alwaysanacrobat | (no subject)

Who: Tim Drake and Rachel Grayson
When: After Jim proposes.
What: What do you mean, you knew. :C

It wasn't that she was annoyed that apparently everyone but McCoy and her had known Jim was going to propose. The surprise had been pretty amazing, and she still kind of couldn't believe it had happened, but it had and now she needed to go tell people herself.

But not before drawing it out a little first, and particularly with Tim, because seriously, bro? She knew Alfred wouldn't have said anything and she was still kind of blown away that Jim had actually asked Bruce and he'd said he'd said yes, but Tim was supposed to be on her side, dammit, not secretly in cahoots with her boyfriend.

So, she'd timed it perfectly. Knowing Tim was usually up and around by now, even on a Saturday, she'd casually let herself into the manor, making just enough noise to announce that she was home without being too unsubtle about it, and went to get nice and set up on the couch, turning on the TV and hiding both her hands in her sweatshirt pockets, keeping her expression as neutral and natural as possible, waiting for Tim to wander down to see why she'd apparently invited herself over to catch reruns of Law and Order.

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Rachel did not need to come to the manor to watch TV. Sure, maybe for a special occasion, some premier, whatever - Tim certainly liked the huge screen. But for Law and Order? No way. So he waited upstairs. And waited. About as long as he could, so after the episode's first DUN DUN, he padded down the main stair and made himself stop in the kitchen for a zesti. He even popped the top and took a sip before heading straight into the living room.

There, he didn't look impatient, right?

"What are you doing here?" He blurted out, which was not the hey how are you he'd intended to open with.

She heard him coming downstairs and waited patiently, but alright, keeping the Cheshire Cat smile was harder than she'd expected it to be, but manageable, so she just gave him an amused look and smiled, keeping her hands in her sweatshirt pockets.

"Good to see you, too, kiddo." She shifted a little on the couch, getting deeper into the groove between cushions and raising an eyebrow at him.

"Do I really need a reason to drop in and say hi?"

Pockets. Damn it. Tim made a point of not looking at her. Or staring. Or giving her pointed looks.

This was killing him. Slowly. Bit by bit.

"No, but you usually say hi, first." He flopped down on the couch next to her, propping up his legs and trying to remember what aloof was like. "What episode?" Because they knew all of them, didn't they, and where was the ring?

Oh, she was going to draw this out as long as possible, mostly because she was being kind of a dick, but also because dropping it casually into conversation seemed to make more sense than jumping up and down screaming and hugging and... that was probably more sister stuff anyway. Not that she would know, but.

"Hi. It's Season fifteen, episode eight, Cry Wolf." She propped her feet up too, glancing over at him and not buying the aloof act for a second.

"How are you doing?"

Hey, if she could be chill, so could he. "Fine. I was going to hit up downtown with Bernard, later. You can come, if you want, you know he likes you." It had bothered the hell out of him, when Bernard had first started talking about 'how hot his sister was,' but it became kind of hilarious when Tim realized Bernard had no shot in hell.

"So what's Jim up to?" Yeah, he could slide Jim into the conversation, real casual-like. Like it didn't matter.

Well, he really didn't have a chance now, not that he'd ever, let's be real here, since dating your younger brother's friend was kind of weird and not something she'd ever really consider. "Sure, sounds like fun."

Very smooth, Tim. Talking about Jim first. You're not trying to lead the conversation or anything, are you?

"And, you know, doctor stuff." And, sliding it in right afterwards, totally natural, even though she was kind of dying to just grin and blurt it out: "We went out to dinner last night."

Hey, he was super smooth. An all Tim had really factored into that worry was that Bernard was smooth, and had said, 'wouldn't it be cool if I dated your sister?' No, Bernard, it would not be cool.

Dinner. Okay. That had to be where Jim did it, right. He wanted to drag her hands out of her pockets - well, he'd settle for just the left - but Tim nodded, still watching the television. He glanced at her briefly.

"Anywhere nice?"

"Yeah, you know that Italian place downtown Vicki tried to convince Bruce to go to last week? That one. It's nice."

She deliberately took her right hand out of her pocket and tucked some hair behind her ears.

"The bar screwed up our order though. Jim was kind of annoyed."

Screwed up in that he'd put the ring in the wrong couple's champagne glass, kind of messing up the whole surprise thing, but everything had worked out okay in the long run.

Bastard. She was screwing with him, Tim was positive now. Well, fine. He could be patient. He turned so he could lean back against the arm of his chair, arms crossed. "Yeah? I thought he was chill about stuff like that. How bad did they screw it up?"

He didn't care about the food (and didn't know about the presentation), he just wanted to hear that she'd said yes. Partially so he could go crush Bernard's dreams for good.

"It could have gone a lot worse, but I think he was just feeling a little flustered."

Alright, screw it, the game had gone on long enough and she was impatient to be excited about it anyway, so she shrugged casually and leaned forward to grab the remote to turn down the volume a little. Casual, but deliberate enough that Tim could definitely see the ring.

"You know, proposing's kind of scary, apparently even when there's literally no chance the proposee is going to say no."

God, finally. Tim reached out, grabbing at her hand and tugging it closer so he could check it out. "Took him long enough. So are you guys picking a date, or waiting, or what?" He gave Rachel her hand back after a long moment, and grinned. "Can I tell all my friends?" Particularly friends who have spent years talking about his hot sister.

She grinned, laughing. "Both? We're thinking about it. And you can tell random passersby on the street, I'm still kind of in the wanting to shout it from the rooftops part of this whole thing." And she would probably stay there for quite a while because holy crap she and Jim were getting married.

Without warning, she grabbed Tim and pulled him in for a noogie, which quickly turned into an actual hug. "Better question: how long have you known, you little sneak?"

Tim yelped at the noogie, flailing his arms as if that would help. He even let her hug him for a minute, before pushing to get himself upright again. "Years," he said solemnly. "Don't you remember how I used to tease you?" When he was really little. "'First comes love, then comes marriage' ring any bells?"

She glared at him playfully and shoved him, because that is what one does when you have an obnoxious, secret keeping younger sibling. Which, again, she didn't mind the whole it being a surprise thing, but seriously Tim. What ever happened to the two of us against the world and stuff. "You're terrible."

You grew up and got a boyfriend that Tim liked not wanting to kill. They can take on the world when you have a kid. "You know that's such good timing, because I hear the newest version of the Oxford English Dictionary actually defines 'terrible' as 'a person who is, without a shred of doubt, really, really awesome.'"

"I'm afraid I'm going to need proof," she shot back, ruffling his hair again. "Now I am fully aware of how absurd this is going to sound, but since we don't have a sister, how do you feel about being my fake maid of honor?"

Don't worry, they probably won't make you wear a dress.

"Give me twenty minutes in Photoshop." He gave her a look for the question, though, leaning back against the arm and scratching his chin.

"If you try to put my in a dress, I'm swallowing your rings."