(no subject)

[unironickylorenfan]

Who: Nora Lee & Liam Blumenthal
When: Like...Weds or Thurs, 9/26 or 9/27
Where: Grocery Store in Haling Cove
What: A boy safari
Warnings: Someone says the word dick.

The scenery whirs by, tree-lined road giving way to quaint coastal town, the greenery still lush from a long-lasting summer. Eventually it will all turn fiery reds and oranges. Someday, Liam thinks, it might turn to death, drenched rot and barnacles, like what they’d seen in the Shadow World.

He shakes his head, blinking and doing what he can to pull himself out of that mess.

Liam sits on the very edge of the aisle-side bus seat, all wrapped up in himself. He thinks it keeps him from invading Nora’s space. It just makes him look uncomfortable - though, blessedly, no moreso than usual. And when he drags himself out of his murky thoughts, his gaze flicks down to watch her a moment.

“Next stop’s us,” He says needlessly. Of course Nora knows where the grocery store is. Liam lets his head tilt to the side, ignoring that he wants to berate himself. He grins lazily at her. “I need a full review. Hold nothing back. Because ‘beautiful, asks me questions, buys me candy’ is basically too good to be true. I’m looking for faults beyond the fact that his name is Wayne.”

Anxious giggles burst out of Nora as she peels herself away from the window, fingertips leaving behind small prints. Everything seems the same as the last time she had been to the sleepy town. Just as everyone had said it would. It's still a small relief.

"Oh! Wayne isn't a bad name at all!" she insists breathlessly, smiling back at Liam looming large in the seat beside her. She still can't believe he asked her along on this adventure, but she's determined to take her new responsibility very seriously. "It's like.. it's like.." Her face screws up and she catches her bottom lip with her teeth as she very visibly grasps for straws.

"Maybe it's like John Wayne?" she suggests, bobbing her head triumphantly. "Does he look like a cowboy?"

Liam's hand hangs in the air on its way to pulling the bus's signal wire. He laughs, expression crinkling, nose scrunching and eyes squinting shut. His hand scrapes over the nape of his neck compulsively before grabbing the cord and giving it a tug. "Aw, man. Cowboy's got an appeal. But, not really? Maybe more like Bruce Wayne. Or, no - Dick Grayson." He realizes as the bus dings in acknowledgement of a stop request that Nora maybe is not up on her Batmen or her Robins. "God, at least his name isn't Dick. But, we can call him Robin for a codename."

A few moments later, the grocery store comes into view. Liam's on his feet as the bus slows, rocking forward when it hisses to a stop.

"Ready?" He sweeps his hand, gesturing to let her go first. "Time for some stealth ops."

Liam's correct in thinking that Nora doesn't know one Robin from the other, or that there's more than one Robin at all. But she still looks delighted by Liam's reaction and comparisons, momentarily pleasantly scandalized by his joke and then nodding eagerly, committing his instructions to memory. "Robin! Okay!"

Following Liam's cue, Nora slides past, glancing back at him every few seconds for reassurance, excitement positively electric as she slips through the automatic doors and does some quick reconnaissance on which fruit display is the best to hide behind. She settles on a late season stack of watermelons and waves for Liam to join her.

Nora, unfortunately, does not have highly discriminating tastes or any idea of what Dick Grayson is supposed to look like, so when she spots the first relatively age appropriate suspect stocking produce nearby, she pushes against Liam excitedly, whispering loudly, "Batman, is that your Robin?"

In a sudden desperate move to not be spotted, Liam ducks. Which, when you're over six foot tall and crowned with a cloud of dark curls, is never, ever going to be inconspicuous. Finally, he gets around to actually looking at the boy placing fruit in a bin. His panicked look melts into a sheepish smile. He shoves his glasses up the bridge of his nose when he turns it on Nora. "Oh, Peaches over there? No. He's- no."

Peaches is cute, though - tall, cherubic curls, a dignified nose. Liam’s sheepish smile turns into a teasing grin, "Maybe we could get his number for you, though? Eh, eh?"

Peaches. Nora momentarily allows herself to indulge in a daydream where she has a contact in her phone identified by nothing other than the peach emoji. Then she thinks back to what Liam had said the other day about texting with two townies at once, and the idea of a pineapple emoji in her phone also brings a small impish smile to her face that she'll never admit existed.

"Oh, no. No, no. We're here for you!" she bubbles, dismissing all these images with a vigorous shake of the head. She allows herself one last wistful peek at Peaches from behind the watermelon stand that at least sort of obscures her, and then balls up her fists in determination, turning her attention on Liam. "We have to stay on task, Batman, or Metropolis will be in trouble!"

That prompts a laugh loud enough to draw Peaches' attention, momentarily. The shop boy glances over his shoulder at the two of them when Liam guffaws. The sound of it is full and bright and not at all befitting someone normally so quiet. He grins around the laugh and stuffs his knuckles against his lips to silence himself, eyebrows knit up, apologetic. It's a beat before he can move on.

"You're right, Nora. Metropolis needs us." Liam replies with gamely conviction, the words trailing a soft, giggling sound - almost a honk.

And then he spots their target. Handsome, dark hair, crouched at a cooler, restocking sports drinks. Liam clears his throat, shoulders bunching right back up at the sight of the grocery boy. He nods in Wayne's direction, and when he speaks, it’s in a whisper, "There he is. What do you think?"

Nora waits anxiously for their quarry to stand, so she can do the sacred duty she’s been entrusted with and when he does, she lets out a gasp that ends in a squeak. Okay, so she wasn’t exactly hard to please, but Wayne didn’t do this gainfully employed grocery boy justice at all.

When he almost looks their way, she lets out a squeal and huddles in close to Liam. “Oh, he should definitely be a Beauregard,” she whispers back, not nearly as quietly as Liam had. “Are you going to talk to him?”

"He's such a Beauregard, isn't he?" Liam says, suddenly a little breathless, leaning ever-so-lightly against Nora while they both admire him from afar. This goes on for a few seconds too long. Just two dopey kids in private school uniforms silently marveling at a boy in a polo shirt, khakis and an apron a few paces off.

"Oh, I, um..." Liam turns his smile back to Nora, confidence faltering. "Yeah, I should do that... shouldn't I?"

His hand wanders down to the giant green fruit stacked in front of them. Fingers resting lightly on the watermelon directly in front of him, it shifts, suddenly. Liam jumps back, startled, and then forward as the melon teeters. Both hands scrambling to stop disaster, he knocks another watermelon and makes a positively ridiculous noise in the process.

It's the noise that pulls Wayne's attention to them. He stares a moment. Liam blanches, managing to catch the watermelon as it tumbles. Averting disaster. He tears his gaze away from Wayne-Robin-Beauregard and, unsure of what else to do, crouches down behind the fruit display, cradling the watermelon like a baby. Liam looks at Nora, wide-eyed with panic. "He's looking at us. Is he coming over?"

Nora’s yelps and squeaks during the chaos don’t help them pass unnoticed, but when Liam crouches behind the fruit display, she takes on the solemn duty of planting herself in front of him and standing stock still so he can remain undetected. She hopes the very wide eyed tight lipped smile that she plasters across her face when Wayne definitely turns his attention to the two of them looks casual. (It doesn’t.)

“Um. Ah. Oh. Yep,” Nora fumbles as she takes a step back in retreat and knocks into the fruit display, upsetting the careful balance of the melons again.

"Aw, sh-"

The melons are tumbling.

Liam throws one arm out, somehow miraculously snagging the second watermelon as it falls. And then everything is still. A silent two seconds tick by as they all watch the display, desperately hoping nothing else falls. When all seems clear, Liam exhales loudly and stands, clutching two watermelons to his chest like a couple of overly rambunctious oblong twins. "Nora, are you al-"

Yep. That's Wayne. Definitely watching them. For sure grinning.

Liam turns to Nora and shoots her a tormented look. "Guess I'll go talk to him?"

Gingerly, he replaces the fruit in their stack. Then, in ritualistic order, he brushes off his uniform, pats down on his hair and touches the frames of his glasses. With one more nervous smile sent Nora's way, he strolls up to the grocery boy. "Hey, um, did you know your watermelons are completely out of control?"

Comments

[adamho]

They’re BOTH delightful. Wayne and Peaches are going to be totally in love if you’re not careful.

[unironickylorenfan]

I definitely ship Peaches/Nora

[adamho]

Go get’em, Nora! Maybe he’ll even have a better name than Wayne.