Chapter Text
Really, it had been going on forever.
I mean, who could really blame the rest of the Justice League for thinking they were together? Barry and Hal were rarely seen going on missions without each other. They left together, they came to meetings together, they sat next to one another, I mean they practically finished each other's sentences for crying out loud!
Nobody really mentioned it because it was never worth mentioning. It's one of those facts of life: the sky is blue, air is invisible, Hal and Berry are in love with each other. Really, the bets throughout The League weren't on if they were together, but if they were married or not yet.
It was first brought up in passing, when Batman had been assigning roles for a mission. He made an offhanded mention to the two of them, saying something along the lines of:
"I'm sure you two would like to work together, due to your… compatibility." Hal and Barry had just laughed a bit and high-fived. It was true, they worked exceptionally well together on missions— they were perfectly in sync. To them, this was a reference at their totally platonic and epic friendship. To others it was a confirmation of their very real and very romantic relationship. Batman had only grunted a bit at that and continued the mission briefing, the green and red duo whispering and laughing throughout the rest of the meeting.
After that people kept pushing them together for missions or even menial tasks and chores around the Watchtower. It was enough to the point that the two actually began to worry that everyone secretly hated them and just made the two of them do stuff together because nobody wanted to deal with them.
Flash decided to bring it up eventually when he was alone with Batman.
"Batman! I have a quick question…" Batman turned towards him and grunted in acknowledgement. Barry hesitated for a moment before realizing that was the most he was going to get. "So, what's with Hal and I getting paired up so much? I mean not that I'm opposed it's just… I have other people I can work with in the League, you know?" He laughed awkwardly and Batman hesitated, staring at him skeptically.
"I wasn't aware there was an issue—" Batman began, Barry moved to say something but Batman continued, "—I will make adjustments as necessary to the missions, I will ensure you aren't paired together." And with that, he walked away and out of the room, leaving Barry alone and mildly confused. Maybe Batman thought that him and Hal were having some kind of argument; or maybe he was just being Batman.
A little while later, Barry was updating Hal on what had happened;
"Does this mean no more missions together? Like, at all?" Hal questioned, to which he received a shrug in response. Neither of them wanted that, but Batman's words seemed to imply that.
"I hope not, everyone else is such a drag most of the time." Barry groaned, "Superman is fine to work with but everyone is so… business." Hal nodded in agreement. The rest of the League carried an air of professionalism with them that Flash and Hal tended not to have.
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After Barry's conversation with Batman, they had rarely any missions together. The only ones they had were large group missions, but those ones were the important ones so they couldn't mingle for those. Barry knew he basically had asked for this but he couldn't help but feel there was some kind of misunderstanding involved in this whole thing; after all he had only asked for slightly less missions with Hal, not to never see him at work again ever.
And so Hal decided to discuss the issue with Batman himself; it was an impromptu decision, really. He had just been in the vicinity of Gotham after a particularly annoying mission where he was partnered with Wonder Woman, and he now decided to go find Batman and complain. It's not like he had anything against Wonder Woman it's just that she was serious and thought his sarcasm was unprofessional and yeah maybe he's a little butt hurt about it. Sue him!
Batman was surprisingly easy to locate considering the whole "living in the shadows, I work alone" thing he had going on. Not only was the Batmobile the most conspicuous mode of transportation to exist, but his sidekick was an incredibly bright and loud 12 year old boy with a sword. So it didn't take too long before Green Lantern came over to discuss things with him.
It was as he approached him that he suddenly felt incredibly awkward. Why didn't he just wait for the next day when they would have a weekly meeting? What the hell was he doing in Gotham? Why on Earth is he coming up to Batman to complain about not being able to goof around with his best friend while on the job?
"Green Lantern? What are you doing here?" Robin questioned him and suddenly there was a sword in front of Hal's face. Hal stuttered out some kind of excuse that was more just a collection of syllables before Batman appeared behind the boy.
"Stand down, Robin. Lantern, what's the issue." It was less of a question and more of a demand. Nonetheless, Robin sheathed his katana and stared at Hal expectantly.
Oh god I look like an idiot and an asshole.
Hal thought to himself, this wasn't even that big of a problem and Batman probably expects him to share some life-threatening event.
"I was just in the area after a mission and thought I would come see how my favorite bat is doing!" He tried to give Batman a playful pat on the shoulder but Robin pulled out his sword again and created a barrier between the two of them. So much for trying to play it off...
"Lie." Robin narrowed his eyes at him, "Tell the truth." He was like 5 feet tall but somehow significantly scarier than Batman. Hal gulped. How was he getting intimidated by a preteen?
"I just wanted more missions with Flash!" He confessed, both Batman and Robin looked somewhat confused and skeptical. "Honest! We haven't gotten any together in like two months." And I miss him was left unsaid. Hal waved his arms in front of himself defensively, "I know he made a complaint but we didn't want no missions together, just a few with some other people!" Batman raised an eyebrow at him, at least that's what Hal is assuming he did because he had the cowl covering his face but you get the picture.
"...I had assumed you two had some kind of relationship issue and needed space." Batman grunted.
"Relationship issue?" Suddenly the entire world stopped as Hal cocked his head to the side, his heart rate began to pick up a bit, "Like a friend breakup.?" He knew exactly what Batman meant and didn't like where this conversation was going.
"Like a relationship breakup."
"FLASH AND I AREN'T DATING!" Hal's face was bright red, "JUST BECAUSE WE'RE ROOMMATES DOESN'T MEAN WE'RE TOGETHER." He realized this was a huge overreaction for a mild misunderstand and was probably being a way too defensive for this to be believable. "I mean, we just live together. That's all." Nice save. He mentally kicked himself.
Batman just nodded and grunted vaguely as he typed something into his communicator. Something told Hal that Batman didn't entirely believe him.
"I'll make sure that you and Flash have some missions together. I apologize for the confusion." Was all Batman said before leaving and grappling hooking (?) away, leaving Hal on the rooftop of some random building in Gotham— vaguely confused and flustered.
For some reason his heart was beating really fast. Me? And Barry? Dating? That's so stupid. His thoughts raced... okay now that he was really thinking about it; he had never really considered Barry as an option, I mean, as far as he knew both of them were straight and both were in committed relationships until about a year ago.
When Barry got dumped by Iris he ended up just moving in with Hal for a temporary solution, but the two actually found it to be pretty convenient to live with one another so he just never bothered moving out. The two were probably closer than the average pair of friends but that came with them having secret identities that they could only really share with each other.
And really, who hasn't thought about how attractive their best friend is at some point? Hal started to reason with himself before shaking the thought out of his head completely. What the hell is wrong with him? This is his best friend we're talking about here. It's Barry Allen.
"I need to get some sleep." Hal groaned to himself before taking off into the night sky and heading towards his apartment.