The coffee shop got even busier once Tim 'recommended' it to his co-workers and it was suddenly swamped with executives and various other snazzily dressed people with very deep pockets. It was very nice of Tim, very… mature. The manager was ecstatic, the workers got more overtime, but Jason?

Still waiting for some kind of retaliation, something petty and cold that would give 'him' an excuse to retaliate, Jason was hating it. Tim 'had' to retaliate some time, he had to be drawing it out to wind Jason up, because if he didn't, that would mean 'Jason' was the childish one.

Childish and very, very, busy. Then again, maybe that was Tim's plan, make Jason work himself to exhaustion and scribble something on his helmet when he inevitably passed out on patrol. That made way more sense, and like hell Jason was going to let…

Stephanie was outside the shop. Jason spun to get rag and a look at the clock while he hurriedly wiped down his slightly sticky workstation – he'd had a very busy day okay, no breaks between customers to clean the thing any earlier. She was early, two hours early at least, and the place was still too busy, he wouldn't have time to make the new mix he'd come up with for her.

He watched her through the large windows, bundled up in her bright pink parka, golden hair tucked under a beanie of a similar shade; he really hoped she'd take that off when she came inside, it was the only bright thing he got to see in the crowded shop. A floofy scarf hid half of her face, but what he could see was bathed in fury.

It took Jason a few moments to notice that last part, and then a couple more for him to figure out what had caused it. Some guy was blocking her path to the shop, his hands held up and a weak smile plastered on his face. She tried to duck under him, got a hand on the door and pried it open just a crack.

"Come on Steph, you really hanging around these snobs now?" The guy gripped her chin and Jason was already setting down a half-finished order to bash the guy's face in for 'daring'. "Guess your pretty face is good for more than just…"

Stephanie's fist struck out lightning quick, nailing the guy right underside his nose and he reared back with a shout, hands hastening to clutch at his bloody face. Jason, one of his legs already on the counter he'd been about to leap over, was frozen on the spot. The rest of the customers weren't faring much better. She then put both hands on his chest, and pushed him into the snow piled up along the side of the street.

Before he could get to his feet, Stephanie had already shut the door, and was scowling at the blood that had gotten on her fist; she shot an apologetic look Jason's way before disappearing into one of the bathrooms.

The customer Jason had been serving decided he was okay with his order half done, and edged away from the gaping barista to the register down the line. Jason was too busy watching for Stephanie's reappearance to care.

She emerged a minute later, hands clean and her make-up just a little smudged around her eyes.

"Uh, Jay." She poked his leg when she finally came over to his station.

He was still poised to jump the counter. Looking around for any sight of his manager, he brought the leg down.

"I think I chased off your customers." Steph said, with a sad frown, looking around at the people who'd all decided to get their snacks 'before' their coffee. She hunched down more into her scarf. "That was a, uh, clingy ex, I tried to come here to hide, and he sort of followed me, and… Sorry."

The guy had dusted himself of, holding a handful of snow to his nose, he slunk away, Jason's mind replayed the way his head had snapped back, and the expression on Stephanie's face when she'd decked him.

"You're amazing." Jason gave himself a mental shake to bring himself back to the present. "Shit, you wanna team up some night? I gotta see that again."

"Oh." Her eyes were very wide, locked on his for just a moment, peeking over her scarf; both her cheeks and nose flushed a deep red.

"I mean, uh, you got good form ya know."Jason said a tremor in his voice. "Better 'n working solo and the others always gotta make it a show. A lotta the time you just gotta…" Jason cleared his throat. "What can I get ya this time Sunshine?"

"Something warm and quick I guess." She said, looking around at the queue that had started forming now people could see she wasn't making their barista her next target. She frowned down at the light scratches the jerks teeth had made on her bare knuckles, then looked up to Jason with a glimmer of her usual grin. "So, 'amazing', huh?"

"I'm not even gonna try taking that back." Jason said, ignoring the heat creeping up his neck at the blackmail material he was handing over. "'F ya want I can toss in a couple synonyms too, astonishing, stunning, incredible." He counted them down on his fingers while the cup filled. "Want me to keep going? I'm a walking thesaurus here."

"Trust you to be turned on by me punching Dean in the face." She said, attempting to hide a much wider grin while unwinding her scarf.

"Stephanie, I'd let ya punch 'me' in the face if it meant I saw that." He slid her another tooth rotting abomination against coffee and sketched a quick fist in the foam.

"Maybe when you go all darkside again." She said, then grinned down at the sketch before taking a big gulp of her coffee, making a face as she realized too late how hot it was and struggled not to spit it out.

"Don't tempt me." Jason muttered, body turning to his next anxious customer while his mind turned to other, much more impressive matters. Maybe he should have taken Dick up on his stupid dating advice… Nah, he could figure something out himself.

He cast a quick glance at Stephanie to see her trying to rearrange the warped foam back into the shape he'd drawn.

O

O

O

"Amazing." Steph whispered to herself, a dull ache in her cheeks from how wide and long she'd been unable to drop her grin.

Dean was an ass, but she'd still felt a little bad for punching him out, even if it was just because she'd made a scene at the coffee shop when she's been so sure he wouldn't try to follow her inside.

It was worth it in the end though, even if Babs caught wind of it and gave her the lecture of two lifetimes, and Damian gave her that condescending little eye roll he always did when she messed up and Bruce gave them all that 'see what I mean' frown.

Because it got Jason to call her amazing, and astonishing, and whatever else he'd called her when her mind had blanked out waiting for a mocking add on that had never come.

She'd spent the rest of the day hanging in the shop, just in case Dean was still waiting around – loser or not, she didn't want to have to deal with him, the things he made her remember – and Jason had shot down everyone's attempts to make her leave until his shift had ended.

Now she was waiting out front for him to give her a ride home, and she was very sure that her jitters weren't all from the coffee she'd drank, and the coffee syrup she'd eaten – Jason was right, the stuff was downright addictive once you got past the initial bitter taste and to the sweetness – and the very sugary coffee cakes… Okay, so maybe it 'was' mostly the huge amounts of caffeine she'd consumed.

She checked her reflection in the front door of the shop, poking any stray bangs behind her beanie and wishing she had time to fix up her still smudged mascara. Her cheeks were still flushed, and not from the cold. With a frown, she pushed the warmth down and spun away from the glass.

This wasn't what she was like, she didn't get all smiley and blushy whenever someone paid her a compliment. She was past that point in her life when praise had meant everything to her, one guy shouldn't have been able to make her feel like this just by calling her amazing. 'And incredible, and stunning, and astonishing,' her traitorous brain provided.

And just the 'way' he'd looked at her when he'd said it, like the words were only at the surface of what he was feeling.

She shut it down and folded her arms, hearing the roar of a motorcycle coming from out back.

Jason had changed out of his work clothes, and was now in the jeans, jacket hoody and combat boots combo he seemed to prefer. His hair whipped with the wind as he sped past her, halfway down the street before spinning around in loose circles, laughing almost above the revving of the engine.

The sound was infectious, and soon Steph was chuckling too. He sped dangerously close to a bank of snow on the street corner, and she thought he was going to try and jump, it, but he just gave her a salute and pulled on the handlebars. The bike drifted along the side of the bank before he turned it sharply and sped back to the shop.

When he finally drifted the screeching thing directly in front of her, his face was flushed with the cold, his eyes brilliant with passion and the widest grin she'd ever seen from him. "Afoot and lighthearted, let us take to the road!" he proclaimed, one of his hands outstretched, offering her a helmet as though it was a rose.

And Steph was gone, she was sooo far gone she knew there was no clawing her way back. When she took the helmet, she could have sworn electricity passed through it from him to her. She climbed onto the back of the bike, pressing her body against his with her arms wrapped tightly around his middle.

"Please don't drive like that with me on here." She chuckled, burying her face into his shoulder blades.

"You know you want me to." His eyes sparked again with that passion and he revved the bike.

The drive itself wasn't every eventful, but Steph's heart was pounding against her ribcage as much as it would have had they been dodging bullets in a high-speed chase. So fast, she was almost worried he'd feel it through the layers of clothes they had protecting them from the cold she couldn't feel.

Steph's heart was gone, but she found she didn't mind in the least.

O

O

O

If Steph 'was' going to be crushing on a guy, she decided that at the very least she wouldn't let it turn into every other crush she'd had in the long nineteen years she'd had to gather life experience.

She wasn't going to pine – shut up Cass, she hadn't been doing that the whole time – or wait around for him to realize exactly 'how' amazing she was – shut up Cass, those were the words he used, not me – or let herself get so worked up about the tippity, teeny, tiny chance he'd decide he 'didn't' think she was amazing in the same way she thought he was.

"Cass, I swear to god." Steph glowered at her friend who would not stop laughing at Steph's developing existential crisis. 'This' was exactly why she had to get it over with before she got in any deeper.

Cass's grin just spread wider and she plucked one of Steph's coats up from the pile of fabric that littered the blonde's bed. "This one." She said, running her fingers along the sides. "He likes green."

"You like green." Steph snapped back, much to her friend's continued delight, but she accepted that Cass, in her infinite wisdom of all her brother's doings, knew what she was talking about.

Cass's only request for payment was that Steph get her brother to actually admit out loud that he was her brother.

O

O

O

Steph was confident standing outside the doors of the coffee shop. She was ready, and able, and looked like a million dollars – all thanks to Cass for the makeup that probably 'did' cost a million dollars or something – and nothing was going to stand in her way. Not even the nagging feeling that Cass had known more than she was letting on.

It was near closing time, perfect in the way that it meant things going south wouldn't necessitate things going all awkward between them forever. She could leave, and he could leave, and neither of them needed to talk about it when she got her coffee the next day. If she got her coffee the next day, no, bad thoughts, she had to stay positive here.

Determination rekindled, Steph pushed open the doors and strode, that's right, strode inside.

Jason, who'd been leaning over his counter, tapping on his phone screen, raised his head slowly at the sound, then shot upright all at once when he got a look at her. A hand shot to the messy curls on his head, fingers raking through it as if he actually thought that would straighten it out – it remained wonderfully messy and her fingers itched to attempt smoothing it out herself – and his thick, expressive eyebrows shot up to be hidden by his bangs.

Then, whatever he was feeling, it died down in a second. His posture slumped, hands folded on his counter like always. Actually, he looked a little more grumpy than usual. Just like that, Steph's insecurity raised it's ugly, starving head.

"Big plans tonight, Sunshine?" He asked, already getting a cup ready for her to place her order on.

"Maaaybe." She drawled, sliding into her usual seat. "And maybe I just like getting dressed up sometimes."

Jason hummed, and turned the cup around in his hands. "Any special requests?"

"What you made last time was nice." Steph said, plucking a plastic stirrer from the jar at her elbow.

"What that I made last time, I lost count of how much you drank." He said, his back to her as he began filling the cup. "Actually, you drink way too much coffee in general, you're becoming Tim two point oh. How many cups have you gotten here just in the last week?"

"Maybe I like the attention." Steph folded her arms on the counter and laid her chin on them as she watched his back while he worked. He wasn't bringing the coffee over so she could watch him draw this time. Okay, she'd wanted a reaction, but this wasn't it. "And all the free coffee, seriously, when last did I even pay for the stuff. You're sponsoring my budding coffee reliance Jay, how could I ever leave. Course, you having to be nice to your customers is a plus too. How many people can say 'the' Jason Todd is nice to them?"

"Wow, I feel used." Jason chuckled. "Y'know, I mighta been nice to ya either way. You don't have to trap me at work." When he finally turned and gave her the coffee there was a cap hiding his drawing.

He was watching her very closely, eyes flickering between her face and the coffee almost anxiously.

"Yeah, well, hey Jay? Y'know I'm really good at making waffles…" She wasn't seriously considering asking him out to make waffles was she? They'd already had those, and he might have thought it was a friends-type thing and not a date type thing. She needed something more… personal. Damnit, why hadn't she asked Cass for a more detailed idea of what Jason would like? He liked when she punched things, so she could go or a joint patrol, but again, that was a friend thing – sad as it was to admit even to herself.

"Oookay." He poked her cup. "We could get some I guess."

She turned the cup around slowly, chewing on the plastic stirrer while the thought. She made the mistake of looking up, seeing Jason's adorable, sort of confused frown his eyes now almost hidden under white streaked bangs that she wanted again to put aside, and felt her cheeks light up again. This was becoming a serious problem, she'd have to go to Leslie or something in case she was developing that blushing disorder she'd seen once on TV.

"Stephanie, your coffee." Jason pressed after enough time had presumably passed to make him worried.

She didn't have 'time' to think about coffee couldn't he see that? She opened the cap anyway, and he shuffled his feet hands intertwining in front of himself as he licked his lips.

Steph hummed, her eyes narrowing at his reaction before she turned them down to the drawing on her cup. The foam was shaped into a heart, and on top of it, he'd sketched a pair of little Red Hood and Batgirl caricatures holding hands with a question mark between them and 9:00 at the bottom.

"You wanna work with me tonight?" Steph asked, her mind trying to slog through the mess of hope, confusion, terror and sheer, overjoyed bliss crawling uncomfortably through her insides.

"No!" Jason groaned, exasperated as he moved from tugging to pulling at his hair, and at least three of those emotions saw fit to crawl right on away, then he dropped the hand completely, balling it into a fist at his side and locking eyes with her with visible effort. "Well, if that's what you wanna do, but I was thinking more along the lines of…" He shook his head, and muttered something to himself she didn't catch. "I'm good for more 'n just coffee y'know. Hear I'm a pretty good cook in general."

"Cook as in…" Steph's hands twisted on the countertop. "Like, real people food?"

"I am a real person you know." Jason leaned on his counter, cupping his head in one hand. "Got a real safeh-apartment near here and everything, with a real stove and a couch with a TV we could watch a movie on after."

"Wait, so, like a date thing?" She blinked up at him.

"No, not a date." Jason scoffed, turning his eyes on the ceiling, then almost immediately fixing them on her again. "Well yeah a date." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Doesn't gotta be though, just thought it'd be fun to hang out somewhere that isn't my 'job' y'know…"

"Nooo." Steph groaned, into her arms, and then almost hit herself when she saw the stricken look on Jason's face, like she'd mauled his puppy, and hurried to clarify. "I came here tonight to ask 'you' out."

"What?" Jason's body sagged against the counter his eyebrows furrowing while he bit the inside of his cheek, and god help her if she didn't want to reach over and pull him closer run her fingers along those eyebrows. "Then what's the problem?"

"Now Cass is gonna laugh at me again." Steph shut her eyes and cursed her friend who'd definitely known what she was sending Steph into.

Jason chuckled, a low, husky sound that did all kinds of weird things to the butterflies nesting in Steph's stomach. "Easy fix. You leave, and we pretend you just got here, 'then' you can ask me out."

"That's, that's so corny Jason, I can't even…" Steph shook her head at him, and his stupid, floofy hair, and his stupid crooked grin, and felt one working its way onto her own face. "I love it!" She got out her cell and snapped a picture of his coffee art - way too cute to never see again - then downed the drink, hot, hot, very hot, and ran for the door, ignoring the confused frowns of the guy's at the snack counter and register.

Steph stopped outside and smoothed down her clothes, then bashed open the doors and strode inside right up to the counter where Jason was pretending to be busy with his phone again.

He looked up with an incredibly over the top gasp that had her fighting to keep up her serious expression. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day, she who hath graced me with her presence this cold winters night?"

"That's not the quote Jason." Steph folded her arms and leaned against the counter the way she'd seen Catwoman do whenever Batman was near.

"I improved it." Jason shrugged, also leaning in closer to her, close enough that she could feel his coffee scented breath in her cheek.

"So then Mister 'I'm better than Shakespeare' I got a preposition for you."

"Uh-uh." Jason bit on his bottom lip to keep his grin at bay. She would be biting that lip soon, she decided.

"How would 'you' like the opportunity to wow me with your culinary prowess, after which we could watch a movie on your couch?" She unfolded her arms and laid them of the counter so she could lean back on her elbows. "And maybe this leads to a night on the town where I punch some people just for you, and hey, maybe that leads to us making out against the batsignal." She shrugged and shot a wink at him over her shoulder.

"Where both Bruce and Barbara will be forced to watch on in absolute 'horror'." Jason nodded seriously. "That's a 'very' tempting preposition Miss 'doesn't appreciate my talent', but there's just one little problem." He leaned in even closer, and Steph did likewise until there was barely an inch between them.

"I don't think either of us can wait to reach the batsignal." Steph whispered into his ear, and his whole body shuddered.

"There's a break room, managers already gone home." Jason said, reaching over the counter with both arms to pull him over to his side, okay, so 'those' arms weren't just for show, he was freaking 'strong' on top of everything else. startling a laugh out of Steph.

"What about your customers?" Steph asked as her feet touched the ground on Jason's side.

"Any come in and Dave'll handle em." Jason breathed close to her ear, sending shivers running down her spine. "He owes me one."

"For what?" Snack counter guy called out.

"For not turning you into a violent crimes statistic for the way you looked at my sister!" Jason yelled back.

"Jerk." Dave flipped Jason off, but he didn't seem to care, too busy dragging Stephanie over to the break room, and she was reveling in finally getting her hands into his mussed curls as the door slammed shut.

Her back to the door, she grabbed Jason's collar and pulled his lips closer to press against hers, as she slipped her hands round to the back of his neck, intertwining her, burying one in his soft – really as soft as it looked – hair . Jason's arms circled her waist and pulled her even closer, groaning into her lips. He tasted sweet, like coffee syrup and ginger cookies.

They pulled apart for air, and she tilted her head to nuzzle at the light stubble on his cheek.

"You're gonna have to stop flirting with all the pretty girls that come in here now y'know." She ran her thumbs over his eyebrows, down to his ear lobes.

Jason huffed a breathy laugh against her neck and pulled her back in for another kiss, his hands on either side of her face as he poured all the passion she's seen in his eyes right into her like molten fire, wait there was an actual word for that. Jason probably knew it, but she wasn't in any of a mind to actually ask. His lips lifted just a hairs breadth away from hers, just enough so he could speak. "What pretty girls?"

"You're." Steph closed the gap for a quick kiss. "Ridiculous." She closed it again, this time for a deeper one. She slipped her hands down his sides to bury them in his pockets. Her fingers finding multiple packets of coffee syrup, the edges of a few still coated in the sweet, sticky substance. When she brought her hands up again, they smelled like coffee.

It was her new favorite scent.

xxx

Hey, look at me finally FINISHING something for once.

Welp, time to start on the next short JaySteph piece.

I got a list, but I'm open to suggestions.