Chapter Text
It starts with Nightwing slinging an arm around Batman’s shoulders after a mission. Hal admits that, on paper, that's less than nothing, a decidedly platonic form of physical contact. Except that this is Batman and Nightwing. Neither of them are prone to platonic touches. Add to that the fact that they're both from Gotham, now working in neighboring cities, collaborating on missions fairly regularly… It's suspicious, is what Hal's saying, a dangerous development. Especially, because Batman doesn't immediately shrug the guy off like he would anyone else. Even Diana is only allowed the occasional hug.
Hal elbows Barry in the side, catching his attention. “That's so weird, right? It's not just me?”
“What?” asks Barry, rubbing his smarting side as he tears himself away from the story Ollie's telling.
“ That ,” hisses Hal, nodding at Batman and Nightwing, who are still standing alarmingly close. Barry follows his gaze. Hal can tell just by the way his hands are twitching that Barry immediately sees it too. “What the fuck?” he whispers, and Hal throws his hands up. “Right? Should we do something? I mean, you remember the last time someone tried to get with Spooky. It was a shitshow!”
Barry shudders, clearly remembering the murderous gleam in Superman's eyes as he almost incinerated the unlucky fool flirting with Batman on the spot. Things were tense for months after that, with Superman hovering around Batman and growling at anyone who came too close or even looked at him a moment too long. It made League meetings incredibly exhausting.
For a moment Hal and Barry just watch as Nightwing and Batman talk, and then the corner of Batman's mouth ticks up, and immediately they both anxiously search the crowd of assembled heroes for Superman. Hal breathes a sigh of relief when he finds the Boy Scout across the room, deep in conversation with Wonder Woman.
“Thank fuck,” he mutters. “We need a distraction before Big Blue notices.”
Barry nods his head vigorously. “You distract Spooky and I make sure Nightwing keeps his distance.”
“Deal.”
+++
“You really did good work out there today,” says Bruce, clapping Dick on the shoulder. He knows he’s repeating himself but he’s just so proud of his son. Dick acted like a true leader, coordinating his team and saving civilians, all the while keeping the threat contained until reinforcements arrived. Bruce knows heroes much older than him who wouldn’t have done half as well in this situation.
“Thanks, B.” Dick smiles, pleased, but he also looks exhausted.
“You should head home, get some rest,” suggests Bruce, brows furrowed in concern.
“After the debrief.” Dick hesitates. “Hey, I was wondering if I could—”
“Yo, Spooky! How much longer do we have to wait to give our reports? I’ve got shit to do, you know?”
Gritting his teeth, Bruce turns towards Green Lantern. “Are you seriously implying that you of all people have your report ready?”
Lantern smirks at him. “That’s hurtful, Spooky, truly. If we had HR I’d lodge a complaint.”
“Get to the point,” growls Bruce, shooting a glance at Dick. But his son is no longer there. Looking around the room, Bruce finds him standing off to the side with Flash, already deep in conversation. He’d been about to ask Bruce something but maybe it wasn’t that important…
“Yo, Earth to Batman! Are we gonna do this or what? Like I said, I’ve got things to do. I can’t wait around until everyone is ready.”
Reluctantly, Bruce turns back to Green Lantern. “Fine,” he barks, and heads to the closest computer to properly record everything. “Report.”
To his surprise, Lantern actually does give his report, and a more coherent and comprehensive one than usual at that. By the time he’s done, everyone else has gathered around them, ready for the actual debrief. For the first time since implementing the report system to analyse their bigger fights, Bruce resents the process. When everything is finally logged and filed away, Dick is already gone. It’s probably nothing , thinks Bruce, but a tiny bit of doubt remains.
“Is everything okay?” asks Clark, sliding an arm around Bruce’s middle and dropping a kiss to the top of his head.
“Yes,” answers Bruce, leaning into the contact. He doesn’t want to worry Clark over potentially nothing. If it’s really important, Dick will call or come to the manor. “Just ready to head home.”
“I hear you,” says Clark, pulling Bruce closer. “Let’s go.”