stranger things | dick grayson

sixty seven

word count: 2.1k

~

Dick shook his head and muttered, 'This is insane.' He glanced at Eleanor and almost laughed at her wide eyes as she watched Conner walk around the room and bark orders at people.

'Compared to what? Two hours ago, I was inside a stomach trying to kill a ghost snake,' Gar said, cringing deeply as he folded his arms over his chest out of insecurity about where he had been.

'And two hours before that, we were fighting zombies,' Kory muttered.

'And I kissed Bernard.'

The unexpected words broke through the monotonous hum of computers and machinery. All heads turned in unison to Tim, their faces painted with a mix of disbelief and surprise. Eleanor's laughter erupted like a sudden clap of thunder, piercing the air with its sharpness. It bounced off the sterile walls, reverberating through the room and jolting everyone from their screens in alarm, their startled eyes wide with curiosity.  Tim looked down bashfully, his cheeks growing darker by the second as Gar fist-bumped him.

'Big night for everyone,' Dick muttered, looking down at Eleanor as she grinned widely. 'You good?'

'I totally predicted that,' she whispered to him.

Behind them, Conner pulled one of the scientists away from the computer and muttered to himself as he typed so quickly on the keyboard; Eleanor spun around at the noise— she was sure he was going to put his fingers through it.

On the table in front of them, they watched the monitors display the red moon slowly turning back to white, saving their asses. Things were looking promising.

The man over the radio confirmed their wishful thinking by saying, 'All satellite orientation complete.'

The room erupted into cheers and hollers. Kory jumped up and down and shook Gar roughly by the shoulders, causing him to laugh and jump with her. Eleanor and Dick looked at one another before sharing a small, yet still reluctant, high five. They were both annoyed that Conner was correct in all his wisdom and hairlessness.

'Well, he pulled it off,' Kory said with a sigh of delight.

Nobody said anything in reply. What could they say that wouldn't inflate Conner's ego?

+

Eleanor looked over her shoulder as she heard Dick say, 'I gotta be honest, Conner. I'm starting to get a little concerned about you.'

Conner grinned and put his hands behind his head as he asked, 'Why? 'Cause I'm winning so hard?'

'Leather jacket, the bald head... I get it. You're changing, you're growing, and that's all good. Just trust me, you don't want it to happen too fast.'

'Mmm, too fast. Well, you know what, I'd say it's happening just in fucking time,' Conner snapped as he rose to his feet and attempted to stand over the top of Dick. The older vigilante held his ground and barely even blinked. 'Rachel's useless. Gar's losing his mind, Kory's blue-thing, inconsistent at best.'

Eleanor stood taller and gently placed her hand on Rachel's shoulder.

'Don't even get me started on Eleanor being as inconsequential as she already is. She's gonna be pushing a freaking mini-you out from between her legs, and Tim, well, he can't do anything... at all.'

'Listen here, you little fucking test-tube baby,' Eleanor spat as she rounded the table and pointed at him. 'Do you think—' Dick grabbed her by the elbow and used the momentum and power of her walk to swing her back around the other way.