice towards Steph, sabotaged Tim’s uniform when she pulled the distress card well enough, and was just the absolute best.

That time Tim’s costume shrunk in the wash wasn’t a complete accident…

“So what was it this time?” Dick asked as he settled down beside her on the edge of the roof.

“Just Tim being his stupid self with his dumb battitude.” It had taken all but three seconds for Dick to start laughing beside her.

“Gotta remember that one.” He said, almost snorting. “Battitude.”

She could hear Barbara in her ear too, letting out a chuckle.

Next time she used it, she managed to shut the brat up for a good ten seconds.

They had been in the batcave, Steph on the computer and Damian sparring, when he brought up her chest size again.

“You have a little something there.” She replies, gesturing at his face, chest, feet, and everything in between. “It’s called your battitude.”

By now, battitude was slowly spreading.

When she used it again, Cass couldn’t breathe and Jason had encouraged her.

It was one of those few and rare days where Gotham was quiet, peaceful and tranquil. Only the minor criminals were out, committing small acts of vandalism.

She had been regaling Cass and Jason with her stories of slapping members of the batfamily, when she let battitude slip out.

Cass choked and Jason sniggered.

“Make sure to use it on the boss man alright?” He tossed out on his way out to take care of an amateur robber.

Finally, finally, she used it on the big man himself, the one and only Batman.

It had been the usual “You can’t listen to orders Steph, pay attention Steph, stop being so reckless Steph’ type thing when she finally snapped. She drew herself up to her full height, blue eyes narrowed dangerously at Bruce.

Alfred casually called down all batfamily members.

“You know what?” She snarled, jabbing her finger into Batman’s armored chest. She hid her wince.

Jason held his breath in anticipation and Tim stared worriedly at her.

“I’m growing sick of you, and your battitude.”

Tim raised his eyebrows, and Dick started snickering. Jason wolf-whistled, causing Tim to glare at him. Damian stared unimpressed, and Barbara suppressed a smile. Cass stared at the scene and Alfred calmly continued sweeping, eyes dancing with mirth.

Batman was stunned into submission that night.

Heart's a Mosaic, Body's a Painting

Stephanie had no problem putting batboys in their place. She slapped Batman for goodness sake, even Jason Todd knew not to mess with her.

Well, all batboys except for her ex. And Damian Wayne on a rampage.

For example, “Father, why must I always patrol with that incompetent oaf, Drake. I wish to be partnered with Grayson.”

And boom. Here she is now, squeezed in a gargoyle sandwich with her ex on a roof.

Oh patrol is lovely. The criminals were determined to smash them in the a pulp, the view was smoggy, terrible, and smoggy, and her partner.

Well her partner.

Her partner was only stonily ignoring her.

Five out of five stars. Would recommend.

“Hey, where are you-”

She swore silently, getting up to follow him. Partners, huh. Could’ve fooled her.

Batgirl landed onto the first thug and showed the second one her fist. There was a satisfying crack! and Steph imagined Tim was there instead.

She ziptied the last guys before looking up and swearing again. Someone had to introduce Red Robin the meaning of partners before she introduced him to her fist.

“Alright, maybe I’m missing something here, but I’m pretty sure partners suggest working together, which you have not…”

She falters when he walks over to her.

“You got hurt,” he says quietly, checking her shoulder.

She flushes, and braces herself for the reprimanding soon to come because shit it was a pretty rookie mistake.

“It’s pretty deep. Let’s go back so we can stitch that up.”

Steph’s head snaps up. No scolding? No lecturing? Had she made that mistake way back then as Spoiler, Tim would’ve already been through his fifth lecture about how she wasn’t ready.

But as they were heading back, Stephanie only had one thought left.

This wasn’t a good idea.

“So,” She says when they’re out of the uniforms and he’s almost done stitching her up and too close too close too close. “Think that’ll leave a big scar?”

“I doubt it. People probably won’t even notice it,” he says, finally done. Steph gets up and inspects the stitches.

“You’re just jealous.”

He rolled his eyes.

“As if,” he says, lifting his shirt. Half of Steph cheers yay six pack! While the other half calmly tells them that it’s nothing new and she can go look at her Shirtless Tim folder later.

Tim points out a long puckered scar. “Poison Ivy gave me that when I got too close to one of her “babies”.

Steph can practically feel the tension between them melting away.

She rolled her eyes. “That little thing? Please. I got this,” she says pointing out the jagged scar on her thigh.

“I got this from breaking up a gang fight.”

He rolled up his sleeve.

“Got this from fending off a hallucinating Batman.

"Bullet wound.”

“Knife wound from Joker.”

“Penguin got overexcited with the katana he found.

"Shrapnel after Harley decided blowing things up was fun.”

She stands up, pushing her hair to the side to reveal the jagged scar stretching across her neck.

“I got this in that encounter with Black Mask. Really makes it hard to wear my hair up…” She stops talking when she’s aware of his presence right behind her.

A tender hand carefully brushes a few excess tendrils of hair aside, and her body tingled from the feather-light touch.

A hand trails across the scar on the back of her neck, tracing it’s shape, and the previous carefree air was casted away.

Steph stopped breathing when she felt a gentle kiss pressed against her scar, over and over again until he covers the entire scar. By the time he’s done, she’s completely tense, jaw clenched shut, nails digging into her palms.

“I know I’ve messed up, but do you think we can, you know…” Tim trails off, stepping away. “Can we… try again?”

Stephanie only allowed herself a second to think before turning around and draping her arms around him.

“Depends. Have you got a scar that beats mine?

As it turns out, he did.