Making Waves

Chapter 18

It wasn't a date.

Percy scowled at herself in the mirror. It wasn't.

It couldn't be a date, because that would mess everything up. She wanted it to be, Percy could admit that much, but it couldn't be because then all that stuff Annabeth had said about not making obligations to anyone would come crashing down.

Percy wanted it to be a date, but even now, as she stood in her bathroom, adjusting her stupid knit sweater so it tucked properly around her waist, she couldn't help but think: If Nightwing had asked first, would she have accepted? She ignored the unhelpful voice in her head that answered with an instant 'yes'.

She should just not go to the food drive at all. That would be the smart thing to do. Eliminate any possibility of the maybe-date completely, but she had promised Dick she would come. And she wanted to see him. So, for better or for worse, she was going to go, and hopefully be on time.

Percy made a face in the mirror.

"It's not a date," she told herself, more firmly.

Because if this was a date, then it had to be the worst date in the history of all dates. Visiting Dick at a city event that he was working security at? Yeah right. Any child of Aphrodite would hit her over the head for being delusional enough to believe that that was, in any way, romantic. It was just one of those sayings people used after making plans.

You're not going there for Dick, she reminded herself, you're going there to do charity work, help collect supplies and maybe regard the mayor in pretend awe so that the publicity pictures turned out nicely.

Percy took one more long look in the mirror. Hair up or hair down?

Nope, she thought to herself, who cares? Not her, not Dick, and definitely not the mayor.

LINEBREAK

Percy would have been on time, but once she saw all the publicity and commotion gathered around city hall, spilling out of the building and onto the street, she had to take a small detour to hide her suit in a nearby alley. She'd only be out of the house for a couple of hours, but Nightwing had recently shared that he took his everywhere, and paranoia, as she was coming to find, was extremely contagious.

By the time she stuffed the duffel behind a dumpster and circled back, it was noon. Standing in the line for a security check took another fifteen minutes because of all the bags of food that had to be thoroughly checked and when she finally made headway to the area Dick had told her to meet him at, she was almost half an hour late.

When she saw him, Dick was conversing with another officer. He bid the other man goodbye, turning and when he caught sight of her, he smiled impossibly wide. Percy nearly pinched herself as he beckoned her over, and though she should have turned on her heel and fled, she did no such thing.

"Haven't seen you in a while," he teased, when she got close.

It had been two days.

"Too long," Percy agreed, and was rewarded by his eyes crinkling in amusement.

"You know," he started, "I was thinking, Damian also has a cat, and maybe—"

She couldn't help it, she laughed. "Stella has been bugging me about a play date. Cat or no cat, she's already talked me through exactly how she's going to break into your family's house."

Her plan consisted mostly of using Mrs. O'Leary as a transportation vessel—30 stealth points—and then letting Damian pet the hellhound to stop him from getting mad—20 distraction points.  Dick's brother had told them all about how much he loved animals, and Estelle had been playing too much Mythomagic with Nico recently.