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The Justice League believed Batman and Superman were together. This was wrong for a multitude of reasons.
One, Superman was very much straight. He had a wife, named Lois, and two sons, named Kon-El and Jon-El, also known as Conner and Jonathan. He also lived in Metropolis and needed the sun to survive.
Two, Batman was very much attracted to men – however, Blue eyed, good samaritans were not his type, far from it.
And three, Batman was also married. Happily. Additionally, Batman also had several children. If you asked him to give you a specific number, he would not be able to, but that was neither here nor there.
It was a little understandable why people thought that Batman and Superman were together. They were two of the founding members after all, and the two could communicate in near silence just by facial expressions. They knew each others’ identities and had known them for years. Batman had contingency plans upon contingency plans in case Superman went rogue and nearly all of Batman’s kids called Superman “Uncle Clark”. Superman was one of the only metas allowed inside Gotham and Batman had a recurring monthly dinner with Superman’s parents.
Though most of the League believed that Superbat was canon, there was one member in particular who was one hundred percent certain that Batman and Superman were not together. This was because that member was in fact Batman’s husband.
Hal Jordan (aka Green Lantern) had been married to Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) for four, almost five, years and counting. Clark Kent (aka Superman) was Bruce’s best man at the wedding.
There wasn’t much else to say other than the fact that Batman was not married or dating or otherwise in a romantic relationship involving Superman.
The League didn’t take the memo until far too late.
~~
Batman and Green Lantern were arguing again, that much was clear. They didn’t seem to be aware of the audience that was gathered outside the soundproof, yet glass-walled, meeting room. Barry side-eyed Green Arrow, tilting his head towards the gesturing men.
“What’s up with them? Did Batman blow a gasket?” He joked, breaking the near silence. They could hear muffled noises coming from inside the room, however nothing was clear enough to actually make out any words.
“I don’t know, they’ve been arguing for a while. Lantern was coming to tell Bats he was getting summoned back to Oa for a deep space mission lasting about a week. Not sure what set Batman off, though,” Green Arrow replied back, lunging back in his chair. “You’d think Bats would be happy to hear that, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess not? Those two confuse me, I don’t know what their deal is,” Barry plopped down in the chair next to Arrow, curling up in a way that will definitely harm his back in the near future.
“Lantern just likes to antagonize Bats and Batman just can’t take any slight to his ego,” Arrow snorted, tipping his head in mock frustration.
~~
Inside the room, however, the conversation was much different than what was being perceived outside.
“What does the mission entail?” Bruce asked, face stony. If Hal hadn’t been gone on this man for years now, he might not have known how many emotions were playing out under the cowl.
“They wouldn’t tell me. Based on the missions I’ve gone on in the past, it’s going to be an undercover operation. Likely limited contact,” Hal explained, voice low and soothing. He wished he could’ve told Bruce back at the Manor, in the privacy of the cave or their bedroom, able to see his blue eyes instead of the white eyes of the cowl.
Bruce was silent for a few moments, before he heaved a sigh.
“I know it’s unfair for me to make you promise to be safe, but,” here, he hesitated again. “Just– promise you’ll be careful? Don’t take any unnecessary risks.”
“Bruce, I swear I will do everything in my power to come back to you.”
Though this wasn’t the first time Hal has been called in for a deep-space-undercover mission in the five years they’ve been married, the missions have been far and few as the years passed. The last time he had gone on one, it had ended with Hal on bed rest for a full month. It was understandable why Bruce was worried.
Hal knew he was worried for a different reason too. Their five-year marriage anniversary was a few days after Hal was supposed to get back, if all things went according to plan. They didn’t have anything fancy going on, just a nice dinner and a night alone in the penthouse downtown. In the four years, fifty weeks, and handful of days they had been married, Hal could count on one hand the number of dates that he had missed (without warning, at least). He was absolutely not about to miss their anniversary.
“Let me walk you to the zeta?” Bruce asked softly, subtly tilting his head to the wall opposite of them, the clear wall that revealed Green Arrow and Flash had been watching them.
“Have they been there the whole time?” Hal asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Arrow wasn’t there at the start and Flash joined him a few minutes ago,” Bruce replied, using his hand to signal Hal to the door.
“Nosy busybodies,” Hal murmured, reaching for the door handle. Bruce exhaled sharply, a noise Hal had to strain to hear, but hey! He got his husband to laugh while in the Batsuit. Not an easy feat.
The act of the door opening forced the two other heroes to notice that Hal and Bruce were exiting the room. Hal watched, amusedly, as the duo scrambled to make themselves scarce, not wanting Batman to catch them snooping. Beside him, Bruce heaved a sigh.
“Zeta?” Hal prompted, bumping his shoulder against Bruce’s.
“Right,” his lover murmured, striding in the direction of the zeta tubes. They walked a little closer than they would if they had company, not close enough for their shoulders to bump, but close enough that their hands brushed together every so often. They didn’t speak as they walked, merely soaking up each other’s company before Hal had to go.
“Be safe, okay?” Bruce asked, voice small. He made an aborted motion to grab Hal’s wrist, hand pausing before it got too close. In a lightning-fast motion, Hal caught it and pressed a kiss to the back of his glove.
“I’ll be back in a week. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
~~
When Hal got back from his mission, the Watchtower was near silent. It seemed to have been a quiet week while he was gone and a quick glance at Bruce’s location placed him nearby. There must have been a meeting taking place. He hoped Bruce wouldn’t mind him crashing it. Sue him, he hadn’t been able to speak to his husband in a week straight. Plus, he was back in time for their anniversary dinner! There was likely nothing important being discussed that Hal couldn’t walk into.
As he rounded the corner, a familiar glass-walled meeting room came into view. Bruce was sitting with his back to him, head in hands, while Flash, Green Arrow, and Clark conversed enthusiastically. Though Hal couldn’t hear the words, he could tell Bruce wasn’t actually pissed off at them. Judging by Diana’s expression, it was likely something they had been arguing about for a while.
He crept closer to the door, doing his best to go mostly unnoticed. He knew Diana and probably Clark had clocked him, but he was hoping Bruce would be too occupied with the argument playing out in front of him to notice. The moment the door swung open, however, he heard Bruce’s voice.
“Lantern. Welcome back.”
“Hey Spooky,” Hal replied with an easy grin, sauntering over. To those not in the know, he looked like an asshole. To Bruce (and probably Clark, but Hal didn’t want to think about the man right now, not with his husband right in front of him), he looked like he was flirting.
“Mission go well?” Bruce asked. Hal knew he was asking are you okay? Did everything go well?
“All good, Spooky, don’t get your panties in a twist.” Everything went well; I’m not hurt.
“Hn. You’re on monitor duties tomorrow,” Bruce said, turning his focus to the tablet in front of him. He quickly tapped out a small “<3” in the report he was working on before deleting it. Hal suppressed a smile at the sight.
“Yeah, alright,” he replied, plopping down in the chair beside him as he addressed the rest of the room; “What’s goin’ on?”
Flash, Green Arrow, and Superman devolved back into their argument unexpectedly about the order of pouring when it came to cereal and milk. No wonder Bruce was ticked off.
He caught a flash of irritation across Bruce’s face right before he opened his mouth, but it had been far too long since he had last gotten into an argument for fun.
“Have you ever considered eating the cereal dry but then pouring milk in your mouth before you finish chewing?”
Bruce’s head hit the table with a solid thunk. Hal only felt a little bad about the shouting match that ensued.
~~
Barry watched Lantern suppress a yawn, still arguing vehemently with Arrow despite his obvious lethargy. He thought he saw a muscle jump in Batman’s face, before the man cleared his throat loudly.
“Lantern, get some rest, you too, Flash. Arrow, Superman, you’re on monitor duty tonight,” Batman spoke, cutting everyone off. He rose with one swift motion, tablet gripped in his hand.
“Copy that, Spooky,” Lantern replied, following the man out of the room easily despite yawning as soon as he finished the third word.
Barry waved goodbye to Arrow and Superman, following Batman and Lantern at a distance. It felt weird to catch up to the duo, but he was headed in the same direction as them. It wasn’t his fault if he overheard anything!
“How was it? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?” He heard Lantern ask, playfully bumping his shoulder against Batman’s armored one.
“Nothing you’d find exciting,” came the reply. Was Batman teasing Green Lantern?
“Awh, c’mon, babe. Don’t tell me you stayed holed up in here the whole time I was gone.”
Hang on a moment, did Lantern just call Batman “babe”? What was going on?
“Nothing we can’t discuss over dinner,” Batman said, dryly. The duo were walking far closer than Barry had ever seen them before. Surely, they knew he was behind them?
Hal’s room was further down the hall from Barry’s, so he hurried to unlock his door before they realized he was still within hearing range.
“Hey, Flash?” Batman’s voice jolted him out of his mild panic. He glanced up instinctively before his eyes widened. Batman himself had a sharp grin on his face and Lantern was looking positively besotted, even through his mask. Barry’s eyes widened further when Batman leaned closer and captured Lantern’s lips with his own, a subtle yet familiar motion.
“You’re not married to Superman, are you?” Barry muttered before he could stop himself. Batman huffed a laugh, a genuine one.
“No, I’m not.”
“Are you telling me this because no one else will believe me?”
Batman’s grin said it all. “Goodnight, Flash.”