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“Well, this is certainly festive,” says Jason watching the gentle crush of superheroes on the ballroom floor.
Festive is the only word that encapsulates the abundance of green boughs, holly, tinsel, wreaths, sticks wrapped in plaid, glitter, stars, yule logs, actual snow drizzling down by magic in some corners, and god knows what else the League thought necessary to bring the holiday spirit to the Halls of Justice. Frankly, it looks as if dear old Kris Kringle drank too much eggnog and farted Christmas all over the room. Jason smirks thinking it funny enough to share, but he doesn’t have a bead on Dick’s sense of humor yet.
The original Boy Wonder is friendly enough, but they haven’t spent that much time together outside of uniform. On top of coordinating missions for Young Justice and patrolling half of Gotham, Dick is also taking classes at Hudson U. The guy never sits down for long, always moving to the next thing is his scarily organized agenda. Somehow, Jason has made his way onto the list. It's nothing big. A couple movies uptown, breakfast after a long night on the streets, and tonight, accompanying Jason to his first official Justice League event. But he always has a smile for Jason, a quip or a story to fill in the space between them until they’ve become something like friends. Jason thinks he’ll risk it because, well, he likes making Dick laugh. He turns, but the joke stalls when he sees the look on Dicks face.
The black diamond mask and the heavy fringe of hair swooping across his brow does little to hide the wistfulness on Dick’s face. He sighs fitfully and rests a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Yeah, Jaybird. It certainly is.”
“You like this kind of thing,” Jason says, flatly.
Dick grins. “Having the whole League flying in and out of here? Of course I do. I’ve been here since the beginning, but we seem to double every year.”
He says it as if adding new members to the team was a good thing, like the family is growing rather than addressing a growing need for more people to protect the world from itself. Jason wonders how the Batman would look at it. Not that he’ll have the opportunity to ask. The caped crusader is conspicuously absent figure among the heroic guests.
“Come on,” says Dick, propelling them out of the shadows and into the twinkling lights. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
The ballroom is packed to the brim with heroes from across the earth and the distant stars. They move through the crowd nodding to the few shouts of recognition, but they don’t stop to talk. Jason takes it all in as they skirt past dancing couples and conversing trios. People floating above the ground, skin rippling with power, aliens taking dainty bites of frosted cookies, humans spearing squiggly things with their forks and crunching them with gusto, hearing dozen languages and registers that he’s never heard before—this is Jason’s life now and it is so freaking cool.
“I think I see her,” says Dick. He nudges over to an empty section of the floor and raises his hand. “Aunt Diana! Over here!”
The crowd parts revealing a woman who spins around at the sound of Dick’s voice. Wonder Woman wears a deep blue dress that floats over her curves and a thick plait of hair curls over one shoulder. Her eyes light when she sees them, and she immediately glides across the floor, an iceberg of immeasurable power and grace. She’s as beautiful as any picture he’s seen. Tall, broad, and strong with eyes like the night sky.
“It is good to see you, Robin,” she says, leaning in to press a sound kiss to Dick’s cheek.
Jason puffs his chest out. He’s the one with the “R” on his chest, not that he’d call her out about it. Dick doesn’t seem like he’s ready to correct her either.
“It’s good to see you too,” he says after reciprocating. He pushes Jason forward. “I don’t think you guys have met yet. Wonder Woman, this is Robin, Batman’s partner. Robin, this is—”
“Hi. Hello! I’m. It’s such an honor to meet you. You are so cool,” he says all in one breath but that’s only because his stupid lungs stopped working.
“It is an honor to meet you, Robin.” She clasps his forearm in her hand like a freaking warrior. Jason grabs her arm returning the strong grip as best he can. “Will you allow me to indulge in this holiday tradition?”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure,” says Jason, bewildered by the request and bewitched by her brilliant smile. She could have asked him for the moon and Jason would have found a way to bring it down from the sky. Then the distance between their faces closes as she leans down. Jason can see the light scar beneath one of her eyes, smell the sweet honey-pepper of her perfume rushing over him, feel—holy shit. Wonder Woman is kissing his cheek.
The room isn’t spinning exactly, but everything within his field of view swirls and shimmers until Wonder Woman is illuminated in golden light. She is still a golden goddess after breaking contact. Jason can breathe again but remembering how to string together syllables and sounds and make words is beyond him. His free hand twitches against his thigh. It’s the silent code for “man down,” which might be a little extreme but Jason needs help. He can’t feel his legs.
Dick fails to smother his laughter. “You sure know how to make a first impression, Diana.”
“It is a custom I am most fond of,” she says straightening. “But now that we are well-met, I must call upon the scared vow you made to me.”
“Uh oh.” Dick looks up and to Jason’s surprise, flushes. High above them, nestled along a long beam hangs a sprig of mistletoe. “I should have realized it when I saw some free space on the floor. Anyone find him yet?”
“No! It is quite vexing.” She reaches into the folds of her dress and draws forth three cherry-flavored candy canes. “I have your customary offering. Now tell me, have you seen him?”
“No,” says Dick, breaking a candy cane in half and handing it to Jason. Tries to anyway. “We just arrived actually.”
Diana lets out a frustrated huff. “I think I’ll try the communication’s room. He nearly made it to midnight there one year. Robins, I will visit with you longer once I catch the Batman.” With that said, she sweeps back into the crowd.
Dick waits a beat before nudging Jason’s shoulder. “You okay there, Robin?”
“Whoa,” Jason breathes out, shaking the stars from his eyes.
“I know. She’s something else. Let’s get out of here before someone else gets any ideas.” He stops at the hand on his elbow.
“Wait a minute. What was that with you and Wonder Woman? And that?” Jason nods toward the ceiling.
“Eh. It’s a game. A really, really weird game that I try not to think about.” Dick winces at Jason’s questioning look that all but demands an explanation. He gives in but his expression says they're both going to regret it. “There’s probably a million sprigs of mistletoe hidden around the halls. You win by catching Batman underneath it. The winners are a very elite few. It's like Game of Thrones, only more ruthless,” Dick continues, warming up to the subject. " No powers allowed, but there's alliances and pacts. I vowed to help Diana when I was, oh, twelve I think. Some people are dying to kiss Batman. The Green Lantern is this year's favorite, for obvious reasons and—."
"What do you mean obvious reason and which GL." Jason’s mouth twists like he just sucked a bad lemon because a few weeks ago Hal Jordan was drinking coffee in the drawing room and. Then his face smooths into a beatific smile. “Nope. No. You can’t ruin this for me. Wonder Woman kissed me. Nothing else matters.”
He’s grateful for all the observation training he’s experienced over the past six months because now he has every second of the most amazing moment of his short life captured forever. But who would believe him?
“You think she’d take a selfie with me?”
“Slow down, lover boy. We’ve got some more introductions to make.”
The amount members from the Justice League and Young Justice that Jason has yet to meet is numerous. On the other hand, he has Superman’s autograph, a trick arrow from the Green Arrow, is being trained by a certified badass for good, and now a kiss from the greatest hero in the known universe. What else could make this night better?
Jason glances at the mistletoe, considering. “Okay. But what are we going to do about that up there?”
“You mean the.” Dick looks up and then back down at Jason. “Jaybir—Robin. That’s not. Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Don’t worry, Nightwing. I like older guys too.” He cocks his head, lazy glance sliding up and down Nightwing’s body. “Unless you’re chicken.”
“I can guarantee that doesn’t work on people,” scoffs Dick, but he’s taken a cautious step forward. "Fine. But make it quick."
Instead of stating the obvious, Jason tugs Dick down until they're eye to eye. This close can smell the bright burst of cherry on Dick's tongue, the sweat and Kevlar wrapped tight around him. He searches the white lens that shields their eyes from the world sure that Dick is doing the same. When he’s got his full attention, Jason leans in and says, “this room is decorated with Santa farts.” This close, he can see the changes spreading across Dick's face—the surprise, the confusion, the recognition, then the slow crawl of delight that spreads lips into a smile. He laughs, loud and bright, and Jason feels that slow tumbling feeling that he gets when he gets Dick to do it. Laugh.
He really likes it.
Jason raps the blue emblem cutting across Dick's chest. “Come on, Chickenwing. The buffet table is calling my name.”
Dick slings an arm over his shoulder. “Sounds like a plan, Jaybird. Just one thing." He presses a soft kiss to Jason’s temple. "Merry Christmas.”
It’s quick, barely felt through the rough waves of Jason’s hair and the fold of his mask, but the feeling lingers.