Chapter Text
Bruce huffed in annoyance as he was thrown to the ground by one of the thugs currently interrupting his latest gala. He managed to keep his half-frightened, half-drunken Brucie mask on as he sat up, looking around to check on his kids.
All seven of them were tied up in a neat row to his right, looking sheepish but otherwise unharmed.
He sighed in relief before leaning closer to Dick, pretending to check him over. “Next time I tell you to wear your work clothes…wear your work clothes.”
Dick scowled. “You forget you’re the contingency plan once and can never live it down.”
“You most definitely will not,” Bruce agreed.
“Hey, why get saved by friendly neighborhood Nightwing, when we can get saved by a Green Lantern?”
Bruce scowled.
If there was one thing Bruce hated to do, it was call outside help for a problem in Gotham.
It was his city, and he was the one who protected it. If he absolutely needed help, he had his kids to call. But with them, himself, and even Kate unavailable…he’d been forced to call the next best option—Hal Jordan. Because if he had to call someone into Gotham, he’d rather it be his partner, who already had some form of access to the city.
“Cheer up, Bruce,” Dick said, wiggling as he worked on the ties around his wrists. “We got plenty of donations, you got all the kids in one place for once, these criminals will get taken down, and you get to see your boyfriend. It’s a win-win-win-win situation!”
“Hey!” One of the thugs called, heading towards them with his gun raised. “No talking!”
Bruce put on his best drunken Brucie smile before facing the thug. “Is all this really necessary? If it’s—”
He was smacked across the face with the man’s pistol—hard. As his head snapped to the side, he could hear screams and gasps from the guests around him. Now facing to his right, he got a perfect view as each of his kids tensed, their mask of rich kids cracking for just a second. Before they could try anything, he shook his head, playing it off as a reaction to the blow. He groaned before turning back to the man.
“If it’s about money—”
Another blow across his face, this time right across his nose. He managed to catch himself before falling over, but he could feel the blood starting to trickle down his philtrum.
“I said, no talk—”
The floor to ceiling window suddenly burst inward, sending glass shattering everywhere. Bruce hunched in on himself for protection, ready for the shards to hit him, but they never did.
He immediately saw why. Everyone had been covered with a glowing green construct, which disappeared as fast as it had appeared.
Hal Jordan floated just outside of the building, looking just as confident and charismatic as always. Bruce huffed a laugh at the sight.
“Elites of Gotham,” Hal greeted, “I’m here to save you.”
Bruce heard snorts from his kids, and had to fight hard to not roll his eyes at Hal’s dramatics.
The guests and thugs were slowly recuperating after the Lantern’s sudden appearance, their panic slowly turning to confusion. Even the citizens of Gotham were unused to outside heroes in their city.
“The fuck,” one of the thugs said, looking around for any sign of Batman. When there was nothing, he turned back to Hal. “Shoot him!”
Bruce had to wonder if the people of Gotham were familiar at all with the outside heroes, because if they were, they would know that bullets were nothing to a Green Lantern. The ring protected Hal as he floated there, frowning at the bullets pelting him from various angles.
“Really?” He asked once the bullets stopped. Holding his fist up in front of him, he manifested a construct of a giant bouncy house in the building. A giant hand manifested next, grabbing the thugs in one sweep and throwing them into the bouncy house. They tumbled around as if they were bouncy balls, screaming and cursing at Hal.
“Fuck!”
“Goddamn superheroes—”
“Outside heroes are so fucking weird—”
Hal cut the hostages free with scissors constructs, then floated down to the ground.
“It’s just while the cops get here. Enjoy your bouncy house!”
He looked around the room, immediately spotting Bruce and locking eyes with him before heading straight towards him. Bruce rubbed at his wrists. He wanted to tell Hal to stay away, to not cause any suspicion, but the look in his eyes made him stop.
When Hal reached him, he offered his hand, and Bruce stared at it for a moment before accepting, letting himself be pulled to his feet.
Hal scanned him for any injuries, his eyes lingering on the blood dripping from his nose for a moment before manifesting a napkin construct. He moved to wipe the blood, but seemed to remember where they were. He blinked, his confident smirk replacing the worried expression he wore a moment before. His grip on the napkin tightened a fraction, then loosened, and he handed it to Bruce, who accepted it with a ditzy smile and a thanks.
“Bruce Wayne…” Hal said, “I never thought I’d be able to meet you personally…are you alright? Looks like they got you pretty good.”
Bruce turned up his full Brucie charm, wiping the last of the blood off his face. The napkin disappeared as soon as he did.
“I am now,” he said. “I’ve been rescued by a fine hero like yourself.”
He did his own scan of Hal, just in case anything had gotten past the ring’s protection. It hadn’t.
“I’ve always wanted to meet the Green Lantern…you really are better looking in person.”
Hal laughed. “Yeah, well…maybe I’ll have the pleasure of seeing you again someday.”
Gordon arrived at that moment, followed by a small squad of cops. They took one look at the bouncy house construct and the thugs still bouncing around inside, then at Hal, and shook their heads.
“Duty calls,” Hal said, winking before walking over to brief Gordon on what happened.
Bruce’s eyes stayed on him for a moment longer before he turned to his kids, all of whom were staring at him with blank faces.
“I take it back,” Dick said, “this was definitely a lose-lose situation for us.”
The rest of his kids voiced their complaints, talking over each other as they crowded Bruce. He could only snort as he checked them over, making sure there were no injuries beyond the scraped wrists from the bindings.
~
There was a Justice League meeting scheduled bright and early the day after the gala incident.
Which, of course meant Hal was later than usual.
He waltzed into the meeting thirty minutes late, every single pair of eyes turning to him the second the door opened.
Bruce gave him an unimpressed glare that had Hal smiling sheepishly at him. Before leaving that morning, Bruce had reminded him of the start time…only for Hal to grumble and bury himself back under the sheets.
That was Bruce’s reason for judging Hal’s late arrival.
But he wasn’t sure why everyone else in the League was staring at the Lantern like hungry sharks.
Hal didn’t seem to notice, heading straight to his seat while running a hand through his sleep mussed hair.
“Sorry,” he said. “Long night last night.”
He received the same stares in response. At the silence, he looked around the table, confusion written all over his features. He turned a questioning look at Bruce, but he didn’t have an answer, either.
“Now that Lantern is here,” Bruce said, deciding not to get involved with…whatever it was. “We may continue.”
The meeting went smoothly…almost too smoothly. No interruptions, no disagreements…even Hal was too confused by whatever had gotten into the rest of the League to make any jabs at Bruce.
He made his final point, then turned away from the screen to face the table. “...If no one has anything to add…that concludes our meeting.”
He began gathering his items, and saw Hal stand to leave, before being pulled back down by Barry, who appeared next to him in less than a second.
“Oh ho ho, where do you think you're going?” Ollie said.
“Home…?” Hal replied uncertainly.
“Not before you explain what the fuck that was with Bruce Wayne last night.”
Hal made a noise in the back of his throat, wide eyes going from Ollie to Barry, then to Bruce for a split second before moving quickly away to scan the rest of the League.
Meanwhile, Bruce was frozen in place. He glanced at Diana and Clark, the only ones in the League who knew his civilian identity. They shrugged helplessly.
“Don’t try to deny it,” Ollie said, “we saw the evidence.”
“What are you talking about?” Hal said, equally as confused as Bruce. “What evidence?”
Dinah frowned. “You really don’t know?”
Hal shook his head. “I came here right after I woke up.”
Oliver scoffed. “Explains why neither of you answered my messages.” He smirked. “I bet you spent the night in his giant bed in that manor of his, didn’t you?”
“I…don’t want to answer that,” Hal said.
“You mother fuckers!” Oliver said. “I’d expect it from Bruce, but not you, Hal. I guess you both move fast.”
Bruce frowned. Something about Oliver’s words was off. He wasn’t accusing them of keeping their relationship a secret. He was…teasing…
Bruce’s eyes widened a fraction under his cowl. He tried to catch Hal’s attention, but the Lantern was still too flustered with the sudden interrogation to notice.
“Had I known you were interested in Bruce, I would have introduced you sooner,” Oliver lamented.
Hal’s eyes narrowed as he glanced from Oliver to the rest of the League members. “How did you find out?”
“So you admit it!” Barry said gleefully.
Hal rolled his eyes. “Well, apparently you have ‘evidence’.” He made air quotes with his fingers. “Besides, what do I have to hide?” He glanced at Bruce quickly before continuing. “Yeah, I admit it, I’m dating Bruce Wayne.”
Silence.
Bruce took a few deep breaths to keep himself calm…reminding himself that he loved Hal Jordan…even when he impulsively revealed their relationship to their friends. Clark’s amused eyebrow raise in his direction was not helping.
“Wait,” Barry said, “you’re dating Bruce Wayne?”
“That’s what I said, yes.”
“Didn’t you just meet the guy yesterday?”
Hal stared at Barry for a long while before turning to Oliver, then to Bruce who gave him his best judgemental stare through the cowl.
He chuckled weakly. “You…didn’t know we were dating…did you?”
“Not the slightest clue,” Oliver said.
“...I just outed us on my own accord…”
“You absolutely did,” Barry agreed.
Hal groaned and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Fuck…I should not have said that.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t feel too bad,” Dinah assured him. “These two did make it seem like they’d discovered a giant scandal.”
“It’s a perfectly reasonable reaction!” Oliver defended. “Did you see that flirting?” He leaned away from Hal. “Ugh, you two must be disgusting together.”
“Thank you.”
“That was not a compliment.”
“Well, I think it’s sweet,” said Dinah.
Despite the…massive failure to keep their relationship a secret, Bruce smiled internally at hearing that Dinah—a close friend of both Batman, and Bruce—approved.
…He would inspect the implications of keeping his identity hidden from his friends later.
“Thank you,” Hal said again, smiling brightly at Dinah. “See Ollie, Dinah approved!”
“I didn’t say I don’t approve,” Oliver argued. “I’m just disappointed two of my closest friends are dating and didn’t tell me!”
“Yeah,” Barry said. “We had to find out the same way the rest of the world did—from a video of you rescuing Bruce and his kids at the gala last night.”
Bruce raised an eyebrow under his cowl, mirroring Hal’s own expression.
“I’m sorry, what?” Hal snorted. “Someone got a video of that?”
“Oh yeah,” Barry said. “You weren’t subtle at all, by the way.”
“Speaking of the gala rescue last night,” Diana said, finally breaking her silence. Bruce knew the second she glanced his way that it would not go well for him. “Where were you last night, Batman?”
The attention turned to him immediately and Bruce glared at Diana’s smug face.
“That’s true…I’m surprised you didn’t kill Hal for being in Gotham,” Clark said, joining in to make him suffer.
“We have an agreement,” Hal blurted out. All eyes turned back to him, awaiting an explanation. “We, uh…we have an agreement. I get to go into Gotham to see Bruce as long as I don’t do any hero business. Isn’t that right, Spooky?”
They turned back to Bruce for confirmation. Hal was glad he loved him, because that was not the answer he would have given. “Yes,” he finally replied. “An agreement…”
“How kind of you,” J’onn said. A few of the others nodded in understanding.
Bruce stared at the martian for a moment while he tried to figure out if he knew…or if he was just being honest. It was hard to tell with J’onn…which was one of the reasons Bruce liked him so much.
He grunted in response, and was about to turn back to his meeting notes, when Oliver turned to Hal once again.
“Wait!” He made a noise in the back of his throat. “This means Batman knew before we did!”
Barry gasped. “He’s right! Oh my god, I can’t believe this!”
Diana covered her smile with her hand, but her eyes sparkled as she turned to Bruce. He sighed.
Hal appeared to be at a loss for words. “Well…I mean…he had to know! How else was I going to see Bruce!”
The absurdity of that statement was almost enough for Bruce to huff a laugh, but he managed to keep his Batman mask in place.
Barry frowned. “I guess that’s true…”
Oliver grumbled something under his breath before sighing in resignation. “Still doesn’t explain where you were last night, Bats. Even if you gave Hal permission to enter Gotham to see his boyfriend, you didn’t give him permission for hero activities.”
Bruce grunted, gathering up the last of his meeting materials into his arms. “I was…otherwise occupied.”
“With what?” Clark asked innocently.
If it wouldn’t break his cover, Bruce would gladly wipe that smirk off of the Kryptonian’s face. He scowled, narrowing his eyes at his supposed friend. “That is classified.”
Deciding that was enough torment from the League today, he stalked off towards the Zeta tubes, hearing Oliver mumble Geez, okay. behind him before they returned their attention to Hal. He mentally apologized for leaving Hal to the sharks alone, but he was sure Diana and Clark would help wherever they could.
As he neared the Zeta tube, he flipped on his comms with Oracle. “Batman to Oracle. I want any information you have on the video from the gala last night.”
~
“When I asked for information on the gala video…I didn’t mean this.”
Dick, Tim, Jason, and Steph stood enthusiastically front and center in the home theater, where they’d dragged Bruce and Hal as soon as the latter had managed to break away from the League’s interrogation and come home.
The rest of the kids sat in the seats around them, but Bruce had no doubts they were equally as involved as the others.
Barbara shrugged. “It was a lot of information for just one person to handle. I needed some help.”
“Hmmm…”
“Well, I’m excited!” Hal said. “I hope it’s worth the interrogation I had to suffer through—which, thanks for leaving me there by the way.”
“You deserved it after you blew our cover.”
“That was an accident and you know it!”
“Before you two get into one of your weird arguing-flirting sessions, let us begin!” Dick said.
They both huffed and fell silent, indulging the kids in whatever they had planned.
Tim nodded in satisfaction and hit play, following his siblings and moving away from the screen while the video played.
It started out rough, with nothing visible until whoever was holding the camera finally stabilized it. There was a loud noise and screams, followed by a gasp.
“What the fuck.” It sounded like a man, young and maybe a little drunk from the slur in his words.
The camera focused on Hal as he floated just outside the building. “Elites of Gotham, I’m here to save you.”
It played out just as Bruce remembered, only from a different angle. The man behind the camera seemed to have been somewhere to the right of Bruce, past all his kids, so he had a perfect view of Hal approaching him after dealing with the thugs.
And that’s when Bruce noticed that their interaction was…maybe more incriminating than they’d originally thought.
The fact that Hal approached him and only him was suspicious enough as it was, but he instantly offered his hand for Bruce to stand, and proceeded to scan him for injuries. The video quality wasn’t good enough to make out Hal’s expression perfectly, but it was clear enough to see the worried frown on his features throughout their interaction.
His aborted motion with the napkin was subtle, but noticeable.
Luckily, they both remembered themselves after that, and their interactions seemed more like those of two strangers meeting for the first time, rather than of two people who knew each other intimately.
They watched the rest of the video, ending when Hal turned and joined Gordon and his team.
The video paused on the last frame, which was diagonally positioned so that both Bruce and Hal were in the shot, Hal raising a hand in greeting to Gordon, and Bruce watching him with a slight smile.
The four in front of them returned to their previous positions, watching Bruce and Hal in amusement.
“So,” Jason said. “What have we learned?”
Bruce exchanged looks with Hal. “Subtlety was…not our strong suit that day.”
“I thought we did great,” Hal said.
Tim used the tablet in his hands to rewind the video to the moment Hal approached Bruce, letting it play for a few seconds before pausing it again.
“...I thought we did an okay job, all things considered.”
The kids snorted.
“Oh, it gets worse,” Steph said with a delighted grin. “Tim, present the evidence.”
Tim clicked around his tablet as they moved to the sides of the screen, leaving it wide open while Dick and Tim stood to its left and Steph and Jason to the right.
Screenshots, videos, and articles filled the screen. Tim handed the tablet to Dick and pulled his bo staff out of—Bruce wasn’t sure where—before approaching the screen. Dick clicked on the tablet and one of the images enlarged, showing a young man that Bruce was familiar with from the Gotham elites.
Using the bo staff, Tim pointed to the picture. “The video was filmed by Marcus Elliot—youngest son of the Elliot family. He posted it online last night after everyone was cleared to leave by police, and spent the night bragging about supposedly meeting a hero from outside of Gotham.”
Various tweets from Marcus popped up on screen.
“He eventually got bored and has been silent since,” Tim continued, “but the video itself started going viral.”
The tweets fell back as screenshots moved forward, showing the video on Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter–any platform that could play videos.
“It’s garnered over 5 million views across all platforms…but there’s more. Steph?”
Tim threw his bo staff at Steph, who caught it and took center stage, a huge smile on her face that had Bruce worried about what was to come.
“You two are fucking sailing as a ship.” She pointed to a new screenshot on the screen—the top Twitter trends which included Bruce Wayne and Green Lantern, Gotham, Wayne Gala, and at the very top of the list—
“What is a…Brulantern?” Hal asked, squinting at the screen.
“It’s your ship name!” Steph said excitedly as she held up both hands. “Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern.” She clasped her hands together as best she could while holding the Bo staff. “Brulantern.”
Bruce raised an eyebrow. “...Is this really relevant?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
The screen returned to the assorted mess of screenshots, videos, and articles.
“Brulantern has really blown up.” She pointed to the images as she spoke. “There’s articles speculating about something going on between you two, and there’s already a bunch of edits floating around, theories surrounding your relationship, and most importantly—”
She smacked the bo staff onto the screen above another screenshot so hard Bruce worried he might have to replace it. “In less than a day there’s already over 20 works about you on TO3.”
Bruce frowned. “TO3?”
Duke snorted from his seat behind Bruce. “Tales of Our Own. It's a fanfiction website.”
“We have fanfictions written about us?” Hal asked. “Hell yeah!”
“No, not hell yeah,” Bruce said. “You all realize how much of a security risk this is, right?”
Damian clicked his tongue, crossing his arms and sulking into his seat next to Bruce. “That’s what I told them, Father. But they refused to listen.”
“Because this is fucking hilarious,” Jason said. “Dick, read the highlights.”
Dick stepped forward with the tablet. He cleared his throat before reading.
Did you see how they checked each other out?? Thirsty much?? And the FLIRTING?? I need Brulantern to be real if they aren’t because HELLO?
Did you see the way they checked each other for injuries 🥹 oh, they’re caring boyfriends for sure.
Brulantern trying to be subtle, but their stares lingered a second too long, they ONLY looked at each other, and the NAPKIN CONSTRUCT!!! I just know they’re both yearners.
Green Lantern risking Batman’s wrath to come rescue Bruce Wayne 🙂↔️
Is Bruce Wayne Green Lantern’s sugar daddy, or his baby girl???
“I think that’s enough…” Bruce said, unsure how to feel about everyone on the internet discussing his relationship.
“That was…enlightening,” Hal said, seemingly unsure himself. “I mean…they’re not wrong but…they’re not right, either.”
“I know, right,” Dick said with a shit-eating grin. “Comedy gold.”
“Just one thing, though,” Hal said. “Are you my sugar daddy…or my baby girl?”
“Hal.”
“I just wanna be clear about where we stand,” Hal said, the corner of his lips twitching in a smile.
Despite his own lips threatening to curve upwards, Bruce managed to keep a blank expression as he stared at the man he was—regrettably—dating. The Lantern raised his palms in surrender. “Fine, we'll figure that out later.”
With a quiet snort, Bruce returned to the topic at hand. “This proves even more that it’s a security risk. If they figure out that Green Lantern and I are dating, they could start to wonder how we met, who I could have been to meet a Green Lantern—or who Hal could be to have met Bruce Wayne. It compromises our identities.”
“I don’t think it’s that much of a problem…yet,” Barbara said. “They’re having fun with the dynamic, the relationship of Gotham’s prince flirting with a superhero. But they’re nowhere close to figuring out either of you two’s identities.”
Bruce considered for a moment. “Keep an eye on the situation. If anyone starts getting too close to the truth…let me know.”
Damian nodded slowly. “It could be dangerous if we don't monitor,” he agreed.
The other kids nodded in agreement.
“...Keep an eye on the situation?” Jason asked.
Bruce narrowed his eyes at his son’s tone. “...Yes.”
A smile slowly crossed Jason’s face. “Aye, aye.”
“Jason.”
“What? I didn’t say anything.”
Bruce hummed, pursing his lips. “Just…keep me updated.”
He stood to exit, while Hal made a beeline for the kids, joining in on their continued discussion on the gossip. Bruce could only snort in amusement as he left the room. It was bound to be an interesting few days.
~
The gossip…did not go away. Weeks passed and yet, it only seemed to get worse with each passing day.
Bruce had expected the questions from civilians—and he received them. It was usually a quick comment or question at a gala or other event, someone asking if he’d seen Green Lantern recently, a joke that his favorite color was green, or that his type was tall, dark, and super. The press tried to ask questions when they could, too. And whenever he went to the company for work, he received knowing stares from his employees.
That was all to be expected…to a degree. The Elites liked their gossip, as did the media, but he was sure they would get tired of it soon enough.
It was the flip side that Bruce was worried about.
Oliver had messaged him relentlessly after Hal leaked their relationship to the League. He didn’t reveal that he knew Green Lantern personally, but he heavily implied that he knew Bruce and Hal were dating…which had Bruce somewhat concerned with Ollie's ability to keep secret identities hidden.
…But if he'd managed to keep his own identity hidden despite the recognizable beard, maybe it would be fine after all.
Hal, for his part, didn’t crack under Ollie’s questions, either…of which there were many.
“C’mon Hal, there’s no way Bruce doesn’t know your secret identity,” Ollie was saying one day as Bruce entered the room for another meeting.
Hal glanced up at him as he entered, his expression very much screaming, can you believe this guy?
Bruce snorted as he took his seat.
“Okay, yes. Bruce knows my secret identity…but I’m not going to tell him yours so we can go on double dates,” Hal said.
The request was a familiar one. Oliver had alluded to it in his messages to Bruce from the day he found out they were dating.
Oliver sighed, plopping himself into the seat next to Hal in silence. “...Okay, but what if we go on a double date as Bruce and Hal, and Green Arrow and Canary?”
Hal’s laugh was so cheerful and full of disbelief that Bruce couldn’t help the twitch of his lips.
Even Hal's civilian life was full of gossip around their relationship.
“One of my coworkers at Ferris today asked if I was sad or happy that my favorite superhero and billionaire might be a thing.”
Bruce blinked, looking up from his Wayne Enterprises paperwork to Hal cuddled up next to him under a blanket, reading through a projection of alien writing coming from his ring.
“Hmmm…”
“I told him I’d pay to see that…but I don’t think they actually have anything going on.”
Bruce raised an eyebrow. “No?”
“No,” Hal agreed, sighing dramatically. “I mean, how could they if Batman is gonna be there breathing down their necks if Green Lantern tries to visit Bruce in Gotham.” He shook his head solemnly. “It just wouldn’t work.”
An easy smile played on Bruce’s lips as he rolled his eyes. “Focus on your alien files, Jordan.”
The kids, of course, found the whole situation amusing, and used every opportunity to bring it up.
Usually, it was something small: one of them sending a meme or theory they found. They themselves would ask questions as if they didn't know Bruce was Batman and Hal was Green Lantern. Watching videos—edits, as they'd corrected him various times—and showing them to both him and Hal.
But then there were Saturday nights after their family dinners.
Every time, without fail, they'd finish eating, glance around the table at each other, before one of them would inevitably stand up, and dramatically declare:
“Weekly Brulantern report.”
Bruce sighed as—for the fifth week in a row—the peaceful dinner was interrupted with the same sentence. “We don’t need a weekly Brulantern report…”
“Hell yeah! My favorite part of dinner!” Hal said.
“You requested monitoring,” Tim said, bringing out his tablet.
“This is not what I meant.”
“Well, numbers are up,” Jason said. “You guys are still trending every few days.”
“The number of edits, memes, and theories keeps rising, too.” Duke added.
“The big one this week is an edit to ‘They Don’t Know About Us’,” Dick said. “Truly a classic.”
Bruce frowned. “There’s barely any footage for…edits.”
“You don’t need footage,” Dick said. “...Do you still not know what edits are?” At Bruce’s silence, he sighed in exasperation. “B, we’ve explained this to you like six times…”
“Just—move on to the next item,” Bruce said.
“You wanna see some of your thirst edits? They’ll hurt to watch but—”
“Next item!”
“Send me some of those,” Hal whispered, much to Bruce’s chagrin. Dick responded with a wink and finger gun.
“Father,” Damian said, apparently presenting whatever was next on the list. “Despite the piling evidence, people continue to be oblivious about your true identities,” Damian said, looking pleased.
“It’s honestly pretty impressive how oblivious they are,” Barbara said.
“Okay,” Bruce said. “So what you’re saying is that despite people not letting the fact that Bruce Wayne and Green Lantern flirted go, there is no risk of them finding out any of our secrets?”
The kids shrugged and nodded to his statement. Bruce hummed.
“Alright. No more monitoring the situation.”
His words were met with instant protests.
“Aw, c’mon,” Steph said. “How else are you supposed to know about the Brulantern fanfics? There’s one centering on a love triangle between Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern, and Batman!”
Hal laughed. “Batman’s been dragged in now? …Is it good?”
Cass was the one to answer, to the surprise of both Hal and Bruce. “Good,” she said, and gave Hal a thumbs up. His eyes sparkled as he turned to Bruce.
“They’re writing premium fiction about us, babe.”
Bruce didn't dignify that with an answer. If even Cass had fallen victim to the…Brulantern shipping…there was nothing he could do about it anymore. He snorted to himself, because it really was a ridiculous situation.
“No more weekly reports.”
He stood and exited the dining room, leaving the kids and their protests behind him. He’d thought he was alone, but Hal fell into step with him a moment later, facing him with an amused smile.
“Can’t wait to see how far our ship goes,” he said.
“Hal.”
“I mean, will Bruce Wayne return Green Lantern’s affections?” He sighed. “Sure, he was pretty flirty then, but you never know…the guy could be a big jerk in private or something.”
Bruce huffed a short laugh in exasperation as they reached his bedroom and he opened the door.
“And it’s been weeks and he still hasn’t made a move…I’m starting to think Green Lantern should cut his losses. What if he’s —”
He pulled Hal inside, closing the door behind them and shoving him against it. Hal grunted, blinking at Bruce before a smirk slowly spread across his lips.
“Oh, so this is Bruce Wayne in private.”
“This is Bruce Wayne in private.” Bruce confirmed, and he kissed him.