stranger things | dick grayson

twenty seven

word count: 2.8k

~

When Eleanor opened her eyes and let them focus amidst the darkness, her gaze travelled to her right where Dick was sitting in the chair, his chin resting on his chest as he leaned back, fast asleep. He didn't look all too comfortable.

She looked around the room and saw the clock on the wall. 3 am.

'Dick?' She asked, cringing at how hoarse her voice was. He stirred a little and opened his eyes, a small look of confusion on his face as he licked his lips. When he saw her awake, he sat up and instantly reached for her hand.

'El! How are you feeling?' He asked her, inching closer to the bed.

'Like death... Get it?' She asked with a lazy smile, causing him to let out a laugh of disbelief. 'Are you okay?' She asked, noticing the look on his face.

He nodded and pursed his lips together.

'Yeah, of course.' She raised her eyebrows at him, not believing him, which caused him to shake his head. 'You died, El... You died in my arms and there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening.'

'Dick... I am so sorry you went through that,' she murmured and tightened her grip on his hand.

'Well you're okay now, so...' He trailed off, his stare lingering on her as she offered him a small smile. 'I was thinking earlier, about the first time we met. I really should have known then that you were gonna' cause so much trouble for me.' His laugh was quiet but pure— He truly meant it.

+

Dick looked down at the card in front of him. It was given to him by the Captain of the Detroit Police Department detective branch. It was his second day, a second chance to fix his mistakes of yesterday. They weren't mistakes per se, but he definitely didn't talk to anyone and make a good first impression. But at the end of the day, he wasn't there to make friends.

He just needed to find the courage to actually walk into the building, instead, courage found him, and it was in the form of a fellow Detective too busy staring at the clouds in the sky to worry about where they were going. They walked right into the back of him, sending him stumbling forward.

'Oh fuck! I'm so sorry! Sorry, I was watching the clouds...' Eleanor trailed off, realising how stupid she sounded. When Dick turned around, she couldn't stop the small laugh that left her lips. 'Hi! You're new!' She said, unable to stop herself from stating the obvious.

Dick pursed his lips together, quickly looking her up and down. She surely was not a fellow detective. Dick would never be caught dead wearing something so casual as that to work, although he wouldn't deny something about her made it seem somewhat professional— He just thought if you're gonna wear a blazer you might as well wear the rest of the suit.

'I'm Owens, Eleanor,' she said, rushing to shove her water bottle under her arm to hold her hand out to him.

He shook it, tilting his head to the side. There was something familiar about her he couldn't pinpoint.

'Grayson, Dick.'

They both looked down at their firmly interlocked hands and quickly let go.

'Right, you're the new guy. I read your file. I wasn't supposed to but I did, although a lot of it is blanked out, but who am I to question it? Sorry about reading it, I had the day off yesterday and I was bored and my partner was just raving on about you all day, well not all day but there were definitely things... mentioned... Anyways,' she said and walked past him, not waiting for him to realise he needed to follow her.