sheridan | [closed] tale as old as time

[After their near disaster of a gala, Damian knew he had to make it up to Midii. Christmas was the best possible way to make it up, he figured. Gifts were a normal part of the holiday season, and he'd gone out of his way to shower his friends with material goods, whether they wanted it or not.

Some of his friends had resigned themselves to the inevitable and asked for reasonable gifts - Jai, for example, got season tickets for the local basketball team, and Iris got one of those fancy Fitbits that could (reasonably) calculate a speedster's rate.

Midii, though, needed something better. After much deliberation and arguing with a local calligrapher + screen printer, Damian ordered two things: one, for Midii to come meet him on the second floor of a coffee shop that his family owned, and two, a set of custom-printed Arabic calligraphy t-shirts. Nothing religious, for the Muslims who might cry cultural appropriation, but cultural sayings & shapes.

He's not expecting her super early, but he's looking a little nervous as he stares down at the gift bag he'd wrapped the latter in. Just once, he wishes the coffee shop could sell boosts of confidence with their lattes. He'd buy their entire stock out.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Based on the editing, absolutely not.

[Although, here, she hesitated. It was clear she had more to say, but was debating whether or not she should. Until finally she sheepishly slouched in her chair and admitted:]

...but I did read the book. [Surprisingly, perhaps, if only because it wasn't her usual genre of choice.] And it was really good.

Really? [ He sits up now, spilling kernels onto that dark movie theater floor. While he and Midii often read the same novels, it's not because their tastes overlap. More often than not, they didn't. So for her to admit that she liked Simon Snow as much as he did...

Well. Damian's just glad the theater's too dark for her to see how red his face is. ]

I've got the rest back in the Manor, if you want to borrow them.

[She weighed the pros and cons of telling him she'd only read it in the first place because she'd learned it was one he'd liked. And not recently, either.]

If you don't mind.

How many are there?

Five. [ and just because he's already excited, he'll spill the beans on what he knows about the next: ] She's working on the sixth right now. It's supposed to be twice as long as the last.

[It probably was a good thing he had bought out the theater after all. They were nearly speaking at full volume now, and the next preview was all but forgotten in favor of the spontaneous topic of conversation at hand.]

I'm assuming the last one was pretty long already. [Not that she minded. She did enjoy reading, and if the later books were as good as the first, she knew she would enjoy them.] When would be a good time to stop by the manor? Or should we go after the movie?

[ Damian snorts, having sincerely forgotten about the screening he bought out - ] You know my family. Anytime's fine.

[ Hell, Brown had jokingly yelled for Midii to stay "forever" one time. Damian has never let her forget it, terrible reference to a Disney film aside. ]

Assuming I don't have to patrol, we can go after.

When will you know for certain if you have to or not?

[Because, fondness for Stephanie and Dick in particular aside, she was absolutely not going to the manor without him. The former might actually try to kidnap her and keep her, and the latter had every chance of being an enabler in the matter.]

After the movie. Knowing... my associates, they're trying to be "polite."

[ He's probably openly talked about the Batfamily also being his family, given how much he cares for Midii, but there might be onlookers. Or kids sneaking into the theater.

A Bat can never be too paranoid. ]

If your associates--[She picked up on his continued insistence on remaining vague, despite the fact it was just the two of them. There could have been someone in the projector room with good hearing, she supposed, or an usher around the corner awaiting the needs of a Wayne, just in case.]--wanted to be polite, they should give you more advanced warning for these things.

[Which isn't to say she didn't understand. She did. Sometimes, these things were entirely contingent upon Gotham's nightlife. If activity was slow, they really wouldn't know until after sunset at the earliest.]

Yeah, well... I'm operating under the assumption that I have to.

[ He reaches for some more popcorn, feigning nonchalance. Now, he kind of gets why Grayson and Drake didn't want to go every single night. Maybe it's payback for how often his younger self was racing to fight crime - but at ten, he didn't have an inkling of what (or who) could be more important.

Family. Loved ones. A semblance of a normal life. Even these quiet moments were more than he'd ever known, and he can't quite help reaching over with his free hand and trying to sling his arm around her shoulders.

At least they've got this movie - and possible inaccuracies to whine to Diana about later. ]

[She might not have been as close to Diana, but she was already prepared to mentally take notes on the film to discuss later. With Damian, but with Diana if she were invited into that conversation.]

[In the meantime...she felt his arm oh so subtly sneak up and wrap itself around her shoulder. She, in turn, chose to not mention or indicate her awareness of it in any way except to maybe lean a little closer against him, reaching for her drink to sip on as the last of the previews faded away and the indication that their Feature Presentation was starting.]

[Dim as the lighting was, Damian would still be able to see her face break into a wide smile of excitement.]

[closed] tale as old as time

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