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Barry internally groans as he listens to Bats drag out this meeting. Really, they’ve been here for over an hour. And Barry is a speedster, one hour is comparable to 100! That might be dramatic, but he is bored. He taps his foot rapidly against the floor.
Why did they even have the league for this meeting? Bats is talking about money or spending money or earning money or something. Honestly, Barry hasn’t listened. It is an open secret that everyone knows that Barry doesn’t typically take part in these kinds of meetings. But, Barry didn’t get a say if he was here or not.
Honestly, at this point he’s pretty sure that the big three draw names for who has to come to what meetings. They’re usually the only ones that actively participate. Well, and Arthur, and Arrow, and sometimes J’onn, occasionally Cyborg, and maybe Black Canary. That’s hardly a scratch of the leaguers though.
Hey, at least Kid is here with Barry. Though this is one of his first official meetings since joining the League, he is probably suffering even more. Barry throws a glance at his nephew, who is leaning one arm on the table and has his chin in his hand, his goggles pulled down over his eyes.
Barry blinks at his nephew. That little shit’s asleep. Stupid goggles. Barry needs to invest in goggles. But they sound really aggravating. Sleeping during a meeting would be nice though. Who is Barry kidding, Bats would somehow immediately notice he fell asleep and kill him. Metaphorically that is.
One time Hal fell asleep during a meeting and Batman made him stay late and do a one on one meeting. Barry shivers at the thought. That’s its own kind of torture. Barry plops his chin into his own hand with a “humph.”
Batman glares at him while he turns off the board. “That will be the end of today’s meeting. If anyone has anything they would like to add that you did not comment on, you can send it in an email.”
Beside Barry he hears a grumble from Hal, “This could have been an email.”
“What was that, Lantern?” Batman calls from the front of the room. He stares at Hal who in response sputters for a few moments, pushing back his chair.
“Nothing, Spooky. Said I might send you an email.”
Batman looks away from Hal. Hal leans over and pokes Kid. Kid jolts up, his chair screeching at the speed he moves it.
Everyone turns to look at him.
Kid laughs nervously, “Ha, um,” he rubs the back of his neck. “My bed. Great meeting though guys. I need to run though, ya know places to go, people to save, and all that.” Turning towards where Arrow is sitting, Wally sends finger guns his way and adds, “See ya at dinner.”
Then Kid is gone like he didn’t just drop a bomb on the League. Everyone who is still silent from Kid, turns and looks at Arrow. Arrow for his part holds his hands in front of himself.
“Hey, I don’t know what that was about, I swear.”
“That’s my nephew !” Hal yells out.
Barry jumps to his feet, “Yeah that’s his-” Barry cuts himself off as he raises an eyebrow at Hal. “Wait, no he’s not. That’s my nephew!”
Hal grabs his stomach, laughing. “I got you for a second though, didn’t I?” Hal swats his hand at Barry. Then looks back at Arrow, “No, but seriously, that’s messed up. He’s way too young for you.”
Arrow’s mouth is open as he frantically shakes his head. “What? No. I’m not getting dinner with Flash’s nephew.”
“Hal’s right. Kid is too young for you,” Flash chops his arm in front of him. “At least I assume he is. I don’t actually know how old you are, but still! It’s not appropriate. How would you like it if I dated one of your nephews?”
Flash freezes for a moment, “If you have a nephew that is.” Flash throws his hands up above his head, “Ugh, I just can’t believe you’re trying to date my nephew is name is literally Kid! That should be a red flag for you. I mean sure he’s 23, but he’s a kid still to me. And if you think that you can just date my kid, I’ll fight you Arrow. Right here, right now.”
Arrow looks taken aback, lifting his arms out in front of him, palms open.
Hal grabs Flash’s arm. “Slow down there dude. There is no reason to fight…yet.”
Hal tries to glare at Arrow.
“Really, Arrow,” Diana cuts in, “it is not appropriate for you to be with someone who is so young. He also just joined the League, he needs to settle in before he starts dating anyone here.”
Arrow points at Diana, “I agree. Fantastic points.” Arrow smacks his hand against the table, “Which is why I am not dating, nor am I getting dinner with, Kid. I don’t know why he said that. He must have meant it to someone else!”
“I don’t know. He did point right at you, man.” Cyborg says, smirking, doing finger guns at Arrow.
“Well, maybe it was toward one of the people next to me,” Arrow turns his head to look at J’onn, which is improbable, so Arrow turns and looks at Batman, which is also improbable since Arrow is getting dinner with him.
Arrow freezes staring at Batman. Tonight Oliver is getting dinner with Bruce. At Bruce’s home. All of his kids are supposed to be there. Dick and Jason are supposed to bring their boyfriends. But Jason is dating Roy. Dick’s dating some kid from his science class.
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Oliver says, connecting pieces in his head. He points a finger at Batman. “Was that-”
“That was highly inappropriate, Arrow.” Batman cuts him off, standing up from his own chair. Oliver has spent a majority of his life staring at Bruce’s face. He can tell that he is holding back a smile.
“Not so fast,” Arrow calls out, stumbling out of his seat to follow Batman. “You can’t just say that was inappropriate and walk away. That was-”
Batman spins around, his cape fluttering behind him as he does so. His gaze pierces Oliver's. “Not enough of a lecture?” Batman rumbles. “Would you like to have an entire meeting about appropriate workplace behavior, Arrow?”
Arrow clicks his tongue, and stops in his tracks. “No, Batman, I apologize. I will talk to Kid to make sure there is no more confusion next time we work together.”
Then Arrow mouths, “You’re a little shit.”
Batman nods, “Right.”
Then he sweeps away to the zeta tubes. Arrow turns around to face the league. He shrugs, “My bad, there must have been some type of miscommunication between me and Kid before the meeting when I was talking about my dinner plans. I will message him and make sure that he knows he will not be meeting me for dinner.”
Pulling out his phone, Arrow drafts a message to Batman, ‘I hate you.’
Send.
Holding up his phone, Arrow grimaces, “Sent.”
Barry takes a deep breath in. “Oh, thank god. I really didn’t want to fight you. It would have been such a hassle.”
Arrow shakes his head, “Sorry for the confusion. Now, I do need to get to my actual dinner plans that I had planned long before I met Kid.” Arrow does a two finger salute towards the League, “Have a good night.”
—
Arrow materializes in Star City then immediately jumps to Gotham City, so anyone in the league that heard the zeta as he left would think he was going to his city. Arrow pops into existence in the batcave. He immediately pulls his mask off. Over by the monitor, sits Batman sans cowl.
Oliver stalks over to him, spinning his chair around. He puts his hands on both sides of Bruce’s chair, blocking his movements. “You’re an asshole. I can’t believe you just left me there to deal with that. After, I might add, you dug the hole deeper.” Oliver leans down to be at Bruce’s level, “I hate you.”
Bruce smirks, leaning up and pecking Oliver’s lips. “I love you, too.”
Pushing Oliver’s arms off the chair, Bruce stands up and starts walking to the locker room. He looks at Oliver, “Also, Wallace was talking to both of us with the finger guns. He knows your identity, he knows everyone in the leagues. He hasn’t stopped talking about how excited he is to meet you officially at family dinner.”
Bruce freezes in front of the locker room doors and leans against the door frame. “Also, you should have known who Kid Flash was. You have access to the same records I have, I told you that you should study up on the League more. And, I don’t think Wallace meant to do that at the end of the meeting. He was still half asleep.”
Oliver’s brain stalls for a moment. He groans and rubs his face. “You let someone sleep during a League meeting, willingly? You won’t even let me do that. We’re dating!”
“I was sent notes prior to the meeting of all of Wally’s thoughts and inputs for the budget. Besides, I told him to sleep during the meeting.” Bruce pushes off the frame. “I have known Wallace for years. I know that first off he didn’t sleep well last night because Dick got hurt, he was by his bed all night. Second, I wanted to know if anyone in the League would let it be known that someone fell asleep during a meeting.”
Oliver groans louder. “You’re obnoxious,” he grumbles. Then he sighs, “Was it a good thing or bad that no one ratted on Kid?”
Bruce shrugs. “Undecided for now.” Bruce walks into the locker room, throwing over his shoulder, “Are you going to join me?”
Oliver rolls his eyes even though he’s smirking and makes his own way to the locker room.