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thejusticelounge2013-01-12 03:27 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-01-12 03:27 pm
Entry tags:
forever foodies
Bai: ONCE I MADE ALL THE TITANS BROWNIE VALENTINES HEARTS WITH SPECIAL FROSTING MESSAGES BUT I EATED IT
Steph: GAH WHY DID I NOT KNOW YOU THEN? *Clings to Bai so she doesn’t fall and her stomach rumbles.* Brownies = legit love. True facts. Ooh, want to go catch some lunch now, actually? I’m starving!
“Yah yah yah!” Bai stopped rushing them around and waited as Steph scraped her hair out of her mouth and eyes and back into order after being speedstered. “What you wanna eat? I could go for anything. Likeliterally. If you don’t feel like eating at a place and you want ohIdunno pizza from Naples or something, I could go get it and we could eat inthepark although I’m good with going somewhere to eat too!”
Righting herself, Steph grinned excitedly at Bai, grabbing her hands and asking seriously, “Really? Could you run us to London for fish and chips? We could have chocolate truffles for dessert!” She locked her arms around Bai’s neck, not sure what the protocol was after never having been ran anywhere before. “If that’s okay, I mean. We could check out all of the cheesy touristy stuff while the Olympics are going on.”
“You never gone Speedster Express?” Bai widened her eyes and started hopping up and down, jogging in place, building speed. “You’re infora treat, Steph! As long as you don’t get like motion sickness or anything because thathappenedonce and it was super disgusting and I don’t wanna repeat that again.”
By this point there were little silver-blue sparks and lightnings crackling around Bai’s shins, and she impulsively kissed Steph on the cheek before jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “Climb on my back!” she directed, “and keep your armsandlegs tucked inside my speed envelope, that’s the MOST IMPORTANT thing!!”
Equal parts surprised and excited to see Bai so revved up for lunch that she had sparks rolling off her skin, Steph grinned at the kiss on the cheek her friend had stolen and climbed onto her back like a koala, holding on for dear life, doing her best not to strangle her, though. “Onward, Sparky!” she laughed, pointing in a random direction. “Priorities of the day: Eat good foreign food and don’t die. In that order.” And then the wind was racing past them and Steph buried her face in the back of Bai’s neck before they lurched to a stop.
“We’re here,” Bai said, her voice coming out remote, silver-chilled and vibrating hollowly. She swayed a little bit, her body warming and slowing down, relaxing out of the Speed Force into subjective time, and then unslung Steph from her back.
“Where was it yousaid you wanted togo?” Bai asked, two fingers touching Steph’s elbow as she re-grounded herself. Also she just liked touching Steph, because she was so round and firm and rosy everywhere, like a mango. A Julie mango, the kind that only grew in the Caribbean. And couldn’t get shipped anywhere because they were so plump and fragrant and juicy. “And oh bytheway we’re gonna go get mangoes in the West Indies afterokay?”
“Sure thing. Mangoes sound yummy.” Steph giggled a little at how excitable Bai could get, her words running together. “Uuum … Ooh! Let’s go over there!” she said, pointing to a pub called The Fox & the Hound. Clasping hands with her friend, she took off in her idea of a sprint (obviously nothing compared to Bai’s speed) towards the pub on the bustling London street. The front doors and all of its windows were open, a nice breeze passing through the classic pub, the smell of its hanging potted plants outside mixing with the numerous smells coming from the kitchen, making Steph’s stomach rumble comically.
Sitting at the bar, she got them both menus and smiled excitedly at Bai. “I’ve always wanted to try authentic fish and chips! What are you getting? You probably know a lot more foreign food than me.” Bai’s energy was contagious, Steph just couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. They were actually hanging out in London! Just for the heck of it! She had to pay her back somehow.
“Zomg I love that movie The Fox and the Hound I sawitonce with Gar and he turned into bothof them and did all the animal noises and everythinglikewhenthe hound tries to do that bloodhound noise!! It was excellent!! Watching animal movies with Gar is BEST.” Bai considered what she’d said for a moment and amended, “He didn’t turn into both at the sametime, of course. In turns.”
Scanning the menu as she cosied up to the bar and Steph, Bai jabbed her finger at the full English breakfast. “That, and a pie and mash, and a chicken korma, mmmmmm. Oh and a Guinness & black. It’s got blackcurrantsyrup in it and I LOVE blackcurrant and you can try it when I get it Steph!!”
This reminded Bai of something and she flipped the coaster in her fingers as she turned fully to Steph, eyes rounded. “SPLUH I totally forgot to tell you! I’m gonna be working at Warriors!”
“Me, too! I mean, I didn’t watch it with you and Gar, obviously, but I love that movie. I totally cry every time,” she confessed to Bai. “We should have a movie night! I make a mean cup of cocoa. Ever try homemade waffles? Ah, sweet!” Steph looked over the menu and laughed at Bai’s enthusiasm. It was endearing. She told the waitress who was already taking down their order, “I’ll take the fish and chips and a slice of apple pie, please. And … A bottle of black cherry Jones Soda if you’ve got it.”
Steph jumped at Bai’s outburst and started laughing again, catching the coaster mid-air. “Really? That’s so awesome!” She hugged Bai and set the coaster back down as the waitress came back and gave them their drinks. “You get to work with the Night Lights. Lucky. What do you do? Waitress or chef? I bet you’d be a great chef if we could keep you from eating it,” she teased.
“There was cocoa I tried once somewhereinthe Caribbean when I stopped once on the way to Venezuela and it was thick and tasted kindoflike coconut is yours like that?” Bai stopped to take a hefty slurp of her drink, rolling her eyes in pleasure. “I LOVE BLACKCURRANT ZOMG.” She switched their drinks around so Steph could taste while Bai sipped at the black cherry soda, careful not to gulp it down on speedster instinct. Being around Steph made her so hyper!
“I cook okay except everything takes so looooooong and then I get impatient! I’m gonna do odd jobs and fill in as waitress or busgirl or whatever, I think? You can alwaysfind something for a speedster to do!” Bai giggled, then remembered something and tipped her head. “Steph, whatwas it like when you and Tim were dating? Was it superdifferent from being friends with him?”
Steph laughed a lightly at Bai’s quirky way of speaking in smooshed together words. It was adorable and endearing. “Not unless you want it to be. I do cocoa powder and heated milk, then add whatever you like to it. My favorite has malted milk balls and whipped cream and cinnamon. I’ve got those Pirouette cookies, graham crackers, tons of chocolate candies, and chocolate, strawberry, and caramel sauce to go on top … I take cocoa very seriously,” she deadpanned.
Trying the black currant brew, her eyes rolled back in her head a bit. “Mmm. Hot damn, that’s good. We need to get a keg or something for Warrior’s.” Steph was going to say something enthusiastic about Bai’s sweet new job position, but her question had caught her off guard a little. She nibbled on food thoughtfully as she stared at a tiny crack in the bar’s counter.
“Honestly? It was great,” Steph said. “Tim was a total gentleman and didn’t leave me and awful baby-daddy baggage when any sane guy would. It was only different in that when we weren’t joking around and bantering for shits and giggles, we’d kiss each other. I swear, it’s like a jolt of lightning, like I was wearing electric jammies.” She was quoting herself from one of their first kisses. “What got in the way, though, were our alter-egos. At first it was that I couldn’t know his civvie name, then it was that neither of us could separate our feelings from our work as heroes. We both made dumb, short-sighted choices when we were sixteen and we’ve hurt each other nearly as much as we loved each other.” Steph turned on her stool until she was facing Bai and gave her a warm smile, bumping her knee with her friend’s. “I’m really glad you two are dating now. What are you guys doing, anyway?”
“Sixteen is awfully different from nineteen and twenty-four,” Bai said consideringly, accepting her multiple plates from the waitress and immediately starting to push pieces of chicken pie through her mashed potatoes. “Me and Tim got that going for us, being olderandwiser. Me older and way wiser of course ‘cause I’m the girl.” She grinned, nudging Steph’s knee with her own, and tipped her head back and forth before saying, “I dunno what we’re doing rilly? Weonlyjust decided we would even TRY this, and I like him, Steph, enough to give it a try but right right*right* now? I’m more protective of our friendship than I am of a relationship, know what Imean?”
Polishing off the last of the gravy and potato, Bai methodically moved onto the Indian food, tearing and folding bits of naan to insert into her mouth. “What I’m worried about islikethings that I can deal with as friends, that might be annoying if we’re dating. There’s things that’re fine in a bestie that’re not as cool with a boyfriend, right? So in a way it’s kindoflike you and him and the alter-egoes. Only our alter-egoes is besties and —” she held up her hands, sketching the outlines of a room in the air between them, “—the parameters that come with that, yo.”
Bai thumped her chest and gave a delicate burp into her fist before swirling her fork around in the baked beans of her breakfast plate. “Maybe I sound totally frikkin neurotic, but I don’t wanna rush into like declarations of love before we take time to figureoutour new parameters. Having my best friend is mega more important to me than having a boyfriend.” Bai sighed, poking her bottom lip out so the stream of air flipped up the hair on her forehead. “If things go bad I’ll come camp out onyourcouch and let you feed me cocoa with malt balls until I feel better!!”
Steph’s amused smile widened a little as Bai nonchalantly blew through her dishes and she picked at hers, listening. She nodded, taking a large bite of her fish. “I totally get that. You two have been such close friends for so long that it just feels natural to go in this direction, but at the same time, you don’t want to ruin what you had. You’re not neurotic, you like like your best friend,” she said, using air quotes for the middle school term. “You’re entitled to a little freak out before this goes down.”
Laughing with Bai as their empty plates were taken away, Steph pulled her into a side hug, smooshing their cheeks together. “Oh, you can sleep over whenever you like! I’ll make Barry take the guest room and you and I can spoon and watch movies and drink candy-fied cocoa for shits and giggles, no prior heartbreak necessary.” The waitress offered them dessert and Steph ordered the peach cobbler. “I promise you, I wouldn’t be cheering my biggest ex on like this if I weren’t totally convinced you two would make a great couple. You just click, you know? You’ve already mixed your personal and hero lives with each other, plus you’re old enough to not make as many dumb hormonal mistakes. If there were a time to try dating your best friend-who by the way is a totally goofball when your name comes up-the time would be now.”
“You rilly rilly think so?” Bai ordered sticky toffee pudding and banoffee pie and then held Steph’s hands, vibrating her fingertips between Steph’s knuckles. “You got way more experience than me on this, so your advice and opinion are MEGA useful. Sometimes I think maybe I overthinkthings because I am a speedster, you know, so if I’m going at my own pace that means I have way way WAY amountof time to go over things in my head and over and over and over and it’s only been like a couple of seconds in non-speedster time. So I’ve looked at this from every angle I can come up with and a lot of them make me nervous, but I’m so relieved youthink we can rilly make it work!!”
Leaning in to hug Steph, Bai pecked her on the cheek too before sitting back, pink and grinning. “I will SO take you up on coming over and putting Barry the guest room like a naughty cat,” she laughed. “I used to do girl stuff with Cassie and Cissie too, but they’re so busy these days with grownup things and personal things and I miss it! I would love to spoon with you and drink candy cocoa.” Bai clasped her hands and held them up next to her cheek, rolling her eyes in glee. “It sounds like HEAVEN, Steph!!”
“That’s why you and Tim would work, though. You both over think things to the point of exhaustion.” She started to giggle at Bai’s vibrating fingertips. “It’s adorable. I think if you two would both take a breath and realize how hard the other is working to figure it out, you could relax and actually enjoy the relationship. Like in math: A negative times a negative equals a positive. Does that make sense?”
Steph grinned back at Bai, blushing also at the small kiss. “You can come over any time. I haven’t had much chance to have some girl time either and it sucks, you know? But between starting college again, keeping up with the League, fighting crime, and looking for a job, friend time is super rare. You’d be like a breath of fresh air!” The waitress came back with their orders and she tried a bite of her peach cobbler, eyes rolling in the back of her head. “Mmm. Oh, my God. You have got to try this.”
Bai needed no further encouragement to sample the peach cobbler, shoving her two desserts over to Steph while she spooned down at least a third of the other girl’s peaches. “That’s FANTASTIC,” she declared, eyes rounded. “I’ve hadalot of peach cobblers, alotalot, and this one is one of the BEST!” She twirled the three plates around to get the pudding back and consume some more, then spun it back to Steph, giggling. “Like a dessert merry-go-round.”
The waitress came by to make sure they didn’t want anything else, and Bai ordered one last pint of lager before they settled the bill. It wouldn’t take her long to drink it, and after her last bout of experimentation with how much it took to get a speedster drunk, she’d perfected the technique. A pint would get her giddy enough to feel good without burning through her metabolism pointlessly, now, but leave her cogent enough for the trip home.
Plus, it would help her not overthink things with Tim, as Steph had advised. Bai made a resolution not to bring him up for the rest of the night. She pressed her fingers to Steph’s knee and earnestly said, “This is so much fun, Steph. I’m glad you suggested it. I love spending time with you.”
“I think that’s the most beautiful phrase ever,” Steph laughed, watching Bai polish off her desserts as she finished her own. She was right, the peaches were killer. Feeling full and happy as she watched Bai finish off another pint, Steph vaguely wondered if speedsters could get drunk or if it was just another perk of their metabolisms.
They settled the bill and Steph’s cheeks flooded with color again. She stood and hugged Bai. “I love spending time, too. Want to check out any other places? You said something about mangos or something, right? Let’s go get mangos!” She had an idea just then when she realized they’d probably go to another country for the fruit. “It’s getting kind of late and this is random, but what are your feelings about trying out a tropical night club to burn off this food? With your energy, I bet you’re a pretty good dancer.”
“I am a FABOOOOO dancer!!” Bai immediately broke out into some pop-and-lock right there on the sidewalk outside the pub, spinning herself around Steph as the other girl giggled. “And I’m mega massive awake right now and full of energy after eating and I would love love LOVE to go to a nightclub with you, Steph, homg you have such fantastic ideas!!!”
Hugging her swiftly, Bai turned around so Steph could hop on board the Speedster Express and took off, running joyously until they pulled up at the edge of a sugar cane field and she let Steph off to catch her breath. They were a little ways away from a night market — they could smell fried foods and syrupy tropical fruit — and underneath that, a steady thump of bass. Bai grinned at Steph, already hopping to the beat, and took her hand.
“There’s a hall just down the road where they have fêtes, they call nightclub parties fêtes here or bacchanals and that pretty much tells you how wild they are, and it’s all calypso music and there’s lots and lots of rum and everybody dances like crazy, you’ll love it, Steph, and then we can come back to the stalls and drink coconut water and eat mangoes after!!”
The second trip on Bai’s back wasn’t as much of a shock as the first, but Steph was still dizzy by the abrupt stop. She plopped backwards on her butt on the ground and could just see the makings of a party past the sugarcane field. Letting Bai pull her to her feet, she linked arms with the girl and they ran at her normal speed to a building with minimal walls so a breeze could carry through effortlessly. Flashing, colorful lights colored the faces of the gleeful dancers as they milled about.
“You ready for this?” she asked, grinning widely. Steph and Bai plunged into the pulsing crowd of dancers as the oddly catchy island music thumped over the speakers, twisting, turning, twirling to the beat together. Bai was a great dancer, moving as effortlessly as if she’d been born to do nothing else. Steph rocked and rolled her hips to the bass and let her hair out of her ponytail, letting loose a little. “I’m so glad we’re doing this!” she called over the music, to Bai.
“This was the BEST idea, Steph! You’re likethemost AWESOME dance partner, I dunno howcome we never did this before!” Even though it was late enough at night that there was a good ocean freshness to the breeze, there were so many people in the dancehall moving around so fast that it didn’t take long at all before the two of them were flushed and sweaty, their hair sticking to their foreheads, their skin shiny and damp.
Circulating to the bar and grabbing two plastic cups of rum punch, Bai bore them back to Stephanie and cheersed her before downing her drink. It was much, much stronger than the kind of rum punches back home, and she whooped before shimmying closer to Steph, draping her arms around the other girl’s neck and winding her hips, mimicking the loose, sinuous movements of the people around them. Two women danced against them for a moment, hair whipping as they laughed and then moved on; a man held Steph’s hips briefly and bumped her against his thigh to the beat before also twisting off with another partner.
Bai could be very moody when it came to how many people were around her and whether or not they touched her, but with Steph’s pretty, rosy face so close and the joyous energy of everybody around them, she found she didn’t mind this crush at all.
The rum punch made Steph’s head swim a little as she danced with Bai, grinning and moving close together to the beat. “So are you! I’m so jealous of your energy! You just never run out of fun!” she shouted back over the music, other dancers joining them briefly and then moving on. The music changed tempo, less bass beat, more fast paced with the steel drums. “We have to do this again sometime!”
Hardly an hour later and she was completely breathless, grinning, clinging to Bai as they made their way down the street to an outdoor market for their fruit. It was just as lively as the dance hall had been, but in a more familial way, old people and little kids milling about with their parents buying the fresh produce and playing small carnival games. “Ooh! You go and get the mangoes over there, and I’ll meet you there in a sec. I want to try something,” Steph told her, nudging her down the row.
She turned back to one of the tables and paid the old lady for a turn at tossing ping pong balls into jars so as to win goldfish. They were funny looking, different colors and with tiny humps. The nice old lady told her with an accented voice that they were calico Ryukin goldfish. Steph missed her first try, handing over another bill to try again. Focusing this time, she made the shot and cried out, “Aw, yeah! This is how we do it!~” The woman handed over an orange and white male, black flecks on his forehead like a little mask. She held the bag behind her back and nudged Bai’s hip with her own in greeting. “Look at what I won for you,” she said in a sing-song voice, producing the baby fish for her friend. “It’s a thank you for running me everywhere.”
“Awwwww STEPH!” Bai took the little bag gingerly and hugged the other girl, holding it up to look at the fish over Stephanie’s shoulder. “Fish are so weird and neat to look at. Especially if you’re underwater with them like I do sometimes, although those are the deep-sea fish so they’re not as cute and way more gross and freaky but still! Neat! Thank you so much!”
When they disentanged Bai patted the bag that was slung over her shoulder. “Plenty of Julie mangoes in here for us to split when we get back,” she said, extracting one and holding the blushed fruit out for Steph to smell its sweet aroma, far more luscious than any of the imported kind. Then she linked hands with her to walk for a bit more, far enough down the stalls for them to grab a quick refueling snack of doubles and cups of cold, refreshing sorrel before heading back out to the seclusion of the canefield.
“This was so much fun, Steph.” Bai carefully tucked the fish bag in among the mangoes, then turned for Steph to climb onto her back for the return trip. “The only thing that’s gonna be as fun as this is getting together with you for crazy hot cocoa flavours and spooning on your couch!”
The oddly satisfying mix of spicy and fruity from their meal left Steph satisfied (though the bit of rum made her pucker) and ready to crash. She leaned heavily into Bai as they walked back to the canefield they’d arrived in. Clambering onto her friend’s back, she rested her chin on the girl’s shoulder. “Definitely!” she agreed, smiling back at her. “Call me up some weekend and we’ll make it a sleepover. You bring the pizza, I’ll supply the cocoa, and we can compare embarrassing Tim stories,” she teased. The two took off via Bai’s superspeed and ended their night turned afternoon by the time they reentered Gotham’s time zone. Steph would be taking a sick day from classes that day to recuperate from her girls’ night out with Bai, dreaming of fruity beer, pink fish, and lots of mangoes.
Steph: GAH WHY DID I NOT KNOW YOU THEN? *Clings to Bai so she doesn’t fall and her stomach rumbles.* Brownies = legit love. True facts. Ooh, want to go catch some lunch now, actually? I’m starving!
“Yah yah yah!” Bai stopped rushing them around and waited as Steph scraped her hair out of her mouth and eyes and back into order after being speedstered. “What you wanna eat? I could go for anything. Likeliterally. If you don’t feel like eating at a place and you want ohIdunno pizza from Naples or something, I could go get it and we could eat inthepark although I’m good with going somewhere to eat too!”
Righting herself, Steph grinned excitedly at Bai, grabbing her hands and asking seriously, “Really? Could you run us to London for fish and chips? We could have chocolate truffles for dessert!” She locked her arms around Bai’s neck, not sure what the protocol was after never having been ran anywhere before. “If that’s okay, I mean. We could check out all of the cheesy touristy stuff while the Olympics are going on.”
“You never gone Speedster Express?” Bai widened her eyes and started hopping up and down, jogging in place, building speed. “You’re infora treat, Steph! As long as you don’t get like motion sickness or anything because thathappenedonce and it was super disgusting and I don’t wanna repeat that again.”
By this point there were little silver-blue sparks and lightnings crackling around Bai’s shins, and she impulsively kissed Steph on the cheek before jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “Climb on my back!” she directed, “and keep your armsandlegs tucked inside my speed envelope, that’s the MOST IMPORTANT thing!!”
Equal parts surprised and excited to see Bai so revved up for lunch that she had sparks rolling off her skin, Steph grinned at the kiss on the cheek her friend had stolen and climbed onto her back like a koala, holding on for dear life, doing her best not to strangle her, though. “Onward, Sparky!” she laughed, pointing in a random direction. “Priorities of the day: Eat good foreign food and don’t die. In that order.” And then the wind was racing past them and Steph buried her face in the back of Bai’s neck before they lurched to a stop.
“We’re here,” Bai said, her voice coming out remote, silver-chilled and vibrating hollowly. She swayed a little bit, her body warming and slowing down, relaxing out of the Speed Force into subjective time, and then unslung Steph from her back.
“Where was it yousaid you wanted togo?” Bai asked, two fingers touching Steph’s elbow as she re-grounded herself. Also she just liked touching Steph, because she was so round and firm and rosy everywhere, like a mango. A Julie mango, the kind that only grew in the Caribbean. And couldn’t get shipped anywhere because they were so plump and fragrant and juicy. “And oh bytheway we’re gonna go get mangoes in the West Indies afterokay?”
“Sure thing. Mangoes sound yummy.” Steph giggled a little at how excitable Bai could get, her words running together. “Uuum … Ooh! Let’s go over there!” she said, pointing to a pub called The Fox & the Hound. Clasping hands with her friend, she took off in her idea of a sprint (obviously nothing compared to Bai’s speed) towards the pub on the bustling London street. The front doors and all of its windows were open, a nice breeze passing through the classic pub, the smell of its hanging potted plants outside mixing with the numerous smells coming from the kitchen, making Steph’s stomach rumble comically.
Sitting at the bar, she got them both menus and smiled excitedly at Bai. “I’ve always wanted to try authentic fish and chips! What are you getting? You probably know a lot more foreign food than me.” Bai’s energy was contagious, Steph just couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. They were actually hanging out in London! Just for the heck of it! She had to pay her back somehow.
“Zomg I love that movie The Fox and the Hound I sawitonce with Gar and he turned into bothof them and did all the animal noises and everythinglikewhenthe hound tries to do that bloodhound noise!! It was excellent!! Watching animal movies with Gar is BEST.” Bai considered what she’d said for a moment and amended, “He didn’t turn into both at the sametime, of course. In turns.”
Scanning the menu as she cosied up to the bar and Steph, Bai jabbed her finger at the full English breakfast. “That, and a pie and mash, and a chicken korma, mmmmmm. Oh and a Guinness & black. It’s got blackcurrantsyrup in it and I LOVE blackcurrant and you can try it when I get it Steph!!”
This reminded Bai of something and she flipped the coaster in her fingers as she turned fully to Steph, eyes rounded. “SPLUH I totally forgot to tell you! I’m gonna be working at Warriors!”
“Me, too! I mean, I didn’t watch it with you and Gar, obviously, but I love that movie. I totally cry every time,” she confessed to Bai. “We should have a movie night! I make a mean cup of cocoa. Ever try homemade waffles? Ah, sweet!” Steph looked over the menu and laughed at Bai’s enthusiasm. It was endearing. She told the waitress who was already taking down their order, “I’ll take the fish and chips and a slice of apple pie, please. And … A bottle of black cherry Jones Soda if you’ve got it.”
Steph jumped at Bai’s outburst and started laughing again, catching the coaster mid-air. “Really? That’s so awesome!” She hugged Bai and set the coaster back down as the waitress came back and gave them their drinks. “You get to work with the Night Lights. Lucky. What do you do? Waitress or chef? I bet you’d be a great chef if we could keep you from eating it,” she teased.
“There was cocoa I tried once somewhereinthe Caribbean when I stopped once on the way to Venezuela and it was thick and tasted kindoflike coconut is yours like that?” Bai stopped to take a hefty slurp of her drink, rolling her eyes in pleasure. “I LOVE BLACKCURRANT ZOMG.” She switched their drinks around so Steph could taste while Bai sipped at the black cherry soda, careful not to gulp it down on speedster instinct. Being around Steph made her so hyper!
“I cook okay except everything takes so looooooong and then I get impatient! I’m gonna do odd jobs and fill in as waitress or busgirl or whatever, I think? You can alwaysfind something for a speedster to do!” Bai giggled, then remembered something and tipped her head. “Steph, whatwas it like when you and Tim were dating? Was it superdifferent from being friends with him?”
Steph laughed a lightly at Bai’s quirky way of speaking in smooshed together words. It was adorable and endearing. “Not unless you want it to be. I do cocoa powder and heated milk, then add whatever you like to it. My favorite has malted milk balls and whipped cream and cinnamon. I’ve got those Pirouette cookies, graham crackers, tons of chocolate candies, and chocolate, strawberry, and caramel sauce to go on top … I take cocoa very seriously,” she deadpanned.
Trying the black currant brew, her eyes rolled back in her head a bit. “Mmm. Hot damn, that’s good. We need to get a keg or something for Warrior’s.” Steph was going to say something enthusiastic about Bai’s sweet new job position, but her question had caught her off guard a little. She nibbled on food thoughtfully as she stared at a tiny crack in the bar’s counter.
“Honestly? It was great,” Steph said. “Tim was a total gentleman and didn’t leave me and awful baby-daddy baggage when any sane guy would. It was only different in that when we weren’t joking around and bantering for shits and giggles, we’d kiss each other. I swear, it’s like a jolt of lightning, like I was wearing electric jammies.” She was quoting herself from one of their first kisses. “What got in the way, though, were our alter-egos. At first it was that I couldn’t know his civvie name, then it was that neither of us could separate our feelings from our work as heroes. We both made dumb, short-sighted choices when we were sixteen and we’ve hurt each other nearly as much as we loved each other.” Steph turned on her stool until she was facing Bai and gave her a warm smile, bumping her knee with her friend’s. “I’m really glad you two are dating now. What are you guys doing, anyway?”
“Sixteen is awfully different from nineteen and twenty-four,” Bai said consideringly, accepting her multiple plates from the waitress and immediately starting to push pieces of chicken pie through her mashed potatoes. “Me and Tim got that going for us, being olderandwiser. Me older and way wiser of course ‘cause I’m the girl.” She grinned, nudging Steph’s knee with her own, and tipped her head back and forth before saying, “I dunno what we’re doing rilly? Weonlyjust decided we would even TRY this, and I like him, Steph, enough to give it a try but right right*right* now? I’m more protective of our friendship than I am of a relationship, know what Imean?”
Polishing off the last of the gravy and potato, Bai methodically moved onto the Indian food, tearing and folding bits of naan to insert into her mouth. “What I’m worried about islikethings that I can deal with as friends, that might be annoying if we’re dating. There’s things that’re fine in a bestie that’re not as cool with a boyfriend, right? So in a way it’s kindoflike you and him and the alter-egoes. Only our alter-egoes is besties and —” she held up her hands, sketching the outlines of a room in the air between them, “—the parameters that come with that, yo.”
Bai thumped her chest and gave a delicate burp into her fist before swirling her fork around in the baked beans of her breakfast plate. “Maybe I sound totally frikkin neurotic, but I don’t wanna rush into like declarations of love before we take time to figureoutour new parameters. Having my best friend is mega more important to me than having a boyfriend.” Bai sighed, poking her bottom lip out so the stream of air flipped up the hair on her forehead. “If things go bad I’ll come camp out onyourcouch and let you feed me cocoa with malt balls until I feel better!!”
Steph’s amused smile widened a little as Bai nonchalantly blew through her dishes and she picked at hers, listening. She nodded, taking a large bite of her fish. “I totally get that. You two have been such close friends for so long that it just feels natural to go in this direction, but at the same time, you don’t want to ruin what you had. You’re not neurotic, you like like your best friend,” she said, using air quotes for the middle school term. “You’re entitled to a little freak out before this goes down.”
Laughing with Bai as their empty plates were taken away, Steph pulled her into a side hug, smooshing their cheeks together. “Oh, you can sleep over whenever you like! I’ll make Barry take the guest room and you and I can spoon and watch movies and drink candy-fied cocoa for shits and giggles, no prior heartbreak necessary.” The waitress offered them dessert and Steph ordered the peach cobbler. “I promise you, I wouldn’t be cheering my biggest ex on like this if I weren’t totally convinced you two would make a great couple. You just click, you know? You’ve already mixed your personal and hero lives with each other, plus you’re old enough to not make as many dumb hormonal mistakes. If there were a time to try dating your best friend-who by the way is a totally goofball when your name comes up-the time would be now.”
“You rilly rilly think so?” Bai ordered sticky toffee pudding and banoffee pie and then held Steph’s hands, vibrating her fingertips between Steph’s knuckles. “You got way more experience than me on this, so your advice and opinion are MEGA useful. Sometimes I think maybe I overthinkthings because I am a speedster, you know, so if I’m going at my own pace that means I have way way WAY amountof time to go over things in my head and over and over and over and it’s only been like a couple of seconds in non-speedster time. So I’ve looked at this from every angle I can come up with and a lot of them make me nervous, but I’m so relieved youthink we can rilly make it work!!”
Leaning in to hug Steph, Bai pecked her on the cheek too before sitting back, pink and grinning. “I will SO take you up on coming over and putting Barry the guest room like a naughty cat,” she laughed. “I used to do girl stuff with Cassie and Cissie too, but they’re so busy these days with grownup things and personal things and I miss it! I would love to spoon with you and drink candy cocoa.” Bai clasped her hands and held them up next to her cheek, rolling her eyes in glee. “It sounds like HEAVEN, Steph!!”
“That’s why you and Tim would work, though. You both over think things to the point of exhaustion.” She started to giggle at Bai’s vibrating fingertips. “It’s adorable. I think if you two would both take a breath and realize how hard the other is working to figure it out, you could relax and actually enjoy the relationship. Like in math: A negative times a negative equals a positive. Does that make sense?”
Steph grinned back at Bai, blushing also at the small kiss. “You can come over any time. I haven’t had much chance to have some girl time either and it sucks, you know? But between starting college again, keeping up with the League, fighting crime, and looking for a job, friend time is super rare. You’d be like a breath of fresh air!” The waitress came back with their orders and she tried a bite of her peach cobbler, eyes rolling in the back of her head. “Mmm. Oh, my God. You have got to try this.”
Bai needed no further encouragement to sample the peach cobbler, shoving her two desserts over to Steph while she spooned down at least a third of the other girl’s peaches. “That’s FANTASTIC,” she declared, eyes rounded. “I’ve hadalot of peach cobblers, alotalot, and this one is one of the BEST!” She twirled the three plates around to get the pudding back and consume some more, then spun it back to Steph, giggling. “Like a dessert merry-go-round.”
The waitress came by to make sure they didn’t want anything else, and Bai ordered one last pint of lager before they settled the bill. It wouldn’t take her long to drink it, and after her last bout of experimentation with how much it took to get a speedster drunk, she’d perfected the technique. A pint would get her giddy enough to feel good without burning through her metabolism pointlessly, now, but leave her cogent enough for the trip home.
Plus, it would help her not overthink things with Tim, as Steph had advised. Bai made a resolution not to bring him up for the rest of the night. She pressed her fingers to Steph’s knee and earnestly said, “This is so much fun, Steph. I’m glad you suggested it. I love spending time with you.”
“I think that’s the most beautiful phrase ever,” Steph laughed, watching Bai polish off her desserts as she finished her own. She was right, the peaches were killer. Feeling full and happy as she watched Bai finish off another pint, Steph vaguely wondered if speedsters could get drunk or if it was just another perk of their metabolisms.
They settled the bill and Steph’s cheeks flooded with color again. She stood and hugged Bai. “I love spending time, too. Want to check out any other places? You said something about mangos or something, right? Let’s go get mangos!” She had an idea just then when she realized they’d probably go to another country for the fruit. “It’s getting kind of late and this is random, but what are your feelings about trying out a tropical night club to burn off this food? With your energy, I bet you’re a pretty good dancer.”
“I am a FABOOOOO dancer!!” Bai immediately broke out into some pop-and-lock right there on the sidewalk outside the pub, spinning herself around Steph as the other girl giggled. “And I’m mega massive awake right now and full of energy after eating and I would love love LOVE to go to a nightclub with you, Steph, homg you have such fantastic ideas!!!”
Hugging her swiftly, Bai turned around so Steph could hop on board the Speedster Express and took off, running joyously until they pulled up at the edge of a sugar cane field and she let Steph off to catch her breath. They were a little ways away from a night market — they could smell fried foods and syrupy tropical fruit — and underneath that, a steady thump of bass. Bai grinned at Steph, already hopping to the beat, and took her hand.
“There’s a hall just down the road where they have fêtes, they call nightclub parties fêtes here or bacchanals and that pretty much tells you how wild they are, and it’s all calypso music and there’s lots and lots of rum and everybody dances like crazy, you’ll love it, Steph, and then we can come back to the stalls and drink coconut water and eat mangoes after!!”
The second trip on Bai’s back wasn’t as much of a shock as the first, but Steph was still dizzy by the abrupt stop. She plopped backwards on her butt on the ground and could just see the makings of a party past the sugarcane field. Letting Bai pull her to her feet, she linked arms with the girl and they ran at her normal speed to a building with minimal walls so a breeze could carry through effortlessly. Flashing, colorful lights colored the faces of the gleeful dancers as they milled about.
“You ready for this?” she asked, grinning widely. Steph and Bai plunged into the pulsing crowd of dancers as the oddly catchy island music thumped over the speakers, twisting, turning, twirling to the beat together. Bai was a great dancer, moving as effortlessly as if she’d been born to do nothing else. Steph rocked and rolled her hips to the bass and let her hair out of her ponytail, letting loose a little. “I’m so glad we’re doing this!” she called over the music, to Bai.
“This was the BEST idea, Steph! You’re likethemost AWESOME dance partner, I dunno howcome we never did this before!” Even though it was late enough at night that there was a good ocean freshness to the breeze, there were so many people in the dancehall moving around so fast that it didn’t take long at all before the two of them were flushed and sweaty, their hair sticking to their foreheads, their skin shiny and damp.
Circulating to the bar and grabbing two plastic cups of rum punch, Bai bore them back to Stephanie and cheersed her before downing her drink. It was much, much stronger than the kind of rum punches back home, and she whooped before shimmying closer to Steph, draping her arms around the other girl’s neck and winding her hips, mimicking the loose, sinuous movements of the people around them. Two women danced against them for a moment, hair whipping as they laughed and then moved on; a man held Steph’s hips briefly and bumped her against his thigh to the beat before also twisting off with another partner.
Bai could be very moody when it came to how many people were around her and whether or not they touched her, but with Steph’s pretty, rosy face so close and the joyous energy of everybody around them, she found she didn’t mind this crush at all.
The rum punch made Steph’s head swim a little as she danced with Bai, grinning and moving close together to the beat. “So are you! I’m so jealous of your energy! You just never run out of fun!” she shouted back over the music, other dancers joining them briefly and then moving on. The music changed tempo, less bass beat, more fast paced with the steel drums. “We have to do this again sometime!”
Hardly an hour later and she was completely breathless, grinning, clinging to Bai as they made their way down the street to an outdoor market for their fruit. It was just as lively as the dance hall had been, but in a more familial way, old people and little kids milling about with their parents buying the fresh produce and playing small carnival games. “Ooh! You go and get the mangoes over there, and I’ll meet you there in a sec. I want to try something,” Steph told her, nudging her down the row.
She turned back to one of the tables and paid the old lady for a turn at tossing ping pong balls into jars so as to win goldfish. They were funny looking, different colors and with tiny humps. The nice old lady told her with an accented voice that they were calico Ryukin goldfish. Steph missed her first try, handing over another bill to try again. Focusing this time, she made the shot and cried out, “Aw, yeah! This is how we do it!~” The woman handed over an orange and white male, black flecks on his forehead like a little mask. She held the bag behind her back and nudged Bai’s hip with her own in greeting. “Look at what I won for you,” she said in a sing-song voice, producing the baby fish for her friend. “It’s a thank you for running me everywhere.”
“Awwwww STEPH!” Bai took the little bag gingerly and hugged the other girl, holding it up to look at the fish over Stephanie’s shoulder. “Fish are so weird and neat to look at. Especially if you’re underwater with them like I do sometimes, although those are the deep-sea fish so they’re not as cute and way more gross and freaky but still! Neat! Thank you so much!”
When they disentanged Bai patted the bag that was slung over her shoulder. “Plenty of Julie mangoes in here for us to split when we get back,” she said, extracting one and holding the blushed fruit out for Steph to smell its sweet aroma, far more luscious than any of the imported kind. Then she linked hands with her to walk for a bit more, far enough down the stalls for them to grab a quick refueling snack of doubles and cups of cold, refreshing sorrel before heading back out to the seclusion of the canefield.
“This was so much fun, Steph.” Bai carefully tucked the fish bag in among the mangoes, then turned for Steph to climb onto her back for the return trip. “The only thing that’s gonna be as fun as this is getting together with you for crazy hot cocoa flavours and spooning on your couch!”
The oddly satisfying mix of spicy and fruity from their meal left Steph satisfied (though the bit of rum made her pucker) and ready to crash. She leaned heavily into Bai as they walked back to the canefield they’d arrived in. Clambering onto her friend’s back, she rested her chin on the girl’s shoulder. “Definitely!” she agreed, smiling back at her. “Call me up some weekend and we’ll make it a sleepover. You bring the pizza, I’ll supply the cocoa, and we can compare embarrassing Tim stories,” she teased. The two took off via Bai’s superspeed and ended their night turned afternoon by the time they reentered Gotham’s time zone. Steph would be taking a sick day from classes that day to recuperate from her girls’ night out with Bai, dreaming of fruity beer, pink fish, and lots of mangoes.