Chapter Text
“So you’re what- her sugar daddy?” Came an exasperated voice from the other side of the line.
“Sort of the other way around?” Hal really did not need to justify himself, but with Barry he always wanted to do better.
Dating a woman over a decade younger than him while his on again off again paramour was off-earth was, arguably, not in the category of ‘doing better.’
“I don’t know Hal, isn’t that a little, exploitative?”
“She’s the one with the money, she calls the shots,” Barry could hear Hal’s sheepish grin through the phone speaker. “Besides, we aren’t serious. She’s at a rebellious age-“
“And what age is that again?”
“Ye of little faith,” Hal huffs in mild annoyance, “twenty-three, a grown woman.”
“Grown, but still young enough to be at a rebellious age.”
“Oh, come on. She’s a young, rich woman looking to spice up her typical dating life with someone more… experienced.” He smirks to himself, thinking of the day he met her and her grandpa searching for a private aircraft. She looked bored about the whole thing, her grandpa rambling to someone else about how nice it was to see an American manufacturer. That is when he decided to swoop in and save her day.
Arriving just after a test flight, he was oozing with charm. Wearing his jacket, equipment half on, hair still partially mussed from the helmet and the wind outside- he looked as if he had just walked out of Top Gun. Her eyes went to him instantly, and he just needed to entertain the little lady who could not seem to get enough of him.
After giving her a private tour, he shoots his shot and gives her his number. She calls him back, they go on a couple of dates, and now he's invited to a rich people's Thanksgiving.
“And that’s you? The spice to her life,” he could hear a sarcastic lilt to his friend’s words.
“More or less,” Hal answers noncommittally.
“Okay- so say you are a fun fling. Does a fling really include being introduced to her family over Thanksgiving dinner?”
Admittedly, meeting the family was not a move someone who just wanted to have a fling would have pulled. Personally, he could care less. He had already met her grandpa, the one who had brought her with him to Ferris Aircraft, and her aunt. He is one-hundred percent sure her aunt wanted to kill him when he met her. She was an intimidating woman who looked as tough as she was stylish, but she was probably waiting for him to hurt you before she could justifiably beat him up. Not that he was planning to, especially if you were going to continue being your cute self.
“Of course it does. What’s the point of dating older if you can’t show off, right?”
Hal could already tell Barry was rolling his eyes.
“Don’t play around with her, okay? Not just because she’s young, but also because the last thing we need is another rich person with a vendetta against one of us.”
Hal chuckles at the notion, “she’s not the type, but alright, I’ll make sure I won’t break her heart. You sound like you’re the family I’m meeting at this point.”
“I wouldn't be surprised if I do! From what you've said, she's only a few years younger than Wally.”
Hal groans at the comparison, “don’t make it weird.”
Before Barry can call out Hal's carefree attitude towards this May-December romance any further, you call him from the other room.
“Hal, You ready?”
Hal says a quick goodbye to Barry before grabbing his jacket and going on his way.
“This place looks… familiar.”
Hal could not forget a place like Wayne Manor. The lavish but slightly haunted vibe of the entire estate hid one of Earth’s biggest secrets under it. He would know, being one of the few lucky people who had actually gotten to visit- not that he had a choice those times.
“Oh yeah,” his date chimes in, “you must recognize it from the news. This is my uncle’s place,” you give a brief answer.
Now, he knew you were old money, and he knew you were taking him to meet your family at your uncle’s place, but what he didn’t know was the easily searchable fact that as a Kane, your Uncle would be none other than-
“Uncle Bruce!” She steps out of the car happy to see her extended family.
“Uncle Bruce?”
Walking down the steps of Wayne Manor was Bruce Wayne himself. It was not often Hal saw the man smiling. Two old money families in Gotham meeting and there wasn’t a backstabbing involved? This probably made an interesting feel-good story in the Gazette.
The Bruce Wayne walks down the steps of the manor, and Hal freezes up inside the car. He sees Bruce wrap his arm around you to give you a hug. He thinks he can hear small talk about how much you’ve grown and how he’s happy to see you around. Small talk. Can you believe it? Spooky can do small talk.
That’s when he sees you approaching the car door again, and the very impatient chauffeur who’s waiting for him to step out so he can park gives him a pointed look from the rear view mirror. Right…
“Nervous?”
“Ahah, you can say that…” More than nervous. He planned on being a generally charming date to a young heiress and forgetting his worries with what was probably a five-star Thanksgiving meal, not get trapped under the social customs of being in his coworker’s home and dating his niece.
“Don’t be, Bruce is a lot more introverted than Grandpa Jacob, but he’s sweet.”
Sweet. He’s learning more about Bat- er- Bruce every second.
Hal steps out of the car. He has to give it to Spooky, the man is a great actor, but he can see the his jaw tighten upon recognition of who exactly his niece’s date is.
“Uncle Bruce, this is-“
“Hal Jordan,” Bruce interrupts, “I’ve visited Ferris Aircraft before.”
“I thought I recognized you,” Hal responds casually. His hand is squeezed harder in the handshake. He deserved that.
“Nice to meet you, Bruce Wayne, but you probably already know that,” Bruce flashes a smile that makes Hal briefly wonder if this was just some kind of hallucination and or dream he would wake up from to which he’d meet your real family- one that didn’t have any ties to Batman at all.
He’s locked in a silent conversation with Bruce who is exuding some heavy protective energy as he tries to back off and let go of his hand.
Thankfully, you sidle up to him, grabbing onto Hal’s arm and pulling it back to your side.
“Let’s head in- Auntie Kate and Grandpa Jacob are still on their way, and I want to show you around the manor,” Hal probably knew more about the secrets of the manor than you did, but he played along, nodding his head to your suggestion.
“Oh, and I should introduce you to the others!”
“Others?”
As you step inside, he’s met with several kids- ranging from their teens to fully grown adults- and a butler. He remembers the butler, and he’s pretty sure the eldest one is Nightwing, but he, for the life of him, cannot tell which one of these kids is Robin. He did not bother to keep track after the first one, but Robin has been a kid of fluctuating stature and age so they probably took turns. Or maybe some of them didn’t even know. He knew how Batman acted, and he could certainly be thorough and severe enough to keep a secret like that from his own kids. Plus he definitely met a Robin that was a blonde girl who was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Did Bruce employ random kids, or was it just a disguise? There was a single girl here, maybe she did Dinah's old bit with the wig.
At the very least, it was obvious you had no idea about the ‘family secret’ considering how sweet everyone was acting around you, as opposed to slinking around in the shadows and jump scaring him every two minutes.
“These are my cousins!”
They all wave, and if they know him, they are all great actors too, because they reveal absolutely nothing about their personal thoughts about his appearance here. A mixed chorus of ‘good to have you’ and ‘nice to meet you’ erupts from the small crowd. Nightwing even introduces himself like he’s never met him before. Like father like son? Wait a minute, Robin was Batman’s son this whole time.
Too many questions and revelations about Batman's personal life swirl in his head, which only gets interrupted when Bruce calls the two of you over. Great, more of Bruce.
“Why don’t you catch up with your cousins? While Hal is here, I want to talk business with him.”
You pout, which Hal is thankful for, “but I wanted to show him around,” you whine. It was adorable really, but Bat- Bruce, he cuts you off.
“You’ve got plenty of time to show him around the manor, let me talk business before everyone’s here.”
You nodded, agreeing that sounds reasonable. Damn Bat- why did he have to be so reasonable all the time! To Hal’s dismay, you leave to talk to your cousins and Bruce does a complete 180, his smile disappearing and eyes darkening into a cold and steely expression. He was in Batman mode, and this was going to be a long night for Hal.