fandomhighdorms | The Gym, Sunday afternoon

Cal may have had giant bruises on both his arms from Fanbutt hitting him yesterday, but Cal didn't think that was a good enough excuse to skip the gym today. He'd just have to be a little...careful for his poor, delicate, tenderized muscles.

He wasn't too terribly surprised to see Dinah already there. "Hey, you," he greeted her before settling in to stretch.

"Hey, birthday guy plus one," Dinah said a little breathlessly, pulling her earbuds out of her ears and smiling. She tilted her head at the bruises. "Those look way ouchy."

"Nah," Cal said, waving a dismissive hand. "They're not bad."

They were so totally way ouchy he almost couldn't stand it. Almost. But it wasn't as if he'd let Dinah in on that.

"Thanks for coming to the party, by the way."

If he wasn't going to complain, Dinah wasn't going to push; part of her kind of admired him for not bitching, another part hoped he wasn't just being macho. Hard to tell with Cal.

"Oh hey, I had a great time! I'm glad you had a birthday to celebrate so early in the semester." Dinah leaned down to touch her toes and stretch a bit while she was talking. "And it gave me an excuse to drag other people out to have fun too."

Totally just being macho.

"Well, you're welcome," he said with a nod. "Next time I see my mother, I'll make sure to compliment her on her excellent timing."

Dinah snickered, and then bounced up, remembering the weird of the weekend again, and sighing. She frowned and punched the bag, one-two-three-four-five-six, to deal with the frustration and exasperation of all she'd heard, then paused to do a series of kicks. "So, did you get some cool presents? I didn't see what other people got you, I was talking to half the school, it seemed like."

Cal rolled his eyes. "Half the school, no kidding," he muttered. "Had to be an ice cream party, didn't it? No one would turn down ice cream..."

"But, yeah," he added, arms above his head as he stretched them, "I did. Pretty good turn-out. Worf's was probably the coolest, I'm not going to lie. It's this crazy 3D projection thing from his century."

Dinah turned to look at him, face lighting up with interest.

Ooo, arms.

She blinked then grinned again. "So, it'll take a movie, and make it 3D? Is it TV-sized, or computer-sized?"

"Well," Cal admitted, dropping his arms and then stretching one across his chest with the other, "I think it'll only work for something that's been programmed for it. So all we have to play on it is Season One of Rumor Gal. I guess he just used what was readily available."

"Ohhh. Hunh." Dinah went into a series of elbow strikes at the bag, then worked her way around the bag to face Cal, frowning. "Rumor Gal, is that the one about the snooty rich kids? And the girl who's so obsessive?"

"You'd be surprised," Cal said, "how many snooty rich kids are obsessive."

"Do you know a lot of them?" Dinah wrinkled her nose, and kicked the bag a few more times, thinking of Arthur. "Then again, if you've met one..."

"I used to go to a private school," Cal said, moving over to one of the weight machines, "in one of the ritzier areas of Detroit. Watching that shit sometimes just reminds me of home."

Dinah took a break, and considered the weight machines, or maybe the treadmill. Hmmm. Free weights. Easier to keep talking that way. She picked up two of the barbells and started doing curls with them, carefully.

"Better you than me," she said to Cal. "Do you miss it at all? Or is it all 'whew good riddance yay'?"

The better you than me comment got a wry grin out of Cal, as well as a yeah, thanks look before he admitted, "Sometimes I do, yeah. But if I had to choose, it'd be this place in a heartbeat."

Dinah did another bicep curl, and down, then another, up to her shoulder. "I like being here because it's cool but also," she took a breath, then another as she finished the curl, "It's nice not to be in Missouri. Two thousand people in my hometown. I knew every kid in school from the time I was in first grade, it seemed like. It's good to have a change."

Cal laughed a little, lightly, at that. "Yeah, change is good. We moved to Grosse Pointe about the time I started middle school, so I got to do the whole changing schools thing then, too. And Detroit's pretty big."

"Did your parents switch jobs, or just wanted a change?" Dinah asked, then said a little wistfully, "I miss New Gotham. I keep thinking I want to go to No Man's Land and shoot some pool."

"Dad's business was doing really well," Cal explained, smiling a bit through his sets. "So it got to be time for a mega-upgrade. And Fast Eddie's has pool; still probably not as cool as a place called No Man's Land, though."

"Really?" Dinah brightened a bit, coming up on her toes for her next arm curl, and smiling as she uncurled it, settling back down on her heels. "We should get some people and go there. And yeah, No Man's Land was awesome. The guy who owns it has a crush on my sister, so I got free sodas and games sometimes. Plus he was always selling weird collectibles out of there, Pez dispensers and comics and dishes and stuff."

"Okay, that does sound pretty awesome," Cal had to admit, "although I don't think I could manage getting the free stuff thanks to a crush on my older sibling. My brother's way too much of a nerd."

"How much older is he? College?" Dinah asked, finishing up her curls and shaking out her arms with a smile. "Helena's twenty-four. And Gibson doesn't have a chance, really, but he keeps hoping. Hoping. Counting the hours he's had a crush on her. Asking if she mentioned him. I always lie and said she said hi."

"Yeah," Cal nodded. "I think he's close to finishing; he's about six years older than me, but kind of a slacker these days."

And then he chuckled a little, "Typical girl move. Keep giving a guy reason to hold on. That's awful."

"I feel sorry for him. 'Hi' isn't a bad thing," Dinah protested, then looked a little guilty. "And okay, free games. But she's got a boyfriend now! Gibson so shouldn't even be asking." She shook her head, moving over to the treadmill, and messing with the settings. "Guys do that too. Make sure a girl stays interested."

Dinah really had him there; he looked petulant for a moment, rolling his eyes before morphing the expression to something more amused as he said, "Okay, fine." He knew he was among last people who could ever say that boys didn't do that. Although, really, if he wanted to get technical...

...he so not about to get technical there. "I guess you've got a point there."

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