Chapter 9: Unlimited Rizz Work or Reverse Cringe Technique

---

 

Driving through Diamond District while a whole fifth of the neighborhood was sectioned off by the police because of the fire started by the arsonist villain named Firefly – had been a pain in the ass. In the end though, Jack managed to navigate through the blockade, avoiding areas that were quarantined and making his deliveries.

The detour he took ended up costing him time on his runs. But in the end, he managed to complete all his orders. Albeit, he racked up fewer tips than usual due to his tardiness. He made each delivery with more lateness than usual.

13 pizzas were delivered to seven different clients and yet, between all of them, he only got 12$ in tip.

Jack blamed Black Canary for that one. While the whole interaction had been fun – he bullied the fuck out the smol woman while pouring over some of his frustrations – the young rogue had wasted a lot of time. And in the end, after all the effort he went through to personally deliver her pizza, she hadn’t even left him a fucking tip!

If he kept grinding his teeth in annoyance every time he thought back about it, Jack feared he would turn bald sooner than Stannis.

Though at least he’d get that delivery bonus fee of 15$. Small consolation prize.

Still, another 100% completion delivery rate later, he got back to Lorenzo’s pizzeria.

When he parked the scooter in the storage at the back of the pizzeria, it was already well past 23:00 p.m. and thus his shift was over.

With a scooter, he felt like he could have been able to complete 4 delivery runs instead of 3 like tonight.

Once again, he cursed Black Canary and her bouncy booty. He should have left that pizza at the front entrance like Lorenzo advised him. But no!!! He was too curious to do so and wanted to meet that special client.

“Hey, Boss!” Jack called out, striding into the back kitchen. “Sorry for the shitty time tonight. Was caught up in Diamond District when a huge fire started up.”

“How many times do I need to tell you to stop calling me that,” Lorenzo grunted, shuffling toward him with a trash bag in hand. “Help me throw this out.” He said, handing him off the bag.

Jack made a single hand gesture – a thumb up done to mask his opening of [chamber] – and made the trash bag float. Pulling the back door open, he sent the trash bag hurling toward the green dumpster that was on the sidewalk of the pizzeria.

Out of Lorenzo’s view but still in his zone of influence, he opened the dumpster’s lid and threw the trash back inside before letting the lid slam shut after he closed his [chamber].

“Huh… that will do it too.” Lorenzo deadpanned while under his breath, he muttered. “Can’t still fucking get used to this.”

Jack chuckled, following after him as he made his way to the eating place.

“How was it?” The older asked him upon sitting at a booth, a small pizza box resting on the table in front of him.

“The deliveries, you mean?” Jack slid in on the seat opposite his, took off his wrist-mounted GPS and brought out the cash money from the deliveries.

“Yeah, did you run into trouble? I heard about the fire started by Firefly.”

“I was far enough from the blast zone when the first explosion hit,” Apparently, there have been two other ones, albeit smaller ones scattered throughout the place. “The only trouble I encountered was driving through the district. I had to make a lot of detours to make the deliveries. Ended up eating me time.”

From what he heard from the radio host, another villain going by The Riddler was the one responsible for the two others.

“I see,” Lorenzo absently answered, going over the GPS. Probably looking at the Machine credit card’s part. “It’s good that you weren’t caught up in the initial blast. You didn’t have a delivery to make in the area but I was still worried you were in the area during the whole mess.”

“I wasn’t,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t say it but at least thankfully for me, by the time the first big explosion hit, a great part of the district got cordoned off by the police.”

“Thankfully for you and thousands of other people who weren’t in this zone,” Lorenzo ruefully chuckled. “To think that even neighborhoods like Diamond are no longer considered safe… An explosion in the middle of downtown…”

He remained silent, letting Lorenzo to his thoughts. The explosion and fire that happened in Diamond District have seen a heavy toll in terms of human casualties and damage to infrastructures. The last he heard on the way, around 51 people were found dead while more than one hundred and counting were wounded. Some sporting third and fourth-degree burns.

After some time, Jack spoke, in an attempt to make idle conversation and break the silence.

“I was still with Black Canary when it happened… so… there’s that.”

“Talking about Black Canary…” Lorenzo trailed off, directly looking at him. “How did this particular meeting go?”

“Don’t get me started on her,” he grumbled, even though the inquiry was what he expected when he mentioned being with Black Canary. “She’s a shitty tipper for one. I can’t believe that mobsters and criminals are better tippers than a hero.”

“Criminals tend to be generous tippers,” Lorenzo chortled, eyes shining with mirth. “Crime does pay. Though don’t say that to her. Or Batman if you ever meet him.”

“No promise for the first one. It’s a given for the second one.”

Batman was notoriously known as the boogeyman of criminals. The strongest human. Earth’s best detective. One of the founders of Justice League. These kinds of titles are the ones given to Overpowered characters in mangas. The type with few chapters apparitions but have an enormous popularity.

He wasn’t particularly eager to start messing with him. Though Black Canary was fair game. Same for any other heroes or villains in the city if they annoyed him as much as her.

“Seriously, Black Canary is the worst client I’ve ever met yet, and I’ve been threatened at gunpoint by some.”

“…What did she even do?”

Jack launched into a heavily edited summary of his conversation. By the end, Lorenzo was visibly rolling his eyes at him when he concluded with, “And she caused me to waste valuable time answering her pointless questions. If not for her, I would’ve been able to make my other deliveries on time.”

“I told you you could just leave the pizza at the front entrance,” Lorenzo reminded him. “It would have been fine.”

“Maybe,” he conceded. “But, I’m a perfectionist… Leaving the pizza sitting on the ground without even making sure the client got it would have left a bad taste in my mouth. Besides, mom didn't raise a quitter.”

“Suit yourself.” The older man shrugged.

The conversation met another wall and another silence settled between the two men.

“Was there something else you wanted to know or ask?” Jack asked him once the awkward silence became too heavy.

“No, there’s nothing else much,” Lorenzo replied, shaking his head. “You can go home. Tomorrow is Saturday. It’s gonna be another long night, so make sure to get as much rest as you can.”

The young rogue nodded, standing up as he took the pizza box Lorenzo made for him before sweeping up his pay – commission delivery fees and tips included.

“Enjoy your pizza Rule. Take care.”

He threw the older man an okay sign behind his shoulder and strode out of the pizzeria, walking back home.

---

As predicted by Lorenzo, the end of the week work’s shift was hectic. Jack ended up pulling out overtime hours on both Saturday and Sunday. Doing as far as six delivery runs on Sunday.

His delivery spots have been expanding ever since he began making his orders on scooter’s back. He has gone from solely operating in Burnley, Crime Alley and The Bowery; to delivering pizzas in New Town, Ostiburg, Cherry Hills, Amusement Mile and Upper East Side.

Lorenzo’s clientele was growing back and fast. Far faster than what the older man had expected.

It was to the point that Jack didn’t have the time to stop for the customary five-minute leisure chat between deliveries he always had with clients.

By the end of the week-end and the official first week on the job, he was delivering on average 45 pizzas per night, thus making 225$ cash on commission fees alone. Compared to before when he was making around 200$ on his best night – tips including – while running delivery on foot, it was a clear improvement.

A ridiculous improvement.

If the clientele and orders kept growing, he thought that there was a good chance that Lorenzo would have to hire another delivery man and prepare another scooter for him. Let the new guy handle the less-than-safe and safer neighborhoods while he’d handle the hardier ones.

At one point, Jack would also want to invite someone over – more likely a date, one-night stand or even a girlfriend.

Finding a decent apartment where he could live in his civilian identity would be a must once he is completely settled. Because he couldn’t realistically bring a woman to such a dilapidated building at night, make her climb down a rusted ladder, pass a dark corridor of concrete wall with no finishing then show her a spartan living space – albeit one decently furnished – and expect the woman to be okay or not raise awkward questions…

‘For the sake of regularly getting laid, I must have a nice apart it seems.’

It was a thought for later, he decided.

---

Week 2: Monday

Monday came and went as fast as it began. Like the previous Monday, Jack spent the entire morning and afternoon of his day off work training his power at the same abandoned warehouse located in Cape Carmine.

His work day went fine and he sensed that he made some progress with his power, specifically with the number of items he could levitate simultaneously. He was also getting nearer and nearer to pushing through the weight limit of the heaviest object he could lift.

Maybe after another week or two of doing this exercise, he thought that he’d increase his current weight limit and improve the minute control of his telekinesis.

Repetition was the cornerstone of improvement, the mother of mastery.

The next day, Jack woke up bright and relatively early, at around 8:00 a.m. He did his usual morning ritual of brushing his teeth, showering, dressing up and cooking a simple breakfast of eggs and bacon with some toast accompanied by a cup of coffee.

Once done with his breakfast, he went out. Instead of going to Cape Carmine to spend his second day off training like he did the previous day, he opted to visit Gotham City Public Library once again like on Friday, the second day he arrived in this world – in Gotham City, Crime Alley.

The young rogue was a social creature, starving for interactions with people. When he wasn’t working on something, training or entertaining himself in any way he could think; Jack liked to spend time among people, friends or family – talking, chatting, discussing anything or everything.

It was doubly so now that he was alone, lost in another world and universe. So interacting with people kept his mind and attention busy, preventing him from thinking about heavy subjects like his home or family. Because as soon as he found himself with some idle time on his hands, his thoughts always drifted to his family and his homeworld. Practically every night before he went to bed without fail.

This was the reason why the whole delivery gig was the perfect first job for him considering his less-than-ideal circumstances.

While making deliveries, he was constantly in contact with people, interacting and speaking with clients. Jack thrived during these times.

Which was the reason why he was going to the public library. To have his quota of social contact of the day. He had virtually no friends in the city – outside of his employer if he could consider him a friend – and as such, there were only a limited number of persons he thought of seeing. This number became even shorter considering that he spent more time as Rule than as Jack.

He couldn't go pester people like Lorenzo, Mark or Orca. And truthfully, he didn’t want to spend even more time in his supe’s persona than he already was.

So, off to see a redhead, Jack was. A sexy librarian redhead.

‘Eurgh, my contact list is near non-existent… it’s so pitiful.’ He lamented.

---

On the bus commute to the library, he noted how several of the buildings nearer to the edge of Diamond District were filled with scorch marks. The outcome of the fire that erupted in the district could still be felt even several days later. The streets were half-deserted compared to the last time he was there with some parts of the district still sectioned off.

There and there, Jack could still see some police cars lingering and roaming around the premises – a general state of vigilance still in full effect even after all this time considering that both Firefly and The Riddler have managed to escape from Batman and the Police during the chaos of the fire.

From what he has heard, Batman has been a little too busy and preoccupied with rescuing people caught on the scene and seeing to the evacuation efforts of the premises to personally arrest Firefly, having preferred to chase him off instead.

/-/​

The bus drove off into the distance as Jack leisurely walked toward a small coffee shop with an open terrace.

After a short greeting and exchange, he ordered a medium coffee – two milk, one sugar – along with a Boston cream. As he was about to make his way to the library across the street, he stopped, realizing that if he was going to bother Barbara, the least he could do was to bribe her with some snacks.

So he went back inside the coffee to order something for her. Barbara had struck him as the kind of girl to not drink coffee – wearing clothes which gave her a classy vibe when he met her – but instead to prefer tea, if he was to make a bold presumption. Also, for some reason, he felt like she would like to drink her tea with either some blueberry muffin or lemon poppy.

Snap decision made, he ordered a blue muffin and asked the employee to give him the best hot tea they made, seeing as he knew absolutely jacked shit about teas unless he was going to order iced tea. A bad idea to, with the cold weather.

Some tea called brewed Chai was what the employee recommended to him.

Taking a leap of faith in the teenager who looked like he barely gave a damn about his job and his request, Jack crossed the street and strode into the library, his orders in hand.

Gotham City Public Library

It being the beginning of the week, the library was less packed than the last time he came here.

He headed straight for the second floor and upon reaching it, immediately spotted Barbara behind the counter, busy working on her work computer.

“Hi there!” He waved at her with an easy smile on his visage, immediately catching her attention. “How are you doing?”

“Euh-... Hi, hello you,” Barbara seemed to be taken aback by his greeting even as she answered, directing a small smile his way. “I’m doing fine today. Thanks for asking. You?”

“Also doing good, thanks,” he cheerfully said. “Sorry, am I bothering you…?”

“Oh! No! No. It’s fine! Don’t worry, I was just about to wrap this up and go on a short break,” Barbara replied. “I can spare some time if you need some help. So… what can I help you with?”

“Good timing then!” Jack chirped, showing off the disposable teacup and a small bag which contained her muffin. “Just got myself some coffee and donuts and while on the way here, I thought of you and got you something too.”

“Oh… that— considerate of you. You shouldn’t have.”

“It’s fine,” he chuckled. “It’s my way of thanking you for helping me last time I was there.”

“I was just doing my job, really. You shouldn’t have.” Barbara tried to politely decline.

Jack was having none of that. “Nah, doing your job or not, you were super useful and kind. I appreciate how you took the time of your day to answer some of my questions and keep me company. Not a lot of people did before you. It really touched me. So I insist, accept my bribe.” He whispered in a conspiratorial tone before exaggeratedly coughing, “I mean, my tribute of thanks.”

Barbara giggled, “Well, put like that, how can I keep refusing?”

He grinned as he handed the redhead her tea and muffin.

“Oh? Tea? Honestly I was expecting coffee or hot chocolate.” She said, after taking a sip of her drink. “What did you get me with it?”

“Blueberry muffin.” Jack replied, taking a gulp of coffee. “You strike me as the kind of girl who likes drinking tea with muffins or lemon poppy. They didn’t have the latter so I got you a muffin instead.”

“You’re right on the muffin bit but wrong on the tea. Tea is alright, I grew to appreciate a good cup of tea with biscuits thanks to a good friend. But I still prefer a cup of coffee over tea in the morning. I take mine with three milks and two sugars.” Barbara blew on the small opening lid of her tea. “Any particular reason why you went for Blueberry muffin though?” She asked, taking a small bit of her muffin.

“Because blue is the best color.” His costume was primarily dark blue and black after all.

“Heh, debatable. Third best. Maybe second best – but best color? Debatable.” Barbara replied, shaking her head even as she took another bite of her muffin. And goddamn was the woman’s messily chewing that muffin. “Personally, I’m for black supremacy. Best color there is followed by yellow.”

“Let’s agree to disagree then.”

“Heh, fine with me. You’re the one who brought me food so I can't complain too much.” She paused before asking, “The food has no strings attached, right? Right?”

“How kind of you to remind me,” he grinned. “Yeah, about that, I did say that it was a bribe.”

“I heard you say it was a tribute of thanks.”

“You heard wrong then.” Jack gaslighted, and before she could no doubt object – he hurried to clarify. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to give me the password to access employees' sessions or something like that.”

“That’s reassuring,” the redhead drily said, noisily sipping her tea. ”I already feel at ease.”

“Geez, you’re not going to get blackmailed over tea and a muffin.” He rolled his eyes, “I was going to ask you a question and just wanted you to answer it honestly.” At her raised eyebrowed, he quickly added. “An innocuous question, really. Nothing too personal or intimate.”

“Alright, shoot then.”

“Do you think Black Canary sounds like a stripper's name?”

“...” Barbara blinked, moved her lips to say something, briefly faltered as she closed them before opening them again and then closing them – no word coming out. She brought her fist in front of her mouth then narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s-… an interesting question. Why are you asking?”

‘Deflecting it is,’ he thought, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Just answer the question, missus. Is Black Canary a stripper’s name, yes or no?”

“...” Jack thought he saw a flash of abashment crossing her visage before it went away as the red-headed librarian let out a sigh of exasperation. “No comment.”

“You promised to honestly answer the question as long as it isn’t personal or intimate.” He chuckled, reminded her.

“I did not do such a thing. I only gave you the permission to ask your question.” Barbara refuted, “Anyway, where’s this coming from? You’re asking this question because it somewhat concerns Black Canary, right?” She questioned before adding in clarification, “One of Gotham’s own grown heroes and a bonfire member of the Justice League if you don’t know...“

Which from her tone, sounded like nobody should be unaware of who she was even if they weren’t Gothamites.

And while she had tried to sound and appear casual, there was no hiding the suspicion in her body language. Especially when she initially asked the same question with open suspicion early.

‘Interesting…’ He wondered what this was about and filed it for later.

“A simple ‘no' would have suffice. A no-comment is as good an answer as any. I know your opinion on that.” He teased instead of answering.

Barbare’s lips thinned. “No. Black Canary doesn’t sound like a stripper’s name.” She lied with a straight face. “And you’re deflecting.”

Jack pouted, “Fine, I’ll satisfy your curiosity if you satisfy mine.”

“Depends on the question, again. I ask first so I get to have an answer first, mister.” This time, she made no promise. Or was it more right to say she made it clear that she was making no promises?

“Well, believe it or not, I never heard of a hero called Black Canary before, so when one of my co-workers mentioned – quote-unquote: ‘Canary has the thicccest piece of ass this side of the country and I’d die on that hill. By God did you see what her fishnet does to her legs too? God may have cursed Gotham but he blesses us with her fine ass.’ “

Barbara gave him a flabbergasted look, utterly speechless.

“So… I had to check it myself, you know. For research…” Jack continued after a short pause. “I looked on the net if there were some pics of her. And wouldn’t you believe it? Not only did she has a fuck tone of pictures taken of her from up close; but she also has a lot of fanarts too… like a lot. You know… that kind,” he gestured with his hand. “Almost wonder how I never came across her animated videos before...” His voice took on a dreamy practiced tone.

The redhead made a face after hearing his words, “I didn’t need to know that.”

“Hey, you asked~” He sang-song, shrugging and smiling innocently. “She sure can kick ass easily. Either with her first or knock out guys using her scream.”

Barbara pinned him with an accusative glare for his antics.

“Alright, alright. I’m stopping with the teasing,” he chuckled, raising his arms in defense. “But seriously though, don't act like it never occurred to you what fans out there are doing with her pictures or fanarts.”

“I prefer to not think about it. It’s just plain gross.”

“Point. But also counterpoint. Fans are doing the same with Nightwing, which by the way, once again sounds like a stripper nam—”

Barbara suddenly burst out into laughter, getting the attention of the few people present on the second floor of the library who turned their gazes in their direction to look at her.

The young librarian blushed and uttered a quick “sorry!” before bringing under control the last of her laughter.

Barbara uncontrollably giggled like a little girl while he was still reeling a little from her reaction. Eventually, she spoke between snickers. “M-my sides… pffff. I never thought of that before… ahahahahah. Oh my god, I-I’m seeing it, hahahahahaha! Nightwing, the wonder boy!” Her shoulders shook. “Totally sounds like a stripper's stage name!" In a mosquito-like voice, she added. "How did I never see this before?! Nightwing, the wonder boy."

“You can see how Nightwing is a stripper name but somewhat, you ‘think’ that Black Canary isn’t too?” Jack rhetorically asked, “Ridiculous… But glad at least I’m not the only one who can see that.”

The redhead snorted before covering her mouth. “T-t-that’s different!”

“Sure.”

“It really is!”

“I said: sure, Barbara.” He repeated, “Couldn’t you feel the absolute belief I had in your words?”

“Call me Barb, ass.” She said, ignoring his remark. “That’s what my friends and family call me.”

Jack blinked, pleasantly surprised. They were now on nickname basis, it seemed. The rizz was strong in him. “Does this mean that you finally accepted my offer to be my Nakama?”

“Tomodachi,” she corrected. “The term you’re surely looking for is Tomodachi, not Nakama. I believe I told you so last time too.” She said, giving him a suspicious look. “I’m not joining your crew, errrr—”

‘Oh, this girl is for real!’ Jack thought, lips twitching.

“Jack, Barb. My name is Jack,” he deadpanned, eyes shining with slyness. “For shame, Barb! Did you forget my name? How could you? After everything we shared? After the connection, I felt between us? Was I the only one who considered you his Tomodachi? And you even accepted food and drink from someone you couldn’t even remember the name of!” He dramatically gasped for emphasis. “I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell ya!”

Barbara groaned, “Hey! Don’t be so dramatic! You’re the one who insisted that I accept your muffin. Besides, you too would forget someone's name after having a single conversation with him or her some weeks ago…”

“I didn’t forget your name and even thought about you.” He pointed out. “You're just callous.”

“My name is pinned on my badge so of course you would know it. Otherwise, I doubt you’d have remembered it.”

“There’s no way I would have forgotten your name, Barbara. You’re a really striking girl with red hair and green eyes,” Barbara’s ears reddened at the unexpected compliment. “Statistically, how many people have this combination of hair color and eye color? Not many I believe.”

“Around 0,17%” She muttered.

“See?” He slightly leaned forward, “Admit it, you were just callous.”

“I prefer it when you were blatantly laying on the compliments to butter me up – probably in the hope of asking me something.” Barbara groaned once again, “At least then, you weren’t half as obnoxious.”

‘Ladies & Gentlemen, Barbara, miss defecting-librarian-extraordinary strike again.’ Jack thought, barely restraining himself from saying it out loud.

Instead, the young rogue quipped. “I can still go back to that, you know. But this time, I would be a flirt for real,” he gave her his best-patented lopsided smirk. “You won’t stand a chance nor you’ll be able to not fall for my charms.”

Fire in her eyes, “Heh, big talk. Give me your best shot, lover-boy.” Barbara challenged.

For the next several minutes, he gave her his best shot, sharing with her his most corny, over-the-line and absolutely cringe pick-up lines. Multiple times, Barbara let out unlady-like snorts that sounded like a pig oinking.

They ended up catching the attention of the other patrons who couldn’t help but direct them some glances. It seemed that the hot librarian flirting with a random dude would always be a subject of interest.

After a little more than 30 minutes of bickering, teasing and laughs, Barbara was forced to go back to work, having long since spent her 15-minute break. She was reminded of that fact when a slightly crossed College-aged man walked to her desk and presented his library card, asking to borrow a book.

Barbara flashed the other man a sheepish smile before going through the process of filling in a borrowing agreement form for her current patron. Meanwhile, Jack had backed off to give them both some much-needed space.

A short minute later, she gave the patron a receipt with the book’s due date before turning to address Jack again.

“Seems like I have to go back to work and stop slacking off,” she sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed to have to put an end their conversation, which was an ego boost to him as he was feeling the same.

“If it’s fine with you–” As she began to speak, she paused, chewing on her pouty bottom lips – thickened with a copious amount of red lipstick – before tucking a stray lock of red hair behind her ear and saying, “We can stay in contact with each other? Exchange numbers and Lex-chat’s contact info. You’re still new to the city, right? I know some good spots I can show you around if you want.”

Jack was slightly taken aback by her forwardness, momentarily floundering before he quickly regained his bearing.

“Oh my~! This sounds like an offer for a date if I ever heard one!” His grin was predatory as he cheerily said, “Are you asking me on a date, Barb? I wanna make sure that you are so I don’t misunderstand you and get my hopes up.”

“Yes, you’re getting your hopes up, asshat.” Barbara rolled her eyes. “I took pity on you because, from your own admission, you’re new in town and know no one. I thought you would have liked to get the opportunity to hang around with a friend while being shown the city.”

“Hmmmm,” Jack hummed, playfully scratching his chin while squinting at her. “Nope, don’t believe you. Imma go ahead with my assumption and call it a date.”

“Whatever. Your obnoxious, self-centered, delusional-ass can think what he wants!”

“Cool then, it’s a date. Just tell me when and where you want to be picked up.”

“...” Barbara ignored his words, just silently glaring at him with all the rage of a ruffled squirrel. Which was not intimidating at all and was rather cute.

“It’s a date, UWU~” Jack, the weebs he was, cheerfully intoned. “Say it, coward, say it!”

“Jesus Christ Jack!” Barbara cursed as she recoiled in cringe, eyebrows scrunched up. “What the fuck was that sound? It sounded cursed!”

“It’s my Otome’s capture target chim notification music.” He cackled.

“What an otom–... you know what? I don’t think I want to know.” She cut herself off, making a shooing-off gesture with her hand. “You definitely overstayed your welcome Jack. Leave me to my work, and return to the dark and cringefest abyss you crawl out from.”

“That’s a horrible way to describe my dead mother's womb…” Barbara closed her eyes, counted down to 1, and then let out a sigh of exasperation. Yeah, there was no beating his dark and dry wit. “But I guess everything’s good so long you won’t have to say it. Heh. Tsundere much.”

Barbara tossed her empty disposable bag at his face. Jack saw it coming from a mile away and ducked under the throw, the bag harmlessly soaring past him.

“Fuck off Jack! Or you can forget about that offer for a tour!”

“You mean dat–”

He ducked his head once again, this time avoiding the remnant of the eaten packaged muffin.

Jack raised his hands up, “Alright, alright, I definitely overstayed my welcome! If you don’t mind, I’m going to hit the road.”

Barbara’s lips twitched despite herself as she restrained a giggle from spilling out of her mouth.

“Do that.” She ordered, playfully narrowing her eyes.

Jack slowly backed off, keeping eye contact and not showing her his back. On his retreat, he bent down to pick up from the ground the bag and packaged muffin she threw at him earlier.

“Oh hey, Jack!” The tsundere redhead whisper-shouted, calling him before he could leave her field of view, making him turn his head.

“Yes?”

“You forgot to ask your question in the end.” She said, cheekily smiling at him.

Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. “Question? What are you talking ‘bout…?— ohhhh!”

The realization came. After she asked him to answer her question about his interest in Black Canary’s stripper-sounding name, the redhead had promised him to more or less answer a question of his own. He completely forgot about that but evidently, she hadn’t – seeing as she only reminded him of that fact now.

Before he could say something, she continued. “Also, my favorite and go-to muffin is carrot actually. Not blueberry.”

Jack blinked, “There’s a ginger joke there begging to be made but this is such a low-hanging fruit that I won’t bother to do it.” There was a glint of roguishness in his eyes. “Besides, I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to stand it.”

Barbara’s expression was flat. “The ginger joke is too low but the wheelchair joke isn’t?”

“What can I say? I like my humor like I like my coffee and women… Dark.”

“...”

“Shit, it honestly sounded way better in my mind.”

“... I’m sure it did.” She eventually said, taking on a slightly patronizing tone. “Good day to you, Jack.”

“Yeaaah. Good day to you too, Barb. And take care.” Jack bade her goodbye in turn, hurriedly leaving the floor – his cheeks feeling warm.

 

---