Againts all Odds || Dick Grayson [1]

18| Black Mask and the Party Crashers

***

I looked in the mirror, admiring the silver dress I had worked endlessly on for the last three months. It was difficult not to think of my mother, she taught me everything I knew. The skill that had kept me alive with a roof over my head and food on the table. Regardless of everything I missed my old life, now I simply felt like I was pretending to be someone I wasn't.

A small knock on my bedroom door brought me back the present. At the moment I wasn't the girl in the streets of Gotham, I was the girl living in Wayne Manor that was about to attend some fancy charity event. The only thing that made me feel like me was the dress that I made. "Come in."

"Wow." I heard Dick say as he entered the room. Turning around I faced him mustering as sincere a smile as I could.  He approached  me taking both of my hands in his and as he smiled I felt myself relax no longer having to force the smile on my face. "You look breathtaking."

I reached out and adjusted the collar on his suit, in this moment feeling quit lucky that I got to call Dick Grayson mine. He looked incredibly handsome in his suit and tie that I almost felt like I was dreaming. Looking at him made me realize how out of place I was in his world, a world that now I found myself in. "And you look very handsome. The women out there are going to go crazy over you."

He tugged at a strand of my hair, before pushing it back and off of my shoulders. "I doubt any of the women out there are half as beautiful as you."

"You're just saying that" I replied feeling as if all my blood was rushing to my face. Never had I been more glad for my brown skin, that saved me from moments like these.

"You're right I am." Dick replied playfully, but I was still shocked as I hit him lightly on the chest.  He laughed then as his fingers slowly ran down my neck until he reached the soft material of my dress. His touch was something the my body seemed to immediately react to, as I felt not only butterflies in my stomach but every inch of my body. "There's just something missing."

I watched as Dick removed a small box from his pocket, as he opened it he revealed a small silver chained necklace. A charm of a bird, that I recognized as a robin hanging off of it as Dick pulled it out of the box carefully. "Dick..."

"You don't have to say anything. Turn around."  As I turned around to face the mirror I saw Dick's nervous reflect as I brushed my hair to one side allowing him to place the necklace around my neck. "I'm just happy to see you wear it. Do you like it?"

"I love it." I replied honestly, though it wasn't really the gift that I loved. It was a fact that this seemed to mean so much to Dick. He smiled placing a kiss on my shoulder, before I turned around feeling as if something between us had changed.

Dick reached out for my hand as his tone suddenly grew serious, oddly remaining me of Bruce when he was hiding something. "The guest were just arriving so we better get going."

Wordlessly we left my bedroom and headed towards the main hall that was quickly filling up with guest. They were undoubtedly all Gotham's elite, the women covered in expensive jewels and designer dresses. There were waitress walking around the room with trays full of champagne or fancy appetizers. As one of them walked by Dick picked up to glasses of champagne handing one over to me.

He looked around and gave me a mischievous smile as he took my hand and led me deeper into the sea of people. "I would drink that quickly before Alfred catches us."

I laughed as I took a sip from the glass realizing that the last time I had champagne was when my cousin from Bludhaven stole a bottle during her quinceanera. Looking out into the crowd I saw no sign of Bruce, which I found odd as Bruce Wayne was known to be the life of any party with two girls on each arm. Now that I knew it was all an act, I thought of how lonely and tiring it had to be to keep up that facade.