Steph had noticed the change in both Olivia and Tim's behavior which could mean only one thing; they had finally talked things out and were on tolerable terms again. But somehow they had the habit of keeping it very secretive so the others had to take guesses on whether they were fighting again or not.
She knew the two of them couldn't go for a single hour without annoying each other so that was still the same as ever. And they had stopped ignoring each other's presence which was probably a good thing.
So she decided to take both of them out with her that evening, hoping that it would finally help Tim bust some steam off. He had not fully relaxed ever since Bruce had gone missing and even his day-offs from patrol were spent with him tracking Bruce and being overly worried.
He needed rest but there was no way he would go to sleep willingly. So she chose the alternative, deciding to have him take a day to enjoy and not worry about all the other things that had been piling up around them.
She found him swamped in work as usual, completing his assignments from the days he had not been attending school due to the whole Bruce-Wayne-probably-died situation. His head was resting on the desk and he was asleep.
She considered whether or not to wake him up but then fetched a blanket, putting it over him so that he wouldn't get cold.
She knew he would stiffen if he slept in such a position for long but considering how long it had been since he had gone to sleep, she didn't wake him.
When she went downstairs though, she was surprised to see Olivia had come for a visit. She hadn't been coming to the Manor ever since she and Tim had argued but that once she was there.
And she was talking to Jason, another surprise since she hadn't met him before but right then it seemed as if the two had bonded quite well.
"No... That's unreal," Jason was laughing hard at something she had told him and Steph came closer to listen to what they were talking about.
"Hi Steph," Olivia waved though she was laughing too.
"What did you tell him?" Steph asked, knowing Jason only ever laughed that hard when someone made fun of Bruce.
"I told him my honest reaction to seeing the infamous Batman bleeding out at my doorstep," she remarked but did not elaborate further so Steph turned to Jay for an explanation.
"And can you believe what she said? She literally told him to find another place to die... I like this kid," he patted her head and she shrieked, stepping back.
"Hey, no head pats. I hate those."
"Bruce patted your head once, you didn't seem to hate it," Steph remarked,
"Well... Bruce is Bruce, ya know. He can't express with words, you people can so no exceptions for you guys," she remarked.
Jason nodded as if agreeing with her but the spark in his eyes said otherwise, "noted. No head pats from now on."
"Good."
But instead of a head pat, he messed up her hair nevertheless because he couldn't resist the opportunity.
"Holy mother of trees! You did not just do that, Todd. You're so dead!"
Jason winked before dashing off, "try me. I have died once you know, let's see if I can die again."
"Oh you will and you will regret it."
Steph watched her chase after Jason, knowing it was a very common occurrence when it came to Jason for all of them. he would intentionally annoy them and then they would chase him to get him back for it.
It was funny that he had done the same with Olivia and gotten the same reaction out of her.
No wonder, they had all started to think of her as one of them too. At that point, she was almost an honorary member of the family.
***
Tim was awakened at last by the feeling of thin fingers running lightly through his hair. He tried to sit up but found his body frozen from staying in that uncomfortable position for too long.
"Hey, wanna go get ice cream with us?" A slightly familiar voice reached him and he blinked, trying to stop himself from falling asleep again.
"Olivia...?" He recognized that voice and tried to get his muscles to unfreeze.
"Oh good to know you haven't hit your head in your sleep and forgotten all about me."
He groaned, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the drowsiness, "why are you in my room again?"
"I came to offer you if you would come and go out for ice cream with me and Steph," she replied, "yet here you are, asleep at such a godawful angle that I am sure a bone or two could have cracked if I didn't wake you up. So in other words, you're welcome..."
He tried to register her fastly spoken words into his still awakening mind, "go away..."
"But seriously, are you coming or not?"
He straightened at last, eyes focusing on her, "five minutes..."
She couldn't help but look into those dilated yet sleepy blue irises that had connected with hers, not quite hearing the rest of his sentence.
"What now?" He blinked, his pupils adjusting to the light and going back to the regular size.
"You know what, you do have pretty eyes," she remarked before stepping back to leave his room, "we're leaving in five minutes so if you make it till then, well and good. If not, sucks to be you."
"Coming..."
Body aching all over, he stepped into the bathroom, expecting her to be gone when he would come out. He splashed his face with water multiple times to wake himself up fully, realizing only coffee could do the trick.
He changed out of his rumpled-up shirt and stepped out of the bathroom, thinking she would have left but instead she was sitting on his chair, using his computer because he hadn't shut it down. Half his brain yelled at him to check that she wasn't going through any of his confidential folders, and the other half reminded him to button up his shirt first.
"Why are you still here?" he asked, stepping back in to close the buttons of his shirt, "I thought you would have left by now."
"Not leaving without you," her voice came trailing back towards him, "also you've watched all the boring shows on Netflix. Who even watches Grace and Frankie? It's a show on old women probably for old women."
"I watch that show," he came out, sighing to see her spinning on his revolving chair like a child. "And it's not just about old women, it's a family show and much more than that so keep your opinions to yourself until you actually watch it and form an honest opinion."
"Jesus, looks like you didn't get your daily intake of coffee," she remarked while he reached out, placing both his hands firmly on the armrests of the chair, bringing the spinning to a stop. Seeing her spin round and round on the chair was making him dizzy.
Those pretty blue eyes of his were staring down into hers again and she almost forgot the snarky remark she had thought to hit him with.
"Am I interrupting you guys?" Steph's voice broke the spell and Tim recoiled faster than her sentence had even ended, his ears turning pink.
"Steph, we need to get him some coffee before the ice cream," Olivia spoke up immediately as if to cover the awkwardness in the atmosphere, "he's malfunctioning. Like a robot splashed with water, see?"
"I am not a machine but I do appreciate the thought of getting me coffee," he replied, brushing his hair back with his hand and starting to look around for his shoes, "also if you two want to take me out then you will be helping me with the assignments later."
"Nope, not me," Steph backed off, "stay holed up in your room for all I care but I ain't touching this pile."
"Get me double the ice cream and I might consider it," Olivia offered, checking his pile of incomplete work, "and I was right, you are one lousy student if you have this much pending work when the term has just started."
"Double the ice cream but no considering, you will help me out," he negotiated but she didn't seem interested so he added, "okay, double the ice cream twice."
Olivia's eyes widened at the offer, "you serious about this?"
"Dead serious."
"Deal," she fist-bumped him and got off his chair at last, "come let's go, Steph. I have free ice cream waiting for me."
She had happily skipped out of his room while Steph turned to face Tim with an eyebrow raised playfully and a knowing smile playing upon her lips.
"Keep your ideas to yourself," Tim mumbled, pushing her out of the room as well, "I'm shutting down my PC and joining you two. Don't leave without me."
"Okay..." But she was still standing there at the threshold and Tim knew he would be in for a lot of questioning once Olivia left the Manor.
But right then he had to focus on getting some coffee into his system so that sleep would finally loosen its hold on him. So quickly shutting down the PC and making sure nothing was out of place, he stepped out of his room as well and locked the door behind him.
***