tushanshu | ✦ 008 ✦ [VIDEO]

[The encryption catches her slightly off-guard, leaving her curious as to why he would be so secretive about where he was staying. Hmm.]

Be there in about an hour.

[True to her word, the moment she shut off her console, she grabbed her things and headed to the magic shop she worked at.]

[One of the locals was on staff, and helped her set up the miniature ritual she needed in order to charm a token. Usually, she would go with a pendant or necklace--for Bart, however, she figured something a bit smaller might be better. A smooth, polished stone made from obsidian. Easily concealed in the palm of one's hand, and even easier slipped into one's pocket without the annoyance of additional weight.]

[Charm acquired, she headed over to Metal, found the right door, and knocked.]

Sounds like a plan.

[The hour gave Bart more than enough to start cleaning up the crumbs (and get distracted, stop, and start cleaning once more) and get back to Tim's place before Zatanna got there. He didn't want loose food to attract tribbles - or get himself banned from a cafe.

When he heard the knock, he only waited until the sound stopped to open the door. Bart found that interrupting people's knocking by taking the door away tended to throw them off. A lot. So he tried to avoid it and usually barely pulled it off.]

Hi, Zatanna. Have you gotten tired of the you're-shorter-than-I-remember comments or can I go for it?

That depends.

[She takes a step inside the room. Inviting herself in only because he was going to do it anyway.]

...are you sure you want to risk it? I might not be responsible for what happens next. Just saying.

[The finer points of manners escape him. Bart really does expect people to waltz in when he opens the door - he doesn't think anything of it and shuts the door behind her once she's clear.]

Hmmm.

[Bart looks up towards the ceiling and chews on his bottom lip, pretending to think about it.]

I'll save it for after I get the tribble magic. I think. That's only fair.

If you insist.

[She reaches into her pocket, pulling out the small, black stone. It weighed very little and could easily be palmed by even an amateur. Turning it over so he could see, she held it out for him.]

Here it is. This little baby will heat up anytime you get near tribble meat, and stay dormant if the item in question is safe.

...oh, and just for the record, that bakery about two blocks from here? I wouldn't buy your cookies from there anymore if I were you. Though the one a few streets down from there is still fine.

[With a grateful smile, Bart takes the stone and turns it over a few times in his hand as she's talking, but nodding along to indicate that he's listening. He doesn't doubt that she's charmed it, but he does want to play with it -

Bart's eyes whip back up to meet hers when she starts talking about specific bakeries, and he fumbles the stone, dropping it and attempting to catch it three times in rapid succession before he finally gets a hand on it.]

What?

[Horrified blinking.]

Not. Not the one with the funny little Audrey II looking plant just outside the door?

[Oh, Bart, you make it so easy.]

You mean the giant, carnivorous plant look-alike didn't tip you off?

[Oh. My. God. Why is he so thick? Bart's eyes are like two yellow frisbees.]

But... they don't have that movie here. How is that. I didn't think it was a reference! Does everything there have tribble meat in it??

[She can't take it anymore. Her resolve finally breaks, and she bursts out laughing.]

I was just kidding, you know.

Though, you have to admit--the plant really was a nice touch.

[Blank stare. He is so very confused.]

Wait. So. It's not a tribble bakery?

[He shakes his head a little and then finally laughs.]

Yeah, it was. Well-played. I walked right into that.

Nope. The stone has spoken.

[He was laughing. That earned some serious points in her book. She always could appreciate someone with a sense of humor.]

If you don't believe me, you can test it out yourself. Got any spare tribbles handy?

Aww, man. I wasted that cookie for nothing. It was good, too. Kinda vanilla but not.

[He's still smiling, despite the unnecessary throwing-out-of-pastries.]

No way. There's probably some outside somewhere, but. After what happened in my place? This has been declared an official Tribble Free Zone. Pretty sure I'd be kicked out for even considering bringing one inside.

[Don't worry, Bart. There will be other cookies.]

I thought this was your place?

This?

[Bart looks around at the comparative neatness of the place (because nothing Tim can do will out-mess a space that is only Bart's) and raises an eyebrow. Immediately after, he slaps his palm to his forehead.]

Right. Universes and times. There's no way on any planet or universe that this is where I live. Tim is letting me crash here for now. My building had an infestation. Two infestations. Tribbles and bad dudes.

[Universes and Times, he'd lost her. But when Bart mentions Tim, things start to make a little more sense. In fact, the mental image of the two of them together brings a smile to her face.]

A speedster and a Robin together, huh? [Grin. Tim just so happened to be the only Robin identity she knew of. Coincidently enough.] That sounds familiar.

I guess some things are multiversal.

[Well that's a little surprising. But then again, Tim's been here for months and months, so maybe it wasn't a sudden reveal. Bart can't help but grin at the universal nature of speedsters and Robins. It just... makes him happy that that might be a constant.]

Does it? I -

[Bart is suddenly in his Kid Flash costume. In reality, he changed. Not in the same room, because there are some things you don't do in front of people when it's unnecessary and when they just gave you a tribble-meat detector, because they could get offended and hex you. But it's so fast as to appear like he twitched as it teleported on him. There's no break in the sentence, for her ears.]

Can't imagine why that -

[Back in normal clothes.]

Would be familiar. Oh wait. [He gives her a cheeky smile.]

[Oh, it was. During their first conversation, even.]

[Somehow, Zatanna manages to main her composure despite the sequence of mini-tornados ripping through the room all within the span of seconds. Giving her just enough of a glimpse of Bart's uniform--which looked so similar to Wally's that it only upped the parallel--before the boy was back in civvies.]

I really hope Tim doesn't have any plans of changing in front of me. [That might not've been exactly what happened, but it was still close enough.] I like him and all, but there are some secrets even I have no interest in seeing.

[Grrr. Young Justice had to wait forever to find out that Tim was Tim. Though that was mostly Batman's fault.]

I didn't change in front of you. Not that I don't change in front of people all the time. They never notice. Anyway. There's underwear on.

[Bart gets a little flustered at having said that outloud, and he sounds quite sheepish.]

I ran out of the room, changed, and ran back. It's not really his M.O.

[Griiiiin.]

Thanks for sharing.

I can now take comfort in knowing that you are wearing your underwear when out in public.

[BUH.]

YES I WEAR UNDERWEAR. Do you know how uncomfortable running would be if I didn't? And the tights wedgie would be even worse, and there would probably be jock strap lines -

[He. Really does need to do something about that single synapse problem flaring up now and then, because when Bart realizes exactly what he's saying, the blush starts in his cheeks and starts creeping outwards.]

[He's cute when he blushes.]

[Zatanna smile innocently, tucking a hand under her chin and raising a very, very amused eyebrow at the latest outburst.]

Is that so? Tell me more.

[No, really, don't.]

[No. Really. Never discussing it again, because the suggestion to go into detail about it makes his face get so hot that Bart knows he's gone beet red.

There has to be something else to talk about. Anything else to talk about. No. Not anything. Something that doesn't sound flirty or dirty or anything else that ends in -irty because this is still totally Zatanna, who will someday be a Justice League member. Play it cool, Bart.

He holds the black stone up, pinched between his thumb and index finger.]

So how did you get it to work?

[Most casual segue ever, right there.]

[Casual, smooth, and definitely not completely obvious, either. But she decides to take pity on the poor boy, moving to take a seat on one of the vacant chairs. Turning her attention back to the stone.]

The usual. A few chants, a few herbal ingredients, two magic circles. And a live tribble sacrifice.

[The last one is meant to be a joke, in case it wasn't obvious. Mostly.]

...it survived, in case you were wondering. I just needed to borrow a sample of DNA for the spell to know what it was supposed to react to. A live Tribble-cicle worked just as well as anything else.

[Tim gets to his door just in time to hear the end of the 'Bart's underwear' conversation, and he's really trying not to laugh as he lets himself inside.

Really.

But he's not trying all that hard to keep the amusement off his face, so it's pretty obvious he heard them when he comes in.]

Hey. My what an interesting shade of red that is, Bart.

[Okay, yeah, he's not even going to try pretending he didn't overhear.]

[Bart was listening to Zatanna's explanation intently - cheap subject it might have been, but he actually was curious about it. He doesn't have much experience with non-fictional magic. He misses the sound of Tim's entrance, but he doesn't miss that little dig.
Now he knows that Tim's been there for who knows how much of the conversation, and the flush is just never going to go away. Maybe if he speeds up and gets a bunch of things done in the next five seconds. He could repaint the whole place. Except eventually he'd get bored and wander back into this conversation to find that it hasn't been that long and that Zatanna and Tim are still thinking of his underwear.

His next thought is that he's still small enough that he wouldn't need that large of a rock to crawl under and die.

But the one immediately proceeding is that he's not going down so easily. Bart folds his arms over his chest, jerking a thumb at Tim before tucking his hand under his elbow to cross his arms properly. Anything to look tougher while he waits for the excess blood to drain from his face. ]

You should ask this guy about proper underwear choices. And how to wear leather. Pretty sure he has to coat himself in baby powder to get that monkey suit off and on. Oh. And don't forget to ask about the mesh shirt.

[Who's laughing on the inside now, Birdbrain? Well, that's what Bart thinks to himself. The reality is getting that out in an unembarrassed tone was a struggle. Add his ears and neck to the list of things gone red. ]

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sdg8wergiwa ghsg THAT WAS UNINTENTIONAL. I was only going for an alien plant!

haha. I only latched onto it because I LOVE LSOH /knows the whole soundtrack by heart

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