... A story involving Zatanna in any way?
Well, this is new for me...
The idea was my little sister's. Because she is perfect.
I do not own Young Justice.
Barbara was, put bluntly, very bored.
As in, skull-crushingly bored, wishing for literally anything that could distract her from the misery of her current existence.
She really, really hated charity balls.
She didn't have to go to very many of them; only the ones that had to do with the police department. They were pure torture, though. Any attempts of convincing her dad to let her stay home, however, were always shut down.
Apparently, he didn't want to suffer through this alone.
Sitting at a table in the back of the ballroom, uncomfortable in her long green dress, Barbara glanced around, desperate for anything even slightly interesting to catch her eye.
A young teen with slick raven hair and a finely pressed suit did exactly this. A small grin started to form on her face as she noticed her best friend entering the ballroom, chattering to an unseen figure that she assumed was Bruce. Standing up quickly, she was soon dodging her way through the crowd, trying to get to the entrance in order to greet Dick and finally have something to do.
However, just as she finally passed through the mass of bodies, and was about to call out to Dick, she froze where she stood. Standing next to him, suspiciously close, was another girl.
The girl was a few inches taller than Dick, with eyes a similar shade of blue to the boy's own. She had long black hair that cascading down to her shoulders, nearly blending into the tight sleeveless black dress that clung to her body, becoming looser at her calves to span out at the bottom.
Barbara could feel her own frustration rise to record-breaking heights as she observed Dick laughing next to this unknown, and annoyingly attractive, girl.
Of course, it was as she was glaring fiercely at the girl that Dick noticed her, a grin soon being sent in her direction.
"Hey! Babs! I have someone here you need to meet!"
She quickly recovered as Dick approached her, his hand wrapped around the dainty hand of the mystery woman as they moved forward.
Barbara's smile was tight, and very much fake, but she was pretty sure that fact wasn't very noticeable. She was good at hiding that sort of thing.
"Hey, Dick! Who's your friend here?" she did her best to keep her voice as carefree and positive as possible.
"This, Babs, is Zatanna. She's my... umm.."
"Very good friend," the girl, now known as Zatanna, said smugly, leaning against Dick's shoulder.
"Yeah, that's a pretty good way to word it..."
"Wow, Dick, I expected you to tell me right away when you finally found yourself a girlfriend!" It was reeaallly starting to be an effort to not sound completely bitter about this...
"She's not-" A glare was sent from Zatanna. "... Okay, yeah, she's my girlfriend. We started dating on New Years."
That had been a whole month ago! How hadn't she found out about this?!
"Well, I'm Barbara Gordon. It's nice to meet you, Zatanna." She stuck her hand out to shake, while hoping her blatant lie went unnoticed...
"Call me Zee," Zatanna said lightly as she shook Barbara's hand. "Dick has told me about you,"
"Nothing negative, I hope," she joked lightly, still seething inside...
Both Dick and Zatanna laughed at the joke.
"No, just about how awesome you were and about how you are a great friend. I almost felt a little jealous,"
I get how that feels... Barbara thought to herself.
"Well, if you excuse us, Babs, I do believe my lady wishes to dance tonight," Dick declared boldly, preforming a low bow before grabbing one of Zatanna's hands.
"Your lady does wish to dance," the girl stated as they started to walk away.
Once they were a fair distance apart, Bruce walked up to Barbara, who was still staring after the couple with crossed arms, and crossed his own.
"She is a good girl, but I really do not approve of this relationship..." Bruce muttered, nearly to himself.
"Why not?" Barbara was actually surprised that Bruce didn't approve; he had had enough girlfriends for that to honestly hypocritical.
"Her father was a friend of mine, and he recently... went missing, so to speak. He was very protective, and probably wouldn't have wanted her in a relationship at all."
… Well, that was more logical than she expected.
"Any other reasons?"
"... Well, I guess I'm a bit protective as well..."
Bingo.
"Well, at least he seems... happy, I guess."
Bruce gave a small smile at the comment.
"Yes, I suppose. The only time I've seen him have a larger smile than that recently was when he won that Mathalete tournament. Wasn't he with you that day?"
She had started to nod when she realized the double-meaning in the question. Glancing up at Bruce, the smirk on his face only proved her suspicions.
Her face flushed in embarrassment.
"Yeah," she muttered before swiftly walking away and back to her table.
Now gazing at the dancing couple, her expression locked in a fierce glare, she was even worse off than when the night started.
Barbara really hated charity balls...