hypnoticsong | For flyingg

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For flyingg

The doctors would keep the amnesiac Dick Grayson another day for observation but aside from still not remembering his identity, his brainscans were good so they eventually released him into Hartley's care. He was the only visitor the man had received and no one had thus far reported a man matching Dick's description missing unfortunately.

So as they stood there outside the lobby of the ER, the former Rogue found himself hesitating. What now? He couldn't just take the man home like he was a stray. That would be both presumptions and just a little bit creepy.

"So...what now? Do you want to go find your car? Maybe we'll get lucky and there's some kind of identification in it? You didn't have a wallet on you, after all. I sometimes forget to grab mine too so maybe it's just waiting for you stuck between two seats?" He was babbling a little and he knew it. "Or we can go clothes."

Piper shot Dick a wry smile. The shirt he'd picked out for the man was probably a size too small and was distractingly tight around his shoulders. But at least he couldn't really go wrong with sweatpants, right?

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It was probably a good thing that Piper was stopped at traffic light when Dick let that slip because he was genuinely floored. "I'm sorry? What, you're saying you grew up in a circus like James?"

Piper asked with a quiet laugh. A glance at Dick however struck him dumb. The dark-haired man had grown ashen and there was a decidedly glassy look in the man's eyes which he could only take to mean he was digging through something in his mind. A memory perhaps? Not a pleasant one if Hartley were to guess judging by the subtle twitch of grief that briefly flickered across the man's face.

"Oh...Dick. I'm so sorry." Sympathy touched Piper's face and the rude honking of the car behind suddenly reminded him that they were in fact in the middle of the road and the light had just gone green. He stomped on the accelerator a little harder than was necessary and headed down the street the next four blocks until they reached the coffee shop he'd told Dick about.

"Yeah, I think so." Quiet, very quiet, and the words were coming hard. "I remember flying with them. The tightrope. Remember falling asleep curled up against an elephant." His voice softened with fondness, at that.

He moved, for the first time since remembering ... that, to run a hand back through his hair. "Somebody frayed a rope before a show. No safety net. In Gotham. That's how I stayed there, I think. It... seems like it was a long time ago."

He couldn't say it was all right, because right now, it wasn't.

By the time the car stopped, he'd recovered some of his color, though not quite the smile. He stepped out of the car, rolling his shoulders a bit.

"Right. Coffee. Sorry for... dumping this out." He wasn't quite lost to memory enough to miss Hartley's reactions. "It all just hit me when I thought of circus and trapeze..."

"Sounds like a pretty interesting childhood." Piper murmured with a soft look. The concern was plain to see on the man's face as he watched Dick from the corner of his eye.

He put the car into park in front of the coffee shop that had a rainbow flag hanging proudly in the window and proclaimed itself a LGBT friendly establishment.

"Alright. I've got my laptop with me we'll hop on the wifi and figure out all we can about Dick Grayson from Gothan City, how about that?" Hartley suggested solicitously and grabbed his laptop bag from the back seat before crossing onto the sidewalk next to Dick. "Don't ever apologize, I'm just sorry that memory was so bittersweet."

"Yeah, it - I think it was."

Thing is, though, after that memory, his eagerness to regain his memories was curbed, a little. He eyed the laptop, then managed a small smile.

"Thanks, but... how about we just get coffee and talk? I'm... we can probably do the research at the hotel? I'm just - I can use a bit of a break from remembering, if that's the kind of stuff it'll bring." He swallowed. "If that's all right."

It wasn't firm or commanding, of course. More like begging that, what, quarter of an hour of delay before he had to deal with more such flashbacks. Dick was just pretty much still reeling from this one. It hadn't been just visual remembering. The sense of loss had cut him deep, to the core. A breather was reasonable, right?

Piper didn't need to be a mind reader in order to read the emotional exhaustion in Dick's eyes.

"Of course," he reassured him and locked the laptop in the trunk before approaching Dick. "No more talk about memory stuff, I promise." Hartley smiled and reached out to grab Dick's hands so he could squeeze them comfortingly.

"I guess...we can talk about me instead while we drink our coffee."

"Well, maybe not so far as no more. But a break." Dick managed a small smile, a real one, and relaxed with the reassurance. With the action.

Then he hesitated for a moment, letting the smile deepen a little.

"Fine, but no talk about the things that make you worry, either. Mutual break."

"Of course," Hartley smiled back at him with gently warmth before leading Dick inside. The man behind the counter waved to them as they entered the cafe.

"Afternoon, Piper. You want your usual?"

"Yes, please." A curious glance was sent Dick's way. "You need a few minutes to decide what you want, Dick?"

"You're amazing." That's all he managed to slip in before they stepped inside. Well, if Hartley's cheeks ended up burning, it wouldn't be on purpose. Dick genuinely thought it.

He skimmed over the displayed menu, then fixed the guy with those blue eyes and asked, as though this was the most natural thing for him to do (and not a front put up a few minutes after he'd been ready to fall apart), "do you have anything that's close to a double frappuchino that thinks 'decaf' is a dirty word?"

"You're not too bad yourself." He murmured with a shy smile though for once, he didn't flush at that attention.

Piper surreptitiously watched Dick as he studied the menu with those stunningly beautiful blue eyes.

The man behind the counter laughed boisterously when Dick put in his order and shot Piper a conspiratorial grin. "I like this new friend of yours, Piper. Cute and he has good taste."

Now Hartley's ears were starting to go pink.

Dick's lips softened as he glanced at Hartley as they were coming inside. There were too many things that bothered him and nagged him about what they'd found, what he remembered, and what he couldn't, to accept any bigger compliment. But this one? This one was easy and casual and it warmed him through.

Enough that he smirked at the man behind the counter. "Thanks, but I thought you repeated yourself, you had it all at 'friend of Hartley's,' as far as the good taste part is concerned."

He spoke with a confidence as though he knew what he was talking about, rather than just improvising, except for the part where the affection was there, too.

Then he gave him a once over, and turned the smile back at the redhead beside him, suddenly acutely aware of the kiss from the parking lot... and how wanted more of the same was. "Anything you'll recommend to go with the coffee?"

"No, I am simply waiting for Piper to remember his manners and introduce me to the cute new friend he's made with impeccable taste in coffee and friends. You have no idea how much it hurts my heart when someone comes in here and asks for decaff. In my store."

Piper looked decidedly chagrined by this little byplay of theirs. "Antonio, this is Dick. Dick, this is Antonio."

Still, the man began to work on their drinks and the espresso machine hissed and brewed under his careful hands.

"Everything is good here. Seriously. Everything." Piper murmured aside to Dick.

The man behind the counter finished making their drinks and slid them across the counter towards them.

"Thanks, 'tonio, nice to meetcha! I think I'll have one of those triple-chocolate muffins, too."

Hmm. Dick waited until Antonio's attention was on the preparation, before murmuring back to Hartley, "I can share... the muffin. If you want some."

... he was getting some flirting of his own, did that work?

The older man looked both amused and a little embarrassed, so yes, it seems to have worked.

"I'm not a very big fan of chocolate though." Piper teased right back at him as the man behind the counter finished whipping up their drinks.

Piper moved automatically to pay for their purchase and shot Dick a questioning look. "Where would you like to sit?"

"No chocolate?" Dick tapped his chin thoughtfully. "What, then? And, mm. There?"

He pointed to a table by the window. And he meant to pay, but, after a moment, opted for not getting into that discussion just now. He didn't seem to be impoverished, at least; when he had the full story, he was going to pay Hartley back. Or treat him, which sounded like the more fun idea.

He picked up the order, ready to go, if the redhead didn't object to his choice.

"And thanks. Mmm, coffee."

"Well, my drink is cinnamon and salted caramel. It sounds a little crazy but it's really good." Hartley enjoyed the warming flavor of the cinnamon mixed with the sweet.

He looked in the direction Dick indicated and smiled. Piper hadn't even thought about it or the fact that Dick might have wanted to pay. On a subconscious level, he thought of the other man as his responsibility.

The redhead laughed quietly at the somewhat blissed expression on Dick's face. "Wow, you really like coffee, huh?"

"Oh, sounds completely delicious." If that was the drink he'd gotten now, Dick might give a brief look at it... but wouldn't presume to ask for a sip. He'd get it another time, maybe. "Though I was asking about treats that go with the coffee."

Now that they were out of the hospital and not moving, it didn't take long for Dick to get a little restless. Not the kind that meant his attention was straying (it wasn't, his eyes were focused in a way that split between the man across from him and the coffee), just an excess of energy finding its way out. Tapping toes. Fingers playing with the handle of his mug. That kind of a thing.

And he looked up with a wide grin, a lot of the uncertainty that went with not knowing melting away because of the simplicity of the question. "Feels like it's finally possible to catch up with the world. Besides, this is awesome stuff!"

His eyes crinkled briefly in the direction of Antonio, in gratitude, then returned to Hartley. "It shows, huh?"

"It is," He chuckled and paused for a second before offering his next words carefully. "Did you want to try it?" Piper finally asked with a small smile. "Oh. Uh, I really like the danishes myself."

Piper watched Dick's fidgeting with no small amount of amusement. Trickster was the same way sometimes. The man couldn't seem to sit still. Of course, unlike James, Hartley knew he could get away with something as daring as reaching across the table and laying his hand across Dick's to help stem the restless staccato of his fingers against the tabletop. Trickster was just as wrapped up in the pseudo-homophobia of so many of the other Rogues. He'd gotten better over the years as he'd matured but Piper still smarted on the inside just a little when he found himself at the center of those unpleasant digs and barbs against his sexuality. Only Rory and Cold had seemed disinterested in the Pied Piper's inclinations back in the day.

But that was the past, Hartley had to mentally remind himself. "I'm happy for you, Dick. At this rate I imagine we'll solve the mystery of your identity by the end of the day." Piper encouraged with a quiet laugh.

Mischief gleamed in Piper's eyes though his gaze didn't follow Dick's as it briefly wandered to Antonio who was all but beaming from behind his place at the counter. "Yes, it does show. But I'm sure Antonio will appreciate seeing how much you enjoy his coffee." Those fingers hadn't moved away from Dick's hand yet either.

"Yeah, I'd love to try it, please." Dick's pulse sped up at the touch over his wrist, and he laid his palm flat on the table, smiling over at Hartley. Of course, that meant that his foot took up the tapping, but he kept his knee away from the table, so it shouldn't be too bad. His eyes crinkled a bit more. "Then I'll be sure to get some of those, next time."

It was - he felt good, here. With Hartley. And now with coffee. He felt like his whole body was thrumming with an easy energy that he could put to use. That he could make something good out of. And he wanted to, despite what the multiple IDs in his car said, or what anything else meant or could mean.

But the reminder of his past dialed down the brightness of his smile, the feeling of - well. Happiness. He took a long breath, eyes down on the table, then looked up at Hartley again.

"Yeah, probably. Though Gotham or not, I'll totally be coming over to visit. Whatever the reason I had for coming here in the first place, I've got a better one, to revisit."

"Of course," The redhead moved to set his mug down on the table and slid it across to Dick with a smile. He didn't miss the fact that Dick's foot continued to tap quietly on the ground but made no move to try and stop him. Though he couldn't articulate things, Piper felt an unfamiliar glow of warmth in his chest. He wanted to chalk it up to the coffee but it would have been a lie.

Hartley could lie to the world but he'd never been particularly good at lying to himself. Besides, Dick had a great smile that had something akin to butterflies flickering to life in his stomach. It was ridiculously, he hadn't felt this way in years. Not since his first boyfriend at his last boarding school and that had been fueled by surreptitious kisses stolen whenever the proctors weren't looking and fear of discovery.

Nothing about the dark-haired man scared Piper. Nothing save for the fact that he could easily see himself falling quickly for the younger man. Piper could see the way Dick's eyes dimmed just a little and immediately felt guilty. He stroked his thumb across the back of the man's hand soothingly.

"I'm going to be presumptuous enough to assume the reason might have something to do with me." He tried to avert the sudden tension by making a joke of it and himself.

Dick was... oblivious to the major part of those thoughts. But he could see something in those blue eyes that made his soften, then brighten with enough of a mischievous glimmer as to burn away the darkness. At least for the moment.

"Well, it's not for the exploding scenery. I'll take delicate strength over the loudest bang they can come up with."

A moment, and he turned his hand around. So Piper's long fingers were on the inside of his wrist, running almost right over his pulse, and his own fingers could give a tiny, reassuring (promising) squeeze up at Hartley's wrist. The touch helped. Hartley helped. That was enough, for now.

When the touch wasn’t rejected, Piper continued to stoke his thumb along the skin of Dick’s wrist. He was curious about the occasional scar he felt along the man’s skin but thought it too rude to ask. Not to mention it would be pointless considering Dick’s current amnestic state.

The charming man’s jesting words dragged a laugh from Piper and this time, it was a real one, not a strained or self-abashed chuckle. “No, let’s avoid the exploding scenery from here on out. Last thing I want to do is go through introducing myself all over again.

He leaned forward over the table slightly and tucked an errant strand of dark hair back from Dick’s forehead and in doing so, the pads of his fingers brushed the man’s forehead affectionately.

“No more bumps to the head for you, huh?” An undercurrent of huskiness could be heard as Hartley silently reveled in the contact between them.

Dick blinked, under the elegant fingers, lips parting and eyes lightening with the pleasure of it. It didn't even occur to him to be embarrassed by the touch; instead, he smiled, almost happily.

"I'd really hate to forget you, so, yeah. Completely agreed."

He swallowed, because his own voice had come out lower, warmer than he generally meant it to. But not more so than he wanted.

He took a sip from his coffee, watching the redhead, then, quietly. "Hartley..."

Swallow, because he words he wanted to say scattered from him like baby crabs across the sand.

"If I have to go back to Gotham, will you come visit, once in a while? I mean, I'll be showing up here, too, but... you know."

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