A Valuable Lesson

[A/N: More slice-of-life incoming]

The following Sunday after a Saturday of training with Wildcat. I woke up to the sound of my phone vibrating I already knew who it was before even looking at the caller ID as there was pretty much only one person who contacted me on my main phone.

"Hey, Barb what's up" I answered not trying to hide the fact that she woke him up at all.

"Hey well I just happened to be in the neighborhood so I figured I'd see if you wanted to hang out"

"Sure, no problem I'll leave the door unlocked so come in when you get here"

"Ok"

I immediately got up and went to shower.

I heard the door open just as I was finished getting dressed, I walked out of my room and greeted her she was wearing sports attire and looked like she had just gotten done exercising.

"Hey make yourself at home there's bottled water in the fridge if you're thirsty I said while I started to make a bowl of cereal, I looked to see back to find Barbara bent over reaching for a water bottle. My eyes lingered on her for a second before I turned back and started eating my cereal the fact that she was wearing yoga pants not really helping the situation. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

"So, what brings you here today don't tell me you want to practice for our presentation."

"No like I said I was just in your neighborhood and decided to come by."

"Ok so…" I said as I finished the rest of my cereal.

"Wanna play a video game or something?"

"Hmm… I've never really played any video games before. How do I play?"

"Well it depends, I have a lot of games I have some fighting, platform, racing, and shooting games. I also have some party games but they're not really fun without more people."

"Hmm… let's try a fighting game first"

"Ok let's try playing Smash Bros, it's probably the easiest to get into."

I loaded up the game and handed over a controller to her and explained all the various inputs. She ends up picking Sheik which was oddly fitting considering her alter ego. I ended up picking Jigglypuff because It reminds me of my days in college when I could hit back-to-back sleeps. Before we moved to the stage selection screen, I switched to team play and added two level 3 random characters. I let her pick the stage which ends up being the Pokémon Stadium. She was surprisingly good for it being her first time. I just let her take the lead since beating two level 3 opponents would be easy even though I haven't played in years. So was no surprise we won.

"Not bad for a newbie," I said jokingly.

"That was just too easy" She replied rolling her eyes.

"So want to go another round, play a different game, or do something else entirely?"

"let's just play another round, but up the difficulty this time"

"Oh now you're talking like a real gamer"

"Just shut up and play already"

*sniff* *sniff* "They grow up so fast" Suddenly I felt someone punch me on the shoulder. I couldn't tell if it didn't hurt because of my increased durability or because of my increased durability or she just didn't put any strength into it.

"No one's gonna wanna be your friend if you resort to violence over a little teasing"

"Let's just play already"

"Ok, ok" I said not wanting to risk making her too angry. And that's how we spent our Sunday, just messing around. We ended up ordering a pizza and watching the British tv show, Misfits. Before we knew it the sky was already getting dark.

"I'd better go, school night and all that," she said somewhat reluctantly.

"Yeah," I said walking her to the door, and giving her a quick hug "See you tomorrow, you sure you don't want me to walk you home you know how this city gets after dark"

"I know I'm a tough girl if anyone bothers me, I'll just beat the shit out of them"

"Haha, I have no doubt you would. Text me when you get home?"

"Haha, ok 'Dad'"

"Jeez just go already," I said pushing her out the door.

"Alright see you tomorrow," she said waving goodbye before turning around and disappearing into the night.

A few days went by and the Friday that we had to present our project finally came. I doubt we would get anything less than an A. After class ended for the day Barbara rushed up to me with Dick Grayson following closely behind.

"Alex why didn't you tell me the movie you recommended to me had such a sad ending"

"Uhh cause it would have spoiled the movie if you knew how it ended"

"But still the ending was so sad, he just died all alone in Alaska without ever getting to make up with his family. I honestly started to tear up"

"Yeah so did I but it taught me a valuable lesson"

"And what is that?" she asked the look in her eye told me she was curious about what I would say.

"That death can come suddenly and without warning even a small mistake can lead to it, even without making one it might still find you. So, live every day like it was your last."

"I see…" she mumbled looking like she was deep in thought.

"Alright I'm heading out later Barb" But she never replied still lost in thought. It wasn't until Dick said something that she snapped back to reality.

"Did you say something?"

"I was asking when did you two get so close?" Dick asked with an indiscernible face.

"Hmm I guess when we working on the history project together"

"I see… well we should get going too"

"Yeah," she said following after him still thinking about what Alex had said.