Roy was pissed.
He had been planning this heist for months now, and he couldn't believe that he had to cancel last minute. He had all the equipment, his timing was down to a T, and he had been hyping himself up for it all week. He'd sent out his calling cards and everything! Those things are so hard to retract. He had everything ready and perfect, and now he had to take a rain check.
Of course Dinah had to have her baby on today of all days.
Roy sat in his old bedroom, gazing across at Dinah and Ollie, both fussing over their newborn son. He was in a crib now, a crappy looking makeshift one that Roy threw together while Dinah was in labor in the next room, Ollie by her side. Roy felt bad for not bringing a gift and for just generally being kind of useless when it came to kids, so he built the crib as a kind of 'I'm sorry for not being helpful' mixed with 'I'm grateful for all you've done for me and I'm sorry that I'm crappy at showing it'.
As soon as he laid eyes on it, Ollie engulfed him in a giant hug and thanked him like he had delivered the baby himself. Roy knew that the crib was kind of crappy, and that the first chance they got they would probably get a new one, but that didn't really matter. All that mattered was Ollie crying and telling Roy just how proud he was of him, and Roy had a suspicion that he wasn't talking about the crib.
Roy smiled, his anger leaving him as good memories passed through his mind. Hours had passed since then, and Roy had been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in that time. His cancelled heist was playing on his mind, and he wished he could have been here with the family and out working at the same time.
Dinah waved him over, so he got up and went to see his new brother. He looked so tiny in his crappy crib, and Roy couldn't help the smile that slipped onto his face when he gazed at the kid. He had Ollie's eyes. He had Dinah's nose, and Ollie's chin, and Roy didn't know why it made him so emotional that the kid looked like a freaking face morph of Green Arrow and Black Canary, but he couldn't stop the tears that came to his eyes. He was supposed to be a goddamn bad guy, for crying out loud, what would happen to his tough guy image of people knew he cried at the sight of his baby brother?
He scrubbed at his eyes to get rid of the tears, which elicited a giggle from Dinah, who was stood watching him.
"Do you want to hold him?" She asked as an answer to the glare he was giving her.
"No." Roy snapped back, but when Dinah picked up the baby and held him out to Roy, he just let her place the kid in his arms.
He rocked him back and forth gently, and bounced him around every so often. He tried to seem as tough as he could while holding a baby, but it was a difficult act to keep up and pretty soon Roy was enamoured with his baby brother. Ollie and Dinah watched happily as Roy excitedly bobbed the baby up and down, a wide smile on his face.
Roy gave the boy to Ollie and went back to sitting down on the edge of his old bed. Now that the baby was here, he presumed that Dinah and Ollie would clear it out and make it the baby's room, so he would have to be prepared to move some stuff to his apartment. It was so much harder hiding from cops and so called 'superheroes' when you were always moving huge items in and out of your place.
Dinah left Ollie bouncing their son around, and took a seat next to Roy.
"You okay?" She asked with a smile, tearing her eyes away from Ollie to look at Roy. He let out a laugh.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're in good shape for someone who just gave birth an hour ago." Roy shot back, his tough guy persona falling back into place, but Dinah could still see the concern behind his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I've always bounced back fast. It's a skill of mine." She smiled at him, but quickly became serious. "Are you okay though? Because I know you had to cancel a big job to be here, and I know how much you enjoy what you do."
Roy took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine with it. I can probably reschedule, anyway. I don't mind all that much."
Dinah shot him a look that told him she saw right through that, but sent him a sympathetic smile anyway. She took a deep breath before speaking. "You know, I've been thinking of getting out of this business." She didn't have to specify for Roy to know that by 'this business' she meant 'the glitz and glamour of being a super villain'. They rarely used the word villain, because it just seemed so evil, but Roy knew that was what they were.
"Really?" Roy was pretty taken aback. Dinah was the best in her field and at the top of her game, and as far as a good heist went, there was no one Roy would rather have with him than The Black Canary.
"Yeah. I have a son now. I shouldn't be putting myself in situations that could leave him without a mother." She glanced at the look of disbelief on Roy's face, and kept talking. "At least, not for a while. I want little Connor to be able to handle himself in case anything ever happens to me. I want to teach him and look after him and just love him for awhile."
Roy was silent for a second, then slowly nodded. "I can understand that."
"Do you ever think about giving it all up?" She asked, and Roy quickly shuck his head.
"No, I love it too much." Roy answered quickly, but then continued after a second. "I might, one day. But not now. I'm at the top of my game, you should have seen this heist I had planned for tonight! It was such a big one. I sent calling cards and everything. Although that means a hero probably would have shown up, so maybe it's a good thing I backed out."
A small smile slipped onto Dinah's face. "Oh, I don't know, I think calling cards are great. Maybe it would be fun for you to bump into a hero on the job, like say... Cheshire?"
Roy knew exactly what she was implying, and frankly, he was offended by the insinuation. "Cheshire!? How could I like Cheshire? She's such a pain in my ass."
Dinah's smile grew a little, and Roy felt like a kid again being asked if he went in the cookie jar. He never could hide things from Dinah. She didn't have to say anything, because he knew that she knew. "Just be careful, Roy."
"I'm not going to let her goad me into a jail cell or anything, Dinah. I'm not stupid."
Dinah sighed. "That's not what I meant, Roy. You're excellent at your job and I trust you, we all do. But be careful, because this seems like a recipe for disaster and an explosion or hurt feelings."
Roy chuckled. "Hurt feelings? I'm not twelve, Dinah."
The older woman smiled at him. "I know Roy. But love can hurt sometimes if you're not willing to make it work."
Roy glanced at her. "Do you think I should make it work?"
"I trust you, Roy. I trust your decision making and I'll always support you. Well, almost always. Don't do anything too stupid."
This seemed like an excellent time for Roy to take his leave.
On his way out, he told Ollie that if there was anything he could do, to just call him. Ollie just told him that he needs to visit more often before giving him a giant hug that Roy was pretty sure broke multiple ribs.
Roy rode his motorbike back to his apartment before stealing a glance at the time. 4:06 AM. He could see if the opportunity was still open for his big heist, but he was so tired and emotionally drained that he couldn't handle being a sassy tough guy criminal right now. That could wait till tomorrow.
Roy swung open his apartment door, too tired to really think right now, and slammed it behind him. A dark figure leapt up from the couch in surprise, and Roy instinctively catapulted himself towards the nearest weapon- a handgun he keeps in the plant pot next to the door. He took aim but was too tired to be prepared for the shrouded figure to flick on the lights or for the pounding headache that hit when they did. Roy was disarmed within a nanosecond of dropping his guard, but quickly stood up to see who the intruder was.
"Hello Arsenal."
He took a deep breath upon hearing the voice, deciding that he wasn't in any immediate danger, but still not quite letting his guard down.
"Cheshire."
She was watching him very closely, but it was obvious that he was absolutely shattered, so she appeared to ease up a little as well. She didn't look so great herself, her costume disheveled from what he assumes was a nap on his couch. She must be tired too.
"Why are you here?" The question comes out of his mouth before he can stop it, and it becomes increasingly clear to him that he is in no state for a fight. It's not the first time Cheshire has been at his place, even though he knows that she probably shouldn't, and it's not the first time she shown up unannounced, either. He knows he should probably stop this, but he finds himself falling deeper and deeper under her spell.
She waits a second before responding. "I just wanted to talk."
He bites back the instinct to ask 'about what', and instead just gives her a glare. He's not wearing a mask and he knows she can see it, but she's elected to ignore it in favour of feigning ignorance. "Why are you here?" He mutters again, this time quieter and with a lot less resolve.
She doesn't play dumb again. "I was worried when you didn't show up tonight. I waited for hours. I wanted to see us do that thing we do."
Roy tilted his head. "What thing?"
"You know, our Batman and Catwoman thing. I enjoy it. Makes all my hard work worth while." She's smiling, he can tell even through the Cheshire mask. He can hear it in her voice. He's learnt to read her through it, after their countless encounters.
Roy decided to revisit a point that stuck out in his mind from earlier. "You were worried about me?"
She moved towards him with all the stealth of a leopard, and Roy found himself fixed in place. He knew that technically, in theory, he should be running or fighting or trying to get as far away from this woman as he possibly could. But something kept him there, glued to the spot, like he was waiting for her to come and lock him up.
"You know, most villains would be running right now." She speaks evenly, but there's something in her tone that's expectant, like she's waiting for him to say something that she wants to hear.
What it was, he couldn't tell right now. He'd never been that good at reading people while he was tired. "I'm not most villains." Was all he could fathom before Cheshire reached him, and her face was merely inches from his.
"Oh yeah? Well I'm not most heroes." She reached up and looped her arms around his neck, her face moving even closer to his.
"How so?" He asked, a smirk making its way to his lips. He suddenly felt a lot more awake.
Cheshire moved her hands to reach behind her head. At first Roy thought she might be going for a weapon, but that seemed a bit dark for a hero. Instead, she unclipped the back of her mask, removing it from her face and laying it on the coffee table across from them. This was the first time Roy had ever seen her eyes. Normally, she had a domino mask on under the larger Cheshire mask, but this time... It was all her. She was breathtaking, Roy thought offhandedly, and it came to his attention that this thought was on his mind far more than was healthy when thinking about your rival.
"You'll find I'm a lot more..." There was a pause as she looped her arms back around Roy's neck, reassuming her position from before, her lips now a breath away from his. "Flexible."
Roy knew it was a bad idea, because she was a hero, and a damn good one, and was probably manipulating him because she was very good at that. But it sure as hell felt real. He was a bad guy, and she was one of the good guys, but they had something between them, and later that night Roy found himself grateful he didn't say no. He didn't pull his regular tough guy villain crap.
Because for the first time in a long time, he was with somebody on the side of good, and it was giving him all kinds of feelings. Feelings that a bad guy should not be having for a hero. Feelings that Roy found he couldn't completely hide underneath a pile of breathless kisses.
Roy knows that he is a bad guy by nature, but Dinah's words came back to him that night. Love can hurt sometimes if you're not willing to make it work. Was he willing to make it work? Would she be willing to try?
He was pretty stuck as far as feelings went, but that's what happens when you play the tough guy villain, especially when you do the whole star-crossed lovers thing with a hero. This was the kind of thing parents warned their kids about.