Batgirl and Killer Moth in: Interlude at 10:30PM

Drury Walker turned his SUV into the gated drive of his subdivision, drifting across the lane as he yawned.  Beside him, slumped against the door of the passenger seat, his daughter his daughter was already fast asleep, phone still clutched in her hand.  He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her fall out like this, certainly not since she was a little girl, but he also knew that the 12 year old had swiped a wine cooler or two at the cookout.  He had debated about stopping her, but figured that letting her get away with it wouldn't hurt her, and as long as he was only going to let her catch a buzz she might as well think she had managed to pull one over on her dad.  Rows of suburban tract homes, empty houses, and cleared lots marked the path to his driveway and as he pulled in he couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment.  Most days only reinforced the rat race of supervillainy, especially for d-listers, but unlike the backstabbing psychos that held the public's attention there was room for camaraderie, even friendship, for those at the bottom.  If someone told you Killer Moth, the Cavalier, Captain Stingaree, Firefly, and the Queen of Diamonds were meeting up you'd expect the worst, but Dru (plus one), Mort, Karl, Garfield, and Marsha simply had a normal Memorial Day barbecue - even if Mort and Karl just wanted to flex their new houseboat, Marsha was still pissed at Dru for cutting and running during a heist, and they spent all day trying to keep Garfield away from the grill.

Putting the car in park, he reached over and tweaked his daughter's nose, but her slumber remained undisturbed.  He stepped out and stretched, yawning again, and looked at the sky.  The mostly abandoned nature of his housing development meant that streetlight coverage was rare and as such, despite the bright and sickly glow of distant Gotham City eating away at the edges of the sky, he saw stars without number cast amid a field of amethyst lit from the dying rays of the sunset.  He expected, perhaps a bit sentimentally, that there would be a shooting star but was not particularly disappointed when one failed to streak across the sky.  Opening the rear hatch, he pulled the coolers full of leftovers out of the back and stuck his head inside.

"Kitten," he called softly to no answer.  "Kitten, we're home," he added with a rising volume, but again the sleeping girl remained inert.  Closing the hatch, he walked to the passenger door and debated the best way to wake her up without just slinging the door wide and letting her fall out.  Though he considered that option with a smile.  Pulling on the handle, he carefully jostled the door, sending the preteen bolting upwards, where she looked around confused and wiped the drool off her chin and cheek.

"We're home, sweetie."

"I know, Daddy, I was awake," she said crossly, her voice thick with sleepiness.

"Mhmm," he replied as she flopped out of the car and lurched her way towards the front door, grabbing the house keys from her father's hand.  "Aren't you going to get your purse and towel?"

"You can get them," came a soft mutter in reply.

Rolling his eyes, he scooped up her belongings and grabbed the coolers catching up to her as she half stumbled through the door and into their living room.  Dru dropped her things on the couch and headed to the kitchen with the coolers as Kitten tromped her way up the stairs one by one and to her waiting bed.

"Night, Dad."

"Don't you want to get a shower and brush your teeth first?"

"No."

Dru rolled his eyes again as he unloaded the leftovers into the fridge.  She was going to wake up tomorrow with a mess of tangled hair and spend the entire morning having a fit trying to fix it, and he was going to have that great "I told you so" moment that parents live for.  With the coolers empty he followed her upstairs and into her room.  She had flopped down face first on her bed, and was already fast asleep again.  Smiling down at her, he pulled her flipflops off and tossed a blanket over, kissing her goodnight on the top of her head, her hair still damp and matted from her earlier swimming.  Heading down the hallway to his room, he flipped the light switch and kicked off his sandals, standing in front of the mirror he pressed on the parts of his skin that were red from too much sun and sighed.  His phone chimed with a text message as he was about to hop in the shower, a number he didn't recognize.

"Dru, it's Babs."

He never gave her this number.  He wouldn't.  They didn't have the kind of relationship for that.  They technically didn't have a relationship at all.  Sure, they had been fucking for months now, and she'd been over to his hideout a couple of times, and his house a couple of times, but that doesn't count of you only learn her real name something like a couple weeks prior by accident because your kid walked in on the two of you half naked in the kitchen.  So how'd she get this number.  She probably hacked his carrier or something, she was Batgirl after all, and it wouldn't take much to track a guy down when you know his real name and address.  But why text him?  Something had to be wrong.  Something big.  Something important enough to make her desperately reach out to a criminal instead of going to the rest of the Batfamily or the other superheroes.  He tapped the side of phone as figured out how he should play this.  Cool, he decided, cool and non-committal.

"What's up?"

"Nothing important.  How was your day?"

Dru tossed the phone on the bed and stared at it blankly for a good while before picking it back up.

"Went to a cookout."

"My holiday got shot to shit, literally.  A cookout would have been fun.  Family?"

"Couple of friends, couple of beers, some BBQ."

"Oh man, BBQ sounds really great right now."

Dru looked at himself in the mirror and frowned, nodding his head.  Not that kind of relationship indeed.

"Are you trying to get me to invite you over?"

There was a good two minute pause before the next message popped up.

"No.  Do you want to invite me over?"

Dru inhaled between his teeth and considered telling her goodnight then throwing his phone out the window.  This was getting out of hand, and he was feeling particularly vulnerable because of how one-sided it had all become.  Sure, he had kinda pushed it that way but all he really wanted was to occasionally fuck like normal people.  And now she's inviting herself over.  On the other hand, bangin' hot redhead with a lithe, muscled body, and tits that make you want to thank Jesus.  He was going to hate himself, but he could hate himself tomorrow.  Play it cool and non-committal.

"Only if you want to come over."

"Be there in an hour.  Bringing my swimsuit."

He was already starting to hate himself.

Seventy-four minutes later Dru was sitting on his couch watching tv and trying not to doze off when there was a soft knock at the door.  Grabbing the handle, there was a slight moment of hesitation before he opened to the sight of Barbara Gordon leaning against his doorway, a cocksure grin on her face and and perfectly messed hair.  She knew what she was doing, but Dru mostly noticed her heavy, half-lidded eyes and dark undercircles.

"Gonna invite me in?"

Dru stepped aside and motioned, Babs planting a quick kiss on his cheek as she threw her motorcycle helmet on the couch and headed to the kitchen, where she crashed into one of the chairs and laid her arms and head on the table.  Not quite what Dru was expecting and he leaned against the counter wondering what to say.  Before he could open his mouth Babs started.

"Why do you guys do it?"

"Do what?"

Babs sat up and raised her arms to the ceiling.  "The whole, grand 'I'm going to ruin everyone's day' themed spectacle crime thing."  She slumped back in the chair.  "I didn't go to bed until 7AM today because of Riddler pulling his shit then by 11 I'm fighting freaking robots.  Can't you people just chill for one goddamn day?"

Dru stood there and waited for the growing irritation to die down.  He didn't sign up for this shit, and certainly didn't wait up for her just so she could bitch and blame him.  "Not really my kind of gig," he said curtly.

"I just want one holiday, just one, where you people don't ruin it."  She shrugged, "It doesn't have to be one of the big ones, I'll take Flag Day at this point.  Can that be arranged?"

He was done, so incredibly done with her.  He was going to tell her to get out and forget his number.  They could just go back to beating the shit out of each other and maybe, maybe the rare quickie on a rooftop.  He didn't sign up for this.  But when he opened his mouth he found himself repeating, "Not my kind of gig."

Babs looked like she was going to keep going, but pulled back at the last moment when the tone of his voice got through to her.  She looked at him wearily and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Yeah."  She collapsed back onto the table and rested her head on her arms, "It's not your fault.  I just...you got the cookout with friends, and I...I invited myself over didn't I?"

Sighing, Dru wanted to stay mad at her but she looked so perfectly pitiable and it was the cutest thing he could imagine.  "Calendar Man?" he asked as he sat next to her, "we were down by the riverside but heard some kind of commotion downtown."

"Calendar Man and Toyman.  They somehow managed to replace everything in the Gotham Museum of Military History with robots and drones.  I had to fight a Smedley Butler mannequin on top of half-track barreling down Franklin Rock Avenue."

Patting her hand in sympathy, Dru stood up and walked to the fridge.  "Well, I think you've earned some reheated leftovers.  I've got hotdogs, hamburgers, some potato salad, coleslaw, and a dozen of those frozen drink pouches."

"Hotdog with mustard and shredded cheddar if you've got it, and whatever flavor drink."

Dru tossed her the frozen drink and put the hotdog in the microwave.  Tearing the pouch open, Babs downed half of it in one go, then immediately clutched her head and shuddered to Dru's amusement.  Dru set the hotdog on the table and took up the chair beside her as she recovered, covering her hands with his.  Blinking the pain away Babs grabbed the hotdog and wolfed it down between gulps of her remaining drink as Dru looked on with some concern.  She had wiped some mustard off her face and sucked it off her thumb when she noticed Dru staring.  "This is all I've had to eat today," she said as she turned her head with embarrassment.

"Do you want another?"

"Maybe later, right now I want to hop in your pool."  She looked around, and unzipped her motorcycle jacket, "I decided to wear a little special something just for the occasion," and opened the jacket to reveal little more than a few bits of string and strategically placed scraps of cloth.  After a second her countenance turned serious and she covered herself back up, "Kitten is asleep, right?"

"PTFO."

"Well then, Mr. Walker," she purred with a come-hither grin as she danced her fingers on his chest, "why don't you grab us a few more of those crappy frozen margaritas and meet me in the backyard?"  And with that she tossed the jacket on the table and quickly pulled off her boots and pants, and sauntered out the backdoor.

Dru smiled and tossed some drinks back in the cooler, pulling his shirt off and adding it to the floor.  Flicking on the pool lights he saw Babs waiting for him on the steps to the shallow end.  Setting the cooler down he tried to think of something smooth to say to the mostly naked woman sitting in his pool, only hear the sounds of soft snoring coming Babs as she leaned against the hand rail.  Dru stopped and simply watched her, nodding his head.  He'd been expecting something like this to happen since she walked in the door.  Would have been nice to have happened before he was at half-mast but that's life.  Leaning down he kissed her gently on the ear, making a loud smacking sound with his lips that jolted her awake.

"Huh, what?"  Babs shook her head and looked up at Dru.

"C'mon, Babs, lets get you to bed."

"No," she yawned heavily," no, I'm fine.  Just nodded off."

"While you were in the pool," he added as he pulled her to her feet.

"I wanted to," she yawned again, "fool around."

"My pool will be here tomorrow."

Holding her tight, they slowly made their way through the house and up the stairs to his room, where he deposited her on the bed and closed the door.  Babs crossed her arms and pouted, "Stupid Calendar Man.  Stupid Toyman," before she slipped the strings off her shoulders and stripped naked, for what little it was worth.  "I demand boyfriend t-shirt!" she commanded in a lethargic tone that was answered by a shirt being tossed over her face.  "Thank you," she added from beneath the shirt before pulling it over her head and laying down as Dru stepped into the bathroom.

Finishing up in the bathroom, Dru found Babs already passed out in the bed, her mouth open and snoring loudly.  Yawning himself, he slid in next to her and settled himself in as tiredness crept over him.  And just as he closed his eyes and felt sleep overtaking, his brain had one last thought that unsettled him enough to open his eyes.  Boyfriend.  He wasn't.  They weren't.  It was just a turn of phrase, right?  Boyfriend t-shirt?  She didn't mean it.  She was half out of it already.  She couldn't have meant it.  Everything about the two of them that wasn't fisticuffs and her taking a victory lap on his lap was like pulling teeth.  Every time something even came close to a "relationship" she had a freak out.  What'd she call it?  Domestic.  Finding out about his kid was enough to send her running for weeks.  He rolled onto his side and looked at her.  There was no way she'd call him boyfriend.  There was no way he was her boyfriend.  Her...  Yeah.  Sure.  Whatever.  Something else he could deal with tomorrow.  He pulled the comforter over them, wrapped his arm around her tightly, and was soon fast asleep.