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Hal was ecstatic when Cass had given him a handmade invitation to her and Steph’s dance recital. The folded black construction paper, with white pen and pink and purple bat-shaped sequins, was cradled in his hands while he sat in the canteen of the Watchtower. His best friend, Barry, sat across the table from him with a shit-eating grin.
“What?” Hal said with narrowed eyes.
“Simp,” Barry replied, shoveling more pizza into his mouth. He’d already gone through four boxes and was starting on his fifth when Hal came in.
Hal rolled his eyes. He could pretend he didn’t know what that meant, but he also knew that Barry knew that Hal had been learning about these things from Bruce’s kids. He was, after all, the first person Hal would gush to about his little adventures with the family.
“What, it’s cute!” Barry reiterated. “Your love for them is adorable,” he finished with a snicker.
Hal threw a straw wrapper at his friend, not that it did anything but make Barry laugh harder.
“It’s next Saturday,” he told the speedster. His gaze was on the glittery paper in his hands, though. No matter how many times he’s looked at it in the two days it’s been in his possession, he just couldn’t stop staring at it with a proud smile on his face.
Barry sighed fondly. “We can handle things here for you and Bats. And Wally’s gonna cover for Nightwing,” he paused at Hal’s hopeful look, giving him a soft smile. “Seriously, man. Make it a family outing. You know how waterlogged the B-man was with work and casefiles before you shoved your way into his heart,” he continued, ignoring Hal’s squawk–“I didn’t shove”–at that. “You need this. All of you need this. We’ve got it.”
Hal huffed, pretending to be annoyed at Barry’s comment but giving the speedster a fond look in return the longer he spoke. They did need this. They hadn’t had a weekend off, all of them, just for family activities since the school year started nearly three months ago. Someone was always on patrol, or out working on a group project with classmates, or, in Bruce’s case, working overtime at the company bringing on new interns. Bruce told him he’d be taking that weekend off for the recital. Hal was sure Jason got an invitation, too, if the wink he received when he ran into him near Crime Alley last night was any indication.
“Thank you,” he breathed. He could look forward to next weekend without stressing about Bruce overworking himself or things needing to get done at the Watchtower.
Barry reached across the table to pat his arm before getting back to his sixth pizza. “You’re welcome,” he said brightly. “It’s what best friends are for!”
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The family was seated in the crowded auditorium. All the dancers had come out for a final bow, and the audience was full of clapping, whistles, and cheering families. Bruce, Hal, Alfred, and the kids made their way to one of the side stage exits to wait for Cass and Steph. Other parents passed by to give their hellos and congratulations to Bruce, who made sure to point the conversation toward the recital and the students who performed. This night wasn’t about him, and he hated when people tried to make it out to be.
Hal spent the short downtime looking around. Jason wasn’t seated with the family despite Hal knowing he had to be there. One last look around showed the second eldest leaning against a wall in a dark corner behind the control booth. He knew Jason knew he spotted him when his short nod was answered by a two-finger salute before slinking out a back door. “Jace just left,” Hal whispered to Dick.
Dick nodded in acknowledgement. “Mm. I didn’t see him come in, but I figured he’d make it. The girls will be happy–” Dick was cut off when one of said girls jumped onto his back.
“Hey, you two! You did great!” Hal laughed, helping peel Cass off of Dick’s back. He patted Steph’s head, much to the girl’s protest about messing up her hair.
“A marvelous performance, ladies,” Alfred told them with a smile, helping the young blond fix her ponytail.
“Jason?” Cass signed, and Hal nodded, smiling when she brightened up considerably.
“Where are we eating tonight?” Bruce asked everyone.
“Olive Garden!” Tim and Steph cried, chanting each syllable with a raised fist.
“Really…?” Bruce looked at the two of them with a hint of regret while Alfred, Dick, and Hal hid their snickers behind their hands.
“I would like some mino-stoney, father,” Damian commented. Dick burst out laughing, while Tim and Steph cheered over another family member agreeing to the restaurant of their choosing.
Hal hid his own laugh by picking up the young boy and facing him towards his father. “Sounds like a plan! What about you, Cass?” Hal asked the girl holding part of his jacket.
She shrugged and gave a nod, signing, “I could go for some breadsticks,” bringing more laughs from the older members of the group.
Bruce sighed and tilted his head back in faux annoyance. “Alright, to the cars with all of you. I’ll call ahead for a table.”
Hal passed Damian to Alfred and kept to the back of the group, walking shoulder to shoulder with the man he loved.
“I didn’t see Jason,” Bruce commented with a furrowed brow, pulling out his phone to call the restaurant to warn them of the impending destruction his family was bound to bring tonight.
“He was here,” Hal replied. He took the hand offered to him and lightly swung their arms as he led them to the parking lot. “He hid behind the control booth,” he added when Bruce hung up the phone. “You going to tell him to meet us at the restaurant?”
Bruce gave him a soft smile and pulled his phone back out, sending a ‘Olive Garden?’ text to the elusive teen. He squeezed Hal’s hand when he received a thumbs up emoji in response. “I guess that’s a ‘yes’...?” Bruce asked his partner, showing him the screen.
“Looks like it to me! Come on!” Hal laughed and dragged him to the waiting cars.
Alfred already had Steph, Tim, and Damian loaded into the back of a black Audi, somehow getting the three to keep quiet for the time being. Dick was in the driver’s seat of his own white Lexus, messing with something on the dash, Cass sitting in the seat behind him and fiddling with an old Game Boy in her lap. “We’ll take the Audi, Alfred. Thank you,” Bruce said as he took the keys from the butler.
“Very well, Master Bruce. I will enjoy a quiet ride with Master Dick and Miss Cassandra,” he replied with a wink, hurrying to the Lexus before the other two could change their mind.
Bruce climbed into the driver’s seat and watched with a growing sense of dread and envy as the Lexus pulled away and his current carload started chanting ‘Olive Garden’ again. Hal made his way into the passenger seat, laughing hard at the sight that greeted him.
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Bruce had to put Damian down when the boy started kicking when he saw Jason. Jason and his partner, Roy, were waiting just outside the entrance of the restaurant. They barely seemed to keep themselves up from the influx of kids climbing and jumping all over them.
“Anything for free food, huh?” Dick put his brother in a headlock. Jason sputtered, crouching low to avoid his older brother.
“Roy,” Bruce held a hand out to the redhead. “Nice to see you again.”
Roy shook the offered hand with a pink tint to his cheeks. “Same. Sorry for intruding in the family get-together.”
“Nonsense!” Hal patted his shoulder. “If I’m family, you’re family! Let’s head in; I’m starving!”
It was the scene of the family–his family–seated around four tables pushed together, Roy and Jason sharing a large meal, Dick showing Damian how to dip breadsticks in his soup, Steph and Cass dancing in their seats, Alfred and Tim talking about some kind of new security system, and Bruce with his left hand on Hal’s right thigh, that Hal remembered what his best friend said earlier in the week. He put his hand over Bruce’s and leaned over to give him a soft kiss. You were right, Barry, Hal thought. I needed this.