Archive of Our Own

Another day, another shot at saving the world. Barry had abandoned his day job along with the rest of the screaming crowd as soon as the aliens began their attack, and from there it was easy to change into his Flash costume and get to work. He zipped from building to building faster than the eye could see, stopping the fleecy orange quadrupeds in their tracks with super speedy punches and attempting to carry and shepherd out civilians wherever he could. Central City was not ready for alien invasions, dang it! Metropolis was supposed to be a homing beacon that kept them away from everyone else.

He glanced up just in time to see another ship full of hostiles that looked to be heading for the middle of the park. With a sigh, he turned his fancy communicator to the All Call channel. “Flash to Justice League,” he said, consciously slowing down his voice as he tore through the city. It took some practice to do both, a bit like trying to pat his head and rub his belly at the same time. “I’ve got a big invasion happening in central. Weird orange aliens, something like a cross between a sheep and a raccoon, and they spit poison if you get too close. I’m gonna need all hands on deck to get them out of here!”

“Acknowledged, Flash,” Batman intoned. “All available heroes will converge on your location shortly.”

Barry breathed out a sigh of relief. “Copy.” He was just glad that Wally was currently with the Teen Titans and unlikely to show—

“Howdy Uncle– uh, Flash!”

Spoke too soon, Barry admonished himself, when the boy in yellow and red skidded to a stop in front of him. “Kid Flash,” he said shortly. “You’re not supposed to be in town.”

“Heh,” Wally shifted uncomfortably. “Well, the Teen Titans heard the message, too, you know, and this is my home city! I had to come and help!”

“You…” Barry paused when a building not far away began to crumble to the side, accompanied by several high-pitched screams. “We’ll be talking about this later,” he said. “Stay safe.”

“You got it!” Wally gave a sloppy salute and dashed off.

It didn’t take long for Barry’s world to fade into a blur of punches, sprints, and desperately carrying his local citizens out of harm’s way. He managed to take note when more and more League members joined him, briefly spotting Superman’s red cape up above and Green Lantern’s impenetrable constructs glowing around a corner. Hawkgirl protected him from a sneaky alien at his back using her mace at one point, and some of his foes had been punctured by arrows when he came upon them, so Green Arrow (or perhaps Speedy) must have been nearby as well.

Somehow, Barry found himself trapped in a corner and fighting back-to-back with the Dark Knight himself.

“Robin,” Batman said into his earpiece, “These things are everywhere. Can you track the main source from the Cave?”

Barry didn’t hear the reply, but Batman grunted in what was probably approval.

“Acknowledged,” Batman said a moment later. “Notify Nightwing at once.”

An alien popped up beside Batman within spitting range, and Barry raced to dispatch it. Batman took out another one coming up on Barry’s shoulder with a Batarang without even pausing in his conversation. “Yes, the two of us can handle it just fine.”

Barry paused at that, and almost got knocked over for his troubles.

“Stay home, Robin.”

Batman shut off his comm more pointedly than usual, huffing out a breath in a distinctly exasperated manner. Together, they took care of the remaining group of aliens in their alleyway without much conversation between them. In the brief moment of silence, Barry bit his lip.

“Are you and Robin… good?”

Batman grunted indecipherably and swooped away on his grappling hook with the air of an offended feline.

“Yes, thanks for asking, Flash,” Barry muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it, Flash. How are you and Kid Flash doing? Whatever.”

With the Justice League’s help, it had been a relatively simple process to soundly defeat the aliens and send the remainder of their spacecraft packing. Only when they all met back up to debrief did Barry realize that a new hero had joined in fending off the invasion.

“Who’re you?” he asked the new guy, who was cheerfully dabbing at a light scrape on his temple. The guy looked up and—Wow. He had an absolutely breathtaking grin. It was a good thing he was clearly much closer to Wally’s age than Barry's own because Barry might’ve passed out right on the spot otherwise. He faintly sent up a prayer for all the young ladies on the team.

“I'm Nightwing, nice to meet you! You must be the Flash.”

“You aren't what I expected," Barry blurted. Nightwing raised an eyebrow. "I mean… you’re Robin’s brother!"

Nightwing was quiet for a beat before he mercifully decided to move on from Barry's slip. “Yup,” he shrugged. “Hero of Bludhaven, brother to Robin, and botherer of Batman, that’s me.”

“You… what?”

Nightwing’s friendly smile turned into a mischievous smirk. “I’m finally accepting that open Justice League invitation from a while back, so… you’ll see.”

Barry didn’t know whether to be horrified or excited to see what Batman did to this kid. He needed to restock the microwave popcorn either way. Some of the others shot him strange looks for practically vibrating in his seat when everyone sat down in the Watchtower to begin the debrief, but it turned out Barry was correct to be on edge.

Nightwing swooped up behind Batman silent as a ghost and whispered, "Boo!" Several Leaguers who hadn't been paying attention nearly jumped out of their seats.

Batman himself didn't jump, exactly, but he did turn so quickly that Barry could have sworn he heard his neck pop. "Sit down, Nightwing," Batman glowered.

"So rude, B." Barry flinched a little at the address. No one nicknamed The Batman. Nightwing continued, "I heard you didn't even want me to join at all! Talk about unwelcoming."

"Sit down, Nightwing."

"Fine," Nightwing huffed. "But we will be talking about this later!"

Batman grunted.

As the debrief began, Barry couldn't help but focus on the sinking feeling in his gut that this would not be the end of the drama.

It turned out he was right to be worried. The next time the League was called upon for aid, Nightwing and Batman fought together side-by-side like a well-oiled machine. Barry was too far away to hear what they were saying, but somewhere between his fancy flips, twists, and acrobatic leaps, Nightwing called out something in Batman’s direction and Batman paused where he stood and laughed.

Barry skidded to a stop. Superman practically fell out of the sky. Batman’s laugh was a low, smooth sound, but it resonated in the air like a church bell.

Hawkgirl landed near them, shocked, and Nightwing turned to her with a smile. Barry could see the events unfolding as if they happened in slow motion. There was Nightwing, distracted for just one second, and there was a robot, managing to glide right into his blind spot and fire a laser just right. Barry turned on a dime, but Nightwing was already falling.

Suddenly the world rushed back in, full speed ahead. "Med evac needed for Nightwing," Batman called over the comms. "Moderate side wound, cauterized."

"On my way," Barry called, at his side in a second. He scooped up Nightwing in a cradle hold, grimacing at the smoldering injury site, and zipped off to the nearest Zeta beam to get them onto the Watchtower.

"Ow," Nightwing groaned as Barry was sending up a silent thanks for their advanced medical equipment.

"Hold still," he said. "I've almost finished patching up your injuries."

"M'kay," his patient mumbled.

Barry finished up with the wound and was surprised to see the rest of the team arriving only a few minutes later. "That was quick," he said, raising his eyebrows at Vixen.

She turned to him, wide-eyed. "Batman went nuts!"

"What?"

Before he could get more answers, the Bat himself stepped off the platform and headed straight for the medbay faster than Barry had ever seen him move off the battlefield. Barry wasn’t the only one to trail behind him, morbidly curious about the lecture Nightwing would undoubtedly receive.

Instead, Barry nearly fell over in shock when he caught a glimpse of Batman wrapping his arms gently around Nightwing and whispering something that looked suspiciously like, “I love you.”

“B?” Nightwing said, returning the embrace without a lick of hesitation.

Batman mumbled something into Nightwing’s hair that ended with “...do better.” Nightwing pulled him closer with a soft smile.

“Love you too,” he said.

Barry, Hal, and Clark all made meaningful–horrified–eye contact and ushered everyone away to give the pair some privacy.

GL: I KNEW WE COULDNT TRUST HIM

Flash: THIS IS TERRIBLE POOR ROBIN NOW WHAT DO WE DO NOOOO

Hawkgirl: I can’t believe we were right! Batman is cheating with Nightwing!!

Green Arrow: Did you see him taking down those robots after nightwing went down? I’m not even surprised

MM: Do not jump to conclusions just yet. There are still a number of explanations for the current situation

Vixen: Like what though? They literally hugged and professed their love

Superman: Maybe it’s like a brothers in arms situation?

Superman: I just don’t believe Batman could do this.

GL: We gotta face the facts and they’re staring us in the face

Flash: this is terrible. I refuse

Aquaman: I too am disappointed in our friend.

Hawkgirl: Nightwing is no better! He’s having an affair with his brother’s husband!!

Cyborg: I’m with J’onn, there must be more going on here.

GL: Evidence?

Cyborg: He helps out the Teen Titans pretty often and I have *seen things*

Vixen: Say no more

Flash: what? No please say more

Cyborg: Sorry I have been sworn to secrecy.

Flash: cy have you had romantic relations with nightwing???

Flash: it is very important to me that you answer

Flash: dont leave the chat on me!!!

Flash: CYBORG! >:(

GL: Yeah good luck with that one Flash. I’m out.

Flash: C Y B O R G

Cyborg: No comment.

Flash: GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Vixen: So anyway the real question here is… do we tell robin?

Superman: How would we even get ahold of him without Batman knowing?

Green Arrow: Follow Batman home

Flash: lol

Hawkgirl: Confront Batman?

Aquaman: It would be unjust to confront him with this crime if he is, in fact, innocent

Flash: wait and hope they work it out themselves??

Superman: Hate to admit it but that might be our only option

MM: I concur. This is a personal matter for them and we should not interfere.

Green Arrow: If you say so

You: This is hilarious.

Nightwing: right???? I told you

You: They practically make up the story themselves

Nightwing: now arent you glad you took my advice? What do you say?

You: Fine. Thank you, Nightwing

You: Happy now?

Nightwing: Extremely

You: And you’re sure you’re ok with them thinking we were together?

Nightwing: babe the more beef they invent the happier i am

You: Your flirting sucks, save it for Kid Flash

Nightwing: *sigh* hes the only one who appreciates me

You: Correction: he’s the only one who somehow doesn’t find you embarrassing

Nightwing: my one true love

You: See the problem here is that I know you’re being completely serious, even though he clearly has no idea.

[Nightwing is typing…]

[Nightwing is typing…]

Nightwing: shut up

Kid: i heard you got injured are you ok???

You: dont worry its only a flesh wound!

Kid: flesh wounds are BAD

You: seriously dont worry they brought me to the watchtower like asap and your uncle patched me up

Kid: ok but like do you need anything?

Kid: you know i can be there in a flash ;)

You: my family is already smothering but thanks

Kid:: oh

You: trust me id rather have you smothering me any day

Kid: …oh?

You: actually i could really use a jailbreak

Kid: cool but idk where you live so

You: ur cute

Kid: how many pain meds are you on right now?

You: sooooo many

You: you wanna break me out and get coffee?

Kid: ask me again when youre not high and ill say yes promise

You: yay its a date!!!

Dick: Shout out to B for having an emotion today!

Tim: Oh?

Bruce: Really, Dick?

Dick: He gave me a hug and told me he was worried AND that he loved me :)

Alfred: Congratulations, Master Bruce, I’m very proud of you.

Tim: You cried didn’t you

Dick: …maybe