Chapter Text
Hal Jordan was an odd guy, it was one of his many loveable quirks. He had a habit of cracking smartass jokes mid battle, harassing the other League members with his constructs, and goading their enemies into acting out of anger (it wasn’t his fault they got angry so easily ).
It was why he got on with his pal Mr. Barry Allen so well.
They were both the odd guys on the team and got along like a house on fire. They’d been on their first mission for a whole half an hour when they realised how well they got along, it had been another hour when the League started to regret putting them on the same team.
Since then they’d labelled each other as each other's best friends- yes fully grown men could have best friends- their close relationship meant Hal could easily tell when his friend was in a mood, or something wasn’t right. For example, when the speedy man walked into the comm room (his least favourite room) before slumping into the office chair next to Hal… the Lantern instantly knew something was up.
“What’s up, Care Bear?” He asked, trying his best to mask his concern. When the speedster didn’t reply he kept going, “twins keeping you up? No… That would be too obvious, the lab refusing to give you a raise? Bats is refusing to give you that suit upgrade you want?”
The Flash grumbled something..
“What was that? You gotta speak up young man,” he cupped his hand to his ear. Barry just smacked his arm but at least he got a chuckle for his troubles.
“I said it’s Bart, I’m worried about him…” He trailed off, his gaze turning distant as he looked out to the stars.
“Kid seemed alright last time I saw him,” and he was telling the truth. It had been about a week ago, the young team had returned from an off planet mission and Nightwing had commandeered one of the Watchtower meeting rooms for the debriefing. The first Robin had taped a sock to the door in an attempt to be funny.
It definitely wasn’t funny… apart from when it was, and Hal laughed as Diana clipped him around the ear. God he loved that brat, he shared the same shitty humor as Hal and it made for some interesting times when the teams had to join forces.
He’d been on his way to the cafeteria for a well deserved lunch when Nightwing dismissed the kids. Teenagers flooded the hallway as Hal tried to wade through them, his sandwich was calling his name! There was a shout to his right when a small body was shoved into his side, Hal let his momentum make him stumble as he held the body to help steady them.
Looking down revealed a head of auburn hair with red tinted goggles pushed up to keep it all from flopping in their eye line. The human projectile wore a uniform of yellow, red and black.
It was Bart, the new Kid Flash. He thought “new” like the kid hadn’t been using the name for the last four years, maybe a part of Hal was struggling to move on from the original Kid Flash. He shoved the thought to the side as he stopped them both from tumbling into the opposing wall.
“Hey Kid!” He greeted the speedster in question and he stopped glaring at Traci and Jaime, she was ruthlessly aiming to tickle his sides as the Beetle tried to wriggle away. Bart had probably been a casualty of their incessant flirting. He instead turned his gaze up to the Lantern who caught him.
“Hey,” he said without the usual speedster chirp, he wriggled from under Hal’s arm to walk (more like shuffle) beside him. The pair exchanged no more words until the horde of heroes came to a fork in the hall, most of the teens turned right towards the Zeta whilst Hal and a few others veered left for the cafeteria.
Did the Lantern hang back to watch Bart’s retreating form? Maybe.
Did he notice how the kid didn’t say a word to his team around him? Yes.
Did he get a bit confused when he didn’t just speed past them all? Absolutely.
Dammit, maybe Hal felt a bit of worry for the time traveler.
“Okay, actually he was a bit quiet but now that I think about it maybe he was just tired after the mission?”
Barry looked thoughtful for a second before replying, “maybe… but he’s always been a bit quiet for a speedster. I'm honestly ashamed I never realised it before.”
“I watched the CCTV of him popping in from the future, he seemed loud enough then!” He tried to reason, to put his friend at ease.
“I think that was fake…” and that made Hal’s eyebrows try and become one with his hairline. Barry and Wally (god he missed that kid) were notorious for being awful liars, it’s why they were so mouthy towards the bad guys- a good way to stop the fear showing on their features. It even got to the point when Artemis was undercover, if someone asked Wally about her he would storm out of the room. People put it down to “angry grieving” but now Hal realised it was to stop him from blurting out the truth.
Everyone knew speedsters wore their hearts on their sleeves.
It had come in handy when Iris pulled the original Kid Flash from his old abusive home.
Hal scoffed, “speedy humans can't act for shit, that’s a well known fact!”
“You don’t know what Bart’s been through in the future…” his friend replied cryptidly.
Hal just raised an eyebrow but otherwise remained silent.
His friend just sighed, flicked his head around to make sure they were alone before he started explaining.
xXx
“Shiiiiiit…”
“Yeah…”
“So we don’t know the details?”
“Nah, just the general atmosphere, ya know?”
“Yeah…”
The two heroes sat slumped in their seats as Hal wheeled around the room, having completely abandoned his role on comms. The Earth could be being invaded and he’d never know. The sad truth of Bart’s timeline had completely depressed him enough that maybe the world ending wouldn't be the worst thing.
“Hey,” Hal willed a construct of a hand to poke Barry’s shoulder (very creative Jordan) to get his attention, “on a lighter note, I’m in charge of training time for the kids tomorrow!”
“Where’s Wing?”
“Indisposed with Bats, he said something about a family emergency, which is weird cos Robin will be there.”
“Maybe it’s an adults only situation?” Barry suggested.
“Maybe…”
“Why’d they pick you though?” The Flash only got a giant green translucent middle finger as a reply. The two sat in silence for a while, Hal eventually rolled back over to the console. Yep, the planet was still in one piece and no one was calling in an S.O.S call.
“Could you keep an eye on Bart for me?” Barry didn’t look at him as he asked.
“Consider it done, pal.”
xXx
Running a training session for a bunch of teenagers wasn’t his idea of a good Saturday morning but when Wing had asked he couldn’t just say no! If it was anyone else he would’ve but saying no to a Bat was… risky. So, instead of lounging around his flat in his dressing gown with Queen blasting from his speakers, he was hovering in the centre of the training room as he watched the kids filter in below.
The Lantern took a second to re-read the instructions he found slapped on his locker, on a hot pink post it note because “I know for a fact you don’t read your emails, Hal.”
The instructions themselves were pretty simple.
“No powers for this session, no uniforms either. They’re gonna work on potentially fighting in their civvies if the situation ever came up. Partner them up, let them beat the life out of each other, give them tips, swap partners every now and again… Easy! ;)”
Yeah… Easy… Well, it would be easy if they weren’t all weirdly hormonal teenagers. Nightwing must’ve given them a heads up about the sessions activities as the team were all dressed in various gym clothes, Superboy and Miss Martian were even moving to drag (and hover) out several cushioned gym mats.
It didn’t take long to locate Bart from his vantage point, the kid was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed over his tiny chest. Garfield, Jaime, Traci and Virgil made a semi-circle around him and they chatted between them- Bart didn’t seem to be contributing to the conversation though. His eyes seemed to be looking through his teammates as he scanned the room and its inhabitants.
“Okay! Hello!” Hal borderline shouted, some heads snapped up in surprise, apparently some hadn’t noticed him up there. He should probably let Wing know about that. “I assume Wing gave you a heads up about what you’re gonna be doing today? There’s a strict no powers rule today- so Cassie stop floating,” the girl grumbled but lowered her feet to the floor. “Great! Partner up and pick a mat, my job for today is to tell you what you’re doing wrong, why and to tear friends apart!” When no one moved he clapped his hands which snapped them from their shock and soon they were scrambling to pair up with their friends.
Pretty much everyone chose the obvious choices, couples paired up (Jaime and Traci being the most giggly of the lot) and friends practically tackled each other. It didn’t take long for him to realise Bart hadn’t moved from his spot against the wall, when nearly everyone was partnered up he looked around, and caught the gaze of a certain Robin who was mirroring the speedster’s stance. The boys nodded to each other before Robin headed towards the last mat, Bart hot on his heels.
With a nod to himself Hal dropped his uniform and lowered himself to the floor. He went from being the Green Lantern to just a guy in his sweats, he wasn’t planning on dressing up for a bunch of kids. If he had his dressing gown he’d pretty much be in his pyjamas.
It didn’t take long for the well known sound of sparring filled the room, skin on skin slaps, grunts, giggling as someone tackled their friend. All standard stuff.
His attention turned to the mat that Rocket and Wonder Girl were sizing each other up. Cassie lunged towards her opponent, moving to deliver a swift turning kick to Raquel’s side. The dark haired woman hopped backwards to dodge the foot, only for Cassie to deliver a quick right hook. She was forced to hop backwards again, however this time she unfortunately fell off the edge of the mat, landing with a solid thud.
“Owww,” she got up and gave Hal a sheepish smile as she rubbed her lower back. Cassie moved to sit her on the edge of the squishy mat.
“Okay, I’m gonna give you a couple of pointers about using momentum to your advantage. It comes in useful when fighting people who have a bigger stature than you,” he motioned to Diana’s protégé.
It didn’t take long for her to pick it up, soon she was effectively using Cassie’s momentum and power against her.
“Very good!” He praised when she sent Cassie to the floor for the second time. “I’m gonna swap Cassie out for Conner, let’s see if you can transfer your knowledge.”
xXx
He continued to make his way around the mats, giving tips where they were needed and swapping people when he thought they were getting too used to each other. He was about to call a quick break when he saw Bart and Robin (it felt weird calling the kid Tim ) circling each other like territorial cats, it took him a second to realise they were actually talking in hushed tones.
Bart leaned forward slightly, said something Hal couldn’t catch but it made the bird smirk under his domino mask.
The two teens moved and met in the centre of the mat, Rob was the first to strike with a sidekick only for it to be casually pushed back. The two went back to circling, bouncing on their toes as they went.
It was Bart who made the next move, he lunged forward on his left leg before flicking his right up into a front kick. Rob expertly pushed the leg to the side but Bart converted his momentum into a spin and then an aggressive hook kick aimed for Rob’s ribs. Shockingly, the speedster’s heel met the bird’s ribs with a decent “thud”. The Bat’s prodege actually huffed out a laugh as Bart grinned at him, a taunting twinkle in his eye.
It didn’t take long for the two teens to be trapped in a decent, well paced sparring match. The Lantern found himself unable to look away from the kids, it was like watching some sort of dance. The way they aimed kicks, punches and swipes and each other was… elegant in a way. He didn’t miss how the other kids had gradually stopped their own matches to watch the duo go at it. The newer members perched themselves on the nearest mats, gaining a front row seat. The older
members stood behind them with stern but interested expressions.
No-one had yet to see a reason to stop them.
Every now and then someone would cheer one of the fighters on, he was pretty sure he could see Virgil subtly taking bets on the winner.
Bart aimed a kick for Rob’s temple, the bird grabbed his ankle before promptly shoving it away. Even though the bat could hide his emotions well, Hal was certain the kid must’ve been surprised when the time traveler kept the momentum and did a speedy flip away.
The two seemed to stand at a stalemate for a minute, each teen sizing the other up as they bounced on their toes. Suddenly, they shot towards each other however, at the last second Bart grabbed Rob’s shoulder, twisted his leg to hook around the back of the bird’s knee before the duo went tumbling to the floor.
They were a tangle of limbs for a second until Bart managed to pin his opponent to the floor, fully straddling the other boy as he held his hands in place by his temples.
The fight had ended as quickly as it started. Both boys were breathing heavily, their chests rising and falling with vigour. They just stared at each other.
The moment was broken by Cassie, “that was amazing!” She leapt up and hovered slightly with excitement.
“Dammit,” he heard Traci mutter as she handed her boyfriend a ten dollar bill.
To say Hal was surprised would be an understatement. Speedsters weren’t known for being good fighters without their speed. Barry was especially known for being royally screwed if his speed was temporarily indisposed.
“I always have my speed!” The idiot always stated, both Hal and Iris would let Barry know that wasn’t always an option. Naturally, he didn’t listen.
The way Bart fought was especially interesting…
His thoughts were interrupted by his phone playing Queen a bit too loud, it was his alarm to remind him to let the kids grab something to each so no one fainted mid spar.
xXx
That night Hal found himself trying his best to get Dawn to eat her peas, he flew the “plane” (AKA the spoon) towards the toddler, the peas being the unwilling passengers. Barry was busy feeding Don chopped carrots like the kid was a slot machine as Iris paid the delivery man, the smell of beautiful Chinese food filled the room.
The three adults soon found themselves munching on their insanely unhealthy food as the twins played with their veggies.
“Barry mentioned you were taking over training the team for Wing today! How’d that go?” Iris asked, not taking her eyes off her meal.
Hal took a minute to chew his food before answering (he wasn’t an animal), “it was hand to hand combat today, no powers and no uniforms. The kids seemed to enjoy it.” He went on to explain how some of them obviously needed more work on restricted combat- Jaime being the most obvious.
“Yeah, to be fair, if I had an alien A.I. fused to my spine… I don’t think I’d be overly worried about it suddenly not working,” Barry chuckled. A bit of noodle fell from his mouth and Hal had to fend off a snort at his friend's disgusting behaviour. This man was a father of two .
“I didn’t know Bart could fight so well.” That got their attention.
“How do you mean?” Iris asked.
“The kid went toe to toe with Robin for a good five minutes and eventually took him down, it was really impressive to watch!” The couple exchanged a look but kept on eating, “his technique was… interesting though…”
“Explain,” Iris practically demanded. God that woman could be scary when she wanted to be. Hal waved his fork around as he thought about how to order his thoughts.
“Well… it was like he was used to holding a weapon or something? Like, his punches were always slightly off to one side, like he was used to compensating for something in his grip. The session would have been recorded on the League CCTV, give it a look and see for yourself. I feel like you’ll understand it easier without me eating Chinese half way through.”
Barry just nodded and the conversation moved onto lighter topics.
xXx
It was that same night when Hal was curled under his duvet, his laptop playing some random Netflix show when his phone vibrated somewhere near his ribs.
It was a message from Barry, renamed as “Speedy Gonzalez” in his contacts.
“ Just watched the CCTV like you said, I see exactly what you mean… ”
He even added that pathetic looking emoji just to get Hal to reply quicker, and dammit it worked.
“ It’s weird right?! ”
“ Definitely, what do I do??”
“ Honestly pal? I Don't think there’s a lot you can do.”
xXx
It was another two days later when he got a text from a certain blue bird.
“ Did you train my team in your fucking pyjamas?!?!”
Hal just cackled.
xXx
NOTES!
I added this here as I know some people don’t read the ao3 notes and this one’s important.
This particular fic is technically over… however! The series (names below) will be carried on with other fics related to this one! So if you're interested then I would bookmark the series if I were you ;)