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It was another typical day inside the Justice League’s WatchTower. More than a dozen members had been called out to fight with several supervillains who had joined forces. Now that they had won, everyone was tired and hungry so they headed for the mess hall the moment they zeta beamed up. Even Batman was with them though he brought along a computer to write up the mission briefing.
Superman had been on a ‘team-building’ kick recently. Eating together after a battle had been a new, highly encouraged policy. Batman was giving himself 15 minutes before leaving.
He sat on the end of one table and used one hand to type as the other shoved food into his mouth. He was starving.
Even with his dual priorities, however, the raised voices of Hal Jordan and Barry Allen broke through his concentration.
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“I totally did so-”
“If you don’t shut up, I’ll start screaming in your direction. See how you like it,” Black Canary warned from the next table.
Both men shut up until she turned back to her food.
“Did so,” GL whispered.
“There’s no way you did any of that,” Flash insisted stubbornly.
“Mind sharing with the class, Green Lantern, Flash?” Batman asked without looking in their direction.
They both jumped guiltily.
“Uh, well, you see Barry was watching this video-”
“That you sent me!”
“And it talked about tying cherry stems into knots as a sign of…you know.”
Bruce raised an eyebrow at them.
“Anyway,” GL said quickly, “Barry said nobody could actually do that-”
“There’s no way! It’s impossible!”
“And I said he just wasn’t old enough for it yet because I’ve done it plenty of times. In fact, I was the cherry stem official champion for my squadron!”
“There’s no such thing!” Barry insisted.
“If you’re such a doubting Thomas, I’ll prove it to you! Go get me some cherries!”
Flash disappeared into the kitchens then reappeared seconds later with a bowl full of cherries. Green Lantern proceeded to pick the stem off one and then with a great amount of gargling, mouth twisting, and disturbing expressions got the stem in place.
He popped out his tongue and showed Barry the knot.
“Oh my Rao, Hal! You can do it!”
“What, like it’s hard?” Batman said dryly, typing away on his computer.
Feeling eyes on him, he turned to see the whole table staring at him, not just Barry and Hal.
“What?”
~~~
Superman walked into the mess hall after visiting the heroes in the MedCenter too injured to join the debrief. For some reason everyone was shouting. At first, he worried it might be a fight. It was not a too uncommon occurrence in a group made up of almost entirely super powered individuals with super large egos to match.
Instead, he found everyone packed around one table. The Super heroes were chanting Batman’s name so Superman wasn’t worried about anyone being mutilated. Well, not physically, at least. Anyone stupid enough to attack Batman would be emotionally scarred for sure.
Superman floated above the group to get a better view.
Bruce sat in self-imposed exile at the end of one table. Green Lantern sat next to him, a bowl of cherries between them that was halfway empty. Even as Clark watched, GL spat out a small, woody stem onto the table.
“Four!” he shouted then glanced over at Batman and found a pile of 16 in front of the black-clad figure.
“What the hell, Batman?!”
Bruce picked up another cherry with one hand (the other still typing away at his laptop) and popped the fruit into his mouth. He efficiently separated the stone from the rest of the cherry and spit it neatly into a nearby napkin. He chewed thoughtfully on the pulp, seeming to enjoy it, then swallowed before twisting the stem around in his mouth. A few moments later his tongue rolled out with a perfectly tied cherry stem at the end.
The crowd went wild, cheering for Batman and jeering at the others who had taken Green Lantern’s side.
Batman let the stem drop into the pile while Green Lantern dropped his head into his hands with a groan, admitting defeat. Batman saved the document he was working on then closed the laptop. He held it in his left hand and raised the right into the air. Superman took the hint and immediately grabbed it, lifting him free of the crowd.
“My fifteen minutes of forced team-building are up,” he informed the Justice League’s de facto leader. “Drop me at the transporter hub. I’ll finish the write-up in Gotham.”
“I’ll take you all the way down there myself if you show me how you did that with your tongue,” Superman said, settling the other hero into a more comfortable carry hold as he drifted toward the exit.
“I suppose I could find the time for a personal demonstration,” Batman said, smirking at the other man.
No one said anything until they had flown out of the mess hall together.
“Why is it that the founding members always get to break the rules?” somebody grumbled. “They’re obviously dating.”
“Superman insists they’re just friends.”
“Friends with benefits, maybe.”
The rest of the heroes went back to their abandoned food now that their main attraction had floated away. And if that main attraction continued tying things into knots, well, that was Superman’s problem now.