Batfam/ Jason Todd AU - Imani Thompson is a pretty quiet girl. She likes to be out of the way and in the shadows. She's a scholarship student at Gotham Academy and has been since she got accepted into it in the 8th grade. She doesn't have time for l...
"Imani, now why would you think that was a good idea?" Farah practically shakes my shoulders while she talks to me. I thought that coming to Farah's house and talking to her would help make me feel less conflicted on what me and Roy did to Jason. But all she's done for the past 5 minutes is yell at me for messing with him.
"Yeah Imani, that's really messed up." Dick pops a grape in his mouth while lounging out on Farah's bed.
"Farah, why is he here?" I point at Dick, who shoots me a shocked expression.
"Well, before you came we were hanging out." She shrugs then sits on the bed next to him.
"Yeah, I was here first!" Dick pouts and sticks his tongue out at me.
"Ugh, whatever." I sit at her desk and glare at Dick. He chuckles and plants a kiss on my best friend's cheek. I fake gag at their PDA which just makes Dick smile even harder.
"Back to the crisis at hand," Farah glares at the both of us. "I'm not sure why you thought that the best course of action was to concoct this fake plan to make Jason jealous. When all you had to do was talk to the man like an adult."
"Well, I'm a teenager so..."
"Imani, you're 18." Dick laughed while munching on more grapes.
"Shut up Grayson. That has teen at the end of it doesn't it?"
Farah snaps her fingers to get our attention, "Oh my goodness, you two are like children. Listen Imani, you know you're my best friend. And that I love you dearly, but what you did was kind of immature and also very stupid."
"It was Roy's idea." I mumbled. Dick explodes in laughter.
"That explains it. Roy loves to fuck with Jason. It's his favorite pastime. Honestly, in my humble opinion-"
I cut Dick off mid sentence."That no one asked for mind you."
"LIKE I was saying..." He shoots me a look, "Jason likes you. And he probably knows that Roy was behind the whole thing. Or he thinks that Roy just flirted with you and strung you along."
"Do I come across as that malleable? That someone could come and flirt with me a little and I'd do whatever they'd say?"
"Yeah." Farah and Dick said at the same time.
"That's... upsetting." I sat at the edge of Farah's bed defeated, "Do you think I ruined our friendship?"
"Nah, if anything it'll just be a little bump in the road. Plus he came begging for you to talk to him. And he apologized like six times. It might be a little awkward tomorrow but you'll be fine."
"I hope you're right. I kinda feel like I overreacted a bit." I sigh.
"A bit?" Dick laughs, "A guy doesn't talk to you for like, what, a day? So you rip his ear off and pretend to date his best friend? Man, I'd hate to be on your bad side, Imani."
"Shut up Dick! It's more nuanced than that."
He snorts before popping another grape, "Yeah. I'm sure it was."
"Farah!" I whine and point at Dick, "Control your boy toy!"
"Sorry Imani, but he's kind of right. I mean I get it, he was your first kiss and everything but it's just a kiss. It's not like he took your virginity or anything."
"Jesus. Was I really over reacting?"
"Yeah, bestie. But it's okay cause you're cute." Farah comes over to me and pinches my cheeks. I swat her hands away and she giggles.
"Listen Imani, It'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Let's change the subject, how have your costume preparations been?"
"Fine I guess, I bought the bodysuit and the black cargo. I just have to iron on the red bat decal on the suit. Oh and I have those cool leg straps he has. So I gotta sew those on the pants soon. How about you? Have you decided on what costume you're gonna wear yet?"
Farah sits back down on the bed next to Dick before speaking, "Yeah we were thinking of doing a couple costume."
"Oh, cute. What ideas do you have so far?" I ask.
"So far we've narrowed it down to either Jesse and James from Pokemon or Cosmo and Wanda from Fairly Odd Parents."
"I vote for Jesse and James." I grin.
"I liked that one too." Dick adds.
"I lied. I vote for Cosmo and Wanda." I grimace at him. He sticks his tongue out at me and I do the same thing back.
"Lord, you two are like children." Farah rolls her eyes and collapses on the bed.
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The rest of the week at school wasn't bad. It was a bit awkward the day after the library exchange but then it went back to normal pretty quickly, just like Farah said it would. We ate lunch together, we chatted and the crew hung out at the Wayne manor. Even Roy showed up, which did annoy Jason a bit but he got over it.
Most of my time was spent going over my costume for Conner's Halloween party on Saturday. I mean, It needed to look perfect. It was my first costume party, and it'll be one of the biggest parties of the year which every rich kid from the east coast will be attending.
In the middle of me sewing my red hood mask my phone rings. I look down and see it's a FaceTime call from Farah.
"Hey girl, what's up?" I propped up the phone so that she could see my face and went back to sewing.
"Mani, I just saw Nightwing." Farah said out of breath. I looked up at the phone, to see her running.
"Farah, oh my God what happened?" I put down my needle and thread.
"I was walking to the corner store to pick up some chips and a coke. And then this guy comes up to me with a switch blade and yells, 'Give me all your money!' I freeze at first, and I guess the guy gets impatient so he goes to grab my purse! But I obviously can't let him take my purse. It's a vintage charlotte coach bag! Do you know how hard it was for me to snag one of these fucking bags-"
"Farah! You're getting off track!" I yelled panicked.
"Right, right, sorry. So anyway I fight to keep my purse and we have a bit of a back and forth. He's strong as fuck but I took taekwondo so you know my grip is good. I'm like a spider monkey you couldn't pry me off of anything I don't want to be off of! The mugger gets tired of fighting for the bag so he lifts his hand and tries to punch me! But before he could land the hit Nightwing jumps down from the shadows and knocks the motherfucker right out. Then Robin swoops down and puts the guy in handcuffs."
"Thank goodness they were there! Farah, you could've been seriously hurt!"
"But Imani the thing is Nightwing came up to me afterwards and cupped my face like he knew me. He asked if I was okay and... Imani his eyes. I know those eyes from somewhere. And when he asked if I was okay his voice was filled with worry."
"Well Farah he is a hero, he probably was worried about you."
"No, but not like that." She stopped running, "Trust me Imani. It felt almost intimate. I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting. Listen, I'll call you back later, Dick is calling me. I texted him what happened and he's probably freaked out."
"Alright Farah. I'll talk to you later. Be safe!"
"I will." she said before hanging up the phone. I sat there at my desk for a second just absorbing that information. Nightwing acted like he knew her, why? Gotham is such a big city, why would he know Farah of all people. I shook off the questions and went back to sewing my mask. All that matters is that Farah is safe. That's all that matters.
