Auroral » Titans

7|| Play Nice

The apartment settled shortly after dark. Hank and Dawn were in their bedroom, Rachel was asleep in the spare room, and Sophie and Dick were stuck on the couches.

A faint yellow glow illuminated the living room from a small table side lamp. The only other bit of light came from the tv and windows.

Sophie was sprawled across the smaller of the two sofas. Her head was propped up on the armrest and she held Dick's tablet above her face. She was at it again, digging through another set of files.

Sophie was sure she had read this woman's entire work life. But there was nothing, not even a smudge of dirt on her record. She was completely clean and that didn't sit well with her.

People from Gotham were never clean, especially the judges. Which meant whoever had bribed Susanna into letting the Mutationist go was covering their tracks.

The soft patter of socked feet crossing the wooden floor peaked her attention. She was mildly aware of Dick as he crossed over to her sofa from the washroom. He leaned against the armrest by her feet. With a huff she tossed her legs over the edge of the couch.

The couch sank as Dick sat down before his hands wrapped around her ankles and pulled her legs over his lap. His hand rested on her calve, his fingers tracing circles into the fabric of her sweats.

She knew what he was doing. Whenever he wanted her attention when they were younger he'd pull this trick. And either out of annoyance or care, she always paid attention to him.

Sophie ground her teeth together as she was pulled from her thoughts. She tried to pick up where she left off but her brain froze halfway into the sentence.

"Dick." She half whined, half groaned.

Her eyes pulled away from the tablet and focused on the sly smirk on his lips. He had won, like always.

"You should get some sleep." He spoke softly, still mindlessly tracing patterns into her leg.

Sophie rolled her eyes and looked back at the tablet. "Later."

"Ok." Dick he said curtly. The couch sank again and the tablet was yanked out of her grasp.

"Dick!" She snapped.

He stared at the tablet screen, his brow creasing as he read what she had just been looking at. "Susanna Cooper, Gotham judge. Why are you looking into her? And if you say work, I'll hit you with this tablet." He looked over at her and held the tablet up mockingly.

Sophie groaned, letting her head fall over the armrest. Her shoulder length blonde hair fell to the wooden floor. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes.

She was really starting to wonder how Batman did the whole, keeping secrets from everyone thing.

With a huff Sophie sat up and brushed the fallen hair out of her face. Her cheeks were flushed red from the blood rushing to her face. Her stomach began to twist, but she wasn't sure if that was from nausea or stress.

"That friend who called the other day, she wanted me to look into Ms. Cooper. She thinks she might be corrupt." She answered briefly. Giving Dick the answers he wanted without telling him anything important. "Happy now?"

Dick's lips pulled down into a frown and a crease formed between his brows. "When did we start keeping stuff from each other?"

The sad tone in his voice felt like a dagger in her heart. He knew exactly how to break her heart, but she knew how to break his too.

Sophie pulled her legs from his lap and turned so she was sitting properly on the couch. "When you left." She spoke the words like venom and yanked the tablet out of his hands.

A thick uncomfortable tension filled the room. It felt like wights were suddenly tied around her waist, dragging her further into her own emotional pit.

Dick shifted on the couch before he spoke. "Sophie, I'm sorry I hurt you when I left."

Just as quick as Sophie's sadness and regret appeared, it was gone.

Her jaw tightened and she stared venomously down at the tablet's screen. "Yeah, well whatever." She grumbled, ending the conversation in its tracks.

She just wasn't ready to have that conversation yet.

Dick sighed heavily before he rose from the couch, clearly taking the hint to leave her alone. "Get some sleep." He mumbled quietly and walked across to the other sofa.

The moment he was away from her, her heart began to ache. It took every ounce of strength she had to not let her emotions slip past the stoic expression she wore on her face.

****

A cool early morning gust swept through Sophia's sandy blonde hair and seeped through the heavy grey sweater she wore. The pale glow of sunlight fought to shine through the thick layer of white clouds that covered the sky. Puffs of steam billowed out of vents on towering office buildings.

Winter was approaching fast, she could smell crisp snow in the air.

Sophie's cold fingers swiped through a list of contacts on her phone until she landed on the name she needed. She pressed down and brought the phone to her ear. The line rang a few times before she heard that familiar click.

"Sophie, morning." Barbara answered. She was breathing somewhat heavily and her voice sounded hoarse.

"Morning. Let me guess, I caught you in the middle of a steamy make out session?" Sophie teased, a smile working its way onto her lips.

A sweet laugh came over the line. "I wish. I just got back from a run."

Sophia hummed before she licked her lips and spoke again. "I've been looking into that Judge, Susanna Cooper. Yeah, her files are clean. Like someone's erased anything that sounded even remotely sketchy. Even with Dick's tech I can't find anything."

Sophia froze almost instantly. She knew her mistake the moment she said Dick's name.

When Dick left he had tried to distance himself from everyone, including Barbara. But after awhile he gave in and called her every now and then. Still she worried about him.

"You're working with Dick?" She asked. Her tone had grown quiet, almost sad.

"Yeah," Sophia cleared her throat as an awkward tension rose in her body. "I met up with him a few days ago to help him with some stuff."

"Does he know what we're doing?" Barbara asked, regaining the usual curiosity and strength she had in her voice.

"No." Sophie shook her head even though Barbara couldn't see her. "To be honest I can barely play nice with him. I'm just so angry, and seeing him act like he didn't just abandon me. It sucks!"

"I know." Barbara spoke softly. She was the only person Sophie felt like she could talk to about Dick, because Babs understood both her and Dick better than anyone else.

"You think I abandoned you?"

The metal roof door clanked shut and suddenly everything fell quiet.