A Nice and Quiet Read (Rainbro)

Annie nodded "sure! Then we can try find a nice one and we'll have an idea of how much money we need to save up" she said happily before she stood up and looked to Bow "would you like to come with us? That's if you want to be living with us..." she said, hoping that Bow would come with them but she would understand if she just felt like a third wheel.

Bow had walked up as Wayne mentioned coming back and looking for houses, but sat quietly down because it didn't seem to concern her. She then turned as Annie spoke directly to her. She spoke with a smile, but it didn't touch her eyes, and anyone who knew her could tell it meant she was hiding her sorrow. I think I'm just gonna go for a walk... She then began to walk off.

Wayne just looked at her, blankly. He knew what that face meant, but didn't say anything about it. He looked at Annie with a gentleman's smile. So, shall we be off?

Annie frowned at Bow "okay, see you back at the apartment!" she said, trying to smile and cheer Bow up before she looked to Wayne and nodded before she softly held his hand and picked up the picnic things then walked towards the estate agents to look at the houses on offer.

Bow walked away with tears threatening to stain her cheek.

Wayne kissed Annie on the cheek as he slipped the basket out of her hand. That doesn't belong to be in the hands of a princess. As they walked, Wayne would think about all the different places in Steel they could live, fairly safely.

Annie held Wayne's hand as she walked with him, becoming worried about Bow but she also really wanted to be living in a house, especially with Wayne and Bow if she wanted to too "I can't wait Wayne! We'll have a big house with a big yard and we can invite all our friends over and have parties and we'll also have a whole lot more privacy too with our own bedrooms" she said excitedly, trying to resist jumping around.

Wayne looked at Annie lovingly. He wasn't much of one for parties himself, but he understood a princess needed her balls. He wouldn't argue about such trivial matters with her. He would be her prince that she could show off to her friends, just as long as she didn't throw to many. He saw that she was excited and stepped in front of her setting down the basket. Anything for my princess. He then bowed and extended his hand. Assuming she would take it, he would then whirl her around in a waltz and then dip her and kiss her passionately.

Annie took Wayne's hand and was surprised when when he whirled her around and took her into the waltz and dip before kissing her passionately, her face suddenly bright red before she kissed him even more passionately back "oh Wayne...lets get a house as soon as we can so I can repay you for all the things you've done for me, as we can't do the really...intense stuff on a sofa" she said before giggling shyly at the thought.

Wayne chuckled and smiled softly at her reaction. He swept her off her feet and carried her in his arms, picking the basket up on the way, to the nearest agency. He set her down just before getting there and went in with numbers and places rolling through his head.

Annie smiled at Wayne as she walked into the agency with him "don't we need enough money for a house first?" she asked, not knowing how much money he had on him, she only knew that she had $20 at the most.

Wayne smiled at Annie and grabbed her hand. You just let me worry about money princess. He had come to Steel with three million stolen from his parents and that had only grew as he took over most of the criminal activity there. Almost every petty robbery and grand theft went through him and he got a cut from all the earnings. He invested in them to begin with to watch his money grow.

A man came up to meet them and spoke almost condescendingly to them both. "What can I do for you two?"

Wayne spoke politely as if he were in a business deal with one of his subordinates. We're looking for a house to buy.

Annie decided to let Wayne take care of the business stuff, she wasn't one for that kind of stuff anyway and she'd probably just get confused with it all too, she just stood silently next to Wayne smiling as she watched her dream get closer and closer.

The man takes Wayne into a separate room to talk numbers and locations. They come back out in just about ten minutes smiling and laughing. Wayne winks at Annie as he gets the keys to a rental car that the man is loaning them, through Wayne's persuasion of course. He walks over to Annie and smiles.

Shall we take a look at a few?

Annie smiles loads "yeah!" she says happily, getting more and more excited by the minute as she ran to where the rental cars were.

As they got in, he handed Annie the addresses. If she knew anything about the city, she would know none of them were within Jump City limits. He didn't bother to ask her which she wanted to see first until they had already passed the "YOU ARE NOW LEAVING JUMP CITY! HAVE A NICE DAY!" sign. He then turned to her and smiled.

So Princess, do you have any preference to which we see first? He had a gentlemanly smile on and his charm turned up 100%.

Annie looked through the addresses, not minding that they wouldn't be living in Jump "I don't mind, I guess the first one that's closer" she said with a chuckle, loving how charming Wayne was being.

Wayne simply nodded and kept his eyes on the road. He didn't drive much so wasn't an absolute expert on the subject. He drove for another 20 minutes just smiling and they finally arrived in Steel. It was only another 3 minutes before they were at the house. It was an okay looking house on a drug infested street, but rarely was there violence here. It was one story, needed a new paint job bad, one bedroom one bath, small living room, small kitchen/dining room, and smelled of old people. Wayne got out of the car and went over to Annie to open her door.

This is the closest one. The street's not terrible, but I can assure you there's better houses on the list. Would you like to go inside? He asked offering his hand to her to hold.

Annie looked at the house and immediately took a disliking to it, she sighed and held his hand, hoping that the other houses would be much better than this one, this was nothing like the house that she had in mind, too cramped, too small, and she felt uneasy about all the drugs on the street too, she felt unsafe in the area which made her hold Wayne's hand tighter, she then looked to the list of the other houses in her hand then looked back up to Wayne with a frown, she didn't want to seem picky but...she didn't like this house one bit, and it showed in her facial expression.

Wayne saw her reaction and chuckled. Let's go to my personal favorite next, shall we? Assuming she would say yes, he opened her door again and then went around to the driver side. He drove through town to the opposite side. The houses here were all much bigger and anyone could tell it was the prestigious area in town. They pulled up into the driveway of a large house off the road a bit, hidden by woods. The yard was beautiful, green, and wide. It had a cute porch with two rocking chairs already on it. It was two stories with four bedrooms, three baths, one spacious living room, a wonderful kitchen, and separate dining room fit for a party of ten. Wayne smiled as he got out and let Annie out and extended his hand while he bowed.

Is this more to the princess' liking? He smirked as he bowed. It wasn't even the most expensive he could afford, but thought it would be the one Annie would prefer.

Annie stepped out and took Wayne's hand, looking at the house as her face lit up "it's perfect!" she said happily before she used her wings to fly up to it and gave it a quick look around from the outside before she flew back to Wayne and hugged him tight, almost tackling him to the ground but she made sure that he didn't fall "oh Wayne! It's wonderful!" she said with a huge smile.

Wayne smiled as she flew around all cute like. He braced himself for impact as she came zooming back to him and chuckled at her words. I thought you might like it. He hugged her and twirled her around in his arms then set her down gently keeping a hold of her hand. What do you say about having a look inside, my princess? He smiled softly and kissed her on the cheek.

Annie nodded excitedly "yeah yeah yeah!" she said with a smile as she held Wayne's hand tight, walking inside with him "its so...so...BIG!" she said happily before she started to look around the house "oh Wayne! It's everything that I could have dreamed of" she said happily as she grinned.

Wayne watched his darling roam from room to room with a smile on her face and he chuckled. It was like watching a child on Christmas day unwrapping the gift they really wanted. He put his hands in his pockets and smirked watching his princess. As she came back to him he opened his arms in welcome for a hug. *chuckle* I'm glad you love it sweetie. Do you want to look around more, or shall I go ahead and get this one? He said it so nonchalantly as if he were buying a pack of gum.

Annie nodded happily "let's go ahead and buy it! Its so amazing and perfect, just like you my prince" she said as she hugged Wayne tight with a huge smile, she was so excited at this point her legs were shaking, she had to hold onto Wayne tight just to stop herself from falling down, and to think that she'd be living in the house of her dreams with the guy of her dreams, she felt so happy at this point she couldn't believe it.

Wayne swung her up into his arms wedding style and kissed her passionately. Let's not waste any time then, shall we? He carried her out to the car, opened the car door for her, and set her down gently. He then got in the driver's side and drove back to Jump, crunching numbers in his head as they rode.

Annie suddenly blushed when Wayne lifted her up bridal style and placed her in the car, Annie then smiled excitedly "I can't wait to be living with you in that big house Wayne...we'll have so many happy memories there, I'm sure of it, then we can invite all our friends over, and I can learn to cook you delicious meals, and we can decorate everywhere and and-" she said before quickly running out of things for now before she just sat in the car smiling.